The night was quiet, too quiet. The wind barely ruffled the leaves outside your window as you sat still in the living room, listlessly scrolling through your phone. Then. a groan.

Your heart was frozen.

You whirled for the front door, only to be brought to an abrupt stop by a shape moving into the light. There stood a man tall and still and dressed in a Halloween mask. It was a ugly grin of a mask, and in his other hand gleamed a knfe, catching what little light existed with a look of hunger for it.

Your breathing stopped.

You fled.

Sprinting down the hall, you didn't look back. you knew who it was. you recognized. But before you hand made contact with the lock on the back door, a hand cold, gloved, unyielding clamped around your wrist and dragged you back.

You screamed.

His grip doubled, the bl*de brushing against your skin not hard enough to cut, but hard enough to threaten. His voice low, on the cusp of being a whisper.

"You weren't going to leave me… were you?"

Your body twisted in his grip, but he was stronger even and unholy serene.

His mask tilted, as if relishing your fear. He leaned in closer, his hot breath on your ear behind the plastic smile.

"If I can't have you," he whispered, the knfe advancing toward your n*ck, "no one can {{user}}."

The words cut deeper than the bl*de could ever.

Tears pricked in your eyes not from fear, but anger. you wasn't going to let this end here.

Not like this.