"Eager to see me, babe, aren't you?", Malcolm said with a cruel smile and I tried to push the door closed again, but before I had the chance to do so, he threw the door open again with so much force that it hit me by the head.

Cursing I held my head while I stumbled back as he closed the door leisurely before casually strolling towards me.

"Well, I would have expected a warmer welcome.", he said grinning evilly.

"Oh yes, I am just delighted to see you again after you gave me broken ribs and a concussion last time. I had to go to the hospital. Again.", I said, foaming with anger but it quickly turned into fear, when he stepped even closer and I felt his breath against my skin. He smelled like beer and something stronger. Maybe Vodka.

"Well, I would have apologized but then you didn't just disappear, you also called the cops on me. I have been sleeping in a dumpster because of you.", he growled. That explained the fishy smell at least.

"And then I saw this article about you and that bastard. You are such a slut.", he snarled angrily, and I bit my lip. That explained how he knew that I was here in New York, not how he knew my address.

"Don't call him that. You're the only monster here. And how did you find me here anyways?", I asked, slowly backing up

.

Malcolm laughed as if he actually found that question very amusing.

"Well, I've been in New York since Tuesday, and then that second article came out, about that other guy, Graham.", he grunted.

"It said what hospital he was in. I was hoping you'd be there too, but you never showed up I followed them around, until little Graham finally decided to pay you a visit. It wasn't hard to follow him here.", he explained, looking at me as if he expected me to applaud him for that terrific idea.

He was insane.

"You followed them around for days? Just to find me? You are crazy, Malcom. Leave, or else I'll call the police, and this time you won't get away."

I tried to sound confident but in reality, my phone was on the vanity in my bathroom, where I had left it.

He laughed again and it sent shivers down my spine.

"I brought a present for you, by the way." I backed up further, pressing myself against the cool wall. I wasn't a fortune's teller, but I knew that whatever it was, I wouldn't like it.

He stumbled a little when he came closer, indicating he was more drunk than I had figured until now.

He came even closer and I held my breath, while he grabbed behind him, reaching for something in his waistband. When his hand reappeared, my face went white.

It was a huge, silver knife. It was sparkling deadly in the bright light of the lamps in the floor.

The scream got stuck somewhere inside my throat.

"Don't worry, I just want to make a few little adjustments. I don't think Damien will want you anymore with holes in your face. No one will want you anymore, in fact. You should have just stayed with me."

Finally, I was able to get the scream out and at the same time I jerked forward. Malcolm was trying to grab my arm, but the alcohol made him unwieldier than usual, so I was able to scrape by.

Blood was rushing towards the bathroom and only a split second after I locked the door, Malcolm's heavy body slammed against it.

I turned around, heavily panting and I stared at my own mirror image. Wide eyes were staring back at me in horror before my gaze shifted to my phone.

I grabbed it quickly but after turning it on it took me 3 tries to get the password right because my hands were shaking so badly.

Meanwhile Malcolm had started banging against the door, yelling my name. The door was already shifting in its hinges. It wouldn't even last 5 minutes, that was certain.

My first instinct as calling the police, but then I changed my mind when a certain face slid into my mind. Damien.

I wasn't planning on dying today, but if I did, I didn't want to do so without telling him the truth, That I loved him, with all my heart and soul.

I dialed his number. He didn't answer, so I tried again. And again. And again.

When I pressed the green button for the 7th time, I was sobbing so hard, I was almost drowning the noise of the door that was only millimeters from being taken off its hinges.

And then, finally, he answered.

"If somebody doesn't answer their phone that usually means that the person is either busy, or the person simply doesn't want to talk to the other person right now. And in your case it's both.", he said coolly, and I pressed my hand in front of my mouth to stop sobbing.

"Damien.", was all I got out before another sob escaped my mouth.

The other end was quiet for a while and I was afraid that he had already hung up on me when he finally spoke up again.

"What? I don't have time for this right now." Maybe it was my imagination, but he sounded a little less dismissive than before.

"He's back.", I whispered into the phone and only a second later Malcolm's voice barked again: "Ally, you can't escape. You can't go anywhere. Make this easier for both of us and open the door."

"Was that-"

"Malcolm.", I finished his sentence for him, and he was silent again for a moment.

"Where are you?", he asked, suddenly all the resentment in his voice had vanished. Instead he sounded just as worried as I felt. I could tell he tried to suppress it though, and I wasn't sure whether it was for my sake or his own.

"My apartment. I locked myself into the bathroom but-", the next words were incredibly hard to get out.

"What?"

"He has a knife.", I finished and started sobbing again. The door was about to give in. It could only be a few more seconds.

"Don't move. The police are on their way already. Just hang in there, don't hang up, okay?", he asked, and I nodded, not realizing that he couldn't even see me.

But now was the time. It might be my last chance to tell him, so I took another deep breath. I could hear Damien talking to whomever he was with. His voice was strained and distorted, as if he was covering the speaker with his hand. Then he was back, and I took my chance to tell him the truth, as I should have done all along.

"I'm so sorry for what I did to you. You were right about everything. But there is one more thing that I need to tell you, and I swear it's not a lie.", I cried, pressing myself against the bathroom wall that I had huddled against.

"Ally, don't do this. You are going to be fine. We can talk later when this is over. I am on my way; we are only a few minutes out. Just hang in there.", he started but I interrupted him. There might not be a later.

"I love you.", I said, and in that moment the door burst open and I dropped the phone, jumping to my feet. The door missed me by only a few inches.

Malcolm stood in the doorway, panting. He held the knife in his one hand, the other was stretched out towards me, and it had the perfect size to go around my throat and squeeze.

"Please, Malcolm don't do this. You can still leave, and we can forget about all of this.", I begged.

But I wasn't the only one who realized how pathetic my begging was because Malcolm laughed. Loud and shrill.

He came closer, but this time I was ready to fight. I wouldn't go down just like that.

I grabbed the small chair from in front of my vanity and held it in front of me so that the chair legs were facing Malcolm. They weren't as pointy as his knife, but I could do some damage with them if I had to. I tried to recall all the thing I had ever learned about self-defense, but my head was empty.

All that was left in me was the pure and utter fear, but that was also the only thing giving me the strength to finally stand up to Malcolm.

I lifted the chair up higher, but he seemed rather amused than scared while he stepped closer. I tried hitting him with the chair, but he simply grabbed and threw it aside.

It collided the mirror and it burst into millions of little shards. He stepped closer and I flinched.

For a second he just stared at me with a blank expression, then he lifted his arm and slapped me across the face. Gasping I stumbled and fell.

I tried to cushion the fall with my arms but when my hands met the floor, little glass flinders were cutting into my skin and I yelped in in pain.

Malcolm laughed and again I noticed the flame of insanity flaring in his eyes. I scooted back on the floor, then forced myself to get up again.

My phone was still lying on the floor and I heard Damien's muffled voice through the microphone. I would have done anything to hear his voice again, but Malcolm was coming closer and closer and there was weapon in sight that I could use.

My eyes were flickering across the room, then Back to Malcolm while I wondered how long it would still take the police to get here. If the fight continued like this, I would barely last half a minute.

Malcolm stopped when he saw the phone lying on the ground. He smiled cruelly, then he picked it up, while playing with the knife in his other hand.

He was now only a foot away. He could simply stretch out his arm and dig the knife into my heart, and I would be dead.

He pressed the phone against his ear.

"I hope you've said your goodbyes.", he smirked, before tossing the phone on the ground, stepping on it, until it was completely broken.

I hadn't heard Damien's response, but my brain was starting to realize what Malcolm had said.

"You said- You said you wouldn't hurt me.", I stuttered, paralyzed with fear and Malcolm shook his head.

"No, actually I said I wouldn't kill you, but I think I have changed my mind. I heard you say it. I heard you say that you loved him. You never said that to me you filthy whore. So, if I can't have you, I will make sure that no one can.", he said and stared at me, and then at the knife in his hand.

"But maybe this would just be too easy.", he nodded, before tossing the knife to the floor as well. I flinched at the clanking sound it made on the tiles.

He pushed me back, and I stumbled against the vanity. My eyes were fixed on the open door behind him but I would never be fast enough to escape. My heart sank, when Malcom stepped closer yet again.

He reached out and I closed my eyes, trying to prepare for his hit but instead I felt his sweaty hand caress my cheek. He was so close, I could smell the alcohol under his breath, and I wanted to vomit.

"We could have been so happy.", he slurred, and I opened my eyes, wanting to beg him to stop one last time but that was when his fist hit me in the face.

"But you ruined everything!", he screamed in an abnormally piercing voice. Pain exploded in my jaw and my knees buckled, so that I dropped to the floor, but Malcom grabbed my arm and pulled me back up, just to push me away again.

This time I tripped over the small chair that was still lying on the floor and I fell and hit my head on the floor.

My ears rang and my head felt like it was about to explode. I yelped in pain, and wondered how much more my head could take. I hadn't even fully recovered from my first concussion.

My vision was blurry but I could see Malcom leaning over me, and before I could even scream or move, he was on top of me and he was wrapping his hands around my throat.

"I have never seen someone die before.", Malcolm said, staring at me from above. His voice was terrifyingly calm.

He tightened his grip on my throat and before I even had the chance to take one last breath, he had already squeezed my wind pipe shut.

I cried, and croaked and moaned and tried to wriggle free, but he was pressing me to the floor with the force of his entire weight, and I could feel my arms growing weaker and weaker as I tried to scratch and hit him.

But he just laughed at my weak attempts.

He was so focused on killing me, that he hadn't noticed the police arriving, but I could hear them running up the stairs even with my ears still ranging. Only a few more seconds...

My feeble attempts to scratch his eyes out had failed and now I could barely lift up my arms anymore. Black dots were spotting my vision and my mind was staring to drift away. All I knew was that I needed air!

But then everything started to fade into the background, and I could hear, see and feel nothing anymore.

Everything was dark.