Aaron..?

EPISODE 3

I see the black figure approaching my room, so before the panic kicks in, I grab the vase sitting on the nightstand and gather every ounce of courage left in me to smash it on the head of whoever it was. I quietly take small steps towards the door; so does he, and then ... I hear the doorbell; someone is at the door.

Yes, someone is at the door. I felt relived, and then it rings again, but what do I do now?

Whoever that person is, if he broke into my house with wrong intentions... obviously he has wrong intentions because why would you enter into someone's house without an invitation, especially at night? No one does that unless they have some dirty business.

I have to think of something...but what can I possibly do with an intruder inside the house and a stranger outside the door?

Cops....oh yeah, I should definitely call them. I look for phone.. phone, its on the nightstand i remind my self .

I pick it up to call the cops and tell them about my situation and then..I heard a sound and then again .

I possibly cannot be mistaken .

It is the door , its opened , it make sound because it's an old apartment and the door is quite crooked , it makes this creaking sound when opened.

The vase nearly slipped from my hand . My pulse slammed against my ribs so hard it hurts. I tightened the grip           on the vase and forced myself to breathe slowly , clinging to a single thought-

"if i miss...i am dead."

I stay motionless behind the half opened door of bedroom .

Blood rushed to my ears.

I tried to breathe slowly .

Quitely.

As quitely as possible.

Then i waited.

The silence in the apartment was so sharp it almost felt unreal, as if I were completely alone in the house. For a moment, I began to think what if nothing had happened at all—that maybe I had been hallucinating from the very beginning. Maybe it was just the stress......Or my medical condition.

It was hard to tell what was real anymore.

Then I heard it.

Faint footsteps.

Coming in my direction.

They were so soft that I almost thought I had imagined them too, but then I heard the rustle of clothes. My fingers tightened around the vase, and I slowly raised it, ready to hit whoever stepped through that door.

Then a terrifying thought struck me.

What if he had a weapon?

What if the second I swung, he did something worse?

Sweat trickled down the back of my neck. Suddenly, the room felt too hot, too small, too suffocating.

Then I heard someone breathing.

It wasn't me.

Someone was standing just behind the door.

Oh God.

What do I do??

I lifted the vase higher, ready to bring it down before whoever it was could hurt me.

And then--

“Jia?”

I froze.

That voice.....that voice...

I pushed the door open in a rush.

Lara stood there at the doorframe, staring at me with a confused expression that quickly turned into horror when she saw my face.

Before she could ask me anything, all the strength drained out of my body.

The vase that had been there in my hand almost glued, slipped from my trembling hand and shattered against the floor as my knees gave out beneath me. I collapsed right there, unable to stop the tears burning in my eyes.

“Jia—hey, hey, look at me,” Lara said, dropping to her knees in front of me. “It’s okay. You’re okay. Don’t cry.”

But I couldn’t stop.

I wasn’t even making any sound. The tears just kept sliding down my face, hot and endless, while my chest rose and fell in uneven breaths. Minutes passed like hours before I finally stopped shaking enough to breathe properly.

By the time I calmed down, I was sitting on the couch with my knees pulled to my chest, trying to make sense of what had just happened....and somehow i just couldn't.

If Lara had been here the whole time.

Then what about the text?

I looked toward the kitchen as Lara searched through the drawers for my medicines and a glass of water, muttering under her breath when she couldn’t find them. I wanted to tell her they were right behind her on the counter, but my eyes were fixed on the floor.

The shattered glass.

I was not hallucinating ..it was the same glass i heard when i was in my bedroom . I felt a sudden rush in my body , i was ready to ask about this to Lara.

Finally, Lara came back with the bunch of diffrent pills and water. She was sacred , i can see her hand trembling ,, trying to find the pills. I took them from her , while she sat beside me, still worried, still asking what had happened.

I could hear her voice.

I just couldn’t focus on it.

My mind was too busy trying to understand what in this house had been real—and what hadn’t. In that silence , her phone rang. The sound made us startle . She looked at me with the look of asking ,if it's okay to pick it up or not . I gave her an assuring look .

" You can pick it up it's fine , i am okay now " i said , she felt relived . She picked up her phone and started talking to someone .  I could hear someone appolizing reapdily , It felt like a guy .

I looked at the wall-clock , it was past 3. I said to myself it's time , she should she go now , i am fine now and it's already dawn.When i turn around to look at her she had already hung up the call.

Lara looked at me and hesitated for a second, she looked at me as if she had just remembered something important.

“Jia… there’s something I forgot to tell you.”

I frowned.

“When you blacked out in the library, it wasn’t me who brought you home.”

My body went still....it was not her.

“What?”

“It was Aaron. My high school friend. He happened to be at the university that day, and when he saw what happened, he helped you. He called me, asked for your address, and I gave him the apartment code too. He stayed here with you until I arrived, but then he had to leave because of something urgent. And… the broken glass? That was him. He is sorry about it.”

Aaron.

The name settled in my mind like something dangerous.

A man.

A stranger.

The one who had carried me home.

And suddenly, the memory of those familiar eyes in the library didn’t feel so distant anymore.

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