She sat bolt up right in her bed with a loud gasp which had awoken Aiden who was sat up by her side trying to calm her down. Her vision was blurred as she tried to catch her breath.

'It's okay, you're alright just a bad dream' he knelt up on the bed and held her close. She half believed him, was it real bad only seemed dream like? Or was it a fever dream of sorts that ramped up all of her senses? She couldn't decide right away as she was more focused on sobbing hard against Aiden's chest.

'I swear it was real Aiden, it was far too much detail for me just to have dreamed it' she explained once she calmed down. She was sat at the foot of the bed fully dressed as Aiden got ready to head off for work.

'Allison, it was probably because of working on this story, I've seen it before, the details can really sink in and play tricks on you' he said buttoning up his shirt as he looked at her in the mirror.

'Do you have to go to work today?' She asked feeling a sting of panic that something might happen again 'I really don't want to be alone today'

'Yes I have to, maybe you should have a day to yourself, no work, no research just watch a few movies and I'll come and check on you tomorrow morning' he said as he put on his jacket.

'It was so real Aiden' she said looking away from him and into the mirror, she could see you was quite visibly shaken by what happened, more than some kind of nightmare could do to her.

'Look if it makes you feel better, I'll get one of the lads to come and and check on you tonight, I'll just tell them you were harassed and they will come and make sure the coast is clear' he told her and she had to fake her expression of relief so she didn't make him feel guilt.

He had left and all she could manage to do was sit on the sofa with her feet up close to her and bite her finger nails, he couldn't forget about last night the way her could because he didn't experience it but it had happened to her, she saw the candyman and lived, maybe not to tell the tail because there's no way anyone would believe her. There's no way she was going to think about anything else so she got back on her laptop to get to work, looking through the photos she had uploaded the previous week she flicked through them in order and she could almost smell the stench of stale urine and dust as she entered the complex. Reading the graffiti on the walls gave her chills. Had the people who wrote all of this ever met the man they were writing about? or had they maybe become one of his terrible stories?

She looked through the photos she had taken in the Singer flat and was once again smelling the sweetness of candy floss. She had a closer look at the photo she had taken in the bathroom, the one which showed the distance the hole where the mirror was went to. She zoomed in right to the flat furthest away just moments before Aiden had scared her half to death. She could see something in the furthest hole as she zoomed in further but she couldn't make it out. She opened it in Photoshop and cleaned up the picture as much as she could but it was still too dark. When she upped the brightness her stomach sank and heart began to race as she saw the face of Candyman staring right back at her. She almost whimpered when she saw him staring back at her as that sweet sickly smell filled her nose, just like it did the previous night and only now she realised what it meant.

She jumped from her chair and almost stumbled when the knock came to the door around eight pm but here fear was soon squashed when she found out it was the uniformed officer come to check in on her.

She had to make up a story for the officer as he was lead to believe a man had been stalking and harassing her like Aiden had told him. She offered to make a coffee which he accepted before checking all the windows in the flat, very thorough. When she returned with the coffees he was looking over her notice board which was there for all to see, crime scene photos, police reports and all the important evidence which was key information to her book.

'Into crime are you?' He asked amusingly when she handed him the cup.

'Oh not really but I've found this case quite interesting'

'Case? Don't you mean cases?' He stared at them puzzled.

'well however they may be, these same to have been done by the same man'

'You're not talking about that candyman crap are you, that was making the rounds even when I was a lad, it's all anyone is talking about this week, they all seem to think candyman is back'

So the police were now thinking about it? She thought to herself.

'Well what you you think?'

'Load of crap, grew out of it when I was ten, these are just separate murders with similar methods, there's only so many different ways you can stab someone'

She listened intently as the officer told her all the reasons why candyman couldn't possible exists but she had already thought of them but at least his argument was fair rather than just being narrow minded. She offered another coffee which he had happily accepted as he stood looking over the board.

As Allison put the milk back into the fridge she caught her reflection in small magnetic mirror on the fridge door but there was another reflection just over her left shoulder, she spun around and was almost face to face with... the police officer. He was staring right at her and was no more than a foot in front of her.

'Christ, you scared me' he said as she smiled slightly, catching her breath.

He said nothing and just stared at her, he seemed taller than before. Allison looked down to see that his feet were inches off the floor, he was floating. Her eyes travelled up to his face just in time to see the first stream of blood to pass his lips. His chest suddenly burst and he spat loudly, the blood covered Allison's face and down her front causing her to jump back and slip hard to the floor, she bashed her head against the counter and the room began to spin. Blooded pored from his nose mouth and chest as the hook ripped him upwards, it shattered and splintered his rib cage by force as it went all the way up near his collarbone.  The body of the young police man was tossed hard onto her kitchen counter, smashing dishes and spilling blood witch dripped onto the floor from the work surfaces. Allison was staring up at candyman who wasn't there before as he brandished his hook as he looked down at her.

'And now it starts, Allison, soon the stories will spread and you will be the focus of all their attention, all their worship and their fear' he spoke to her as she grabbed a knife, she struggled to get to her feet as she grabbed a knife and held it in both hands in front of her.

'Stay away from me' she hissed, stood in absolute horror but putting on a show that she was some sort of a threat to her. He nearly smirked at her knowing she was no more than a braking dog with no bite, pathetic in her attempt at courage.

'Your submission is my wish, you bondage is my will, you cannot escape so you should give in, embrace, accept' he ordered, his eyes unmoving as he reached his bloody hook to her. She shrunk away from it,  as though the history of it's killings were still covering it. She swiped at it with her knife and it made a sickening clunk as his arm didn't budge one bit, he laughed at her.

'Haven't you ever wanted more? wished you could make a difference? Selfishly wanted to be known for making a difference in life? I didn't, but that's how things turned out Allison, I was made this way and I became infamous, all because my judgement went against the norm and I found out how much of a difference that could be, but in the end I chose to sacrifice for what i believed could be right, a new way' he told her as his hook danced about her face.

Her eyes began to get heavy again as she slumped against the counter, dropping the knife to the floor as she began to slide down, was it the bump to the head or was this his doing? She thought to herself as she began to drift.

She was lucid, she wished he would just kill her because she didn't want this anymore, she didn't want to see him she just wished she hadn't fallen into this but it was beyond too late, she made all of this happen and it wasn't going to end easily or without pain.

When she woke up covered in the officer's blood, the knife was back in her hand smeared with blood not just sprayed like it was when she picked it up. It looked at though he had been used to do something, she she stood up the officers body had fallen to the floor next to her with a new addition to his fatal injuries, a slit throat, cut with a knife. She looked at the knife for a moment before she dropped it to the floor. She moved into the living area and nothing was out of place, no signs of struggle. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw the guilty image that stated back, she had killed the police officer because no one, not even Aiden was going to believe her story. She rushed to her bedroom and stripped of her gore covered clothing and put on a fresh pair of jeans, black t shirt and grey hoodie before rushing from her flat, out into the night no doubt where he would be watching her.