seven

The dark figure moved outside, a shadow barely distinguishable from the night. Inside, the air around Adi grew thick, charged with a sudden tension. His heart pounded in his chest, every beat echoing in his ears.

What should I do? - his thoughts started to run

Should I tell both of them? But what if they reacted and he noticed that we had seen him? Should I go outside and try to tackle him? He could be stronger or maybe has a weapon on him. Can he be armed? What does he want?

Swallowing hard, Adi forced his expression to remain neutral. He pointed at the laptop screen, masking his nerves with forced nonchalance.

'Ahh…guys look at this' said Adi, pointing at the laptop's screen and swallowing all the fear down.

His fingers curled into a fist, his pulse thudding in his ears. He kept his voice low and controlled as both leaned close to look at the screen. He said,' Guys– don't react to sudden but there might be someone outside watching us, from the right side window'

Anne's eyes widened, 'where-where…' started to look out'

'ANNE…don't look out. I don't know that he knows that we know that he's outside watching us' said Adi, quietly but with so much control as it looked like they were casually talking.

'Anne, you are an actress there must be security cameras outside your house' said Peter

'I have, but only on the front door and Adi is saying that he is around the right side windows' answered Anne

Peter was disappointed, Adi slowly lifted his gaze toward the right wall and slowly shifted to the window. Outside was getting darker or was it only Adi's feeling because there was someone outside? That person was still there standing but he was close to the window now. Adi slowly shifted his gaze around the window. Avoiding any type of eye contact with that person.

It was a man.

He was close enough to the window to be noticed as a man. Adi took a quick look at his body but it was dark outside, he was only able to see that, he was a man and had a good build.

'Ok, let's call the police' said Anne

'Yeah' agreed Peter

Anne grabbed her phone and opened it, Adi slowly again shifted his gaze to the window.

He was nervous, he never found himself in this type of situation, he was feeling weak. He never felt this much vulnerable. His Face was sweating, slowly his eyes moved to the dark window.

EYE CONTACT

He was so close to the window, It was a white man with black or brown hair. As Adi and he made eye contact for a split second, that man backed up and started to run.

'SHIT!' Adi shot up, nearly tripping over himself as he sprinted for the door. His foot skidded on the hardwood, and he barely caught his balance before bursting outside.

He burst open the front door and ran outside – the man was already gone.

Anne and Peter followed him out, 'what happened?' asked Peter panting

'He was so close to the window, dark brown hair, white guy. We made eye contact and he started to run' explained Adi 'Anne, have you called the police yet?'

'No—I was about to when you bolted,' she admitted, gripping her phone.

'Forget about it' said Adi 'You need a different place to stay'

'She can stay with us' said Peter

Adi gave him a weird look.

'Yeah, I can' said Anne

'Are you sure?' asked Adi

'Yeah' said Anne 'you guys feel safe and I can't stay here for a while'

'Go, get your important stuff quick' said Peter 'and make sure let all cameras be open, if he comes back here'

After that Anne along with Adi and Peter came to Peter's house where Adi was staying. As they entered the house, there were two couches filled with packages of snacks and food. The kitchen was filled with garbage.

'Holy shit, what kind of storm came here?' said Anne

'We didn't know that we are having a Hollywood star in the house' said Peter

'We are going to buy some dinner' said Adi 'We all are tired now, cooking starts in the morning and you can have the guest room. I'll take my stuff from there in a while, Peter and I'll sleep on both couches'

'Are you guys sure?' asked Anne

'Yeah' said both

Adi and Peter went to an Indian restaurant to buy some Indian food. When they came back. Adi opened the gate–

'Woah' The house was cleaner than ever, couches were clean, kitchen was free from all the food garbage. The floor was shining, there was a pleasant smell in the atmosphere.

Peter chuckled. 'What the hell happened? Cleaning tornado?'

'I thought I could thank you, by cleaning your trash land' said Anne

'Well, beautiful Anne Miller can do house chores…good to know' said Peter

'Gusse so…man I am tired' said Anne

'Here…' said Adi giving her the food packages 'Food tastes better when tired'

After eating they were just talking about a random topic 'So, we were at this gaming event, I don't know why was i invited…I was on a team, it was a head-to-head match. I was the last surviving on my team. They all were cheering me then one of them shouted "I believe in you" That line hit me on the spot and man that day We won. It was a total mess of shouting and panicking but still, I managed to win.' said Adi

'Dude, you should start a gaming channel and invite me to play' offered Peter 'Yeah we should do it' but there was an unspoken sad emotion between both of them, They always used to play with Dan.

Suddenly Anne who was laughing went silent a flashback hit her – Anne, I believe in you

Her eyes widened. Her breath hitched.

'Guys…' she said, voice trembling slightly. 'I think… I know the password.'