"We've arrived, miss," he said, stopping the car near her house: a two-story, elegant, with a blue roof and an asymmetrical facade, surrounded by a flat lawn - a typical house of a cozy elite suburb. Calm and deserted. Safe.

Like a postcard, a large round moon hovered over the house. And around her, single stars twinkled in a matte dark blue sky.

Jess paid off, leaving the driver more than was due, and got out of the taxi, continuing her conversation with Eric.

She did not notice how quiet it was around. I did not pay attention to the fact that the light of the lanterns became dim and cold. She did not feel the smell of anxiety in the damp night air.

The taxi driver, who suddenly experienced unreasonable fear, took one last look at the figure of the client walking along the stone path, who lightly took off her shoes with monstrous heels, and hurried to get away.

Before turning the corner, he did look in the rear-view mirrors and noticed that a huge scarecrow had appeared in the courtyard of the girl's house, opening its arms in an eternal greeting.

It just wasn't there.

“And why is it here?” the taxi driver thought, and the scarecrow suddenly waved its clawed hand at him. The man, cursing in astonishment, almost crashed into a sprawling tree, but taxied out in time. He preferred not to look back any more, but to move away as quickly as possible.

Drugged by alcohol, Jess slowly walked to the house and did not pay attention to anything. The anxiety was just starting to grow.

She would immediately run into the house, but she stopped several times, chatting with her fiancé, laughing, saying that she was bored.

- You arrived? Eric stated.

"Yes," Jess muttered sleepily.

- I have to go. Sleep well. I love you,” he said in parting.

“And I love you,” the girl answered lazily, knowing that this was not true.

"Take care of yourself, honey," Eric admonished her habitually, and they hung up at the same time.

Jess realized that something was happening only when she was already opening the front door. She suddenly became aware that someone was staring at her. So intently that it seemed as if a cold flame was scorching her back.

An unreasonable fear gripped her. Animal. Sticky and nasty.

The lanterns at once, one by one, went out.

The girl turned sharply and saw a tall male silhouette near the road. Someone, dressed in a baggy cloak and hood, held a staff-like stick in his hands and looked at her. Perhaps he was smiling - it was impossible to see this in the semi-darkness.

“Who else is this?” - flashed through the girl’s head. She did not know all her neighbors, but she doubted that any of them went out for night walks in such an inappropriate dress.

The stranger's eyes blinked with a scarlet hellish flash, a slit appeared on his face, glowing with a poisonous green light - a kind of crooked, terrible smile. The hand went up in greeting, like the Indians. And the owner of this terrible face began to approach the terrified Jess. Halloween is already over, and the guy in the monster costume could not inspire such irrational quivering fear.

The stranger did not walk - he seemed to be flying, and the hems of his tattered cloak touched the smooth surface of the stone path.

Jess screamed piercingly and loudly, and the creature defiantly closed its ears and shook its head, making it clear that it was not pleased with the girl's behavior.

She did not remember how she pulled out the key and how she turned it in the lock; how she opened the door and found herself in the house, hearing a strange roar in the courtyard behind; how she grabbed knives from the kitchen and how fearlessly she shouted something, driving away and promising to finish off:

- Go away! Get out! Go away! Away, you bastard!

Fear lulls someone, puts him into a stupor, enveloping and dissolving in himself, and someone under its influence suddenly begins to do what he was not capable of before.

Jess raged like a tigress.

Perhaps it was the alcohol in her blood that was to blame. But she had never sobered up so quickly—almost instantly.

There was a whistle outside the door. And there was a shaky silence.

- Shut up! - Jess suddenly heard the voice of the nearest neighbor, Mr. Mantle. - I'll call the police if you don't shut your mouths! Let's sleep!

The unexpected tirade of a neighbor who did not recognize her voice calmed Jess. The girl's face was flushed, her hair was disheveled as if the wind was playing with it, her pulse was pounding somewhere in her throat. She ran out of breath and crept up to the window overlooking the courtyard.

No outsider.

Everything was quiet and familiar. And empty.

What if the one she saw hid?

This thought pierced Jess with a current, but she immediately said to herself with conviction:

- Nonsense. The world is rational. Nonsense. Nonsense. Nonsense! Damn absinthe, - the girl suddenly remembered the alcohol she drank at the party. Damn Abby.

It was she who suggested trying absinthe, a green drink that some say causes hallucinations. "Fairy Hypno" - was that the name of the brand of the absinthe they tried?

"No green stuff," Jess chuckled nervously.

Now she was convinced that she had seen a hallucination, and this made her feel much better. But despite this, she turned on the lights everywhere with trembling hands and at the same time kept a knife and a phone with her, ready to immediately dial 911 if necessary.

Nothing happened. No one broke into her house, no one called, no one knocked. No voices were heard.

There are no monsters.

Can not be.

There is only schizophrenia.

And the effects of alcohol.

Jess, with a firm conviction of this, made herself coffee, strong and tart, just the way she liked it, and its aroma brought her to her senses a little. When the kitchen smells of freshly brewed coffee, how can any monsters worry?

This is her fantasy.

No, these are the tricks of the brain, whose neurons were affected by absinthe.

Jess never thought that some kind of wormwood tincture could cause hallucinations, the kind that do not happen when you smoke weed - the girl tried it back in her student days and never had this happen. Or maybe she didn't smoke much? Or was the weed bad?

If Eric found out about this, he would be extremely unhappy.

Chapter 2

With coffee and a bag of salted peanuts in hand, Jess collapsed into her chair, brave and trying to feel fearless—or at least brave. She turned on the TV when she went to a baseball game.

It's a pity that Jess never cheered for these teams.

Gradually she calmed down. Nothing phenomenal happened, and no red-eyed, frightening, hooded strangers appeared in her house—only in a flashback.

Jess was convinced that the absinthe was to blame. And she firmly decided - now not only him, but also alcohol in general, she will not drink. Your mental health is more important.

The unexpected call frightened the girl so much that she shuddered all over, ready to fight to the last with unknown danger. It wasn't until a couple of seconds later that Jess realized it was just a phone, and every muscle that had tensed in her body relaxed.

Crazy.

- Did you get home? Dinah immediately asked in a cheerful tone, as usual. A lounge was playing in the background and male voices were heard. Jess guessed right away - the restless friend had not yet finished celebrating her birthday. Moved to somewhere quieter, picked up two boys - Jess hoped they were still adults.

"Yes," she answered cautiously, nervously tossing her long dark hair back from her forehead. The fingers are still trembling.

- And Vivienne?

- What is Vivienne? Jess didn't understand.

- Did she go with you?

- We wanted to leave together, - Jess confirmed, - but at the last moment she got a call, and she decided to meet someone. - And what?

"Ash is looking for her," Diana admitted. “I called five times already and asked if I knew where she was. He cannot reach her.