𝕎𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔸𝕓𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕠𝕟𝕖𝕕 𝕃𝕚𝕖𝕤 [REDO] [Book One]

Chapter 1: Leo's PoV

Leonora Carter was running.

From who, she did not know.

All she knew was that someone was persuing her, chasing her down endless streets and alleyways, not wanting to leave her alone. The only thing that consoled her was that she was good runner- at least it would not be easy for them to get her.

A few minutes earlier, she had been running errands for Jan, the old man who lived next to them. He was nice, but had arthritis and relied solely on her to help him with different things, whether that be sorting boxes or food-testing (he was really paranoid). Just as she had been sorting boxes, Leo had heard a sudden thud behind her, and a shuffling of footsteps. They had called her name. Once. Twice. On the third time, she had began to run.

And they had run after her.

As Leo ran, small shops and various building passed by. As quickly as she could, she analysed whether they would be safe to hide inside. To her disappointment and frustration, all of them had people inside, who probably would not appreciate a crazy twelve-year-old running inside.

She stopped at a dark and deserted alleyway, pausing to catch her breath. Her heart thudding, she checked to see if they were still there. After a few moments, she gave a sigh of relief- they were gone, and the only people around were a young couple going for a walk.

Remembering where she was supposed to be, Leo started to walk back to the shop where she had been sorting the boxes; this time, she decided it was best to use a different route, one that she rarely used unless there was an emergency. She was fairly certain she was the only one who knew about it, so whoever was chasing her would hopefully give up.

As Leo walked, she could not help but wonder who the person was. She was more or less new to the area, so not many people knew her. She did not know why, but something had made her think they were neither human nor animal- some otherworldly creature of some sort. After a while of pondering this theory, she came to the conclusion that she was just overreacting: her ADHD made her brain go into overdrive, leaving her with a million nonsensical possibilities.

For some odd reason, she sensed someone was around. It had been an odd ability of hers to be able to tell if someone wa around, and what they were thinking or feeling. It was just a thing she ha been able to do since she could remember. The person was currently.... angry, maybe a bit upset. She wondered why. The only bad thing was that she didn't know where they were, and didn't want to turn around in case they were waiting for her to do so.

Suddenly, Leo heard a shuffle and a cough behind her. The voice sounded slightly off, as if the speaker had not spoken to anyone in a while. Ignoring her previous thoughts, she spun around quickly in alarm, hoping the person had not found her. 

"Uh, Hello? Anyone there?"

She knew enough about these kind of situations to know that it was the world's stupidest thing to say when you heard an unfamiliar noise, but it was the only thing she could think of to say. It wasn't everyday that you found two people- or maybe one person- stalking you.

Naturally, there was no reply, but Leo could hear the pattering footsteps of someone running away. She looked around, searching for whoever had been behind her a moment ago but the only thing she managed to catch a glimpse of was the brief figure of a boy running into the trees. 

Well, at least they were gone. "Wierdo." Leo muttered under her breath.

She did not want to sound mean, but if the person was still there she wanted him to know she did not like being stalked.