I thought I saw something moving in the tree line. Something roughly human shaped, maybe the size and form of a lanky teenager.

It stopped, looked dead at me and just stared for what seemed to be forever, but probably close to five or ten seconds before running off into the forest.

A change of the picture displayed on her laptop made her look up at it. There was a creepy, wide-eyed figure, barely visible in the bushes. Petra frowned for a second before going back to sketching another tattoo design on her iPad. The YouTube video played in the background as she carefully worked on details. It was late at night, so it was exactly the peak time for her creativity.

And since she was home alone, it was a perfect time for " 6 True CREEPY Stories From People Out In The Middle of Nowhere" .

I stopped cold when I felt breath on the back of my neck. I almost passed it off as Kate deciding to snuggle me from behind in my sleep, until I woke up enough to realize that she was right in front of me.

She was looking right at me, scared out of her mind, crying. I started to turn my head to see who was behind me, and she repeatedly mouthed "NO!" silently. The breathing got heavier and raspier, and I felt a weight shift behind me. Kate's eyes followed the movement and froze as it stopped. It felt like forever, whatever was behind me just-

The ginger woman stopped the video abruptly and put the headphones down to listen carefully. She could swear she heard some weird sound in the flat. There was a second of hesitation before she looked in the direction of the corridor. It was dumb; she wasn't scared of her flat. She has been living there for years now, and not once did anything barely spooky happen. Seeing that the clock on the wall of her bedroom already showed 3 AM, she decided that it was just a consequence of tiredness.

Despite that, when she already stood up and stretched a bit, she felt hesitant about the idea of going to the bathroom. Even though she definitely had to.

"Come on, don't be ridiculous," she told herself and ran fingers through her hair. The mental image of all the creepy stories she absorbed during the last hours was clear in her mind as she walked down the hallway.

She was filling the water bottle in the kitchen when a sudden sound startled her. For a moment, she thought that something dropped from the counter, but then, she heard it again.

A knock. Was it 3:00 AM or 3:15 AM?

Petra shook her head. It didn't make any sense, she was just tired, and it was probably something in the upper flat.

She stopped in her tracks, just in front of her bedroom doors, when she heard it again.

A burglar? No. What burglar would try to knock?

An image of a skin-walker popped in her mind, and goosebumps of fright overflowed her body. No. In the middle of the city? It made no sense.

She tried to console herself, but her heartbeat didn't slow down in the slightest.

Petra jumped as she noticed in the corner of her eye that the door handle moved. Without a second thought, she ran into her room, threw the water bottle on the bed, and grabbed the empty beer bottle from her desk instead.

Just as she stormed back to the corridor, the door started to open. With a frightening rush of adrenaline, she grabbed the handle to open it wide and swung her makeshift weapon at the intruder.

Glass shattered and fell to the floor, followed by a familiar deep grunt and a set of curses. Petra screamed in shock and jumped away, trying to grasp what in hell just happened.

"What the fuck was that for?" Levi mumbled, brushing off the pieces of glass from his arm covered by the leather jacket.

"Are... What... What are you doing in my house?!"

"I came to see you," he replied like it was the most obvious thing.

"The door was closed, did you just break in?"

"I had to get in somehow."

"You could, I don't know, call me, maybe?" she said, going absolutely nuts over his insane behavior.

"I thought you were sleeping."

Petra grunted in frustration and closed the door behind him to turn on the lights. First thing she did was examining his face, already speculating if he, again, got into some fight and didn't know what to do with himself. Gladly, there was no sight of new bruises nor any injury of some kind. What she found, however, was absolute admiration in her man's eyes. Her arms loosened.

"Are you drunk?"

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"It's Friday."

"I was out with Isabel and Farlan."

"Yes, I figured," Petra replied, putting a palm on her forehead and sighing to calm her unnecessary nerves. "I'm sorry for hitting you; I was so scared."

"It's nothing," he assured, and before she could continue, he already trapped her in his arms. She blinked, surprised, and patted his back. It was new to see him like this. Well, it was new to see him actually acting drunk at all.

"Do you want some water?"

"Yeah."


Petra laid on her back in bed, playing lazily with the strands of Levi's dark hair. She didn't have to encourage him twice to get a shower, so now he was fresh and ready for bed in the clothes he left at her house a while ago. He had his face buried in her belly and arms squished between her back and the mattress as he refused to let go of her. She had never seen him so clingy. Not that she complained, it was more than amusing to see him like this. Her hands moved down his head to play with the piercings in his ears.

"Did you have fun today?" she asked, wondering if he fell asleep. She was pretty tired herself, but the amount of adrenaline she got from his break in kept her awake.

"It was...fun," he agreed and after a moment, he raised his head to look at her. She couldn't help but smile at the sight of the absolute mess his hair had become.

"That's good," she replied, fixing it carefully as he stared at her face. She traced the lines of his muscles appearing through the well-fitted shirt on his shoulders, and looked back to his eyes.

"I was going home."

Petra raised her eyebrows, not sure what he was trying to say, until he continued speaking.

"But I remembered that you weren't there, and I didn't want to anymore."

She stopped torturing his ears and caressed the undercut behind them instead.

"Do you want me to live with you?"

"Yes."

She examined his face and bit the inside of her cheek.

"Let's talk about it tomorrow, okay?"

"You don't believe me?"

She chuckled, but his serious face didn't change.

"I...it's a big thing."

"I've had enough time to think it through."

Petra looked away, feeling a bit intimidated at his confident statement.

"That's why I want to talk about it more with you," she explained, sending him another smile.

He freed his hands and propped himself to move closer to her face. She welcomed the soft kiss, but the moment he started to get a little too fiery, she stopped him by putting her hands on his shoulders. Levi's eyes opened, looking for the reason.

"You're drunk."

"Yeah. So?"

"Don't be silly," she sighed and embraced his neck to bring him closer and put a kiss on his forehead. He didn't look happy, but also didn't try to change her mind. "Come on. You must be tired."

He let her guide him to her side, but when she tried to cover him with a blanket, he stopped her and propped his head on the palm of his right hand. Despite his behavior, she switched off the lamp on her nightstand and laid down. He was able to see her in the soft, dim light coming from outside the window.

"I'm not tired. I want to talk to you."

"About what?" she asked, curious, and covered herself in sheets.

"Whatever," he replied and moved the sheets a bit to pull her closer. She put her hands around his head and patted him on the shoulder when he nibbled on the skin of her collarbone. "I love how petite and strong you are at the same time."

Definitely, dealing with drunk Levi was something else. He didn't seem screwed enough to not remember in the morning. It was a funny vision.

She relaxed and gently scratched the back of his head with her fingers. His hand slipped under her shirt and started to lazily draw circles on her back in response.

"I want to do more tattoos on you," he murmured, which made her chuckle. "Let me cover that hideous tree on your back."

"You don't like it?"

"It's weird. I'd do better."

"Hmm... I will think about it. It cost me a lot."

Levi's hand slid down her spine to the point where the elastic band of her shorts started.

"It would be great to look at my work when I take you from the back."

"Oh wow," Petra sighed, pretending that his words didn't affect her. "How about I tattoo your chest, then? Let me have some joy too."

He grunted and moved his head back to look at her. He had full sleeves and some tattoos on the sides, but his chest was blank so far, aside from the black and white wings under his collarbones.

"And what would you put there?"

"Hm... I would put something that would remind you of me. So, even if we don't last, I'd hunt you forever," she joked, cupping his face with one hand.

"I guess. You can do a squirrel," he replied in a severe tone, earning a gasp from the woman in his arms.

"I will make sure it's the most cartoon and fluffy one then," she said bitterly.

His chuckle melted her heart instantly.


"AGH! It's so cold!" Petra wailed while Nifa was dragging her through the main square of the city. Luckily for them, the rain had already passed, but the wind showed no mercy.

"Come on! We're almost there. Look! There they are."

The shorter woman fixed the hood of her green coat and squinted her eyes to see the three figures standing in front of the coffee shop. From a distance, she thought it was her well-known trio, but as they came closer, she was surprised to see an unknown face in the company of Isabel and Levi. By taking one look at her man's face, she could tell he wasn't enjoying this. On the contrary, Isabel and the stranger seemed to be in a heated conversation. She wasn't able to get the topic, since they stopped talking as soon as she and Nifa approached. Both Levi and Isabel looked absolutely unbothered by the cold wind, which was something Petra absolutely couldn't grasp.

"Hey!" Isabel chirped, waving a hand with a large smile, and hugged both girls as a greeting. Petra and Levi instinctively held hands. They were comfortable without being overly affectionate in public. He grabbed her hand more tightly, feeling how freezing cold she was.

"Here are the keys," said the tall blonde boy in glasses. He seemed familiar, but she was sure she had never seen him before. Nifa took the keychain from his hand. "I'll see you next week then."

His eyes moved to Petra and he smiled heartily.

"Maybe we will have a chance to talk some other time. I'm Nathaniel, by the way," he said in a light tone and looked at the others with a spark in his eyes. "Well, it was lovely to meet you, guys. I should visit more often; I feel like we will get along just perfectly."

With that, and a wave of a hand, he disappeared from Petra's sight faster than she could memorize his face.

"Who's that?" she asked when they moved to go inside the shop.

"The most annoying person I've met," Levi replied in a monotone voice, taking off his jacket.

"I thought Zeke was your number one in that category," she laughed.

"It's Rico's younger brother," Nifa spoke up. "He's staying with us when he visits, and I had to lend him my keys. He's been here more often lately, since he found some girl here."

"They seem nothing alike," Petra noticed, and then added. "In personality."

They moved to a free space and proceeded to the actual reason for their meeting. As Nifa discussed the changes they were about to make in the new parlor, Petra followed Isabel to the counter to pick some drinks.

"Hey," she started, softly, to bring her attention from the menu to herself. "Do you know if everything is fine between Levi and Farlan? After what happened that night in the parlor… Levi says that it's normal, but to be honest, I'm worried. Farlan stopped visiting us. I mean...the parlor," the ginger quickly corrected herself.

Isabel seemed deep in thought, looking to the side for a longer moment.

"Actually, Levi stopped coming over as well. I know they had a fight, but I don't think it was something serious. We still met up yesterday. It seemed normal. Levi was never one to speak much, I guess."

Petra started playing with her necklace, visibly worried. Seeing that, the younger woman sent her a smile.

"Don't worry, sis! They will make up. I'm sure about that," she consoled her as her smile softened. "You know, we didn't really have anyone to teach us how to deal with that stuff. I mean, I bet in general we learned a lot since our teenage years, but still, I think it just doesn't change when it comes to the two of them."