Night Visitor

The Night Visitor
The trees swayed in the cold moonlit night, the wind howled as the rain
splashed down on the now deserted streets. The shutters on the shop
fronts were all pulled down, bolted and chained against unwanted
visitors. Cars were parked quiet and still with no where to go.

Houses dark and dismal, stood looming at the end of the small neat kept
gardens. Dogs barked and broke the deathly silence of the dark
night.

Suddenly, out of the darkness came a bang and a moan. The noise came
from a corner of the street where the street lamps were glowing bright
against the blackness of the night. I could make out a shape, it was
huge and grotesque, its whole body bloated. I moved slowly towards the
shape. Nervously it came out in to the open, I called to the shape to
see if it was alright. The shape did not answer it just kept walking
towards me. I noticed that it wasn't some horrible monster but a young
woman, her head was hung down to sheild her from the biting wind, her
hair hung damp and stringy on to her shoulders.

I approached the woman to take a closer look, she wasn't a great
looking woman she was more plain than beautiful, her face I noticed was
red from the harsh cold wind. Her hands were clenched in fists that
looked like they would never open. Her coat, a brown loose fitting
jacket, was buttoned up to the neck. A scarf wrapped thickly around her
neck looked uncomfortably tight, her shoes had soaked in much of the
rain.

Despite all of this some thing did not feel right, I wondered why she
should be roaming about the streets in such bad weather.

The woman lifted her head slightly when I reached her, there was a look
of surprise in her eyes, she smiled as if to say she was glad to see
me. Nervously I asked her what her name was, I told her my name and she
said her's was Ellie. Her reply was faint and she carried on to tell me
she had been evicted from her lodgings and she had now got to sleep
rough. She said that her parents had not sent her any money for weeks
and that they had told her she must fend for herself from now on.

I took pity on Ellie and offered her a cup of tea at my comfortable
home. She nodded in grateful thanks. I took hold of her arm and led her
further up the street to where I lived. My house was small, although it
had been big enough for two people a few years ago. The few pieces of
furniture I had was old but clean and comfortable.

We entered the house and I removed my coat. I hung it on a peg which
stuck out from the old peeling wall paper. Ellie removed her scarf and
coat, she held them out to me, her hands shaking with the cold. I went
in to the kitchen to make the tea, I took the tea along with some
sandwiches back in to the room. Ellie was sitting by the fire warming
herself, she drank the tea with such force I thought she might choke,
she asked for another, I poured her one. Her hands had become more pink
in colour now and her cheeks were not so red.

I glanced over at Ellie and saw that she was deep in thought, I
wondered what troubled her so much, I asked her if she was ready to
talk now, she just nodded.

She beagan to tell me about her lodgings and how she had come to be so
far from home, then as to why her parents had disowned her. In short
she had come here to further her education and her parents had said
they would foot all the bills but because of some unforeseen accident
they could no longer afford it. She didn't finish her story until the
early hours of the morning, which I was glad of because it meant I had
company again.

It seemed so long since I had any company yet it had only been a few
hours since my last visitor left. She was also a lost soul who I had
taken care of because no one else would. The funny thing about it was
Ellie and my other visitor were very much alike, no one would miss
them, not straight away.

I asked Ellie if she would like to stay until the rain had stopped she
said yes, as I hoped she would. I made us some more tea then got her
some more food. 'Be kind to them always', I thought to myself and they
will stay longer.

My last few visitors had all taken to my kindness, they stayed a while
because they felt sorry for the old man living on his own ever since
his wife died.

I didn't want pity, I wanted company, someone to talk to on these cold
and dismal nights. I had no family, my wife was unable to bear children
which was a shame, it turned her cold towards the outside world and
that left us without friends.

Ellie was saying something to me while I was thinking to myself, I only
caught the last two words, she said 'leave now', my heart leapt like a
rocket, I was scared that she was going to leave straight away. The
others had wanted to leave, they always got fed up with me.

I couldn't let her go now I had begun to like her, plus it was raining
outside and I wouldn't want her catching cold. I offered her the spare
room to stay in until it was light enough to go looking for a job and
some cheap lodgings, she agreed that it would be stupid to go out now
in the cold. My heart gladdened at this, now I could sleep peacefully
knowing that I would not be alone tonight in my little house.

I went upstairs to straighten the spare room out, it still had things
left from my last visitor. I came back down stairs with a spring in my
step, I walked in to the room to find it empty. I ran to the front
door, it was open. I ran in to the street, there was no-one insight,
Ellie had vanished off the face of the earth. I felt hurt and sad, now
I had no-one to spend the night with, there would be no cheerful voice
to wake up to.

I was angry and frustrated, it was too late now to go find another
person. I would have to wait until tomorrow.

I woke early and went for the paper; the rain had stopped and the sun
was shining. The front page of the paper showed a young girls face, the
caption below said she had been found last night behind some rubbish.
It said that although she had been tied and gagged, she had not been
starved, someone had obviously taken good care of her at first. The
girls name was Josie Brown she was twenty five. I knew Josie, she had
been my last visitor before Ellie, she had wanted to leave me on my
own, I didn't want her to leave.

As I sat reading my paper there was a knock at the door, it was the
police they were doing house to house enquiries. They wanted to know if
I knew Miss Josie brown, of course, I told them no, what would a young
girl be doing with an old man like me. They agreed with me and left to
ask other people about her. I closed the door and gave a huge sigh of
relief, I knew they would not suspect a frail old man.

The girls would have been safe if they had not wanted to leave, I would
have cared for them, they would not have had to work.

The newspaper had said that there had been six such deaths in the last
three years, but still no clues as to who the brutal murderer
was.

Coincidentally it was just three years since my wife wanted to leave, I
couldn't let her go either, I suppose though, she will be happier where
she is now.........