You sat on your bed with your knees at your chest.

Should you enjoy the last days of your life? Was it even worth it? Wasn't there some way to escape? The flashback of his gaze was so intercepting that you immediately took the idea out of your head. Escape wasn't something you could just do in a heartbeat. It would take thinking and a plan. You couldn't risk the consequences just yet.

You didn't know how to react to your situation. Well, how would anyone else react? Wouldn't they just scream and keep trying to get away? You had watched enough movies and read enough stories to know that the best plan was to gain the killer's trust before trying to escape. It would be a lot easier just to go with the flow until then, right? Heck, you might be able to get out unscathed that way.

Was he the reaper? It didn't occur to you until then, but what if he was sent from a different world to take your life before it was killed naturally? Well, you didn't believe in paranormal stuff like that. If he was anything other than human, you would know that it all was a dream. What if your entire life was a dream? What if you were about to wake up in heaven at the back of a long line of souls all waiting to jump back down to earth and be reborn? Would a different life be better than this one? Of course it would. In another life, you wouldn't come across someone like Jeff. Right? Karma can't follow a soul that far, right? Maybe your situation was a good thing. You would be allowed to escape to another life in some parallel universe with different people and different souls.

After staring at your window for a while, you decided to get the attention of the person locked inside your house with you. And yeah, you really were locked in. Earlier, you attempted to escape through the front door, but Jeff's warning was true. He met you at the entrance to stare at your desperation as you checked every single lock and window in the house with no luck.

You reached the door of your room and cracked it the tiniest bit.

He was sitting against the wall across from you.

"Um... Excuse me?" you squeaked.

"Hm?"

"Are you... the reaper?" you asked.

He sort of stared at you with an odd look and tried to read your expression. After a moment of silence, he laughed. And that was all. The light flickered a few times, but your stupidity took over your words.

Jeff chuckled, "What type of question is that?"

"Well, I don't really believe in that paranormal stuff, but I was just wondering if I'm destined to die or something because what other reason would someone be here watching me in my last moments-?"

"I didn't know you rambled that much," he said. "And no, I'm not... whatever you're thinking."

He still smiled like he had after you asked that stupid question. He didn't smile like that earlier. Strange. It was heartwarming... Sincere, even. But you were scared of this. You were scared of feeling safe around him. However, you did. How strange... It was almost like the shortage of time was escaping your mind and telling you that everything would be alright. But why weren't you freaking out? Why weren't you crying and bashing your hands all over the doors and windows for someone to hear you and come to your rescue? Why weren't you screaming and plotting the murder of your own murderer? Any normal person would do just that.

It was like you were simply hallucinating and no one was harassing you in the slightest bit. Whenever you were faced with the other side of the person ruining your life, you felt nostalgic. You felt like home was with the left side of normal, and every turn on this broken road was taking you in circles of undying torture.

So you sat against the wall opposite Jeff.

The house felt so empty. It was like a soppy motel in the middle of nowhere. Well, sooner or later it would be just an empty house containing empty promises. Even if you escaped, the structure of a man-made hell would still remain standing on a graveyard of trust and innocence.

"Which hallway did you say the key was in?"

That wasn't a good choice. You were sure Jeff had already dismissed the idea of you finding a way out, and here you were, trying to bring up old memories that no one wanted out of the grave. He stopped smiling pleasantly and his eyes lost more of their color. They were just about to gain some more too. But everyone knows that you can only scrape the surface of an untouched pool of water. Sinking lower and lower is a privilege only known to those who make mistakes.

"It's not there anymore," Jeff said. "I moved it."

You crept downstairs and searched for the key, but you couldn't find it. You were seeking for a good hour or so when you noticed your intruder watching you casually as he leaned against a wall. You jumped with heartbeats soaring out of your spine and tried to determine why everything seemed to make you jump lately. You followed the indifferent waves towards the kitchen and stared at the black, voided, windowless corridor. Your finger flipped the switch on the wall, but the light simply wouldn't turn on.

"Please stop following me," you muttered.

Jeff looked shocked. "You still don't understand. Do you?"

You started thinking about how you might actually be killed. How you would be chopped up into tiny pieces and thrown in some dumpster down the street. How some stranger would find your body and call the cops. How your parents and friends would be told about your fateful demise. How your house would become some abandoned circus with all the fun stripped from its faded, striped walls.

You're going to die.

"You can't expect me to just give in to all this... stupid, confusing stuff," you whispered.

"Well, if you wanna play it that way," Jeff chuckled, "I'll just have to make you." He lifted your chin to look at his stupid eyes. Half of his mouth frowned at your sorrowful perplexion.

You tried to stop being so afraid. You tried to think of anything that could make you feel better. But he didn't allow anything of the sort. This predicament you were in was designed so that victims would feel the end closing in before the clock stopped working. If you were meant to see any type of bright side, you would have already. You can't be consumed in despair for so long if there's no point. However, this game you were playing only brought despair, and the only thing not worth mentioning was dreaming. The dreams would only eat you alive. You would dream of places away from your home, and you would wake up to a nightmare worse than the one you fell asleep in.

To snap you out of your thoughts, Jeff started talking about a window and how open windows bring bad luck in the winter time. As soon as he said that, you remembered that you saw an open window earlier. It was a perfect opportunity to escape! Jeff was totally bluffing about every single door and window being locked!

"When the window is open, it means they're inside," he said. "You can keep closing it all you want, but when they wanna get in, they will."

Who? Who else was in your house? Oh, who cares anyways? You found a way to escape! You just had to wait until you saw another window open, and you would be safe and sound. Sleeping on the street sounded better than sleeping in a house with a maniac. But as you thought about what types of supernatural beings could be waiting for you to step outside, a mix of fear, confusion, and rage filled your head once again.

"Don't say things like that," you said.

"Like what? We used to..." his voice ran away as his face went cold.

You didn't bother questioning anything. Nothing happening was normal, so why not just agree? It would probably prevent him from getting angry or upset. You could advance and improve your trust with him, which would allow you to escape sooner.

A flash of light reflected off the window pane and sparkled in your eyes. Almost as if that was some sort of signal, Jeff brought his hand to your cheek and moved his nose extremely close to yours. His other hand wrapped around your back to support your shoulder blades.

"Just remember that I'm your lifeline," he muttered.

He slowly brought his lips to yours.

What the hell? What was he doing? You almost closed your eyes in consent before he stopped you. Was that all because someone- something- was watching? Honestly, you just wanted more information. You didn't even focus on the stupid act that was happening right before your eyes. You were ready to give up. Honestly.

Jeff let go of your chin and sent another arrow through your skull with his brittle pupils.

"They were looking in through the window just now," he said as he looked away. "Distractions help keep the unknown unknown."

And then the silence rang.

And again.

"Your cheeks are awfully red," he whispered, but only with the intent to pull you out of the dark. "Did you think it was real?"

"This isn't right," you said.

You glanced at the window next to the table, and it was closed. Then why did he think they were watching? Did he even think that at all? The evening sky found its way over your house, so you slid into the living room in denial. Maybe it was okay to enjoy everything while it lasted. Was it a bad thing to do that? But kissing him was something different. That made you angrier than you were before. What type of psychopath thinks it's okay to play with hearts before they kill them? Maybe all of them. Whatever nightmare had managed to creep into your life was deadly. And you wanted out.

Why did you not care about what happened to you? You didn't care that he was harassing you or pressuring you into things you would never dream of doing. That's because you wanted to live like there was no end. If Jeff had never met you before your demise, you would've been clueless of the fate that awaited you. So you believed that living in that manner was the only way to survive. The only way to survive was to act like you weren't going to die.

You laid down on the freezing, empty couch and stared at the ceiling. A clock ticked on the wall with envy, and vines spread from its core and grew into every corner of the room. Thorns were being produced like wildfire and poison ivy broke off and dissolved into the atmosphere, simply feeding the problem with more rashes.

The nightmare entered the greenhouse again.

"You should at least act like you care about your life," Jeff declared with a strange look of discomfort and dejection strewn about his face.

Your whole face was red. "I just can't do this."

The hellish ten days ahead of you seemed to be less and less promising, but you felt affection that had been going on for years. Something wasn't right, and you knew it. Jeff was no stranger to you. Not when every single dream you had portrayed scenes of romance involved with him.

Too bad this day was a dream.