Chapter 1

The Shadow outside the window:

There she was, standing in front of the window. Someone was again looking at her from the shadows, "someone or something?" She asked to herself while panic feeling started to take over as her body instinctively was moving by itself. Walking backwards towards the bed, chills ran all over, crawling under her skin. When finally she found the edge of the bed with the back of her legs. She sat down but instead of remaining on the bed, the woman fell into a deep dark hole that swallowed her into oblivion. 

  Falling without stopping, the woman tried to call for help, but her desperation grew even more when she realized that it was useless; no sounds were coming out of her mouth. She couldn't scream! trying multiple times, but her screams were muted. As she was falling, the desperation was tightening her chest; binding it, suffocating her more and more every inch she fell. When suddenly a blinding light woke her up.

  Drenched in sweat, Melissa came into consciousness, the sun up above was shining it's powerful morning light through her window. She sighted at the warm sensation on the side of her body, and the eyes behind her eyelids felt like melting under its magnificent and hot brilliance. She then proceeded to roll to the other side of her bed, leaving the blinding sun rays to reach her back instead of her face. "Another nightmare" she though. The nightmares were more and more frequent lately. 

  She was having almost the same nightmares for the past week. But something about this one  felt different. In the past, they always ended with the sensation of someone looking at her trough the bushes while she was standing in front of the window. Yesterday's nightmare had ended with her struggling, trying to ask for help, with no sound coming out of her mouth, it was definitely a nightmare that she will rather not have anymore but "you'll never know with nightmares".

"What a nonsense!" She though, while sitting at the edge of the bed, and proceed to get up from it. She entered her bathroom, got undressed and turned on the shower, while pausing for a moment debating about having a warm soak in the bathtub instead. 

  Deciding against it, Melissa opted for a cold shower to cool down her sweat drenched body. She washed her hair and her body thoroughly, like trying to wash the nightmare away. After letting the water run down her slim body, she stepped out of the shower. 

  Melissa was a young beautiful woman, her long straight jet-black hair dropped like curtains passing her shoulders and stopping right before her waist. Her pale skin sometimes looked too pale for her taste. Her face features were delicate; making her beautiful. At least her friend Sonya was always complimenting her this way, even though, to Melissa, her friend's and everyone else's comments weren't really a compliment in her eyes. She always felt as plain as a yogurt, and the bad luck that she had to repel people like a bug spray; didn't help with her self-esteem either. To Melissa, her friend was the prettiest one between them two.

  Melissa's body was lean and tall (too lean and too tall for her taste). And even though she couldn't see this either, her perfect hourglass figure was the envy all around the university campus. One of the very few girls who attracted the eyes of almost every person that passed next to her. This were words that came out sometimes of her friend's mouth. The only feature that Melissa liked about her, was her unusual eye color; they were silver like the moon, like two diamonds, like two polished silver coins, very unusual on her mind. This distinctive feature made her feel different, but she was ok with being different.

  After finishing her well-deserved cold bath. She wrapped her body with a towel and grabbed a second one to dry her long wet hair. Anastasia had already prepared her clothes for the day. She sighted while thinking out loud. "How many times I have to tell Annie that I don't need any help"... "Oh"... she stopped to think "That's what she had asked yesterday…" Melissa remembered telling her maid that she will be wearing her black trousers and a white turtleneck. "Slick Anastasia, very slick" she smiled warmly. 

  Getting dress and out of her room. She looked towards the hallway to her right, for some reason she always felt like something was pulling her to adventure towards that side. But the only sight of the long and dark hallway left her with a feeling of emptiness in her heart, that she was always contempt to avoid. 

  Rushing down the stairs, Melissa grabbed her coat from the stand next to the entrance door. As soon as she opened the door to get out. A stern, but sweet voice behind called her: "Melissa, aren't you going to eat your breakfast?". 

"No Annie" she responded, while exiting the house, "I'm meeting Sonya for breakfast" … "to meet someone after," she complained internally while her whole body shuddered. Abruptly dismissing the thought and shoving it on the back of her mind she though. "I'll worry about it later" she said as she breathed out; closing the door behind her, walking down the main set of stairs.

  Flavio was waiting for her already with the car door open. "Good morning, Miss Melissa", he said with his always low and respectful voice.

"Good morning, Flavio".  She answered with a smile as she entered the car. Flavio closed the door and move swiftly to the driver seat. 

"The usual place Mel?" he asked while setting the car in motion.

"Yes Flavio, the usual place, please".  Melissa responded while thinking about how Flavio always called her 'Mel' when they were alone, but "Miss. Melissa" in front other people. Even though it was only him and her outside the car. Still, Anastasia was in the house. "That's why he addressed me as Miss. Melissa". She said in a whispered, smiling at the tough. As they were taking the main street to get out of the Manor.

  On Sundays she met with Sonya for breakfast, it was the only day that they could see each other and chat about their week. Since Sonya got engaged, they had less and less time to be together and chat. Now she had to conform herself with only one day a week with her beloved friend. It was a sunny Sunday, slow traffic was perfect for it, no work commute so the streets were practically empty just for a few cars, and most of the people were riding their bicycles and having picnics at the park. It was a sight that she always loved to see. People having fun, lovers holding hands, families together enjoying the day. Everything that she yearned for.

  Flavio stopped the car a block before the café, as usual, she never got to the café in the car, she loved to walk that block by herself, and stop at the Christmas store which was open all year long and it has been there since she could remember. Melissa used to go to the store very often and she will stare at the showing window. They will have this Christmas town with sleds, houses and miniature people skating on the frozen lake. She stood by the window while the lady inside waved to her. She waved back and kept going, crossing the street, and entering the café. Melissa didn't see Sonya on their usual spot and proceeded to the counter to order her breakfast.

"Hello Melissa" a small red-haired woman greeted her.

"Hello Mrs. Johnson" she replied.

"The usual?" she asked.

"Yes please".  Melissa finished.

  The usual consisted of a hot cream filled croissant and a cappuccino. Which Mrs. Johnson always prepared personally. Melissa had been frequenting this café for quite some time now to meet with Sonya, and instantly fell in love with the tastiness of its food and the warmth of its people.

  While she was waiting for the meal to get ready, Melissa had a strange feeling that she was being watched, making her suddenly remember the nightmare from the night before. 

"Here you go dear", said Mrs. Johnson frowning "are you ok?" She asked Melissa while looking at her with puzzled eyes.

"Melissa!" Someone shouted bringing her back from her thoughts. 

"I'm ok Mrs. Jonhson, thank you" she replied absent minded while turning to her side towards the voice. 

  It was her friend who was calling in her always high-pitched voice. Melissa didn't want to look behind her, instead, she started walking towards the side of the café... when she felt it again. Shivers ran down her spine, but she kept walking, passing next to a table, and fixing her eyes on Sonya that was as always happy and eager to see her.

  The sensation came again. Melissa was getting anxious by now; the presence was right next to her. She kept walking until she got in front of Sonya, which was looking at her with questions on her face. "Oh... wait Sonya, I forgot my receipt".  She knew this was only an excuse, but Melissa was determined know what (or who) was the cause of this feeling. 

  Turning around abruptly, she walked towards the counter. To her surprise everything seemed normal, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, just a regular Sunday morning at her favorite café. The table that she just passed was empty. "Empty?" She asked herself "someone was definitely sitting there when I passed by."  She said while her body was trembling.

  Sonya came to her, looking at Melissa's with a puzzled look, she asked: "your receipt you said? You never get your receipt, are you sure you are, ok?" she said to emphasize Mrs. Johnson's question. A question that she heard the owner of the café asking moments ago. 

"Yes, I'm ok. How are you" Melissa responded with a big smile, trying to hide and drive away the strange feeling, shrugging the sensation, she then proceeded to give Sonya a big hug, extending her arms to wrap them around the small frame of the woman in front of her. 

  They went to their usual table at the corner of the café, to sit and talk. The usual 'what did you do during the week' conversation that took place between them on the same café, every Sunday morning, since their graduation. But Melissa was absent the whole time. 'Someone was definitely sitting there', her mind repeated the same words time after time. She felt the same sensation, the same one that her body felt every time she woke up from her recent nightmares. The sensation of someone stalking her, looking at her, following her. The shadow outside her window.

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Hello everyone I'm Back I was planning on cutting this story short, but I decided against it. I can't update it every day but I will be doing it little by little. Melissa has a long journey ahead of her. (No spoilers 😆 ).

Thank you for being here and for your patience,

JAlmodovar