Score! The home crowd roared in jubilance as Terry Polo, the star forward of the Metroplex Ice Cubes knocked the puck into the opposing net. It broke the 2-2 deadlock which lasted for over half an hour. A few minutes later, history was created. The Ice Cubes won the Avalon Ice Hockey Cup for the first time after a hard fought, tense and often equal duel with bitter rivals Citycom Defrosters. The home crowd, in celebration mood, started another Mexican wave.

Bearing witness to all this, from the first row, no less, was popular singer Rob "Me Now" Steele. In one of his rare day offs, he came alone, unguarded, and evaded fans by donning a simple disguise of fake beard and sunglasses. He made a quick glance at his watch and decided to give the trophy presentation a miss, to beat the crowd, and just in case a sharp eye discovered hid true identity and blew his cover. Better safe than sorry, he always told himself. He made his way out of the arena and into the parking lot. He swept his eyes around the deserted place, and remember where he parked his Ford. Feeling the cold winter wind blowing at his cheeks, he quickened his footsteps. As he neared his car, he took out his keys from his pants pocket, and... darkness.

Her name is Elisa Frost. For the past five years she had followed the illustrious career of her idol, who cheekily called himself Rob Me Now. But her interest in him did not merely stop at buying his records. No, far from that. She obtained his address from illegal sources, and for the past two weeks, armed with a pair of binoculars and a good hiding place, she had been watching his every move in his home from evening till night, as if she did not have a life of her own, rather, hers revolved around his. But being a spectator still did not satisfy her, and she saw her chance to get nearer to him come when he headed for the ice hockey stadium.

Her van followed closely behind his car, and when they arrived at the stadium seconds apart from each other, she parked next to the Ford when she was sure he would not suspect anything. Instead of going into the stadium herself, she waited. Steele being a high profile celebrity, she predicted, no, expected him to exit the building earlier than the rest. She was right. As he walked briskly out with the cheap disguise, she was already in position and out of his sight. When she saw her chance, when he was directly behind her, she pummeled him once at the back of his head with a crowbar, knocking him out instantly. Being a swift, smooth operator, she quickly loaded him into her can and drove off.

Elisa drove a long distance, through the woods, on snow-covered roads and in pitch darkness. She finally stopped her van in front of an isolated house she called home, and quickly got to work.

When Rob came to, it was already daytime. He was in a sitting position and his first sight was a smiling Elisa Frost in front of him.

"Good morning," she said. "Slept well?"
Acting on impulse, he demanded, "Who are you? What do you want?"
Still wearing that smile, she gently replied, "My name's Elisa Frost. I'm your biggest fan. I just want you to know that..."
He interrupted her, shouting now, "What do you want?!"

Big mistake.

Her smile immediately faded away and her face was now a disturbing glare. She answered in a maniacal manner, "A simple, but nonetheless essential request. You are to sing to me everyday, and you will be kept alive. And before you even think of escaping, look down."

He did. What he saw at first was more surprising than shocking. He was sitting on a wheelchair, and he was not tied down. He started to get up, and all at once the feeling of shock overwhelmed him. His legs were completely numb, without feeling, as if his eyes deceived him and his legs were never there. His shock elevated to fear just as quickly when he saw what Elisa was holding in her hand: a huge hammer. She let out a witch-like laugh and he only had one thought, "I'm in hell. Oh God, I'm in hell."

And so it was. For three days he did her bidding, and every time he contemplated escape, he erased that thought the moment Elisa, insane, unpredictable, and worst of all with a hammer in hand came to mind. She had given him everything she thought would make him happy, but she had also taken his legs and his freedom. These three days had been agonising for him, and he cannot help but think of what could have been prevented had he come out thirty minutes later from the stadium.

On the third night, he was left lying alone on his bed after Elisa had tucked him in. He could not tolerate anything from her anymore and worried about going insane if he stayed any longer. Since he had nothing left to lose, he finally decided to device a plan of escape. He thought hard about times when she might let her guard down even for a few seconds. After much thought, he got it. Every morning she would enter his room with a breakfast tray and wake him up. Both her hands would be occupied at that time. He was delighted at himself and saw hope of being safe at home again. That night he did not sleep even a wink. Instead, he waited intently for the hours to pass and the morning to come.

It took almost forever, but the morning finally came. He lied down, with half an eye open. Then, sure as ever, in came Elisa with her hands full. He waited for her to come closer, then in a swift move, he knocked the tray at her direction. But in a display of agility that even surprised Rob, she pushed the tray away before it could smack her full-on in the face. A struggle ensued, but Rob ended it with two direct punches to her face, knocking her unconscious. He managed to buy some time, but at a price. While in the struggle she threw him to the floor in haste and he landed hard on his head. Fighting a severe concussion he slowly crawled out of his room until he was just below the table with the telephone. If he could just lift his arm and... darkness.

Elisa awoke, but lost all track of time. She had no idea how long her lights were out. She got up with difficulty, and staggered a bit. Her gaze shifted towards the bedroom entrance, and smiled. There was Rob Me Now, under the telephone table, and still unconscious. She walked to where he was, and stood over him. She meant to drag him to his wheelchair, tie him up tightly, and as a warning, break one of his pathetic hands. But before that, she pulled the telephone cable right out of the wall, destroying any hopes of any outside contact.

Rob opened his eyes painfully, still feeling the effects of the blow. It took a while for him to realise where he was, but he was snapped back to reality when Elisa, hovering over him, wrapped her hands around the back of his neck. He had to act fast. He did not come this far just to be recaptured again. Gathering his strength, he landed a blow to her left knee, and she fell over. He rolled away before she could fall on him, and crawled straight ahead towards the kitchen.

Once inside, he looked around and found what he wanted under the sink: a bottle of Dettol, a disinfectant, or deadly poison to you and I. He lunged for it and backed towards the sink, facing the staggering maniac not far from him. He uncapped the bottle and yelled towards her, "This is where it all ends!" He thought of the one way he could finally be free again, after his earlier plan failed. That was his final thought before he drank half the bottle down. He would rather kill himself than be killed by her eventually. After all, even if he survived the morning after offing her, he would never survive three days in the cold December snow, miles away from help. Being safe at home was a hopeful fantasy never to be fulfilled, and he knew it.

Then, as if the poison was not enough, he groped for a knife at the kitchen counter, found it, and slashed his right wrist. All the while he was grinning widely, which terrified Elisa.

"No!!!" Her voice thundered with such loudness that it could cause an avalanche. She snatched the knife from him but knew it was already too late. One way or the other he would be a goner. Now, probably without a reason to live anymore, she took one final look at the grinning would-be corpse and then at the reflection of herself in the bloodied blade. In a matter of seconds, she thrusted the blade straight into her heart. Permanent darkness.