She turned the corner quickly, in attempts to escape the stranger pursuing her. Sadie had never seen a human move so fast. Where she turned, he turned, making sure to keep the distance between them minimum. The cool night air caused her sweat drenched clothes to cling to her body. How long had she been running? She had only left her apartment for 30 minutes before believing she was being followed. Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen one person since leaving to meet up with her friends. It was too dark to see the only person she’d had contact with. The only thing she could tell, was that her pursuer was a male, as he had broad shoulders and was very tall. She was honestly surprised she was outrunning him. Fight or flight told her that he was dangerous and built enough to subdue her without breaking a sweat.
The sound of a car horn brought her back to reality. She had somehow run into the middle of the road where she was nearly hit by the one and only car she’d seen. After making it back to the eroded sidewalks of New Orleans, she paused to gather her surroundings. From this, she was able to determine that the man had vanished, and she was now alone with nothing but the sounds of the world around her. A quick glance at her phone told her it was 8:50 p.m., she was supposed to meet up with her friends at 9 p.m. Sadie decided to give her friend Katherine (Kat to her closest friends) a call to let her know she was going to be late. However, the call failed due to the bad reception that part of town had.
With a sigh, Sadie returned her phone to her rear pocket and continued making her way down the street. All the shops were opened but unaccompanied by signs of human life. The occasional alley cat or rat would dash past her as she walked, only to disappear into the lightless seams of the alley ways. Finally, she could seem someone standing at the crosswalk a few blocks away. Their silhouette fueling her desire to know what the fuck was going on. As she neared the person, a sensation of uneasiness nibbled at her stomach. Images of the stranger from the beginning of tonight’s adventures raced across her mind. Perhaps she should’ve tried to call the police, but it was a little too late for that now. Sadie paused when she was a few steps away from what looked like a man’s frame.
From the back, she could see the unique features of the man before her. The light from the lamp above illuminated the black hat the man was wearing. Underneath the hat revealed semi-long dark hair that fell along the man’s shoulders and upper back. Since she didn’t remember her stalker wearing any kind of hat, Sadie mustered all her courage to seek the man’s help. All she had to do, was politely get his attention and explain what was going on. Who knew such an easy task would be so difficult?
“Excuse me, sir.” She spoke, the presence of nervousness in her soft voice. The stranger didn’t reply or even turn around. Perhaps she wasn’t loud enough? Sadie repeated her sentence with a sterner approach. This time, he turned around to reveal the creepy, “purge”, mask he was wearing. From underneath the mask came a very strong and masculine reply, though inaudible. Her entire body tightened and froze at the sight of the mask and her conscience urged her to take her leave. Before she could, the man lifted his arm and brushed her wind-swept brown hair from her face. This hand then made its way across her cheek and down to her bottom lip. Unsure of what to do, Sadie brushed the man’s hand away and then began to step back. She’d finally realized that this was the man from before.
“Wait.” Said the man with a growl. Sadie paused in her tracks and brought her ice blue eyes up to meet her stalkers. Even though she could see anything, but his gold-dusted hazel eyes, she could tell he was grinning. He began to inch forward, and Sadie truly believed she was either about to be murdered or raped. Maybe if she reacted quickly enough, she would be able to run away again and seek the police. “I wouldn’t do that.” He said as he shook his head. She had no idea what she was dealing with but if he was going to do something, she hoped he would make it quick or at least would stop toying with her. Before she knew it, the masked man had her in a firm grip. His breath, though partially thinned by the mask, was hot as it escaped a tiny slit where his mouth was. Sadie tried to yank her hand away, but he pulled back with such force, she feared her arm would pop out of its socket.
By now, she was growing restless which led her to gain back her courage. “What do you want?” she asked, but this time in the most intimidating voice she could conjure. Silence…that was the reply she got. The man leaned down as if he were about to whisper in her ear (although she knew it wouldn’t be sweet nothings). To her surprise however, she could hear him inhaling implying that he was smelling her hair. Enough was enough, she used her free hand to shove the psycho away. Laughter escaped the mask before she erupted. “Take off that dumb ass mask and show me your face you pussy!”. The laughter stopped and the man let out a heavy sigh. His large hands grabbed the mask and yanked it from his face. She could see, nothing? It was like the sun and moon were turned off and the only thing left was a blank void. The only notable noise, other than static, was the sound of an alarm…
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! The sound of her alarm woke her from another restless night of sleep. Last nights dream reminded her of the others she’d had these past weeks. Each was different apart from the same scenario. In each dream, she was chased by a masked man, but she would always wake up before she could see his face. These dreams began right around the time of her 18th birthday but would space themselves out from either once a week, to every other week. Sadie didn’t pay much mind to them because, as a psychology student, she knew that dreams were uncontrollable to most people. However, she picked up the ability to occasionally lucid dream. From where she acquired this, she couldn’t tell you. Her family on the other hand, believed dreams had magic abilities that could expose your subconscious mind and even tell you of events to come. Because of this, she decided not to discuss these dreams with anyone.
After laying in bed for fifteen minutes, Sadie decided to get up and ready herself for a Saturday spent studying and hanging with friends. Her morning routine was relatively simple; she got up, showered, brushed her teeth/hair, and backed her bag to go out. Once downstairs of her campus apartment, she was met by her small group of friends. Her best friend, Katherine, instantly ran up to hug her and ask her what took her so long. “It’s Saturday, I’m allowed to sleep in.” Sadie replied with a giggle. Looking around their little group, she made eye contact with Katherine’s boyfriend Nikolai (whom she wasn’t very fond of), and their other friends, Aria and Aubrey. On Saturday’s, they all would make their way to their favorite café, “Last Drop Coffee and Tea”, (located in the French Quarter), where they would study and pass the time.
Taking the New Orleans Trolley was always a hassle. Especially at 11 a.m. when the other college students were out and about. Finally, they made it and claimed their usual table. One by one, they each ordered their usual, Sadie’s being an iced caramel macchiato. For some reason, Last Drops coffee out ranked Starbucks ten to none. With every sip, she could feel the stresses of the previous week wash away. All was well apart from Nikolai’s smart-ass comments that he would make whenever the group was together. Kat claimed that he wasn’t such an asshole when it was just the two of them, but that was something Sadie always knew was bullshit. However, all she could do was support her friend until she saw the truth. Aside from that distraction, they all decided to get out their math textbooks to go over what could be on the upcoming test.
The cover of Sadie’s book couldn’t even hit the table before the sound of police sirens filled the tiny café. “Damn, I wonder what they’re after?” Kat said with a worried look. Nikolai rolled his eyes and responded with, “Probably just some dumb-ass kids getting into trouble again.” He was referring to the previous week when the news showed the pictures of three teenage boys who were arrested for theft. They had robbed one of the antique stores and claimed they did it to appease the spirits they had upset. Even so, Sadie, despite having a sailor’s mouth, was very much apart of the church and refused to listen to such tales. “It looks like they’re heading towards campus!” cried Aubrey as she leapt up towards the window. Not even a second after she did so came the firetrucks and ambulances. This was obviously more than a couple of kids causing trouble.
After the sounds of the sirens died off, the group decided to move their study session to their campus. They all packed their bags and headed towards the trolley stop. Once there, one of their fellow students met up with them in a panic. “Something’s happened at campus!” The guy claimed. In an instant, the atmosphere changed, and everyone felt uneasy. “Do you know what happened?” Sadie asked. The student shook his head before telling them that all he knew, was that it involved another student. “Is it even safe to go back?” exclaimed Aria. Their classmate shrugged before boarding the newly arrived trolley. “Come on,” began Kat, “I’m sure that with the police there, it’s safe for us to go back”. Everyone agreed and they rode the trolley back to campus.
Once there, they could see crowds of students lining the courtyard of their campus. The police were spread out through the crowds and talking to different groups of students. From a distance, Sadie could see an ambulance parked outside the apartment complex next to hers which heightened her uneasiness. She quickly weaseled her way into one of the crowds inhabited by police. “Excuse me officer, can you tell me what’s going on? My apartment complex is over there and I can’t get to it with all the commotion.” She calmly asked. The officer glared at her before signaling another officer to come over. He whispered something into the female officers’ ear and then directed his attention back to the group of students he was talking to. The new officer asked Sadie to follow her in order to escape the noisy crowd. Sadie waved to her friends, so they would know where she was, and followed the officer to the nearby library.
“So, you live in the apartment complex over there?” the officer asked pointing in the direction of the ambulances. Sadie nodded and watched as the officer wrote on a small notepad. “Did you know a man by the name of, Ryder Williams?” asked the officer next. Sadie thought for a moment before telling her that she knew him and had talked to him a couple times. Ryder was always quiet and tended to keep to himself. He never asked anyone for help and refused to do any form of class presentation, yet he still managed to have one of the highest grades in the class. Sadie didn’t really have a problem with him, and he had surprisingly confessed his feelings for her as she was exiting her apartment at the beginning of the school year. At the time however, she wasn’t looking to be in a relationship and politely turned him down. After that encounter, he never spoke to her again but would be caught staring at her from time to time.
The officer asked her if she knew of anyone would didn’t like Ryder or would want to hurt him to which she shook her head. “He was very quiet and didn’t have many friends. Now that I think about it, he didn’t want friends. Ryder was a bit intimidating. He was very tall and masculine. I don’t think anyone would have the courage or strength to do anything to him.” Sadie replied. The only incident she could think of where someone would’ve wanted revenge was a time in biology. Ryder was sitting at his desk, minding his own business, when a fellow classmate accidentally tripped and spilt their hot coffee all over his face. The boy instantly apologized and made an excuse that he didn’t get much sleep and was clumsy. Ryder laughed before turning beet red. He grabbed the boy’s shirt, picked him up, and threw him into the wall. Everyone in the class screamed and the lights went out. However, when they came back on, it appeared like nothing had happened. The kid that was previously lying unconscious on the floor, was now sitting contently at his desk. Ryder was at his desk as well, but the coffee stains appeared to have evaporated off his clothes. He stared at her intently before the bell rang for class to let out even though it had just started. Ryder bolted out of the classroom and that was it. It was the strangest thing that had happened to her while on campus. However, she couldn’t tell this to the officer because she would surely think she was insane.
“Why do you need to know about him? Is he alright?” Sadie asked with concern. The officer closed her notepad before giving her a long stare that should’ve been her answer. “Ma’am, he was found dead this morning” the officer finally claimed. The word, “dead”, repeatedly played through her mind. Although she hadn’t seen him much lately, he was in perfect health the last time she had seen him. He never did drugs (or at least from what she could tell) and seemed happy. “Do you know what the cause of death was?” she blatantly asked. The officer told her that as far as they knew, Ryder was murdered. However, on-scene forensic pathologist determined someone had tried to make it look like it was suicide. Ryder had left a note explaining why he did what he did, but it was easily deciphered as not being written by him. “However,” the officer began, “there were questionable articles found in the victim’s possession”. When asked, “What kind of article’s?” the officer exclaimed that a pentagram was found written on the floor of Ryder’s room along with numerous books about rituals to summon the devil and other demons.
None of it made sense, but the officer claimed she had no further questions and sent Sadie on her way. As soon as she returned to her group, she explained what happened. Everyone was just as shocked as she was, even though none of them had ever spoken to him. “Serves that freak right.” Said Nikolai. Every muscle in her body had to stop her from not slapping the fuck out of him. Luckily, Kat decided not to let this slide and elbowed him in the stomach. They then began to get into an argument and the rest of the group decided to part ways. By this time, the ambulance was leaving campus with poor Ryder’s body and the police cars began to file out. Students were instructed to head straight to their dorms and/or apartments.
On her way back to her apartment, Sadie felt compelled to go investigate Ryder’s room. As long as she didn’t tamper with anything or get caught, everything would be fine. So, she paused in front of Ryder’s previous living quarters. She figured that his room would be easy to find since it probably had police tape surrounding it. Having been right, she paused in front of her classmates’ old room. “Do Not Enter” tape made a perfect, “X” on the door and Sadie carefully slid underneath to investigate the room. The horrors she saw in this, seemingly innocent boy’s room, chilled her to the core. 372Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFqCRTwtYW3
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