No texts. No calls. Not even a single emoticon interrupted your phone's feed. Just pure radio silence. It felt eerily strange to check your device and not be flooded with Kitty's usual wall of messages; checking in on your wellbeing, complimenting you, urgently asking you how your day was. His account was still there, taunting you with its existence, so it wasn't like he had blocked you or deactivated. You kept thinking back on what you had said to him other day, overthinking every subtle detail, word and phrase, trying to understand what it was that provoked him to leave so abruptly. Was he jealous? It was only the viable reason you could come up with - and even that didn't make much sense to you. You were both adults with your own lives personal things going on behind the scenes. There was absolutely no reason for him to be this upset over you having other friends. Perhaps Kitty was more chronically online than you had originally thought him to be. You'd be lying if you said you didn't miss him though. He was part of your routine and feeling his absence in that felt painful. "Afternoon classes in winter should be banned," you mumbled to yourself thickly, shoving hands into your coat pockets and stifling a sneeze. The cold season was finally starting to move in. Days got darker, the weather got chillier, and college work continued to pile on relentlessly. At least soon you'd be back at home, simmering in a warm bath and melting into sweet floral fragrances. With boots slipping against the damp pavement, you continued down the side of the road, streetlights flickering and buzzing above you - the only source of illumination in this otherwise dim part of town. During the summer time, you had appreciated the desolate silence of your neighbourhood. No cars honking at every corner, no drunkards stumbling out of bars to harass you and no nightclubs humming into the night with muffled music. But right now, at this very moment, you quietly yearned for signs of human life. A biting wind howled through the empty alleyways, rattling loose signs and toying with crumpled receipts and litter left discarded on the ground. Distorted shadows pooled in corners where dim glow of the lampposts couldn't reach, shifting and shuddering as if something unseen was moving within them. You altered your gait, walking just a little bit faster than usual. Yet, the further you walked, the more the silence pressed in, making your own laboured breath sound too loud. The air was sharp, unforgiving. You felt it claw at the back off your throat and curl into visible ghostly wisps before vanishing into the darkness. Your own footsteps continued to echo unnervingly against the pavement, tricking you into thinking you were being followed. Several times, you paused and had to take a look behind you to make sure. Nothing. Somehow, every step felt like an intrusion into something else's territory; as though it was there, watching, waiting, just beyond the reaches of the light, starving, predatory. You shook those feelings off, knowing it was just the winter darkness making everything feel scarier than it actually was. You had walked by here hundreds of times. It was supposed to be safe and familiar... so then why did everything feel so off? That's when you heard quiet, calm-planted steps lead behind you. Was it that the same echo you had heard before? A stranger walking to their parked car? Or... perhaps, you were truly being followed. The story of the semi-burnt human remains swam to the front of your mind. It happened in a whole other part of the city so surely it was nothing to be worried about... Surely.... Trusting your instinct, you quickened your pace, frozen fingers tapping at your phone screen on to your friends' contacts. But before you could do anything, a familiar message popped up. You stared at it from a moment, the light from your device reflecting against your eyes.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃ Kitty Hi Yin |ω・') ▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

You couldn't help but giggle softly at the unexpected text, the sound barely audible over the pounding of your heart. A wave of relief and joy rushed through you, warming you inside out as you fumbled to type a response with your stiff, trembling fingers. You could hardly believe it - he was back. He was here! You should have known he'd never just leave like that. All the doubt you had built up over the past few days dissolved in an instant, and was replaced with a childish giddiness.

But just as you paused, fingers hovering over the screen, the very same footsteps that you had hoped were just your imagination continued. The sound sent a jolt through you, snapping you back to reality. Your breath hitched. Body frozen. For that brief, desperate moment, you didn't want to turn around. You didn't want the confirmation. Multiple explanations stirred in your mind: Maybe it was the wind shifting through the empty street, maybe it was just another student heading home, maybe it was nothing at all! Nothing at all.

If you didn't look, you could pretend. You could remain blissfully ignorant, safe in the illusion that you were truly alone. But obviously, such naïveté could never last.

The footsteps stopped.

Just a few meters behind you.

Trembling violently, you forced yourself to accept the truth. Turning slowly to lock eyes with an all-too-familiar masked individual. Both you and the figure stared at one another in a long silence. All that could be heard were the whispers of the wind flowing between you. Your mind screamed at you to run but your body betrayed you, leaving your feet rooted into ground, unmoving just the settling frost. The figure moved, causing you to immediately flinch and step back.

Instead of brandishing a weapon, he simply waved at you - a little too enthusiastically.

"P-please don't do this," you breathed, hands clutching your chest. "I can... I can give you money. I won't tell anyone I saw anything... "

He continued to step forward, head tilting with amusement as you stammered in front of him. It felt pointless. Whoever this person was - if it truly was the masked killer and not some teen playing a cruel prank - he was clearly not here to negotiate. Once again, you were frozen against your will: pulse thumping against your ear drums, heat rising to the top of your head, hairs on the back of your neck standing. A primal warning. Instinct. Run.

Your breath quickened, shallow and erratic, chest rising and falling in rapid bursts. The figure tried to reach out to you but, at least, your body released the pedal. Your spun on your feet, a sickening wave of nausea rolling through your stomach, and began to sprint forward. Your legs, unbearably tense like a spring wound too tight, suddenly felt full of energy. Released and urging you ahead a full speed. It had barely been a few seconds and yet your mouth was already dry, tongue heavy and useless. Your vision sharpened and your eyes frantically scanned for escape. No such opportunity presented itself.

For once in your life, you longed to be surrounded by people. Humans, sounds, light. Everything that you cursed as overstimulating. You needed it right now.

Time stretched unnaturally, each second dragging just as much as your exhausted breaths. The initial surge of adrenaline burned away, leaving behind leaden limbs and a crushing fatigue that threatened to pull you down into the earth itself. Surroundings were reduced to a blur - streets once familiar now twisted into an unrecognisable nightmare of mazes swallowed by the winter darkness. You had no idea where you were anymore. Worse, you had no idea if he was still following you. The nauseating punch of your heartbeat and own ragged gasps drowned out any other noise, leaving you trapped in your own assumptions.

Legs became weights. Each step feeling heavier than the last. You had to stop You had to find a place to hide - to temporarily vanish, even if just for a fleeting moment to catch your breath.

With a final, desperate burst of energy, you veered sharply to the left, begging your body to carry you just a little farther. That's when you saw it. A stone wall enclosed around a patch of natural land. A park, a cemetery... You couldn't tell, and you didn't care. It was reprieve. It was something. Without hesitation, you lunged toward it, gripping the cold, rough surface and hauling yourself over with what little strength remained.

The moment your sore feet hit the firm, icy grass, you dashed forward, scanning wildly for cover. Trees. Shrubs. A tangled mess of foliage. None of it was ideal, but it was all that you had. You plunged into the undergrowth, branches hostile and clawing at your arms as you wove between them, forcing yourself deeper into the shadows. Then, at last, you pressed your back against the rough bark of a tree, letting the darkness conceal you.

It could have been perfect, if it weren't for the frantic and unending chorus of your own wheezing breaths. Each one felt defeating, a beacon in the silence, driving all predators to the centre of your location. In a measly attempt to stifle the sounds, you clamped your hands over your mouth, screwing your eyes shut as though that alone could make you disappear entirely.

Please please please. Your body trembled, lungs searing in overtime agony. All you could do was hope and pray. Pray that your own noises wouldn't betray you. Pray that the chase was over. Pray that he wasn't still out there, hunting, listening.

Silence. Your ears pricked, every soft flutter of the leaves sharpening. For minutes, you waited in the blackness, eyes wide in anticipation. Your breaths calmed only marginally but you were thankful for it all the same. A shaking hand removed your phone from your pocket, fingers hovering over the screen to dial the police. You made sure to lower the brightness completely down and keep what remained of the dim display tucked close to your chest.

9...1...1-

Within just seconds, your body jerked violently as something tightened around your wrist, yanking you back with a terrifying force. A strangled shriek clawed its way up your throat - but never escaped. A gloved hand emerged from the darkness, smothering your lips before the sound could break free, sealing your terror in silence.

You became a wild animal, thrashing and gasping against the pressure, nails scrambling to claw the assailant. But instead of skin, your fingers were met with firm plastic material of the figure's mask. Your hands lowered, tearing into the soft fabric of his hoodie, offering no purchase, no way of fighting back. Every attempt to injure him was met with chilling indifference from your attacker. After a minute of one-sided struggling, the two of you slumped to the ground by the tree, the back of your body forcibly pinned against his.

"Shhh."

The whisper ghosted the shell of your ear, the warmth of his breath sending an involuntary shudder down your spine. His voice was eerily gentle - almost soothing - almost. But you obeyed, frozen in place, every muscle locked in terror as his hand remained firm over your mouth.

Then, with unsettling patience, his other hand reached down and delicately relinquished your trembling grip over the phone. You didn't fight it or even try to tear it back. Your breath hitched as he lifted it closer, tilting the screen towards himself. The dim glow reflected off his mask, a chillingly cute design that only made the situation feel more unreal. The masked being stared at the lock screen for a moment before slowly tapping in the numbers.

Click.

Your stomach dropped. He had unlocked it. Effortlessly.

Your eyes widened in disbelief as he began scrolling through your phone, navigating it with an eerie familiarity. How... How did he know your passcode? How long had this person been watching you, memorising things you hadn't even thought twice about?

Tension hung thick in the air as the figure silently skimmed through your backlog of messages - Sana, Liam, Mimiko. His fingers scrolled casually, as if he were studying a new language, trying to understand the people who had recently entered your life. He stopped. A beat of silence. ...

And then, without hesitation, he began erasing them all.

One by one, he blocked every single contact, erasing entire conversations with a few effortless swipes. Your breath quickened again, panic surging anew as you watched everything unfold before you. Every text, every interaction, every trace of your newfound friendships - all of it disappeared before your very eyes.

Gone.

Scrubbed clean, as it they have never existed at all.

He returned the phone inside your coat pocket, tucking it in safe and patting it. What followed was yet another prolonged silence. You could feel him looking at you through the mask, trying to gauge your emotions. His own breath grew heavy and you felt his arms tighten around you, squeezing you. It felt intimate. A cuddle - or, more realistically, a boa constrictor wrapping around you, toying with its meal before devouring it whole.

Was he... was he going to rape you?

You weren't taking any chances. This had to end here.

Before your mind could fully process what you were doing, your body reacted. Primal. Vicious. Instinct. Teeth sank into his arm - hard. The fabric of his hoodie bunched between your teeth before finally puncturing skin. The taste of copper bloomed across your tongue, warm and metallic, mingling with the fibres of his sleeve. Disgusting. You bit down harder, jaw tightening with every ounce of fear surging through your veins.

"Ah...!" A soft, moan-like gasp came from the man's mouth. A mix of pain, shock and... something else you couldn't quite put your finger on. He released his grip on you, letting you rip yourself away from him and stagger forward with ragged, panting breaths. You didn't dare wait to see his reaction. The very moment your feet found balance - you ran.

Koda watched, exhilarated, panting softly and feeling a heated blush pinch his cheeks. He trembled lewdly as he rolled up his sleeve and gazed longly at the engrained bite mark etched into his flesh. A long, succulent drool of blood seeped down his arm. He lifted his mask, eyes half-lidded with lust. "[Y/n]....bit me..." he shuddered. He has been branded. Officially marked by his one and only. He could wish that such beautiful teeth marks against his flesh would be permanent. He giggled hornily. "Thank you, [Y/n]. I'll never forget this gift."

His tongue lolled out of his mouth, lapping up the thread of blood and slithering over each oozing gap in his skin. Tasting himself. Tasting you - or, at least, what remained of your saliva. An indirect kiss.

I enjoyed playing tag with you today. ('・ω・')