When I got home we had macaroni cheese for tea- I mean dinner? Jeez, I was not used to this culture.
“What you going to do today?” Alyson asked.
“ Ima go exporin’” I said, with my mouth full.
“ I don’t know Rebecca, What if you get lost?”
“I’ll take my phone with me.” I replied confidently.
“Ok then, don’t come home too late though.”
“I won’t” I smiled.

Once I’d finished my tea-dinner, I shoved on my coat and left the house. I shoved my I-pod on and let the familiar songs of the Red Hot Chili Peppers relax me.
It was about 7 o' clock when I left the house so it was only beginning to get dark. I walked down a street of small, stone houses. I turned the corner past an off licence shop and continued down a darker road. The houses here were a bit bigger, more like the houses where I lived. They had large trees in every single garden. I wandered around for almost an hour, trying to get a grip of my surroundings until I came to a street with a few strange little shops. The first shop was small with a large front window, It looked like a charity shop but it was dark inside, past opening hours.
The next appeared to be a tattoo parlour. It was brightly coloured, yellow and black - it reminded me of a giant wasp. It was closed as well.

The last was a dark black shop, it didn’t have any sort of sign on it to tell what kind of shop it was, but the light was on, so I went in.
It looked old and dusty, there were lit candles everywhere and soft violin music playing in the background. It was eerie, it looked like something straight out of horror book. At that moment part of me was telling me I ought to leave, but my curiosity got the best of me.

There were many old looking wooden tables holding odd objects. They held dark looking crystals, strange stones, more candles, unusual books, black sticks and more. I saw from a distance that the last table had a pentagram on it. I wondered if Michelle came here. I walked closer to the table to examine it. There were a few books with the same symbol on them. I reached out to pick one up, when something gripped me by the shoulders.

Something twisted me around and now an old man was standing next to me, inches from my face.
“What are you doing here!” he shouted.
I stared back at him in shock, unable to speak.
“What are you doing HERE!” he repeated, shaking my shoulders.
“I- I’m just shopping! I saw your light was on and -”
I said, petrified.
He loosened his grip. His face was still harsh.
“Oh, but you must not stay later than 8 o’clock. No one must stay after 8 o’clock.”
His eyes glazed over as he turned to the grandfather beside him. It was 5 minutes past 8.
“ You must run home child, run.” He said quickly.
I began to turn my back to leave, when 3 men stepped out from behind a black curtain at the back.

The men all looked alike, black hair, pale faces and dark eyes, they looked like my Goth friends. For a moment I thought it was.

They walked over and stood next to the old man.
The one on the far right had very short black hair, he was staring, almost piercing the old man with his eyes. The man in the middle was looking at me, he had long, unbelievably shiny black hair and wore a black fedora-looking hat. The one furthest from me had mid length black hair and seemed more interested in his surroundings than anything else.

“Where’s James?” the old man said, looking worried.
“He’s,” the man in the middle looked at me. “sleeping.”

The man in the middle moved closer to me. I felt my body suddenly freeze up. I couldn’t move, as much as I tried to.
“Who is this, little slice?” he said, taking one long, deliberate lick of his lips.
He was impressively handsome, but he scared me. He looked at me as if he was likely to eat me up.
“She’s a customer.” The old man said, curtly.
“ I am Sychar.” The man said to me and held out his hand.
“Reb-Rebecca.” I stuttered and held out my hand.
He bent down to kiss my hand. I’d only ever seen men do this in movies, I’d never actually experienced it.
“Young lady, the shop is now closed. I think it is best if you leave. I have some - business to discuss with these men.” The old man said.
He gave me a gentle push, which unlodged my legs from the floor.
“No matter, I am sure we shall meet again.” Sychar said to me.
I nodded at him quickly. I left the shop and then ran all the way home.
When I got home I went straight to bed. Those men were so strange. I wondered what this “business” was they were about to talk about. I had never felt fear like that, that had physically frozen me to the ground. As I nodded off to sleep, I couldn’t shake the fear I’d seen in the old man’s eyes.