Sleep was a distant joke to me. When I say that I hadn't received even a wink of sleep last night, I mean it. My eyelids hadn't even touched once. I'd spent the last few hours of my time staring at the ceiling, tossing and turning. Thinking. I've always had problems with my sleeping, which is one of the reasons I go out most nights, but my insomniac-tendencies had never been quite this torturous. I couldn't stop thinking about that guy; had I left him for dead last night?

A strange feeling was eating away at my chest ever since I left him there, panicked thoughts whizzing around my brain so that I couldn't sleep. I wasn't one hundred percent sure what it was, because I had never felt anything like it before, but I would bet that it was guilt. My body was surging with the feeling of guilt. It wasn't the first time I had fled from something like that, but this time I didn't know who it was that I was leaving in the dust. What if he couldn't protect himself?

The way he was fighting yesterday told me that he could clearly handle Doug, but that didn't ease the feeling or the thoughts running through my head. The feeling refused to go away.

When the angry, red clock numbers read eight in the morning, I decided to just accept the fact that I wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon and dragged myself out of bed. I looked in the mirror and cringed at my reflection. My hair looked pretty greasy and the bags under my eyes were prominent; it looked like I hadn't slept in a month.

It was the last thing that I wanted to do right now, but I knew I had to shower. Undoubtedly, Heather would not appreciate me showing up to see her smelling of sweat and cigarettes.

Stepping into my en-suit, I pulled off my clothes and turned on the steaming hot shower. Washing my hair didn't take long, but it was much needed. It just seems hard to muster the effort to shower sometimes, especially when my body feels so lethargic from my lack of sleep.

Pulling on some boxers, I wandered back into my room to find clothes. I fished out a pair of black, ripped jeans from the semi-clean pile of clothes that had stacked up on my desk-chair and found a grey, long sleeve band tee hiding under my bed. Pulling it on quickly, I headed for the front door.

Mum had already started work; I had heard her leave about an hour or so ago, so at least I wouldn't have to answer her questions. She wasn't exactly a fan of Heather, despite her being my best friend, so she would definitely be disapproving of me going to see her today. I couldn't be bothered with her age-old lecture on why I should surround myself with people who are a good influence on me.

The walk to the skatepark wasn't very long, since everything in this small town is close together. I had come here to find Heather, hoping she'd be able to offer some kind of advice about how I was feeling. I knew talking to the twins would be useless, especially when they had run off before anything had even happened.

Heather was my best friend and always had been. We'd had a brief stint where we'd tried a friends with benefits thing, but I didn't want to string her along when all I felt was love for a friend, so we ended it as quickly as it began. The feeling was mutual and I was grateful for the fact that our weird experimental phase had never effected our relationship. In fact, it had made us better friends. We were as thick as thieves now and there was very little that we didn't tell each other about our lives.

Waving a quick hello to a few mutuals hanging out on the skate ramps, I scanned for Heather. I knew I would find her here because she usually hung out here on the weekend because it pissed her Mum off. Plus, she had some kind of thing going on with one of the guys who frequented here. It wasn't long before I spotted her leaning against one of the ramps, with said guy leaning over her, flirting.

"Cameron! What are you doing here? How's your girlfriend?" Heather exclaimed as she saw me, dismissing her guy and rushing over to give me a hug.

"We broke up, actually. Don't worry about that, though. I came here because I need to speak to you about something else. You got time?" I asked, rubbing my neck anxiously.

"Always got time for you. What's wrong?" Heather frowned, pulling me to sit down on one of the benches away from everyone else.

"Last night, something happened. Something bad. The twins and I were in the park like usual, minding our own business, when Doug came out of nowhere accusing me of talking shit about him." I began, making Heather quirk a knowing brow, "Yes, I was chatting shit, but who told him? Anyway, he started making some kind of threat and I think he was reaching for a knife."

"You're joking!" Heather shrieked, her eyes full of concern as she raked my body for cuts, "Are you okay? Is Mike okay?"

"We're fine, Mick too, but I'm not so sure about this random guy who intervened. He came out of nowhere and decided it was a good idea to take on the maniac with the possible-knife. I ran off before the fight ended, so I don't know if he's okay or not. I called the police, though."

"Cameron, none of that is your fault." She cooed, engulfing me in a hug instantly. She always knew what I was thinking, "You can't blame yourself if the guy willingly intervened. Anyone else in your situation would have left too. Doug is unhinged. What did the guy look like?"

"I wasn't close enough to see, but he was wearing all black and was very tall. Actually, I was thinking about walking past the park, just to see if there's any police tape or something? I just need to know."

"Want me to come with you?"

I nodded and she gave me a comforting pat on the back, jumping to her feet. Together, we set off towards the kids park on the other side of town. It was nice to catch up with Heather, since I hadn't seen her much while I was dating that girl, but my mind was slightly preoccupied.

"What happened with your girlfriend? The usual?" She queried, making me laugh bitterly.

It kind of sucks that what happens can be referred to as 'the usual'. She wasn't wrong, but the truth hurts. Even I had said 'the usual' to the twins last night. At least Heather understood what I meant when I said that, unlike the twins. Maybe I need a break from relationships for a while; they're clearly not working out.

"She said that I wasn't passionate enough. Apparently, I seem constantly unbothered as to whether we were together or not, so she gave me an ultimatum. Fix up my attitude towards her, or else. I chose not together, obviously." I gave minimal details of yesterday's argument, not really that bothered by it.

I was more focused on the feeling that was gnawing on my insides. It was eating me up inside still and I wasn't sure how to stop it. If I knew he was okay, then maybe it would go away. It was strange, especially since I'm not usually an emotional person, especially towards a stranger. Doug must have really shaken me.

"I thought you said that she broke up with you?" Heather quirked a brow.

"She did. She gave me no other option, so she clearly wanted to break up."

"Your thought process scares me sometimes. Did you never consider that you could have just tried a bit harder?"

"Whatever." I dismissed the conversation, spotting the park come into view.

Both of us went quiet, scanning the park with worried eyes. The park was empty, per usual. Kids didn't really come here anymore; it was too rusted to be safe for children. The park looked relatively undisturbed, and I took this as a good sign. Even still, I stepped towards the park gates to get a better look.

My mind had seen the last few hours conjuring images of police tape, blood and whatever else a crime scene had to offer. I was relatively relieved to find absolutely nothing; not even a muddy footprint or patch of flattened grass to give away the awful events of last night.

"Well, I hope that puts your mind at ease. Nobody was murdered here last night." Heather declared, ready to wipe her hands of this situation.

"I suppose you're right." It took a while for me to respond, chills going down my spine at the memory of the fear I had felt.

Glancing around, I felt suddenly uneasy. I wasn't sure why, but it felt like I was being watched. My gut was telling me that something was lurking nearby, watching us investigate the park. I grabbed Heather's hand silently, feeling the chills intensify. Whatever it was, it didn't feel normal and I wanted to leave. Now.

"Let's go. Right now." I hissed, backing out of the park cautiously.

While I couldn't see anything, exactly, I just knew it was there. I didn't know how, or why, but I was practically certain about it. Heather could see the seriousness in my eyes and nodded, following me hastily. My walk was near-enough a jog as I pulled her away, only dropping her hand once we were around the corner. With every step, the uneasy feeling grew and I felt flighty. I wanted to run.

"Earth to Cameron!" Heather finally managed to focus my attention once again, "What's up? What happened?"

"I don't know. I need to go. I need to get away." I panicked, the words spilling out of my mouth as I shook, feeling jittery.

"Let me walk you home. I think you're sleep deprived; this isn't like you." Heather looked genuinely concerned, scanning the bags under my eyes.

"I'm fine. I can walk myself home. Thanks for coming with me, though." I had a noticeable edge to my voice, but she chose to ignore it.

"Seriously Cam, when was the last time you slept?" Her voice was soft, but laced with concern.

"It's fine, Heather. Honestly."

The finality of my voice this time was thick and she gave up with her questioning. We hugged goodbye and set off in separate directions. The jittery feeling went away just as quickly as it came and I felt like I could breath again, which was a relief. I glanced over at the little park in front of the tree line and shuddered. Weird. I decided to avoid being alone, taking the busier streets to get home. I caught myself yawning a few times as I walked home and decided Heather was probably right; I should take a nap. Mum was at work, so it should be pretty undisturbed.

Fumbling with my keys, I unlocked the door and checked to ensure that it was properly locked behind me. I felt paranoid after that experience, but it was probably caused by my lack of sleep. Flopping onto my bed, I kicked off my shoes and crawled under the covers. I must admit, now that the worry had worn off, I was beyond exhausted from not sleeping the last few nights. The cool breeze from my open window circulated the room and I let my eyes droop shut.

"Cameron! Wake your lazy butt up now." The familiar, angry tone of my mother woke me abruptly.

Looking up, I could see that it was now dark outside; I must have been asleep longer than just a few hours. I felt like I'd transcended into another universe; I was so groggy. Mum shouting at me didn't help it, either. Rubbing my eyes sleepily, I rolled over to bury my head back into my pillow. All I wanted was a few more hours sleep, but I knew that would be impossible now that I was awake once again.

"Cameron, if you're going to sneak friends in, you need to tell them to exit using the front door instead of climbing in and out of your damn window. Our neighbour just told me she saw your friend leave by shimmying down the garage drain pipe! How embarrassing-" My mum started to rant.

I paled, rolling over to look at the now closed window; somebody was here? I hadn't invited anyone round and all of my friends knew that they couldn't just pop in whenever they wanted; my mum hated my friends too much for that to happen. So, who the fuck had been lurking around my window, or even worse, had possibly come into my room while I was sleeping.

"I'm going to bed. I have work in the morning." My Mum sighed, leaving my room, "Disrespectful kids think they run the world."

Mum left my room, still muttering to herself about how I should know better but I was too busy freaking out to listen to her. Somebody was watching me; I'm sure of it. I don't know who, but I was sure as hell going to find out.

Working up enough courage to peek through my closed window took awhile, but when I did my heart began to pound in my chest. My eyes scanned every inch of scenery for any sign of who had invaded my privacy. I couldn't see anything, but I got that same, instinctive feeling in my stomach that I had felt in the park. I looked into the tree line, trying to look a bit closer to make out any shapes in the dark.

My stomach twisted and I took a step back, quickly drawing the curtains closed once again. Whatever was going on, I really didn't like it. I scrambled for my phone, texting Heather to let her know what had happened. She replied, letting me know that she'd come see me tomorrow to check on me but that she couldn't escape her mother until then. I think she was a bit concerned that my sleep was affecting my rational thinking, but I was so sure that I went to sleep with that window open. My damn neighbour had witnessed somebody leave.

Glancing back at the window, I felt another urge to look. Before I could, my phone beeped once again with a text, making me forget my urges.

Heather: Order a damn lock for your window.