Although it was past nine on this Wednesday evening in July, the air was still mild when Lauren left the Library on Fifth Avenue. She hadn’t brought a jacket with her to work that day, which she was grateful for. The sky was now dark as she made her way to Grand Central Station, jumping on the subway just in time before departure.

Lauren sighed as she found a seat, this part of the train being a lot quieter than usual. She was happy to have finished work for the day, and couldn’t wait to get to bed. Her feet were sore from standing for seven hours, but it was price she had to pay for choosing just ridiculous hours in a library.

It was days like these that left the young brunette regretting her decision to stay in New York while all of her high school classmates would be leaving in the fall to start college. At almost eighteen years old, Lauren was now stuck in a job that she didn’t want to be doing for the rest of her life, despite the fact that it wasn’t too bad to work at the library.

She had decided against college in her junior year. Lauren didn’t know what to do with her life. As children, people are asked what they want to be when they grow up. Adults laugh off answers such as princesses and presidents. In high school, they’re asked again. While some would say lawyers or doctors, Lauren still didn’t know. And she thought it was pointless wasting so much money on something she just wasn’t sure about.

While lost in her thoughts, the teen almost missed her stop at Morris Park. Lauren had lived here her entire life, and though she had many fond memories here, she was definitely looking forward to the day she could afford to live in a place of her own, away from her loving – yet smothering – parents. Being Mr. and Mrs. Berry’s only child, they had a tendency to still treat her like one, as opposed to the adult she was becoming.

However, Lauren’s attitude probably didn’t help things. She was an incredibly shy person, spending most of her academic career isolating herself from her peers. Though there were two people who tried to socialize with her throughout her senior year, there wasn’t really anybody else Lauren would talk to. It was only because Hannah and Sophie were so persistent that she bothered talking to them, though she did genuinely like the pair.

The brown-eyed girl walked the empty streets to her home without nerves, the only sound coming from her small black heels. Being familiar with this area for almost eighteen years meant that Lauren knew almost everyone in the neighborhood; she knew she was safe, or so she thought.

Lauren almost smiled to herself when she remembered that the house would be empty for the next ten days. Her parents had left this morning on vacation to celebrate twenty-five happy years of marriage together. She loved her parents, she really did, but Lauren was definitely ready to live alone, and these next few days would give her some insight as to what it would be like.

With only a block to go before reaching her home, Lauren’s heart skipped a beat when she head groans coming from a nearby alley. Her walking slowed, her breathing quickened, wondering if whoever was making the noise needed help. Her breathing became shaky when she saw two people struggling, though it was certainly clear who had the upper hand.

Lauren stood frozen in fear, her eyes wide as she saw a middle-aged man fall to the ground. He didn’t move, or make any other noise – was he dead? She felt tears welling up in her eyes at the thought, wondering to herself why she was still standing there when she should be running home to call for an ambulance, and the police.

The second man had his back to the girl, though she could see that he was wearing all black, his hair a tangled black mess. If she wanted to get away without being seen by him, then now was the time to go. But still she watched him, her entire body trembling, knowing that she would die, too if she didn’t run.

Lauren watched as the man brought a hand up, she assumed, to wipe his face. He then bent down to pull something out of the dead man’s side, which, although mostly covered in blood, glistened under a nearby street light. A knife.

The librarian’s eyes widened further when the man turned around, his dark eyes finding hers. His face was blank, giving no indication as to whether or not he was surprised to see someone standing nearby. Lauren was stunned to see that this man was quite young, maybe only a few years older than her. She was right; he was dressed in all black, even the shirt he wore underneath his jacket. With all the black, it made the man’s skin look much paler than it probably was.

Lauren finally found the sense to run when she saw the man grip the knife tighter, and made his move toward her. She didn’t know whether he was running, too, and she wasn’t about to look back to find out. She ran fast and hard towards her house, which felt a lot further away than she remembered.

Tears stained her face and blurred her vision, yet she kept on running. If she stopped, she knew she was dead. And she wasn’t going to let herself die before figuring out where she wanted to go in life.

Lauren finally made it home, yet instead of going through the front door, she went in through the back. What if he was following her? She didn’t want him knowing where she lived. She slammed the door closed, using every lock on the door to keep it that way. After wiping her tears and ran through to the front of the house to double check that her parents definitely locked the front door when they left.

She didn’t turn on any lights; she didn’t dare. Instead, the teen ran back into the kitchen to grab a knife of her own and went upstairs to her bedroom, closing and locking the door behind her. She climbed under the duvet on her bed in the corner of the room, holding the knife close to her. She wasn’t going to be getting any sleep that night.