“I think I just met the happiest person in the world!”, Aran groaned, looking at me with a pained look while dramatically letting himself fall down on my sofa.

“Yeah”, I agreed, “what a moody jerk.”

“Really though, why couldn’t he just let us be! Oh, but you can’t ride your bike on the sidewalk”, he mimicked the elderly man who had snarled at us earlier. “There’s a fucking motorway next to us, so NO, sir, I WON’T use the goddamn street! Like, that’s why on one likes old people!”

I nodded, unsure what to say.

While I didn’t share his opinion I didn’t want to start a fight over it. We had already had more than enough fights in the last months, so I wouldn’t strain our relationship more than necessary. Aran wasn’t even behaving that irrational right now, so I guessed it was okay to not tell him what I was thinking.

Still, it was hard for me to be angry at the man. While I wished that he didn’t take out his anger on others - especially children and teenagers - I also couldn’t image that he was leading a happy life himself. Maybe he was all alone, with no one to cheer him up when he was sad and lonely. Or maybe he was married but they were always angry themselves, thus making him angry, too. Or maybe…

“I know what you’re thinking”, Aran interrupted my thoughts in a serious tone, now sitting up again “But it really doesn’t matter much. Why he’s a ‘moody jerk’, I mean. In the end, he takes out his anger on people who didn’t do shit to him all the same. He doesn’t deserve your concern.”

“But he does deserve someone’s concern”, I insisted, “everyone does.”

You kissed me after karaoke And I knew it when I spoke That I‘m really just not made for love While you can stay I’ll move

Maybe it’s just not in my blood I always thought I understood Thought that I was just too young And love would come when I was older

But maybe that’s alright It doesn’t make me just dead weight I don’t have to kiss to love And there’s nothing I have to prove

I’m enough when I’m just me

„Hey listen, I can… I can help you, okay!“

I lowered my voice in an attempt to both appear calmer than I was and actually become calmer, as I tried to discreetly distance myself more from the woman in front of me and instead get closer to the door.

„No you can‘t“, she sneered, stepping closer. In her hand she held a small knife - loosely, as her fingers were continuously twitching, so much so that I was afraid she would cut herself any second. The knife was completely clean, but it didn’t need to be bloody to intimidate me. I was already intimidated enough by the disfigured corpse lying next to her, positioned carefully on two red towels in the middle of the kitchen. Wether it was a woman or a man? I could not tell. Nevertheless, a clean knife and a corpse have a by far more intimidating effect than a bloody knife. She took another step and then she abruptly stopped, still leaving more than enough space between us to not pose an immediate threat to me. I myself had not brought weapons when I came to visit my colleague in her small apartment, as I had not expected to need any.

She had only recently joined the firm I worked for, and I had immediately taken a liking to her. She was funny, always having clever remarks and quotes ready. A kind neighbour who had just gotten groceries had let me into the house, and making my way to the apartment I got increasingly elated. At least until I actually got there. When I had arrived at the apartment, the front door had been left wide open, making me feel somewhat queasy and nervous, so I had taken out my phone, prepared to call 911 Hesitantly, I had called her name, and then again. When no one had answered me I went inside. That was when I had seen her. That was when the wind had pushed the door shut. And that was how I found myself being threatened with a knife for the first time in my life.

Still, I was sure she was just afraid of me. She must have had killed that person by accident. Maybe she had run them over with her car. Yeah. That fit. The corpse definitly looked like it had been run over by a car. That must be it. I really wanted to believe that, yet the look in her eyes and her threatening posture were trying to convince me otherwise.

She was smiling now, tilting her head slightly to the side. If it were not for the knife and dead body, she would have looked like she had just asked me if I wanted a cup of tea and was waiting for my answer.

„You know“, she continued, a dangerous look in her eyes, like she was stalking her prey, „even if you could help me, I wouldn‘t want you to.“

„-Listen you have to turn yourself in. It was an accident, if you turn yourself in you can still continue with your life!“ As I urged her to go to the police she was becoming increasingly more irritated, angry even. By the time I was finished she had taken a few more steps towards me. She raised her arm - the one with the knife - and pointed it directly at my face. I was really getting afraid now, frantically trying to get away from her until I stood with my back to the door. She came even closer until the knife was so close to my throat that I could not see it anymore.

„Accident?“, she laughed and smiled wickedly at me, „I‘ve been doing this for years, hun.“

I froze.

„You what…?“

My voice was barely a whisper, but she still heard it. She seemed to absorb my fear and disbelief like others would absorb the laughter of a loved one.

„That‘s right.“, she, too, whispered now. „It‘s really a shame that you came here today, I actually quite liked working with you.“

„Then continue working with me?“

„Ha!“

I was trying even harder to get away from her now, squirming and trying to push her away, but the more I moved the more the knife dug into my skin.

She looked me in the eyes once more and it was then that I knew I would die there.

„I really wish I could“, she said.

Then there was pain and then darkness and then nothing.