Awakened Hunger [18+]

Chapter 2 | You're not alone

Mary woke up suddenly and looked outside. It was still very dark. She sat in her bed and heard some sticks breaking outside her window. Everything she heard last morning came flashing to her as she remembered the story about a missing girl. She walked to the window and looked around. There was nothing. Then she remembered Jackson's words: "He barely leaves the house after he got fired. It was probably just a squirrel". Mary closed her eyes, took a deep breath and looked outside one more time. Still nothing suspicious caught her eye. With that in mind she went back to sleep. But suddenly she remembered what Stephanie told her: "As long as he hasn't initiated any form of contant you're safe". He tried. He waved at her! Does it mean that she's not safe?

***

"Mom... Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure" Teresa put another egg on her daughter's plate. "But be quick, we have to go soon."

"Go? Where?!"

"I want to go shopping today. It's not far away from here, we can go on foot."

"Do you know where the store is?"

"Of course I do. We need to go to the right, like I drive to work."

Mary froze. Her neighbours warned her about a weird man. He lived on the right. BRRR. She got a shiver when the memory of his forearm waving appeared in her mind.

"Can we go in the opposite direction?" she asked.

Teresa looked at her, visibly annoyed and said:

"We don't have time for this, young lady. I believe you wanted to ask me a question?"

The girl nodded and spoke:

"Can you consider installing bars in my window?"

Teresa sat down in her chair and took a bite of her fried egg. She then looked Mary straight in the eyes and asked:

"Why do you need bars in your window? It's not a prison."

"I heard some strange noises outside my window tonight." Mary took a piece of bread from a plate in front of her. "I don't feel safe".

Teresa laughed. Mary put her head down and started eating.

***

"See?" said Teresa on their way back home. "There's nothing on this side of the road that you can fear."

They were getting close to the house she was so scared of. She looked at it and noticed there was dark inside. Mary felt lucky, but as they passed the house they heard a male voice say:

"Hello!"

Teresa jumped and looked up. Mary did the same. There, behind the wooden planks they saw a man. They couldn't see his full face or anything characteristic. His window was open and his forearms were resting on the planks.

"Pardon me, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm professor Alexander Casmid, your neighbour."

"No problem, professor" said Teresa. "I'm Teresa Reynolds. This is my daughter, Mary."

"I see. I noticed you when you first arrived at your house. I waved at Mary, but I think it made her nervous. My apologies pumpkin, it was not on purpose."

"It's okay." said the girl.

Teresa glanced at her daughter with anger and embarrassment. Alexander spoke up again:

"I'm terribly sorry for speaking to you from above, but I have a visitor. I'm glad I could speak to you regardless." He leaned on the planks with his full body. That's when Mary took a closer look at him. She still couldn't see his face, but he had short, blonde hair, lightly styled. Nothing special, but still nice. His body was masculine just like his forearms that she saw earlier. He was slim, fit and was wearing an outfit that made him look serious but also casual. Overall he looked like an attractive person. While she was staring she heard her mother talking to her: