The night was pitch black, I couldn’t see anything. I don’t know if it was the fog, but as I walked through a white mist, I suddenly felt a shadow pass in front of me. I didn’t dare turn around to look. I pulled up the collar of my coat, my hands in my pockets, and quickened my pace—I was almost running. I felt the same shadow again; this time, it was as if there were two. One passed on my right, one on my left…

I stopped. I looked behind me, but nothing was visible. I started walking. I was scared; I was only one block away from home.

The sound of a bin lid dropping echoed in the street. I stopped once more, my hand trembling, my heart racing, and I looked around, but I was frozen in place. That is, until the soft, slow footsteps broke the silence of the street…

As I slowly turned towards the sound, I sighed deeply, relieved. Before me was a cat, looking around, just as scared as I was, and probably so hungry it didn’t know where to go. It was very cute, with white fur covered in patches of black; we made eye contact, and I was relieved.

With this relief, as I took a step to go home, right in front of me, I saw the sharp teeth on both sides, stained with blood. My eyes felt like they were going to pop out of my head; shock, fear, everything was jumbled together. Not knowing what to do, I think I instinctively wanted to turn back quickly and run. I was astonished by what was happening to me; it was still in front of me, motionless. I felt pain. My insides were slowly being drawn out. A hand prevented me from falling to the ground. The teeth had reached my jugular vein, right through my neck.

When I saw the smile on its face just before I lost consciousness, I felt utterly spent. My brain tried its best to escape, but my body refused to obey any command.