Like Music To My Ears

1

This strange story starts with a young couple walking up the end of the docks late at night. A couple of empty boats sat there moving up and down with the waves.

Something unusual was about to happen in the small sea town of Port Felix.

‘Isn't it too late to be here…?’ she asked. Lara’s voice was a mix of teenage excitement and tension, ‘...you never know what type of creeps lurk in the darkness.’

Darren didn’t seem to care, he had other things in mind. Those skinny arms of his, wrapped around Lara’s waist - she knew what he wanted, but wasn’t going to give it so easy.

Poor Darren had been trying to reach this point since they had officially named themselves boyfriend and girlfriend but Lara was a virgin and felt uncomfortable doing that with him. Darren used to be fine with taking things slow, but he changed lately.

They reached a fence that stopped people from just falling in the water, Lara held it, looking up at the full moon. Its reflection on the sea, shined just as much as the moon itself, not to talk about the stars… who knows if there were others up there, looking at their stars with a similar sense of wonder…

You see, Lara had recently moved from the city - with all the light pollution over in Manchester, she rarely saw stars.

‘I know what you want,’ he whispered in her ear, pulling up her light summer dress slowly…

But Lara’s mind was somewhere else, Darren was just a background thought. Her eyes locked on what looked like a black spot on the moon, with the vague shape of a person falling in angel position.

Darren kissed her neck first and gently moved down her back, kiss by kiss…

The black thing got larger and larger, finally Lara told him about it, ‘... do you see that too?’

‘See what…?’ he mumbled without looking.

Lara insisted, ‘Come on Darren, look over there!’ she slapped his hands off her to his displeasure.

‘There you go again… why won’t you—’

‘I said, look over there!’

Darren complied and saw the black figure in the distance, it got bigger - or closer - by the second.

‘It’s probably a bird or something...!’ he touched her again, she slid away.

‘Fuck sake…!’

No matter how loud he screamed, Lara’s eyes were stuck on the thing. He walked away mumbling to himself how hard it was for him to be with a girl who liked him but wouldn’t… you know...

The figure was quickly covering up the moon from Lara, it was clear now, that was a person falling right towards her.

She looked around, Darren was far gone in the darkness of the night. Lara took few steps back with her eyes on the figure, now just few feet away.

Whatever it was fell hard on the docks; a bang so loud on the wooden platform, it scared Lara, she covered her eyes.

Lara peeked through them and saw the figure laid face up, body down. Again, the head was twisted and faced the sky while the body had fallen belly down.

Her head was wrapped what looked like a bandage, like a mummy and didn’t seem to be moving. The thought crossed Lara’s mind that she could be dead - logically, if she was alive, she would be shouting while falling.

Lara stepped back, the lady had loose bandages covering her entire body, including the face.

She moved.

Lara’s body begged to run away but her curiosity was in control for the time being.

She convulsed for a second and made sounds, growls, bones inside her cracked one by one as she got on her feet slowly. The impact of the fall had twisted her head.

Lara's legs moved almost without her will; a run for her life began even before the creature could spot her - doing so, Lara missed out on the way the fallen lady grabbed her head and forced it back to normal with strong, bone-breaking, twist. Only her eye sockets had not been wrapped in that bandage.

Those eyes didn’t seem normal at first: they had a glowing red tone but, suddenly, they changed to a normal light blue. She began stripping out of the bandages slowly from top to bottom. The butterfly emerged from its cocoon...

In the silence of the night, she walked away from the docks semi-naked.

2

The police car parked in front of Mrs Jenna Cleverly's shop on the road towards the beach. She was freaking out in front of the building painted in bright turquoise.

There was a young woman trying to calm her down as she gesticulated, screamed and cursed whoever did that to her.

The real problem wasn't that her used shop’s windows were broken, but that she hadn’t been paying insurance for a couple months. Deep down she felt like it was some kind of sign, but she wouldn't tell anyone where the insurance money had been going instead.

Officer Jay Harris walked out of the white Audi painted bright yellow and blue. He had the classic British police uniform: black with a yellow vest on top and a hat on his head with POLICE written on it. That, along with his badge, made him proud to do this job, except when the towns people would call the police for the dumbest reasons - the most criminal thing anyone had done in the area lately was a man who farted loudly in a restaurant.

Mrs Anna Cleverly was being calmed down by her daughter Tania.

Just so you know, he and Tania had a thing going on when they were younger, she cheated on him, and they hadn't talked much since…

‘... ehm, what’s going on…?’ Harris always felt weird talking to her after what she did t him.

Tania didn't care as much, ‘Jay, someone broke into my mom’s shop!’

He gave a look at the shattered front glass ‘What did they steal?’

Tania shook her head, ‘That’s what’s weird, nothing important is missing. All the money is still in the counter, but we think some clothes are gone.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Give it a look yourself…’

Mrs Cleverly didn’t even acknowledge Jay's presence. Nor did she stop him when he walked through the shop’s door and noticed a trail of bandages that went from the front of the shop down a corridor which led into a little office. The doors of the office had been forced open and the handle was torn off the door and thrown on the ground.

The office itself only had a desk and a chair in it with a little window at the top.

Wait, there was more. Harris noticed a wall with a safe build in, when closed, the safe's door blended with the wall almost perfectly.

There was a stack of money in it, a couple gold chains and a Rolex watch - Mr Cleverly owned it before he disappeared few months prior.

Harris stared at the safe’s door, it didn't seem to have been forced open.

‘My mom says they took something important from there…’

Tania's voice startled Harris. He tried to fake being composed but it was pretty clear she scared him

‘W-What?’

‘She won't tell me what they took…’

‘How can I help you guys if I don’t know what I’m looking for?’

‘Don't know. But she's devastated...’ Tania stood at the door. Her voice was soft, gentle.

Harris had never doubted, she was a beautiful woman. Her wide hips, heavy breasts, blonde straight hair made her a goddess in his eyes. And she knew it.

‘You know, that police training is really doing some magic on your shoulders…’

He was taken aback - that’s what she wanted - ‘W-what…?’ he mumbled.

She stepped in slowly, making harder steps to make her body bounce, ‘I said, there’s something different about you Jay… and I like it…’ her soft tone, those movements, were useless on him.

‘Why won’t you like me?’ she stood right in front of him, ‘Maybe I can convince you in another way…’

‘I need to go…’ he pushed her gently to the side and left the room.

3

The alarm clock rang in Lara's room. It was useless, she wasn't sleeping; how could she go back to sleep after seeing that thing the previous night?

Lara got up and walked to the wardrobe. It was a Monday, and school awaited her. She went downstairs after putting the school uniform on: a blazer, white t-shirt and skirt.

Mr James Avery was in the kitchen making breakfast. 'Morning dad!' she told him.

James had his back to her and was making eggs, 'Right on time, these will be ready in a minute...'

Lara sat at the kitchen counter, and waited to be served when the door knocked - she already knew who it was...

'Hey!' Harriet wrapped her arms around Lara as soon as she opened the door.

Harriet was slightly chubby brunette who loved ponies so much, she had stickers of them all over her pink school bag. 'Are you ready, today, the first day of school?'

'... no, I still feel like summer just started...'

'Come on, look at the bright side. We'll spend more time together...'

'I don't look forward to it,' joked Lara.

'Girls, are you going to be having a meeting out there or do you want to come have a bite?!' James yelled from the kitchen.

'I think I'll skip breakfast dad, thanks!'

James had dark gray hair, a businessman with a lot of free time, which he dedicated to finding new properties to invest in. He always had this necklace with his wife's picture, even if she died a long time ago.

The sun shined bright in the sky and made Port Felix look serene, with its small cramped houses surrounded by hills covered in trees. Lara closed the door behind her. The walk to school was going to take about 20 minutes.

'You know that guy I was talking to?'

Lara nodded, ‘Darren’s friend.’

' Yeah, he asked me out on a date...'

'That's fantastic! When?'

'On Friday! Carlos’ family moved here from Spain just a couple months ago and I swear, his accent-'

'... makes your heart melt... I know... I know...'

'How many times have I said that?'

'Like a thousand and thirteen - not like I've been counting...'

They giggled as a car passed by the narrow road, covered in bricks, which made the village look even more picturesque.

The girls arrived at a