Prologue
I’m in my bed. There is a figure standing above me. Their hands move too fast for me to make out what they could be signing, but that's what it looks like they are doing. I’ll have to ask Jess what those signs mean later. Thunder cracks and rolls across the skies. Light flashes into my bedroom with the lightning and thunder. I can just barely make out the figures alarming and manic grin.
I can feel their hands tugging up my shirt. Fear creeps up my throat but I can't scream. I can’t move. I can’t even open my eyes. Their finger tracing shapes into my skin leaving something cool behind. Then I'm hit with a strong desire to run away. A gut feeling of something bad happening. Only then am I able to start to struggle but then the figure raises their hand and I jolt up with a start. My heart is hammering in my chest. My breathing is ragged and shallow. This underlying feeling of being watched digs deep into my skin.
I jump out of bed and hurriedly close the curtains hanging in front of my window. Moving to check every lock and block every window. I’ve had a stalker before. That shtick was not fun at all. And since then I’ve always trusted my gut. Every time I don’t something bad happens.
With a sigh, I look at the clock and realize it’s already 4:30 am. Might as well get ready for the day now. I could use a long and relaxing shower. We are going to ignore the fact that a relaxing shower for me consists of 15 minutes of sobbing, 30 minutes of pretending I'm a famous singer at a concert while I wash, 10 minutes of wondering what in the world is wrong with me, and then 5 minutes of trying to motivate my departure from the scalding hot water. Good times, good times.
My day moved slowly. It felt unnaturally normal considering the dream I had, but it might have only felt that way due to this strange feeling of being watched. My morning was normal aside from the everything shower I usually don’t have time for. I got my usual coffee, with the usual phone number written on the side. The poor high school student wrote it every day with the hopes I'd give them the time of day. Not understanding that it’d be wrong considering I was at least 7 years older than them, but it was flattering.
Work was delightfully awful as per the norm. My boss was cranky, single, and craving affection. Normal. My coworkers were bright and much too energetic for the time of day it was. Normal. We all ate lunch together in the break room. Normal. They would complain about their husbands and children. Normal. They’d compliment my looks and success within my career. Normal. They’d tell me that Ryouji Tanaka from marketing liked me and I should give him a shot. Normal. Boss would shoo us back to work unknowingly, saving me from another interrogation. Normal. I’d have to stay late and do most of my boss’s job from him. Normal. I’d walk home and get catcalled at least twice. Normal.
All day for every second of every minute I'd feel as though I'm being watched. Not normal. Not Normal at all. I did my best to ignore it, but I just couldn’t shake off the unease.
Even when I entered the safety of my own home I still felt eyes on me. Deciding it's better to be safe than sorry. I called my best friend. If anyone was there waiting to make their move I doubt they’d do so while I was on the phone.
“Miri-chan? Mirina?”
Apparently I was wrong. Considering just she had picked up I felt a sharp pain at the back of my neck and then nothing. I had lost consciousness.
The first thing I noticed upon waking, rudely via unwelcome sunlight shining straight into my eyes, was how unethically cold it was. Seriously, who gave mother nature permission to freeze us all like this? This was cruel and unusual punishment, I tell you. The second thing I noticed was how uncomfortable my bed had suddenly become. To the point where my neck, shoulders, and lower back ache and throbbed in their protest. I groaned and moved to massage my shoulders. Rolling and shimmying to find a more comfortable position on my unusually stiff bed. Nuzzling my face into the slightly itchy pillow… odd my pillow is satin, really smooth. I push myself up and rub the sleep out of my eyes.
The third thing I noticed was that this lush and beautiful clearing within the middle of nowhere was most certainly not my bedroom.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH” Birds tactfully fly away.