The next day, the bright rays of the morning sun shone both on the still fresh snow in the winter landscape and through the windows of Leonie and Bryan's house. The sun's rays hit the girl in the face and slowly woke her up. She slowly got up from the couch and stretched. It looked as if she and her boyfriend had fallen asleep together on the couch. The little golden retriever, Spike, was still lying on Bryan's lap, sleeping as soundly as he was. Leonie giggled softly. The puppy was just as much of a late sleeper as her boyfriend!

The girl first looked out of the window at the beautiful winter landscape. The fresh snow glistened in the morning light of the sun, which was slowly rising on the horizon. She could even hear a few birds chirping softly, birds that hadn't flown south before winter. Leonie went into the kitchen to make breakfast for Bryan and herself. Just as she finished and scooped the food onto two plates, the young man on the couch woke up. He yawned and stretched, and the little dog Spike did the same. Leonie couldn't help but laugh as she came back into the living room with the plates.

For breakfast, they had fried eggs with bacon and freshly toasted white bread. Leonie filled Spike's bowl with dog food before sitting down next to Bryan and eating breakfast with him. They both comfortably finished their plates, the puppy also emptied his bowl and Leonie took the plates into the kitchen to put them in the dishwasher. As she did so, she saw the detergent and the cloth she had wanted to use last night. But she had completely forgotten because she had first taken out the trash and then found Spike in the snow. "Never mind, I can do it in a minute or two," she thought.

Just as the girl was about to close the dishwasher again, she heard a loud ringing from the living room, which she clearly recognized as Bryan's mobile phone. Normally nobody calls him this early in the morning at this time. Curious, Leonie went out of the kitchen and watched her boyfriend answer his phone.

"Hello, this is Mr Winslow," Bryan said as he answered his phone. The police chief's voice could be heard.

"Yes, hello Mr Winslow. I'm sorry to disturb you on your day off today. But it's Saturday and we're incredibly busy here in the office today. Even some of our police officers who normally work in the field have to work in the office today. So unfortunately I have to ask you and some of your colleagues to work today," the Chief of Police paused briefly and sighed before continuing. "You know I don't like calling you into work when you should be resting. But at the moment I have no other choice".

Bryan first looked over at Leonie, who was standing next to him and listening to the conversation, before clearing his throat and answering his boss. "That's not a problem. I'll be at the station in a minute, that's no problem for me. See you in a minute," he said and hung up. He put the phone in his trouser pocket and got up to quickly get ready for work.

"I'm really sorry, Leonie. My boss says he needs me at work urgently. I suppose you've heard why, haven't you? I really wish I could have stayed at home with you and... our new pet," Bryan apologized to his girlfriend.

The girl just smiled and shook her head. "You don't need to apologize. I can understand that it's very stressful at work at the moment. But it would have been better for you if you could have rested. Well, it doesn't matter now... Please just take care of yourself, Bryan. I love you and you know it," she said, to which her boyfriend laughed a little. He nodded, gave Leonie another kiss on the forehead and stroked Spike before leaving the house and closing the door behind him. The girl and her new little golden retriever were all alone at home that Saturday. After a while, it started to snow again outside...

...

A few hours later, Leonie went into the kitchen after filling Spike's food and water bowls. She made her favorite tea, a peppermint tea with honey. She had always been a big fan of sage, fennel and everything else. Her favorite was just peppermint. When she had finished her tea, she left the kitchen and went into the bedroom. She made herself comfortable on the double bed, put the tea on the bedside table and switched on the TV.

While she was relaxing a little, Spike came running wildly, jumped onto the bed and landed on her stomach. The girl was startled at first, but then she started laughing as she pulled Spike off her. "You little rascal! You're really cute and cuddly, but also quite playful and quick. And maybe a bit annoying too... But that's not a bad thing. I just can't be angry with you, Spike," she said and giggled.

She watched as the little puppy laid down next to her and curled up. No matter how wild, playful, annoying or crazy he might be, the girl still loved the little dog with all her heart - even though she had only known him since the day before.

Leonie was watching her favorite TV program, a game show with really crazy games. For example, the contestants had to try to run up a very slippery gummy staircase without falling down, or they had to spin in circles for a certain amount of time and then try to win a race. The girl had always found this program interesting and had always had something to laugh about. No matter how many times she watched it, she could never get enough of it.

The little golden retriever, on the other hand, didn't seem particularly interested in the television. But he didn't really feel disturbed when Leonie kept laughing because something funny had happened. Quite the opposite: he slept peacefully and quietly and didn't even flinch when the girl laughed or talked to the television. But after a while he lifted his head, pricked up his ears and listened. Then he suddenly got up, jumped off the bed and ran barking into the living room. Leonie was distracted from her program by his behavior and got up to follow him.

"What's wrong, little one? Why are you barking like crazy now? Have you seen or heard anything?" the girl asked, taking Spike in her arms. She went to the window and looked out, but she couldn't see anything as it was already evening. She had actually spent the first half of the day cleaning and the second half watching TV. Time really does go by faster than you think.

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The puppy whimpered and stared out of the window, just like Leonie. Unfortunately, it wasn't just too dark to see anything, because it was also snowing like crazy again. This time the snow was even worse than the day before. "Whatever you supposedly saw or heard, there's absolutely nothing out there. You'd better calm down, Spike..." the girl said as she began to scratch the golden retriever's head. The little dog still whimpered from time to time, but after a long while he finally calmed down and became quiet again.

Leonie went back into the bedroom with Spike and put the puppy back on the bed before going into the kitchen to make herself a snack. She also grabbed some snacks and a bottle of Coke and went back into the bedroom. After a while, she looked at the clock and realized that it was already 10 P.M. "Where's Bryan..." she thought to herself and began to worry about him. He had never been away for so long. Especially not because of his work.

The girl decided to call him, but it just rang all the time and eventually just went to his voicemail. "Damn, what's going on?! He usually always takes my calls. Is he really that busy??" she wondered, sighing deeply. "I hope he's okay and calls back or finally comes home..."

Just as she put her cell phone away, she suddenly saw something at the window... It was a bloodstained glove, slowly stroking along the outside of the window. When the hand disappeared, Leonie jumped up, ran to the window and looked out... Unfortunately, she saw nothing. "What the hell was that...! Am I crazy or was someone just here?! Am I maybe just hallucinating...? Damn it! I better check if all the windows and doors in the whole house are closed and I better lower all the shutters," she whispered to herself and ran through the whole house to check everything and lowered the shutters everywhere out of fear.

She took out her cell phone and tried to call her boyfriend again, but again it went to voicemail and she sent Bryan a message. She tapped on the keypad of her cell phone as she tried to remain calm. "Please call me back! It's really serious. I need to talk to you about something. There's someone near our house, I'm scared and I'm worried about you too!".

The girl put her cell phone away again and ran around the house several times because she was afraid that something could happen at any time. Spike noticed how agitated she was and went to her to calm her down. The puppy barked slightly and whimpered to get her attention. Leonie looked down at the floor and took the little golden retriever in her arms to stroke him a little. She sat down on the couch and slowly calmed down again. However, she was still not entirely comfortable with the situation.

Leonie sat on the couch with Spike for at least a whole hour. She was scared and listened very carefully to every little noise around her. Her dog sat on her lap the whole time and was very quiet. He listened just like the girl to every sound that could be heard, even if it was just the snow falling outside. Neither of them could go to sleep at the moment: They weren't tired, nor did they feel safe enough to even go back to bed.

The girl didn't see Spike as a normal dog, but rather as a little son. She hoped that nothing would happen that night. Fortunately, she had walked through the house again and checked everything: whether the windows were closed, whether the doors were locked, she had lowered the shutters everywhere, there was absolutely nothing in the cellar and even the attic was still in order. She had looked in every corner and behind every piece of furniture. Everything seemed safe, but her gut feeling told her that it still wasn't really safe.

...

Leonie and Spike had spent the rest of the night awake on the couch. The girl had tried over and over again to call her boyfriend Bryan. No matter how hard she tried to reach him, it always went to his stupid voicemail. By now it was the next day and he still hadn't shown up at home. The only positive thing was that it was finally getting light outside again. It was still snowing like crazy, but luckily it wasn't as frighteningly dark as it had been during the night.

Leonie's cheeks were a little damp, she had cried a little with fear and worry while hugging Spike the whole time. After looking at her watch, she got up and put the dog on the floor. She gave him his food and something to drink again and went into the kitchen to eat a little yogurt from the fridge. Her appetite at the moment was not as great as the fear she had felt last night when she had seen the hand at the window.

Spike stopped eating and looked up at the girl. The little puppy could sense her fear and worry. He whimpered and went to cheer her up a little before going back to his food. The girl just smiled gently and watched the little puppy eat while she ate her yogurt.

After she finished her yogurt, she put the cup down, put the spoon in the sink and looked at her cell phone again. Bryan still hadn't answered or called her back. Something wasn't right. He would never just walk away from her like that or abandon her. Leonie knew her boyfriend too well for that. He wasn't the type of person to leave, ignore or hurt his girlfriend just like that. What if something had happened to him and nobody knew anything?

"I'd better go to the chief of police later and ask him if he knows anything about Bryan. And I'd better tell him what I saw last night. I hope he believes me. Because he knows I would never lie. He, Bryan and I, we've been friends since kindergarten. He was there when Bryan asked me to be together, and he's always been supportive. He must be able to help me..." she said to herself and sighed. She looked at her cell phone again and sent a text to another number, this time the police chief's.

She texted him: "Hey, Mr Riverloo, I really need to talk to you later if you have time. It's really important, please get in touch as soon as you have time".

Leonie put her cell phone back in her bag and went into the bathroom to wash her face when she suddenly found a note on her mirror... It said: "Hey Leonie, how's your life going so far? Shitty? Good? Whatever... Soon you won't have one anyway". She stood frozen in front of the mirror and stared at the note, on which a rather stupid-looking smiley was scrawled at the bottom. There was one thing she didn't really understand: she had closed all the windows and doors and searched the whole house. How had this note ended up in her bathroom? Had it been there before, or had it just been put there?

The girl tore off the note, crumpled it up and threw it in the garbage can next to the toilet. Her fear went to her head again. She could feel her heart pounding all over her body. She panicked because she didn't know how long the note had been there and whether someone had already been in the house. She felt great fear and a million questions and worries flashed through her mind...

She couldn't even feel safe in her own house anymore. And the fact that Bryan still hadn't shown up only made her feel even more scared. She felt like she was about to run away crying in fear or hide. At least she still had Spike, but he was just a little puppy and could get hurt quickly if something happened. She felt alone... All alone with her panic, her fear, her worries and without the possibility of doing anything about it. She felt powerless and weak... At the moment she felt as if every step was a big risk for her...