Page 26 of Creep

I closed my eyes, trying not to panic. And when I opened them again, the word was still there, even if water had dripped down from the bottom of the letters, making it look like some sort of prop for a horror movie.

I swallowed, but my throat felt dry. Leaning back against the wall, I stood there and stared at the word. I didn’t know how long I stood like that. But it was long enough for the letters to evaporate, erasing the physical reminder of an experience that, for the most part, still didn’t feel real.

This couldn’t be happening to me, could it?

How could this happen to me?

Mutely, I moved to my room. I was alone in my apartment once more, even if it didn’t feel like it. It felt like there were eyes on me, burning my skin from the inside out, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

This must be what hell feels like.

What had I done to deserve this?

I pulled on my clothes with shaky hands and grabbed my phone. I didn’t hesitate. I immediately put the call in and held my breath while waiting for the line to pick up.

“Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I shut it as my eyes prickled with tears.

“Hello? Can you hear me?” the woman operator asked through the line.

“I, uh, I need to report… I have a stalker.”

* * *

It felt like forever,sitting on my couch and waiting for the police to show up.

I went back and forth the entire time, half convincing myself it had been nothing more than my imagination toknowingfull well it was a very real, very terrifying reality that someone had been in my apartment, in my bathroom, and watched me as I showered.

A tremor of disgust ran through me, and it was taking everything I had to keep the nausea at bay.

I looked down at my hand, the tremors noticeable until my vision went blurry, and I could no longer see anything through the tears.

How could this be happening to me?

It was silly to think only bad things could happen to other people and not me, but my life so far had been normal.

This…

This wasn’t normal. And I didn’t know how I was supposed to react.

A knock on the door had me feeling faint. I got up on shaky legs and moved to open it. Two stoic-faced police officers stood there, one man and one woman.

“Hello, this is Officer Geoffrey,” the male officer said, pointing to the woman beside him. “And I’m Officer Stevens. We got a report of a break-in?”

I licked my parched lips and nodded. “Please come in.”

They walked inside, their eyes taking in my apartment, and there was a part of me that felt like they were judging me for it. I didn’t know why, considering it appeared to be a pretty normal apartment—at least, I thought so.

But under their scrutiny, I felt like I had forgotten to put something away, a bra or something. It was stupid. That was probably not what I should be focused on at this moment. I led the officers to the couch in my living room while I sat on the recliner, facing them.

They looked at me expectantly.

I hadn’t thought they would arrive here with friendly smiles, but I had expected them to not be so… cold.

“Why don’t you tell us what happened?” Officer Geoffrey said, with about as much warmth as the iceberg that sank the Titanic.

I blinked and, for the first time, wondered if I had made a mistake calling the cops. It felt like they wouldn’t be much help, and I might have just angered my stalker by calling. I mentally shook my head. No, it was a good idea to call. If nothing else, then to have this on record. But this whole interaction…

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