Captured

The Pattern

His eyes are staring back at her as she walked away slowly from the window.

Vanessa was about to scream, but didn't want her mom to come downstairs so, she shut her mouth.

The stranger outside was wearing a hoodie, similar to the guy Vanessa saw in the library.

Vanessa glanced at the phone and back at the hooded stranger. He seemed to notice her decision wether to call the police or not.

Before she could move, he disappears into the darkness like he wasn't even there.

Vanessa rushes to the window and closed the blinds. She's now debating to tell her mom about what's been happening but hates to worry her so much. She makes a promise to herself to call the police the next time this happens again.

She turns the lights off downstairs and goes to bed.

******

She's in the woods again, but this time there's no one running after her. This gives her a chance to look around.

Walking through the woods was like a maze because she did not know where she was going or how to get out.

She walks through the trees finding herself in front of what looks like an abandoned house. It looks old and small.

She looks around the house and inside to see if anyone was in there. She notices that there's stairs inside.

Something must of move from upstairs because she jumped out of fright from the sound. She goes upstairs, curious to find out what's up there.

Upstairs there are two rooms, one door open and the other half way closed. She steps into the room that's opened and sees a bed and an empty bookshelf.

Nothing was interesting enough to be strange to her so, she looked into the other room. She slowly opens the door and finds a small shadow run across the floor.

Her heart skipped a beat and her body froze. She bravely opens the door wide enough and hears a small meow.

An old dirty grey cat appears from the corner. It purrs around Vanessa's legs.

It was just a cat, she thought and carefully pets the stray animal.

The cat then crawls outside the room to the end of the hallway. Vanessa didn't see the hallway at first. She follows the cat across the hall.

The cat soon disappears into the darkness. Vanessa continues on to where the cat had disappeared but stops when she hears huge footsteps coming from the darkness.

A man steps out, who looks not much older than her. He comes towards her and she looks down at his hands seeing that he has a machete.

For some reason something wouldn't let her move. She struggles to get away as he comes closer to her.

She finally got the nerve to move her legs and run but it was too late. The man already had a hold of her and threw her to the ground.

She screams as she feels the machete slicing from her chest to her stomach.

*******