The
following piece of writing is not a story, but just a bit of character
development. I haven’t done anything
else with it, but may still use it for a longer story at a later date.
HE
HAUNTED THE NIGHT
He haunted the night in search of excitement like a
raccoon in search of food for survival.
Six feet tall and husky, with a baseball cap on his head and a jacket
too light for the cold, and his hands shoved into his pockets to keep them
warm, he sauntered through the downtown core of Langley City each night after
dark. Thoughts and ideas, hopes and
fears churned too fast in his head to let him stay inside. He needed his outside world to match the one
inside him. There was a deep craving
inside commanding him to find the fast, furious, eddying ferment of someone
else’s frustration.
Each night he followed the same trail. First a fast food outlet for sustenance. Then a pub to see if someone he knew would
buy him a beer. Then the Legion for the
same reason. Or maybe he could score
some cash by offering to sell somebody something. Used CDs.
Battery chargers. A used ebike he
knew someone wanted to sell. He’d take a
cut. Unable to sit still, his prowl was
never ending.
He walked the streets and stalked the alleys, looking
into doorways and peering through beckoning windows. He needed the excitement of danger, distress
or disaster, but not to be the cause of it.
Yearning to witness the eye of the storm, he scoured the town like the
raccoon scenting garbage to feed on.
Anything would do. A cash grab at
the convenience store. Someone stealing
a car. A break and enter. A beating.
A rape. Anything to match the
turmoil inside him.
When the night betrayed him with only silence, he’d
slink home at dawn and sleep and hide through the day, just like the raccoon in
waiting.
__________________________
By Lisa A. Hatton
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