Every Saturday, Zoey would text Pete to talk about the Isekai they watched the night before. After their discussion, they’d spend the afternoon playing an MMO on the same server. Pete liked to handle DPS while Zoey enjoyed playing the tank. Of course, they were in the same guild. So they had other DPS, buffers, debuffers, and healers to provide them plenty of support. After an afternoon of raids, Pete and Zoey would work the same closing shift at Pizza Place.
Pete didn’t do any of those things. He didn’t answer any of her texts. He didn’t log on for gaming. He didn’t show up for his work shift. It wasn’t like him, and she didn’t understand it. Was he okay? In the last two years, he hadn’t missed a single day. He never called out. He was the responsible type. She was worried.
After closing the store by herself, she decided to sit in her car for a few minutes and check his online status… He hadn’t made any posts. Had anyone seen him after they closed together the night before? Did something happen to him, and he felt like dealing with it himself? If she didn’t hear from him soon, she decided to go to the police and report him missing.
She sighed and shook her head, telling herself. “You’re going to drive yourself crazy if you keep this up. I’m sure he’s fine.” She put her key in the ignition and turned. Then she began the ride home.
That night, she’d delivered pizza to over twenty different addresses. Sometimes it took her fifteen minutes to get to a place. Sometimes it took her forty-five minutes. Under normal circumstances, the ride home was less than either of those times. But that night, the drive home seemed so much longer. She couldn’t stop worrying. “Pete, where are you?” She asked aloud, turning onto a street that brought her into the neighborhood where she lived.
A cat ran in front of her car, and she slammed on her brakes. The worn pads squeezed against the rotors, and the car screeched to a stop. That was a close one, she thought, watching as a woman chased close behind the cat.
The woman wore a white nightgown. Such vestment caused Zoey to think that the woman hadn’t planned to be chasing a cat through the streets at two in the morning. The frilly sleeping garb looked impossible to move in. It impressed Zoey how the woman moved as fast as she did.
Zoey’s eyes watched as the woman reached the other side of the street and closed on the cat. When it seemed the woman was about to grab her pet—Zoey assumed it was her pet, anyway—the cat slipped away and sped up a tall tree.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Zoey sighed and whispered to herself, “There is no way anyone can climb wearing that gown. I better help out.” She rolled her car to the curb before putting it in park, turning off the engine, and turning off the ignition.
Before she opened the car door, she checked for traffic. It wasn’t that she expected any on a quiet residential street, not at that time of night. Yet, a person can never be too careful.
When no one was coming, she pushed the door open and hurried out.
Then she realized something. What if the whole thing was a setup? She’d heard stories of people lying down on the side of the road, pretending to be in trouble. When a driver stops to help them, lots of other people jump out of bushes and ambush the driver. Those people try to steal the car or hurt the driver.
At the thought of this, Zoey’s heart beat a little bit faster.
Though, if someone did want to start something with her, she knew how to take care of herself. Years of SCA, kendo, jiujitsu, boxing, and karate could vouch for that. She had a black belt in three of those. Not to mention, she had a can of pepper spray on her key chain.
When she looked around, she calmed. There weren’t many bushes to hide behind; the street’s only suitable cover came in the form of a few tall elms and some pine trees. “It’s only a woman who needs some help chasing her pet cat.” Zoey convinced herself and jogged across the street, keeping her guard up all the same. “Hey,” She spoke with a louder voice than usual, so the woman could hear her, but Zoey was careful not to shout. “Do you need any help?”
The woman turned her head to look at Zoey, and the woman was smiling. This wasn’t a smile of relief.
Instead, the smile the woman offered was toothy, extending ear to ear. It seemed…Zoey wasn’t sure if predatory was the right word, but she felt like prey. A chill ran down her spine, and she shivered. Speaking of predators…the woman’s smile exposed her teeth. The sharpness of her canines seemed abnormal. How did someone get their teeth so sharp? Did she file them?
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“Thank goodness,” the woman spoke with a voice that seemed forced. It reminded Zoey of her high school nemesis when her nemesis got the lead in the annual high school play. Fifteen was her name, and she could not act.
The sharp-toothed woman in a gown…was she acting? Was she a bad actress like Kim? That didn’t make any sense. How would she train a cat to run into a tree? Zoey guessed the girl was nervous. That had to be why she seemed off. “Max always runs away like this. I can’t get up there in this gown. Do you think you can get him down?”
“Sure thing,” Zoey nodded, examining the tree for a way to climb it.