Chapter 2

The sudden knocking, combined with Cole disappearing from his window.

These two things happening back-to-back made me connect them instantly.

I bit my lip, forcing down the surge of unease, and cautiously started walking toward the front door.

I’d only taken a few steps when something clicked. I turned back, pulling the curtains completely shut to hide the binoculars near the window.

Given my current state, that move probably screamed "guilty as charged."

*Knock! Knock! Knock!*

The moment I’d hidden the binoculars, the knocking started again, louder this time.

"No, it can't be Cole. Our houses are a fair distance apart. Even if he saw me, he couldn't have gotten here so fast."

After a few minutes, my heart, which had been pounding like a drum, slowly returned to normal. My sluggish thoughts started to make sense.

Reason finally kicked in, calming my frantic mind. I realized that the person at my door wasn't Cole.

I hurried forward and opened the door.

Standing there was a delivery guy in a black T-shirt, looking impatient. His expression softened a bit when he saw me.

But after he scanned me up and down, his face turned a little weird.

"You were home? Why didn't anyone answer when I knocked?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I was just tidying up."

I offered an apologetic smile, taking the package from his hand.

Feeling his eyes on me, I silently pulled my sleep shirt up higher, covering the red mark on my neck.

I thanked him, closed the door, and went back to my room with the package.

I tore open the box; inside was a security camera system.

I'd painstakingly picked this one out on Amazon: dual lenses, dual screens, and super long battery life.

Setting up the monitor was simple. I had it assembled in no time.

But where to put it? That was the tricky part.

"Where can I place it to actually capture whoever's appearing in my room at night?"

*Is it really a person?*

I thought of the nightmares I’d fallen into every night, the red marks on my neck when I woke up, and what I saw in the mirror.

And in those nightmares, the broad hands that had run over my entire body, and the long, thin fingers that had stirred my mouth and tongue.

My memories churned, and for a moment,

I couldn't tell if it was just a nightmare, or if it was real.

At first, I truly believed it was just a nightmare. After all, the next morning, I hadn't found anything out of the ordinary.