.Perfect Fantasy. |H.S.|

Chapter 13. Sticks and Stones.

.Natalia.

It was pretty dark outside when I stepped out of my small library session that turned out to be a nap on one of the couches; I even drooled on my sweater, until a very gorgeous guy woke me up to announce that the library was closing. I hid my face from him until I was safe breathing in and out the air from the city, wondering if I still had time to cook something quick and get some decent study, now that I've been failing to get prepared for the exams.

My mind was not keeping up the pace lately, the attending doctors and my friends were mentioning how distracted I was and I just couldn't get it on track. My body was shattered, my brain was preoccupied and my heart was invested in something that didn't even belonged to me.

I was rummaging through my bag to find my oversized black bow keychain, the corner of my street in full view, when I heard footsteps behind me. I lived in fucking Los Angeles, so of course I quickly clutched the tub of pepper spray in my hand and looked behind me, but there was no one there.

Maybe I was getting a quick whiff of Harry's paranoia.

Harry.

My heart bolted at the pure mention of his name. It was true that my attention span to the real world was probably damaged after meeting him. I wasn't lying to myself, I knew what this man was capable of, and the sea of girls outside of the hospital were the perfect proof for that.

I wanted to get to my house fast, the small frayed building standing not far from me, but I was already thinking about deadly scenarios here in my trashy locality, the old maltreated buildings and rusted cars were making the statement so real and life grounding. I considered myself a brave girl, I was studying medicine for fucks sake, but there were a few things in this world I fear;

1.       All kinds of snakes.
2.       Dying alone as a dog lady, because I didn't liked cats.
3.       Not knowing what's below me in the ocean.
4.       Killing a patient by malpractice.
5.       Being left alone in the dark after watching a horror movie.
6.       The feeling that someone is looking at me but I can't see who it is.

Right now I was feeling the last one of my phobias, and it was making me walk faster to my front door. I liked the world better when there was light outside and you could see what was around you or, more important, what was lurking behind you.

After I heard the footsteps once more, I turned around and observed but didn't see anything. I figured I was only imagining the sounds because it was so dark and there was no one here, not even a single car passed me by.

You're a big girl, now.
You can do this, you just need to get home.
That's it.

I kept repeating this over and over in my head, the growling sound of my hungry stomach making me crave to get there fast. I looked around once more, but I was all by myself. There was a quick moment when I wanted to laugh at myself from getting so paranoid over nothing, my cold fingers covering my keys and turning the knob until I heard the quick click and the door was opening.
I hurriedly got in and was about to close it back into place, when my heart stopped, and white-hot fear paralyzed me. 

Everything happened in slow motion.

I watched, wide-eyed in horror, as I saw a shadow behind my door on the side of the street, just where I was seconds ago.
My heart hammered in my head, each beat echoing loudly in my ears.
I saw a strong arm pushing the door back into me, hitting me with such force on the face, it made my eyes water and my nose stung with a warm liquid, which surely was blood.

My tote bag clattered to the ground next, the stuff inside bouncing on the ground and I looked over to see if my pepper spray was in there, somewhere.