I shook off my shivers then I relocked all of the locks on and closed the bolt at the top of the door. I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard Mr. Pervert's footsteps trot back across the hall and into his own apartment where he closed the door behind him. I looked at the envelope in my hand and decided to open it because I was curious as to what was inside it. I couldn't see very well because the hallway was still dark but I knew it wasn't a bill, it didn't feel like the envelope bills came in, it was thicker. From what I had seen it looked nicer than a bill envelope. Fancier.

I headed into my kitchen that also doubled as my sitting room and flicked on the light. I tossed the envelope on the kitchen table and went to the counter drawers to look for my envelope cutter. I found it after only a second of looking, but had to put it down when I heard my phone ring from my bedroom. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

Who the hell would be calling me at twenty past three in the morning?

"Aideen," I said out loud and headed in the direction of my bedroom.

Aideen Collins was my best friend. She was the closest thing I had to a sister and I loved her dearly, but she had her moments when she royally pissed me off. Ringing me at half past three in the morning was one of those moments.

When I got to the phone in my bedroom and pressed answer I said, "You'd better have a good reason for ringin' me at this hour Aideen Collins or I am goin' to kick seven shades of shite outta you!"

I heard a deep, rumbling chuckle.

"She does have a good reason, so you don't need to kick any shade of shit out of her," a male voice replied, it made me jump with fright because I wasn't expecting it.

"Who are you? Where is Aideen? Why do you have her phone?" I asked then gasped and shouted, "If you have hurt me friend in any way I'm goin' to fuck you up!"

The stranger laughed this time and said, "Is that a promise, kitten?"

Ex-fucking-cuse me?

"Where is Aideen? You better tell me right now or I'm gonna-"

"Fuck me up? Yeah, I got that part," he chuckled again then before he could say anything else I heard a different male voice speak, "I asked you to ring the girl's friend, Alec. What the hell is taking so long?"

I mentally made a note of the name Alec in case I had to call the Guards.

"I'm talking to her friend, but I haven't been able to tell her the point of my call. She is too busy threatening to 'fuck me up' if I have hurt the girl," the lad who called me laughed.

I was mad and also scared as to where Aideen was and who these foreign guys were. I knew they weren't Irish or even English - their accents sounded too different - but I couldn't pinpoint where they were from because there was a lot of background noise. It sounded like music.

"Just tell her what I told you to say so she can get here already," the second lad said to the one who called me.

The lad who called me sighed and said, "Keela, I'm calling to let you know your friend Aiden was in a fight and we need you to come pick her up. She told me to call you."

"Her name is Aideen not Aiden, it's pronounced Ay-deen," I said then widened my eyes when I comprehended the rest of what he had just told me. I screamed, "Is she okay? What happened? Who hurt her?"

"Calm down, hellcat. She is fine, we just need you to come and collect her. I'll explain everything once you get here."

"Where is 'here'?" I snapped as I moved around my room pulling on my shoes. I grabbed my car keys from my bedside table as I held my phone to my ear with my shoulder.

"Playhouse Nightclub, it's right beside the Tallaght bypass-"

"I know where it is, I'll be there in five minutes," I said and hung up on him.

I gripped my phone and car keys in my hand as I closed my bedroom window. I told Storm to stay put, but it feel on deaf ears because he didn't move an inch or even wake up. I ran down my hallway and unlocked the locks and the bolt on my door then flung it open and sprung into the corridor. I closed my front door, locked it, then ran like a bat out of Hell down the hallway, down four flights of stairs and out into my apartment complex's car park. I sprinted towards my car and only realised I was in my nightdress when a cool breeze hit me and made me shiver.

"Fuck!" I snapped as I unlocked my car, got into it and started the engine.

I didn't think of changing my clothes, I just thought about getting my shoes on and then getting out to my car. I wasn't going back inside to change. I had to get to Aideen and make sure she was okay before changing clothes even became an option. It was okay though, I didn't show off any valuables. The nightdress was just a little short, it was black so I didn't have to worry that it was see through, at least I got lucky with that. The weather was good tonight as well, it was cool but not windy or raining. I would just have to hold the hem of my nightdress down when I got out of my car to keep it from rising up in case I had to run anywhere.

I pulled out of the car park and straight onto the main road and headed towards the nightclub. I was wide awake now, but the stinging in my eyes didn't go amiss. I had only been asleep for four hours before Mr. Pervert woke me up. Before that I hadn't slept in twenty-seven hours. I worked in my local supermarket, Super Value. I was broke and I needed all the hours I could get, so yesterday I worked an eleven hour shift and instead of going straight to bed when I got home, I dove straight into writing and pulled an all-nighter.

I have always had a passion for bringing the stories in my head to life on paper - or on a laptop screen. I only ever dabbled in silly little things here and there, never a full length novel. Luckily for me Aideen - literally - gave me the kick up the arse I needed and said I should just 'go for it' because I wouldn't know if my writing would be a success if I never put it out there. After my wake up call, which was three weeks ago, I knuckled down and started writing my very first book. Yesterday, even though I was shattered, I was completely in the zone and I just had to write. I had so much inside me for my story that if I didn't get it out of my head soon I was going to explode. So I wrote, wrote, and wrote some more. The lack of sleep and the stinging in my eyes from staring at my laptop was kicking my arse now though because I felt like death and I was pretty sure I looked the part too.

When I came to a red traffic light I pulled down my visor and looked in the little mirror and winced. Scratch that, saying I looked like death would have been kind. The sclera around my green eyes looked like a road map to Hell, that's how bloodshot they were. My fiery red hair was slightly greasy, and pulled up into a disastrous looking bun. I glanced down at my long bare white legs and shook my head.

Why did I have to be so tall?

If I were shorter, this nightdress would be longer and less exposing!

I angrily pushed my visor up when the traffic light changed to green and sped to the location of the nightclub Aideen was at with these men. I got there in less than five minutes because the green lights were with me, and there was little to no traffic on the roads thanks to the early hour. I turned into the nightclub car park entrance and looped around until I saw two huge males looking down at a small woman sitting down on the path a few meters away from the nightclub's entrance. It was Aideen, I just knew it. I parked my car across from them, jumped out, and slammed my door before I took off running towards Aideen.

When the sound of my feet hitting the pavement could be heard both men looked up at me, but didn't say anything as I reached them. Once I was next to them, I dropped down to my knees and pulled Aideen into a hug. I ignored the slight stinging in my knees from the concrete ground digging into my skin and held Aideen tightly.