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Chapter 14 - Witness

A man waited in line at a local fast-food restaurant. He was hungry, and he needed a quick snack before he could go. He was on a, let's say "road-trip," to a place he'd never been to before. Speaking of places he'd never been to before, this city was completely foreign to him. About the road trip, he wasn't particularly excited, but this needed to happen.

There was a girl behind him. She was staring at the man, and he noticed it, but as soon as he turned his head, she would avert her gaze somewhere else. This confused the man, and he became worried. He had never been in this situation before, so he had no idea what to do.

The man had turned his head back towards the front of the line, and the girl started staring again. She seemed to be raising the confidence to say something to the man. She took a deep breath and tapped the man's shoulder. He turned around slowly, and looked her in the eyes.

"Hey." The woman greeted the man with a small wave. "You look familiar to me, have we met?"

The man scanned her face, looking for all the slightest intricacies.

"You know what I think I do recognize you too!" The man told the woman. "I know you from…?"

"Tenth grade right?" The woman finished his sentence.

"Ah! Now I remember. It's been so long!"

"I know right!? We should catch up!"

"For sure!"

The man got to the front of the line and ordered he turned his head slightly, and looked back at the cashier.

"Her food's on me." He said.

They sat down at a table and started to talk while they waited for their food.

"So what have you been doing for this.. what..? thirteen years." The woman asked.

The man's brow twitched slightly and he looked away from the woman. "I haven't actually done anything since high school."

"Oh!" The woman put her hands up as if to say she was sorry for asking. "There's no need to be embarrassed! I was just wondering."

"It's fine. Anyway what do you do?" The man turned the tables on her.

"I work at this lousy office, it's not really anything to write home about."

"Oh really? What do you do there?"

"Uh." The woman hesitated. "I honestly don't know yet. I just got the job." She scratched her neck.

"Mhmm."

Their food was finally finished and they went up to get it, the woman following. The woman was about to grab her food, but the man grabbed it instead.

"How about we get out of here?" The man said, handing the woman her food. She smiled and nodded.

The man checked his watch, it was 9:37 PM, so the sun was already down and it was dark. They walked out of the restaurant and headed down the sidewalk. The traffic was horrible, even considering that it was past none o'clock, the traffic was bad. To be fair, in a city like the one they were in, that was to be expected.

"So where are we going?" The woman asked.

"I've got an apartment down this way." The man replied. "It's a long walk, but if you know where you're going, you can get their pretty quickly.

"Really?"

"Yep! I know some shortcuts around here."

They turned into an alley and walked down the narrow road. The sounds of the road became muffled and they could only hear sounds from rooms in the buildings beside them, or the calls of stray cats.

They were walking side by side in complete silence. The man creeped closer to the woman, eventually grabbing her hand and intertwining it in his. They looked at each other, the woman blushing, and the man smiling.

"Oh you know what!" The man blurted. "I've got something cool to show you!"

He went right in front of the woman and put his hand on her shoulder. The man was digging through his pockets looking for something, but the woman didn't notice. She started to lean into the man, edging ever so slightly closer to his face. The man noticed, and he started to lean in as well, his hand still in his pocket.

The woman closed her eyes, allowing whatever comes next to happen. She felt something cold underneath her jaw, and before she could even open her eyes, three bullets had been put into her skull, two of them exiting through the other side. The woman's body fell to the floor, completely lifeless. The man got down on his knees next to the woman and searched through all the pockets on her.

"Hmm." The man moaned in annoyance. "No police badge."

He got up and looked down upon her, inspecting her face once again. It had been just as it had been before. Unfamiliar. He put his gun back into his pants and walked over her body, taking her food with him. The truth is, he had never seen her before in his life. She should've known better than to approach random strangers.

Written by: HorrorsUnknown