Chapter 17
Susan
Friday
Lock your doors, Susan. I told you, if you tell anyone, I’ll be back. Remember, I know exactly who you are and where you are, and you know nothing about me. I’m the monster who comes in the night. I’m the monster who’ll make you pay. I’m the monster outside right now. Watching.
My hand flies to my mouth and, for a moment, I’m frozen, staring at my phone, then at the boarded-up window. Is someone out there?
“Jon. Jon.” I shake him awake, holding my phone out to show him the text.
He rubs his eyes, squints to read.
“Jesus.” He’s hoarse, groggy.
“We need to look outside—out the window, I mean, and we need to phone the guards,” I whisper.
I check on Bella, then together, Jon and I slip across the landing to the nursery that will be Bella’s bedroom. The blind is up. Jon is heading straight for the window, but I hold him back.
“Don’t, they’ll see you,” I whisper. “We should try to look without being spotted.”
He nods. We hang back in the darkness and crane our necks.
My heart pounds in my chest. A movement outside startles us.
But it’s just a fox, darting across the street.
Nothing else stirs. Streetlights illuminate darkened lawns and cars and driveways.
There’s nobody out there, not that I can see.
But someone could be hiding out of sight, watching us. My skin prickles.
Jon squeezes my hand. “There’s nobody there, but I’ll call the guards anyway. You go back to Bella.”
· · ·
The guards, to their credit, send a car, and phone Jon half an hour later to confirm there’s nobody outside the house. They ask us to send a screenshot of the text, and we do. Bella wakes for a feed, and there’s comfort in it, comfort in holding her close.
Jon kisses me, and turns over, telling me he’s not going to be able to sleep, but is somehow out within thirty seconds. I lie awake, feeding Bella, thinking. Going back over the text, word by word. Something snags. Something that doesn’t fit.
I told you, if you tell anyone, I’ll be back.
What does that mean? Who told me? I rack my brain, but it doesn’t make sense.
And if I “tell anyone” what? Somehow, this feels like the key to everything, if only I knew what it meant.