"𝐈𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐮𝐬. 𝐀𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐲, 𝐰𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐬."

She was walking through the dark alley. She always goes to her house using this route so it was nothing unusual.

But as she was walking while summing up what she had done over the course of the entire day, she felt someone following her. At first, she assumed they were going the same way as her. She thought they'd be gone when she took turns.

So by not taking any of it seriously, she keeps on walking straight.

But what made her gulp in fear was that they also followed her at every turn she took. Now she kind of felt suspicious and so thought to fasten her phase a little to see whether or not they were following her.

When she felt them adjusting their pace according to hers, she felt the hair on the back of her neck standing. She fastened her pace in fear and panicked when they also fastened their pace.

With her beating heart, uneven breathing, and trembling figure, she ran as fast as she could. When she felt them reaching her, her heart almost sank. Her heartbeat fastened as well.

She starts to take long steps to reach home faster. When she was almost outside her home, she felt the person just behind her. Her heart skipped a beat and in a panic state without making any mistakes she tried to push the correct buttons for the password.

When it made the clicking sound indicating the door was unlocked she felt a slight relief as she felt reassured that she'll be safe after all.

Without wasting any more time she twists the door handle and pushes open the door. The moment she put her first step in, she turned back in a flash and pulled the door with all her might; closing it with a loud thud in front of her.

She sighed heavily when she finally felt relieved and safe. The anxiousness was gone as the stiff form loosened a bit. Her heart was still beating uncontrollably. She was still breathing non-stop.

She looked at her hand which showed the hair of it standing. She must have gotten way too frightened after listening to the rumours.

Exhaling deeply her body leaned on the door behind her as she breathed unevenly. When her heart felt at ease and her breath felt even, her body gently slid down the door. With both her hands, she covered her face.

"That was close," she breathed continuously. "My heart almost stopped beating due to the sudden surprise."

She curled up in a ball and embraced her legs. She remained like that for a whereas. When she still felt not calm, she butterfly-hugged herself. Approximately 5 minutes later she at last felt a bit calm and her heart stopped beating so quickly.

She was still in a state of shock but she was feeling better than before. She slowly stood up and placed the bag in her hand on top of the table.

"I should take a shower," she tells herself as she takes off her shoes and gets inside.

She sat down on her bed and again sighed.

"I'm still feeling anxious," she shakes her head hectically. "No, it's all just my misunderstanding. They aren't around so I shouldn't be scared now. I'm safe and sound inside," she said to herself, trying to reassure herself by giving herself some courage.

She decides to turn on the TV to distract herself from the incident. She ran from channel to channel till a headline of a news channel caught her attention.

It was about a killer that was roaming around freely.

"The killer is in my city? I've to be careful while walking on lonely streets from now on. The incident before could've been something related to him."

She said to herself, thinking of the possibility of meeting the killer on the streets.

The killer was not the usual one we get to see out there. He is different. She has heard rumors about him in her office and now those were mentioned on the news as well.

The victims of him who luckily survived have mentioned him singing a song. His acts were nothing different than a person who has lost his sanity.

One moment he is laughing then the other moment he is crying. Then all of a sudden he'd start to shout in anger. He is unpredictable.

But these weren't the traits that made him unique; that made him different from the other killers out there. It was his way of murdering his victim. He-

She turned off the TV as she wasn't in the mood to listen to how he tortured his victims. She was already frightened by the moment that happened earlier. And if now she listened to their very real brief explanation she would not be able to sleep the whole night.

She sighed thinking about what was happening around the world. She stood up and walked toward her closet. She takes out her white nightgown which is a bit transparent.

She lives alone so it's not a problem wearing something transparent. Moreover, it's not that transparent to make her body parts visible.

When she was done she placed the gown on the bed. Then taking a towel with her, she walks into the washroom. After taking out her clothes, she put them with the other clothes in the small basket for unclean attire.

She then untangles a few strands of her hair as she looks at her reflection in the mirror. Marks of dried water can be seen here and there around the mirror.

She looks at herself and slightly smiles.

"You're beautiful. Be more confident," she said to herself, straightening her posture.

She always had low self-esteem. She has no one around who could cheer her up or give her some courage. She is all she has for herself. So when she feels low in esteem she says cheerful and courageous words to herself to make herself feel better. Eventually, it provides her with the confidence to keep going until the day's end.

She turns on the shower, letting the cold water hit her skin in a gentle and calm way. She felt the burden and exhaustion from her shoulder and back lifting.

The anxious feeling inside her chest exchanged its place with gentleness and calmness. The uneasiness was gone. She was finally feeling at ease. The stiffness over her shoulders was no longer in existence.

She thought that she should wash her hair as well to make herself feel even better. She gently massaged her head, forgetting her every stress, pain, problem, and regret.

She was finally experiencing a true sense of well-being.

After the long and soothing shower that seems to heal her every problem, she wipes off the water so that it won't make the floor all watery when she goes outside. Then she dried off the excess water from her hair and wrapped the towel around her body.

She opened the door and turned toward the direction of the door with the intention of closing it along coming out. When the door was closed and she was outside as well, she turned off the light switch in the washroom.

The moment she turned around she didn't even get to open her eyes and see what was happening as she felt a strong force pushing her towards the wall, making her back hit the wall.

She was hissing in pain as she slowly tried to open her eyes, trying to see what really pushed her. The Moment her eyes caught a glimpse they grew widened in pure shock as a gasp left her mouth.

"W-Who are you?!"