Lurking

                                    

                                          
CHAPTER 4:
Haerin's POV
I was once again awake during the night. Lately, I've been having many strange dreams. I often wake up scared. This is so annoying; honestly, I never understand anything. In the dreams, I'm walking in a very strange place. It looks like an empty field, with no flowers or anything. In this field, there's only grass and a few hills. I walk and walk, and I have the feeling that I'm being followed. And then, I wake up scared.
I grabbed my phone and saw that it was 2 a.m. I wanted to talk to someone, so I thought about calling Minji, but I didn't want to wake her up at this hour to talk about my nightmares. I could pass the time by the window talking to Hyein, but she wasn't home since she went to her aunt's house. I can't believe she knows Hanni.
I sit by the window, gather courage, and send a message to Minji.
KH:
"Hey, it's me."
I waited a bit, and nothing. I sighed, opened the window, and looked at the sky. It was full of beautiful stars. This calmed me down a little. When I looked down at the dark street, my heart almost leaped out of my chest when I saw someone behind a power pole watching me.
I couldn't see their face, but it was clear that someone was staring at me. My hands started to sweat, and my heart raced. I didn't know what to do, and fear also kept me from moving. My eyes kept staring at the mysterious figure, but I didn't move at all. I got distracted by the fear, blinked, and the mysterious figure vanished before my eyes.
- Damn... Was that the person Hyein talked about?
I murmur and sigh as I see that the stranger had disappeared when I hear knocks on my door and turn abruptly.
It couldn't be my mom at this hour, could it? And what's going on? Am I dreaming? I didn't respond or move, and the knocks sounded again.
My breathing quickened, and I found the courage to ask:
- Mom? Is that you?
Suddenly, silence fell, but soon the person on the other side knocked three times again without answering me.
- Whoever you are, stop, please, go away!
Silence again, but the knocks grew louder and more urgent, and the doorknob started to turn. I leaned against the bed and felt my hands grow cold, and my breathing became irregular as the knocking persisted and the doorknob turned as if someone really wanted me to open the door, until I heard a sound:


"Beep! Beep!"



It was my phone. I was holding my phone tightly when I saw a message from Minji.
KM:
"Don't you sleep, Kang?"
After reading, I look at the door and notice that the noise and the mysterious person are gone. Everything was calm again. Without thinking, I immediately replied to Minji.
KH:
"Minji, there was someone in my house."
KM:
"What do you mean?? A burglar?"
KH:
"No... I think it was something else. Someone was watching me at the window and tried to enter my room... I'm scared."
Minji took a while to reply, but then the phone rang again.
KM:
"What do you mean? How did they get in? Are you sure it wasn't a nightmare?"
KH:
"It was so fast... I'm sure that this time I was more awake than ever."
I got out of bed, gathered all my courage, and opened my bedroom door. There was nothing but the darkness of the night. I closed the door, curled up, turned on the bedroom light, and looked at my phone again.