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Bumping into someone, my books fell on the floor scattering in front of me  I gritted my teeth watching them scatter. A few documents in between the books also escaped and spread over the tiled surface.  Running my hands through my hair over the mess, I looked up burning with devastation.

"No. Can't believe I have to arrange this project again!" But my eyes began to waver looking into those familiar eyes again. As I lowered my hand to pick my books up, he quickly got down to help me settle them. I pursed my lips and hurriedly gathered all the documents in one book.

"Sorry," he apologized picking up the last book lying beside him for me. I reacted faster by picking them up first. But unfortunately our heads collided when I tried to do that.

"I'm sorry. I was in a hurry so I didn't see you." He nodded while I maintained my posture after standing up. Pushing the books into my back, he extended his hand to hand over the last book. I sighed and dropped it into my bag after receiving it.

"I'm Clara and you're?" I introduced  keeping a distance from him. My hands were still in my bag as I was making sure I didn't leave anything out. He remained quiet for a while before he turned to me. In a hurry, I zipped the bag and looked up to him anxiously.

"Adrian. Sorry for the inconvenience though," he stated with an apologetic look. I nodded and looked around to make sure all the documents were taken. "Nevermind. But you look familiar."

Just after I said this, his face changed drastically. It was almost as if I had hit his danger point. Hesitantly, he stepped back and was about to leave when I held his hand. "Wait. We sit adjacent right? You know me back a year ago?" I asked curiously.

He looked around nervously and started moving back. "I don't know what you're talking about," he lied. Looking at him, I was sure he was the guy I saw in the hallway on that day a year ago. But why was he denying to have seen me?

I furrowed my eyebrows excruciatingly when I realized he was wearing all black today too. Glaring at him from top to bottom, I let out a heavy sigh.

"You're lying. Are you afraid of me or something?" I demanded before letting go of his hands angrily. He remained quiet and paced around for an escape route.

Shaking his head, he turned around and looked away in a hurry. "I have to go," he pondered and started running off quickly in a flash before I could ask him.

Dropping my raised hand, I took in a deep breath. "He sure is hiding something."

Deliberately running my thoughts, I sighed and walked back angrily to class. I couldn't leave like I had wanted to a few minutes ago. His attitude was very fishy. I don't think I can leave class without finding out why.

Bashing the door open, everyone turned to me surprised. The teacher was already in too. In order to avoid the embarrassment of coming in late, I bowed my head to greet the teacher and exposed a big smile on my face.

"This is the last time I'll tolerate lateness. That goes to all of you." Turning their gaze from me to him, they recite affirmative replies to him while I walked along the path to get to my seat.  As I passed by Nathan's seat, he looked away and started unpacking his bag. 

Lowering my eyes, I stepped forward and dumped my body on the chair. "Gosh. I thought you were cutting class," Jess commented after covering her lips. I sighed and glared at Kate and Tricia who had the same expression on their faces.

  As I turned to Adrian, his eyes moved away from my gaze. I rolled my tongue and turned to Tricia.

"Changed my mind. But you're still copying the notes for me." Tricia's eyes widened with my statement. Shaking her head, I grabbed her shoulder and whispered, "I'll buy your favorite wine. I promise!" Hearing my bargain, she nodded and turned to the teacher.

My eyes immediately turned away with the impatient gaze from the teacher who was looking at me all this time. Smiling, I pulled out my books and started dribbling. He sighed and opened his laptop to project the screen on the board.

  "From our previous lessons, we learnt how to add different algebra," he started. I squeezed my face I  my palms and stared at the board after a few minutes. Looking back at my watch, I let out a sigh. My, Algebra class was so boring.

I kept on cross checking the time and the more I checked the slower it fled. Finally, closing bell tolled after two hours of lecturing. When my eyes fell on a young girl sitting next to me after Adrian, my eyebrows furrowed. She quickly packed her books and stepped out before all of us. 

"Geez! Take your time!" one of the students, Dane yelled when she harshly brushed past him. Bit she didn't turn around to even apologize. I'm actually not surprised by her behavior as she's always been like that since I enrolled here. Adrian followed up after her in seconds. My jaw dropped with their swift movements. Sighing, I grabbed my bag and waved at my friends.

I quickly found my way to my locker and dropped all my books into it. But when I got to the door, I heard someone running away like a thief. When I rushed to check, no one was there. Curving the crevices of my eyebrows, I turned to my locker and dropped my books in it. As I was about to close my locker a paper fell off.

Squatting over to pick it up, I saw a picture of my mom and me together. But that wasn't all. Red marks from a marker was used against it as a cross. The cross was on my mom only. Seeing this, the picture fell on a book in my hands. Terror took over my composure as my mind became blank.

"Who left this? I'm I the next target?" I pondered and without wasting time I rushed out bumping into Adrian just along the hallway.

"Are you the one?" I asked looking at him angrily. He looked confused and stared blankly at me. Other students passing by started looking at us curiously.

"Adrian,we're not done practicing. Come on. Let's go," one of his friends called out. Monitoring the look on his face, I could tell he wasn't the one. He nodded and walked off after a short glance at me.

Standing in between the bustling students talking, my head started to spin as I heard screams in my ears. Holding my head, I turned around and run towards the cottage. But when I checked his room, he wasn't there. "Max!" I yelled.

 I grew agitated and worried hoping that he was alright. The trees suddenly shook vigorously against each other leaving me in anxious. I took steps back unconsciously when I suddenly felt I had hit something from behind. Turning around, I heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thank God you're okay. I thought,"  I repeated and hugged him. He placed his hands over my shoulders and scanned me with his troubled eyes. "I'm ok. Did something happen in school?"

I took out the picture from my left pocket and showed it to him. Staring at it, his head sprang up from surprise. "Where did you get this?"

"I found it in my locker,but I always lock it," I confessed while staring at him full of questions.

"It's him. He can get access to the impossible. Listen carefully. I'll figure this out. But you should not come here again and stay as far as you can from here," he added breaking the hug.

Looking into his eyes, I stepped back in hesitation.

"What are you saying? I won't do that. This is my problem and I can't leave just like that." I complained as my eyes became watery.

"You don't know what he could do to you. He knows your school now. It won't take time for him to track your residence if you frequent here. I won't allow that," he dictated before putting a tracking device in my hands.

"I can monitor your movements with this. But for now you have to go."

"No," I refused after shaking my head. "I can't stay away. I'm sorry. I know why you're doing this but I can't. My life without you would be meaningless and I can't keep running away from him forever," I contemplated while wiping the tears from my eyes.

He stared at me furiously, "You don't understand. He's a very dangerous man who has killed on whims." 

The trees shook rampantly making my hair blow uncontrollably. His blue turquoise eyes gazed at me curiously but he didn't want to accept my request.

  "Clara!" he called making me turn. He took a long time in cogitation and to surrender. "If he already knows my school and wanted to kill me, I wouldn't make it here. I'm sure there's something he wants from me. Until then, he won't harm me."

 
Sighing, he turns to me with a nod. "I guess you're right. He had many chances. But you still need to be careful. Keep that with you at all times." I nodded and smiled at him. We walked into his cottage. I stopped by the door seeing a collection of flowers along the way.

"Did you plant those?" He nodded and turned to the flowers. "I did that leisurely when I was little. I was quite boring in these woods alone." Folding my lips, I walked with him into the cottage.

"You made those traps the other day too?" He nodded again and stared at me.  He gave out a small chuckle realizing the look on my face.

"Well you don't know a lot of things about me. I set them for safety reasons. " Chuckling, I walked over to his window. My eyes wavered spotting the snow globe from before.

 He walked towards it and stood closer to me. "I wanted to give this to you. I remember you blackmailing me for this, " he snapped slowly dropping it in my palms.

"Because it's beautiful. It's an antique right?" I muttered while smiling. I shook it and small snow droplets started to fall down like rain. The globe had two statues of a man and a woman dancing.

  Before he could answer, my phone rang. I picked it out from my pocket and answered the call.

  "Your request has been processed. But your account is running low. You need to fill out the tax rates on your account."

  Standing over the phone, my eyes fell in silence. "Okay. Transfer all my funds into the school. I'll work on the rest."

  After cutting the call, I took in a deep breath.

  "Are you okay?" I nodded and turned to the snow globe. "That belonged to my mom. It's the only they left me with. I want to give it to you." Smiling, I took a careful glance of it.

  My phone beeped again. Sighing, I unlocked the screen and checked the notification. But my eyes widened when I saw the news on it.

  "Tragic bus accident on 23rd June, 2022. Only two survivors, one male and one female."

  Staring at the videos taken that day, I finally saw a man wearing a hoodie standing just a few metres from me watching me closely as a nurse rushed to me from the ambulance.

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