Just as Mateo locked the door to his apartment, he receives a text msg from John saying, "I'm sorry man, I can't come tomorrow I got my hand checked earlier, turns out that I fractured some part of my wrist which also means that I can't also go to work *laughing emoji*, I've already notified Wayne about it, also Jane's got me chained down. She's worried that I might do something frisky with the gals, well I obviously can't now because of this damned hand. I promise I'll make it up to you and the lads, sorry again". Reading this text msg, Mateo thought to himself "What an idiot", he proceeds to text back "You can make it up to me by sending $600. It's for a just cause, me and the others will enjoy the stripclub for your sake". Chuckling to himself, Mateo made his way towards the corner shop.

When he arrived, he noticed a group of juveniles across the road opposite the shop smoking some cigarettes or what seems to be cigarettes. Ignoring them, he walks into the store and greets the shopkeeper.

"Rough day today Mat?" he always wondered why middle aged people kept calling him Mat, I mean it's just an extra three letters to complete the name mumbled Mateo.

"Yeah, busy day at work you know how it is Ms. Sandra", Mateo has known this woman since the day he moved to Chicago 2 years ago, he frequents this shop whenever he's feeling peckish for snacks. He walked towards the noodle aisle and picked up two cups of his favourite Crab flavoured cup noodle,

"I see you stocked up quite a bit on the cup noodles", looking at the wide aray of different flavoured cup noodles on display he was pleasantly surprised.

"Well I know how you youngsters love the stuff so I figured I'd buy more". Mateo appreciated that sentiment on behalf of all the broke college kids.

"It basically runs through my veins these days ahaha" he wouldn't be surprised if he started shitting noodles, on the way to the till he grabbed a bottle of poweraids, the good blue stuff and kindly asked if he could borrow a kettle for the noodles. Having gone through this interaction multiple times, Sandra knowingly boiled roughly a cup of water for her dear customer.

After paying and saying goodbye to Sandra, Mateo headed for his favourite eating spot nearby with a hot cup noodle in hand, he also noticed that the group of guys disappeared when he exited the store, all that was left were cigarette butts and flattened monster cans on the ground, "Irresponsible pricks" as if he were any better than them.

He thought nothing of it and walked along the path ascending uphill towards a small vantage point atop a small hill. The scenic view on the overlook always captivated Mateo especially on a cool summer's night. After cursing his bad fitness levels, Mateo sat down on the weathered bench and excitedly opened the hot cup of noodles which blasted his face with a billow of smoke that carried with it heavenly fragrances, he then took out a fork from god knows where and began eating whilst looking at the scenic view,

"This is the fucking life" exhaled Mateo.

Unbeknownst to him, behind a tree was a stalker that kept its eyes focused on the thin reminiscent loner like an obsessed otaku eyeing the 'next button' on a manga site. He crept closer and closer with muffled steps, excitement filling his eyes, just as he was 10 meters away from the lonesome boy he said with a delight, "Hello stranger, do you happen to know what time it is?".

Hearing this unexpected sentence, Mateo turned his head with a fright, "What the fuck, man you can't just do that, you had my heart in my throat for a second there".

The man smiled, "I'm sorry for that, I was out on a little stroll and I happen to stumble upon this nice quiet spot and I was wondering if I was taking too long, my wife gets worried when I come home too late, do you mind if I sit beside you?".

Mateo eyed this rather peculiar figure, the man was an average looking businessman he was about 5'10, his hair kept neat and parted, he wore dark-rimmed spectacles and an even more darker jumper and navy pants. He gripped an umbrella under his armpit on the right side, "Sure I don't mind, oh right it's 11:55pm Mr...",

"Please just call me Edward, and thank you" he made his way towards Mateo and sat down unhurriedly.

"Right, Edward" muttered Mateo, something was off he thought but before he could delve deeper upon this mystery, Edward curiously asked him why a young man like himself was outside eating cup noodles nonetheless.

"Ahaa, I actually frequent this spot and I enjoy the solemn feeling of being alone at night , it's quite relaxing", Mateo tried explaining but he saw the man raising his brow as if to say he was a lunatic.

"Is that so, I do suppose that it's relaxing, exhilarating even" smiled the man, a cold gleam shining in his blue eyes. "You know, it's dangerous being alone in these parts of the town, I heard there's even a serial killer out there. Rumour has it that he likes to venture out on Moonlit nights like today. Creepy if you ask me".

There was a rumour similar to that, thought Mateo, he even had a nickname but he forgot what the name was, "I heard of it too, I just can't think of his name".

Edward carefully examined this nonsensical slowpoke like an expert butcher visually analyzing a piece of tender meat, he couldn't help but lick his lips, he asked the silly boy again,

"What time is it do you know?",

Having been inquired by the exact same question, Mateo felt even weirder, maybe the man was recently diagnosed with dementia? Nonetheless he picked up his phone, turned it on and showed Edward the time, it was 00:00am to be exact.

"The name is Midnight Killer" ,

"That's right that's the-"

Before Mateo could finish what he was about to say, Edward grabbed the back of his head and pulled it downwards exposing his neck, at the same time he pulled his umbrella handle outward revealing a sharp, cold steel blade. He drew a line slashing at Mateos neck with brutal precision in a quick fluid manner, this entire process occurred within a blink of an eye. All that Mateo visualised was a wide grin and then a bright red moon, it did not occur to him that his own blood had spurted onto his eyes turning his vision crimson red as he held his throat in an effort to contain the massive loss of blood. He tried to make a sound but all he could hear were whimpers and what seemed to be a sound of gurgling, it was his cry for help. He staggered out of the bench, frantically trying to run away from his attacker but he couldn't even stand up properly, the huge loss of blood drained him of his energy, he felt the world spinning and his vision was impaired, all that he saw was the colour red.

Behind him he could hear chuckles of entertainment, "You're running out of time Mr... oh wait I didn't get your name, what was it?"

*gurgling*

"I didn't quite catch that", laughing at his own vile joke.

Edward flicked the blade in an attempt to remove his preys blood but he couldn't get it all off so he joyfully walked after Mateo and kicked him to the ground followed by wiping both sides of his blade on the back of his victim.

"Sorry about that dear lad, my blade got a bit dirty", he looked up and said "The moon is quite lovely today don't you think?, oh right you can't see it" looking down at Mateo, he kicked the boy once again onto his back so that he would face the moon.

"There we go", he squatted down beside Mateos face and took out a white cloth from his back pocket and began wiping his victims eyes, he felt annoyed that the boy couldn't see properly,

"Sorry about all of this, I swear I didn't mean for it to happen but I saw you sitting there on your lonesome earlier and I couldn't contain myself."

Grinning from ear to ear, the wolf in sheep's clothing stood back up satisfied with himself and turned around to walk away unhurriedly.

"Farewell stranger, my wife is probably worried right about now" followed by an uncontrollable laughter as he walked into the shadows of the night.