The crowd gasps at the same time when the sight of that giant guy who is surely twice the size of Amelia screams in agony.
He is lying with his face pinned on the floor by Amelia's hand, her knees planted on the guy's back, blocking him from getting up.
With the force that was applied, the back might not even have survived that knee jump.

"Not so strong, now, are you?" Amelia smirks.

I let a deep sigh out, letting it release all the folds of fear that had clenched me.
Amelia stands up and turns her back to the bearded guy who still moans in pain. He dares not to move.
Amelia no longer sees him as a threat if she shows her back to him.
The other two guys stand there, still processing what just happened.

"Bring it on." Amelia cracks her neck left and right. Slowly and steadily, she takes her stance for a fight.

"Bitch." An unfamiliar whisper fills my ear.

I snap my gaze behind me, from where I thought I had heard that whisper.
None of the people who stand behind me recording this drama seems to be the owner of that raspy voice filled with loathing.
An unsettling feeling exchanges the earlier fear I had.
I move through the crowd scanning the potential owner of that voice.

"Amelia. Wait for your doom." The same voice from my right. A glimpse of shadow escapes my sight.

Without a second thought, I push through the crowd as they cheer and hoot for Amelia. Shouts and screams of the guys are still audible.
I see the person exiting and I follow.
Out this late at night with a chilly wind, I stand scanning through the area to find that shadow.
Just then my gaze falls on a person walking in the distance, I squint my eyes to see clearly.
Black hoody, black pants, black cap.
Can easily be mistaken as a shadow.

"Hey, you! All black! Stop right there!" I scream loud enough to be heard by him.

He looks back halfway, his face not covered but not visible as well.
I am sure he notices me running towards him because as our gaze meets, he bolts to run.

"Stop right there you fucker!" I shout again.

Alcohol does magic. I, who would rather run away from problems, am running towards the problem for my friend.
Why you ask?
Because she would have done the same, in fact, better.
My lungs burn as I run, and my breathing has become faster and stronger.
I knew that I could not catch up to this man, So I stopped running and grabbed the nearest stone I could reach, which was the size of my hand, and with all the force that adrenaline had lent me, I threw that stone.
At the same moment, I turn on the camera of my phone and zoom in, just at the right time for when the stone hits the guy's head. He stumbles forward and he looks back. And click.
His face is now caught in my hands, his identity now revealed.

"Fuck!" That guy screams in frustration.

He vanishes in the dark. He realised that he no longer is a shadow but a person who is now known.

I stand here alone. Gasping for air. My burning lungs inhale the cold air, cooling it down.
I zoom in on the guy's photo to catch details of his face.
His skin is tanned and has a crooked nose, thin lips, and big stunned black eyes with a scar on his right eye. His right eyes seem to have no pupil, just a white, cloudy eyeball.
My focus falls on those empty eyes.
Suddenly, a hand lays on my shoulder, giving a half-hearted attack. My heart jumps to my throat at the touch. I instantly look back to see Amelia standing there with her hand hanging mid-air where it was. From her right hand, she held a cloth to her nose that was earlier bleeding.

"Umm? What are you doing here?" She questions with a narrowed gaze.

My churning stomach comes to rest.

"There was a guy who cursed you and said something about your doom," I say, taking pauses in between to catch some air.

"What?" Amelia's eyebrows knit together, forming parallel lines between them.

"Yes. So I followed him here and.." Before I could complete it, I was interrupted by her.

"Wait. Wait. Wait. You what?!" She looks at me with tension, wrapping her eyes. "It could have been dangerous, Sil."

"It was as dangerous for you as well if we don't figure out who he was. I followed that guy and took his pic" I moved my mobile screen to her face.

Her eyes skim through the picture before her eyes come back to mine. The same unsettling feeling that I had felt is visible in her eyes. A strong gulp in her throat.

"Who is it?" It's not a whisper. My question is clear.

"I don't know." Amelia's head moves sideways.

"What's wrong?" I took a step forward making sure I was heard.

Amelia closes her eyes shut. "You are on his radar now. You have introduced yourself as a potential threat to a person who does not seem to have any good intentions" Her eyes open.
Untold words pass between us. We both know what those are but no one is ready to speak. So I take that initiative.

"He will come for me. I am in danger." Usually, I would have said those words in fear, trembling at the consequences. But today, I speak it boldly, confidently, ready to fight for it. Ready for the thrill. Ready to finally live my life.
I smile.

"You are smiling?" Amelia is surprised by the new me.
It's not new to me. Me. The hidden me. Now out here to explore the world. We all have hidden sides to ourselves that we refuse to accept because we are unfamiliar with them. But I don't plan on rejecting it because this is the best for me. No longer unfamiliar with the word 'best'.

"I am. I took a step to protect you. I didn't hide. I wasn't afraid." I smile, biting my lower lips.

Amelia's eyes turn warm, and she embraces me in a tight hug.

"You feel like, you," she whispers in my ear.

She finally pulls away, and I miss the warmth she left.

"Do me a favour, Send this pic to me and save it in the cloud before you delete it," Amelia says, walking forward towards a taxi, and I follow her. "And also send me Aesterope's pic. Let me see the guy who found himself a diamond."

I smile at the compliment. I proceeded to do as she said.

"Get in. Text me when you're home. Also, if you find anything suspicious, let me know. Okay?" Her nose has stopped bleeding, and her hand holds the door of the taxi open for me.

"Okay," I reply after I get in.

I let a heavy sigh out.
As I reach home, I notice a letter in my mailbox.
I grab the letter on the way to my door. I enter the dark hallway and hang my keys.
Now that the adrenaline has died down, I feel the reality hitting my heart like a whip.
I might as well end up dead.
All of a sudden, the darkness grew hands, which proceeded to make their way to me. Slowly trying to embrace me whole. I swiftly turn on the lights, and the hands vanish in thin air.
Well, that seems quite fucked up.

My ears start to ring with weird noises, coming from my room.
The question is; Are they ringing?
I fail to suppress the tight knot formed in my throat with a gulp. My throat feels dry.
I take slow and quiet steps toward my room. Each step is louder than the previous one. I am afraid that my heart may give away my presence with the rapid speed it's galloping in.
With each step, the sounds get louder, enough to answer the earlier question.

My ears are not ringing.

Someone is there. Unaware of my presence in my home. I have noticed that my breathing sounds too loud and my lips are starting to tremble.
I am supposed to text Amelia right away. I should, I must. But something inside me stops me from reaching for my phone that lies in my pocket. I fear that maybe if my eyes lose focus even for a second, a person may appear holding a weapon and lunge at me.
The air around me feels thick, making it hard to breathe.
Tears form in my eyes with panic captive in each particle.

I reach the doorknob. I let a slow and shaky breath out of my mouth, hoping that it would take away some of the horror that had started to thrive inside me. It didn't help.

I knew that I had run towards the problem, and soon, it would come running back haunting me.
But I hadn't thought of it occurring so soon.

Honestly, I can run away again. Whoever stands inside has no idea of me being here at this moment. I can run away easily.
Going to the police won't help. By the time they come, this person will be gone, and there will be no evidence on me to prove that this person was here.
I can text Amelia right now, but then again, he will be gone, and this will only end up, with us walking everywhere with our guards up. With fear seeping inside us, thriving every second.
I am done living like that. I've had enough. I need to confront my problems and face them.
Going through it can be taken as evidence of this guy's presence here, and if I survive, I might as well know how he looks, or even if I don't, they will know someone was here and he needs to be found.
The only solution is confrontation. It always was, I just ran away from it, so my problems never were solved, and then I cried about it, refusing to accept what I did wrong. But no longer.
All these thoughts run in my head in the moment when I release the shaky breath.
I will fucking fight.

I wasn't prepared for this soon, but I will fight anyway.
I slammed the door open and stood frozen in place. The horror of the situation finally settled in.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.