SCARE TACTICS 7.1

By mid-March, reams of names were announced on the nightly news - convicted Mythicals. Being anything other than a mortal was now suddenly a crime by default. No matter if you'd registered your species and had been an upstanding citizen, the police would find something to charge you with.

Hate group posters were plastered on every wall, phone box and lamp post around the city. The atmosphere was getting harder and harder to handle, and the air was thick with hatred.

Worst of all, my friends were in on it. Although Theresa had entirely lost her senses and tried to sound as understanding as possible, she had still expressed that she'd 'rather avoid them' out of fear that some of 'them' were dangerous.

Lindsay, however, did and said whatever her daddy told her to. When he talked, her mouth moved. So long as she got her juicy monthly allowance, her political views were dictatable. Seeing that her old man was a rich bigot, it was no surprise that he was halfway to becoming a full-blown fascist.

Increasingly, the way I looked at my childhood best friend was growing negative… The woman she was becoming seemed further and further from the person I found myself becoming. I'd wondered if maybe we wouldn't remain friends, but the thought of someone else leaving me was too terrifying to dwell on.

My only friend who seemed to be acting remotely rational was Benjamin. We didn't talk much about the real world and politics; as literature buffs, we spent most of our time discussing fiction novels. Still, he had expressed that he agreed with me because he couldn't fathom why everyone suddenly felt unsafe.

"It's not like they haven't always been around. Can't get my head around why all of a sudden people are sayin' they're dangerous."

"Once again, humanity has proven that it fears anything it doesn't understand, and it's as simple as that." I shrugged, pulling my sachet further into my shoulder. We were making our way off campus; we'd planned to meet Lance in town for coffee.

"Wouldn't surprise me if Hawthorne was a Witch, though." Benjamin sneered and shuddered humorously. He was talking about our Professor. "That woman gives me the creeps."

"Or a Demon!" I exaggerated. Our fit of laughter was interrupted when Benjamin's toothy grin faded, and the cheer drained from his face. "What's up? You look like you've seen a ghost-"

"Uh, you know what, Ana, maybe it'd be quicker to go-" Benjamin grabbed my arm, "-out the other gate?" meaning to steer me away.

But it was too late; I'd already turned to look.

In two neat lines, on either side of the gate were a row of tables - their flowing white table clothes brushed the cobbles beneath and ruffled in the breeze. They were campaign stalls and hadn't been there the day before. What was most striking, though, was what they were campaigning for - they were pro-mythical-curfew. The city Mayor had been trying to enforce a curfew on registered mythicals to comfort the city's mortal residents. Limiting who could be out and about past watershed would make people feel safer. The whole idea seemed ludicrous to me for many reasons.

However, Benjamin's reason for redirecting me had nothing to do with the campaign topic. How could it have been? - He didn't even know I was half-Elf and barely knew my opinion on the existence of Mythicals because I'd been purposefully vague. No, he'd spotted who one of the guys handing flyers out was; Joshua Davies - my ex-boyfriend.

It was too late to turn around and walk in the opposite direction without losing face because our eyes had met. He smiled the instant he saw me, but that habitual expression of fake happiness I'd grown so accustomed to over the last two years soon lost its charm and shine the second his guilty blue eyes glanced at the girl he had tucked into his side. Apparently, one of the girls he'd cheated on me with was now his girlfriend.

Despite Benjamin grabbing hold of my arm, I approached the campaign table. I'd been so polite about our breakup and hadn't made a scene - I'd felt too humiliated. Right now, I was feeling much braver - the fact that he was prancing around campus with his side-piece come girlfriend really cheesed me off and filled me with courage.

"What's this in aid of then, Josh?" I asked and snatched a flyer from his hand. "Oooh, Ben, we're invited to a silent protest outside the town hall tomorrow night -" I read aloud from the blue piece of paper. "Trying to give the Mayor a nudge in the right direction, are we? How gallant."

Now I turned my eyes to the bimbo curling sheepishly into his torso, and I let my eyes scan her from head to toe and allowed my lips to sneer in disapproval. "If I were you, I wouldn't worry about the Myth's wandering about the city after dark when you're galavanting about with a Witch in broad daylight."

Benjamin's jaw dropped. Bimbo looked like she was going to vomit and Josh stuttered speechlessly.

"Anyway, sorry I can't make it tomorrow night. I'm busy." I tossed the flyer onto the table, and Benjamin and I walked away. The simplicity of our exit was dramatic enough for me, but Benjamin couldn't contain his excitement.

We were barely out of earshot when he exclaimed, "Oh My God, Ana, that was so badass."

"Nah, it was just petty, but you know what?" I laughed. "I feel so much better for it."

In the back of my mind, I had always known my parent's death was suspicious - I'd half made up my mind that their car accident had happened on purpose. That suspicion was about to be confirmed to me in the most disturbing way.

The first day I spotted the blue hatchback, I paid it no mind.

When it appeared parked in the same place, outside my university building, three days in a row, I assumed that my schedule must have coincided with whoever it belonged to.

When the weekend came, I noticed it again; parked up on the high street in town, as I sat across the road having breakfast in a greasy spoon with Theresa. I got a taxi home that day, and sure enough, it followed my cab to the street my block of flats was on. To say it put me on edge was to understate my panic, but I told myself it was all coincidental.

That was until it not only started to show up everywhere I went during the day but after dark too. It was there consistently for a fortnight, but the first time I spotted it in the distance as I walked from Lindsay and Theresa's dorm one evening, I ran home panicked and in a cold sweat.

I had been putting up with constant surveillance for almost four weeks, and the lack of sleep was starting to take its toll. I was alone with no one to confide in - I couldn't tell either Lindsay or Theresa about it because then I'd have to tell them I was one of 'them'. The idea that my friends might grow to hate me over something that was completely beyond my control and cause me to lose them was petrifying and would have been another unbearably cruel twist of fate.

Although, I knew I could've upped sticks and left for Germany to live with my uncle at the drop of a hat. Part of me feared that my stalker was tenacious enough to follow me overseas, and I didn't want to bring trouble to my uncle's door. Besides, I had my degree to finish - this was my last year, and I couldn't give up now.

Friday night, April fifteenth, I exited the Omen to find the blue hatchback parked directly across the street. The driver had the window down, and they stared right at me from under their hood. We made vague eye contact for a second that felt like forever before they started their engine and pulled off into the traffic. I stood there, frozen in a blind panic. I was alone; Lindsay and Theresa had already driven off in a taxi back to their dormitory.

While I was still standing there trying to calm myself down and catch my breath to stop myself from panting in fear, another familiar vehicle passed by. It had pulled out of the side street to my right, which led around the back of the nightclub. The black saloon passed slowly. Through the translucent barrier of the driver's side window, my eyes met Cole's. Had he seen the whole thing? I wondered. My head turned one-hundred-eighty degrees as I watched him drive into the distance.

For the rest of that weekend, I avoided leaving my flat. I couldn't deal with running into my ominous stalker again.

Monday came, and I said a prayer before stepping out of my building and onto the pavement. Thank God the hatchback wasn't there, but when I noticed it parked on the street outside from the university library window at five pm, my heart dropped into my stomach.

The prospect that I might not be alive by summer chilled my bones, even though I was fighting not to lose my head. Practically speaking, I was running short on cash to facilitate my go-to escape route of getting home by taxi. My student loan wasn't going to be deposited into my current account until Thursday that week, but with the last tenner I had in my purse, I called the local cab company to come and pick me up from the front of the building and drive me the three minutes to my place.

Whoever they were, they weren't going to let up.

How much further could this progress?

Would the mysterious driver eventually start advancing closer to my flat?

What would I do when my home wasn't even safe anymore? Who could I turn to?

No one.