After the sun had long since dropped below the horizon, the silence of the night was interrupted by the sound of dislodged rocks, which tumbled their way down a steep incline. A young woman, hair washed out to silver-grey in the darkness of the night, had slid her way down the slope, into the dug out recess under a small bridge.
In the deepest shadows under the bridge, where concrete and soil met into a pit of darkness, a pair of invisible eyes watched her figure. For an instant, there was a burst of expectation within them, but as the woman settled down onto the slight gravel slope that led up to the edge of the creek, that expectation vanished as simply as it had come.
Female.
Not guilty.
There was no reason to continue watching. But there was also nothing else to do. And so that pair of eyes continued to watch. Watch, as the young woman pulled out a small square of blotter paper and stuck it under her tongue. Watch, as she laid back against the rough gravel and stared at the underside of the concrete bridge as though it was the infinite mysteries of the night sky.
Watch, as she began to sway on the spot, muttering to herself occasionally. Shifting. Tossing. Turning.
Watch, as the gravel slid out from under her, and sent her face-first into the shallow creek.
This… was a first.
Many people had died under this bridge. The pair of watching eyes had been one of them, and had been the cause of several others. But, for all the people who had swarmed around this bridge had always claimed 'accident, accident', this would likely be the first true accidental death that had ever occurred in this little space, hidden from the night sky.
She was in pain now. The eyes could tell by the way her hands were starting to spasm, legs kicking, muscles tensing. It probably wouldn't be that much longer before her body was forced to give up the fight altogether, if she couldn't figure out how to lift her head in that time.
Pain.
She remembered pain. Radiating through her body like lightning, longing to scream but unable to make a sound as water flooded her lungs. None of it, however, had hurt as much as the feeling of betrayal that had torn through her heart as that man that she'd once called husband hand held her head under the water.
Female.
Not guilty.
Shadows were suddenly flowing out from under the darkness of the bridge's recesses, coating the ground in an inky blackness of the deepest shadow. Each shadow spun like a ghostly thought, before they gathered together on the edge of the bank, forming a mass so dark it seemed destined to swallow up everything around it. However, instead, the shadow seemed to heave, bubbling up out of the ground into growing, twisting vines, which moments later formed themselves into the shape of… a woman.
Her long hair was black, swirling unnaturally through the air as though she was still submerged in an unseen water current. Ashen grey skin covered her face and hands, pale only in comparison to the complete pitch darkness that made up her hair and clothes. And stunning golden eyes glowed with a brilliance that emitted no light.
She reached out a hand, grabbing the woman by her pale pink hair before hauling her up out of the creek bed, flinging her back towards the gravel 'shore' in one, smooth movement.