4 THE SLAUGHTER ALLEY

"Bye, Ella!" Zara waved her hand as she walked her way to her other side of the road.

"Bye," Ella waved back.

The two girls need to split their way since Zara's home will be in the northern part of the city, and Ella will be traveling to the southern side, which will be the next after the next city. It's quite far, and aside from that, it's not her home, she was just staying in a company's staff house, and her home was even farther than that since it will be in the province.

The normal travel time is more or less an hour, but that's not the main problem if talking about transportation, especially during night time. Instead, the limited availability of busses that will be going to the south. Why? Because of the outrageous myth that people tell about the serial killer by the alley near the bus stop. People would always prefer not to ride busses to the south at night. They would rather stay somewhere and wait for the sunrise before going home.

The bus stop for the southbound route was right ahead of the next alley (the known slaughter alley). It's not that far; however, to reach there, you still have to walk at least fifty meters away, with the shady part of the sidewalk and not to mention the slaughter alley itself.

"Heh, it's just a myth, no real evidence that would actually prove that it's true." Ella kept talking to herself while she strides down the shady sidewalk. It's dark, and not a single living soul around. All she felt was the chilly breeze pulling her skin hair as it gave her chills on the spine. "Hmm...mm...mmm...mmm" After looking crazy for talking to herself, she hummed, just to keep herself distracted from the deafening silence, that all she could hear were the clomping of her boots and air that went in and out of her lungs.

Ella doesn't know if she should be happy or scared after hearing another set of footsteps behind her. Her first reaction is, of course, I look back and check the person behind her. But, what the heck, no one is there… She breathed in and out harder, thinking that it was just her imagination because of the things she kept thinking while on her way.

She continued walking when she heard someone's footsteps again, she abruptly stopped thinking and hoping maybe it's simply just an echo of her steps, but then she can't believe it, since the steps didn't actually coincide with hers. It was two steps delayed after she halted.

Ella's breathing started to double its pace, and her hammering heartbeat is beginning to get more and more apparent. She undeniably began to get agitated. Her feet join the pace of her heartbeat with the notion that whoever was following her, she should keep her distance far enough from him.

However, the heavy steps behind her were seemingly trying to catch on to her pace until she finally reached the bus stop. The worst thing is there's not a single bus at the bus stop. Ella peeked over to the side as she looked over the bus schedule posted on the wall and confirmed that there's actually someone there, but all she could see was a silhouette of a man coming.

She looked over the bus schedule to check the next bus, and there's still one last bus coming, 'thank god,' she sighed happily and was relieved.

Ella just stood at the edge of the sidewalk while keeping herself watchful, in case someone tried to attack her.

"Why are you alone?"

"Ah! What the heck!" Ella flinched, startled, and almost pushed her panic button the moment she heard a rather guttural but charming voice behind her. It was her blonde smug guy classmate Adam. 

He chortled, amused, while squinting mockingly at Ella as she unwittingly hopped, looking like a cat on a hot tin roof.

Ella swallowed with nervousness and rubbed her neck as she breathed in and out, calming herself. She kind of hated this guy for how he can even laugh after startling people. Things like that should not be done as jokes. What if he's startling people with some heart issues. Ella shook her head with her thoughts. At a certain point, she was also glad that at least she's not alone in that empty alley. Although behind her mind was praying that he's not a murderer.

"Uhm, she's going the other way," Thea replied the moment she felt calmer. "How 'bout you, where are you heading?"

"Whichever way you go." He jested with his slightly sarcastic and unrealistic answer.

"Oh, is that so? Why? Do you have any idea where I will go?" she replied with a cheeky grin.

He gibed, "I know you won't believe it, but what if I'll tell you yes?"

Ella looked at him from the side with a bemused look. 'Is he for real?' She thought. Sure thing, he got it right that she will never believe what he said, not the slightest.

Ella winced and smiled thankfully as the glaring yellow headlight of the coming bus flashed on them. "Finally, the bus is here," she muttered.

The bus stopped in front, just right in front of them. Ella abruptly climbed up on it. There were only a few passengers, so there were still a lot of vacant seats inside. Most of the passengers were asleep, if not busy with their phones or staring outside the window.

She chose to sit near the aisle, thinking that she would simply be occupying both rows since there were still many vacant seats available. However, her blonde and smug classmates pushed her knees aside so he could get in and sit beside Ella.

She submissively glimpsed at him from the side of my eyes as she sighed. She can't deny that she was anxious because even though he was handsome and didn't really look like some scary serial killer, still, she knew nothing about him.

Aside from that, weird things kept on playing inside her mind, 'What if he's a rubber or a gang member who will take people's organs and sell them online?' Ella got chills with those thoughts and made her keep her vigilance up as she threw him a few edgy glimpses, which he also seemed to notice as she saw him dampening down his smile.

Later, as the conductor was on his way to collect everyone's fare, he put his bound notebook on Ella's lap, which startled her again, more like an exaggerated startle. She gawped over him while she raised my hands together with her questioning glare.

Made Ella noticed that he was actually not bringing anything like a bag aside from one notebook or maybe a pen in his pocket.

He noticed Ella's het up a reaction, so he said, "Just a moment?" while he dug his hand in his pocket and took out some bills, " For two please, one for Caroline hills and one for Ganary wharf." He passed the fair to the conductor and turned his attention back to Ella after as he said, "that's for the both of us."

Instead of saying thank you, Ella was apprehensive, and she blurted.

"You're going to stop at the Ganary?" She asked while handing him back his notebook, and he nodded. "Then how did you know that I'm staying near Caroline hills?"