The night was cold, air was covered in thick fog, that a person could only see a few meters away. The clouds were extremely dark tonight. Winter is coming and you could tell. Arnold is a really small town where rumors go round easily, sixty percent of the population knows each other. Hence, private people like to remain awfully disconnected to avoid being the headline of the latest gossip in town.

Cherry leaves the library late because she stays alone and it gets boring when she leaves early. The library was located on Sesame street close to the pastry place and on the left hand side is the exotic boutique where Cherry feeds her eye on her break time. Other stores in Sesame road includes a convenience store, a music studio, an art gallery, a unisex salon, a butcher’s shop, a beauty place which make the street quite bubbly compared to a lot of other areas in Arnold.

Cherry knows that it’s a bad idea to leave the library this late considering the rumors of strange occurrences going on in Arnold for the past few months. People have been going missing for a while, the lucky ones return days later but with no memory where they had been for the past few days. The street butcher was the first one to be declared missing on the street. There was a search team organized by residents to find him and the police are still in search for him with no productive trail. Occupants, residents and business in Arnold knows not to walk late at night.

Cherry was buried in mystery novel and did not notice how much time had passed. She spends most of her time at the library, those are the only good moments of her life at the moment. She would leave earlier if she had like a date or someone to meet up with. She broke up with her boyfriend Chris for over a few months now, and has buried herself in work since then. Most people see being a Librarian as a job, she doesn’t see it that way. She lives the best part of her days there reading, recommending, caring for books, getting lost in thrilling and adventurous books.

Cherry tries to increase her speed to catch the last bus at the bus station, she could hear the cry of owls and night birds echoing in the street as she walks. There was no sight of human around, all she could hear was birds and the sound of her shoes on the street as it was very quiet. She looks back to see if she is the only one on the road and she sees someone in a black leather coat walking slowly, a few feet away from her.

“The guy on expensive black leather coat.” She thought to herself.

Cherry has never had a conversation with him before but she imagines that he also works in Sesame street because they mostly leave the street around the same time and his coat was a good quality coat, she could tell by just looking. He looked exotic like he spends a lot of time and money taking care of himself. He is a bit above six feet tall with silky and long blonde hair. That was all cherry could see of the stranger from several feet away. She was a bit relieved that she was not alone. She faced forward to concentrate on the road to sees another person coming towards her, now she is a bit scared so she increases her speed. The stranger comes in front of her blocking her from moving forward.

He smelled of booze and some sort of cigarette. He was a tall, chubby man with hairy face and not too bright set of teeth. He had a leather jacket on which struggled to fit due, she could tell because she could see his belly spill below the end of the jacket. He was wearing a dirty brown T-shirt underneath the jacket and his boot were as though he was coming from somewhere muddy. Cherry became afraid and remembers the pepper spray in her bag.

“Damn!” She said in a lowly tone.

Cherry was angry at how foolish she is for not holding that in her hand from the onset of the journey.

“Sorry, can I pass?”

She said as she slowly tries to reach for the pepper spray, with her hands shakily wandering through a lot of stuff in her bag.

“You shouldn’t be walking alone this late at night you know?” He burps and moves closer to her.

“Please sir, I don’t want any trouble, I’m trying to catch the last bus” She said in a shaky voice.

Cherry looked back to see if the guy on expensive black leather coat was still behind her but she couldn’t see anyone behind her.

He laughs annoyingly and stretch his hand towards her face. She tilts her face from his hand and begins to reach for her bag.

“Have you had dinner?” He asked.

“Yes…yes I have thank you” She said.

“Well I haven’t had dinner yet” he said in a mocking voice.

“I can give you money to get something to eat.” She said hoping he was just a common thief.

“No miss…you are my dinner tonight so don’t fight it.” The stranger replied in a horrific voice.

Cherry knew she was in trouble; she immediately grabs a hold of the next thing her hand could feel in her bag to hit the stranger but she was too slow. He hit her hard in the face with his elbow which made her glasses fall off. She was unable to see clearly so she made a run for her life through the white fog. He pulls her hair aggressively and this time he put more energy into hitting her on the face. She fell flat, all she could see was darkness as she passed out.