I took a deep breath as soon as I entered my shared dorm, noticing it wasn't empty. Katie was in her bed, asleep, making me become silent as I pulled out my phone to check the time. It was a little after 6:30, which meant I was out for longer than I thought I was. I made sure our dorm was locked before quietly making my way over to my bed, pulling my shoes off in the process.

I set them down at the end before crawling on my bed, trying to process all of what happened while gripping my phone. Hoody. I know I shouldn't text him, but I need to know.

Hoody

Hoody, I know you said not to text you, but this is important.
Do you know a man who wears a tan jacket and has brown eyes?

I waited a few minutes, chewing at my lips as I pressed my face into my pillow. My phone was pressed against my chest as I felt an anxiety attack coming on. Shuffling was heard from the other side of the room, making me go still.

"(Y/n)? Are you okay, babes?" Katie asked from her bed, concern evident in her sleepy voice. I took a deep breath in and turned my head in her direction.

"I'll be fine, Kate. I'm just a bit overwhelmed at the moment." I responded with the steadiest voice I could possibly manage at the moment. She was going to say something more, but was cut off when all my attention was pulled from her. My phone had vibrated, signalling a text had been sent to me.

I sat up more and quickly opened the message, barely glancing at the name as I did so. The only thing I cared about at the moment was any sort of response from Hoody.

Hoody

Why do you need to know?

Because there was a man staring at me earlier, and it made me very uncomfortable
It wasn't any sort of innocent type of staring either
It felt threatening

That's the bastard I was talking about when we were walking back to your dorm.
Where did you see him?

At the McDonald's a few minutes away from here.

Don't go there again. If you do for some reason, don't go alone. If you see him, get away from him. If he spots you, run.

Okay

Oh, and set me as an emergency contact in case you get kidnapped or some shit happens to you.

Alright
I'm freaking out tho
On the verge of a panic attack ngl

Can't help you with that. You have friends for that, don't you?

Yeah

I have to go now.

Bye

I didn't get another response as I set my phone on my bed and looked at the worried face of a certain black-haired girl. "Asshole." I mumbled as I laid down, curling in on myself.

Katie stood and walked over to me, knowing this wasn't time for any sort of joking. "What happened?" She asked as she sat herself on the edge of my bed, reaching out and grabbing my hand at the same time.

"When I was eating at McDonald's earlier, this creepy guy was staring at me. It felt as if he wanted to harm me, and it made me feel really scared and uncomfortable."

Her hand squeezed mine tighter than before as she frowned deeply. Her brows creased as she leaned forward, pressing a gentle kiss to my forehead. "I'm so sorry that happened to you. Do you just want to stay in tonight? Maybe we can have a study session? Or we could watch movies, or TV shows?"

I smiled at her as I shook my head. "I'd rather just go to sleep early, but thank you for the offers. Please don't apologize, either. It's not your fault and you couldn't do anything about it." Katie nodded and stood, letting go of my hands before moving back to her own bed.

"Guess we'll both be getting up super early tomorrow, but I'll still set my 6:30am alarm if we don't wake up before then. Goodnight, (Y/n)."

"Goodnight."

I ran, my lungs burning with the exhaustion of exercise. A hand locked with mine pulled me to take a sharp left around a tree in the massive forest we were in. Yellow clouded my vision as I bumped into the back of someone taller than me. I backed up and let out a small apology before looking around to take in my surroundings.

It was a small meadow that was close to the exit of the woods that led back into town. What made the man I recognized to be Hoody stop, though, was a man standing in the way of our exit. Hoody and I both breathed heavily as we stared at the man; the taller of us letting out a small grunt.

"What do you want, ___?" Hoody asked, but it sounded like the last part of his sentence was cut out. The question was directed towards the man, whose white mask and tan jacket stuck out to me.

A guttural laugh emanated from the man's throat as he shook his head. "Oh, come on, _____. You know what I want. Plus, I now want to kill your bitch as well. After all, I been wonderin' who she was."

Hoody's stance in front of me got even more protective than it was before as he stared down the masked man. I squeezed Hoody's hand, and gained a squeeze in return. "Leave us alone. Our business has nothing to do with you." He snarled as his free hand reached into his hoodie's pocket.

The man in the tan jacket laughed at Hoody's movement and reached into his own pocket. "Y'know, I never used to carry around a gun, but it's a lot more useful than I thought. Are you ready to play a game, old friend?"

"Shut it, traitor."

They both pulled out a gun and aimed them at each other. I was pushed back and Hoody's hand left mine as he kept his gaze forward. "That won't keep her away from me. I will kill her in the end." An angry breath left Hoody as he moved forward.

"I won't let you. Now, run, Starlight." My soulmate demanded, but it was almost as if my feet were glued to the ground. "(Y/n)! Run! Get out of here!"

Words were finally able to leave my mouth as I shook my head. "I'm not leaving you!" My hand curled into a fist as tears pricked my eyes, my jaw clenching.

A heavy sigh escaped from behind the black mask as he shook his head. Hoody didn't say anything as he began to run toward the other masked man. I wanted to stop him, but the man in the tan jacket's laughter stopped me from getting any further than that thought.

"Your soulmate is seriously a dumbass, _____!"

"Shut the hell up! You don't deserve to say shit about her!"

A gunshot rang through the air, making me flinch at the loud noise. Hoody grunted before another shot pierced my ears. Looking at them, I could see blood dripping from the masked man's left arm and from Hoody's right thigh. I fell to my knees, feeling so pathetic at not being able to do anything, but cry and not comply with Hoody's wishes.

My soulmate yelled out in pain as a bullet landed into his right shoulder and it got too weak to keep holding onto his gun. It landed in my direction a few feet away as Hoody was tackled.

A crazed laugh left the man in the white mask as he held a gun to Hoody's forehead. "Fucking finally! I can finally kill you after failing time and time again. Now die, motherfucker."

"(Y/n)!"

I couldn't move. Even though I wanted to save Hoody, I couldn't. The masked man pulled the trigger, which pulled a horrified scream from my throat. The man continued laughing as he stood, standing and turning to me.

"(Y/n)." He sang as he stalked toward me, holding his gun in a tight grip. "I killed that weak bastard, and now it's your turn. Don't worry, though, I'll make sure you suffer."

I could tell he had a smile on his face behind his mask as he harshly slammed the barrel of the gun against my cheek. The force knocked me onto my side and blood began to seep out of the wound. A sob left my lips as a fist tangled itself in my hair in order to pull me up. He pulled me up to meet his gaze before shoving the gun against my head.

"Bye bye, bitch." He pulled the trigger and the whole world went black.

I gasped for breath as I tore my eyes open, tears flowing from them. Looking around the room, I began to gain my bearings. I sat up and grabbed my phone from under my pillow.

The device lit up to show that it was around three am and I only had one notification. Seeing the name, I immediately tapped, not wanting to keep him waiting.

Hoody

Come outside.

Why?

Because I said so. Why else?

Okay okay
I'll be out in a second

Put on your damn clothes and brush whatever you need to, then get your ass outside.

I rolled my eyes at him and pulled my phone off the charger. Glancing at Katie, I grabbed a pair of warmer clothes and quickly changed. I slipped on socks and my shoes before moving over to the sink to quickly brush both my teeth and hair.

I grabbed my keys and left my dorm room, locking it behind me before realizing I didn't know where we're meeting up. Rolling my eyes, I began to walk out of the dorm as fast as possible.

My eyes kept looking at the ground until I exited the building. I scanned the area to look for Hoody, only stopping when I spotted a yellow hoodie on a bench near the woods. My legs worked by themselves as I made my way over to him.

"Good, you made it." He stood once I stopped next to him and threw me over his shoulder. I immediately began to resist by wiggling as much as I possibly could. "Stop fucking moving."

"Of course I'm gonna struggle because you're trying to fucking kidnap me."

"Wow. A swear word. I'm so afraid of you."

He dropped me on the bench before hitting the back of my neck. My vision slowly began to turn black as my body went limp.