Page 9 of To Love a Monster
I swallow the panic and try to be rational.I probably just moved it without thinking.I reach for the lotion and set it back in its place, letting my fingers linger as if it might grow teeth and bite.My mind drifts back to the man in the woods.If hehasmoved to town recently, maybe I could just walk past his house.Catch a glimpse of him.Maybe seeing him in a normal environment will prove to myself that he’s just another guy.Not some weird stalker I’ve started to convince myself he is based on almost no evidence.
I pick up my phone, I need to talk to Tess.My thumb hovers over the keyboard.I need to hear a voice that’s not my mother’s and not my own.I glance around one more time before I text her, like I’ll see him jump out of the shadows if I look hard enough.Then, a message flashes across the screen.
Thought you’d released some tension but you still look wound up.The bath didn’t help?
I freeze.There’s no contact name, no number, no typing bubbles.Just a message, and my heart stopping in my chest.What.The.Actual.Fuck.The message disappears after a few seconds and I scroll back to find it, hands shaking.But it’s gone.Deleted.Erased like it never existed, like I’m losing my goddamn mind.
I clutch the phone, breathing hard.The walls pulse around me.The air presses close.I swipe to Tess’s chat, type the words before I can think them through.
I got a random text that just appeared and vanished.Like it’d been deleted except I didn’t delete it!I really feel like someone is watching me.The text mentioned me in the bath!
My thumb hovers over send but I stop myself.Because what if it makes me sound insane?What if she thinks it’s another one of my overreactions?Another Lila freak-out?
I want to text Tess.I do.I want to call her, let it all spill out.But what if she gets worried and contacts Mom?I’ll never hear the end of it.They’ll either talk me into coming home and going back to therapy or insist on coming here.Neither option sounds appealing right now, even if I have a creep watching me.Then again, the text could also have been like some type of technical glitch or ghost notification.Maybe that’s why it disappeared.
I stare at the phone, my thumb hovering as my courage withers until I sigh.I can’t message her.Not when there’s a chance that the text could have been some error and telling her could result in Mom and Dad freaking out on me.I turn the water in the shower on, and my pulse won’t slow.
The mirror fogs up and my breath is too loud.I try to convince myself it was nothing, a glitch, a trick.But that message.It mentioned me being in the bath.Could that have really been a coincidence?I wipe the steam away and watch as it blurs back.Then another buzz against the counter and when I read it, I quickly realize that the first message was no fucking glitch.
Nice painting by the way.You captured me just right.
I drop the phone and my entire body goes cold.The screen stares up at me, the room spins and my pulse spikes.I bend to pick up the phone, fingers trembling just as the message clears from the screen again.
I run to the kitchen and my fingers fumble across the counter, grabbing the magnet with the local sheriff’s number printed in white letters.I jab the numbers into the keypad, hit call, and press the phone to my ear, my heart pounding so loud I almost miss the first few rings.
After four rings I’m starting to get impatient, not sure what I’ll do if they don’t answer.
Come on, come on.I start pacing up and down when finally, a male’s voice answers.“Sheriff’s Department.Officer Denny speaking.”
I stumble over my words.“Hi, yes.Um.I think someone’s watching me.I saw a man earlier, near the tree line and now I’m getting weird messages.They show up and then disappear.”
There’s a pause, papers shuffling faintly in the background.“Okay, slow down for me, ma’am.You say that you think someone’s watching you?”
I bite down hard on my frustration.“No.Iknow.I saw him, not completely, but he was there.He was wearing a hood that covered most of his face and he was wearing dark clothes.”
“Mmhmm,” he hums.“Did he try to approach you at all?”
“No.He disappeared when I went back inside to call my friend.”I say, looking out of the window like he could reappear at any second.
“I see” the officer says, the sound of scribbling in the background.“And do you still have these messages?”
“No.They disappear right after they show up.”
Another pause.Longer this time.“Sorry to ask, but have you been drinking at all, ma’am?”he asks, casual, almost amused.
I grip the counter to steady myself.“No.I’m not drunk.The messages were deleting themselves and there was absolutely a man in the woods facing my house.I know what I saw.”
“All right, easy.”More paper shuffling.“Did the man threaten you?Show any weapons?”
“No, but—”
“Were the texts threatening?Did they imply that someone was planning to hurt you?”
I swallow hard.“Not exactly, but don’t you think it’s strange that—”
“All right, then,” he interrupts, “best thing you can do right now is lock your doors and windows.Don’t delete anything else that comes through.Chances are the guy you saw was just passing through, especially if he didn’t actually make any contact.And maybe the texts are from someone’s number you forgot to save.Look, resources are a bit tight at the moment, so we try not to do call outs for situations that are more than likely nothing to worry about.But tell you what, if you get another message or see anyone suspicious, call us back.We’ll send someone right out if it’s urgent.Sound good?”
I stare at the phone like he’s lost his damn mind.Lazy ass small town cops.Honestly, I have no idea what they do all day if they don’t even bother following up on situations where someone feels threatened, even without being directly threatened!
