As she waved goodbye, she saw a hint of anger in his eyes but ignored it. After a few minutes, she heard a faint sound of the screeching car tires. She prayed it wasn’t who she thought it was. She turned around slowly. It was him.

He finally got her

A sudden loud strumming of a guitar broke the silence of the morning. Emmy, awakened by the noise, tried to cover her ears with her pillow.
Irritated after several attempts, she got out from her blankets and stormed outside. The storybooks on her bed fell to the ground with a thud.
The noise seemed to be coming out from her roommate’s a.k.a best friend, Patrick‘s room. Emmy opened his door in a fit of rage and the door slammed back.
“You better stop kidding with me right now!” she barked through the loud music.
Patrick immediately lowered the volume and turned to her.
“Girl, you look like a mess!” he chuckled, referring to her messy hair and bloodshot eyes from sleeping late the previous night.
Emmy rolled her eyes and said, “Well I would be less of a mess if you weren’t such a headache THIS early in the morning.”
She began to walk towards her room lazily with her shoulders slouched before she turned and say,“ Whatever! I’m going back to sleep, you better not disturb me this time!” she warned.
“Aye Aye Captain!” replied Patrick.
As she entered her room, she started clearing the mess she made earlier. She bent down to pick up the pile of storybooks, when an unexpected note fell out from it.
What is this? she thought, trying to figure out the note. She was reading the note with full focus when Patrick appeared out of nowhere and snatched away the paper.
Left in a state of shock, she chased after Patrick and shouted, “Give that back!”
“I see you got a secret admirer, eh Emmy?” Patrick teased and held the paper up so high it was impossible for Emmy to reach.
Letting out a sigh, Emmy gave up. “Fine, you win!” she yelled putting her hands up in surrender. She slumped back on her bed, tired from chasing Patrick around.
After moments of silence, Patrick walked over to Emmy looking concerned.
“Hey , who gave you this note?”
“Why, what happened?” she answered nervously.
“Why don’t you see for yourself?”
He handed her the note, with the blood-written words: I’m gonna get you.
***
Patrick dragged Emmy to go to a friend’s party with him. Emmy wasn’t really a party-goer but since Patrick kept insisting she decided to give it a try.
When they reached the place, Emmy noticed it was in the middle of nowhere. Her eyes landed on a cottage where the party was supposedly to be.
Who would want to party here, she thought.
Patrick shook Emmy who was lost in her thoughts and ran towards the cottage excitedly, “Hurry up girl, you don’t wanna miss this. We’re gonna check out boys all night long!”
As they got nearer, the music became louder. When she stepped inside, she was impressed by everything she saw. The cottage looked old and creepy from outside but the interior décor was modern and lively.
Patrick had already disappeared into the crowds of people, leaving Emmy standing alone in the corner. She soon got enough of the sweaty armpits and the stuffiness in the room and began to head towards the exit.
“Whatever, he’s always like this! I’m gettin’ outta here.”
The music started to fade away as she stepped outside and further away from the cottage. She has been walking for miles but still there was no car in sight. The streets were empty and quiet with shafts of light flickering from the lamps. Emmy got tired from all the walking and held her heels in her hands.
All of a sudden, a flash of light was going on and off from behind. She turned back and the brightness almost blinded her. She shielded her eyes from the light when a car stopped by next to her. Inside was a man in his forties.
“You seem lost. Want a lift?” he asked, with a smirk showing his deep dimples.
“N-no thanks…” Emmy shuddered and kept walking.
“You sure? You look tired,” he looked down at her heels.
“Come on! I don’t bite,” he chuckled.
Emmy let out a forced smile.
“Actually my house is just nearby so I think I can manage. Thanks for asking anyway.” As she waved goodbye, she saw a hint of anger in his eyes but ignored it. After a few minutes, she heard a faint sound of the screeching car tires. She prayed it wasn’t who she thought it was. She turned around slowly. It was him.
This doesn’t look good, she began to panic and picked up her pace.
The headlights of the car were going on and off. She looked back. The creepy man appeared to be having fun chasing a girl who was young enough to be his daughter. But what set Emmy running was the sight of a shiny metal that looked like a dagger.
Emmy ran as fast as she could. She could hear him laughing from behind, and then it went silent. I swear you can hear a pin drop in here, she thought. She kept running. When she looked around again, the man was nowhere to be seen. Emmy was glad to have finally lost him.
Her eyes welled in tears of joy as she saw her house. She searched for the keys in her bag with trembling hands. Once she stepped in, she immediately locked the door behind. Her heart was still pounding from the running.
She tried to call Patrick but he wasn’t answering. She kept calling non-stop for a few minutes when she heard scratches from the window.
There he was. In between them was a fragile window. He stared right into her eyes, tilting his head to the right with a smirk. He was holding a dagger in his right hand.
Her body was paralyzed with fear. Closing the curtains, she hid under the table, rocking her body back and forth.
The knob of the door was turning violently. There were incessant knocks. With tears streaming down her face, Emmy covered her mouth with her hands, trying to stay as silent as she could.
Suddenly the door clicked and opened. The footsteps were approaching her. She buried her face in her lap, unable to imagine what would happen next.
“Emmy, is that you?”
Emmy looked up. It was Patrick. He was bending over and looking concerned.
She went straight to hug him. She was so glad he came in time.
“There were so many missed calls from you, what’s wrong?”

Emmy didn’t answer his question and continued to hold him tight.
“Drunk much?” he asked, poking Emmy with his fingers.
“No…there was this man following…” she stammered.
“Girl, you look as white as Casper the ghost. I’m not saying you’re pale but…”
Emmy interrupted before Patrick could finish.
“He will kill me Patrick! Save me.” She looked up to Patrick with her teary eyes.
“Hey relax… you don’t party much maybe that’s why. Go take some rest,” he said in a soft voice, putting his arms over Emmy’s shoulders.
“But what if…”
“No more ifs or buts,” he interrupted. “Tomorrow’s my birthday, remember? I don’t want my best friend acting like a psycho. Now go and rest.” He pointed towards Emmy’s room.
***
The next morning Emmy woke up with a headache. She thought about what happened last night again and shivers ran down her spine. The nightmare woke her up early. She was still traumatized by yesterday’s incident. But today was Patrick’s birthday and she did not want to ruin his day.
She hoped to give an early birthday surprise to Patrick. He was probably still sound asleep, she thought. She snuck out of the house quietly. She rushed to the bakery, planning to pick up the cake had ordered to celebrate with Patrick. When she arrived at the shop, the owner told her the cake was not ready yet and asked her to come back in a while.
Then she thought of getting Patrick a nice gift. She knew how much he liked that Gucci watch. Last time when they were in the shop, he stood there staring at the watch on the shelf for minutes. She couldn’t help smiling to herself at the memory of this and was just glad she bought the watch.
The cake was finally ready for pick up and Emmy couldn’t wait to see Patrick’s face with he saw the surprise. She wanted to be the first one to wish him and make this the most memorable birthday of his life. She felt like the drive back home was taking forever and started feeling slightly anxious.
When she finally reached the door, she tried to balance the cake and gift while turning the knob.
“Honeeyyy I’m home,” she said jokingly, looking around as she opened the door. “Look what I’ve got you! This is the watch you’ve always wanted, right?”
As she stepped inside, her gifts dropped to the ground at the horrible sight in front of her.
“Patrick…?” Emmy repeated. She still couldn’t believe what she saw.
“Come on Patrick, you’re scaring me...” Emmy tugged Patrick on his shirt. There was no response but a blank, lifeless stare.
“No, this can’t be. Patrick you can’t leave me…” Emmy fell to her knees and began to cry her eyes out.
Patrick was hung to the wall with nails on different parts of his body. There were nails inserted in his hands and feet, with blood staining the wall and blood pouring from his mouth like a running tap.
Emmy was unable to think straight. She blamed herself for the death of Patrick.
“How can I let this happen? Why did this happen… why, why, why!” she vented angrily with her fists clenched.
She was on the verge of crying again when a familiar voice interrupted her.
“Hey you’re home. Want a drink?” The man said in a cheerful tone.
Emmy knew exactly who the man was.
“What do you want? Why are you doing this?” She shouted without even looking at him.
“Aw you poor thing. Come have a seat,” he said, putting his hand over Emmy’s shoulder.
“Get away from me. I want to go.” Emmy said in a harsh tone as she started to get up and leave.
He got hold of her arm and pushed her towards the couch.
“Have a seat,” he ordered, showing his bloodstained dagger.
Emmy tripped before sitting on the corner of the couch.
“What do you want...please let me go...” she whispered and wrapped herself with her arms.

“Let’s start this again, shall we? I’m Arnold.”
The man looked at Emmy’s blank expression.
“You and that attitude of yours. No one till now has rejected me from anything,” he continued. “But you? YOU dare reject me!” He spat out the last few words.
His face turned bright red. He went into the kitchen and got himself a drink to cool off.
“Want some?” he asked while shaking the glass of red wine.
Emmy squinted her eyes and focused. She found that what she thought were ice cubes were actually eyeballs.
Arnold noticed Emmy’s gaze. “These are your best friend’s eyes that I scooped out.”
Emmy felt sick, with anger boiling within her. “How can you do this!”
“I’m going to do the same to you,” he interrupted.
The serial killer stepped towards Emily with a sharp dagger covered with blood.
“How can she reject ME?” “Yeah. She’s going to pay for it.” Arnold talked back and forth with himself.
Emmy ran to her bedroom and hid inside the closet. She felt suffocated. Soon Arnold came to the room. She saw his menacing smile through the small gap.
He searched under the bed, behind the curtains, and lastly came to the closet.
“I’m gonna get you,” he whispered. He banged open the closet doors, looking down at Emmy with that same smile.
It was like the game hide and seek, but deadlier. He pulled Emmy forcefully out of the closet and she fell to the ground. He stepped on Emmy’s hand and sat down in a squatting position, putting the dagger under Emmy’s chin.
“Life’s so sad. I’m doing you a favor by freeing you from this sadness.” He smiled, looking into Emmy’s eyes.
He encircled his dagger around Emmy’s eyes. “What beautiful eyes you have… all the better to drink it with!” He burst out laughing. “Umm I’m actually feeling quite thirsty...” He got up and continued,“ It’s TIME you see the consequence of rejecting me, well not really see but you know what I mean.”
He jokingly pulled at her hair and dragged her body to the kitchen. Emmy tried to grab onto the chairs and furniture along the way.
When they were inside the kitchen, he excitedly searched for other ingredients and even started humming a song. He was like a toddler receiving gifts on Christmas.
Emmy got up slowly from behind, without making any sound. She grabbed a knife placed near the sink. She raised her arm up and was about to stab him, when he suddenly turned around and grabbed her thin arm.
“unh unh unh. Many trails, but all failed.” He stabbed Emmy in her stomach and watched her yelped in pain. A second later, Emmy was lying on the ground, writhing in pain.
“You p-psychopath…” she uttered with her last breath of air.

Arnold sat on the couch with his legs crossed on the coffee table.
“Hey Emmy, this is my favorite TV show,” he talked to the motionless Emmy next to him.
He laughed to his heart’s content. He looked over to Emmy.
“ I finally got you.”