Recap:

Jeff stared back at you as you stumbled backwards and fell onto your butt. The knife slipped out of your hands and danced across the floor. You gazed at the antagonist standing there, just leaning against the pole.

You blinked.

He bolted towards you.

-+-

You screamed and scrambled into your feet, hurting your arm a little in the process.

You ran away from the front door into the kitchen. Before you had time to look back, you heard a bang come from the front of the house. You tripped and heard the front door creak open. Getting up, you tried to hide behind something. You realized that there weren't any good hiding spots, so you quickly bolted to the back of the house and unlocked the back door instead. You swung it open and allowed a shield of cold air to hit you.

You looked out at the woods behind your yard and took off towards them, grass grabbing at your feet and ankles.

You were so close to the trees when the wind was knocked out of you and you fell onto the ground. Your forehead hit right after your knee and made a throbbing sensation run through your spine. You looked over your shoulder and saw Jeff standing next to you.

How did he get there so fast?

You yelped and started to crawl away from him. Before you made any progress, he grabbed your ankle and pulled you back towards him.

"No, no, no, no!" you yelled, trying to kick and hit him.

You woke up suddenly with the air in your lungs thin. Your eyes moved around and saw the interior of your house. You were lying on the floor near the front door and your head was throbbing. You realized that there was a dent in the wall next to you, so you figured that you must have hit your head when you tried to get up and get away from him.

You stood up slowly and creeped over to the front window, looked out, and shook your head. There was no one in sight.

You ran into the kitchen and called the lady from the shelter. She answered after one ring.

"I- I think he was here!" you yelled into the phone. Your fingers were gripped around it tightly, though you were shaking a lot.

"Who?" the lady asked with a confused expression. It sounded like she was at a bar or mall since the background consisted of run-on sentences and broken dialogue.

You took a deep breath and checked behind you. "The guy that almost-"

"Oh, of course. Did you use the pager I gave you?"

You tried to remember where you put that black object, but you didn't know. You looked around the kitchen and saw it sitting in the middle of the counter next to a knife.

"N-no," you stuttered, wondering how those objects ended up there.

"If it really was him, don't you think he would already be in the house?"

That didn't make you feel better at all. Was she saying that he was inside or that it wasn't him?

"I think I might have been dreaming or something," you replied. "I'll just shake it off."

"Awesome! Well, it's not cool, but, you know. Just call me if you have a real emergency," the lady exclaimed before she hung up on you.

You laid the phone down and stared at the knife and pager for a moment. Walking over and taking a closer look, you noticed that there was a note under the tiny, black box. You slid it out slowly and held it up to your vision. The words were written sloppily and proved hard to read.

I'm here.

You screamed and covered your mouth as you threw the paper to the ground. You backed out of the kitchen and checked to make sure the front and back doors were locked. After they were secure, you turned around to analyze the space.

You stopped in your tracks when you heard a thud above you. You quickly moved the lone couch from the wall and sat behind it. You brought your knees to your chin and ducked your head.

Thump.

Each one made you squeeze your eyes tighter.

Thump, thump, thump.

You were on the verge of tears as you sensed a presence in the room. It was like a thousand unblinking eyes were judging your soul and mind.

"Why are you scared of me, (y/n)?"

You looked up to meet wide, black, sleepless eyes an inch away from yours. You stared back at them for a what seemed like forever, just trying to make something of it. What was happening?

Before you could scream, you were pulled out from behind the couch by a cold hand. You jerked your arm away only to be yanked by the hair.

You woke up on the kitchen floor in tears.

Oh, God... The pain had become surreal.

You looked around to see that your phone was on the counter in place of the knife and that the pager was placed meticulously next to it. The note was no where to be found.

You rubbed at your eyes and ran out of your house, darting for the woods and jumping over bushes and plants. You wanted to get away from whatever nightmares were trapping you in that place.

You ran into a warm body.

Your eyes wandered north and you were almost relieved to see Jeff holding you. He had regular brown hair and blue eyes, and a look of concern was on his face that gave you a safe feeling. You lazily tried to get away but his grip was strong. Your surroundings turned as white as the moon and you were met with a quiet bliss.

"Shh! Hey, hey! Calm down!" Jeff said.

You looked up and cried, "I don't know what's real anymore."

"This is real. I promise you," he whispered before he kissed your forehead.

You woke up in your room.

You sat up, breathed heavy, and looked at the open window. It was the dead of night and not a single sound ran through your ears.

His silhouette was in the corner.

You screamed and ducked underneath the covers.

You woke up in the kitchen.

Everything looked completely normal. Nothing was out of place and the pager was still on the counter.

His presence was in the doorway.

You woke up outside.

The trees were swaying and the stars were shining. All animals seemed to not exist.

He was standing at the edge of the woods.

You woke up.