A Timid Woman: In Hollywood

There once was a shy girl named, Ashlyn afraid of the world, anecdotally she had a group of friends that had high profile status in the glamorous, world of social media. She wanted to become something big, somebody special, someone that had the power of emotional grip just by the sight of a character. Her best friend and roommate, Sara was a bright woman, never wrong. The epitome of the definition of a, “Strong Woman”  If she stared at you long enough, she was able to figure out, even the most complex puzzles of vehemence you might of had hiding.

One day, Sara came up to Ashlyn and said, “Hey do you want to come to record some Tiktok videos with me and the girls? We can all get together this weekend and create some new brand deals or maybe just get a few likes.”.

Ashlyn responds, “Yeah that totally sounds so fun! Like here in our apartment?”

“No bitch at the Hollywood Hills, I got a connect, a guy named PushRoll, he owns a big house up there next to celebs, maybe we can get lucky with one of them if we’d like… hahah!” Laughed Sarah, with a little smirk.

Ashlyn, already nervous about the thought of even getting out of her comfort zone and talking to random strangers was terrifying to her. She nervously smiled back at Sarah, put on her poker face and readily said, “Bitch I’m down for whatever, I could definitely use some more likes on my shit.”

Ashlyn had always been a little timid since her adolescence, always wanting to prove herself to others that she was, good enough. In her youth she loved to just sit down at the library and ponder about what kind of world she wanted to live in for the afternoon. Maybe sci-fi and become a space pirate of some kind, or read a romance novel and fall in love with a small town boy, by a lake while having a picnic. The world was full of imagination for Ashlyn…as long as it was in her head. Comfort was safety, and in her preferred world, for Ashlyn, she intended to keep it that way forever since it was the only way she knew how to live. Until one day, on the day of the party, she was having second thoughts about whether on going or not.  She was walking back home from her favorite library, and she saw a clique of sharp eyed beautiful girls, with surprisingly no worries on their faces. They were in a car, a beautiful baby blue convertible, all so happy to be singing the same song, “The Metro” by Berlin. They had their hands in the air, all moving in synchronized motions swaying side to side to the dancing beat; their hair flowed like life itself in the wind, and everyone around the street had their eyes locked in from all angles of the world.

She felt the wave of energy, she saw the way the people in the street admired the women in that fancy car. Energy combusting in sound wave frequencies and laughter. For the first time she felt, maybe that life doesn’t look so bad? That life looked infectious. She wanted that.

However inside of her head, she began going down a rabbit hole of overthinking, and self sabotage. Realizing, she never in her life had anyone look at her that way, or ever gone to a party or even kissed a boy on the lips. Little Ashlyn, had always been too scared to try anything new. The long walk home, now felt like a battle of self worth and contemplation.

She arrived home and looked at herself in the mirror, looking for something to use as the new spark of her new beginnings. But nothing was there? All she saw in her room was typical quiet Ashlyn, the girl that loves reading, and being home, in peace and quiet. Frustrated with herself she ran to her records and put on a album. “Knee Deep In Hoopla” by Starship. The song, “Tomorrow Doesn’t Matter Tonight”, plays. She stood her ground, still in her thoughts, she began having an existential crisis. She ran to the bathroom and curled her hair, put on false eyelashes, make up that she hadn’t used in ages, and a glossy lipstick that reminisced with her, just like the kind on the girls in that convertible. She created a whole new look for herself, someone that she didn’t recognize, someone that doesn’t live in fantasies but in real life instead. She looked at herself in the mirror once more, and stared at herself for a long time. Looking at every detail, turning her face to inspect every new edge to her character, a new persona. “I can do this.”, repeated in her head, and a subtle smile from the end of her lips came anew, Ashlyn was reborn, and she felt pride within herself, as the song finished in the background, she called Sarah to tell her she was ready to get picked up for the party.

Soon after, Sarah and her friends all arrive to their apartment to pick up Ashlyn, all of the girls were extremely happy to see her. Sarah, exit the car to hug Ashlyn, “Oh my god! I’m so glad your coming you never come out with us! You’re not going to regret this, cutie I promise!”

“I hope not, and thanks again for inviting me to come! All of you look so good!” Ashlyn got inside the car and was smiling persuasively, looking at all the other girls outfits, everyone looked so beautiful and sexually desirable. The energy was pumping and the music was flowing, but inside Ashlyn’s head, she was having little panic attacks, tiny breaths of air entered her lungs and small drips of sweat fell down her back as they got closer to the top of the Hollywood hills. It was getting really dark now and for some odd reason the winds blew a feeling of distress to young Ashlyn.

“Hey girl, you’re going to have a lot of fun, we don’t usually go to these types of parties but its the perfect way to get loose, and you definitely look like you have to get loosened, you know haha!” Said Sarah’s friend.

“What? What do you mean?” Ashlyn looked back in shock at Sarah’s friend, total confusion spiraled in her face.

“Well you know, we all know you’re a virgin haha, you’re actually the most purest of us all!” Said Sarah’s friend.

“What the fuck Sarah! Why did you tell them that, you’re supposed to keep that a secret!” Ashlyn, became upset, she ran numb and cold with complete embarrassment after all the girls laughed at her.

Sarah, was driving and turned back at her roommate, “Oh come on Ashlyn, sorry we were all out last night too and it just slipped out of my mouth but who cares! You’re not going to be one after tonight is over haha!” All the other girls laughed with excitement and joy. Cheering, Ashlyn on and holding her hands up, pumping her arms to the loud music in the car. It was infectious, with all the optimism in the small car, she couldn’t help but slip out a little smile and laugh.

Finally, they arrived at the big house in the hills, and it was closer to night time, and the moon was glowing on the cars below it. The home was enormous, and truly something to be in awe of. It almost portrayed a, Great Gatsby vibe with people dressed up in far-flung costumes with large exotic feathers on their backs; smiles as big as the crescent moon itself lighting the way beneath them. The music was playing terribly loud, and everyone was dancing in the front of the home while others were entering and exiting. House music was playing in the background, and the bpm kept everyone moving in synch. They parked the car and they all screamed out of excitement and joy, except Ashlyn, she was holding her purse tightly to her body, afraid that she could perhaps lose it in the gigantic house. “It’s going to be fun girl! Let’s go and meet some boys.” Said Sarah as she put her arm around, Ashlyn. “Let’s go get a drink, I’m ready to get drunk already!”

Life Of The Party: Not Her

Ashlyn and Sarah walked together as their friends walked in front of them. Sarah’s friends already had their phones out and began to recording each other to boast about their lives on social media. Watching this behavior, amplified with the loud music in the background made Ashlyn, very uneasy. She thought to herself, “If I get a little buzzed maybe I’ll like this music a little more? I want to be part of this life so bad… I need to get drunk right now and get loose.”

As they walked in the home, it looked even more miraculous from the inside. There were two stair cases going up to the second floor, each one had gold trim handles and red velvet stairs that shinned with the different color lighting from the ceiling. “La Candela Viva” by, Wax Motif & Matroda was playing in the background and everyone, was dancing and laughing with skinny glasses of wine and champagne in their hands; absolutely no one looked like they were having a bad time. This place was the definition of, Life Of The Party and immediately Sarah’s friends dispersed into the crowds to look for the nearest bar. The more that Ashlyn observed, everyone was in motion except a strange man at the very top of the stairs. He was leaning forward with a drink in his hand, he was wearing a gold masquerade mask too. Something about the mans look didn’t look friendly to Ashlyn. His persona spit out a image of a eagle waiting for the right time to catch it’s prey.

Sarah, looked at her best friend and said, “Hey, let me introduce you to PushRoll. I’m sure you’d love to meet him.” They walked together through the crowd and pushed their way to the stairs. There were so many people on the stairs dancing that it made it difficult for, Ashlyn to find her step. Suddenly, a dancer pushed Ashlyn significantly hard while Sarah, wasn’t looking. “Hey!” Ashlyn, yelled. She was about to fall down the stairs, and Ashlyn was about to let out a scream until, she felt a firm hand grab her arm and helped her regain her balance. She turned up to see who it was.

“Hey, are you okay?” Said the man. The voice was strangely deep.

“Hey yes thanks I’m okay.” Said Ashlyn.

“Ashlyn, let me introduce you to, PushRoll. PushRoll, this is my best friend Ashlyn.” Said Sarah. Inside of Ashlyn’s head none of this seemed like a coincidence, she was having suspicion that somehow all these upcoming things were supposed to happen. Almost like it was planned. Now Ashlyn, looked at PushRoll’s mask up close. It was actually the most terrifying mask in the whole party. It was made out of gold, but the eyes where wide, it had two large white pupils with small black center points. It looked uncomfortable to look at. The nose looked like a human skull’s, and the mouth was smiling with small drips of fake blood on the edges and some teeth. It definitely did not look party-like, in fact the contrary.

“Hello, nice to meet you.” Ashlyn’s timid voice was too obvious to hide, she spoke in a fearful matter. She did not like this man at all.

“Okay, well bestie I’m going to go get a drink, ya’ll could get to know each other, bye!” And off Sarah went, leaving her best friend with a stranger.

“Wait!” Said Ashlyn as she saw her best friend fade into the crowd. She turned to look at PushRoll and his posture still hadn’t changed. Now suddenly the music dramatically got quieter in her head and the world became muffled. He just stayed starring at her with no words to say. “Ummm, nice party? Did you do this all your self?” Asked Ashlyn. He slowly nodded his head up and down. “Okay…” Ashlyn was running out of words to say, she wanted to escape and go find her friends. Suddenly the man puts up his hand and points his finger up. “What is it? What are you pointing at?”. PushRoll, swayed his hand in a, follow me motion, turned around and walked slowly into the crowd. Weirdly enough, everyone moved to the sides like if he was a ship in the water splitting the crowd. Ashlyn, was becoming anxious of his behavior, and creeped out by the way people behaved around him too. As she paced behind him, some of the dancers looked at her and gave her weird creepy smiles. Like they knew what was going to happen next, and she was the only one in the palace that was clueless of what was happening. This man only spoke once, and when he did his voice was incredibly deep and creepy. This was all becoming abnormal for Ashlyn, but she did not want to seem like a loser in front of everyone or embarrass her friend, Sarah. So she followed suit, and walked cautiously behind him.

The Golden Room: A Place Of Regrets

They kept walking slowly too the back of the home until the music started to get lower, as they walked in the hallway, it also carried a strange heaviness to it. Like something had happened there, something bad, something perhaps sinister. The plundering thought of regret started to drum inside of Ashlyn’s head now and she finally spoke up. “Hey, umm, I think I’m going to go back. I want to get another drink.” PushRoll, stopped his steps in front of her and turned around slowly. The sight of his mask scared Ashlyn, so she turned away and then he stepped closer to her.

Now, he was face to face with Ashlyn, and she could hear the breathing behind his mask. It seriously terrified her and she took a step back, “Come with me…” said PushRoll, and he pointed at a door. It was a  basic black door, but she knew there was something very odd about it. Who had black doors? Most people didn’t own black doors in their homes. She was beginning to panic a bit. “Open!” PushRoll yelled.

Ashlyn, flinched and tightened her arms close to her body. “Okay, okay sorry!” She was perilously scared and her lips began to tremble a bit. She reached out to open the door, twisted the handle, and pulled the door. It was oddly heavy, maybe it was that she was so scared, it made the door feel heavier. It was pitch black inside, no sound or light was coming from inside. She turned to look at PushRoll, and his face was directly in front of her. She jumped out of fright, and he pushed her inside. Then closed the door. Ashlyn let out a scream, “Help!!!”

She was on the ground, crawling and gliding her hands through the floor to feel something to help her get up. Her small purse also had fallen from her during the fall. She tried to feel for her belongings. Panicked, somehow she finally obtained the2 courage to stand up and feel for a wall. She was swaying her arms back and forth all around her then finally she felt something. It felt really cold to the touch, similar to stainless steel; a pipe, behind it was a wall. The wall had ridged holes in it, it grossed her out feeling random holes, but she kept feeling for an edge or a light switch. Finally the lights turned on. Everything was so bright and yellow. It was like a sun began to glow in the room from all directions. She put her hand to her face and covered her eyes, and suddenly she realized the whole room was colored in gold just like PushRoll’s mask. The room was huge, and all the walls had little holes in them. She looked around and saw that one wall had large knives on it and an axe hanging. There was also whips, chains, cuffs and a weird looking table with a TV on top. She was full of fear in her body, and she was running cold. She began crying and struggled to stay standing up while engulfed in fear, finally she saw PushRoll standing still in the corner of the room, he began to laugh ominously. Each sound of laughter echoed in the room and it sounded like he was on all corners of the room.  She cried helplessly and screamed again, “Help!!!” As she was moving back, she tripped on herself and saw her small purse and the black door behind her. Her breathing was extremely heavy, and her hands were struggling to stay still. She finally got up and grabbed her purse and the door and pulled it open. As she was closing the heavy black door, she turned back one last time to see where PushRoll was, and he was nowhere in sight. She didn’t care however, and slammed the door shut at last. Now she had to find her friends and get home.

As she’s running to find her friends, she’s crying and sobbing profusely, stumbling on all the walls and the party people in the hallway; struggling to look for anyone she knew. “Help! I’m trying to find my friends! Can you help me!” Cried Ashlyn as she grabbed the first person she saw in sight.

“What the fuck dude, get a grip!” Said the stranger, and pushed her off. Ashlyn, sobbed and sobbed, she was repeatedly saying help me to everyone, but no one seemed to budge. She looked incredibly drunk, stumbling around the hallway like that. She realized she probably was scaring people off, but for that moment she didn’t care, all she wanted was her friend Sarah, to take her home and completely end the night. Everyone around Ashlyn, took steps back, as she got closer to everyone.and now she felt like a complete embarrassment to herself too. Her makeup was all smeared from her wiping her face and her mascara was bleeding black all around her eyes, making her look like a scary mess too.

After searching the mansion for a couple minutes, she finally found her best friend, Sarah outside by the pool staring into the water sitting down next to a couple of guys. Hysteria, and happiness came like a wave of finally to Ashlyn, hope and a way out. She ran to her and fell down while she was getting closer to her. “Sarah! I finally found you! I want to go home I can’t stand being here one more minute!”

“Hey do you need some water?” Asked one of the men sitting next to Sarah, he reached out to give her a water bottle, and a small giggle came out of him right after.

“Actually, yes please!” Ashlyn grabbed the water bottle and drank as much as she could. “Ewww, what the fuck, that’s not water what is that?!”

Sarah turned around and saw Ashlyn, “Sweetie! I’ve missed you where have you been the whole time!”. Sarah, was drunk out of her mind, and even she was swaying back and forth like a stumbling drunk.

“I need to get home now!” Said Ashlyn.

“No no no, we can’t, I don’t want to, and even if we wanted to we’re all super drunk and you know I can’t drive like that! It’s illegal remember…” Sarah was stuttering her words and stumbled her feet on the ground. “You know that water you took…it’s special water haha!” Everyone looked at Ashlyn like a fool, immediately the happiness and hysteria, turned again into a sinking ship of embarrassment and humiliation.

“Fuck all of you, what the fuck was in that water,  I can’t believe you didn’t even ask me if I’m okay, I’ll find my own way home!” For the first time, Ashlyn became profound, a force nature of a wall that could not be stopped; she sounded strong voiced. Sarah and her guys friends all stopped laughing. Sarah for the first time saw a new Ashlyn, but not the regular weak woman, a strong but afraid woman. She didn’t like the way she spoke.

“Fine, go on then, little Ashlyn, uber home. You’re welcome for the Molly, have a nice trip home!” Sarah, and her guy friends all smirked at her and turned their backs at Ashlyn. She was abandoned, left on her own to get home.

Fake Friends: A Juggle With Reality

Fear and anxiety struck Ashlyn, again. Those two emotions combined together had been the recipe for disaster the entire night, but she was completely fed up with all the bullshit. She reached for her bag, and found her phone completely cracked on the screen, probably from her fall in the gold room. Her battery was at 10%, she quickly checked the price of the uber. It was 120$, that was way to much for Ashlyn, she only worked one job at a coffee shop, and she couldn’t afford that. She waited a bit for it to maybe go down but after two minutes her battery went down to 9% and the price: only went up. Ashlyn, felt defeat in her hands and crossed her arms, but she knew one place that could take her home for a fraction of that price. She searched up the nearest train station and found one 3 miles down. The cost, 12$. It was getting really late now, but that was the cheapest, fastest way to home. She made a decision and called the uber.

At last, after a couple of minutes the Uber arrived. It was an old Indian man, on the driver seat, “Hello, pick up for Ashlyn?”

“Yes that’s me thank you so much!” Said, Ashlyn as she opened the door and stepped in. Playing With Fire, by The Rolling Stones was playing softly in background on the radio.  She finally felt safe, and buckled her seat belt. “I really appreciate you picking me up, I really need to get to the,  A line train station.”

The driver turned around and looked at Ashlyn one more time, through the rear view mirror and saw that she was troubled. “My goodness young lady, what happened to you? Did you break up with your boyfriend or something?” He noticed she had her mascara all wiped from her cheeks and face. She didn’t realize it but her hair was also all over the place as well. Suddenly Ashlyn begins to feel a large wave of warmth crawl all over her body, and her ears begin to clog as well.

“Woah, what’s happening to me… could this be the drugs?” She remembered that the driver was talking to her. “Umm no actually, I just left a party and I wasn’t having a good time so I needed to leave.” Her eyes began to feel like heavy bricks, she turned to look out the window and all the lights felt like a slow motion roller coaster. Each color felt like a different emotion. She put the window down to get some fresh air, and the wind blowing on her face felt like a cool rush to the head, a beautiful feeling like no other. Like the air had the necessary ingredient for her life at that exact moment in time. It all felt very strange to Ashlyn, her breathing was starting to feel heavy too, this worried her a little because she’s never taken any drugs in her life before. But she knew to stay calm and hopefully it’ll go away soon. The only thought going through her head was: get to the train, get home, get to the train, get home. The driver looked at the mirror and saw she was acting a little off beat.

“Well good thing were almost at the train station, and then you’ll be home soon young lady. Looks like you’ve had enough of today. But I just want to warn you, beware when you’re underground, in the train station. I hear that’s where the crazies go sometimes at night. Do you have a sweater? Surely you’re not going in just like that right?” Said the driver, he seemed genuinely worried for Ashlyn. He looked at her in the mirror and saw she wasn’t responding or looking back at him. “Hey! Young lady!” The driver finally pulled up to the train station and he faced back to make sure, Ashlyn was okay. Her eyes were all loopy, and she had a small look of worry in her face. Her lips were tight, and her eyebrows were clenched as well. “Lady, we have arrived at the, A Line train station, are you okay?”

“Yes, yes sorry, I just feel a little out of it right now. I apologize. I’ll get out now.” Ashlyn, finally responded. Nothing that he had said registered in her head. Her voice sounded weak and troubled, almost second guessing herself with every word and sentence. Her poor body was feeling the immense rush of drugs pound her body. She felt like a boat, floating on water, but the water wasn’t blue, this time it was all black and very still, and she couldn’t see what came after. And there was no sun and no moon, only street lights in all random directions.

The Station: Paranoia

“Okay lady, I’m going to give you a sweater and a blanket. Wait right here.” The uber driver gets out of his car to get her the sweater and blanket. While he was doing this, Ashlyn, looked out the window and looked at the station. She saw it was all really dim lit, and it was all made with rugged old concrete and a touch of typical vibrant artistic spray paint all over it. It looked very brutalist in architecture, and it didn’t make her feel better or safer about taking the train. She looked a little closer, and saw where the stairs led down. But what she saw next made her more afraid. She kept on looking at the first step, something was moving up and down; she saw half a face with big round eyes, staring back at her. It almost looked like it was peaking up just to see her. Bang! She freaked out and jumped! She turned around and it was the Indian man, shutting the trunk. He went around and opened her door and said, “Okay lady, sorry but this is the best I can do for you. Here’s an old sweater that belonged to my son, I rarely see him now but I think you need it more. And here is a water bottle just in case, you should drink some.”. The old man, helped her out the car and she put the sweater on.

“Th-th-thank you…” said Ashlyn.

“Do you have, maybe a friend that can pick you up and take you home instead?” Said the old man.

“NO! Fuck my friends, they’re the reason I’m like this!” Ashlyn, yelled suddenly remembering the way they treated her. She began tearing small cloudy drops mixed with the agony of black, down her cheeks.  “Thank you I have to go now, I don’t want to miss my train.” She grabbed her purse tightly, and walked slowly into the A Line Train Station.

“Okay lady, please be safe and good luck!” Said the old man. He saw her walking calmly and disappeared down the stairs.

As she was walking down the stairs, a small sting of sourness lingered in the air, a smell similar to sulfur, and old moldy rags. She was disgusted; but she was committed and on a mission, she had to keep moving. She looked around and saw a couple of people down in the station sleeping on the benches, nothing to fear yet, but she also heard someone whispering very fast, but she couldn’t tell from what direction it came from? She finally got to the bottom of the stairs and saw she was on platform 1. That train was going to Long Beach. The next one would arrive in 3 minutes. She needed to get on that train, just for a couple stops and exits. Then her next Uber wouldn’t be so expensive to get home. Finally, she was almost done.

She stayed still waiting for the train, not wanting to feel anything to overwhelming. Every sound she heard, everything she touched felt immensely intense to her because of the drugs. Like she had a connection to everything in some way. “Its coming.. its coming…its coming..”. Ashlyn, turned to look around and she saw a homeless lady staring at the tunnel, on the other side, the second platform, repeating the same words over and over. There was a small flickering light above the woman, and she was sitting down with her legs crossed. Ashlyn, looked closer at her, and saw there was a small puddle of blood under the woman to. “Its coming… its….” The woman had paused whispering. Ashlyn, took a deep breath and gripped her purse even tighter, she had a bad feeling about that lady. “Its here…Its here…its…Ahhhh!” The lady on the floor screamed and began shaking; her whole head turned a 180, and faced directly at, Ashlyn. Ashlyn screamed now too out of fear, the floor was shaking now below her feet. All the lights in the station started  flickering even faster, the noises were getting louder, and a large burst of air hit Ashlyn, making all her hair blow up. The train had arrived on platform 1, and the doors opened. Poor Ashlyn, was incredibly high, and now she felt like she could not tell what was real from fake. Her entire nervous system, was unquestionably paranoid of everything. The doors opened in front of her, and she slowly stepped in.

The Station: Inside My Nightmares

She looked around to see if there was anyone in the train with her but the cart was empty. No one was there. The lighting inside of the train was an amber yellow, hazy but still bright enough to see different colors. The seats were dirty, they had worn out texture peeling off, with colors of black and brown stains, and there was graffiti all over the windows. The smell of the train also disturbed her, it smelled like intense sulfur now, with a mix of dark red copper similar to blood. Poor Ashlyn’s eyes were felt like a battle of light and darkness. She thought to herself, “Should I take a nap? I can have my alarm go off in 10 minutes and I’ll wake up. I shouldn’t be here longer than 15 minutes.”. All of her emotions were getting to her, and now overstimulated as well, her body couldn’t take it. She needed to rest, and close her eyes. Nothing in the night was going well, the way it was supposed to. All she wanted was to be cool, a part of something bigger than herself, a precedent to her friends. She wanted a spot light of the exhilaration of being, someone in Hollywood. But no, the world wouldn’t let her. She was too fragile, too soft, she was not good enough, or maybe she was? Her mind was going to places that she’s never touched before, corners that were too dark and too bright to be in. She felt blind and confused, helpless was the least to say. “Am, I not enough?” She thought, “Or is it just this damn stupid fucking drug!” She closed her eyes alas for a second, and crossed her arms, she sat at the very end of the train.

Bing! The doors opened. Ashlyn opened her eyes in a panic, thinking that she might’ve over slept. But she didn’t, the train had only moved one stop. She eased herself, and crossed her arms even tighter in her small dress. Someone walked into her train from the other side. It was a man, a very tall man all dressed in black clothes, a oversized sweater and black jeans. He had messy hair and his hair was completely covering his face. He stayed still looking at Ashlyn. She looked up at him, and felt a very cold presence to his nature. She scolded her eyebrows at him, then the  PA in the train said, “Please stand back, the doors are closing.”. As the doors were about to close. He stuck his hand out and blocked the doors from closing. Now Ashlyn, was worried and felt a huge wave of panic swallow her entire body from head to toe. Suddenly the man moved his head to look at the doors and as they opened again he walked out of the train. Ashlyn took a very deep breath and relaxed her grip in her arms. “Just a couple more stops to go, I can do this…”.

The PA repeated the same thing, “Please stand back, the doors are closing.” Ashlyn, laid her head back; and tried to relax. In a blink of an eye, the man in black jumped into the train again, but this time closest to Ashlyn. The doors closed and he stayed still as the train moved her entire body with the weight of the haul. Coldness ran inside the train, like a plummet  into the coldest ocean. She looked at the windows and it began to freeze, small icicles started to form. She looked back at the man in black and now he was facing Ashlyn, still standing still without grabbing anything for balance. He took a step towards her and she yelled back at him.

“Hey, s-stay there! Don’t come a-a-any closer!” Ashlyn yelled. He took another step. “Hey you m-mother fucker! I s-s-said don’t take a-another step!” She was trembling in absolute death. She felt his presence getting closer as the windows froze more and more. The man in black, finally moved his hair slightly off his face and she saw two huge eyes all in white with two small black center points. The outline of his eyes were in gold. She felt the wave of panic again in her body, and her seat was commencing to shake. She knew who this was, the same erratic movements he was making, the same voiceless but yet screaming silence he was projecting. She finally screamed at him. “I, I, I know who the f-fuck you are! Asshole, I’m going to call the p-police!” She pulled her phone out and it said 1%. There is no way, she thought. I’m not wasting any time. She unlocked it and dialed 911.

The phone rang and someone finally answered. “Hello, this is 911, do you need police, firemen, or both!”

“I-I need the p-police!” Ashlyn was struggling to form her words, her arms and lips felt heavy when speaking. Like if she was injected with anesthesia.

“Okay, please tell me where you are.” Said the dispatcher.

“I’m in t-the train s-sta….” Ashlyn was interrupted.

“Or do you need to die? Are you even alive? Are you worth living in this world? You stupid girl!” The dispatcher was screaming.

“What?! Who is this!” Screamed Ashlyn.

“It’s me you pathetic little girl!” The phone’s words and the man in black screamed at the same time. Ashlyn dropped her phone in fear, and the man pulled back all his hair to reveal his mask again. And now, he pulled out a knife from his back. “It’s your time to die now!” He ran and jumped at Ashlyn! She struggled to fight for her life by kicking him and blowing as many punches as possible. But the large man held her body down and punched her face three times. The first one, slowed her body down, the second made her unconscious, by the third time, she was almost borderline dead.

Ashlyn’s poor soft bleeding face, attempted to look up one more time. It was very difficult, her eyes were pumped black, and her lips split in half. If before she was struggling to know what’s real or not. Now she had absolutely no clue whether she was still alive or not. She finally saw the masked man again and said with all her last might she had in her left. “W-why are y-you doing this?”, a small puddle of blood began to form under her where she sat in her seat. A small dark red river flowed down her broken lips and her used to be beautiful nose.

The man in black got off of her, and he slowly took off his mask, and said, “Because I had to, I hate you.” It was Sarah, the whole time. “I can’t stand your perfect little life, and this, is your end of the line…” She ran to Ashlyn and stabbed her three times in the stomach. Gushes and gushes and gushes of her beautiful pure blood, spilled out of Ashlyn’s poor body. She didn’t deserve any of this. All she wanted was to go home, and be in her safe place in her room reading books. Innocence at its highest peak, she was almost biblical, close to saint-like. A phenomenon that her best friend Sarah, could never obtain. She was like Lilith, the one that spoke out. The one that refused to go with the norm, expelled from the good of the world just because she was different and wanted to do her own thing. Sarah, looked at Ashlyn’s dead body, dipped her finger in her blood and wrote her name on the window. “Sarah was here.” Then stayed looking at the blood drip down on the letters. She tilted her head and added a small line to her name, and erased a part of the H. Then she left. On the window. It said, Satan was here.

The end.