Alex had no idea of how long he spent there, in the woods. His surroundings eventually got darker and darker, while he sat there like a statue. It all felt like he was half-sleeping. 

He didn’t know how he got out of the trans, but his neck loudly snapped when he finally moved his head. Ah fuck……

He just realized how very cold he was. His stiff legs made it very hard to stand up and function, but the uncomfortable feeling went away after a while. He managed to get the backpack off the ground and began walking home. 

Just the thought of the warmth and shelter of his house made him aware of just how much he wanted to get there as soon as possible.

He was too tired to think. So, when he got to the house, he immediately went to the bathroom. He stepped into the shower stall and turned the water on. 

Alex didn't even bother to take his clothes off. He sat down, and just let the warm water hit his body. The clothes felt gross at this point, but he was too tired. Too tired to do anything else other than sit and focus on a random tile in the wall of the shower stall.

Alex slowly opened his eyes. ……….wait……….huh…? Why am I…….

…..oh.  He fell asleep. In the fucking shower. 

His ass hurt like hell. He almost slipped while he tried getting up. His head pounded like it had been bashed in by a hammer.  

It was painful, but he had to get himself dried and clothed. 

With occasional dark spots in his vision, he dried his body up, and almost fell a few times. 

He noticed there were some clothes hanging on the dryer, so he put them on. He left the soaked clothes behind him on the ground in a bunch.

He opened the bathroom door, and a large amount of steam left the small room.

Alex immediately went to the couch. He fell on top of it, completely exhausted.

The cold claws of sleep got to him before his head even hit the uncomfortable pillows. He was out cold. It was honestly nice, instead of him trying to fall asleep in this pitiful state. 

Alex woke up with a shock. W-what?? He felt like was woken up with something, but he heard nothing. What the fuck??

Alex felt his arms ache. When he wandered his gaze down, he noticed that his arms were trapped under his weight, because of the stupid narrowness of the couch. 

…fuck….. He cursed himself for not going the few steps up to his bed. He could've saved himself hurting arms and who knows what else. 

He heard a knock on the door. Alex stiffened. ….oh no…..

Panic settled in his chest. Who is it? Is it…….mom?  He imagined her angry knocking. This couldn't be it. This kind of knocking almost……seemed shy? In a way. If you could classify knocking anyway. 

A few more knocks resounded in the quiet house, and then it ended. The place became dead silent. Alex didn't dare move a muscle. 

Alex waited a few seconds, and then carefully stepped on the floor. He was so glad that the floor wasn't creaky. He could still play it off as if no one was home. 

He, on his tippy toes, walked towards the door. He held his breath and slowly looked through the peephole. 

The anticipation was killing him. He felt like he would explode any moment, just from the amount of nerves he was holding in.

Huh?? 

There was no one there. Is someone pranking me??

Alex slowly opened the door, and his eyes really weren't deceiving him. No one was there. He even looked around and peeked his head out to the porch, but he saw nothing. 

…are you serious??

There was no point in waiting any longer for something to happen. Alex was about to close the door, but he noticed something on the ground, in front of his feet. 

It was…….a piece of paper. 

It was pinned to his doorstep by a flat rock. The paper looked very wrinkly, and it had smudges around the edges. Alex assumed the smudges were from dirt. Hopefully.

Alex looked around again. Nothing. So he carefully put the rock away to the side. It was still kinda warm to the touch, so the person was setting this up just a few moments ago.

He lifted the paper. There was something written on the other side. 

‘hi

i want to be your frend. i dont want to sound creepy but i dont know what else to write. im really friendly dont worry. if you want to be friends then ill be waiting for u. 

bye, see you soon’

Alex was in shock. What the…  He frantically closed the door behind him and locked it. He clutched the paper in his hand. He sat behind the door and read it again. He noticed the person wrote a tiny heart next to the last sentense. Disgusting…

 Who would do something like this?? Just corner someone in their own house, with no escape? What a fucking creep.

This person wants to be…..friends?  It sounded like something out of a horror game. He sometimes played games with this plot. The main character finds a note like this and well…….a good ending for them is very rare. 

Random scenarios were playing in his head, of a faceless person with a knife, a person torturing him, and even worse things. 

He shivered. I'm so fucked.

Alex wanted to stare out of the windows facing the yard, to hopefully get a glimpse of the person. But he was too afraid. He was terrified to his core. It was too much. He froze, and just sat at the front of the door, too afraid to move. 

Why does this have to happen to me??  Alex teared up. This is bullshit…..

Alex managed to get a knife from the kitchen. Then he just sat down on the couch in the middle of the living room and clutched it tightly to his chest. He slowly looked out the window. His heartbeat spiked. He felt like there was something that was gonna jumpscare him. But there was nothing.

The clock all of a sudden started striking an hour. It was 9 am. Alex had no idea of what he should do. Either get out of the house and risk being killed and/or tortured by a psycho, or stay in the house- like a sitting duck. 

Alex suddenly felt anger stirring up in his chest. So angry and frustrated. I should just deal with the fucker. How dare someone do this to me!! I’m not gonna go down this easily. The amount of shit he's had to deal with until now has reached its peak.

He went to the kitchen and grabbed almost all of the potential weapons. All knives, and a few heavy pans. Those could crack the fucker’s head. 

Alex was pumped full of adrenaline. He couldn’t wait any longer. He took two knives in both of his hands, and a pan clutched by his free fingers. He left the rest on the floor.

He unlocked the door and stepped out. “COME OUT FUCKER!!” He screamed into the woods. He carefully watched his surroundings for movement. “I know you’re here!!”

“You fucking CREEP!! YOU’RE NOT GONNA GET ME!!!!”  Alex stepped into the middle of the glade. He put one of the knives in his pocket to have full control of the pan. So, one hand was for stabbing, the other for knocking out. Perfect. 

He kept staring around his field of view, wondering where he'd find the motherfucker. 

He started hearing loud stomping to his left. He held his knife up. Fuck fuck fuck

The noise was getting closer.

Okay, here we go…..

The noise stilled. Alex had his weapons ready.

All of a sudden, he saw a dark shadow. And then, a young guy stepped out. 

…..what? Alex really didn’t expect to see a guy around his age. He expected an old disgusting man, but this guy didn’t look older than him. But still, he’s dangerous. 

He was wearing dark pants and shirt, good clothes to get easily overlooked in the forest environment. But, his hair was a different story. He had light brown hair, which looked almost dirty blonde in the sunlight. He had long bangs, which partly covered his forehead and eyes. But, strangely, he didn’t look that scary.

“W-why are you doing this?!” Alex felt embarrassed because of his stutter. The guy had his hair in his eyes, but Alex recognized that he looked down. 

Then, he spoke. “I……..” He had a soft voice. “....I…..uh….”

He was silent for a second. 

“I can’t tell you that……I’m sorry.”  It looked like he was really apologetic, but it didn’t make sense. He wasn’t supposed to be such a…..normal person, and the fact that this guy wasn’t an absolute freak weirded Alex out even more. 

It made him more suspicious. 

“What are you planning on?? Do you just wanna…-” Alex’s gaze fixed on the stranger while the other, assuming nervously, shuffled around. 

“-be friends, and fucking like chill??? I don’t understand you at all.” 

The stranger looked puzzled. “...I want to get to know you.” 

Alex felt a wave of….something, coursing through him. It was like a strange energy, similar to drinking alcohol and feeling the warmth seeping into him. It happened as soon as the stranger and he looked at each other. 

Alex started feeling woozy all of a sudden. He wanted to get more balance, and moved his right leg behind him, on the ground. But, sharp pain coursed through his thigh. “fuck!” He let out unintentionally. 

It was the knife in his pocket, and he gave it the perfect angle to stab through the inner of his pocket, and the skin underneath. 

The light color of the sweatpants quickly soaked the color of his blood, and made it obvious he stabbed himself. 

“Are you okay!?” The guy asked. He sounded really worried.

“Fuck fuck…” Alex pulled out the knife from the pocket, and he saw the bloody blade. He was sure it wasn’t a deep cut, but he was bleeding like a pig. 

He saw the stranger in the corner of his eye, and his footsteps were moving. Towards him. 

“No no NO, stop!!” Alex pleaded and looked at the stranger. He stopped right in front of him, and the alarms in Alex’s head kept sounding. 

The stranger was working quicker than Alex even got to react. He kneeled and ripped open the bloodied fabric. Alex managed to just gasp before he put, what looked like a weird wide plaster, on the wound. Where the fuck….

“I’m sorry, I…” The guy stood up, and there was not even a meter separating the both of them. “I have a good reason for all this.” He looked so sad. It was as if a big cloud just covered his mind.