"Thank you for the ride, Jin." Seren thanked him through the lowered window. "Get home safe, guys." She tapped his car, proceeding to the long walkway of her home.
"Thanks for sticking through, Seren." Rina smiled, waving at their departing friend. "We'll wait here til' you're inside." She advised, not wanting to leave Seren alone at such a gloaming late hour.
The yellow street lamps would rapidly flicker, giving her useful lighting, but parts of her lawn were still basking in the pitch twilight, the quarter moon providing almost no light for her to use.
She never failed to leave the porch light on, aiding her as she stuck the key in the lock jamming it left and right until the pesky lock spat up the key, opening the front door with a loud squeak to accompany her.
During the day, she never gave the squeaking door another thought, not particularly disturbed by the sound. But, when it was a late night, and all that was heard were the loud crickets hidden in the bushes and crevices of the pavement, her fearless qualities would dissipate into a void. She was left with nothing but trepidation and paranoia, checking behind her shoulders to make sure nobody was there.
Or that the shadow didn't decide to show up, watching her walk into her home.
When she checked this time, she encountered Rina – waving goodbye with a harmless grin secured to her blush pink lips.
That gave her more confidence than she would have expected, waving back at Rina. Jin poked his head further out toward his wheel, moving away from Rina's head to properly wave goodbye to Seren.
Seren chuckled, mouthing the word bye before she stepped into her home, switching the light on and shutting her door.
She heard the faint sound of Jin's tires grinding against the loose gravel of the asphalt, driving down the street, leaving Seren completely alone.
She sighed, looking over at the window near the sofa to make sure it was closed, and the curtain was drawn, how she had it before she left that evening. Her frantic heart settled when she saw everything was exactly how she had it, removing her heels and leaving them by the door. She shivered, the cold wood floor sending goosebumps down her body when she carefully walked up the stairs.
Seren shut her bedroom window, locking it and throwing the curtains over the fiberglass, not wanting another incident to occur when the silhouette had been standing outside her window, watching her undress.
She remained in a bra and her underwear grabbing the towel above her closed hamper and opened the bedroom door to head to the bathroom, wishing to wash off all the sweat and grime before laying in her clean, untouched bed.
It was a brief shower, desiring to be in bed before the clock moved past midnight. Seren kept an ear out, blocking out the pelting water against the porcelain tub, keeping her attention concentrated on any noise that would come from the open window placed far above her shower.
Seren stopped all movements, discontinuing her scrub with the loofah when she heard leaves crunch, almost as though someone was walking outside her lawn. Her lips parted, unable to hear anything with the loud running water, clouding up her senses with the steam from the hot temperature.
She quickly washed off all the remaining suds from her body, shutting off the water. She paused for a moment, wanting to see if any other sound would be heard with the water turned off. She squeezed the remaining water out from her hair, ringing it out like a wet rag.
Nothing else was heard.
'Maybe somebody was walking by?' Seren concluded to herself, beginning to question her senses.
Perhaps she was just too on edge, her own fear causing her to hear things that weren't actually there. Carefully, she drew back the shower curtains, trying to keep her noises at a low volume, in case there truly was something outside her home.
She wrapped herself in the towel, speeding for the door to quickly change.
Seren decided to keep her bedroom light off, not wanting to draw more attention to what part of the house she was in.
She changed into clean clothes, brushing her hair out with the brush on her vanity, ruminating about what she would do next, and if she should be peeking out her window to do a quick patrol.
She lamented beneath her breath, her teeth clawing at her lower lip in confusion. Of course, there was no way she would be sleeping that night if she left the sound go unchecked. It could have easily been her obsessive thoughts, but there was a high chance it wasn't just her imagination, and it was him.
Her feet mindlessly paced back and forth, hesitating on what to do with the situation in her hands.
If he was there, what was she to do? Call the police again? It would be the third time she did, and she had already told the officers she would be staying with a relative. Seren would need him to stay, that way the police were able to catch him, and not have to do the pointless search near her house for him.
She kept her phone in her hand, taking a deep breath before slowly approaching her window. It didn't matter if it was his one-hundredth time stalking her, checking the window always gave her the same taste of pungent fear. This time, it only seemed to increase by tenfold, terrified of what he'd do if last time he traced a knife over her body.
Her hand squeezed against her phone, her knuckles white, having trouble keeping her anxiety away from an eruption of bedlam. Fear sunk its teeth deep into her neck, sucking the courage out of her body, trembling like a feeble leaf.
She pulled the curtains back, enough for just her eyes to peer through the window. Seren released a scoff, seeing exactly what she feared.
He was there, unbothered as he rolled his neck out of exhaustion.
She released the tight hold she had on the poor curtain, left wrinkled from her irate grip. Seren was disturbed, yes, but also aggravated that he was there again.
How apathetic he seemed, not at all stressed that she had called the police on him, multiple times. She was up against somebody with extreme issues, it seemed like everything went unphased to him.
It angered her as much as it frightened her.
It flared something inside her, wanting to know what the hell he wanted from her. It was like a lion playing with its food, waiting it out, favoring its meals with fear coursing through the prey's veins.
She shook her head, shutting her eyes as she quieted her loud thoughts.
Seren just wanted to curl into a ball, praying to God that the shadow would just leave her alone. But, she didn't want him to know he had that power over her, she wanted him to know that she was able to put up a fight, and stand up for herself.
Her stomach tensed, opening her eyes again. She hooked her fingers over the curtain, pulling the cloth away to look him in the eyes. It was almost as if they shared the same thoughts, making the decision to stare at each other, completely ignoring the life around them.
Her eyes squinted, close to opening her window to shout something at him.
She refrained from that, simply staring at him, letting him know that she was aware of his deafening presence.
His face remained hidden in the obscurity of his dark attire, donned in the same clothes and colors from former days.
She watched in silence as his lips pulled into a smile, elated to see her.
Was he glad to see her?
She recoiled at that idea, finding it odd that he almost gave in to his temptations the last time he was there, but he was now completely happy to see her.
Seren stayed put, not moving an inch or reacting to his strange smile.
He waved his gloved hand, his body turning around and stepping away.
"Where the hell are you going?" Seren muttered, her teeth grinding.
She squeezed the hem of her shirt, watching him step off her lawn with the most casual step to his stroll. She scoffed in disdain, turning to her bedroom door.
She raced down the hallway, her feet ablaze from her fury, racing down her staircase with nothing but vexation and curiosity polluting her mind.
Her irrational actions weren't being completely processed, she was too blinded by her interest and contempt to stop and think about what she was doing that night.
Seren unlocked the front door, swinging it open and stepping onto her porch.
She exhaled, sweat already forming in her hands and temples from the small itinerary through her home. She combed her fingers through her damp hair, moving her eyes in every direction possible, searching every small cleft of her lawn – anywhere he could possibly hide.
The stairs groaned as she stepped down the wooden deck, heavily breathing through her wet lips, finding nothing but what she expected.
She checked the space beneath her car, and even searched the small street, looking for his silhouette in the far distance, anything that would allow her to pursue his tracks and find out who he is and what he wanted from her.
Seren decided to put an end to her frantic search, convinced that she might have seemed crazy to her neighbors if they caught her running around her front yard when it was past midnight.
She locked herself in her home, double-checking each of her windows to make sure that everything was locked, again. It was a routine she was fairly accustomed to ever since she saw him standing outside her window.
"I can't call the police..." Seren muttered in theory, shutting her bedroom door closed. "What are they gonna do? It's not like he stayed here, he's already long gone."
She sighed, her fingertips rubbing her temples, trying to alleviate the discomforting pounds that echoed throughout her ears.
"Maybe I should invest in some cameras..." She whispered to herself in silence, breaking the white static in her bedroom.
She stepped over to her window, searching the side of her lawn one last time.
She shook her head, feeling the weary exhaustion begin to weigh above her shoulders.
Seren carefully crawled into bed, her phone still glued in her hand, in case she needed to get a hold of anyone. Her head rested against the pillow beneath her, succumbing to her perforating exhaustion.
☾