"I'm home" I shout, closing the front door, with the bags from the grocery store in my left hand and my hand bag in my right one. I take my shoes off and leave them next to the door, then take the black coat I am wearing off and leave it on the hanger. I go to the kitchen to leave the bags and as I walk in I see Bella and Elena on the sofa, watching a movie.
"Hey gorgeous, how was your day?" asks Bella, turning around so she can look me in the face, with one of her hundred dollar smiles. In her left hand she is holding a glass of white wine and by the way her eyes are shining I can tell it was not her first one for the night.
"Nothing interesting happened, I had a lecture in the morning, then lunch with Stella and then another lecture. I bought some stuff from the groceries as well." I say putting the heavy bags on the counter and taking the milk and the eggs out, so I can put them in the fridge. After an extremely tiring day I can't wait to take my clothes off and take a nice hot bath with a glass of wine and a book.
"You don't look very well, is something wrong?" asks Elena with a look of concern on her face. She is the mother figure in our group, always taking care of us and making sure we are ok. Since we met in the beginning of high school until now, that we have graduated and live together, she has always been the responsible one.
"I'm fine, It's just that while I was walking home from the store, I felt as if somebody was following me. But you know my paranoid mind, it was probably just my imagination." I say with a fake laugh at the end. I know it sounds crazy, it has been happening to me for a while now. I feel as if I'm being watched but I know for a fact that I am not. Who would be interested in following a girl like me? I am nothing different than a basic 20 year old girl.
As I look at myself in the mirror next to the fridge I realize just how tired I look. The bags under my eyes and the paleness of my face make me look like a drug addict. My long brown hair is extremely messy, because of the strong wind outside, and my full pink lips are now a light shade of purple because of the cold.
"You should stop watching horror movies Eleanora, they are really getting in your head" says Bella jokingly, while getting up and coming to the counter with her now empty glass. She takes the bottle of wine from the fridge and pours herself another glass, in the process saying that we have only one bottle left. I laugh a little and tell her in one hour we will nave no wine at all.
With that I go to my room and take off my jeans and t- shirt and put on an oversize white shirt with my tight pink shorts, but because of the length of the shirt they are completely covered. After that I put my hair in a messy bun and go to the bathroom to take my makeup off.
A lot of girls feel bad without makeup and even feel anxious going out without putting makeup one, but I am not one of those girls. I am not saying that I have a perfect face, if anything my face is far from perfect. My skin is very dry, to the point that it hurts if I forget to put moisturizer on in the morning and I always have bags under my eyes, but I love the feeling I get when I take my makeup off... I feel natural, like myself.
I go back to the kitchen and pour myself a glass of the same wine Bella is drinking, adding a few ice cubes, than go to the couch and sit next ro Elena. They are talking about Elenas boyfriend and how she he cheated on her with his best friends sister.
I have never really understood why people would cheat. I mean, if you are not happy in the relationship you are in, why don't you just break up with the other person and than fuck around with other people. This way it is a lot easier, you would not need to hide and worry if your other half finds out what you did, but I guess I am nobody to judge, after all for my 20 years of life I have had only 3 boyfriends and I am still a virginion, so I can't really say I have a lot of experience to say anything.
"Stop thinking about that little fück! Tonight we are going to watch movies and spend some quality bff time!" says Elena trying to brighten Bellas mood. "Eleanora, would you please grab the popcorn from the counter?" asks Bella.
I get up and go over to the counter. As I dug trough the bags I realize that I forgot to buy popcorn. Shît! "I forgot to buy, but if you want I could go to the shop and buy some." I suggest.
"If that is not a problem" says Bella. I know that if she loves one thing in the world it is popcorn and she will not be able to pass the night without eating some. "Not at all." I tell her with a little smile. I go to the door to put my shoes on and put my coat on as I unlock the front door. "I'm going" I shout as I slam the door shut.
I get down the few stairs, not using the elevator since we live on the first floor. The shop is 10 minutes away from our apartment and the moment I get out of the building I regret my decision of wearing shorts. It is freezing outside. As I start walking I can feel my legs and bottom lip slightly shaking from the contact of the cool autumn air. My hands are tugged warmly in the pockets of my coat.
As I walk down the road I hear the sound of shuffling behind me and on instinct I turn around to check if anybody is there, but as you guessed the read is deserted, not a single soul here. To get my mind off the paranoia crawling in my mind I start humming quietly.
I am the half way to the store when I hear the sound of feet behind me and I look back again but this time is different. This time I see a dark, tall figure around ten meters behind me. I can tell it is a male because of his height and the structure of his body. I am able to see he is very muscular even though it is dark. He is wearing a black shirt and black jeans, but I can't see his face because of the dark. The only thing I can see is his smile. A smile that can make even the most fearless person start to shake. A smile worse than my scariest nightmares. A smile that made me want to hide in my bed and not get out for the rest of my mind.
And at that moment I start running.
I run as I have never in my entire life. My legs are going a mile per minute, not even knowing to what destination they are heading. I am no longer feeling the cold air. The only thing on my mind is that I need to get as far away from that guy as possible.
I decide to look back to see if he is still there and that is the biggest mistake I have ever done. As I turn around I see him a few meters behind me, but being the stupid person I am, I manage to stumble over a stone and fall on the cold ground. As I turn my body around I see the creepy man right in front of me, the smile never leaving his face. I start screaming at the top of my lungs and attempt to crawl back but soon I realize it is a dead end, as my back hits a tree.
The man comes closer until he is right above me. With his left hand he takes me by the throat and pucks me up with no effort. By this time tears are falling down my eyes and I am screaming as loud as I possibly can, but there is no use. Nobody is going to help me. The creepy man pins me on the tree with his left hand on my throat, not choking me, just holding me in place, and his right hand stroking my hair. I try to push him away but he is way too big.
"Get away from me!" I shout in his face. "Leave me aloneee". But my cries are of no use. He keeps stroking my hair and his face gets closer to mine. At that point I am a screaming mess, scratching his hands, trying to kick him or slap him, but nothing works. His right hand leaves my hair and goes to his pocket, while his lips come to my ear.
"Calm down, my little lilac" he says with a voice that sends shivers down my spine. I feel something cold press against my nose and lips and that is all I remember before darkness engulfes my body.
