The ticking of the mechanical clock in her bedroom was the only sound Emily could hear over her own heartbeat as she lay in her bed staring at it, transfixed. She glanced at her phone ' 12:55 '. " Any minute now." she thought. Her anxiety grew and she clenched her fists trying to reassure herself.". Everything is gonna be fine. This will be the last night she will spend in fear and anxiety. Once this is over she could be okay and prove to everyone that she was perfectly fine and healthy. "

Creak.

Emily's heart dropped, before beating so fast that one might think it was trying to escape and run away. She felt her stomach twisting with the nervousness of what was to come. She tried to keep herself still and calm and tried to collect her thoughts.

 

The door slowly opened. 

While Emily was pretending to sleep, she could only see some grey trousers from her angle with her eyes nearly closed. 

The figure slowly crept closer as if trying to be as silent as possible and succeeding. If Emily had not been awake she wouldn't have known either. Just as she felt that the silhouette was close enough for her to reach she grabbed the knife that she had kept under her pillow just for this moment.

She fully opened her eyes and saw for the first time the face of the person who invaded her home as if it was their own for the past 2 weeks. 

*****

She was so terrified .At first she thought that It was just a nightmarish dream but was later convinced otherwise when the cycle continued for three days in a row at exactly 12:55. When she contacted the police they assumed it was a stalker and helped her secure her house with cameras and even had two officers follow her in civilian clothing for security measures. Even after all the security measures Emily still continued to feel an unknown presence while asleep ,though the timing seemed to have changed a bit. 

Even after checking the footage from the cameras and finding nothing odd or anyone coming in and out of her house. The police advised her to consult a psychiatrist and have a family member or a close friend to sleep over for emotional support and went their way.

Emily being an orphan didn't have any family members whom she could call for help and as she was struggling to make ends meet and didn't have time to hang out with her friends, she really didn't have any friends close enough that they would drop everything to comfort her and be with her.

The small one storey house, where she was currently living while having the worst experience of her life was the only thing left behind by her late adoptive grandmother, where she had been living for the past 9 days. Before that she had lived in a small rented one room apartment, so as not to burden her grandmother. 

Emily knew that she didn't need to see a psychiatrist as she could clearly feel and hear a presence between 12:55 to 1:15. She convinced herself that she was just hallucinating as she hadn't gotten proper sleep between arranging a funeral, paperwork of the will, moving into the house and working two jobs. 

Days went by and finally she couldn't take it anymore. She was done with people treating her like she had lost her sanity while giving her sympathetic looks. She didn't need their pity. She finally decided and mustered the courage to confront whoever was trying to disrupt her life while making it look as if she was insane.

*****

When she finally saw this person Emily's heart stopped for a second before pounding so hard that her heartbeat was the only thing she could hear, not the ticking of the clock, not the crickets chirping in the dead of the night and not even the neighbour's dog that was barking madly. She felt a chill down her spine. Her feet went cold and her grip on the knife loosened making it drop on the mattress with a plop. Emily's eyes widened, what she was seeing didn't seem humane. What she thought was a person looked more like a shadowy figure but had features like a human. Emily couldn't even figure out its gender. It had sockets for eyes but didn't have any eyeballs, and dark brown blood seemed to be dripping from the hollow sockets appearing as if they were tears of blood dripping all the way down from the cheeks to the neck and finally disappeared in it's tattered brown t-shirt splattered with dried blood stains, while some stains still appeared to be wet. Its neck seemed a bit longer than normal and had black veins. One of its arms was missing and blood was dripping to the floor but Emily couldn't see it on the floor. Its other hand-"

" Th-thank you Hazel " Mr Adler squeaked before clearing his throat and repeating once again in his normal gruff voice " Thank you Hazel, you did a great job on the assignment. You may return to your seat now. "

" But I still have yet to read half of my story Mr Adler " Hazel said confused, before a look of realisation flashed across her face and a mischievous glint appeared in her twinkling black eyes. She asked Mr Adler while innocently fluttering her eyelashes as though she was an oblivious child "Mr Adler could it be that the story scared you? Or maybe the bloo-"

 "MISS HAZEL I ASKED YOU TO RETURN TO YOUR SEAT." Mr Adler's voice boomed across the class. The classroom became dead silent as it was extremely rare for Mr Adler to raise his voice. The students were stunned and looked at him with bewilderment. Some students even looked a bit scared. 

" It's because half of your story was enough for me to grade you on your assignment and to give me a glimpse of your vocabulary, creativity and besides there are other students who I have to grade too." Mr Adler huffed while scribbling what appeared to be her grades on his notepad before asking the students next in the roll call list to present their own fictional stories.

Hazel walked back to her seat, nonchalant as if she hadn't set Mr Adler off and sat down.

A few of her classmates stared at her like she was some war hero, while some were still unable to digest the fact that Mr Adler had raised his voice. Some even gave Mr Adler a suspicious stare as if they were trying to figure out what was really going on in his head. The man has a huge built and looked so scary that at first glance one would think that he had nails and cement for breakfast. His physique didn't match his personality at all. He had a gentle temperament, befitting as that of a teacher, as if proving that looks can be deceiving.

As Hazel turned to her deskmate as well as her best friend, Cassey she saw her scribbling something furiously on her notebook. Hazel's eyes widened, it was once in a blue moon, that Cassey was serious for her studies. Hazel curiously and anxious, peeked at Cassey's book. She asked "what are you doing?" When she didn't get any response she tried to take a closer look but when she wasn't successful she tried to snatch the book away as her last resort.

Though it was rude, and Hazel was sure to be later punched for this, she was desperate, because if Cassey was taking her studies seriously, she was sure to be punished later. So, in Hazel's opinion,it was better to take a punch from your friend than be lectured and later punished by the teacher.

"Wait is that the report professor Woods asked us to write on the world wars? I thought it was due next Friday. And why didn't you tell me? I thought you were my friend! How can you betray me like that? How much did you write? Don't tell me it's more than 4 pages long!" Hazel whispered while frantically searching for her history note book in her trash bag of a bag pack.

Cassey gave Hazel a side glance before rolling her eyes. "Just how can somebody keep their backpack this clean." Cassey said sarcastically.

" I was too laz- ahem busy to organise it " Hazel said a little embarrassed.

" Yeah? What were you even so busy with that you didn't even have 5 minutes to clean your bag pack? "

" The movie was good." Hazel replied with a sheepish smile on her face.

"Huh. You really are hopeless. What movie were you watching anyway? "

"Shadow fall."

"WHAT! Another horror movie! Don't you know any other genres other than horror."

"I have seen thrillers and dark fantasy movies."

"MY GOODNESS! HOW! JUST HOW CAN ANYONE BE SO OBSESSED WITH HORROR-"

"Miss Cassey I think you have completed your assignment. Would you like to present next?" Mr Adler stared at the two girls with a hint of slight irritation by being disturbed during class.

Cassey glanced at the podium and saw that she still had a bit of time as there were still 2 more students who had to present before her. Cassey glanced at Mr Adler confused. Mr Adler sighed as if giving up and said again.". If you are so confident about your presentation and have time to spare for chit-chat then it would be better to get your presentation done first." 

Cassey opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by the bell signaling the start of lunch break. Cassey's dark brown eyes sparkled with traces of smile that couldn't be seen on her facial expressions. Mr Adler glared at her while collecting his belongings and looking as if she was hopeless and there was nothing he could do and was resigning to fate but he suddenly had an idea and said as an afterthought "Miss Cassey you will be the first to present in my next lecture. I have high expectations from you." Mr Adler said while smiling but Cassey was sure that he was mocking her and was convinced that it was an evil smile.

~~*~~

" I'm sure he was doing it on purpose didn't you see the evil glint in his eyes. He is supposed to be a teacher shouldn't he be following his own rules? There are other students too who have to present before me. I could feel them buzzing with excitement to present but- " Hazel nudged her but as Cassey was too busy rambling, she didn't even notice it "But he still asked me to-OUCH" Cassey glared at Hazel while holding the side of her stomach and was about to open her mouth but as she noticed that Hazel was quieter than usual and was staring transfixed in one direction. As she followed her line of sight and saw students parting ways for their mountai- Mr Adler. 

It was unusual for teachers to seek out students after class during this time as there were no functions or programs to be arranged which needed the students to sacrifice their precious lunch break which was meant to hang out with their friends and enjoy a nice break from their studies to be spent with their jailer-ahem teacher.

Heads turned as students stared but hurriedly retreated their gazes and went their way when Mr Adler glanced at them. Cassey and Hazel stared in unison at Mr Adler as he came to a halt in front of them. 

They stared as if they were seeing an Egyptian mummy from the museum sit up and say hello to them and not just their English teacher asking them for a moment of their time.

   

Mr Adler glanced around as if confirming that there were least ears around them and asked Hazel while fidgeting a bit awkwardly "Miss Hazel I just wanted to know who exactly was that figure in Emily's room and why was it there?"

"Why?" Questioned Hazel.

Mr. Adler hesitated a bit but sighed and in the end told the truth "I-I just couldn't handle my curiosity." Hazel stared blankly before smiling and replying " of course Mr Adler." Cassey shuddered. 

'Oh no. This overly sweet voice and smile. Cassey knew it better than anyone else. Whenever Hazel used this tone she was up to no good.'