Goosebumps prickled up her arms as she walked across the dark empty parking lot. The air was still as humid as it was since the beginning of April, like steam from a boiling pot swirling across the baked concrete. 

Rina could feel the sweat covering her body, sticky and uncomfortable, making her clothes stick to her back and legs. But despite the weather that'd been causing a spike in hospital admissions for heat stroke, an unfathomable chill made the fine hairs on her limbs and neck stand from their roots. For the past three days she'd felt a heavy stare at the back of her head, like a shadow she's unable to leave behind.

Perhaps she was just being paranoid was what she thought. Ever since the night she'd went out with Gale, she couldn't escape the feeling of being constantly watched. In the hallways, in the operating rooms, during rounds, as she walked across the parking lot or for home - even when she sneaked out of the hospital for a quick smoke, it didn't matter. She could always feel a pair of invisible eyes trailing after her.

It might be because of the conversation she'd heard in the lockers. And her friend's weird reaction was to blame as well. Whatever it was, it made her life a lot more stressful. She felt living on a steep edge. She had wondered more than once if perhaps she might have a stalker, and at the back of her head she prayed it had nothing to do with the odd things that continued to haunt her thoughts.

It was stupid, she knew, to be worrying about its connection to what she heard rather than the mere fact of a stalker. It was dangerous in itself to have some stranger following her. She didn't know what the person wanted, nor what he or she could be capable of. But for a reason she couldn't understand, her mind kept pulling back to the possibility that everything that had happened the past days all fell into the same web of mystery.

Her intuition refused to be silenced, telling her the conversation would serve as some trigger. But a trigger for what exactly? The answer was beyond her reach. She felt strongly though that she shouldn't have heard what she had, and the fact that she did would sprinkle trouble in her sad life.

She sighed, unlocking the doors of the car then sliding into the driver's seat. Her brother was unable to pick her up due to a previously planned engagement, and she couldn't help but dread the long drive ahead of her. Their home was two hours away and already the drowsiness weighed heavily on her lids.

Pulling the door close, she yawned, her eyes tearing up. She started the engine, locked the doors, and turned on the air conditioning. She then closed her eyes, resting her back on the leather seats. She would have to rest for a bit first, she thought, if she wanted to make it home in one piece.

Memories of the conversation mingled with her friend's inquiries as they flooded her mind. Even the sight of the pulled out chair haunted her in the darkness.

A tired sigh escaped her lips and she squirmed in her seat. She'd been pushing the same thoughts out of her head for the past days and yet somehow, they'd always managed to crawl back to her consciousness. It didn't matter what she did. Why was she even fixated on the whole thing? It was a weird experience and nothing more. There'd been no signs of the same voices in the hospital since then. There was a good chance she'd conjured the thing up. And what did the vanishing guy had to do with anything? She hadn't caught a glimpse even of the man's shadow.

A knock on her window forced her eyes open and she turned her head to the side. Her heart beat frantically in her chest half expecting some eerie phantom standing on the other side of the car door. She let out a heavy sigh at the sight of the woman in ragged clothing.

It was just a beggar, she realized as she glanced at the time glaring from under the car's fuel gauge. At one in the morning? Her brows knitted. In an empty parking lot?

There wasn't exactly any place where a beggar could ask for spare change but certainly a place without people to beg wouldn't be an ideal choice.

Shaking her head and her thoughts away, she knocked back on the window. It was a habit she got from her mother specifically for such instances. Beggars had always gone away after the answering knock, but the woman standing by her window however, did not. Instead she plastered her face on the glass, making the doctor jump in her seat.

Rina leaned away from the window, her eyes widening in shock. 

"What the hell?" she muttered under her breath. The thoughts that had plagued her mind scrambled back in the shadows, her consciousness focused on the filthy stranger filling out her view.

The woman stared back at her with protruding eyes, her hands leaving dirty prints on the polished glass as they moved around. Her hair was a blown up mess of curls on her head, overall a deranged look often seen in classic illustrations of infamous wicked witches.

A few seconds ticked by and Rina had half a mind to drive away. She needed a few more seconds of rest but the woman seemed determined not to leave her in her silence. She'd placed a sweaty hand over the gear shift, her feet pressing hard on the brakes. She was ready to speed off should the woman have some crazy ideas. But then as if she had suddenly remembered her place, the woman straightened her back and simply turned away.

Blood pounded in her ears and she let out a shaky breath, her hands gripping the gear shift numb and a bit damp. She shook her head at her own state. She'd definitely become paranoid, she thought, a soft chuckle escaping her lips.

She shifted the gear to drive and turned on the headlights. She was just about to release the brakes when from the darkness a figure jumped in front of the car. It was the woman again, the one she thought had finally left, and her hands slammed on the hood in a resonating bang.

Rina jumped and cursed, her nerves still on edge. Perhaps the woman was somehow mentally retarded, the idea fueled her panic. Her heart pounded harder as she repeatedly honked the horns, the high pitched sound only aggravating her unease. But the woman didn't move away, and instead hissed at her, her tar covered teeth flashing amidst a fountain of spit.

She relaxed a bit when the woman stepped back. She should've given her some change, then maybe she would've left her alone. If she gave her some now, would that perhaps send her away? But all thoughts of handing over a few coins disappeared completely when the woman suddenly hunched forward. Her face contorted to a feral expression that Rina couldn't exactly put into words.

A dark feeling settled in the doctor's stomach. Her eyes widened as the beggar's face seemingly swirled and twisted before her. All thoughts of sleep evaporated from her mind as the impossibility of the woman's features dissolving and reforming sunk deep into her understanding. Though she didn't understand a thing of what was happening. Not really.

From the woman's nose and mouth sprouted some kind of beak. Like a bird's it extended a far distance from her face. How was it even possible what she was seeing was real? Had she fallen asleep? Was it all a dream?

She pinched herself hard and hissed when a nail broke through skin. No, it wasn't a dream, and her heart practically leaped out of her chest with each beat. She gripped the steering wheel tight as she watched some kind of wings burst from the woman's back.

"Jesus fucking-" Her breaths were short and shallow. "What-" The right words eluded her.

It seemed a thick fog had descended on her mind, she couldn't focus, couldn't think straight. There was huge lump stuck in her throat and she couldn't find it in her to scream.

Her hands gripped harder, her knuckles turning white. Black spots appeared on her vision like blotched ink stains in a microscope. Despite the cool interior of the car, she could feel the cold sweat trickling down her forehead in beads. Classic evidences of anxiety and hyperventilation, she recognized them all too well. Though the knowledge didn't help and she could only pray that the shock would soon wear off. She had to do something, and do something quick.

She turned her head frantically to all sides as the beggar stretched in front of her. The woman's hands had turned to claws, sharp nails glinting as they caught the bright headlights. Bile rose to her throat at the sight and she whimpered. She needed to call for help, she thought, but saw nothing but empty slots around her. Even her rearview mirror showed her nothing but darkness and painted stoppers. Where she'd parked was too far from the hospital. Nobody would hear even if she made noise.

In a moment of clarity the answer came, like a sudden light at the end of a dark tunnel.

"Phone!" Her voice broke when she said it, her hands slapping the steering wheel upon her abrupt turn. But her shallow triumph was was short-lived when she looked up and met the yellow glowing eyes of the creature before her.

A scream got caught in her throat when it opened its beak and let out an high-pitched shriek. The sound was like the loud whistling of a kettle, seemingly so normal and yet it sent shivers up her spine. Instinctively both her hands went up to cover her ears and she closed her eyes tightly, gritting her teeth from discomfort.

But then a few seconds and it stopped, her ears ringing from the sudden silence that enveloped her. She could hear her panicked heartbeat and the rush of blood to her ears. Even the air passing through her mouth seemed to bounce off the small compartment, overpowering all other sounds.

Cautiously, she opened one eye, just in time to witness the creature drawing back as if to pounce. And perhaps it would've, if not for a blur sweeping in from the right, sending the creature flying to the other side.

The sound of the roaring engine slowly came back as a loud crash echoed from somewhere she couldn't see. Her brows knitted as she craned her neck to its direction and in confusion she slumped in her seat, running both hands through her tangled hair. What had happened? Another whimper escaped her lips.

A sudden knock came from the passenger window. This time she managed to scream.

"Godammit!" She pounded on the steering wheel once and pushed herself against it, closing her eyes and hissing as if from pain.

Her head snapped to the other window, half expecting the beggar again like some twisted deja vu blurring the lines of reality and nightmares. But the face that greeted her wasn't the old woman's. Instead it was the face of a man - a stranger she didn't know.

The man's gaze was sharp and determined as he continued to tap on the glass. His voice came muffled from outside the car, the running engine drowning it out. Rina could only catch some of the words by reading his mouth, but she understood him perfectly.

He wanted her to let him in. Unlock the door, he had said. Should she? She watched him. She didn't even know who he was. What if he was like the woman? A shiver crawled up to her scalp. She didn't think so, at least. Perhaps it was him who just saved her.

She deliberated what to do as she watched the man gesture towards where the creature had disappeared. His eyes widened a fraction as they continued darting to and from the same direction. He repeated his request again, seemingly more urgent this time, and Rina wondered what the man could've seen.  

Risking a glance to her left where the creature had been sent flying, she held her breath. Her heart skipped a beat and constricted at the sight of the woman slowly rising from the ground just a few feet from the car. The things that looked like wings were dragged across the concrete as her wobbly legs straightened. Even in such a distance under the old headlights, she could tell there was a bloodthirsty glint in the creature's otherworldly eyes.

The man knocked louder causing her to whip her head back to face him. He pointed towards the locks and hit the glass with the palm of a hand. The doctor could only interpret the look on his face as impatience and slight desperation.

Should she trust him? She bit her lower lip, brows furrowing.

Perhaps she shouldn't, and yet her instincts told her she should. She wasn't one who would do something so irrational, but she wouldn't go ignoring what her gut told her was right.

"Screw it," she said, and opened the lock from her side of the car.

The man scrambled inside and slammed the door after him just as the creature started hobbling towards the car, wings fluttering in jerking, unsteady beats.

Rina tore her gaze away from the unnatural creature and met eyes of the most luscious green. Before she could say anything, the man spoke in an even tenor that demanded nothing short of unquestioning obedience.

"Drive!"