Blood traced the hammer’s structure.

I tried to stay quiet as I sobbed — witnessing the ferocious woman repeatedly hitting the man on a chair. Suddenly, the woman stopped and started walking towards a table. It looked like she would get another tool for her victim but… she stopped.

Instead, her head, still looking down, tilted to my side. She wasn’t fully facing the closet I was but something was telling me she knew of my presence behind the closet’s doors. In a blink, the woman was gone.

I quickly looked around at the gap in the closet’s door but it was limited. My blindspots outweighed my view, making it hard for me. I’m fighting the urge to open the door every second that passes by.

Three.

Two.

One.

I was about to open the door when I heard footsteps… getting louder and louder. Her hard soles clicked on the wooded floor like it was ready to bring someone to death’s doorstep. I was so dumbfounded when the eye blinked.

I covered my mouth tightly and closed my eyes. The noise from the shoes moved farther and farther. I exhaled as if a big thorn was pulled from my chest and slowly opened my eyes. From what I can see through the gaps of the closet door, I can tell that the woman was gone. I started to feel calm as I realized the woman had already left.

Slowly, I opened the door and carefully stepped out – my gaze was fixed on the man on the chair. When I got out completely, I cautiously closed the door behind me — that was the only time my gaze left the man on the chair.

When I turned my eyes to the closet door, I saw the creepy woman’s smile and she launched her hammer at me.

“𝗛𝗲𝘆!” A man’s yell beside me pulled me from my trance. “𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲! 𝗪𝗼𝗼!” He wiped the sweat on his forehead. “𝗜 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝘆 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗜 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.” The panting stranger handed me my phone and immediately left the moment I stared at him dazedly.

‘𝘛𝘴𝘴. 𝘏𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵’𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘜𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘓𝘶𝘪𝘴’𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰.’

I checked my phone only to find a lot of missed calls from Ranky. I was about to type a message for him, good thing he called again. 

“𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿? 𝗢𝗼𝗵, 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀, 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗯𝗼𝘆 𝗞𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹... 𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝗸𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗮 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗟𝗲𝗼.”

As soon as Ranky's voice entered my ears, I started to go to my car as fast as I could. The last unfeasible hope for my father to be inno