Do you ever feel like you're being watched? Like, if you turn around at just the right moment, you'll see someone a few yards back, just before they can duck behind something?

I have had that feeling sooooo much lately. Like, seriously.

Every time I leave the cathedral—I sort of live there, but not really?—l can feel someone watching me. I've been training with Nicholas to be a better rogue, so that means I have to leave every day. And then I just…I feel it, all day.

I tried to bring it up to Nicholas once, and he sort of dismissed it, saying new rogues were always paranoid once they learned how sneaky they could be, with enough practice. I guess it's sort of like how psych students notoriously self diagnose after that first psych class, before they learn that it's fine, they're fine, they don't have the billion issues they just learned about.

So since I've learned how easily high level rogues sneak around, I expect to be followed everywhere or something?

I don't know how much faith I have in that.

It would be one thing if it just happened every now and then, but this…this is brutal. I can barely sleep because I know that the second I leave the cathedral, someone will be keeping track of every little thing that I do.

Nicholas' guild—most of them, anyway—headed through this portal thing to the alternate orc time line? And then the portal was destroyed? And while they've been trying to figure out portals to get to them, the mages are not doing so well.

Basically, everyone's writing off anyone who went to Draenor at this point because we've heard nothing. They're still gonna wait another month before funerals start, though, because I guess this really important mage and orc went through the portal, and no one wants to think they could be gone forever.

Though, I gotta say, things have been pretty peaceful since the portal closed. With Garrosh whatever-his-name-was gone, there seems to be real hope for a lasting peace between the Horde and Alliance. I mean, there's still concerns and stuff, but…yeah.

Things are going pretty well in Azeroth.

I still feel like I've forgotten something, and I still have really bad bouts of depression when I think about my dead world, but if I could just figure out who's watching me, I'd be doing pretty good, too.

I mean, I can't spend my whole life focusing on the past.

That's why I decided to do it.

To go against that instinctual fear in the back of my head that tells me to run when I feel those phantom eyes on me. I'm going to get to the bottom of this.

That's why I've been walking around all day. I can feel whoever it is. There's that nauseating prickle along the back of my neck. And it's been getting worse. I've noticed it tends to be the worst near the decimated park—there's this huge petition to get the park renovated, by the way. It was damaged a few years ago now, and it's this awful reminder to everyone about how terrible dragons can be, but King Wrynn isn't the best with balancing finances. His son's shown some promise, but I guess he's still sort of at that age where his dad doesn't take him seriously, so when he suggests they allocate some funds toward restoration, his dad just pats his head and buys another siege vehicle?

Yeah…

The whole peace thing would be a lot further along if the prince was the king.

…

I'd better not let anyone hear me say that. They sort of behead people here for open dissent. Yay monarchy?

But back on topic.

The park is in all kinds of shambles, and it seems like whatever's watching me sort of focuses on that area.

So. That's where I stood. In front of an old, burnt out building, wondering if I should just walk in or around or…just go home? See, I'm pretty sure this building is about to fall. Like, seriously. They should do something about this place. Beyond this row of buildings, the ground is literally caving into the ocean.

The elves always get really bitter about it, too, if you mention it in front of them.

Maybe we could start a volunteer project, where people bring dirt and stuff to fill the hole.

Granted, it is a really big hole.

I digress.

So, it's obvious that just standing here wasn't going to do anything for me. And if I didn't get a move on, the guards were going to come by and ask me questions and mark me as a delinquent for staring at decrepit buildings or whatever. Great stuff.

It was just… Normally that feeling came from somewhere behind me, from yards down the road or a shop's stoop or behind some crates.

But the key was, it was always behind me.

But as I stood there, it felt like I was staring back. Like I should have been able to see whoever was watching me, but just didn't know where to look. Like they could have been standing right in front of me, and I just couldn't see it.

Rogue-y stuff.

Great, right?

But I'd come this far, so I figured chickening out now was just dumb. I mean, I ran through a portal to another world. How hard is it to step inside an old building?

Even as I gathered myself and stepped forward, a pebble hit the cobblestone in front of me.

As I looked around, another one thudded at my feet. From the left. Around the corner of the building.

I just kind of kept standing there a minute, because if I followed the pebbles, I just knew I was gonna end up heading down into the crumbling part of the park and that it wasn't going to end well. Nothing ever ends well for me.

Another one hit the toe of my boot.

I really didn't want to.

But on the other hand, if someone was throwing pebbles at me, that meant there really was someone there. That meant I was right.

And Nicholas was wrong.

That still makes me happier than it should.

Well, anyway, I went after the pebble-thrower. As I went around the corner, I saw a foot disappear behind the back of the building. So I followed.

Each step felt like it was looping my insides into knots. Over and over and over. But I kept going because I wanted my answers and no one else was going to give them to me. When I reached the corner, no one was behind the building.

That made me stop. I had to wonder if this was some sort of rogue test. Was I supposed to have come around the corner more sneakily? But why throw pebbles and make it obvious they—whoever they were—wanted my attention?

It abruptly occurred to me that this was exactly the sort of crap that Nicholas would pull. A rogue hazing, if you will. A few of the senior rogues around Stormwind had been teasing me about needing to be initiated into something.

It would frikkin' figure.

Of course they would do this to me. How many of them would be cracking jokes at my expense, asking why it'd taken me so long to follow the watchful gazes?

I decided that I wasn't going to play ball. Screw it. They'd made me feel horrible for weeks.

However, even as I started trying to plan a way to get back at them, plan a way to make those conniving jerks feel guilty, I turned around and froze.

Because see, they weren't the ones who'd been watching me.

Turning had brought me almost nose to rotting nose with a walking corpse. A Forsaken with hollowed eyes stared back at me, unblinking, unbreathing.

Then, slowly, she cracked a crooked grin that stretched her lips a bit too widely and straightened out of her hunch. "It's about time, Miss Ford." She reached out and gripped my arm, her cold, dead flesh pinching into mine. "We gotta fix this mess before it gets any worse."