His fingers worked with incredible speed and a now comforting fluidity across the controls as he scored another goal against Manchester United. The game console purred as it replayed his moment of magic, his gaze wandered to Stacey, sound asleep, slightly stirring and then gone again. Her hair reached out to the console. amost as though sub-consciously she was trying to switch it off. She would always go on about how they never went to bed at the same time anymore, she had a point, but the games relaxed him and he was more of a night person anyway. He felt more awake, no in fact secretly he felt more alive during the night. It was the darkness that enveloped him, the sense of being awake when the majority of people were asleep, most of all the solitude.

Half time and Newcastle are 6-1 up, time for a bathroom break, he headed down the stairs being careful not to disturb Stacey as she would surely ask him to come to bed.

Feeling a bit peckish he headed toward the kitchen, chocolate or cheese, cadburys or camembert. He walked out with the chocolate and headed toward the kitchen window, He opened the window to feel the cold breeze upon his face, he liked the cold, more so than the heat of a fire or a summers day. he cold was bareable, the goosebumps were a welcome effect on his arms.

He was about to head back upstairs and return to the Old Trafford mauling, when he saw a flicker of shadow against the yellow tinge of a bedroom window, 3 houses down over the street.

It looked as though there were 2 silhouettes involved a male and a female, it must be the  young couple who had only recently moved in, he hadnt learned their names yet, only that they were not married yet and kept themselves to themselves.

If it wasnt for their body language, Paul would have abandoned his nosiness and headed back upstairs. It was definitely an argument, although he could only see the girl now, fast hand actions moving up to her face and shaking, she must be crying, Paul leaned to put the chocolate bar on bench and as he looked back the girls face was drawn up to the ceiling her chin protuding forward, there was an outstretched arm and a big hand around her throat, she was shaking and trying to get her hands onto this arm. Pauls blood boiled and he could feel a sense of fear and adrenaline shoot through his body. He looked around for the house phone and glanced back quickly, trying not to break eye contact with the girl, scared of losing her, he took a step back and glanced behind the microwave, Stacey must have took it into the lounge. He glanced back over the road and a bolt of fear shot straight through him as a man was stood in the middle of the bay window staring straight at him, Pauls face flushed with a slight embarassment and he wondered whether to look away but something in the mans eyes, kept him frozen still, goosebumps covered all of his body now as Paul stared into these almost inhuman eyes.

Just before the curtains shut an image was left with Paul that would haunt him all night, beneath the black death pools the mans face cracked horizontally to reveal the most horrifying smile, Paul had ever seen.

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