-I took down Hit Man due to not being satisfied with it. It's also dawned on me that Zalgo text is inconsistent and will be fixed shortly-

The warm light shines out onto the snow before the door slams shut. The stars are shrouded by clouds, but still the snow reflects all moon and lamp light, making it easier than normal to see on such a night. Your breath comes out in clouds as the chilly wind sweeps through your coat and into your bones.

What a winter wonderland indeed...

You look down the street from a back door of the Technological University of Dublin to find the entire street empty. Was it really a good idea to stay so late by yourself? Probably not. But your project is due in a few days and there's still so many little bugs you need to work out. It just seems like every time you fix something a different part of the program goes wrong...

Your feet crunch in the cold snow, making you wish you'd brought boots. Aaurgh it's in your socks. You pull your coat tighter around you. Great. A miserable walk home for a miserable little-

What was that?

You take a few steps forward and stop, listening. Just behind you trails a few crunching steps, then silence. Is someone following you? You look over your shoulder to find no one there, not even any foot prints beside yours in the otherwise unmarked snow. Weird...

You clutch your pair of keys in your left fist, forming half a spiky gauntlet, while the other hand pulls out your phone. You quickly dial up your friend.

The phone rings before switching to the obnoxious beeping of a busy line. There's no way they'd ignore your call like that. Even then, it would have gone to voicemail! You look at your screen, confused. No signal.

No signal?!? In the middle of the street??? You sigh and hold the phone up to your ear anyway, at least pretending to talk to someone...

You realize you haven't been listening for the foot steps and freeze. Are they still there? No... but they could just be walking along the melted side of the side walk.

"Hey dude! How's it goin?" You talk into the empty receiver, waiting out the time for a response as you say a response back to yourself in your head. "I've been alright, thanks." You smile at nothing "What do you think about having a movie night or somethin?" Silence. "Yeah, we could totally watch that. I also got that Sidney Plus, so if you wanna watch any of their cartoons... I was thinking Floating Flys?"

"S̴̟͎͕̳̍o̴͔͎͆͌̕ư̴̮͍̻͔̐̕n̶͇̫̜͆̐d̶̨̮͆́̈́̚s̵̼͍̠͗ f̴̺̣̝̝̂̂u̶̜͛̀n̸̺̈̃̀̉!" Something cracks and gurgles through.

"What the hell?!?" You frantically look at the screen. Still no signal...

"O̶̡͈̜̾́r w̷̟͇̭̃͝e̸̮̗͊̅̀͝ c̵̰̟̼̈́o̷̲͑́ü̷͍l̵̢̳̿ḑ̴̡̓͂ ẅ̴̥̖̺́̈́̚a̸̳͗̓͝t̸͚̬̟̰́́č̶͔̰̦͈h O̶̡̨̰͆ḷ̸̿ḍ̴̱͈̿̏ͅ Ÿ̷̩́e̷̪̹͠͝l̶̨̙̲̈͊̈́l̷͎̍̓͠ȏ̷̡̦̘̍͘ẃ̶̞̬̙͂" You hear in that same crackly voice as footsteps crunch up behind you. "M̵͕̮̒a̸̤͈̓k̶̡̗͎͖̔̓̂e̷̞͛̕̚͠s̸̘̓̃͛͝ y̸̦̼̒̐ọ̵̟̮͋u̵̥̺͍͂ ć̷̢r̶̹͈̿͝y ë̸̳̰̹̗́͗̓͝v̴̦͋̈́̂ȩ̵̧͌r̵̡̤̳͛̒͜y t̷̮̳͓̹͒̑ĩ̵̬̗͋͘͝ṁ̷̙͎̕ë̵̙̺ͅ."

You flip around and see a him there, all tall, dark, and absorbing all light around him.

"B̸̙̗̎o̸̤̘͑̽o̶̡̿̑ ." He smiles before you turn heel and run. He gives chase, cackling the whole way. There's gotta be a way for you to escape! If you can just get to your house first. Maybe...down this road! Yeah! It opens into another street. Where are all the people??? You flip around another corner, almost slamming into him "Ǧ̷ͅo̸̮̒ͅt̸̪̳͛c̶͈͕̀h̶͛͆͜a̴͕̮̓̀!̵̜͚̚ "He reaches out to grab you before you slip on the ice and use it to help skid away. You can't let him touch you. Down this road and to the left! Now hang a right, through this intersection, keep going, now left! You look around you.

Where is your house? You're certain this is the way your friend took when they drove you home! You stumble to a stop, leaning against a fountain in some kind of shopping district. You've never been here before. You're completely and totally lost. On top of that, you have him after you.

That guy, where is he?!? You frantically look around. Shiz, he's at the end of the street! You gotta move. There's only one way out of here it seems, through that little ally way. You make a mad dash for it.

No. No and no and no! It's a dead end. How can it possibly be a dead end?! Your eyes begin to well with tears as you press your back to the wall and watch.

His head pokes out from around the wall, eyes a bright green in the darkness. You hear a crackling, distorted noise as he suddenly appears in front of a set of crates. Finally, he steps forward, creeping toward you. You close your eyes and feel a sharp finger and carefully poke your forehead.

"T̷̨̂a̴̬͐g̵̩̏,̴̬̒ y̸͇͋ȍ̶̯u̶͈͐'̵̨̕ŕ̷̼ĕ̷̖ i̷̫̕t̴̡̋.̵͉̈"

"Damn it, Anti! I was this close to winning!" You bat his hand away, holding up your almost touching fingers "but then you cheated!"

"Last I checked, our game of tag was a free for all." He grins, booping your nose with a now normal finger.

You fold your arms in a huff "that's dumb.."

He laughs "Come off it, you're just mad cause you keep losing."

You walk past him out into the empty street. You can hear Antis crunching footsteps behind you. You almost turn around to tell him to leave you alone when you remember that you're still painfully lost. He catches up abnormally quickly and lightly puts an arm around your shoulder. He watches those little puffs of cold air that you make and smiles, you're like a fuming little dragon.

"You know I don't mind our little games" you start of some serious thought "but this time really...scared me." You look up from the ground to make sure Antis listening to you.

You watch his face shift through different expressions. One a look of confusion, then thought, only for a light to kick on in his head, though the last look easily tells you it's the wrong one as he retracts his arm.

"Oh, I see...you're scared of me. Just like the others."

"What? Know, of course not. I just thought-"

"That I'm some kind of monster? Hell bent on killing you?"

"I didn't think it was you!" You manage to but in

He stops and stares, after a moment he silently urges you to go on.

You groan, of course you have to explain it to him..."Look around. There's no one here, it's dark, and I was alone I didn't realize it was you until you talked back through my phone. For all I knew, you were a kidnapper, mugger, or even worse-"

"Okay!" He cuts you off "okay..." he sighs, running a hand through his hair "I didn't mean to scare you...not like that at least." he pulls you into a side hug as you keep walking. "I'm s- st-" you grin, he can't even say the word. "I'm sorry." He finally manages to get out, still holding on to you.

"I'm just glad it was you. Even if you did beat me by cheating." You poke his ribs. You feel tingles of electricity as his body pixelizes.

"Hey now! Stop that." He bats your hand away.

You laugh softly to yourself. So he's ticklish? You'll have to remember that...

Another gust of wind goes by, seeping the cold deeper into your bones "Hey, uh Hun, Mint Chip, Love of My Life," you tilt your chin, looking at him "Can we hurry up and get home? It's absolutely freezing." Your wet socks have frozen and don't feel great at all.

He ruffles your hair "Sure thing baby doll. We'll even watch those cartoons." He pulls you in tight, and in an electrifying blip you two are gone.