[Note: "Iulia" refers to the author of this insanity.]
Wild clacking from a computer keyboard rang throughout the tiny apartment. Slender fingers typed away, as a paper slowly came to be. A young woman, with short brown locks and a thin frame, sat there in front of the computer. Shino Nanao had worked hard to get her life back on track, and part of doing that was once again attending college and being assigned homework.
She didn’t mind, however. Things felt like they were finally moving forward.
Tap tap tap…
“Huh?” Shino turned her head at the sudden knock at her door. ‘Who could that be?’
All the wonderings in the world couldn’t have prepared the young woman for who she would find behind that door. If she had known what fate awaited her, she would have never walked across that room, unlatched that lock, and then opened that oh-so-protective door wide open.
“U-ummm, hello?” Shino asked the stranger.
Standing there, arms full of chocolate treats and flowers, was a girl who looked about Shino’s age, with short brown hair and rather plain dark clothing. But that wasn’t so much what was sending warning signs to Shino’s brain at the moment. No, it was the hugely creepy grin upon the stranger’s face.
That’s when the voice came.
“Oh my gosh, hi Shino! I can’t believe I’m seeing you in real life!”
The shock didn’t quite register at first. Shino begged it to be a lie. There’s no way it could be real.
“I-Iulia?” she asked tentatively.
The girl nodded vigorously. “Yep, that’s me! Hee, you actually recognize me! That’s so cool!”
Shino suddenly felt a pang in her stomach, as if she was about to throw up on the spot. “H-how do you know where I live?”
“Wow, so this is your apartment, huh? Neat!” Iulia exclaimed as she forced her way inside, conveniently avoiding the pressing question at hand.
Shino stood there in shock for several seconds, the door still wide open.
“Hey Shino, let me get that for you!” Iulia walked over and closed off the only exit. “You know, you really shouldn’t keep the door open like that, who knows what kind of creeps you might get just walking in here.”
Shino forced herself to smile, in fear of what the girl might do if she didn’t. “A-ahh, thank you.”
“So, what should we do first, hmm?” Iulia queried.
“Eh?”
“Well, aren’t you going to show me around?”
“H-hold on, I need to make a quick phone call first.”
“Okey dokey!” Iulia saluted as she seated herself at the computer chair.
Meanwhile, Shino grabbed the phone and locked herself away in the bathroom, dialing 911 as fast as her shaking fingers would allow.
