My blood froze. Every instinct in my body told me to run away, but all I could do was stare at the man in front of me. I'd recognize his stature anywhere, even in this darkness. There was no doubt about it. He's haunted my dreams more than just a few times over the years.

Mr. Stalker stood only a few meters away from me. But right now, not even the ridiculous moniker I'd given helped with calming me down. I'd named him that as a joke; a way to make him seem less of a threat to my then child-self. But now that I stood there, face to face with him, it didn't feel like a joke at all.

"You're coming with me, kid. And don't even try to fight back this time. I've had enough of that crap." He growled, taking a step forward.

Alex raised his hands in the air and put himself between Mr. Stalker and me. "Whoa whoa whoa. Let's calm down here." He said before he turned his face to me and whispered. "Bro, this isn't good. You need to get a grip now. I'll do what I can to hold him off. When I give the signal, you just run. 'Kay?"

I nodded my head. I didn't really care about pointing out the obvious flaw about him holding anybody off. I only had to get out of here.

Alex took a step closer to Mr. Stalker. "Hey, big guy, maybe we can make a deal here? You know, man to man. Or AI to crazy nutjob, in this case. How's that sound?"

Mr. Stalker just kept glaring at me and took another step forward.

"Yeah, didn't think so." Alex sighed. "Plan B it is then." He said, moving to stand between me and the large man. "Rick, run."

The second he said that, Mr. Stalker moved. I didn't waste any time. My body wasn't frozen anymore. I did a complete one-eighty and took off at full speed. Another growl rumbled out from behind me, followed by the sound of somebody slamming into the ground. So much for Alex's plan.

I looked around me in front of me, my panicked mind trying its best to come up with an escape path. I wasn't in that bad shape physically, and I'd always been relatively fast at running if you compared me to others. At least others that don't do it often, like me. But even with a head start, I didn't feel confident that I could outrun him for long. A quick glance made it clear that he was more athletic than me.

There was a small alley at the opposite end of the parking lot. Entering it, I saw a green plastic waste container on wheels next to one of the walls. I hurried to cover the entrance of the alley with it as best I could before continuing further down the alley which led out into another, smaller, parking lot surrounded on all sides by buildings. There was a small road leading from the parking lot onto a larger street.

Reaching the end of the alley, I looked back just in time to see my pursuer put both his hands on the green container and push himself on top of and over it without losing more than a couple of seconds.

The panic in my hear grew from seeing him accomplish a maneuver like that without breaking a sweat, and he was still closing in on me. I used all the energy I could muster to run even faster, almost losing my balance and toppling over in the process. Only barely keeping myself from tripping, I crossed the small parking lot and reached the small road. I could hear him approaching me from behind now.

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Suddenly, another figure appeared from behind the corner in front of me, pausing in the middle of the road. Dressed in a bright red raincoat that reached down to her knees, bare skin visible beneath it, stood a girl maybe a couple of years older than me with bright red hair, staring at me in surprise.

Despite my shock, I didn't stop running, almost running straight into her. Trying to avoid that I stumbled and landed on the hard pavement, tearing up my pants and arms in the process. My mind was still focused on the large man following a few meters behind me, and I tried yelling out a warning to the girl. However, a large squeal interrupted me before I could even open my mouth. Shockingly, I wasn't the only one caught off guard by the sudden noise, as Mr. Stalker also stopped where he was.

Thinking that she screamed because of fear, I couldn't quite understand what was happening when a large grin formed on her face and she started shaking her hands in front of her.

"God damn it..." I heard him mutter. But my attention had now shifted from Mr. Stalker to the girl in the raincoat who was now approaching me.

"Oh my god! I can't believe this! I mean, like, what are the odds?!" She shrieked in a high-pitched voice, putting out her hand to help me up. "To think I'd be the one to find you! I was just, you know, randomly walking around and all that. The others are gonna be sooo jealous. And wait till I tell my brothers about this!"

Her sudden barrage of words and child-like glee almost made me completely forget about the reason I'd been running for a second. Still, he didn't hesitate to make himself known again.

"Hey...Girl. Get away from him. I'm taking him with me, and you're not getting in the way." He said, although oddly enough his tone wasn't as harsh now as it had been earlier. Although he was definitely more annoyed.

The girl turned away fro me and looked at him with a frown on her face. "Hmph. You and what army?" She said, putting her hands on her hips. "He doesn't want to go with you, and then he shouldn't have to! I'm not letting you take him!"

"You shouldn't get involved in this. This is serious business. What he wants doesn't matter. There are other things at stake here." He grunted, but he didn't move. Yet.

I was getting ready to start running any second now when the girl suddenly grabbed my arm. She put her tongue out at him and I felt her grip tightening. "You don't get to tell me what I should get involved in. I'm an adult, and I can handle the most serious business." Her high-pitched voice really didn't work to strengthen her words. Nor did the pink phone she brought out, adorned with stars, hearts, bunny ears, and all kinds of cute stickers on the back.

I saw her unlock the phone and write 'Found him!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ・: *ヽ(◕ヮ◕ヽ)' with unnatural speed, sending the message to someone named Valerie on her contact list before she put her phone back in her pocket.

Mr. Stalker must have lost his patience because now he'd started moving towards us at a slow pace. "Last warning," He said. "Get away from him."

She put her palm in front of her and gave him a glare that was probably meant to look menacing but considering her earlier behavior, I can't say that it turned out well.

"If you don't stop right there, I'll tell my brothers that you hit me." She yelled.

"I don't give a crap about your brothers." He growled and kept on moving.

She pouted again, pressing her lips together and frowning at him. "Okay, then I'll tell it to Eli too!"

He froze in his tracks. Grinding his teeth together, he snarled. "You wouldn't."

"Oh, I would." She declared with a triumphant grin on her face.

He said nothing, just standing there. As if that somehow made him admit defeat.

At this point, my curiosity got the better of the fear I'd felt during my escape. "Erm, who's Eli?"

The girl turned to me with a puzzled expression. "Huh? Don't you know? I thought you knew her?"

My confused face was all the answer she needed. Laughing, she hit herself on the side of her head. "Right, duh. How stupid of me. only I call her Eli." She said with a smile. "You'd call her Eleanor!"

"...What?"

She tilted her head, looking at me with a perplexed face. "Wait, do you have problems with your hearing? She never told me that."