Another day of work and stress, but not gonna lie, today wasn’t really bad, no annoying customer and certainly no yelling at me for coming late, that’s right I came thirty minutes early today and that’s because I had nothing to do, Amy decided to leave she said she was in a hurry, I didn’t bother to ask her why but I guess it’s something about the church.

Once I was done attending to the last customer, I pulled out my phone and the next thing I saw was five missed calls from dad and four from Amanda. I dialed Dad’s number and he picked up on the third ring.

"Hey dad, sorry I missed your call, it’s been a busy hour," I said almost immediately as he answered the call

"No problem kiddo, just wanted to know how you are doing?"

"I’m great dad, although this job is killing me." I scoffed

"Well, it's a take-it-or-leave-it job." He responded

"So, how is grandma?"

"She’s…Uhm…good, yeah she’s great."

"Dad, what’s wrong?"
Whenever dad uses the word ‘Uhm’ then his definitely hiding something

"Nothing at all kiddo." He responded

"Dad!"

"Okay fine, grandma’s not feeling well."

"What happened to her?" I instantly asked

"I don’t know kiddo but the doctors are trying their best, grandma will be fine." He said

"I hope so." I sighed

"Me too kiddo, I have to go now, talk to you later." He ended the call.

Grandma has been in that state for a long time, she has been admitted to different hospitals but the results are still the same. I just hope she gets well soon, I have been yearning to hear her voice, it’s been so long since I heard her voice. At times grandma communicates with us through wearable artificial graphene throat device, it’s a really cool device. I wonder why grandma wasn’t comfortable with it.
Once dad ended the call, I took off my apron and hair net. Walking towards my bag I grabbed it and head towards the doorway.
"Hey Rachel" I heard Brian's voice from behind.

I turned around "What’s up!"

"Are you leaving?" He asked

"Yeah, I am is anything wrong?"

He walked towards me "Yes, you wanna leave without taking your earnings" He handed it over to me

Oh lord, I forgot about that.
"Thanks." I collected the cash and put it in my pocket.

"You look lost, are you okay?" He asked

"Yeah, I’m fine, just a little tired that's it."

"Tired?" He questioned as he crossed his arm "There weren’t many customers today."

"I know I’m just_ You know what, just forget about it." I opened the door and slammed it shut.

I’m not just in the mood for anything right now. Everything feels so suffocating, the work stress and now grandma. I let out a breath

While walking, I heard footsteps behind me, I stopped and turned around, there was no single soul behind me. I continued walking as the footsteps became closer and closer, I felt a presence behind me, and I could feel a breath and whispers behind me, I wanted to turn around but I was too scared to do that. I gulped, letting out a breath. As I felt a hand on my shoulder I screamed.

"Hey, relax it’s just me." I heard Brian’s voice

"What the hell! Why did you walk up on me like that?" I turned around to face him

"What up on you, I come with peace."

"Peace! The weird breathing and whispers you kept doing, was it peaceful?" I questioned

"Weird breathing and whispers? What are you talking about?"

I rolled my eyes "Forget about it." I turned around

"Hey, what’s wrong with you today? You look_"

"Lost, weird, strange, awkward. Is that what you wanted to say?" I asked

"Yeah, you look lost."

"Yeah whatever" I muttered
There was silence for a little while, well except for the whistling Brian was doing. I stopped when I saw that creepy girl from afar, there was something behind her, something very big, she walked two steps forward as she bent her neck and smiled.

"Do you sometimes feel like you've been stared at," I whispered a bit audible

"Yes, I’m handsome, staring at me is like a duty for ladies."

I rolled my eyes "Yeah, duty." I scoffed

"But why did you ask that question?"

"I don’t know, I just felt like asking." I turned around and looked at her, my heart was racing fast, she stared at me without a blink of an eye.

"Who are you staring at?" He asked

"That girl over there," I whispered

"Which girl." I heard an eerie demonic voice say. I turned around and Brian wasn’t beside me, I was alone in the woods.
"How did I get here." I panicked.
I turned around to look at the environment, there was no one there, the insect buzz, frogs yelp, birds shriek, mammals scuttle, and bats click was all I could hear.
"Brian! Brian!" I called out
My breath was becoming short and fast, feeling like it is going to be the end of the world. "Brian! Brian!" I called out. I walked a little bit closer to the trees, calling out Brian’s name when I saw her, she smiled at me and began walking closer to me, I instantly moved backward and with a few steps, I heard a growl behind me, I panted looking back I saw something incredibly creepy, it was huge and was looking directly at me. I gulped when it transformed and turned into a human shape.
"No, no." I cried out
It kept walking closer to me, as I continued to walk away from it.

Once I ran deep into the forest, I rested my back on the tree and my knees were brought to my chest. I buried my head in it as I began reciting a holy verse, strange sounds surrounded me, birds chirping, clock chimes, and bat clicks.
"Rachel" I heard a demonic eerie voice sluggishly said

"This is not real, it not real." My head began to raise, it felt like I wasn’t in control of it "Oh lord, get it away from me." I cried out

The creepy girl knelt beside me and brought her face incredibly close to me
"You’re not real, you’re not real!" I cried out.

She scratched my neck with her finger, as she touched my shoulder, she instantly took her hands off me, it was like she wasn’t about to touch my shoulder, when she looked into my eyes, my breath stopped and I gulped. Opening her bloody mouth, I let out a vociferous scream.