I'm scared.

It started on an ordinary evening, you could even say night. It was late (around one o'clock), and I was returning from work. I had to walk through courtyards, as my building was practically in the middle of nowhere. Now I understand that I shouldn't have bought an apartment so far from the city center, but I was short on funds.

Walking through one of the courtyards, I saw someone's silhouette nearby. I should have just walked on by and not looked closely, but I started trying to make out who it was and slowed down. It seemed like the person was moving away from me: I walked and walked, but couldn't get any closer. Suddenly, I heard a low rumble, but I couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. It felt like it was covering everything around me at once. Then the silhouette began moving menacingly quickly toward me. Only then did I feel a wild fear—I was literally rooted to the spot. There was no one around, but the silhouette kept getting closer...

I was on the verge of fainting. I wanted my brain to shut down, to stop seeing that silhouette and hearing that hum. When I finally made out its features, a wild tremor ran through my entire body. It had large, almond-shaped eyes, no irises—only enormous pupils that seemed to pulsate. One side of its face was unnaturally elongated, its skin dark gray, a huge hole where its mouth should have been, and it seemed to have no nose at all... The creature's body was hidden under some kind of cloak. The hum grew louder; it seemed to be echoing in my head.

When the creature was very close to me, I finally understood why half its face was elongated. The skin on that side was covered in blisters—obviously, someone had splashed acid directly into its face. Suddenly, everything around me disappeared, and only his eyes remained (one of which, by the way, was deformed by the acid, which was even more frightening). I lost consciousness...

I woke up in the morning near my apartment building (which was very strange). There were a lot of people around, and doctors were fussing over me. It turned out they found me there unconscious and called an ambulance. I won't go into details about what happened next—in the end, they sent me home, prescribed a strong sedative and plenty of rest.

But that wasn't all. It was quiet for about a week, nothing out of the ordinary happened, but then all hell broke loose. I was sitting, drinking tea, and watching TV. Suddenly, someone knocked on the window from the other side. I started shaking, because my apartment is on the 8th floor! I sat there and stared blankly at the curtained window. The knock came again, but louder this time. I got up, ran to the window, and pulled back the curtain. I wish I hadn't done that...

A large, wrinkled face appeared outside the window. Small red eyes contrasted with its pale skin. The huge, toothless mouth it had pressed against the window terrified me. I screamed at the top of my lungs and ran out of the apartment.

Since then, I can't stay home alone. I feel like someone is watching me, following me, ready to pounce at any moment. This feeling usually intensifies between midnight and one in the morning. I want to believe it's all just my imagination, but it's not. I know. My nerves are frayed. I have breakdowns and hysterics every day. I took a day off from work because of it; they're threatening to fire me. I learned from neighbors that a serial killer once operated in this area, killing young women. He was killed; they say the boyfriend of one of the murdered women doused his body with sulfuric acid in retaliation. It's probably him who's terrorizing me. I can't sell my apartment, and I have no friends or family to visit. I'm scared... so scared.