It was nine o’clock at night, on the dot, when Emiliana Gonzales returned from work. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, exasperated. Fourteen hour work days would do that to a person- especially grueling law work with convicted criminals. Today she had faced a rather nasty defendant; who had brutally injured two of his friends- only to be caught and sent to court. Although it had been more than nine hours since she closed the case, Emiliana couldn’t get the picture of his icy gaze out of her head, not even as she drew the covers upon herself and settled into an insufficient night’s sleep.  

The wind howled, the door squeaked, the wooden floor creaked ever so slightly- and Emiliana jumped awake. Her heart was beating faster than ever, and a bead of sweat fell down her terrified face. She reassured herself, rearranged her pillow, and sat for a second to recollect herself. Turning her head on the pillow to face the door, Emiliana began to relax herself and fall into a stupor- until the floor in the hallway creaked once again. Annoyed and terrified at the same time, she slowly slipped out of bed and into the hallway, her heart rate escalating as she walked into the bathroom to close the open window that was probably causing so much noise. 

She was no more than two steps into the bathroom when the door slammed closed, making her scream in terror. Left in the door’s wake was a man. A man with the same icy gaze, holding a glistening butcher’s knife that looked as if it was waiting for this moment. Emiliana’s breath caught in her throat as she began to sob, and back into the small shower. The curtains fell with crash as the man laughed and smiled, a smile so demonic her heart stopped for a second. The adrenaline hit her and she tried to jump out of the window, but it was too late for Emiliana. The last thing she heard was the faint sound of a siren, echoing closer and closer throughout the quiet street- but not close enough.