He had walked into my coffee shop about three months ago. He said he had just moved to town and didn’t know anyone. We had got chatting over the counter as I made his cappuccino. He seemed a sweet guy so I asked if he wanted a locals tour of the nightlife that weekend. He readily accepted and contact info was exchanged.

We met that weekend and I took him to all the good pubs and we had a good time. When it came to the end of the night I was very upfront and told him I wasn’t feeling the spark so thought it was pointless going any further. He laughed it off and got me a cab.

Next morning he was at the coffee shop. He was having a meeting with somebody in the corner. They were there for an hour or so and he came over to talk to me before he left. Apparently it was a meeting with his agent. He had a film coming out that he was sure was going to be his big break. I congratulated him and was sure this was the last time I’d ever see him.

Every morning at 9:30am the little bell above the door jingled and if I looked up I knew he was going to be walking to the counter. Most of the time I was able to duck out into the office and not reappear til he had gone. He made me uncomfortable, like my skin was trying to crawl away from him. He had started off as a seemingly sweet, likeable guy. After that weekend things had changed though. It wasn’t just the daily coffee shop visits. I’d see him lurking about by my apartment, ducking into shops as I was going about my business. Something just really seemed off about the guy.

His career must have taken off as he expected because all of a sudden I was seeing him on all the magazines and over every single billboard. He hadn’t walked into my coffee shop in about a year.

“Have you heard?” Greta pounced on me before I’d even got my coat off ready to start my shift.

“Heard what?” I replied.

“That guy who always used to come around here, the one you went on a date with, the big movie star. Well I saw it on the news this morning. Turns out hes been killing women all over the country. He got caught last night attacking his latest co-star. Just to think that could have been you!”