I check all the locks in doors and windows, before entering my room and I lock my bedroom door, too. I turn and look up at the wall to check the time. The hands of the clock show the time as 12:15 AM before starting to move faster. The seconds, minutes, and hours hand move quicker, almost giving me dizziness and stops to point out the time as 02:50 AM.

Holy smokes, I have just ten minutes before getting killed.

I immediately turn off the tube light and turn on the small 0.5W LED plug bulb, which I always keep on providing soft lighting to my room to avoid the darkness, and I hide in the space between the bureau and rhe footboard of my bed.

I have windows on both the west and north side of my room. The space where I'm hiding will be difficult for the killer to find me after discovering the empty bed. But this spot is the easiest for me to see, how the killer has killed everyone inside a locked room.

After a few minutes, I notice a small rectangle shaped shadow falling on the bottom left corner of the west side window's frame. The rectangle shadow slowly moves upward, nearing the shadow of the window door's hook.

Then I hear a sound of two metals scratching against each other, and suddenly the rectangle shadow moves to the adjacent side. Now the shadow moves up faster and in with in few seconds, I hear a clicking sound of the hook coming out of the rim.

Anyone asleep wouldn't have heard this sound. Since I'm awake, I was able to notice it. The killer must be using a thin but sturdy metal to insert between the door and frame of the window.

Now the window slowly opens, I duck lower to catch a glimpse of the murderer through the gap between the floor and the footboard frame.

First, a long cylindrical object enters the space between the window grills.

Shit, it's the barrel of a gun with a silencer.

Then a shadow slowly rises, the light from the plug LED light reveals the forehead, eyes, and the mask covering...his lower face.

The forehead, eyebrows, and eyes are definitely belong to a male. The killer's eyes turn shocked when he couldn't find me sleeping, then something catches his eyes, and he positions thd gun directly at me.

Shit. The fucking bureau mirror behind me.

I slight down to my left when I see his finger releasing the trigger, the bullet hits the bureau mirror, and the glasses shatter down on the floor.

I made the mistake of turning on the plug LED light. It covers the area until where the shadow of the bureau falls. Before the killer could fire at me once again, I lift a glass piece and threw it in his direction. All the years of winning gold medals in discus throw pay off as the glass piece flies through the space between the window grills and hits at his forehead.

He couldn't have expected it was coming. He grunts as he falls back on the ground. I duck out from my hideout and take a run toward the door. I pull the latch down, open the door, and step my feet outside my room.

But I'm standing in the south corridor on the second floor of my college wearing a Jean and top with my college bag hanging on my left shoulder. I'm not in my house anymore, wearing a nightdress. I don't look like the girl who just had a terrifying encounter getting almost killed by a serial killer.

Aaaarrrrgggghhhh

I scream my lungs out. I turn around to see whether anyone has noticed me, but the corridor seems to be empty. I wish I'm not the only one here. I walk straight and take a right turn to reach my lecture hall, but my face comes in contact with a muscular mass of chest, and I stumble back.

"Sorry," I exclaim before I take a look at the man standing in front of me. My eyes move up from the chest to his broad shoulders that leads to a long neck with Adam's apple protruding out and I swallow hard.

What's it with this fucking dream?

One moment I was about to get killed, and another moment, I'm swooning at a complete stranger. My eyes move further up, taking note of his delicate, shaved, chiseled jawline and lips that have never seen a cigarette. Hot breath from his sharp nose makes me realize that I'm standing in the very close to this man. I suddenly take two steps backward and look up into his dark, mysterious eyes that are boring deep into me and a bandage just above his eyes, starting from the bend of his eyebrow and reaching to the middle of his forehead.

I take a couple of steps back to get a full view of his face. He looks a little older than me, and a strange feeling of familiarity wells up inside me.

I have seen him somewhere before, but where?

"Excuse me, can you please direct me to the Lecture Hall 202," the stranger asks me with confusion, and I realize I have been staring at him.

"Sorry, what?"

"Could you please tell me where I can find the Lecture Hall 202."

Huh. It's my classroom if I'm still in the same one as yesterday.

"Why? I mean, why do you want to be there?"

"I'm one of the skills development trainers who will be training the students of this college for a couple of weeks."

Phew. "Sorry, sir, please this way," I forward my hand and walk past him, taking a right turn to lead the way.

"It's OK, no need to show me the way, you can just direct me to it."

I turn halfway towards him and point out at the end of the corridor. "Well, it's the second lecture hall from the farthest corner, and it happens to be my classroom, too," I say with a taunting smile.

His face turns into a light shade of red with embarrassment." OK, so you are one of my trainees?"

"Yepp. Soooo?" I drag the word as I point my thumbs over my shoulder, and tilting my head towards the direction, gesturing whether I may lead his way, now?

"Yes, please," he stretches his hand forward, allowing me to lead him.

The moment I turn, the empty corridor is suddenly filled with students walking around us. The thought that I have somewhere seen him before keeps on bickering my mind, and I blurt out the question without giving any second thoughts. "Have we met before?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure, even I do have a feeling that I know you very well," he replies.

Every girl walking in the corridor stops for a second to look at him. Men coming into our college is very rare. And that too, men like the man walking next to me are very, very rare. My trainer is at least eight to nine inches taller than me, with a well built-up body frame and a handsome face with a bandage near his temple. "What happened?" I ask him.

"Hmm?" He looks at me questioning, and I point out at his bandage. "Ohh, this. A girl came in the way of my routine."

"Huh?"

"While I was jogging, a girl dashed into me, making me trip and I got hurt."

"Oops."

"It's just a small cut," he says. I nod my head and continue walking. "So that's why girls are looking at me strangely?" he asks me.

I stifle a laugh and clear my throat as I come to a halt in front of my classroom. "Maybe, but I don't believe that you are too naive for not to understand why these girls are looking at you strangely," I stress the word naive, and he gives me a sheepish grin.

Damn, he is your trainer, Pooja, maintain some integrity.

"We have reached our destination.," I announce. "And, just for the information, beware of the girls," I tell him with the slightest smile.

Before I could turn and enter the classroom, he leans down, so we are face-to-face now. I slightly lean back in the shock and to avoid the proximity. "Only the girls have to beware of me," he says with a serious face and then winks at me before leaning back straight.

Did he just flirt with me? I stand straight with a heavy sigh, leaving the breath that I have been holding for the past couple of minutes. "I'm going into the class," I say and jog into the classroom without turning back. Nina and the other faces are the same as yesterday. I climb the stairs to the third row and sit next to Nina, reminding me that I'm still in the dream world.