Chapter 1

"You killed them!" She grit her teeth and clenched her fists. Raged steamed out of her every pore while tear poured from her eyes and down her cheeks. She punched the wall and wailed.

"If it wasn't for you, they'd still be alive!"

Leah felt herself lurch forward and smack the chair in front of her as the bus slowly came to a sudden stop. She heard the doors open and the bus driver call out last stop. She pulled her face off the seat in front of her and took a deep breath in. Slowly, she stood up and managed to fling her bag over her shoulder, then carefully picked up her guitar case.

"Hope you get to wherever you're goin', safely," the bus driver said as she passed him. Leah gave him a tired smile. She had been asleep on the bus for the past couple of hours.

"Thanks, Mister," she said and pushed her luggage through the small bus doors. She hopped off the last stair and onto a layer of fresh snow. It had been snowing since she had boarded the bus earlier that morning.

"Listen kid, just try and stay safe. This isn't exactly the best part of the city to be in, especially at night. There's a hotel around the corner and up a couple of blocks, if you don't have a place to stay..."

Leah tuned the man out. She stared out at the mostly empty city streets and took it all in. The smell of sewage, a new car alarm going off every couple of minutes or so, and the sound of cats and dogs constantly making their presence known to the sleeping world. She looked up at the sky. There were no stars. They were hidden behind snow clouds.

Leah smiled. This was her home now.

"Hey, are you listening to me, kid?" the bus driver said butting in on her imagination. She turned around, her eyebrows raised.

"I'm not a kid, anymore," she said bluntly. "I'm like 21. And don't worry about me, I'll be alright." Leah readjusted her bags and quickly made her way down the unknown road. The bus driver carefully watched her leave. He contemplated going after her. The girl would probably end up loosing all her money by daybreak. But she said for him not to worry about her; he closed the doors and drove off.

Leah strolled down the sidewalk with a sort of pep in her step. As exhausted as she was, couldn't help feeling excited. She was in a brand new city, full of brand new people, with brand new adventures ahead of her. She grinned like a child. It almost made her want to jump and cheer for joy. This was the first time she had ever truly been on her own. Even though she was in college, her grandparents were always breathing down the back of her neck and keeping a close eye on her. Growing up, though, that was normal for her. Ever since her parents had past, at least.

"Speaking of my grandparents," she said out loud and grabbed her cell phone out her jacket pocket.

2347, the clock read. She scrunched her nose up and made a face at her phone. Her grandparents wouldn't be up at this hour. She should've called them at the last bus station. She shrugged. She made a mental note to call them tomorrow. A low grumble erupted from her stomach and echoed through her ears. Leah placed a hand on her stomach. She hadn't had anything to eat all day aside from small bags of whatever she could find at the bus depots. Down the road from her a bright, neon sign lit up the area surrounding it.

Grillby's, it read.

'What a silly name for a restaurant,' she thought.

A gust of wind blew through the empty streets and sent a fierce shiver up her spine. The snow began to fall harder. Leah crossed her arms and pulled the jacket closer to her body, then trudged over to the restaurant. A gentle breeze blew over her face as she walked inside. The familiar smell of greasy burgers and hot fries forced it's way up nose; it brought a smile to her face, and also made her mouth start to water a little bit.

"Are you just going to stand there and let the warmth outside or are you going to come in?" she heard someone yell at her. Leah blinked and looked around. The place looked like a cozy pub from a movie. A cozy pub full of monsters who were staring at her. Leah felt her face get hot. She lowered her head and quickly made her way to the bar area. She put her bag on the ground and leaned her guitar against the counter next to her. She had never seen so many monsters in her life. Where she was from, the monster population was very, very small. Even at the college she was attending there were hardly any monsters.

"What can I get you?" someone asked. Leah felt a weird heat wave hit in front of her. She looked up. A flame monster wearing a bartender's outfit was looking at her. She froze. She didn't know what to say. Ever since the monsters had been freed, she never once had spoken to one. He made a motion to readjust the glasses he was wearing. She was enticed. 'How were his clothes not catching on fire?' was the only thing she could think of.

"What can I get you-" he spoke slower and leaned closer to her.

"Food!" she had shouted as he broke her concentration. She slammed both hands on the counter. Behind her she could hear chair and stools altering their current position and the glare of multiple eyes burrowing into her back. Sweat dripped down the back of her neck. Her face became hotter as she started to blush uncontrollably. The flaming bartender stared down at her for what seemed like the longest minute of her life.

Leah had never acted so flustered ever in her life. Most of the time she was very mellow and level headed. New things hardly bothered. But this, being surrounded by monsters in a new city, must have caused a weird tick in her brain.

A soft chuckle broke the silence. It gradually grew louder and louder until it was a full blown laugh. The two looked to the seat next to Leah's. A skeleton with a puffy blue hoodie was staring at the two of them with a bottle of ketchup in hand. He had a smile plastered across his face.

"Give her the usual, Grillbz," he said. The bartender wrote something down on his notepad and walked away. Leah took a deep breath in and exhaled trying to calm herself down. The skeleton continued to stare at her with his huge grin.

"Thanks," she said relaxing a little. The skeleton wave his hand at her.

"Don't worry about it," he said turning to face the back of the bar. "You got a name, kid?"

"Leah."

"You're not from around here, am I right?" he asked, and she nodded. "Well, what brings you to this side of town, kid?" The skeleton took a swig of ketchup. She felt ill watching him do that. Leah hated ketchup. She turned around to face the back of the bar, too.

"This was the last bus stop of the night," she joked. The skeleton chuckled and took another drink from the ketchup bottle. He shook his head.

"Any plans, kid?" he asked. Leah shrugged.

"Try and make it as an artist, but that will probably never happen," she sighed motioning towards the guitar next to her. "To be honest, I'm just trying to get away from some stuff and relax a little. I want to know what it's like to be 21 and on my own."

"Here's your meal," the bartender said setting down a plate with a burger, fries, and a bottle of ketchup in front of her. The skeleton grabbed the ketchup bottle and smiled.

"Bone apatite," he said winking. Leah snorted and dug in.

"We'll be closing soon, Sans," the bartender called from the other side of the bar. "This is your last call." The skeleton, Sans, waved his hand at the bartender and continued talking to the only human girl to ever walk into Grillby's after sunset.

"Well, what's your answer?" she asked laughing. Leah grabbed a cold fry and took a bite. He grinned.

"Okay, your TV shows have it all wrong. You can't play a skeleton's ribs like a xylophone. Trust me, I've tried." he said laughing with her.

"Okay, your turn," she said still chuckling.

"What are you trying to get away from?" he asked still smiling. She stopped smiling. Who was he to ask, a total stranger, her personal business? She gave him an uneasy smirk.

"Don't you think that's a little bit too personal to be asking a stranger?" she asked feeling uncomfortable. The skeleton continued to grin and leaned in close to her. A strong stench of ketchup went up her nose and played with her taste buds. At any moment, Leah felt like she was going to gag. She heard him hiccup.

"Well then, why don't we become something more than strangers," he whispered. Sans laid his boney hand on her thigh and gently began to rub it. Leah blushed as rage began to bubble inside her. She flung her hand across the counter trying to grab whatever she could and smash it against this once friendly monsters head.

And she succeeded.

The plate that held her fries collided with the side of the skeleton's head. It shattered upon contact causing pieces of glass and fries to go flying through the air. The drunk skeleton stumbled off his seat and crashed onto the floor. All eyes were pointed towards the scene.

Sans picked himself off the ground and onto his hands and knees. He placed a hand where the plate had his. Fries had stuck to his head and were now being squashed by his fingers. He shook his head then looked up at her. Leah glared down at him with eyes of utter disappointment and disgust. She had already pulled her belongs and was ready to go. She shook her head then looked up at the bartender.

"Sorry about the plate," she said calmly and pulled out her wallet and began to rummage through it, "I hope this will cover my expenses." Leah laid a hundred dollar bill on the table. Leah looked back down at Sans. He looked confused as if he hadn't been there the entire time.

"And you," she stated. "You are trash." Leah briskly walked through the restaurant. She yanked open the door. A gust of winter's breath blew through the room to where even Grillby felt like shivering. Leah took a step into the fresh snow slamming the door behind her. The patrons turned their attention towards Sans, who had stood up, but was leaning himself against the bar stool.

"Sans" Grillby said coming behind him in the bar. He picked up a ketchup bottle. "How many of these have you had?"

"Stupid skeleton - monster thing," Leah grumbled as she kicked the snow in front of her. "First you were really cool, and then you just had to go and turn into a jerk. What a great first impression you've made for me towards monsters." Leah turned a corner. A burst of cold air whipped Leah out of her thoughts. The wind crawled through her jacket and went down her spine forcing her to shiver. She blinked. She had no idea where she was. She sighed and pulled out her phone.

NOSERVICE, it read.

'Isn't the city supposed to have cell signal everywhere?' she thought stuffing her phone back into her pocket. The wind blew again. She pulled her arms closer to her body trying to conserve heat.

"There has to be a hotel or something here," she said to herself and began to walk down the unknown street. The overhead lights flickered on and off as if they had never been changed before. Some were just dead. It was eerie. Like a something straight out of a horror movie. But that was only in the movies. Stuff like that never happened in real life she told herself.

Leah heard something crunch. She stopped abruptly and turned around. She squinted her eyes. Nothing. Or nothing that she could see, at least. She shrugged.

'I probably heard my feet step on something,' she thought and began to walk again.

She heard another crunch. This time she whirled around. Still, nothing. Leah swallowed. The last thing she needed right now was to freak out. She turned back around and walked a little faster, taking notice to how her feet sounded against the snow. Without warning she stopped.

A pair of feet behind her stopped a second after her.

Fear filled her mind as she came to terms with the truth. Leah was being followed. As quickly as she could, the human broke out in a full sprint. Behind her the heavy feet of the stranger pounded into the snow as they pursued. Leah cursed the fact that she was carrying so much. Between her thoughts of being stalked she considered tossing her guitar towards the person, but she never did.

She shot around a corner a new street, this one more lit up than the last. At the end of the road she could see a sign that read HOTEL. A wave of relief fluttered through her mind. And behind her, there were no more footsteps. Leah, gradually slowed down to a jog, then into a brisk walk. She came to a stop to catch her breath and set her guitar down under a street light.

Leah turned towards the direction she had just come from. She couldn't see anyone. There were no shadows from the other lights, no footsteps, just snow falling towards the ground.

"Maybe," she began, "it was all in my head-"

A pair of arms shot around her, one over her mouth the other over her waist and pulled her out of the light. Leah struggled to be freed as the strange pair of arms drug her into a dark alleyway. Leah flung her head from side to side trying to at least her mouth free so she could scream. But the grip around it tightened.

"That's right, I love it when you girls struggle," she heard the person coo in her ear.

Tears began to fall from corners of her eyes. She angst and anguish ravaged her mind. Leah threw her head forward, catching the stranger off guard, then hurled it backwards. The back of her head collided with the person's nose; she heard their nose crack. They let go of her and screamed. Leah collided with the dirty snow of the alleyway. She didn't care though. Quickly, she scrambled to her knees and began to run again.

"You bitch!" they shouted. The stalker began to run at her. They caught her with easy and forcefully shoved her to the ground. Leah's head bounced off a patch of either cement of ice, she wasn't sure which, at just the right spot for her to start to lose vision. They rolled her body over. As much as her brain screamed for the rest of her body to move, she couldn't do it.

The stalker climbed on top of her. She couldn't tell what their gender was. She couldn't see their face.

"You stupid bitch," they yelled and raising their fist and swinging it down at her face. "I think you broke my nose-" The person raised their fist again for a second assault.

"I wouldn't do that again," someone said. The person pinning Leah looked up. The voice sounded familiar to her. But nobody she knew came to mind. Her stalker growled something at owner of the familiar voice. Leah couldn't tell what was happening anymore. She could feel the earth spinning under her.

"Do you wanna have a bad time?" she heard someone say before losing consciousness.