CREEP

2 ~ Missing

The thunderstorm rumbled.

It was so loud that it pulled Leo from his sleep.

He turned on the other side of the bed to lay his hand on Julia but it was just the feel of a pillow.

She was not in bed.

He quickly sat up in bed, gripped by shock and fear.

Where could she be? Had she left him? Had she found out something that made her run away? Or worse… Did something happen to her? God! What if something happened to her?

"Help!!! Help!!!"

Julia's terrified voice.

He hopped out of the bed and grabbed a knife from the drawer.

He quickly scampered to the livingroom.

The entire room was engulfed in darkness. It was cold and silent…

He could not see Julia in the darkness. But he could hear her low whimpers.

"Baby?"

But she didn't respond.

A film of sweat trickled down his brow as fear started to creep in. A cloud of horrific thoughts crowded his mind, afraid that something horrible had happened to his girlfriend.

He tiptoed in the darkness, trying to find the switch. The switch was the only way he could swath light into the room and see what had really happened to her.

The minute he flicked on the switch, he was horrified and astounded by the gruesome sight.

Julia.

Her deceased, naked body was lying on the cold floor in a pool of blood. She had been stabbed numerous times in the back and she was lying face flat.

He quickly bolted towards her and took her bloody body in his arms.

But she was cold.

Dead.

"God!" he cried out. "Who did this to!!! Jesus Christ!!! Who f*****g did this to you!!"

Her eyes flew open and she threw him a cold, spiteful glare.

"You did this to me!"

******

Julia stormed in.

She was surprised to find Leo awake.

She found him panting and sweating, terror masked on his face. She was just as terrified as he was by what she had just seen in the livingroom.

"There is someone in the livingroom!" she panted in fright. "Leo, you have to get up! There's someone in a mask sitting on the couch. Get the f**k up!!!"

He stared at her for a moment and burst out a laugh,

"I just had a nightmare. Don't tell me I'm so unlucky I woke up in another one!"

"This is not a nightmare! This is real, Leo!!! There is some creepy person sitting on your couch! There is nothing funny about that so stop making stupid jokes now!"

"The expression on your face is funny…"

"Leo!" she cried. "I am dead serious! This is not some stupid joke! There is some creepy individual sitting on the couch!"

He scoffed. "I know it's not funny but it sounds ridiculous…"

"Ridiculous?"

"Yes, ridiculous. Do you think that someone would easily enter my house when I have dogs and the best security here? Plus, this town is one of the safest in the country. Never heard of break-ins before!"

But that was not enough to calm her down. She was still terrified and frightened.

Leo crawled out of bed and strutted towards her. He took her hand in his and planted a peck on her forehead.

"Even if there was someone out there…" he paused. "Just know that I would do anything in my power to protect you…"

"Someone is not out there," she insisted. "Someone is in here, Leo."

"If there was really someone in here, I think he would have followed you to my room and then attack us. Don't you think?"

That kind of made sense.

If there was some creep, it was logical that he would have followed her and tried to attack her before she could tell on him.

" You have a baseball bat? " she asked abruptly, in a whisper.

" No, " he chuckled. " Why do you need a baseball bat?"

" Do you have a knife?"

" Yes. I keep it in the drawer…"

She was a little startled by his response. He kept a knife in his drawer?

Why?

But this was not the time to overthink anything. She rushed to the chest of drawers and took out a knife.

" What are you doing? What is that for?"

" You don't believe me. So let's go! " she took his hand firmly.

She led him to the livingroom that was dark and dead silent. She switched on the lights.

The three couches were empty.

No one.

There was completely no sign that someone had been sitting on any of the couches.

"I… I swear…" she stuttered. " I swear there was someone sitting there!"

She pointed to the couch.

But it was empty.

The livingroom was just as they had left it earlier. Two empty bottles of red wine stumbled on the floor beside her coat and black leather handbag. Her clothes cluttered on the carpet, just beside the fireplace.

He threw a quick glance at the door and it was locked.

No sign of a break-in.

"There is no one…" he said gently. "Now take a deep breathe and calm down…"

"I know I totally sound like some crazy b***h right now but I swear I saw someone sitting on that couch! I know what I saw, Leo!"

"I believe you," he tried to make her feel better. "But maybe it was just too dark you couldn't see clearly…"

But Julia knew what she had seen even though Leo didn't seem to believe her… It just pained her that he thought she was having hallucinations.

"I'm starving…" he took her arm and dragged her to the kitchen. "Let's get ourselves something to eat…"

She had been so terrified that she had forgotten that the reason she had gotten up was to get some food.

She forced a laugh, trying to shake off the last shreds of fear.

Maybe she had hallucinated…

Maybe there was no one…

Maybe Leo was right. It was too dark she couldn't see clearly...

******

Julia was woken up by kisses the following day.

She looked up, with her eyes half-opened and saw those gorgeous green eyes that sparkled so brightly than the morning sun.

Leo was such a beautiful man with a beautiful heart. And as if that was not enough, she discovered last night that he was such an excellent cook in the kitchen. To find a man that was both good in bed and in the kitchen sounded like a heavenly miracle.

The food he had made her that previous night was enough to shake off the fright she had felt after the eerie incident. After he was done cooking, they threw some hearty laughs and deep conversations in between the meal.

It was a lot of fun…

He was a lot of fun…

She liked him…

Liked him so much it kind of terrified her.

"Good morning, sunshine!"

"There's nothing good about the morning!" she groaned.

"You ungrateful b***h!" he knocked her with the pillow. "Waking up in my bed is what's good about the morning, okay!"

She laughed heartily and threw a pillow back at him. Before they knew it was a pillow fight, toppling allover each other, loud laughs hanging in the air.

But then a glance at the clock made her her heart stop.

She pushed him aside and hopped out of the bed, shrieking,

" f**k! I'm late for work!"

" You go to work on Saturdays?" he asked, surprised.

" Ummm… Yeah. Not all of us are lucky enough to be CEOs."

"Not my fault that you guys are so unlucky you work on weekends!" he joked.

She showed him the middle finger and bolted to the livingroom.

He lurked behind her, following her to the livingroom as he groaned. "You know... You really don't have to go..."

"Yeah... But I do though..."

"Let's strike a deal. I will pay you some good cash if you keep me company..."

"I am not passionate about babysitting, sir..."

"Did you just call me 'baby'..."

She rolled her eyes and looked around at the mess of a livingroom. Leo tossed himself on the couch, with a frown on his face, still begging her to stay.

Just like him, she wished she could stay too. Do that cliche cheesy 'Netflix and chill' s**t that all couples do on the weekends. Snuggle in bed next to him, with her head laid on his bare chest. Sounded like a perfect weekend plan but she couldn't miss work.

She was a workaholic and not to mention, her boss was a breathing devil.

"You are serious you are leaving me," he grumbled.

"I have to, Leo. I can't miss work..."

"What's the worst that can happen?"

"The absolute worst!"

Swiftly, she took off Leo's t-shirt and picked up her clothes on the floor. She quickly put them on, reminiscing about the previous night. It had been really wild and steamy.

She took her leather handbag and dug her hand inside to take her phone. She wanted to call her boss and explain a cooked-up lie of why she would be running late.

But her phone was not there.

"Is something wrong?" Leo asked her in alarm.

"No... I can't find my phone."

And even more strange, she couldn't find the purse where she usually kept her phone.

"Try to look more carefully and slowly..." Leo advised.

But even after she had emptied the entire bag, the purse was still not there.

Her phone. Her credit cards. Her ID card. The money. Everything she kept in her purse was…

Missing.

*********