The Abandoned Alley

24,April,2014 I opened the front door of my house. There were few children playing on the street in front of my house. They ran as soon as they saw me. My house is an old fashioned one. It has been abandoned ever since my adoptive parents death that took place three years in an accident. I went out of town to live with my aunt and moved back here recently after inheriting this house legally. I got a new job here three months ago as well. The problem is that I am not good at interacting with people. I have social anxiety. So, I really come out and the neighbors think I am weird for that. Moreover, the children in the neighborhood think that my house is haunted and fear to come close to it. Sometimes even the adults think that. But I don't care. My self is okay. My office is close by. So, I walk to the office daily. It was fine at the start but after a week or two I started to have the feeling that someone was following me. Especially in that one alley that I pass through as a shortcut to my office. I mostly ignored it and never cared much. But soon the feeling started to get stronger. I tried to avoid it all cost. Other than these my life was good. I would go to office everyday, come back, sleep and the same thing went on and on. This was my daily routine. *phew* "here I go," I stepped into the alley. It was not long before I got the feeling that someone was following me. I increased my pace and tried to get out of the alley as fast as possible. It becoming like a daily game of mine. I got out of the alley and reached my office. I stepped inside my office. All my emotions got back to normal. I got upstairs and settled in my seat. Soon, Michael came, my manager, typically the only person I talk to in my office. He was a nice person. He was the one who introduced me to my work in the company. He always helps me when I am need. The day almost came to an end. But, when I was about to leave, my boss suddenly called me into his office. He gave me some work to do which was urgent business. He asked me to discuss more of the work details with the manager, Michael. I went downstairs. I was exhausted from working all day yet I got extra work to do. I was waiting for Michael outside the office. He came from behind me. "I hope our boss gave you the work that he told me he would" "Yes, he did" I rolled my eyes and he laughed. "Great! Then we have to discuss about it, shall we go to a nearby cafe?" I agreed We went to a nearby famous cafe. We sat in a corner. We ordered two coffees and started to discuss about the matter at hand. While he was explaining the details of the work our order arrived. He asked the waiter to place the coffee on the table and leave. He soon finished explaining all the details to me. He too the coffee cup and handed it to me. We talked about some other things while drinking our coffee. "you rarely speak with anyone and you only talk to me regarding work matters." "Yes, I don't like to talk much. I am not into socialising stuff," We left the cafe. It was already an it dark outside. I waved at him and started walking towards my house but he called me out and offered to drive me home "Zoe, wait, let me drop you at your house. It is quite dark out here." I refused, " it's okay. It's close by." But he insisted. So I gave in. He accompanied me home. I took him to my house through the shortcut, the alley. But this time around I didn't feel like anyone was following us. "Strange," I thought. Anyways, we soon reached my house. I invited him inside. But he just waved and left.