Chapter 4 | Her
Iam hearing footsteps from across the dark hallway. He’s on the other side of that damn door... How long is that piece of wood going to sustain.
My breath is escalating by the seconds. I try to be as quiet as possible while reaching for my cellphone. I need to call the cops; this madness needs to stop.
Where the hell did my phone go? I comb through the pillows after looking for it on both the nightstands. Then something hits my hand and with a loud crash it meets the floor; breaking the dead silence and making me yelp in surprise. Fuck!
The sound of footsteps stops almost instantaneously. He’s heard me... He’s heard me!
I silence my breathing to a complete zero as the door screeches open; it’s sound as nefarious as the silhouette of a man standing with rope in his hand emerges making every single monster I’ve ever seen in any horror movie look like fucking clowns.
Without giving me a second to blink, he charges inside; making me scream loudly while trying to bury my face in the palm of my hands; as if the phantom would vanish if I stopped looking at it.
But the moment I scream, everything around seems to descend into the dead silence all over again. I open my eyes and see a faint light coming from the bedside lamp. My cellphone still resting there completely unharmed, and I am soaking in sweat and panting like I was about to die.
Well, technically it might have been a dream. But I have a belief that if you die in your dream, you could still die by heart failure.
And that’s probably possible since the nightmares have returned. They always did... like they were stalking me along with him.
When will he get tired of following me around? Will I ever be able to get away from the asshole?
Those questions I have asked myself almost half my life; but for some reason I still seem to not have an answer. And now I have this... I wonder looking at my phone. So, this one seems to only answer when you start talking to him. Good, because I won’t repeat that mistake again. Maybe, I’ll let my land lord know about the security breach.
But that can be done in the morning; I still have four hours to sleep so I’d better worry about it later. I mean I wouldn’t want to leave for office with puffy bags under my eyes.
I try picturing the view from that evening on the lakeside. The serenity of that working wonders to silence the alarm system which has been buzzing in my head since the texts.
Something about the guy is so warm – so comfortable; it’s like I’ve known him all my life.
I’m here for you...His words ringing in my head making me smile as I silently drift back to sleep.
AT SEVEN I WAKE UPto the sound of the doorbell ringing continuously.
Wiping the drool leaking from the corner of my mouth, I rush to the door. “Coming!”
When I open the door, I find a woman standing before me wide eyed as I rub my eyes to have clarity. She’s scanning my figure and I suddenly become aware of how scantily clad I am. Shit! Where the fuck is my coverup?
Clenching together the top to cover my decency, I give her a sheepish smile before greeting her, “Umm – Hi?”
The woman puts on a superficial smile, extending a hand as soon as her gaze falls on my face. “I am Payal. Me and my husband just moved here. I thought it would be nice to meet and greet our new neighbors.”
I’m not great at socializing but I still invite her in. “Sorry for the mess, I just got up. Cleaning is due for the day.” I cringe at the fake laughter that follows.
“C’mon your place is already tidy; you should come and see mine. Looks like a pig pen... Men – you know how mismanaged they can be.” She laughs at her own joke while I somehow bother only a fake grin.
“So, which floor did you say you shifted on?” God, please let it be this one.
“Oh, I am downstairs on the tenth. You should come over sometime. My husband leaves at nine every day. After that I’m all alone... And it honestly – it becomes really boring. Both my children left for boarding school last year.” I nod, not sure how to make the small talk.
But before I could come up with something she interrupts, “If you don’t mind, can I look around?”
“Sure, please follow me.” And then I give her a house tour.
“Wow, your place looks amazing. And the décor, such great taste.” The look on her face is that of astonishment.
“Thank you. But I’m a tenant here.” I shake off the compliment, because it does not belong with me. “This great taste is actually my landlord’s...”
“I know right, I heard about it through our agent. All the flats on the tenth, eleventh and top floor belongs to one of their investors aka our landlord. Although I lack any further information about him since he did not attend us personally.” Her eyebrows scrunch, “You know, at first we were planning of buying a property here; but I guess, the owner is a hot-tempered guy. We heard he was furious about invasion of privacy or something. I mean what’s the matter with so many properties when you don’t want to sell any of them. That’s so not business minded of him.”
“Maybe he values his privacy more than the money. I mean money can certainly buy most things, but privacy isn’t one of them.” Those words just slipped on their own.
Ignoring my opinion with just an eye roll, she continues her gossip bombing, “Cut that... But do you know he lives on the top floor in his penthouse. The entire floor is basically his apartment.” Her eyes are wide with excitement. “But I’ve been told he does not like socializing, like at all. Weird guy, don’t you think?”
I shrug as she readies herself to leave. Can’t really disagree...
“What amazes me is how he allowed someone to live on this floor. We were told by our agent, that this floor is specifically off limits.” Her eyes narrowing at the last words.
My brows furrow, “I never faced any problem renting this place. In fact, all the paperwork was fast and smooth.”
“No but did you not notice that no one else lives on this floor?” I tilt my head thoughtfully, as she continues, “Your apartment is way too big to give off to tenants. And it is way too luxurious for such a low rent.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“I don’t know. It’s a little odd, that’s all I am saying.”
She looks at her watch and pastes the same fake smile from before, “I’ll have to leave for now. Need to pick up grocery. You do come over whenever you want. Okay sweetheart...”
I return the greeting and nod before shutting the door behind me.
I feel like I’m waking up from one nightmare to another, and she’s pissing me off good. But I cannot deny... She has a point.