°•~𝙽𝚎𝚠𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚗 𝚂𝚊𝚌𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚎𝚜~•° 𝙲𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚢𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚊 𝚡 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

⦻|Prologue|⦻

You sat up quickly as the air forced its way out of your lungs.  You gripped the fabric covering your chest as you heaved and gasped and choked on your own air.  You gagged slightly, tossing your feet off the bed. You wiped the cold sweat from your forehead and leaned on your knees as you kept coughing, finally reaching for the glass on your bedside. You gripped the cup shakily in your hands, gulping it down in an attempt to soothe your throat and stop the coughing.

As you lowered the glass, and took a few deep breaths, your coughing stopped. Damned coughing fit. You glance over at your alarm clock, 2:43 am. You stood up, scratching your palm as you walked out of your bedroom. You paused at the top of the stairs as you heard a faint pattering from downstairs. You listened closer, it sounded like a small animal skittering across the floor.

"Max?" You muttered softly, more to yourself than anyone else. You looked down the hall at your roommate's door. 'Wide open..He never sleeps with his door open.' you thought to yourself. You looked down the stairs at the part of the living room you could see. You squinted slightly, barely seeing past the moonlight shining in from the backdoor.

Holding the railing, you snuck down quietly. One foot after the other, wincing at every small creak. "Max?" You spoke up again when you hit the bottom of the stairs. You looked around at the open living room, seeing nothing unusual. Maybe the pattering was just an animal in the backyard.

You tip-toed into the kitchen, your breath catching every corner you turned. You leaned over the sink to look out of the window, Max's car was still sitting in the driveway, right where it was when he returned from the college earlier in the day...So where was he?

You sighed softly to yourself. 'He probably just went on a walk or something..' You shrugged internally, turning back to leave the kitchen. Now, as your feet padded the floor, you didn't care, the fear massaging out of your shoulders. Max was an adult, he could take care of himself. The house looked fine, hell, the skittering could've even been the house settling. It was pretty old anyway.

You looked over the back door, watching the tree branches hanging over your fence wave softly in the wind. You felt shivers run up your spine the longer you stared outside. You really needed to invest in some back curtains to cover up those doors. 

You held the railing as you went back up the stairs, free arm swinging slowly by your side. You were tired and had work in the morning. You were going back to bed.  You pushed open your bedroom door, stepping in before turning back to shut it.

*BRRR*

*BRRR*

*BRRR*

*BRRR*

You paused right as your door was about to click closed. A phone ringing? You opened the door back up, looking down the hall at Max's open door. You could see the faint flashing light and could hear it buzzing against his wooden bedstand. It was coming from in there. That was weird, he never went anywhere without his phone.

You walked down the hallway, entering his open room. You looked down at his bed, full of messed up blankets and pillows..but no signs of Max. You jumped back as his buzzing phone clattered to the floor, right under his bed. God damn it, you should've been quicker.

You got closer then got down to your knees. You let out a soft huff through your nose as you reached under the bed, patting the ground until you found his phone buzzing further. You pulled it out just as the ringing came to a stop and it buzzed softly to notify a missed call. Damn, you were going to answer it. 

You turned on his phone, looking at his notifications. He had two missed calls from one of his friends and one from an unknown number. You got to your feet, looking down at his phone. You jolted softly as his phone buzzed in a message. You looked at it, an unknown number. You clicked on it, reading what it said. Two simple words.
--------
Behind you.
2:57
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Your blood ran cold as you read the two words, chest constricting. You automatically jolted, looking back. You let out the breath you didn't even know you were holding in, as you looked around. There was nothing. You sighed, hand clenching your chest. God, you felt so childish for believing someone who was probably a thirteen-year-old boy playing a prank on you.
---------
  Behind you.
2:57

                                      Dude that wasn't funny.
                                                              *NOT SENT.*

     This number has blocked you, if you believe this is a mistake, contact ***-***-****

---------

You turned to place Max's phone back down, sighing in annoyance. Of course, they blocked you, stupid asshole. You stretched out, yawning as you turned to leave. You really needed to go back to bed, before you had to go to work.

You let out a yelp as your eyes opened, being met with someone standing in the doorway. You felt your stomach drop as you glanced down, making out the shape of a metal pipe in the dim lighting from the hallway. You backed away, bumping into the dresser set in place behind you. How did he get in? Especially without making a peep of a noise.  

You tried to speak but everything that was spinning in your head threatening to spill out, got caught and died in the bottom of your throat.  He tilted his head at you, seemingly teasing your confused panic. His head tilted slightly down as if sizing you up. You were terrified, scared of what he might do. 

The figure started closing in, fingers tightening on the pipe in his hand. You couldn't make out any features because of the darkness. Max's room was on the opposite side of the house, where the moon hadn't been shining. It was tall...a man.  You couldn't stare any longer as it got closer- too close.

You yelped as the pipe was brought up, slamming down. You dived past him, barely missing the pipe coming down to incapacitate you. You barely made it two meters before you felt metal make hard, blunt contact with your calves. You fell to the ground less than gracefully, forehead splitting off the ground.

Your vision hazed as you struggled to lift your head. You pulled yourself forward, rolling onto your back weakly. Everything was spinning as a warm liquid rolled down your forehead, leaking into your eyes. You blinked painfully; everything was blurry and spinning. You could barely see through the blood pooling into your eyes.

You propped yourself up on your elbows, looking up at the figure through half-closed eyes. He approached like a lion sneaking up on its prey. You could barely make out his hands tightening again on the pipe, raising to swing down. You braced yourself, you didn't have the strength or the time to move.

You let out a blood-curdling shrill as the pipe came down on your knees, a bile-inducing crunch breaking your scream and filling your ears. Pain shot up your legs as he stood above you, tilting his head teasingly. Your kneecap was completely shattered, bone digging unnaturally through your skin. You barely fought your dinner back down your throat as you looked down at the floor.

You needed to get out of here. Now.  You dragged yourself across the floor, pained sobs involuntarily leaving your lips. You didn't want to die. Not like this. You could feel how eased the man felt standing above you, it was eerie. He didn't seem to care about your sobs of pain.

"(Y/n)?"

You could barely lift your head to find the source of the sound. You couldn't see anything but the blood leaking off your forehead and onto the floor. Your head drooped, chin resting on the cold laminate floor as the man stepped over you, hovering over your side. Everything got brighter for a split second before returning to its murky dusk.

"Please-..Plea-..Help!-" You sobbed out, reaching out for help. You felt a booted foot on your hand, twisting agonizingly slow. You cried out in pain, attempting to pull your hand away but to no avail. It felt like thousands of needles repeatedly stabbing through your body. You couldn't do anything but watch as your hand was destroyed, turned to a pulp of mess. Your bones stuck out every which way, making your hand look like a modern-day art project, the meaning void to him. You looked up at the strange man, you could tell by the way he stood that he was enjoying this, enjoying mangling and mutilating your body like you weren't alive. 

"(Y/n)?..Hello?.."

You heard it again, but louder this time, it echoed through your whole body. You recognized that voice.

"..Max?" You croaked out before everything went black. It didn't hurt anymore.