Suddenly feeling miserable, Emily dejectedly slumps in her chair, moaning as her head comes to rest on the top of the steering wheel. "I'm being stalked... Oh, god... Ryan's cheating on me... It's hopeless..." She sobs to the speedometer, suddenly feeling exhausted, ready to announce her miseries to the world.

It goes from zero to ten in response. "Wha--No!"

But it's too late. Even after realizing her mistake and taking her foot, which she had been pressing downwards in her stress, off of the pedal, the car still takes a surge forward. It isn't enough to do her in as the mysterious Instant Messenger had promised, but it does destroy some of Ryan's landlady's careful landscaping. Not stopping to check if Ryan has pulled his face off of that slut and noticed her car, Emily pulls out, cursing, into the street.

Trying to keep her hand from shaking, Emily pulls out her cell phone and manages to reach her parents on speed dial. "Hello?" greets a female voice on the other end.

Emily lets out a sigh of relief, half-expecting the same man who had left the card on the passenger's seat to answer. "Mom? It's me, Emily."

"Oh, Emily! We haven't heard from you in a while! You need to call more!"

"Mom... I'm going to have to stay at your house tonight."

Detecting the near-panic in her daughter's voice, the voice becomes more businesslike, though a bit of worry does leak out. "Okay. We'll be ready for you. Just promise to tell me what's wrong when you get here, okay?"

"Right. Of course." Emily sighs, feeling safe for the first time tonight. She puts her now-steady hands on the wheel and is just beginning to drive the four blocks to her parents' house when she notices a dark shadow standing directly in her way.

"Damn!" cries Emily, pushing the brake pedal to the floor. In her frustration, she rolls down the window to exclaim, "Watch where you're going!"

The figure's voice is raspy and thin:

RATE THIS BRANCH!