Alex ran and ran until his lungs burned and sweat started dripping down his forehead. Fuck....why does my house have to be so far away!?! 

 

His heart leaped when, after a moment, he finally saw the 2-story house. The door was 20.......10......5 meters away from him. He shakily grabbed the keys from his pocket and aggressively opened the door. He ran in and immediately locked it behind him.

He leaned his head against the door. His knees felt weak, his whole body was shaking. 

His fingers were still tightly gripped around the keys. They dug into his palm painfully. But he stood like that, frozen in fear, listening for any sounds from the outside. 

The only thing he could hear was his own ragged breathing.

He slowly recovered from his frozen stance. W......what do I do..now? I'm...alive. He touched his face. I'm still alive....

His trembling legs finally gave up on him and he fell to his knees.  

He put his head in his hands. "......ugh." 

He stayed on the ground for a few minutes. He knew he shouldn't just give up, that he should do something, anything. 

When the tight feeling in his chest began getting a little more managable, he stood up, feeling like a newborn giraffe. 

He looked around. He saw his living room, the entrance to the kitchen, and.....windows. Windows to the outside. 

"Uh, what to...-" He suddenly got an idea. The house was connected to a basement underground. There, he'd have the best chance to get some planks to board them up.

It was a serious struggle to get down the stairs, almost falling multiple times. 

He got what he needed soon enough and went back up. But when he approached the windows and looked out of them, he expected to see the monster appear out of the shadows and jump through to him, ripping him to shreds. He felt additional sweat drip down his temples. 

Actually hammering down the heavy pieces of wood to the window frames proved to be very difficult. His wrists and fingers started cramping not even 2 windows in. 

After about 20 minutes he finally finished up, absolutely exhausted. With the last ounce of energy he had, he moved the couch in the living room to the middle of the room and fell on top of it. 

He stared blankly at the ceiling. If.......if it just kills me, at least I'll know I did everything I could.....I guess. It comforted him a little.

A few tears escaped his eyes. He was trapped in his own house, unable to do anything but come to terms with....dying. 

He started counting his heartbeats. The repeated rhythm managed to calm him down. The only feeling that remained in his mind was cold melancholy. 

"Hm....I wonder who'll come to my funeral? Who'll cry?" Alex whispered and snorted a laugh through his nose. "...Dad, for sure." He quieted down and closed his eyes. The thought of death terrified him, but he managed to keep it from overtaking his brain. He was too tired to have another mental breakdown.

A buzzing noise suddenly cut sharply through the air. Alex got startled. It came from his back pocket. Oh, wait....it's my fucking phone!!

He reached behind him and pulled out the device. I'm such a fucking idiot!! A dumb notification from a mobile game had the opportunity to be the thing that saved his life.

He unlocked the phone and went straight to 'contacts'. However, his finger hovered over the screen. Who should I call?

The contact under the name 'Mother' caught his attention.

Behind that simple word was hidden so much of Alex's painful and traumatic memories.

But still, she was the only person he thought was capable enough to handle this completely insane situation. 

He dialed her number. 

The long pauses between the beeps reminded him further of some of the awful moments he had to live through with this person. He remembered the way she'd look at him like he was nothing more than a piece of trash. The dead expression she'd have when she secretly wished she hadn't had him. It was always so incredibly obvious.

She was greatly disappointed when her one and only son grew up into the failure he is today. He had terrible grades, didn't get into a prestigious school, and was an antisocial freak. As a result, she saw him as nothing more than an absolute failure of a human being.

It felt like forever until she picked up. "Yes? Alexander? What is it?" She wasn't trying to mask her cold tone.

"Um, hi...so um....-" Oh my god, what do I even say? Alex started anxiously fidgeting with his fingers. "So, there was- I was walking home from school, but then, I-I saw a dead deer in the road, and I, like, could feel the thing that killed it watching me, and I started running and....you-you know, I'm really scared righ-"

"Huh? Are you ridiculous? Listen, I don't have time for your little stories." Alex looked at the ground, his vision blurring. "S-sorry..-"

"Bye."

Before Alex had time to say another word, she hung up. He quickly dialed her number again. He needed her right now if she just-

His heart sank. He looked down at the few words which suddenly appeared on the screen.

'No signal'

He threw the phone next to him on the couch and gripped his hair with his fingers.

This was definitely one of those moments he'd really appreciate some neighbors.