Sometime in the night, I heard a distant yowl. It sounded like a woman. I could’ve pretended that I didn’t hear it, pretend that it was something else, but I went out anyway. I’m sure a lot of other people heard it too, it’s not like I live in a small neighbourhood, but they don’t care.

Why did I care?

The night was dark and damp and wet even though it wasn’t raining. My clothes were plastered onto my skin, completely drenched, after just a few minutes. It usually didn’t get this wet in the city. The air somehow got dry because of the cars and factories and electronics and everything else that made the air slightly warmer than in the country, but not today. The stone walls were practically oozing with algae and it was slimy to the touch. I changed my mind about checking the noise and wanted to go back but I continued on anyway for stupid reasons. Bad things happen for stupid reasons, sometimes good things happen too but today they were bad.

There was the sound again, closer. This time it sounded like cawing rather than a woman. I don’t know how I thought it was a woman in the first place, maybe I wished it would be? Or maybe it was a different noise. I looked around the corner, nothing. “Is anyone there?” I called out. Nothing. Every ounce of my body wanted me to go back but I’ve come this far… I was starting to get cold and all I could think about was that whoever made the sound needed my help. She must also be cold… I’m a nice guy like that. Perhaps she’ll let me strip her…

That thought kept me searching. I really wished I had a flashlight. I do, but I didn’t have sense enough to bring it. The street lights get busted quickly around here and the city doesn’t care to fix them anymore unless it’s within a five miles radius of the Town Hall. I went deeper down the alley, too far, I figured, as I didn’t hear the sound again. I kicked the garbage by my feet. I hope I didn’t destroy a hobo’s shelter or woke up a cat by doing so. I guess I would’ve noticed if I did… By this point I was looking for a body. She must’ve passed out, the poor thing…

After an hour, I thought, ‘god, did I really just spend an hour in the dark just for the possibility of some poontang?’ I’m going out of my mind and I started heading back. Then I heard the sound again, not the cawing, but the one that was like a woman, soft and shrill at the same time. The sound didn’t have an urgency to it, it was more like a wail or ‘woe is me’ kind of sound and she wanted everyone to know that she wasn’t particularly happy. Maybe I can make her happy?

I heard her clearly now, somewhere in the dark. I didn’t see anything but I could feel she was there. “Hey, baby?” I said. “I hear you, it’s pretty miserable out here, why don’t you come with me? This is not a nice place to be. My place is warm and I got beer, and a couple cigarette. I can share you one. What do you say?”

She didn’t say a thing but I heard her breathing. Maybe she passed out? It worked for me. I wasn’t going to rape her or anything, I just don’t mind carrying an unconscious woman, is all.

I went closer. The moon suddenly had the decency to show through the smog and mist and everything else that made the weather shitty today. I was knee deep in garbage, but that’s all right, I lost my sense of smell a long time ago because of this shitty town.

While searching in the dark, I felt the smoothness of her skin and I think it was her arm. What kind of a lunatic walks around without a shirt in this weather? Maybe she got raped. That would make it more difficult to take her into my apartment willingly, I would imagine… Some people are real shitty and they only think about themselves, not about poor sods like me.

If only I knew how deep in the shit I was.

Suddenly she stood, three feet tall, her pale skin almost glowing in the moonlight, her black her covered her face. I slowly backed away. Backing up on the garbage bags I stumbled and fell. The contents of one of the bags poured out and the smell washed up my nose. It was the first time I’ve smelt anything in five years. I couldn’t describe the smell except maybe that it was rotten and gooey to the touch.

She looked down at me, at least her head was tilted in a way that indicated she was staring. I crawled over the garbage bags and broke a few more. Strangely, she wasn’t chasing me, she just slunk back into her pile of whatever and left me with my pants full of shit. Good god, I could feel it in my shoe!

I made it back all right, I was just lucky she wasn’t hungry. I guess she was bored, because I heard her snigger for several nights after that. I didn’t play the hero again ever… well, at least not for a long time.

© Christopher Stamfors