Unknown POV

Guilt, a tiny part of me has been feeling extreme guilt since that dreadful night almost half a year ago. However, the other dominant part of me has been feeling victorious, for I've managed to escape with what I've done from right under everyone's noses.

I never really planned for things to get that ugly, or for a person to end up dead, but I've always been proud of myself for being able to go with the flow. And going with the flow, in that case, resulted in me doing some things that I should not be exactly proud of.

But the problem is that I can't help but be proud.

It all started with me admiring her, admiring the way that she looks, admiring the way that she carries herself around, and the way that she can easily interact with people. So, I wanted to be like her, or actually, better than her.

And the only way that I could do that was by trying to copy everything she does, but that turned out to be extremely hard. She was smart, I am not, at least not when it comes to academics. She was easy going and sociable, I am not, so I decided to bring her down just a notch or two. She was perfect, and bringing her down a notch would not really affect her that much.

So, I decided to try and scare her a little bit without actually harming her. I hate violence, but sometimes, I just can't control myself, like that horrible night in the woods. I started by sending a note and some pictures that I photo-shopped - though she didn't know that.

I stupidly thought that she'll get distracted and lose focus on everything around her when she thinks that she has a stalker, but it didn't work because she ignored the note.

I have to admit that I got really mad when she didn't seem affected by the note, so I went a little crazy. I got into her room, which wasn't hard at all because she leaves her dorm unlocked and that is a stupid person's move if we're being honest.

Turns out that you can do a lot in two hours, so the next thing I know is that I've trashed the whole room. Well not the whole room, only one side of the room. Seeing her reaction when she came home was worth all the effort that I put in, but when she told the campus's security, my heart fell.

I thought for sure that I got busted; especially because of that note that I left, but then they took the situation lightly. That's when she and I both realized that this game is now between the both of us and that no one will be coming to save her, so the games began.

I would go into details of everything that I've done after that, but that would be boring, so I'll just skip ahead. What really baffled me is that she always acted normal in front of everyone as if she was not scared out of her mind, and that triggered the crazy part in me.

One thing led to another, and things got out of hand which made me regret starting this whole thing especially when she was suddenly all that everyone would talk about. But now, things are much better making me not regret what I did as much as before.

Life is better, I feel better. I feel like my soul is worry-free, and everything is much better. Who would believe that I would go bird watching daily? Me, the person who hates nature more than anything in life?

You're probably wondering how I ended up doing this in my free time. Well, in the beginning, I would spend all my free time stalking, searching for ideas and trying to figure out my next move, and when everything was over, I got bored really quickly.

So when a friend of mine gave me a pair of binoculars - which I named Larissa - as a birthday gift, I searched the internet for activities that I could use them in. However, when you're trapped on campus, there's not much that you can do, but since our school has large woods that attract lots of different species of birds, bird watching was my only option.

However, I never go bird watching on any of the official trials - those that were deemed safe by the university after what happened half a year ago. The official trials are always overcrowded with people who want nothing but to apparently try out Larissa.

And so, I always go bird watching on the unofficial trails as none of the students ever dare to venture in them. To put it nicely, all of them are cowards.

Spotting a bird in one of the trees, I search for another tree that's close enough for me to have a clear view of the bird, yet far enough so that I wouldn't disturb it while I'm climbing up. You don't have to climb trees while you're bird watching, but since Larissa is not that high quality, I figured out that the higher I am, the better.

I started to go bird watching at the end of last semester, so it's safe to say that I taught myself how to climb trees quietly at a fast pace, and that's why less than two minutes later, I sitting at the same level as the bird.

The idea of birds itself has fascinated me ever since I was a small child. I would sit at my window seat whenever I had a fight with my parents and look outside towards the trees in our backyard. I would gaze at the birds, and whenever I saw one of them fly away easily, I would wish that I could turn into a bird.

In fact, that was my wish on my ninth, tenth and eleventh birthday, but after I slowly started turning into a teenager, all the thoughts concerning birds were quickly forgotten until I started bird watching this year.

When I told my parents that I bird watch, they got me a camera on my very next birthday so that I can capture all the birds that I see and make a scrapbook. But after the first two times that I tried taking pictures, I found out that this takes the fun out of the activity. That's why I put the camera aside and decided to just live in the moment and enjoy it.

I continued looking at the bird until it finally flew away making me wish that I could turn into a bird again. Sighing, I was just about to climb down when I heard a tree branch snap somewhere. This caused my heart to race because I knew that if I get caught by the security, I will get expelled immediately as per the university's rules.

Those non-logical rules were just put to quieten the parents down after Alex disappeared. After all, they couldn't risk losing all their students, so the next best move was to enforce rules that would supposedly calm down the parents' anger and quench their fear.

Trying to stay as quiet as I could, I stayed up in the tree and started looking all around me using Larissa. It took me a while before I finally spotted who was causing all that noise, and I was surprised.

I was almost sure that it would be a guard patrolling the trails because I've never ever seen any student other than me in those woods. So, seeing a tall thin girl instead of a huge muscular guy was definitely the highlight of my day.

I should've probably either introduced myself or left the girl to mind her own business, and seeing that I'm not exactly a social butterfly, I should've gone with the latter. But, I ashamed to say that my curiosity got the best of me, and the next thing I know, I was still sitting in the tree and using Larissa to watch the girl closely instead of leaving like any other sane person would've done.

Who said that I'm sane?

The girl sat down with her back to the tree that I'm sitting in before looking around her as if to make sure that she was alone. She then took out an old notebook and started reading it. By the time she took out her notebook, I was already getting bored out of my mind, but the boredom evaporated the moment she opened her notebook.

I had to blink twice to make sure that I'm not imagining things because I can bet on my life that this notebook is...Alex's?

You're probably wondering how I knew that it was Alex's notebook. Well, I've stalked that girl for more than three months, and during that period, I managed to collect every single thing there's to know about her, including her unique handwriting.

But this is impossible. How could this girl have a notebook that belonged to Alex? When Alex 'disappeared', the university returned all of her belongings to her parents, and I made sure to burn what was left behind. So, this is simply impossible, but at the same time, I knew that it belonged to Alex because I've never met anyone else who had that same distinctive handwriting.

Deciding that I need a closer look, I slowly climb down one branch after another; however, I grab onto one of the weak branches causing it to snap loudly. Closing my eyes with a wince, I pray that the snap wasn't as loud as I heard it, but when I see the girl gathering her stuff quickly and leaving, I knew that my prayers weren't answered.

But I also knew that I couldn't let this opportunity slip which was why I followed the girl, without snapping any more twigs until she reached what I suppose is her dorm's building. I stood there watching her yelling at someone and gesturing with her hands wildly before Riley intervened causing the girl to storm away.

Interesting...

I need to look more into this girl and find out why she has that notebook.

Definitely interesting. I guess I have something new to entertain myself with.

Surprise!

I bet you didn't expect this chapter to be from the point of view of 'S', right? 

Tell me what you think of this chapter and what you think of the way S thinks. 

And don't forget to vote and comment if you liked this chapter.

Till the next one...