I gulped. "Look, I-I can e-explain-"

He cut me off. "No, you don't have to explain. I just need to ask you a few questions. Number one: Was that the guy who attacked you?" I stood there, a bit confused, but slowly nodded. "Alright. Number two: Is he stalking you all the time?" I nodded again. "And number three: Did he kill anyone in the past few days?" Wait, no. I can't tell him everything. No one but me and Tara know that he killed someone. I want it to stay that way.

"N-no." I said, unconvincingly. Damn, I'm shit at lying sometimes.

"Alice, did he kill anyone?" Son of a bitch can read minds.

"I-I....yes, yes he did. My mother's friend, which is why I just punched him."

He laughed. "It takes guts to punch a serial killer, you know that? Especially him."

But why did Patrick want to know so much about him? "Why?"

He looked a bit uncertain, then sighed. "I've been following this guy's track for some time now. I need something to do, you know?" He didn't sound quite that believable, but then again, who would believe the situation I am in now? No one, that's right.

I noticed that it was getting a bit late.

"Hey, I'm going home, you do know how to get to....wherever you need to go, from here, right?"

He laughed. "Yeah, see you tomorrow, if that's ok with you." I nodded, and smiled. I walked home, or more like ran. I didn't want to run into him, so I ran as quickly as I could to the apartment.

"Mom?" I said quietly. She was in the kitchen again, whistling a bit, even. I swear, my mother and Tara are the happiest people on earth sometimes.

"Hey!" She said. There wasn't a quiver in her voice anymore. She was back to plain, old mom. "I'm making pizza, if that's alright with you."

"HELL YEAH, IT IS!" I shouted. We both laughed, and while the pizza was in the oven, we talked a bit.

"So, who's that guy, huh?"

"H-he's the exchange student. You know, he's here instead of Tara."

"So he just arrived here, and you're already together? Watch your pace, young woman." She joked.

"Mom, he's not my boyfriend." Wow, this conversation sounds familiar. The oven beeped.

"Pizza's ready!" We said in unison. We had a nice dinner that night.

I went to my room, and saw that I had another mail from Tara!

I wrote her back telling her about Patrick, and well, that was it. I was tired, so I thought I might go to bed. I couldn't sleep, though. It was constant fear, again. I did regret punching him now. He'll do something bad, I bet. I suddenly gasped. Did I put my mother's life in danger? Shit, shit, shit, shit, no. He won't kill her. Or will he? I got out of bed, and checked on my mom. Fast asleep. Peaceful and fast asleep. Well, that's ok. I went back to bed, not worrying anymore. Why did I not worry? I had every reason in the world to. But I was happy that my mom was safe.

I woke up. Something was wrong. I was sure. I checked my mom again, still ok. I'm probably worrying about nothing. I went back to bed, peaceful. Until I heard something.

I opened my eyes, and a hand went over my mouth. It was him. "Don't make a sound, Alice, and it will all be over soon." He put a rag over my mouth, and the chloroform put me to sleep.