An eerie silence fell among us as I stared at the man with widened eyes and examined his features, he had green eyes, a beard with some brown hair which made him look exceptionally stunning. I almost forgot about Christy as I stared at him, his gaze, fixed on the ground and his expression, unreadable. But then suddenly he dug into his pocket and took out a gun, which caught me off guard as I shivered, still on the ground, but before I could even breathe, Chisty shouted out-of-the-blue, and another wave of shiver came through.

"You filthy git!" she said (almost yelled) in her high- pitched voice. But, he ignored her and shifted his gaze to me, I almost burst into tears as he glared at me deadly and scrutinized my eyes, his green eyes were venomous and it was unfamiliar, but somehow, I caught myself and held my face stern so that I don't look like a 5-year-old crying for a lollipop. He held his gun low, just in front of my face, but before he could even utter a word, Christy started jumping and running around the hall.

"No! No! No!" she yelled at the top of her lungs as she danced with madness like a lunatic. But the man only ignored her and after a short pause, he finally spoke.

"So you're trying to be smart? But you aren't, " he said with a smirk, his eyes, scrutinizing mine, he didn't wait for my answer and continued, with Christy, still screaming and hyperventilating.

"Go back, do you hear me?; and forget about this lunatic," he said sideways glancing at Christy as she jumped and yelled.

"Now go back before I TORTURE YOU TILL YOUR DEATH" he continued and he suddenly yelled causing Christy to jerk back.

"GO!!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, and without another word, I stumbled to get up and stormed out of the house, I was still running, when I came out and after a few minutes, I was finally home, I rang the doorbell, panting. Mom opened the door with a frown as she stared at me.

"What you think you are doing?!" she said in disgust as I struggled to catch my breath, that was strange! The woman who used to make me comfortable whenever I came back in miserable condition was yelling at me for nothing, the woman who used to comfort me was acting like a stranger to me, as I made my way through the hall and sat on the couch, she followed me and then, suddenly, she leaped forward and pulled my collar causing me to stand up.

"Where were you?!" she asked furiously. There was a glint in her eyes, for the first time, I felt as if she was not my mom, she was someone I didn't know.

"I went for a walk" I shrugged.

"Tell me the truth!!" she raised her hand and yelped my T-shirt causing me to stand up.

"Went to meet Anna"

"Truth!" she yelled even louder my mother didn't act like that, she was a foe to me...

"But this is the truth!!" I yelled back, a teardrop escaped my eyes. She saw me and shoved my collar off as I fell on the couch.

"Ok," she said sternly and then smiled, but I could tell that the smile wasn't genuine, it was a fake one, not my mom's original smile, it was the foe's smile "bipolar much" I muttered underneath my breath. I almost pushed her as I made my way through the hall and went straight into my room, shutting the door from behind.

I quickly finished my chores and went to bed, as I laid down, I recalled what exactly happened here- a lady threatened my mum, then she asked me to meet her and when I went there, suddenly, a man or so-called-my-father appeared who threatened me not to meet that lady and when I came back home, my mother acted like a foe to me. This whole situation had a negative vibe in it.

Maybe because of this Christy, my parents got separated and whenever mom gets reminded of that man, she became aggressive, but who told her that I went to meet Christy?; Why they got separated?; Is that man my father? ; Who exactly is Christy?; Why she threatens my mom and-- but these were all my assumptions and nothing else, so I just pushed these thoughts aside and for now I felt myself relax so I slept.

The next morning when I woke up I checked my phone because I didn't have time yesterday, so when I checked it, I was surprised or shocked what should I say, Alex messaged me and it said to meet him at the Lost Maples Cafe which is near my house like 10 to 15 minutes walking distance so I replied-

Alex

Meet me at the Lost Maples Cafe Shay, this stuff is important.

Me

Okay, but what time you want to meet.

Alex

Meet me at 3.

Me

Okay, but what do you wanna talk about?

Seen

So now I was annoyed first he sends me a message to meet him and says it's important when I have not even talked to him yet and he dares to leave ME on SEEN like seriously. I tried to calm down and went to do my morning routine as usual brushed my teeth and then took a shower and got dressed in black-ripped jeans and oversized hoodie and my favorite timberlands.

When I went downstairs, mom was not at home, as usual, she was at work, but where does she work? , I thought for some time and then I shrugged it off.

I made my breakfast because she didn't even bothered to. I think she is mad at me for yesterday, but I was not wrong so I am not going to apologize. I made pancakes for myself, thank god I know how to cook, but it's still 11 and I have 4 hours to go to that cafe. I ate my breakfast and played Minecraft and watched Netflix. Now, 30 minutes were left to go so I took my wallet, phone, and keys as I locked the door, I sighed for the 10th time today and went to meet that Alex.

Well, it's a very cozy cafe and one of the best cafes in this area. "Here goes nothing," I said to myself in my mind and took a deep breath and went inside. it was a very comfortable atmosphere with the sweet smell of coffee beans and cakes

I was 15 minutes early I took a seat and was now waiting for Alex.

Now it's 3:15 and he's still not here now this kid is making me mad. In the meantime, I ordered myself a coffee, which was now finished. I was planning to go now as I stood up Alex came I sat back and waved at him, he came to where I was sitting and we greeted each other. but I was very mad at him because he was late and he left me seen And he's smiling as nothing happened.

I said "Alex get to the point why you called me here" I slightly glared at him.

"Shay you know the day we went into that unfamiliar road," he said in a scared tone.

"Yes, what about it?" I raised my voice unintentionally because the events that happened that day were not very pleasant and because of my stupidity to go there, we were here.

"When...you got into that accident and everybody.....took your hospital...I was held by that scary lady....you all...went running and leaving...me there I was also trying to run but.......she tightly held my hand and....took me inside her creepy house....and threatened me and said that.......I should spy on you and.......tell her every step and........movements of you and said if I didn't do it she would hurt my cousin Kate but still I said no to her because you are my friend.......I can't do this to you.....well she didn't know that Kate is not in the.....town she went Germany from behalf of school......with many other students......you know the exchange program trip......she didn't tell anyone because she...wanted to surprise you all but these events happened and she didn't want to worry you all so she went without telling and is not coming for next 3 months.......back to the point that lady said to me......that she will make my life living hell and said that tell this to Shay and warn him about it I don't care first I was going to make just Shay's life hell now you're also in my list and after....that I just ran from there..... I was scared, that's why I was not with you all... In that car ride and I was just thinking how to tell you all this..... So that's why it took me so long and now here I am"

Christy Ansley's creepy house-

Now I felt guilty for shouting at him, he didn't do anything and was there for me and stood for me and that Christy threatened him. how dare she, what does she want from me.

"I am sorry Alex I didn't know and thank you," I said in a low tone but enough that he can hear me.

"No, it's okay, I can understand, but I wanted to say that I am here for you if you need any help because I think you can't solve this alone so let me help you," he said in a calm tone.

"I think you're right, but should I tell my other friends?" I asked.

"NO!" he almost yelled at me and then said, "it will be dangerous for them and I don't think we want more people to get hurt now do we?"

"Yeah, you're right, so let me tell you what I know. The lady you're talking about her name is Christy Ansley yesterday I went to meet her, but for some reasons, we couldn't talk but I think I will go--"

My phone started ringing when I checked my mom was calling me, I answered her and she told me to come home because it was getting late and I said okay and hung up.

"Well, Alex I will talk to you later and tell you about everything so that we can figure out what's happening, for now, I think we should go, it's getting late, and take care to call me if something happens," I said standing up and walking out of the cafe while waving.