The Boogeyman

Oriana forgets to think for a second. She struggles to keep herself steady as the entire hall seems to spin like a ferris wheel and morph into lethal, fiery pits of hell. She commands her lungs to keep breathing but clearly the commands are ignored with full force. Tears threaten to set free from her blurry eyes. No, no, no! It doesn't have to end like this...she needs to get away. She can get away. She must get away from that monster, lurking around the corner of the party, as if throwing poisonous darts at her way from his perverted, and horrendously murderous eyes.

"Yes, I can do this...I can blend in and I can just duck the hell out of this crowd." she murmurs through her panting spree.

"So, you planning to ask her out anytime soon?" Alvis scoots forward to take another glass.

"Yeah, maybe."

"She's elder than you though? Like 6/7 years older..."

Fabian stops himself from saying, yeah sure at least she's not underage. "Doesn't matter to me." he shrugs instead.

The vibration from his phone snaps his attention from Alvis to his pocket.

Oriana is calling. Something must be up.

"Gotta go somewhere, see you around?" he gets to his feet almost knocking off the stool.

"Woah! Dude, you alright? What happened? Who's calling?" Alvis looks concerned.

"It's nothing, just home emergency." "Is it Oriana?"

"Talk to you later, mate." Fabian speeds out of the bar as fast as his feet allow him.

Alvis keeps sitting there, puzzled.

"Hey, you okay? Anything wrong?"

He hears her panting from the other side. Panic starts to rise to his throat as he tries to keep talking, "Oriana? Where are you?"

"I need you to... O God! He's almost here. Which way should I head to now.. God!" she whispers.

"Who? Who's here?" he feels his heartbeat going crazy. "Him...that...that guy! Where are you?" She manages to sound a tad bit

louder than a whisper.

"I'm at the hall. Where are you and that guy you're talking about?" he feverishly looks around to find a sea of different people but no sign of Oriana.

"Maybe near the gate...not sure. I can't go to my place, not with him tailing along...can you...can you give me your address? I can't think of anything now..."

"Yeah, yeah sure. I'm sending the address right away. And I'm coming to you as soon as I can... Damn it!" he mutters as the crowded hallway doesn't seem to be a good enough place to walk at a decent pace let alone running.

"Thanks...Fabian. I'm sorry to freak you out."

"No worries...I've sent the address. Beeline to the tube station now.

Don't look back and don't panic... I'll be there."

"Thanks." she hangs up making his heart sink to his stomach. God!

Whoever this guy is...whatever he did to Oriana...let him lose the sight of her.

Oriana keeps running like a race-horse after the initial panic episode wears off. She wants to sneak a peek behind every now and then to make sure the psychotic rapist isn't following her but Fabian's words ring in her ears. No, she shouldn't look back...just ahead. She can do it.

Fabian stumbles at the gate as the smiling face of Alvis's uncle Zach comes to his line of sight.

"Hey Fabian, correct? You alright there, young man?"

"Uh hi, yeah I'm okay. Just have to rush somewhere important. Will see you later?" he tries to give a grin.

"Yeah, sure. Hopefully nothing is wrong? I can give you a lift if you want."

"No, thank you so much. It's just around the corner." he doesn't wait for another reply.

Oriana doesn't sit inside the train. Her eyes dance across the people around her... sitting or standing, minding their own business, entirely

oblivious to what's happening inside her. She looks for that particular face which after all these years, could rise as much intense of a fear as she felt that night. Her fingers restlessly drum on her arm as she hugs herself and waits for the stop to come.

After what seemed to be a considerably normal and non-threatening journey, Oriana speeds up her pace toward Fabian's place. She still doesn't

want to take the risk of going to her apartment alone, especially after receiving the text from Bright about her failing to be at home for tonight...work calls!

Her head entertains a whirlwind of anxious thoughts until she reaches

Fabian's front door. She feels a bit awkward and uncomfortable to knock all of a sudden. After all, she's never been to any coworker's place before and would normally consider it weird...although the current situation is anything but normal and definitely unlike any other situations she faced except for that one night... She shakes her head before catching her phone vibrating in her purse.

"Hey, Fabian!"

"You alright?" she hears him panting hard, "I've been calling you for over half an hour Oriana. God! At this rate you'd give me a heart attack in no time." he sounds exasperated and scared.

She chews the inside of her cheek, "I'm sorry, really. I don't know what happened in the past hour... I was so out of it."

"It's alright. Where are you now? The damn train was delayed so I'll be there maybe after 20 minutes. I've told mum about you already. You're there yet?"

"Yeah, I'm in front of your house." "And? What are you waiting for?"

"Um... I'm just feeling a bit uncomfortable..."

"Oriana! Just press that damn doorbell. No need to feel uncomfortable now!"

"Yeah, right. Thanks by the way." "I'll see you in twenty."

Oriana squeezes her eyes shut before summoning the energy to press the bell. Almost immediately the door creaks open and a very curious face

peeks through the slit.

"You must be Oriana!" the curious eyes are scanning her intently. "Yes, hi..." Oriana gives a nervous grin.

After doing another round of intensive scanning, the girl finally opens the door wide and steps aside, "Hey, come in."

"Thanks."

"You're really pretty by the way. I'm Marlene, Fabian's sister." she holds out a hand and flashes a friendly smile, revealing bits of resemblance with her brother.

Oriana shakes the hand, "Aw thank you. Nice to meet you, Marlene." her voice is still a bit shaky.

"You look tired. Did something bad happen? I asked Fabio but all he said was keep your mouth zipped and get her in as soon as she gets there. I think I broke both the commands." she shrugs making Oriana smile.

"It's fine. I won't tell him." she whispers.

Marlene smiles in reply, "Come on in. Mum made you a glass of cold lemonade. She believes if you're sick or tired or witnessed a murder or met a ghost...cold lemonade is the way to go." she winks.

Oriana follows her with a smile plastered to her face but inside, she feels the fear starts to set in. He knows...he knows a lot about her

already...maybe he keeps an eye on her...her job, her house...and he knew she'd be at that party. It's not something to take lightly. She considers texting Aurora but quickly decides otherwise. No need to drag her in when all she can do right now is worrying shitless about Oriana.

"Hi! Ariana?..."

"Mum! She's Oriana! It's a different name...and look at her, she clearly looks like an Oriana... Not Ariana." Marlene chimes in.

Fabian's mum smiles at her, "Sorry, dear... I tend to mispronounce

unique names... You have a lovely name by the way." she paces forward to pull Oriana into a hug.

"Thank you...really. I just had to drop by..."

"It's okay! Come on, no need to explain anything now. Sit down and relax...you look really worn out. Here, drink the lemonade."

Marlene whisper-yells, "I told you, it's her one potion cure all. Oriana grins and takes the glass from Fabian's mum. She still feels scared but a sudden surge of gratitude fills her mind.