Chapter Two

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The officer knocked again, confusion clear on his somewhat handsome features. Regaining her breath and normal heartbeat, she slowly opens the door, tentatively looking around and then at the officer. "Hello miss, were you the one that called about running out of gas?" The officer's smooth voice cut through the harshness of the fog. "Uh yes sir.." she responds, looking down slightly embarrassed. As if sensing her shame, the officer gave her a reassuring smile.  "Hey don't worry, it happens, I brought some for you" he said and she smiled gratefully. "Thank you so much sir" She says to him and he waves his hand dismissively at her, "Please, call me Aaron" the officer now known as Aaron said sensing her unease and anxiousness and trying to counteract it. "Okay..si-Aaron" she says, correcting herself. "Now that we have an introduction, before I can fully help you, I need to see your license" Aaron said and Ivy nodded, quickly reaching to grab her wallet from the center console of her car. Once she had the well used piece of faux leather in her hand, she leaned back out of her car, grabbing her license out of its slot, handing it to him, along with her proof of insurance. She knew he didn't ask for it but she gave it just in case.

"Ivy?" Aaron asked, looking at her in order to confirm her name and nodded his head when she answered with a nod of her own. He nodded and handed her back the license along with the insurance cards before walking back to his squad car. She looked around for a moment. It was still dense with fog and she was still uneasy with the encounter that she had earlier. She almost wanted to ask Aaron if he had known anything about it but decided against it and leaned against her car, waiting. After what seemed like forever, Aaron returned to her, a red gas can in his hands. She smiles softly and opens up her gas tank and sighed in relief now knowing that she wouldn't be stranded for much longer.

The two of them made small talk while her car was being filled with the gas and soon enough, her car was filled with enough gas to get her back home to her college. "Thank you so much" She says to Aaron, looking at him with gratitude. "Don't worry about it'' Aaron smiles, his hand giving another dismissive wave. "I don't mind helping out, plus I'm just doing my job" He adds, smiling at her again along with a chuckle. "But I do have a form for you to sign, just to say that this happened" He says. "Yes of course" Ivy answers, nodding and following the officer to his squad car where she quickly signs the form and walks back to her car. As she is about to get into her car,  Aaron calls out to her. "You get home safe now, these roads can get a bit rough at night" He says as if it was a warning. She stares at him for a moment, a shiver running down her spine as she remembers the strange encounter she had. "I will! Thank you! You too..!" She calls back before getting into her car and putting the key in the ignition, smiling in relief when the car comes to life, the satisfying hum of her engine cutting through the once quiet car.

However, she could get the feeling that she wasn't just out of the creepiness of the night just yet. She watched for a moment as the blue lights shined behind her still, as if waiting for her to leave. Breathing a sigh, she put her car into drive and began to pull off the side of the road and onto the asphalt again. She keeps her hands on the steering wheel, her eyes trained forward as she drives. The radio was on, at a medium volume, just enough to cut through the growing silence. She could feel uneasy, but tried not to think about anything but getting back to her dorm and what she was going to do once back. She didn't dare to look into the tree line on either side of the road, afraid of what she might see. She didn't want to see another glimpse of whatever it was that she had seen and she definitely didn't want to encounter it again.

Soon, the fog had lifted just enough for her to see a bit more of the road in front of her and it caused her to sigh softly. She checked the time on her phone, before looking back at the road. She knew she was almost back to college because she had started to see more familiar spots of the town around the campus.  Her headlights shone bright, illuminating the road and about a mile of asphalt and tree line ahead.  She visibly sighed with relief when she finally reached the town that was just outside of her college campus. Her knuckles relaxed on the steering wheel and she breathed deeply for a few moments.

She smiled when she saw the gates to her college show up ahead of her, relaxing more when she drove through them and eventually parked in the parking lot that was just outside of her dorm building. Shutting the car off, she turned off the lights and sighed softly before shaking her head, grabbing her stuff and getting out. That's when it hit her. The same feeling that she had when she was on the side of the road. Her body tensed up and she gulped audibly into the night air. She was in a lit area, and her dorm building was less than one hundred feet from where she was standing. But it was like she couldn't move again, like something had a hold of her and was keeping her there. Her car was facing a small hill and clearing before it led into woods that she drove through when she pulled into the campus. Her eyes betrayed her mind as she slowly looked down into the clearing from where she was standing. It was dark so she really couldn't see anything but that didn't really settle her growing anxiety.

But of course, as soon as she was about to look away, something caught her eye. Movement. In the clearing, near the tree line. She couldn't make out what it was due to the lack of light in the particular area so she closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe deeply. "It's okay Ivy...just a deer, you're fine" She assured herself before breathing again and turning her back on the clearing, making her way up to the door of her dorm building and using the building key to unlock it and make her way inside without looking back. It didn't take long for her to walk up to her dorm room, the slightly decorated door giving her peace. It had her name along with her dog's name on cute little name tags along with some drawings and a white board where she occasionally wrote funny quotes or notes that if she was gone, how to get in contact if something was wrong while she was away.

Unlocking the door, she was greeted with the dim light of her wax warmer and her German Shepard dog staring at her from his pillow by her bed. "Hey bud," She said to the animal, who was named Arrow, as she closed the door. "I assume you need to go out? I'm sorry for being away so long"  she adds as she grabs Arrow's leash. As much as she didn't want to go outside, she couldn't neglect her dog's needs. Arrow got up from his spot and walked over, sitting down in front of her, ears perked and tail wagging. She giggled and attached his leash before grabbing her keys again and walking out of the door, dog in tow. Once back outside, she was on guard, eyes darting around her as Arrow sniffed around. She did have to feel some comfort in knowing that Arrow wasn't the least bit on edge or alert so she knew that nothing was going to jump out and attack in the moment.

The two soon made their way back inside the building and back into the comfort of the room, Arrow laying back on his bed and Ivy doing her nightly routine before settling down to read some assigned readings for her classes the next day. Around twelve at night, she yawned and put the books away in her bag before getting up to turn on a small light that she kept on at night, mostly so that she didn't trip on any of Arrow's toys in the middle of the night if she had to get up for whatever reason. She turned off her wax warmer and patted Arrow on the head before settling down in her bed, under the safety of her covers, an ambiance video playing on her tv as she set her alarms and slowly drifted to sleep.

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