Everything in my life has always been very plain and normal. It went the route that most lives went, preschool, primary school, high school, university, first job and then the better second job. I’m twenty five, unmarried and single. My parents make a bigger deal out of it then they do of my brothers’ marital status since we all know women have a ticking clock attached to their viability of having kids. Honestly though, I’ve always been content with my life, everything happened when it was supposed to, so I don’t mind waiting a little longer to find Mr. Right. Life tends to flow forward just like a river, strong and steady. Nothing out of the ordinary ever really happens.

…….

The street is empty as I walk up to my apartment. Trees line the both sides but other than them there’s not a soul to be found, save for myself. There are no lights on inside my apartment, I don’t live alone but this weekend my roommate decided to visit her parents. I also went out for drinks with my co-workers after work, so it’s already very late.

As I try to turn on the lights, the power isn’t working. Of course this would happen, Julia must have forgotten to buy electricity… I quickly make my way toward the electric meter rounding the corner, thankfully I bought some extra electricity that I stored in our petty cash box. I try to find the key in the darkness when suddenly I hear a creak to my left, the side I came from, where the front door is. Did I lock the door? No, I must have left it open… One thing is for sure, I’m not going to idiotically call out asking if someone is there. I slowly back away towards my room that’s to my right, thankfully our place is small so the distance isn’t that far. As I take another step I make the same mistake this burglar made and a creak sound escapes from beneath my foot. No more time for sneaking and I dash to my room. I hear a set of footsteps coming from behind me. Just as I’m about to close my bedroom door the burglar reaches me and rams into the door knocking me back and I fall. My heart is beating in my throat as I look up at this man dressed completely in black, his face also covered but his eyes are staring at me unblinkingly. “Please! Take anything you want, just leave me be!” I shout. I can’t believe I could actually get more than one word out.

He’s silent, towering over me like some malignant statue. I quickly look down, his eyes felt like they were burning through my skull. That’s when I notice the knife as he slowly removes it from his jacket. The sensation of pins and needles spread across my scalp and down my arms, forget about reasoning with this man, I need to fight back! In a moment he steps forward, launching the knife directly at my body, I dodge to the right grabbing something in the darkness and jab it straight into his arm. As I try to get back up on my feet I feel a searing pain in my left leg and warm fluid running down. Half crouching I look up to see the man removing a fork from his arm, did Julia eat in my room again? He hasn’t even made a sound, does he not feel pain? I won’t be able to escape since he’s still blocking the door with the knife still in his hand with, I’m guessing, my blood on it.

I’m starting to lose consciousness as my blood keeps streaming out from my leg. He must have hit a major artery. Is this how I die? I slide down to a sitting position, I’m starting to fade, my head rests against my bedside table. The man in black is just standing there staring at me once again. “You’re going to die too you know, just when you die no one will mourn for you.” I can see him frown and his eyes flash with it’s first hint of emotion. I seem to have hit a nerve. Good, then at least I got him back to some degree. He walks toward me, crouching down, eye level with me. I’m so weak, I can’t even lift my arms anymore. He lifts the knife, slowly piercing my heart, the pain is truly unbearable. I give one last look into those empty eyes of his that has lost any trace of emotion it held a second ago and everything turns to black.