I cursed as my eyes locked with hers, the girl, who looked barely nineteen, stared at me with such burning intensity. Neither of us could rip our eyes off the other, yet it was plainly obvious that both of us, now blatantly aware of the opposite, were struck with intense discomfort upon the realisation that we both knew of the other’s presence.

The look she gave me was purely indescribable, no human words could possibly detail the intense, raw, primal energy her seemingly innocent honey doe eyes contained as she stared at me as I did to her. Had there not been a pane of glass window between us, well I’m convinced that the look she gave would have been as fatal as a shot to the head.

I’d seen as much of the girl as he could bear, my body willed me to move but an unshakable chill, be it fear, shock or discomfort, had seeped deep into me, through my skin that was prickled with goosebumps and right down into the marrow of my own bones, freezing the muscles that my readily active mind was screaming at to move and move fast.

Only a moment earlier had I still been comforted by the fact that she was unaware of my own acute awareness of her presence, of her smiling at me. One wrong move and she’d caught me looking, knew that the man behind the glass had been staring at the desperately confusing woman opposite me.

She took a step back from the second-floor window and I knew that our little staring contest, in spite of its almost invasive intimacy, was over. Adrenaline shot through my veins as quickly as the moment left us and I shot to pull on the window to ensure that it wasn’t merely left ajar, only to hear her shriek. Upset and disturbed by my sudden movement, changing her line of thought.

The rain beat heavy on my back now, it had been foolish of me to forget my coat. No matter, I’d be sheltered soon. With the skill of a man who had done it a thousand times, I climbed quickly through the now-wide open window.

“Darling, if you leave your window open you should expect some violent thug to come crawling in. Thank god I’m here for you.”

Her sickly sweet screams were so desperately ungrateful.