Free Off the Beaten Path: Eight Tales of the Paranormal by Sharon Sant, Angela Roquet, Jason T. Graves, Monica La Porta, Chip Putnam, D.R. Johnson, Kath Langdon

burned me.  Turning back to the fridge, I mourned the loss of what had been my new favorite article of clothing.  Now I wouldn’t be caught dead in it.
    Popping the top off my beer, I cast a look back at myself in the mirror.  Wearing nothing but my black pencil skirt and plain chemise, I looked like a hussy.  Pulling the clips from my hair, I shook out the dark strands, allowing them to bounce around my shoulders.  Striking a seductive pose, I winked at myself and giggled.  Too bad Nik never saw me like this.
    That thought sobered my mood quickly, and I turned to the balcony to stare out at the city.
    “Where are you, Nikolas?” I whispered to the glass.  The lights beckoned to those that sought the night life, as the evening gloom gave way to darkness.
    I had nothing else to do, so I remained standing there for many moments, occasionally sipping on my beer.  My mind dwelled on that last night I had spent with Nik before he disappeared, reliving every moment as best my memory would allow.
     
    A few of us from the office had met at the Caves for a round or two of drinks before calling it a night.  As the others trickled out to head for home, Nik and I found ourselves alone in a booth at the back of the bar.  We had talked for what seemed like hours, about anything and everything.
    At one point, talk of Matthew had bubbled to the surface.  It hadn’t been my ideal topic of conversation, but I felt the need to vent my frustrations.  I wasn’t all that surprised to hear Nik confess he had butted heads with Matthew a few times.  When I told Nik about his sexist behavior, he was appalled.  I was skeptical at first about how affected he was by my revelation, but during the course of our conversation, I began to realize that he was sincere.
    At the end of the night, as Nik was escorting me on my short walk home, he told me he would talk to a friend about Matthew and find out if there was any recourse available.  “I promise I’ll find a way to help you with Matt.”  He had said to me, smiling down in a sweet school-boyish way.
    “And I always keep my promises.”
    I had blushed in response, fully ready to surrender to the idea that Nik was my hero.  The night had ended, as he kissed my cheek, with a promise he would talk to me tomorrow.  That was the promise he didn’t keep.
    My sigh was mournful and full of longing.  Deciding to grab a blanket to cover my shoulders and protect my modesty, I opened the sliding glass door to step out on the hard, cold concrete and let the sounds of the night envelope me.  I took in a deep breath of the crisp night air and lost myself in the calming darkness.
    “Hello, Laura,” a smooth, baritone voice shattered my serenity.  It whispered to me, caressing my name slowly and dragging it out as it faded away.  I screamed before he went silent, jumping back against the railing, my bottle slipping from my hand to shatter on the concrete in a foamy mess of glass and suds.
    “Don’t move.”  The dark figure in the corner was patting his hands against the air as if to calm me.  “Don’t move.  We don’t want you to cut yourself.”
    My heart was doing a rendition of a five-piece drum solo, and I was struggling to hold onto my consciousness from the sudden head rush.  The initial fright I had felt was quickly fading into shock as I recognized the intruder.
    “ Nik?”  My voice came out breathy, barely there, but the dark shadow heard me.  He stepped forward just enough that the dim light coming from inside my apartment lit his face.  “Nik!”
    I screamed with excitement, stepping forward without thinking.  A split second later I squealed in pain as a glass shard sliced into the bottom of my foot.  “Dammit!”
    Biting off the curse, I found myself falling back against the rail again.  Lifting my foot to look at the offending shard, I kept glancing back at Nik.  I was still bubbling over with excitement, despite the pain.  He had receded back into the