Joe's POV

"Pant... Pant... Pant..." Sara bent down to put her hands on her lap as if it would provide her support. I was out of breath as well, but I looked around to see if we were still being followed. When no one was in sight but us, I allowed myself to catch my breath. My legs burned like a hundred flaming pinpricks.

"Hahh... Phew..." I wiped the sweat off my forehead and rubbed my eyes. I was getting dizzy from all the running. I should start working out again so I don't get tired so easily. "We made it home."

I don't know why I said it like it was our home. It was Sara's. And once she got home, she'd be safe. After that, I'll go to my house and hopefully no one tries to go after me while I'm alone. Certainly, a terrible way to die.

Sara didn't say anything. She'd caught her breath already, so she was probably too much in thought to hear me.

"I-it's okay. Should be fine now that we're here." I tried to calm her down. It was like I took the job as a guardian to protect her and be near her.

"Joe..." Sara said quietly, and I furrowed my eyebrows, something I do when someone calls over to me. "I'm scared... I'm so scared... Am I going to..."

She broke off her sentence, not wanting to finish. She looked up at me, her purple eyes glistening.

"What if he kills me someday?" her answer shook me to my core. I wanted to run up and hug her, tell her everything would be okay. I've never seen Sara like this. And I didn't know if soft Sara liked hugs very much.

"I'm not gonna let that happen, okay?!" I wondered how I, a second-year student, was going to stop a grown man that was stalking my friend from killing her. Maybe I was just hoping everything would be okay.

"Joe..." she said again, but I shook my head.

"Call on me! Anytime!" I smiled. "I'll come with a boatload of freshmen!"

Sara tried to smile but her mouth slid down into a straight line, as if she was debating if I really could come with that many freshmen.

'Or she was thinking if this might be the last day she sees me before she di...' I couldn't bring myself to finish the sentence. I bit my lip in nervousness. 'I'll stay by Sara's house. I'll watch like a hawk and not shut my eyes.'

"Well, your parents are waiting, Sara!"

"...Yeah." she nodded, snapped out of her trance.

"Hey, Joe..." She looked at me and swallowed. "Thank you for walking me home. Be careful..."

"...Yeah!" I decided to exclude the fact that I would be standing by her house all night. She'd think I'm paranoid. Or creepy.

"See you tomorrow... At school!" I ruffled her shoulder, not sure if she'd want me to hug her or not, and pretended to start walking in the direction of my house. Around the corner, I stopped and turned around, seeing Sara study the house before going in. Getting a bit closer to the house, I casually leaned up against the wall, straightening my posture and putting my hands on my hips to seem larger. As much as I hate to admit, I've never been good at fighting. Sure I was strong, but I'm sure an eight-year-old could find a way to beat me if he wanted to.

"Mom? Dad? Are you home?" I heard Sara yell inside the house.

'She's safe.' I let out a small sigh of relief.

Turning my head from side to side like a grandfather clock, I patrolled the streets.

It's been around twenty minutes, but I didn't carry a watch on me, so it could've easily been only five.

"Mom!!" I heard a shriek from Sara inside the house. "Mom! Mom!!"

My eyes widened. Something's happened to Sara's mom. With regretted hesitation, I darted to the front of the house, testing the door. It was unlocked. I've been to Sara's house plenty of times, but it didn't stop me from looking around like I've never been here before.

'Sara could be in danger.' I thought, and it was enough to get me to run to the hallway. 'Where could she be?' I thought. I didn't have to wait long to find out, since Sara ran out of the living room, holding something in her hand.

'How do I explain to her how I heard her? Or how I got inside the house? I'm supposed to be halfway home by now!'

"Sara!!"

"Joe!!" Sara didn't seem to question it as she took quick steps toward me. I felt the urge she would slap me across the face for breaking into her house, but her response was normal. "Please, help! My mom collapsed!"

I lifted my eyebrows as if it was the first time I'm hearing this. I had to stay calm to show everything was going to be okay. "Stay calm! Did you call the hospital, the cops?!"

"Not yet...! I need... I need to call..." Sara stumbled on her words.

'We're wasting time.' I told myself.

"I'll handle it! Listen, Sara, you need to be calm!" I made emphasis on that last phrase. Sara looked up at me and nodded. I walked off into the corridor by the front door. Taking out my phone, I started to dial 911.

Pacing back and forth, as I was waiting for them to pick up, I saw Sara think a little before running to her bedroom on the second floor.

"911 what's your emergency?" I heard a female voice on the other end of a line. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Hello? I'm with my friend at her house- her mom collapsed when we got home from school, we don't know what happened!" Being calm was starting to not be an option for me just like it wasn't to Sara.

"Sir, calm down. What is your name?"

"Joe. I'm trying to be calm. Could you send a- a hospital truck? To see if my friend's mother is alright?"

"Joe, I'm going to need you to walk up and feel her pulse. Do you know where you are?"

"Yes." I gave her the address and bent down beside Sara's mom. 'She has a pulse. Thank god.' I let out a sigh of relief.

"Alright, stay on the line, sir. Does she have a pulse?" She was speaking to me like a little kid, but this wasn't the time to argue.

"Yes, she does. Have you sent anyone?"

"We have people coming your way. Stay on the line, sir. Could you calculate what BPM she has?"

"Yeah... I think so." I counted to six. "Fifty beats. Is that bad?"

"Everything is perfectly normal, she just got knocked out."

I heard a scream from upstairs. My chest tightened as I realized who that was.

"Sara..." I turned to my phone. "I'll be right there." I dropped it and ran out the door.

"Sir? Sir! Stay on the call, sir!" I heard her yelling after me but I wasn't listening.

"Sara!" I yelled, scrambling up the stairs. Getting to the door, which was gently shut, I lifted up my foot and kicked the door, making it bang open.

'Grand entrance, check.' It was so dark I could barely see anything. Moving forward with confidence, I stumbled over something and fell forward onto my stomach.

'Find Sara, check.'

"Sara?!" I tried to find her, touching the floor at random. Feeling her ankle, or her wrist, I crawled my hand up her limb until I felt a soft surface.

'What is that?' I slowly went up and grasped my hands around her neck.

Feeling out her pulse, which is way harder to do in the dark I yelled at myself.

'Dude did you just touch her-' I really didn't have the motivation to finish the sentence. It was an accident. And I'm not a little kid anymore. I felt a beating sensation on her soft skin.

'Pulse.' I found it. "Sara alive, check.'

Suddenly, getting pushed over by something that hit my left shoulder, I fell flat onto my back. I wanted to hit myself right now. I was so distracted by Sara being hurt I completely forgot. He was here. And why it was so dark. He'd shut the door as I stumbled in.

"What do you want from her?!" I hollered. "Leave her alone, stalker!"

'And number four, defeat the bad guy.'

Trying to see anything was absolutely pointless. But that meant he couldn't see either, right?

Feeling what's in front of me, I walked forward, bracing to fight. I didn't have any time to react as I got a hard blow to the head.

'Defeat the bad guy, fail.' is all I thought as I collapsed hard onto the floor. 

A/N: *sigh* we all knew Joe wasn't much of a fighter anyway. Also, that cat from the top of the picture ate him and he DIED.

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