Word count: 3750
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Obi running away last night hit you hard, and after getting home you spent the rest of the night just chilling on your bed with the fur ball, watching random YouTube videos, and scrolling TikTok, until you fell asleep.
When you finally woke up the next day, it was dark already, but you were used to that at this point.
As you started to come back to this reality, you could hear the rain hitting against your bedroom window.
You slowly opened your eyes to meet the dark room that was just the way you left it last night. One of these days you would have to find the strength to clean your apartment, how long had it been from the last time anyway?
The days were merging together at this point and you usually didn't even remember what you had done all day, when it came the time to go to sleep again.
As you took your phone from the nightstand you saw Obi sleeping peacefully next to you, he was wrapped tightly into a soft ball of fur, and you could hear him purring to himself quietly.
You smiled at the cuteness of the cat before opening up your phone. Since Obi was still sleeping, you would have time to just scroll your social media before he would start screaming for food.
You could feel yourself getting more bored each second you scrolled through the same things you had seen a hundred times.
The few friends you had weren't even awake yet, and nobody was posting anything new.
Why was doing nothing this exhausting, and why nothing you did now bring you the same joy it once did?
You hoped that life would still somehow get better.
After exhausting through all the other apps that had nothing going on in them, you opened TikTok.
It was just the perfect app to keep your brain focused on something for at least a few seconds.
You scrolled down on your 'for you page', sometimes liking a few videos that made you smile tiredly, or made you blow out air from your nose.
Mostly the videos were the same you always saw on there, but suddenly a new kind of video popped up.
The video was just a hand, first holding up a rose and then a dinosaur.
The music in the background was the song you were supposed to go back to and listen to fully, but you had forgotten all about it until now.
You reached for your nightstand where you had placed a bluetooth speaker and turned it on, while also opening up your music player on your phone.
You went to lay on your back as you hit play on the song, and let yourself just relax while listening to the words and the different melodies in the song.
The lyrics were really bold to say the least, but you liked the song in general, it was similar to the style you usually listened to.
You were surprised when the song suddenly ended after only two minutes.
You picked up your phone you had laid on the bed and opened up the artist page. You needed to know if there were more songs by him, and luckily for you, there was.
You ended up listening to all the songs he had put out, they were short like the first one, but it was fine, the songs were still amazing.
"Corpse..." you said the artist's name out loud, he definitely chose a cool name for himself, and it also fit the style of his music.
As you listened to more of his songs your mind went back to the guy you had met at the beginning of the week.
You didn't have time to send him a message yesterday, and until now you had totally forgotten he had given you his phone number.
You thought about texting him for a second, but your mind was looking for reasons not to.
New people made you anxious, and you usually didn't text people first.
This time you would have to, since you didn't give your number back to him.
The clock wasn't that much, only 10.39pm, so he should be still awake.
You had no idea what you should text him though.
Should you just say that he popped up in your mind because of this artist that sounds a lot like him? That would be a weird way to start a conversation.
He gave you his number so you could send him a message if you needed to go to the store late at night, would he be annoyed if you texted him for no reason?
"Fuck it.." you muttered out loud before you opened the contact for the guy, and started to write him stuff that came to your mind at that moment.
Y/n: Hey! It's Y/n, I realised I didn't give you my number so I guess I have to text first lol
You ended the message there, you didn't want it to be too long, and you didn't want to start the conversation with the music or the video you had found.
After the message was sent you started overthinking it, you thought how it should have been shorter or longer. Or maybe you should have just said something else.
You put your phone down on the bed and groaned into your pillow, why was talking with people so fucking hard..
At this point Obi had woken up from all the music playing and was now meowing on the floor while walking in circles.
You got up from the bed and were about to leave the room when you heard your phone vibrate on the bed. Did he answer back this fast?
You walked back to your bed and picked up your device, only to realise it was just a notification from Instagram. Nevermind then..
Before leaving the room you walked to your bedroom window to check the outside world.
You pulled aside the curtains and took a peek through the blinds that were covering up the window.
You were often paranoid that people would see you, so you liked having both of those closed at night.
It was raining outside, but you could tell that from the sound without even looking out the window.
Like you already knew from the time, it was dark by now. Your backyard was only lit by a few streetlights that were placed right outside the fence that blocked off the main street.
Even with the streetlights giving some form of lighting to your yard, it was mostly dark and full of shadows.
Suddenly you saw something move on the left side of the yard which was more covered by the darkness than the right side where the lamps were.
You tried to look again but didn't see movement anymore, there was no way someone was in your yard, right?
At that moment you thought if the door to your backyard was locked, it had been a while since you last used that door and it should be locked, but you couldn't remember.
You quickly went to the side of your bed and pulled out a baseball bat that you had hidden under there just in case.
After that you went to your bedroom door which you always kept open so Obi could go in and out as he wanted.
You peaked from the door frame into the living room to check that nobody was there, before running to the back door. It was locked, and you sighed in relief.
That meant there was nobody in the house, but you still went through each room just to make sure.
After that you set down the baseball bat on the kitchen counter before finally feeding Obi, who had been running around the house with you while you checked everything.
While Obi was eating you made yourself something to eat as well, and as you sat down on the kitchen table, you heard your phone vibrate on the counter you had set it on earlier.
You got up and got your phone before sitting back down on your spot on the table.
"One message from The Stranger", you gasped, he really needed a better name.
You opened your phone and clicked on the messaging app.
The Stranger: Hey :)
That was the only thing he sent back..? You stared at the screen stunned, was that really it?
The emoji at the end was cute for sure, but just damn. Here you were overthinking everything while this guy just sent the shortest message in history.
"No wait.. He is writing now", you said to yourself as the three dots suddenly showed up on the screen.
Obi was now done eating and was sitting on the kitchen table, wondering if he could steal some of your food while you were focused on your phone.
The Stranger: Did you need company for a shop or something?
A message popped up soon after, you began to write an answer while also trying to guard your food from Obi.
Y/n: No need just yet! I just thought about you earlier and decided to send the message so you'd have my number :)
Wait no.. That was stupid! Why did you write that you were thinking about him?
You could feel your face getting red and you were glad the guy wasn't in the room to see it.
The Stranger: Well thanks for the number then
The Stranger: I was actually just thinking about you too
If your face wasn't red already, it for sure was now.
You buried your head in your hands, and Obi managed to steal some stuff from your plate while you were distracted. He jumped down on the floor and feasted on his price.
You took a second to pull yourself together before answering the message.
Y/n: Damn, hopefully you weren't thinking about how cringy I was yesterday lol
You sent the message without thinking too much about it, but maybe you shouldn't have written that.
If he wasn't thinking about that before, then he would think about it now.
The Stranger: You weren't that cringy, and no. You just popped into my head.
The Stranger: So, why were you thinking about me?
Oh fuck, well at least he just made it easy for you to bring up the music. You quickly typed out the message and sent it.
Y/n: I just saw a video on tiktok and the voice in the song reminded me of you :)
After that the guy went silent, maybe something came up and he had to stop talking.
You continued to eat your breakfast and tried to keep it safe from Obi who had jumped on the table again for more food.
After you were done eating you finally decided it was time to do something creative.
You brought your bluetooth speaker to the living room and started playing the songs from Corpse you listened to earlier.
You then poured yourself a glass of red wine and sat down on the living room couch.
You had left your drawing tablet on the coffee table earlier, so you picked that up so you could start drawing something that came to your mind.
Before you started though, you pulled a cozy blanket over your legs that you kept on the couch, and Obi soon came to sleep next to you.
Few hours passed like that, you had only finished the line art and the flat colors, while also drinking a few glasses of the red wine.
Suddenly your phone vibrated, you put your tablet down on the table and picked up your phone.
The guy had finally answered to your message so you opened your phone to see it.
The Stranger: That sounds cool :)
That was the answer.. It really seemed like either the guy wasn't interested in talking to you, or he was just bad at messaging. Or you were just overthinking everything again, you had to stop doing that.
Y/n: Do you want me to share the video or something?
Y/n: If you don't care that's fine too :)
Before you had time to close the app, you saw the guy was writing back.
The Stranger: You can share it
The guy's reply was short, you closed the app and opened up TikTok to find the video, you had liked it so it was easy to find it.
You copied the link and sent it in the messaging app, the guy was quiet for a while so you had time to fill your wine glass again.
The Stranger: So you think that's me?
Y/n: Lol no, you and the singer just sounded really similar and it reminded me of you :)
As you sent that message you heard a weird sound coming from the living room window, you turned to look that way and wondered if you had actually heard anything.
You lowered the volume of the music and listened if you could hear the sound again.
There it was, a knock on the window. Every scary thing started running through your head as you quickly ran to the kitchen with your phone in one hand.
You grabbed the baseball bat from the kitchen counter where you had left it earlier and listened if the sound would happen again. This time there were two knocks.
You quickly opened your phone and without even thinking you called the guy. None of your family lived close by and you hadn't been talking to them lately. Most of your friends were online friends that lived in different states or overseas, so you couldn't ask them for help.
You kept looking at the direction of the backdoor that was in the living room, the phone rang a few times before the guy answered.
"Hey?" The low voice answered on the other side, he was clearly confused about you calling so suddenly.
"Heyyy, so how far away did you live from my place?" You asked with a hint of panic in your tone, and the guy noticed that right away.
"Like.. Five to ten minutes? What's going on?" The guy asked, he sounded a bit worried now.
"I think I saw someone earlier in my backyard.. And now someone is knocking on my windows.." you explained the situation.
"I'm really sorry to bother you like this.. I just didn't know who to call.." you continued speaking.
You kept your voice quiet so anyone outside couldn't hear you, but you guessed they could hear the music anyway so it didn't matter.
"Don't worry about it, I can come check it out. Stay safe until then, I'll text you when I'm outside", the guy said calmly, you could hear him put on a jacket through the phone.
You had forgotten it was raining, this poor guy was really about to walk in the rain just to check on you.
"Thank you.. I'll see you soon", you said before hanging up the call, the amount of times this guy had saved you was embarrassing at this point, you had to do something to make up for it later.
As you waited for the guy to show up, the knocks on the windows continued. There had to be someone out there, because a few times they knocked on your bedroom window as well.
Obi was curious and wanted to see what was happening, but you picked him up and took him to the bathroom. If someone broke the glass Obi could get hurt, so this was the best option.
You would have hidden in the bathroom with Obi, but you would have to go unlock the front door to the guy anyway, so you'd rather just wait by the mudroom, listening and watching.
The knocks were really far apart from each other, it happened like once every few minutes.
It felt like forever had passed before your phone vibrated to let you know there was a new message.
The Stranger: I'm right outside your door now
You quickly opened the door to the mudroom and then unlocked the front door so the guy could come in.
It was raining hard outside and despite having an umbrella with him the guy's clothes were almost fully wet, you felt really bad for him.
You opened the door wide enough so he could step into your apartment, and you locked the door after him.
The guy took off his wet jacket and placed it on one of the hooks you had on the wall for clothes, so he wouldn't bring water to the rest of your apartment.
He also took off his shoes for the same reason, but he took them with him as the two of you exited the mudroom.
You placed a finger over your lips as a mark that he needed to be silent, as the two of you started making your way to your living room.
The knocking on the backyard door happened again, it had been quiet for a while before that and you almost hoped whoever it was had left already.
You turned to look at the guy who was walking behind you, did he look scary enough to scare away whoever was outside?
Maybe he could use his low voice to seem scarier.
The two of you were right by the door to the backyard that was covered by a curtain, the guy put on his shoes just in case he needed to step outside.
"Give me the bat", he said quietly as he pointed at the baseball bat you had a tight grip on, and you handed it to him.
The two of you waited for another knock to happen, and the anxiety was killing you at this point.
When the knock happened again the guy opened the lock as fast as he could and slided the backyard door open.
You took a few steps back as the guy stepped outside with the bat, ready to hit anyone coming at him.
You saw someone bolt it towards the end of the yard where the fence gate was, and the guy ran after him.
You could feel your heart racing and your whole body felt like it was shaking now.
You saw the stranger jump over the gate and disappear out of your sight. The guy jumped on the gate, but he didn't end up going over it.
Instead he got down from the gate and jogged back to the backyard door, where you were watching the whole thing happen.
The guy took out his phone and turned on the flashlight on it, he quickly looked at all the windows and the sides of the house in the backyard area, before coming back inside the apartment.
"I didn't see anything by the windows, so I don't think he left anything there", the guy said to you as he set down the baseball bat, by the door.
You locked the door after him, noticing how much your hands were shaking, before you closed the curtains and turned towards the guy.
The white t-shirt he had on was mostly wet and his curly hair was dripping water on his face and on his black mask.
"I'll get you a towel", you said quickly before heading to the bathroom, just to get out of the situation and to get something else to think.
As you opened the bathroom door, Obi ran out of there and straight to the living room where the guy was still standing.
You balanced yourself over the sink for a second, trying to collect yourself, you weren't gonna have another crying fit in front of this guy.
After collecting yourself you grabbed one of the towels from the cabinet and went back to the living room.
Obi was rubbing himself all over the guy's black jeans, and the guy gave the cat a few scratches before you got to him.
After handing the towel to the guy you poured yourself a glass of the same red wine you had been drinking all night. At this point you weren't sure anymore how many glasses you had drank.
You took a big sip before you turned to look at the guy who was staring at you.
"Sorry.. Would you like some?" You asked to be polite, while trying to stop your hands from shaking by holding the glass tightly.
"Sure.." the guy said as he continued to dry his hair, you went to get another glass from the kitchen, and when you came back you poured some wine into his glass and handed it to him.
You then sat down on one end of the couch and wrapped your fluffy blanket around yourself.
"If this shit could stop happening to me, that would be great.." you said before taking another sip of wine from your glass.
"What did you see by the way?" You asked, the only thing you saw was someone running away from the house, you didn't see a face or anything.
"They had a weird halloween mask on.. Couldn't see their face", the guy described, so nothing useful.
You would most likely report to the police about this, and a person. in a halloween mask and dark clothing wasn't the best description
The guy sat down on the other side of the couch and put the towel on his shoulders, before pulling down his mask a bit to drink.
You realised you hadn't actually seen his face this much before since he always had the mask on, but this was only the third time you had seen him though.
You didn't look at him for too long, fearing you were either breaking his privacy or just making him uncomfortable with the staring.
"I really have no idea what to do now.." you said out loud while staring at the tv that wasn't even on.
Nothing like this had ever happened to you before, and you had lived in this house for two years at least.
"I don't know either. I should have caught them.." The guy said a bit annoyed that the person got away.
"It's fine, I just hope they won't come back now that they think a scary guy lives here", you said with a quiet laugh, and the guy smiled under his mask.
Both of you sat there in silence drinking the wine, listening to the rain hit the window and the silent music from Corpse that was still playing in the background.