Wild Night

A Story by Drew Patterson

Aftermath of a young man and woman's wild night together.

Eric sat on the edge of the bed and stared out the balcony into the night sky. The moon was only a small crescent tonight, but the stars were somehow particularly bright. Bright to the point of illuminating the room enough for him to see everything. Eric took another hit from the cigarette he was holding and slowly blew the smoke out into the starlit room. He wasn't really a genuine smoker. The only time he smoked was after nights like tonight, but he wasn't completely sure why. Maybe it was the calming effect of the slow, steady inhaling and exhaling of smoke. Or maybe it was just because he needed something to do afterwards since he could never sleep right after the act. Whatever it was, Eric took the last few drags before putting out the cigarette in the ashtray on the nightstand.

The alarm clock on the nightstand read 2:34 AM. 'Late night', Eric thought, but he knew he wouldn't be sleeping any time soon. He never spent the night at a woman's house nor matter how wild their time had been. Plus, even though it was so early in the morning, Eric had to get ready for work soon. As he got up off the bed to start getting ready, he found himself gazing at the woman who had made last night so amazing. She lay there peacefully, her pale skin illuminated by the starlight shining through the balcony door. 'She truly is a beautiful woman', Eric thought to himself as she lay there with the comforter only covering her up to her hips. He had always had a thing for redheads and when he had seen her at the library last night, he knew he had to approach her. Whatever charm he had must have worked as they ended up back at her place. Everything had happened so quickly that it felt like the last three hours had only lasted three minutes. But what an incredible three minutes they were!

Eric gathered himself and quietly walked over to his backpack sitting next to the balcony door. He always had it with him and when women would ask about it, he always said he was coming straight from class. Eric was in fact a student enrolled at UCLA, but most of the time his bag was just full of overnight gear in case he got lucky, and he knew women would not be impressed with that answer. He rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a vintage SX-70 Polaroid instant camera, a small photo album, and a black Sharpie. He set the Sharpie and photo album on the nightstand, and after a few moments spent trying to find the perfect angle, he snapped a photo of the woman on the bed. As he waved the Polaroid photo in the air waiting for it to develop, Eric reflected on the personal project he had started 2 years ago when he first started attending school as a photography major. His first photography professor had challenged the entire class to take chances with their photography and be passionate about what they shot. Every once in while, Eric stopped to think about if his professor had this in mind. Sure, it wasn't the most classy (or ethical) move to snap photos of half-naked women without their consent. But Eric wasn't taking these photos so he could just jack off to them in his dorm room later - he was making art. And quality art always pushes boundaries, he justified. Plus he always made sure the the women's faces were not clearly visible in the picture.

Eric finished waving the picture around and admired his latest work. It was probably the best photo he had taken since started his project. He picked up the Sharpie and wrote the date on the back of the photo. He paused for a moment, drawing a blank on the woman's name. It had started with a "K" - Kim? Kelly? Kara? Kate! That was it, Kate. Eric wrote Kate's name on the back of the photo and stuck it in his album.

The clock now read 2:52 AM, and Eric knew it was time to get ready for work. He put the camera, photo album, and Sharpie back in his bag and took it to the bathroom. He quietly made his way to Kate's kitchen and searched for where she kept her trash bags. He found them in the cabinet under the sink and grabbed a few. Back in the bedroom, he went through Kate's closet hoping to find some good luggage he could use. He spotted two medium sized suitcases - they had a feminine design but they would do. Eric felt somewhat bad that he was using Kate's luggage for his own work but he figured she wouldn't really miss them. In the bathroom, he took out the procedural face mask and rubber gloves from his backpack and put them on.

With everything prepped and ready to go, Eric finally made his way over to the bed, picked up Kate, and carried her to the bathtub. She had been dead now for about an hour, and still had some warmth in her. Her face was frozen in the shocked state she had entered when their wild night together had taken an unexpected turn after Eric's hands had tightened around her neck and remained there until she took her final breath. It truly had been the most thrilling experience Eric had had since he started his project. Kate was the seventh woman he had been with and by far the most exhilarating. Now was now time to reminisce though, as Eric needed to be out of the house in two hours tops. He took the handsaw, safety goggle, and bleach from his bag, turned on the faucet in the bathtub, and got to work.

By 5 AM Eric was ready to go. In the one suitcase he had everything from Kate's house that he had touched. In the other, Kate herself was neatly packed away. He had done a deep clean of both the bathroom and bedroom and was confident that there was not trace of him left in her place. He was thankful her apartment complex had an elevator. Last thing he needed was to haul two heavy suitcases down three flights of stairs. Plus he didn't need to risk dropping one, having its contents spill all over the stairs, and explaining that away. Eric hopped on an Uber to Venice Beach. He waded out into the ocean until the water was at chest level. It was still before dawn but the first rays of sunlight were starting to peak up from behind. Eric stood completely still and just embraced the brief moment of complete serenity. Finally he pushed the two suitcases out into the Pacific, recited a brief prayer on Kate's behalf, and headed back to shore.

It was 7AM by the time Eric got back to campus. He took a much needed shower and washed out all the blond hair dye he had put in the day before. When he hopped out, he made sure to put his color contacts, which had changed his natural brown eyes green, back in their case. As he entered his dorm room, Sean, his roommate, was just about to head to his first class of the day. "You just getting in from last night?' Sean asked. "Yeah," Eric replied, "going to catch a few Z's before photography class at noon." "Man, must have been a pretty wild night," Sean remarked as he headed off to class. Eric smiled and thought to himself,'If you only knew', as he drifted off to sleep.