A loud knock comes from inside my closet. I knew I felt like I was being watched last night..
I sit on the edge of my bed, frozen. I feel like I physically cannot move.
My Airsoft handgun is not powerful enough to seriously injure somebody but it looks real, maybe it could work.. I sit, staring at my closet door, searching the cracks for any sign of movement. I see nothing. I quickly reach for my bedside table and grab the handgun.
He can see me. I know he can. I can feel his eyes watching my every move..
I am sure if I reached for my phone he would come out, I can’t get past him, he is closer to the bedroom door than what I am, my only way out is the window..
Clenching the weapon with one hand, with a sudden burst of adrenaline and bravery. I fling my wrist and point it towards the closet door, throwing myself across the bed and snatching my phone from the table beside me. The closet door bursts open.
I close my eyes out of pure fear, firing as many shots as I can in the direction of my closet with one hand and picking myself up off the bed, running towards the window, I must say this is probably the fastest I have ever moved in my entire life. I swing the window open with full force and throw myself onto the roof below my window.
He grabs my leg.
I continue to fire rounds through the window at the man as my body slams onto the tiles below, kicking and screaming as loud as my lungs will allow me to. I can see the glowing sirens of the police patrol car flashing up against my next-door neighbours house.
In one last attempt to escape the mans grasp, I turn my head towards him and fire one final shot, right into his eye. He lets go of me and howls the most blood curdling scream, falling backwards and retreating back into my bedroom.
“YOU FUCKING BITCH!” I hear coming from inside. I take this as my chance and climb down the pillars of my front porch, the police waiting at the bottom with their weapons at the ready.
“HE’S INSIDE! HE IS IN MY HOUSE!” I exclaim. The police call for backup, ready themselves and enter my house. A policeman waits outside with me until a paramedic and a few more police cars show up.
25 minutes pass and the police team exit the front door. They don’t have him.. How did he escape? Is he still inside? I insist that they check again, they comply and search again. Another 15 minutes pass and to no avail.. I can’t stay here tonight..
The police are doing a sweep of the entire neighbourhood and visit each of my neighbours, including David’s house. They’re going to hang around for a few days and continue their patrols in case the intruder does it to somebody else.
An officer comes inside with me, I pack some of my things and get in my car and one of them escorts me to a friends house about 45 minutes away on the other side of the next city over, not too far from the University I work at.
I greet my friend, we have a large glass of wine and I tell her every single detail from the last few days about David, his brother, the house, the knocking, the University. Everything. She is horrified of the words that are coming out of my mouth and insists that I stay with her for the next few days until they find the man who broke into my house.
I agree and before I head upstairs with her to try and get some sleep, I call into work and leave a message to notify them of the events that occurred tonight and that I will be a few hours late for my lessons tomorrow. I make my way to the bedroom, lay next to my friend who comforts me and tells me “You’re safe now. You’re okay”. She strokes my hair until I fall asleep.
-
My alarm rings like siren from a nightmare. 11:00am. I did not want to wake up. I did not want to go to work.. I peak at my phone. 22 missed calls *Unknown Number*
16 voicemails. I listen to them one by one.
“Hey Blake, it’s David. I am sorry about my brother. He doesn’t know what he’s doing”
“Blake, answer me. He needs to talk to you”
“Answer the fucking phone Blake! JUST ANSWER THE PHONE!”
David’s voice changes as the messages continue, they get more angry.. more aggressive. The final message plays.
“He’s coming for you Blake. He always has been. He always will. He needs you. He wants you. He will have you.”
“Absolutely not. Not today” I say out loud to myself and turn it off, my hands are shaking so much I look like I am playing with Maracas…How did he even get my phone number?
My friend enters the room holding a cup of tea and a delicious home cooked breakfast, she smiles at me, places a plate next to me on a small table and hands me my coffee. Her expression changes and she leans towards me slightly.
“Hey, are you okay?” I don’t answer. “I forgot to ask you. Did you see his face?” She says to me in a concerned tone.
I shake my head. “No. It would have made it a lot easier if I did but as I told you last night, I shot him a few times with a BB gun so he must be covered in small bruises and I think I even shot him in the eye, easy identifiers.. I am sure they will catch him soon.. besides, his brother who is my neighbour and co-worker, David, told me exactly who he was. The police are probably camping outside his house.. I just don’t know what he looks like.”
Her eyebrow raises a little. “So, you quite literally know who this asshole is? The police obviously know this right?” I nod and finish up the coffee and food she brought me.
“I should really start to get ready for work. Thankyou for everything, I will see you tonight. I will come straight here after I finish my shift. I have to speak to David about what happened last night, even though he gives me the creeps, I need to know what his brother was thinking.. why he was doing this to me..”
She gives me a concerned look and smiles a little. “Be careful. I’ll see you tonight. Please come straight back here when you finish.” I agree and pull myself up from the bed.
I have a shower and get ready for the day. I hop in my car and mentally prepare myself for the conversation with David that lies ahead.. I am feeling pretty scared about how he is going to react but I have to know what is happening and why was he staring at me from his window like that last night?
-
I pull into the carpark of the University and take a few deep breaths. As I reach over at the door handle of the car to pull it open. I hear my phone ringing, this number isn’t hidden so maybe it is okay, nervously, I answer it.
“Good Afternoon, This is Commanding Officer Derek McCormack of the Thames Valley Police.. Am I speaking to Miss Blake Lockhart?”
“Yes.” I respond. “Are you calling about last nights incident in my home? Did you find him?”
“Well ma’am, we do have some new information that we think you should know. Are you currently sitting down?”
I pause for a few moments.. a million things rushing through my head at once. I look down at my hands in my lap. “Yes.. What is it?” I continue.
“You mentioned a Mr David Harlow yesterday to our officers at the scene and that his unnamed brother was the one who was allegedly harassing you and broke into your property, is that correct?”
“Yes..” I mumble, my voice shaking.
“Okay, well following your accusations and the evidence we found, we acquired a search warrant for the property across the street from your house where Mr. Harlow and his apparent brother are residing, upon further investigation, human remains of an elderly couple were found, we heavily suspect murder due to the violent and disturbing conditions in which we found them. We have taken David Harlow into custody. I think it is important that you note that we found no evidence of an accomplice at all during our search.
We also located a.. wall.. covered with many different images of you. Some seem to date back to roughly three years ago. We also found some hoarded trash such as used napkins and cutlery, all containing traces of your DNA. We questioned him and he confessed everything. We have reason to believe it was Mr. David Harlow who was in your home, there is evidence he has been following you for quite some time. We would like you to come down to the Station as soon as possible to discuss this further.”
I can’t say a word. My throat is closed. It’s almost like I can not breathe. I just sit, gasping for air, looking at my hands thinking “Surely.. this can’t be real.” then I remembered. That old classic Mercedes. I had only ever seen a car like that once before I met David, and that was a few years ago..
“Nice to finally meet you” plays in my head over and over.
Why didn’t I put it together sooner? It seems to blaintly fucking obvious now. What is wrong with me! How did I not see it.
“H-hello? Ma’am?” The officer says. “I am incredibly sorry, I would like to assure you that you are safe now. You are very lucky to still be alive.. When can you come down to the Station?”
My heart is beating out of my chest. I feel sick.. I swing my car door open and vomit all over…someone’s shoes?
“Ma’am?” the officer says again.
My eyes follow the long legs up slowly, My breathing stops when I see his face, covered in bruises, blood running from his hollowed out eye socket, down his cheek, all dried up in his beard. As my eyes meet that wide glowing, sinister smile once more.
“David..” I whisper.