The night was a restless, slow, terrifying nightmare. He didn't close his eyes even for a second. Not that there was any chance for him to get any sleep. Of course not.

...I can.....I can do....this.....wait....can I.....can I do this? 

Alex stood a few centimeters away from the door. The same one that he hid behind in fear mere hours ago. His heart beat so loud, and the silence around him completely deafened his ears. 

His grip on the backpack in his right hand tightened. I.....I have to go to school....right?

He stood there for a minute. He kept looking at the wooden engravings on the door. 

......no. I can't. 

His self-preservation instinct was far stronger than his rational thinking

He dropped the backpack to the floor and turned around. Don't be fucking stupid. There's a predator outside. Do you want to die?

He went back to the living room and sat on the couch. 

He spent the next few hours watching the yard and the path leading back to town from one of the barricated windows. His face morphed into a stone-cold expression. That creature could've been already long gone, terrorizing a different part of the forest entirely. 

The disgusting rotting foul-smelling carcass entered his mind. 

I'm not opening that door.

Alex, amid his monitoring, heard a bell ringing in the distance. It was the church bell, announcing noon.

.....oh, it's already this late? 

He remembered he went to sit on the couch at about 9. 

He slowly moved from his stiff position, his knees painfully creaking as he did so. Ah.....I'm starving....I didn't even notice.

He walked into the kitchen and went straight to the fridge. Empty. He's been meaning to buy some meat in the store but forgot to. 

The cupboards were empty, as well as the pantry. 

He stood in the middle of the room. His stomach growled like it sensed the lack of food around him as well. 

....fuck.

It seemed he had no other choice but to go out. 

It took another hour for Alex to convince himself before he stood before the door and slowly opened it. The cold air hit him right in the face and he shuddered.

He looked around the meadow. The forest surrounding the house looked completely different than yesterday. The inviting warm atmosphere they created was nothing like yesterday's dark, chilling one. Branches were moving in the wind as if greeting him and wishing him a good day.

Alex looked around. He saw a pair of blackbirds playing in a puddle. They wouldn't act so carefree if the monster was still close....right? He tightened his hold of the backpack he had with him.

He opened the door all the way and stepped out. The birds happy chirps suddenly stopped; they noticed him and flew away.

"..Hah.....I guess I'm like a monster to those little guys too." Alex's raspy voice didn't allow him to speak louder than a whisper. 

He began walking down the path, still very paranoid and jumpy. Rightfully so, this was the very same path he had to sprint through while fearing for his life.

Alex's breathing became shaky when he was close to approaching that place. But, when it came in sight, he stopped in his tracks. It was.....gone.

...huh?

The torn-up corpse, all the blood, gunk, and fur was all gone. He couldn't believe it.

Did it....drag it away? He couldn't think of any other explanation.

He slowly circled the spot where he knew the carcass lay before it disappeared.

He didn't realize he was holding his breath until he was a few meters away from it. He put his head in his hands.

Jesus Christ.....what the fuck is happening, dude.....

Alex started gradually hearing more and more noise while going further. The town was getting close. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the first houses in the distance. 

When his shoes got onto the asphalt road and he walked further, he didn't dare turn around. He felt like it would....curse him. That he'd see it. 

He looked up and saw the school building in the distance. "...hm." He turned the opposite way to get to the store.

"...oh! H-hello!" a loud voice caught him by surprise. He turned his head and saw that same girl from yesterday. Her red hair looked wildly disheveled from the wind. 

"...uh..." his eyes darted around her; she was alone. What is she doing here? Why isn't she in school?

"....look," she came a little closer. "I want to apologize for yesterday. The guys were just rude." she started looking at the ground. "I convinced my friends to come sit with you. It's all my fault." 

"...but....why would you-" Ales winced. He suddenly developed a headache. It must've been because of his lack of sleep.

"Y-you seem cool, so.....I wanted to get to know you." Alex noticed her furrowed eyebrows and a slight blush on her cheeks; she was embarrassed. "Can you...please give me a chance? I'll tell the others to quit it."

"Um...." I seem cool....?? .........me???

Until now, Alex was sure that other people simply chose to ignore his pitiful existence, but this? "...yeah.....sure....." He answered weakly.

"Oh, okay! Thanks so much!" Her face brightened. "Well, anyway, did you oversleep? I was wondering where you were."

"...no, I didn't." His answer sounded cold and unemotional, he couldn't find the energy to respond otherwise. "Why are you here?"

"The math teacher called off a class, I think she said it was some kind of emergency. Speaking of, the school's the other way, do you have other responsibilities, too?"

"No, I just wanted to-"

"Then that's great!" Alex's head throbbed because of her piercing voice. "We can go back together, right?" She walked around him and stopped a few meters away, waiting for him to follow her. "We'll need to hurry though, the next class is starting soon."

Alex looked at her for a moment. He was way too tired uncomfortable to refuse her. He started slowly walking along her.

I'm such a fucking pushover. A fucking dumbass idiot.

He didn't listen to her too much on the way to school, mainly because of how tired and incredibly mad at himself he was, but he did find out that her name was Max, short for Maximilian. Even though she was mostly holding a one-person conversation and the most that Alex could force out of himself was the occasional 'hm''s she didn't seem to mind it.

When they arrived in front of the school gate, Max checked her watch. Her eyes widened. "Wah! Let's hurry, or Miss Parker will be pissed!"

"Wait.....I don't even have any school supplies....."

Unknown to Alex's, or anyone else's knowledge, there was a person, a stranger, standing at the edge of the forest Alex had come out of a few minutes prior. 

"...so his name is Alex..." Their voice disturbed the quiet air around them. "...so beautiful..........I, I can't wait..."

They kept looking at Alex's figure in the distance until he disappeared behind buildings. 

They put their hands together, clenching their fingers painfully. "Ugh....no, I have to wait, I have to be patient." 

They backed up into the dark parts of the forest, awaiting Alex's arrival.