She regretted deciding to make the short journey home alone almost immediately. But the alcohol in her veins, though not enough to make her sloppy had taken away her inhibitions and given her a false sense of security. But with the cool night air hitting her she was beginning to come to her senses. She took out her phone to check her battery. "5%, great", she muttered.. She could barely see the screen. She threw the useless device back in her cavernous bag and grabbed her keys, remembering advice her father had given her before she moved away for college. She put the keys between her fingers and turned her hand into a fist.

She was 2 blocks away from her apartment when she picked up the sound of footsteps, the owner of said footsteps was alone. Bella picked up her pace and heard the person behind her follow suit. Panic started to set in as her imagination started to feed her scenarios in which she did not make it out of. The footsteps started gaining on her and she was about to break into a full on sprint when the culprit spoke her name. This gave her pause. She stopped and turned slowly with her fist out in front of her only to be greeted by the sight of an empty street. Her heart was beating through her chest and sweat was trickling down the back of her neck.

Turning in a slow circle to look for the speaker of her name she saw nothing. Bella shook her head and giggled to herself, "almost gave myself a heart attack" she whispered. She started walking again picking up her pace as she could see a house party letting out at the end of the street. Lots of people mean safety. Once she reached the house she breathed a sigh of relief. Recognising some of the revellers she shouted a greeting and waved, her sense of panic from just moments ago seemingly disappeared. Rounding the corner and reaching the main door of her building she loosened her grip on the keys to find the right one, the moment she did this she felt a large hard body smash her against the door and a cold hand cover her mouth. She tried to scream but it came out as a pathetic whimper.

A gruff voice grunted in her ear with the effort to keep her still. She squirmed and tried to kick her feet and managed to catch her assailant by surprise when she lifted both her legs and let him take all her weight. While he tried to maintain his grip on her his hand came away from her face and she let out the loudest scream she could muster, desperate not to waste the opportunity. Her scream must have been the last straw for him as the next thing she felt was a fist strike her on the side of the head.