It seemed like a normal day. Jasmine left her last class as the bell rang, and headed for the bus lines. They had the students group by bus number outside of the front doors, and the buses pulled into the loop all parking in a line. One of the teachers called off the bus numbers one by one, and all the students filled in.

Jasmine was grouped for the last bus, and while waiting she talked with a few of her classmates. As she approached the girls, they were talking about their crushes. Jasmine pretended to care and listen in as gossip was not her thing, and she even made a few comments about the pictures the girls were showing around.

Their bus number was called, and the girls stopped talking and headed to board the bus. Jasmine preferred to sit at the front, but as she assumed the others sat near the back. Jasmine didn’t want to be rude, so she sat two rows ahead and made it apparent she was still involved in their conversation. The girls continued the conversation that started at school, and Jasmine continued to pretend she was interested.

Some of the girls in the group get off at Jasmine’s stop, she wanted to make sure she had some people she could do school projects with. As the bus approached their stop, Jasmine gathered her things getting ready to exit. The group of girls walked off the bus in a line, and as they exited, Jasmine and another girl had taken a left up the street and the other three took a right.

Jasmine was walking with a girl named Sophia, and she lived a few houses down from her. As they walked they discussed things like their favorite hobbies, and what they planned for the upcoming weekend. As they walked closer to Sophia’s house, they heard three loud knocks behind them. The two girls turned and saw a figure standing under a light post down the street on the opposite side. It was tall wearing a long black trench coat and an umbrella, and as they looked at the figure, it used its umbrella tip to knock on the base of the post.

Sophia turned to Jasmine, and uttered “RUN”, before taking off up her driveway to her front porch. As Sophia’s front door slammed shut, Jasmine looked back at where the figure was standing and it was gone.

Normally Jasmin wouldn’t be spooked by things like this, but something in the pit of her stomach told her to listen to Sophia. Jasmine turned and ran. She tried running as fast as she could, and to keep her mind calm, she counted the six houses as she ran up the sidewalk. As she made it closer to her house, the figure was standing at the post directly a crossed the street. Jasmine looked at the figure and she decided it would be best to go to her back door instead, as she believed this would the figure less of a direct path to her.

She ran beside the house and turned the corner of the house, and the back door was in sight. She hoped it was unlocked, and as she ran to the door she shoved it open with ease. She slammed the door behind her, and locked it as quick as she could. The back door leads straight into the kitchen, and so she grabbed a chef’s knife before heading to the front of the house.

She walked up to the large window in the living room, and peeked through the blinds. The figure was still standing there, and was continuously knocking on the base with it’s umbrella. As she focused her gaze, the light posted turned on and she noticed the figure had only a skull for a face, and very bones hands. It was looking down as something blue in its hands, and whatever it was flew away from the figure, the figure looked up at Jasmine. When she felt like she had made direct eye-contact, the figures eyes started glowing bright yellow. Jasmine blinked, and the figure completely vanished.

Jasmine rushed to the front door and locked both the dead bolt and the door handle. She leaned her head on the door and took a deep breath in, she was safe. Jasmine stood and turned to the stairs behind her to head to the bedroom. As she turned around, the figure stood behind her and grabbed her throat.