Stranger (standard:horror, 3445 words)
Author: Lev821	Added: Nov 05 2016	Views/Reads: 2622/1549	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Don't go alone to a party, you might meet a stranger.

Despite the party going on inside Inceheath Stately home, Kathy Sanders
wasn't having much fun. She was stood outside, smoking, debating 
whether or not to simply go home. It was 10pm and the sky was black as 
pitch, the only illuminations on the front driveway coming from the 
home, and several muted lights, embedded around the edges of the 
car-park. 

At 18 years old, blonde curly hair, a thin frame and wearing a dark
green chiffon belted dress which she had bought cheap for the occasion, 
she wasn't going to splash out she'd thought, as the party was thrown 
to celebrate the owners 50th wedding anniversary. Mr and Mrs Wells who 
lived there had sent out a hundred invites into the local village which 
was beyond a vast expanse of woods which fronted the stately home. It 
was different from other homes in that its gardens and grounds were 
spread out behind it. The front, beyond the gravelled car-park, woods 
spread for several miles in all directions. The village was accessed by 
two long pathways that wound through the trees to the left and the 
right of the home. There was no gated entrance. The Well's could have 
had some of the woods cut down and had gardens built, but they had 
chosen to keep it the way it was. 

Kathy's mother had recieved one of the invites but decided against it
and gave it to her daughter who thought it might not be so bad, 
considering she had recently had a car bought for her as a birthday 
gift by her father, and the trip to the home was only a three mile 
drive. That drive however, took her through deep woods on a narrow 
road, a test even for experienced drivers, but when she had arrived two 
hours ago it was still daylight and although she had intended to drive 
home when it wasn't too dark, she had got talking to people and wasn't 
aware that dusk had crept up on the village and thrown its blackening 
veil over the country. 

The thing was though, although she had thought going to the party alone
wouldn't be too bad as she was fairly good at talking to people, it 
turned out not to be the case. She spoke to a few locals who were ok 
but quickly moved on. She found herself feeling rather self-concious, 
especially when she avoided alcohol all night because she was driving. 
Then there was Colin, a stranger who had turned up alone, who had been 
trying to chat her up, sometimes following her around. She hoped he had 
got the message that she wasn't interested, but Kathy was too polite, 
and couldn't really speak her mind, so she gave the message by avoiding 
him, and moving around trying to speak to other people, but then it 
dawned on her that this wasn't the best party she had ever been to. She 
didn't really know anyone, and she had some lonely creep trying to 
shadow her, so on the steps outside she made the decision that once she 
had finished the cigarette, she was off home, guessing that nobody 
would miss her, except maybe Colin. 

"They're bad for you, you know" came a voice behind her. 'Colin' she
thought, as he came into her view. 47 years old, balding, slightly 
rotund in a light brown suit. "Smokes" he said as he lit one up, smoke 
billowing around his face. "Yep," she said, "Bad habit". "Are you 
staying long?" he asked. "Nope, after this I'm going home. Home to see 
my boyfriend". She could see the disappointment on his face. She didn't 
have a boyfriend. Just then, somewhere above in the darkness, the 
clouds unleashed rain, and Kathy didn't bother to finish the cigarette 
and flicked it away. 

"Right, I'm going home, nice to meet you".  She then dashed across to
her crimson alizarin renault megane and got into the driver's seat, 
rain hammering the car. She fired the engine and reversed from the 
parking space, and as she stopped to turn the steering wheel, she saw 
Colin in the rear-view mirror dashing down the steps, waving to her. 
You've got to be kidding me, she thought, stepping on the accelerator, 
and as she drove the vehicle towards the path leading from the home, 
she saw Colin running towards a car. 

'Don't follow me', she muttered, 'you may be a nice guy but I don't
fancy you now leave me alone'. 

The car was swallowed wholesale by the woods, her headlights lighting up
the narrow pathway ahead. The stately home had vanished from the 
rear-view mirror, and now she had to call on all her driving skills as 
she wound through the trees, the path curving and sloping here and 
there, coarse, rough, and growing more and more sleek and wet as the 


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