Prologue

Nasipnget Street
January 5 - 11:45 p.m.

Hannah Sanchez was only a few steps away to Nalawag Street when she stopped instantaneously. She did not think something else a while ago to what she heard, but the sound she heard from her behind, although covered by the deafening sound of silence at night, was unmistakably a sound of footsteps.

She is nervous while glancing at her back. Only her shadow is what she can see. The dark street is making her more uncomfortable. She likes to blame herself for not taking the ride that the jerk Chris had offered to her a while ago, but not in this kind of situation. It is not as frightening as what it seems tonight compared to what the street looks like on a typical night. Fortunately, there are street lights. Somehow, she feels a little bit of comfort walking in the shady area.

Hannah peered into the darkness. She feels terrified as the wind continues to touch her skin. She wants to regret watching horror movies and reading thriller stories, but it is not the perfect time for that. She has to safely go home first.

Sinking her hand into the pocket of her jeans, she started walking again. She's scolding herself for still thinking several things in the middle of a dark street.

Just a few moments later, she heard it again. The sound of some footsteps. It looks like someone's following her. The stalker keeps the time with her. He would walk when she did and also stop when she stopped.

A few meters away will be the next street now that is near their house. For the stalker to not know her address, she dared take the secret way going to their home. She hoped and prayed that the stalker would not follow her once she started taking the darker way rarely passed by vehicles. There are garbages around, and the smell was awful. She smiled when the stalker seemed to be disgusted by the smell of rotting veggies and leftover food.

She then runs as fast as she can when she saw the light coming from their house. A sign that she is now near. A surge of panic hit her, though, when she realized that the stalker was running too and could follow her.

She wasn't able to make it.

A hand clamped on her shoulders, and so she takes a look to confirm her fears. "Please, don't hurt me," Hannah pleaded. "I will give you everything I have right now. Just let me go, please."

"That is not what I need right now, miss." The stalker said. "I am begging you, please let me go," Hannah said while crying and begging for mercy. "Promise, I won't tell anybody about you. Just assure that I will be safe." She added while offering all her possessions to the stalker.

"Like I am going to believe you." He came closer to her. "I won't believe to a stranger. You have already seen my face, and so I won't give you a chance to report me."

He wrapped his hands to her throat. She is crying continuously and almost peed her jeans because of fear. It seems that she would be strangled to death. She tried squeezing her fingers between the hands of the stalker, but it has no effect. The stalker is far stronger than she thought.

Her sight started to become blurry. Her hopes of getting home safe are slowly fading. She feels relieved when he removed his hand from her neck. But then a black van appeared right in front of them. He then forcedly get her inside. While fighting for her life, she saw someone hiding in a bush. She looks in that direction, and her lips moved to form words she could hardly speak as the stalker tries to cover her mouth. Before she was finally put inside, she uttered the words, "somebody... please... help. Send... help... please." Then the van escapes the place a few moments after.

Chapters Available:

Prologue: The Witness

Next Chapter: Footsteps and the Plan

1 - Digital Wellbeing: Fine-tune your Tech Habits/ 2 - Between Never or Ever / 3- Those were the days, my friends/ 4- New Experiences Come and Go/ 5 - Admit or Lie: Choosing Between Options/ 6 - Dreams: One Word, Countless Reasons/ 7 - Kyoto: City of Past, Present and Future/ 8 - Depresyon sa mga Kabataan: Mga Dahilan at Kung ano ang Makatutulong/ 9 - Burdensome Truth/ 10 - Make it Righteous

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This is original content.