Nuance has a minion!

Rustle the Enchanted Owl

premade profile by Chen

A breeze blows

through the cool, crisp night. The street lamp's light is pale but just enough to illuminate the way. It almost seems as the world has gone silent, but the occasional sound of shoes grating on rocks disrupts the quiet peace and is a reminder that life continues. All comfortable and familiar things will be asleep now, at such a late hour, but the night offers a kind of lonely solace like nothing else ever does; the absolute calm driving away the mayhem of the day, and the stress of putting up fronts for others. Keep moving, and stay in the light, as Mother always said. Maybe not about this specifically, but the lamplight feels like safety anyway. Shoes crunch as the temperature drops suddenly and without warning, breath puffing in tiny clouds. Fingers chill and find pockets, shoulders hunch to protect ears from the sudden cold. Shoes crunch on the ground, but the noise is interrupted by another, disconcerting one. It's a faint shuffle, maybe the rustle of leaves but not quite right, maybe the sound of a bird fixing its wings closed as it lands. The lamp ahead begins to flicker, slowly at first and all attention is drawn to it for no flickering had been seen before. The noise again, that rustle, louder this time. Another breeze kicks up, but it doesn't feel right, it caresses up the arms like a hand from a lover and an indecipherable whisper echos. The chill is more than the cold air now, and the lamp is flickering faster. The steady crunch of the shoes that had stopped under the flickering light now begin again, running, breath panting. The lamp flicks out behind with a quiet pop. Its light vanishes and that breeze- that caressing breeze- becomes a grab on the shoulders, and a fearful moan accompanies the now loud rustle from before. All at once the shoe-sounds stop, and a horrified scream is lost into the night.