Another update! Enjoy this chapter and let's see what happens next with Ritsuko and her story!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A nightmare disrupted my peaceful sleep. Screaming echoed in my ears, almost like it was real. I saw a masked figure in a black jacket charging toward a young man.

For some reason, it was like I wasn't there but I was watching what happened. The young man, appearing to be of teen age, tried to run away, but the masked figure caught him and stabbed him in the shoulder with a knife. His screaming was interrupted by the stabbing sounds. Each of his wounds bled crimson onto the floor and the walls. This place was familiar. Where did I recognize it from?

"Stop it! Let me go!!" The teenager shouted, trying to get up. The attacker only stabbed more. Intestines and veins started gushing out from the wounds. I could even hear his bones crack as the masked attacker stomped on the poor man's arm.

It was obvious. This person wouldn't live any longer. He was too injured to survive. Who are you? My mind asked, desperate for an answer. Could this dream reveal who the murderer behind everything was?

"W-w-who are you?" the man whimpered through his pain. His clothes were drenched in blood from the stab wounds. My heart pounded loudly, it was almost deafening. The attacker panted, standing up in a limp manner and putting a hand to the white mask on his face. The mask covered the person's eyes in dark black holes of nothing with black lines leaking out of it like tears.

The person chuckled maliciously and breathed out heavily, "I'm the thing that your parents will curse. The reason they'll cry each night they remember you. The cause of your death." He lifted the mask up slowly.

I was about to see who was possibly one of the murderers when everything turned black and I heard a loud stabbing sound and a thunderous scream.

I woke up to the sound of my own gasping. It was bright outside, meaning it was probably day. Why wasn't I at school? The clock said 3 o'clock. The phone rang out of nowhere, and I didn't know why, but it was next to me.

"Hello?" I answered the phone. Kyoko was on the line and she asked, "Hey, Ritsuko. The class missed you at graduation. I wish you could have been there for my class's graduation. I can't believe we're going to our last year of school. I hope you're feeling better."

"Feeling better?" I furrowed my eyebrows. Kyoko hummed an affirmative response. "The twins said you were attacked last night. You're lucky Michael, Asher and the twins found you. They said you were unconscious, bleeding to death. I guess those killers thought you were already dead."

My eyes widened and I gasped, "What? Why?" I suddenly realized I was in a hospital room with my other arm bandaged up in a cast. When did I break my arm?

"I don't know. We hope you're feeling better though."

"How are Akito and Maiko? Can I talk to them?"

Silence took over on the phone. Kyoko answered to me, "What do you mean? They were killed a few months ago by the murderers. You know, when you went to the twins' house to spend the night." My jaw dropped and I covered my mouth, "What??" I quietly said.

"Yeah. They were found dead at....at school. Along with Tadaaki, the kid in my class. Ritsuko, are you okay?"

What was this? My mind raced to try and think of an answer, but there was no possible answer. Why is this happening? Why didn't I stop it in time? I asked myself. Why are they dead?!

I dropped the phone and shuffled out of the hospital bed, only to collapse onto the floor. I gasped, not knowing why I fell. Looking back, I noticed I couldn't feel my legs. They were there, but I couldn't feel them. Why couldn't I feel them?

No sound was heard except for my breathing and the creepy sound of trickling fluid. I turned around and looked toward the bed. A disembodied head rolled out from the covers onto the floor. It turned over just well enough to see the face. It was Maiko's head, her hair all disheveled and eyes wide open, but she was dead.

I threw myself back, shuffling away from the head into the wall, whimpering. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what this was. It was all hopeless. I let my friends die, without even being awake?

Feeling complete confusion, rage, and grief, the building filled with my ear-piercing screams and sobs.

I opened my eyes again to see I was in the guest bed at the Koizumi's house. It was night, and only the little bit of moonlight provided for me to see.

"What date is it?" I asked myself, looking around the room, still shaken up from my nightmare. I couldn't even tell if this was still a nightmare or not. I checked under my covers for anything, only to see my fully functioning legs (Trust me, I checked) and nothing out of the ordinary. What about the others? Were Maiko and Akito okay??

I turned myself on the bed toward the window, and saw a masked person shadowing the window looking straight at me. It was the same person that I dreamt about. The same one that killed the boy in my dream.

I gasped in shock, hoping it was a nightmare. If so, I wanted to wake up so badly. I opened my eyes after shutting them, but realized I was still in the same place, the masked killer was still there, and I was doomed. This wasn't a nightmare.

Remembering the pocket knife, I grasped it and looked at it. I would definitely be using that. I asked myself whether or not I should get the twins.

Without warning, the masked figure knocked on the glass window. I couldn't help but scream then. I practically jumped out of the bed, pointing the miniscule knife at it. Slowly, I walked backward toward the door and opened it.

"You're next." The figure whispered creepily to me. I lost it. I was so appalled, I didn't think of anything else but to run out the door. I wanted to scream as loud as I could, but decided not to. I ran into Alexandra's door and busted it open.

Alexandra's startled figure sat up immediately as I panted. "Alexandra, Alexandra! Please help!!" I hissed. Alexandra got out of bed and rubbed her eyes, "Why? What's going on?"

I took her arm, "It's horrible! There's someone out there looking through my window!!" I cried hysterically. Alexandra's eyes widened and she furrowed her eyebrows, "What??"

I dragged her out of her room in a panicked manner. She called out, "Rosalina! Wake up! There's an emergency!" I shushed her in fear. A few seconds later, Rosalina burst through her door and asked urgently, "What's going on?"

"There's someone outside." I explained, "I think they're going to kill me." I shivered as I said the last two words. Rosalina went into her room and came back a few seconds later with a rifle. I was definitely unsure of her carrying it, but didn't have time to consider it; there was a killer at my window.

Rosalina kicked the door open with me and Alexandra cowering behind her. The masked figure was still standing at the window. He tilted his head to the side where I could visibly see his mouth now. I didn't expect to see the figure smiling at us. His lips were familiar, but I wasn't able to clarify who it exactly was due to the moonlight. It was definitely a male, I could tell.

"Who is that?" Alexandra said in a low voice. Rosalina shook her head, "I don't know." She slowly stepped forward toward the window, but Alexandra and I stayed back, holding each other's arms. The person, whoever it was, suddenly took a small weapon out and broke the glass to the window.

Alexandra and I jumped back as Rosalina squealed. "Get him, Rosalina!" She hollered. Rosalina hesitated no longer. She took the rifle off safety, aimed it, and pulled the trigger. The figure instantly dropped.

The three of us stood there for a second to process everything. Rosalina reloaded the gun and took one step forward. She peered over the shattered glass.

"Is the person dead?" I unnecessarily corrected, "I think that person was a he." Alexandra looked at me, "Oh my gosh, really?" I nodded. Rosalina looked back at us, "Guys, he's gone."

"What?!" I boomed as I ran to the window. "Careful!" Alexandra gasped. No one was outside anymore. The person had disappeared... almost like a ghost. "What happened to him?" I looked back at them. Rosalina shook her head as Alexandra got down. She lifted one of my feet without warning, making me almost fall.

Whatever she did, I squeaked because of a sharp pain in my foot. She ended up pulling out a piece of glass from it. I was so distracted, I didn't remember that the window was broken open and glass was all over the floor.

"Here, let me wash it and bandage it so it won't get any worse." Alexandra offered.

Rosalina put a few more bullets in the rifle while Alexandra fixed my foot in the kitchen with a first aid kit. "You ought to really be careful." She said as she cleaned the blood on my foot. "I was scared."

"I wouldn't blame you." Rosalina sighed as she slid the opening of the gun to a close. "I would've been scared too if someone was creeping on me like that." Alexandra worried, "Oh, what if he comes back? What if he kills us?"

"That won't happen. I'll make sure of that." Rosalina brushed her hair back and locked the gun on safety. "Do you think we should report it to the police?"

"What'll that do? They can't really do anything since the guy didn't physically hurt us. He didn't steal anything valuable did he?"

That person, whoever it was, did not come to the house to steal something. He obviously came to kill me. I had never experienced anything like this. They were probably hunting me down since I had fought two of them off a few days before that.

Rosalina looked around, "It seems he didn't do anything. But still, he would've hurt Ritsuko if she hadn't woken up in time." I looked down and admitted, "I had a bad dream. So I woke up, already terrified, only to see someone was watching me."

Alexandra put her hand on my shoulder, "It's okay, Ritsuko. I don't think he'll come back tonight. But if he does start coming frequently, we are going to have to tell police." I nodded.

We were all still scared of the person coming back, we fell asleep together on Alexandra's bed with the gun next to us. I was no longer disturbed, but found it hard to stay asleep. Something still wasn't right here, and I couldn't seem to remember what it was.

What was it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ooh suspicious dreams and a creepy stalker? It seems like this is getting scarier by the chapter! I know I've been losing a lot of views and votes on here but it's okay. I'm gonna keep posting. Stay tuned!