PETRICHOR

Endless cold, raindrops still falling from the gray clouds that covered the sky and slid through the forest until it becomes one with the soil. The scent of water mixed with ground smelled vague yet strong enough to get into my nostrils, leaving a pleasant feeling in my mind. The wind that caressed my skin left cool sensation, making me shiver occasionally. Even though I'm freezing and I'm sure I'll catch a cold if I stay here any longer, I can't seem to stop savoring the unique smell of rains and the feeling of serenity I got here.

I know that I might look like a weirdo, standing in the middle of the park while the rain was pouring nonstop. Especially without an umbrella or raincoat to protect myself from the rain. But what can I do? Standing in the rain actually helped me calm my mind from going crazy. I've always had this habit since I was a little kid. Whenever I felt stressed or angry I'd always go outside and stand in the rain to cool my head. What would I do if there's no rain? Then I'd be fucked up. I'll have to wait for my mood to lift itself up and it usually took a very long time.

This time, I'm standing here for the same reason. I felt so stressed that I felt like I'm going to explode if I didn't soak myself in the rain.

I closed my eyes and face upwards for a while, letting the rain hitting my face. Tears beginning to come out and roll down with the rain as I recalled why I was here in the first place. As you can guess, I'm so stressed right now. Or I would rather say, I'm scared. Terrified.

For the past few days, I felt like someone's following me every time I leave the house. But every time I look back to see if there really was someone, there wasn't anyone. Even so, I could feel a pair of eyes and the sound of footsteps following me everywhere. Not only that, I also got messages and calls from different unknown numbers. The calls usually start at exactly 1 AM. If I pick it up, there would be no other sound than a breathing sound.

This unknown person keeps contacting me every day that I eventually felt fed up and threaten them that I'd call the police if they didn't stop bothering me.

But what was the response? This person laughed. This psycho. Fucking. Laughed. And then told me something that made me tremble in anger and fear,

"Tell them and let's see what those 'police' can do to me."

And then he hung up the call.

That moment was when I heard his voice for the first time. I was terrified. His voice alone made my instinct screamed danger. Without further ado, I report him to the nearest police station. Unfortunately, they said that they couldn't do anything because that crazy bitch didn't do anything to me. I really couldn't believe what I heard. So I should be harmed first so that they could take action?

After that, I never went back there again.

This creepy shits continued for about 2 months. The calls at 1 AM, the texts, and I even got letters and packages without the sender's name or address. I suspected that my stalker came to my front porch to put it there himself.

The climax of these scary events occurred 4 hours ago when I came home from shopping. I unlocked my door with my key like usual and walk straight to the kitchen to put my shopping bags there. When I put down the bags, I noticed a cup of tea on my table. I kinda get weirded out by it as I don't recall making any tea before I went outside. But I pushed my thoughts aside, thinking that maybe I made that tea and forgot about it.

I stepped closer to the table and lifted the cup. However, before I could take a sip of the hot beverage, I realized that there was a piece of paper at the table, possibly placed underneath the cup before. Suddenly, I felt a wave of uneasiness came over me. Considering the incidents that happened from the past months, I began to think that the stalker might have been the one who made it and left the note.

My heart starts beating fast at the thought and I could feel the cold sweats rolling down my skin. My trembling hand placed down the cup that I had been holding and picked up the paper. As I slowly unfold it, I prayed silently it was just a coincidence that the paper was there. But of course, there was no way it would be like that.

Guess what was written there.

Looks like it's going to rain so I made this for you, darling.

I stared the paper in my shaking hands in horror. Fear instantly took control of me when I glance at the tea again. The tea was still hot, I could even see the hot steam coming out from the cup.

Which means that bitch could still be in my house.

After realizing that, I ran out of the house as far as possible, as fast as I could. The grumbling dark clouds above even started to drop the water as I ran. But it didn't stop me from running. Eventually, my legs gave up. My energies had been drained out from my body that I didn't even realize that I already ran this far to the central park. Exactly 7 kilometers away from my house.

That was why I ended up standing at this park.

I lowered my head as the frightening memories still lingering in my mind vividly, disturbing me even further. Before I know it, my body fell, kneeling down with my eyes closed tight and my hands grabbing either side of my head to stop myself from shaking in fear.

I think several minutes passed already since I knelt down. I've calmed down a little now, but the tears in my eyes couldn't stop streaming out.

In the midst of the state I'm in, suddenly I didn't feel any raindrops touching my body. Even so, I could still hear the loud downpour around me. I slowly opened my eyes only to see a pair of black shoes in front of me. My gaze slowly went upwards, meeting a pair of worry-filled eyes of a man I didn't know, holding an umbrella above me without caring that he was starting to get wet from the rain.

Back then, I remembered that I thought he was incredibly handsome that I couldn't take my teary eyes away from him.

He smiled, I could literally felt the warmth radiating from his presence as I heard him softly says, "I want to ask if you're okay but you're obviously not. You wanna talk about it?"

At that moment, I really thought that it was going to be a good beginning but in fact, it was the trap he set to make me fall right into his arms, the beginning of my nightmare.

The scent of petrichor that I loved surrounding us, the tranquility I felt, and the man in front of me who was soon to be the person I liked turns out to be the man I feared and hated the most.