[Name] shivered as she wrapped her scarf around her neck. She ended up closing the office later than usual, but [Name] didn't mind because she liked the cold weather. Although [Name's] nose was red from the cold, she savored the fresh air and puffed out tiny clouds from her mouth. [Name] lifted her arms up to balance herself as she playfully wobbled over the icy road. Suddenly, a faint vibration sound cuts through the crunching sound of her footsteps and [Name] whined as she pulls off her bulky gloves to find her phone. [Name] averted her eyes from the brightly lit screen that screamed "Mom".
"Hi mom," [Name] mumbled in an attempt to quiet her chattering teeth.
"...Are you outside?" [Name's] mom said.
"No…," [Name] trailed off and sneezed. "Okay, fine I am but I'm almost home! I promise," [Name] said while she turned a corner to cut through the park; her secret shortcut. [Name] listened and murmured in agreement as her mother nagged about how it wasn't safe for a young woman to be out at night.
[Name] sighed and retorted that it was only 9 pm. Distracted, [Name] walked past the bench area in the park and failed to notice the hunched over figure sitting on the bench. It was only when the man let out a loud grunt that [Name] dropped her phone in shock and quickly looked over her shoulder.
Unknownst to her, the man in question didn't even notice [Name's] presence because he was too preoccupied with the scratchy cat tucked inside his dark jacket. From [Name's] perspective, all she could see was a scruffy looking hobo man who was suspiciously hiding something in his arms.
"Let's get this over with," the man grinned his Totoro smile as he lifted a knife. [Name] screamed and sprinted out of the area while loudly shouting to any deity to save her. At the same time, the man's head shot up in surprise from the noise and watched [Name] run out of the park. "What was that all about? It's just a cat," the man grumbled as he carefully slid the knife under rope around the cat's neck and snapped it in half. The stray cat purred as the man gently patted its head. The cat jumped off the man's lap while he brushed off leftover fur from his clothes. The man flinched from a snowflake and looked up to see snow softly falling from the sky. He shook his head to get rid of the flakes that clung to his dark long hair and dropped eyedrops into his bloodshot eyes. He turned to pull out a yellow sleeping bag and blankly stared at it.
"I don't want to jump all the way home, but if I sleep here I might freeze," he muttered in thought. "Damn," he complained while he stepped back to roll the sleeping bag. The man froze with a deadpanned expression when he heard a crunch sound from his feet. He groaned as he held a phone with a newly cracked screen. The weird woman must have dropped it, he thought. It hasn't been that long, maybe I can still catch up to her and get this over with.