It's a cold, dark evening. Rain gently tapping on the windows. The fire crackling. Caleb is reading his book, waiting for the eventual knock on his front door. But tonight, it doesn't come. He glances at the clock on his wall. 20 minutes past 9. “Where's Daniel?” he thinks to himself, confused to the bone. Unwillingly, Caleb gets up, tiredly stumbling towards his door. He looks through the peep hole, but nothing. Unfazed, he goes back to reading. Suddenly, a bright light shines through his windows, engulfing Caleb in it's entirety. He squint. trying to see what's in the window, but the light is too bright. Bang! Bang! Bang! The door starts shaking. Caleb jerks with fear. “What was that? Who was that? Where was that?”. Panic fills his body, as he sprints to his kitchen to grab a knife. “WHO ARE YOU?” he yells at the top of his lungs. No response. He tries again, but no response. Once again, three loud bangs on the front door. Rain is heavy. Thunder surrounds him. His door bursts open as gusts of wind burst in. The small tapping of bare feet. His knife at the ready, he calls one last time. Little did he know, those would be his last words…
Daniel finally turns up late, calling for Caleb, but no answer. He sees Caleb's door is wide open. He calls again “Caleb! I'm coming in!” but still, no answer. As he enters the house, he notices how Caleb's house is shredded to bits. The clock on his wall, smashed into a million shards. His book, ripped entirely. He can see some wet footsteps leading into the kitchen, so he follows them. He turns to his left to see Caleb lying on the floor unconscious. Daniel calls 999. Within 5 minutes they are already there. He continues to search the house to find what did this to him. The medics call for Caleb to come down, and he follows their orders. “He's been stabbed by something, we don't know what yet.” says Medic 1. The others say there is no trace of who did it. They rush him to hospital. By the time they get him there, he has been pronounced dead. 18 minutes past 11. The hospital lays in front of them, surrounding them. They park outside, waiting for the body to be collected as other medics come to aid them. Daniel decides to leave to get some lunch to calm himself down, but things will continue to not go his way… “One espresso, please”. The barista knows something is wrong. Daniel goes to sit down when she shouts “Is everything ok?”, in which Daniel says yes. Unconvinced, she prepares his drink. Instead of leaving him with the drink, she sits down with him. They converse for a few minutes when she brings up the same question, is everything ok. This time, Daniel says no. “What's up?” the barista questions. “My best friend just died, and I was there with him.” he weeps, tears streaming down his face. The barista was speechless. She reaches over to give Daniel a hug, when her boss calls for her to get back to work. Daniel says “Go back, it's just a waste of your time, and they need you.” but she refuses her boss’s demands. “AVA! OVER HERE NOW!” “NO! WE HAVE A CUSTOMER WHO NEEDS HELP” she argues back. her manager rushes over to see Daniel with his head down.