Page 25 of Don't Watch Alone
“What makes you think that?”
“He said something. He told me he had warned Mary, but she didn’t listen. Then he told me not to go to the movies Friday night. The way he said it… it wasn’t just some creepy comment. It felt like a fucking warning.”
“He’s screwing with your head.”
“Maybe. But it didn’t feel like some random scare tactic. It felt like he knew something. Like he’s trying to tell me something without actually saying it.”
The timer ticks on the stove quietly in the background, the only sound cutting throughthe silence. When Tony speaks again. His voice is serious now.
“You have to tell the police.”
I glance at the door. Then back to Tony. “And say what? ‘Hey, my coworker’s missing and the guy who’s been stalking me just got hired and now he’s saying weird shit’? If I’m wrong, I will sound insane. If I’m right… then I’m next. He knew I was planning to go to the movies Friday night, Tony. But I didn’t tell anyone about that.”
Tony goes still. “Wait. He knew about Friday?”
“Yeah. And I didn’t tell a soul. The only time I ever said it out loud… was to Mary.”
Tony curses, rubbing his face. “Jesus. That’s not just creepy. That’s something else entirely.”
“It felt like a threat,” I whisper, barely hearing my own voice. “Like he was saying, ‘Look what happened to her. You’re next.’”
Silence falls between us again. The TV flickers in the background with a world that feels too far away now to even matter.
“This is bad,” Tony says finally, and he reaches for my hand, gripping it tight. “You can’t just ignore this. Mary’s missing, and Andy showsup out of nowhere saying things he shouldn’t know. That’s not a fucking coincidence.”
“I know,” I say. “But what am I supposed to do? Walk into a police station and say my coworker said some weird shit before another one vanished?”
A sudden bang cuts through the hallway.
Tony and I jump to our feet. It sounds like something heavy slamming against a wall, or maybe the floor.
“What the hell was that?” Tony asks.
Another sound follows. Muffled. Like someone sobbing into fabric. Then—nothing.
We freeze. My eyes lock on the door. That voice I heard earlier… was it Mary? Was she out there? Was she trying to get help?
The oven beeps.
“The casserole,” I whisper.
“I got it,” Tony says, jumping up to go to the kitchen. He opens the oven, and the heat and smell of bubbling cheese pour into the room, but I don’t move. I can’t. I’m stuck on that voice. On that sound. What if it was her? What if Iignored her?
Tony sets the casserole on the stove and glances at me. He doesn’t need to say anything. I can see it on his face. He feels it too.
Something’s wrong. Something’s happening. Right now. Just across the hall.
“Should we check it out?” I ask, my eyes are still on the door.
Tony steps up to the peephole again. “I don’t see anything,” he says. Then he notices something. “The blinds are moving. Like someone just pulled them hard. Did someone move in over there?”
“Yeah,” I nod slowly. “I think while I was at work the other day.”
Tony flicks off the light. “I want to see without being seen,” he says, catching the look on my face.
The casserole’s getting cold, but I couldn’t care less about food right now. I glance back at the kitchen, then at him. “Should we go check to see what is going on? Maybe pretend we’re bringing them dinner, like a neighborly welcome.”
Tony looks surprised, then nods. “That might work. Let’s do it.”
