Sadism

Chapter 1

Lin's POV

I'm sitting on the couch, waiting for my popcorn to pop when I hear the phone ring. With a sigh, I pick up.

"Hello?" the gravelly voice on the other end answers.

My eyes fill with curiosity, as I don't recognize the voice. I chuckle softly, deciding to make conversation with this stranger.

"Uhm...Hi," I reply, albeit somewhat shyly. I glance at my popcorn while waiting for the reply, drumming my fingers on the counter.

"It's rather late to be answering calls, yeah? It's..."

A deafeningly silent pause.

"It's almost two in the morning. Shouldn't you be asleep?"

The stranger chuckles, sending a shiver down my spine.

My microwave beeps, and I grab the popcorn before replying.

"Couldn't sleep, plus my parents are out."

My voice is a little softer than I'd care to admit, but it gets my point across regardless.

"Oh, yeah, that sounds like fun," the stranger replies, letting out a low chuckle once more. Their voice seems so familiar, yet so strange. What was going on?

"Mind telling me your name?" they suddenly ask, and a chill goes through me.

"Why?" I ask, feeling very nervous all of a sudden. Why did this stranger want to know my name? Who are they? What do they want?

"So I know who I'm looking at."

The reply causes me to drop the phone in shock, accidentally ending the call. Inevitably, the phone rings again, but I don't care. I run to my room, breathing heavily.

Tap, tap, tap.

I know it's the stranger at my window, trying to find me. My hands shake as the tapping stops.

BANG.

My front door shatters as the stranger makes his way inside. I gasp, covering my mouth as the sound of footsteps gets louder.

I see a shadow by the door, causing me to fall silent immediately. It's too late, they know I'm there.

The door creaks open, and I'm face-to-face with a tall person, shrouded in a black cloak and a creepy mask–likely from some Halloween costume. The scariest part, though, is that they're brandishing a long knife. I let out a shriek, in hopes that someone will hear me, but it's too late.

The stranger grabs me and drives their knife into my chest, causing me to cough up blood. I collapse, and it gets harder and harder to breathe as I slowly lose consciousness. The last thing I see is the killer taking off their mask, before I succumb to the blood building up in my lungs.