The rain did not stop that night.
It clung to the city like a curse, dripping from broken streetlights and soaking into the cracks of the pavement as if it were trying to wash something away. Maya stood by her bedroom window long after midnight, fingers curled around the edge of the curtain, watching headlights blur into glowing streaks below.
She hadn't slept.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw him.
The man in the hood.
The way he had stood across the street, unmoving, watching her as though he had been waiting for her all along.
Stay away from him.
The words replayed in her head like a whisper she couldn't silence.
Her phone vibrated suddenly.
Maya flinched.
She looked down at the screen, her heart racing before she even read the notification.
Unknown Number
Did you get home safely?
Her breath caught.
She stared at the message, fingers trembling. No one else knew about the alley. No one else knew she had walked home alone.
She typed, deleted, then typed again.
Maya: Who is this?
Three dots appeared almost instantly.
Unknown Number: Someone who knows what's coming.
Her pulse pounded in her ears.
Maya: This isn't funny.
Several seconds passed. Too many. Just as she was about to throw the phone onto her bed, another message appeared.
Unknown Number: I'm not joking. And I'm not your enemy.
Her chest tightened.
If he wasn't her enemy, then why did she feel like prey?
She locked her phone and dropped it onto the bed, refusing to respond. Her reflection in the darkened window looked pale, her eyes shadowed with fear she refused to acknowledge.
This city had never felt dangerous to her before.
Until now.
---
School the next morning was loud, bright, and painfully normal.
Maya sat in her usual seat by the window, notebook open but untouched, her gaze drifting past the classroom walls. Laughter echoed from the hallway, lockers slammed, teachers scolded students for running.
Life went on.
Yet she felt like she was standing on the edge of something unseen.
"Earth to Maya."
She blinked and turned to see Lina leaning toward her desk, eyebrows raised.
"You didn't hear a single thing Mr. Kelvin said, did you?" Lina whispered.
Maya forced a smile. "Of course I did."
Lina snorted. "Liar. You've been zoning out all morning. What's wrong?"
Nothing.
Everything.
Maya shook her head. "Just tired."
Lina studied her for a moment, clearly unconvinced, but let it go. "Well, whatever it is, try not to get us both punished. Group assignment, remember?"
Maya nodded absently.
Group assignment.
With him.
Her stomach twisted as the classroom door opened and he walked in.
Ethan.
Tall, calm, impossibly composed — as if chaos had never touched him. He took his seat without looking around, dark eyes focused straight ahead, expression unreadable.
Maya hated how her heart reacted to him.
She hated how part of her wanted to believe the warning had nothing to do with him.
Stay away from him.
Her phone vibrated again in her bag.
She ignored it.
---
The bell rang later than she expected.
As students poured out of the classroom, Maya moved slower than usual, shoving books into her bag with shaking hands. She felt it before she saw it — that unsettling sensation of being watched.
She looked up.
Ethan was standing a few feet away, waiting.
"For the assignment," he said calmly, as if her pulse hadn't just doubled.
"Oh. Right." She swallowed. "Lina said she'd—"
"She already left," he interrupted gently. "Said she trusts us to figure it out."
Maya cursed Lina silently.
They walked in silence toward the library, the air between them thick with words neither of them said.
Finally, Ethan spoke. "You seem distracted today."
Her breath hitched. "I'm fine."
He stopped walking.
Maya stopped too, forced to look at him.
"You don't look fine," he said quietly.
For a moment, she almost told him everything.
The message. The hooded figure. The warning.
But then her phone vibrated again.
She didn't have to look to know who it was from.
Ethan's gaze flicked briefly toward her bag, then back to her face.
"Is someone bothering you?" he asked.
The question was casual.
His eyes were not.
Maya shook her head too quickly. "No."
Something dark passed through his expression — gone as fast as it appeared.
"If someone is," he said softly, "you should be careful."
Her chest tightened.
"You sound like you're threatening me."
Ethan's lips curved into a faint, humorless smile. "I'm warning you."
The words sent a chill down her spine.
---
That night, the message came again.
Unknown Number: You shouldn't have walked with him today.
Maya's hands went cold.
Maya: How do you know that?
This time, the reply was immediate.
Unknown Number: Because I'm closer than you think.
Her room suddenly felt too small.
She locked her door.
Maya: What do you want from me?
The typing dots blinked.
Then stopped.
Then appeared again.
Unknown Number: I want you alive.
Her breath shook.
Maya: Stay away from me.
Several seconds passed.
Unknown Number: That's exactly what I'm trying to help you do.
She stared at the screen, heart hammering.
Maya: Stay away from who?
The reply came slowly, deliberately.
Unknown Number:
Him.
The lights flickered.
Maya dropped the phone as the power went out, plunging her room into darkness.
Outside, thunder cracked across the sky.
And somewhere in the distance, a figure stepped out of the shadows — watching her window.
Waiting.
.....