[b]Esperanta Dektri - Deserted, dark alleyway[/b]

Esperanta's footsteps echoed throughout the alleyway as she headed home, one louder than the other as she had lost a shoe on the way. But in a way, that was a good thing, since it meant she could go shoe shopping tomorrow! Hopefully she'd pick up as good a bargain as she had on these groceries... She'd found that buying food late, when the stores were about to close, resulted in some rather good bargains. And seeing how the restaurant was only just breaking even, she needed all the bargains she could get.

"Oh my, it's so dark..." she said to herself. She did that a lot when she was alone, really. Sometimes she pretended the echo was another person, just because it felt less lonely that way. "Ah, but I can't wait to cook with these! Sure, the tomatoes are a bit bashed... And the bread's a little stale... But I'm sure they'll taste just fine! Yeah, and if the bread's too stale I'll just make it into pudd... Um... Oh, hello!"

Had he been there all along? Yes, he must have been, since there was no way someone of his build could have appeared in front of her like that out of nowhere. She mustn't have been paying attention... The man in front of her, his suit almost bursting against his corpulant frame, tipped his tophat and bowed to Esperanta in a gentlemanly manner.

"Good evening, m'lady," he said, an echo issuing throughout the alleyway as he tapped his cane against the ground. As he placed the hat back on his head, Esperanta noticed something... [i]off[/i] about him. His bloodshot eyes seemed to almost bulge out of his sockets, and his mouth was spread apart in a wide rictus grin.

"Would you allow me the pleasure of taking your life?"

Esperanta... She knew she should have run. She had to run. This man was clearly deranged... But her legs refused to move. The man stepped closer and closer, the echoing os his cane growing louder and louder as he approached her... He was going to kill her. She was going to be killed by a madman in an alley, all alone... But it wasn't that bad, right? At least she'd be with her father again... So even if some unseen force wasn't causing her mouth to curl up, she couldn't help but smile.