As the cop car skidded out of view, the rain grew heavy and oppressive as Alex’s mother wiped her hands on her apron, shaking her head and muttering some unkind words in French. Even if Alex didn’t understand the meaning, she would know the intent with the way her mother spit the words her face going dark as she’d wrinkle her nose and shake her head. Opening the old white washed wooden door and holding it open for Alex for just a moment before she’d let it close behind her when the girl didn’t immediately respond and the faint aroma of burning food filled the air. Inside would soon be a cacophony of the smoke detector, and her Mother rushing to try and salvage dinner and ranting to herself about the police taking up so much of her time. While the lack of fire was evident, her mother would soon return and prop the front door open with a chair.<br/><br/>“Just stay put right here ma chérie… It is awful nasty in there right now.” She’d say with a shake of her head back inside, attempting to billow the smoke out of the window with a towel. The crowd across the street had dwindled down to just a pair of old men arguing loudly about what should be done about the recent string of burglaries, going back and forth with more and more outlandish and outright cruel punishments. Eventually even they would stray inside, seeking to get away from the rain that grew all the heavier with each passing minute. The sky darkened and the streetlamps turned on, but the water retained a somehow murky quality to it, and somehow, deep in the ally next to her house a deep puddle had formed, and it almost looked as if pair of dark eyes were staring out a her from it. A single crooked finger becoming her closer as the puddle seemed to shape into a man, his hands twisted and siting the wrong way on his wrists and the rest of him cloaked in a dark cloak, his skin as black as nightfall and his eyes as white as the full moon on a clear night.<br/><br/>“Come here darlin’ show me what you got… Don’t worry little thing; I won’t take your prize.” The voice came almost like a whisper falling with the rain itself. The umbrella her mother had given her was oversized, far more suited for an adult than a child… though it had until this point kept her dry. The rain had started to fall so hard at this point she could feel the drops starting to pelt against her legs and knees as the wind picked up and the rain grew cold.<br/>