AkumaQuil

He inches closer, a single finger roaming her heated skin. Breath mingling with breath. 

A loud bang vibrates through the room, so thunderous as if god himself was furious.

Slowly he looks up staring out the large glass windows to the backyard, 

"You have a visitor." His rasps calmly.

"Who?" Rose quickly fires, feigning ignorance. She knew well enough who it was. Her nightly visitor has arrived.

Surprising, He only visits when she is alone.

"One who comes out at night. Lurking in the shadows, in the darkness... just like its intensions."

He looks down still leaning on top her, once more pinning her with his intense gaze.

"Are you afraid?" His voice dead serious, eyes going back to look outside.

And Rose lied, "No." 

But is it a lie when her fear was never really rooting enough to make her run the other way but instead often getting mixed with exhilaration.

"You should be."  

He leaves her staring wide eyed on the sofa and goes to stand before the glass panes.

"It's not happy to see me here. I can see the raging pits of fire in it's gaze. Ready to burn me right where I stand." he chuckled, sounding most sinister, "It definitely wants to rip my innards out."

"You should take off your shirt." He suggests casually.

"Excuse me?"

"Let's see if it riles him up even more to shatter instead of just slamming the windows like a wuss." He rouses under his breath, his excited provocative tone not escaping Rose's attention. 

What the hell is he up to?

"This isn't funny." Rose sputters out, standing up from the couch.

"I'm not trying to be." He faces her again, sporting a deadpan face. 

"Whatever. You think I'm one of your stupid fan girls to take my shirt off just because you want to rile someone up? Besides, there's probably no one outside and you're only making it up to see my boobs like a pervert."

His eyes roams her from top to bottom, there was distaste evident in his gaze.

"When he comes at night and leaves a little something for you, maybe then you take off your clothes for him... like a slut." Rome stared into her eyes with nothing behind those icy orbs to show for a lack of meaning behind his words. Because he means every single thing he says to her.

"Get. Out. Now!" Rose boomed furiously. 

"Whatever, I was leaving anyway. This has become boring." He walks towards her front door.

"Wait. How do you know he comes at night and leaves something?" her eyes narrow.

"Because I've seen it before."

"You saw him? It is a real guy?" Rose wanted to confirm, for some reason she thought otherwise.

"I never said I saw him. I've only seen it happening to someone else." 

"Whom?" 

"You don't need to know." He closes off.

"Then at least tell me what happened to her? Can I meet this person?" 

"You can't." Refusing calmly he was almost out the door when Rose pleads against hope.

"Please."

"You can't because she disappeared." Those were the words that finally did it. Brought her racing heart and buzzing head to a sudden halt. "Never to be seen again." 

 "When he stops visiting, that's when you should be most afraid." His words rang like a siren in the silence of her mind as he left.

Now she felt true fear for the first time.

==

In the embrace of her ancestral town, Rose seeks refuge from the echoes of her past. 

Little does she know, her return to her roots will awaken dormant shadows, shattering ordinary her existence. 

For when the darkness falls over the town, from the pitch black rises a shadowy figure that haunt her nights. 

In the darkness he sweeps her off the ground in terrible fear and the allure of sinister intrigue.

And once the sun comes, a man with a god awful attitude, haunts her in the broad day light. Causing her to swell with pure disdain. 

With each passing night, it draws closer to Rose, casting a chilling spell that both terrifies and exhilarates her.

Thrust into a labyrinth of mysteries can she navigate the treacherous path laid before her, or will her nightly visitor consume her whole?

He Comes At Night

Balancing the cans and produce in her arms, she turned to place them on the counter—

Everything in her arms slipped through her fingers as if gravity itself had betrayed her. Her arms fell slack beside her as if she felt truly and utterly defeated.

That is what she felt in a flash before all the other emotions began to color the bleak picture of her situation into further chaos.

The glass jar of tomato sauce shattered the moment it met the floor, red pooling like blood against the white tiles.

But she didn't even flinch at the mess.

Because there, sitting dead center on the granite countertop, was a rose.

Fresh. Vibrant. Blooming at its peak as if it had been waiting for her.

A shudder tore down her spine as she stared at it

Her pulse slammed in her ears. Her heart hammered in her chest. She was having difficulty in taking a breath in as the previous one was still lodged in her throat somewhere.

Yes. That had to be it. Maybe he left it for her as a sweet gesture. He had never done something like that before, but… maybe today was different. Maybe she was overreacting.

Her heart pounded against her ribs, the logic in her head battling the unease slithering through her veins.

But even as she clung to that explanation, her mind screamed at her that it wasn't true.

She knew that as certainly as she knew she was doomed.

A slow, suffocating dread coiled around her lungs.

Heart pounding, she forced her gaze away from the flower, her eyes locking onto the glass doors leading to the patio.

Beyond the glass, beyond the threshold of her safe, ordinary home—

A sea of red, countless blooms stretching out across the entire space, each one adorned with thorns sharp as razors, standing out like crimson warnings against the encroaching twilight.

Her breath came in shallow gasps before a choked cry tore through the poor girl's mouth. No. No, no, no.

She just checked it not even an hour ago-

The wooden patio in the back of the house—once an open, empty space—was now overrun with roses.

The roses swayed slightly in the evening breeze, as if they had been waiting for her.

Her stomach twisted, nausea crawling up her throat.

Blindly, she stepped forward, completely forgetting the shattered glass at her feet until a sharp, searing pain shot up her leg.

A strangled yelp tore from her lips as she stumbled, a fresh trail of blood marking her path.

She barely even noticed the pain as she sat on one of the chairs by the large glass.

Why is this happening to me? Rose thought, her leg still hanging in air with blood pooling beneath it but her eyes still remained unmoving as if she couldn't physically tear her eyes away from the scene before her.

The roses were still there. Terrifying her with their beauty. A flower she once thought beautiful now only serving as the object of her nightmares.

The pain shooting up her foot serving as a reminder, this wasn't a dream.

The mundane things that felt so good being mundane once again were suddenly not anymore. Her reality was changing faster then she could cope with.

80. A False Sense of Normalcy