20. Chapter Nineteen
CHAPTER NINETEEN
MARGERY
T wo days had passed since she reassured Adalisa she was going to be all right. Was she all right? No. Margery was not all right.
Adalisa had called yesterday to check in on her and tell her she wouldn’t be able to call today. Something about work and then a concert. Margery was fine with that because she wasn’t doing all right and knew if Adalisa heard her speak, she would know something was off. Demand to come over and make sure she was all right.
Something Margery didn’t want.
Ever since she had woken up with the stuffed zebra in her arms, she hadn’t slept well since; waking every couple of hours, sweating and breathing hard.
Nightmares .
She couldn’t remember any of them, and it bugged her. What was waking her so often? What was making her sweat so much she had needed to take so many showers?
Margery knew it had to do with Ethan, but what were the nightmares about. Several times, she had thought about asking someone to get her sleeping pills, but she didn’t want to fall asleep and have something bad happen.
What if he was watching her and decided the night she took medicine was the night he was going to come in? She wasn’t going to take that chance. She would pass out from exhaustion before she took medication.
Maybe she could lock herself in the bathroom and take the medication. But even then, people could pick a locked door.
Ethan could.
If he could get into her house and place the stuffed zebras without her knowing, he could do anything. It was scary. Did he have a moral compass?
Her mind kept going back to eighteen years ago. Why did he fake his own death?
Those questions were only going to get answered if she talked to him. Would she be able to ask them when she saw him? Or would she be so paralyzed with fear she couldn’t? Would she even see him again?
There was no guarantee on any of those things. He could be done after this last stuffed animal. Though, from what it said, she wasn’t so sure.
Daddy’s coming for you.
That didn’t sound like he was going to leave her alone. It sounded like he was still coming after her.
Maybe Margery should just put herself out of her misery. Then, she wouldn’t be worried, paranoid, not sleeping, not eating, or doing anything. She couldn’t live like this, and she felt like the rest of her life was going to be like it .
But at the same time, she wanted to live the rest of her life. She wanted to try things.
“I need a new life,” she whispered. “I need a new identity.”
But where was she going to get one?
“Probably the dark web,” she chuckled. “But how do you get to it? How do you find the right people?
How was she going to go about that? Was she going to try and start a new life? Did she even have the funds for that?
She groaned and put her face in her hands. There was just too much to think about, and she was becoming overwhelmed. So overwhelmed that she didn’t want to think about anything.
Margery relaxed on the couch to the best of her ability. It was hard when the zebras were staring into her soul. She tried putting them on the dining room table behind her, but she felt like she could feel them looking at her. Even if they were facing the opposite direction.
That’s how anxious she had become. Even when they were facing the other direction, she had this fear they would magically turn around and be staring at her. So, she placed them back on the coffee table in front of the couch to keep an eye on them.
Crazy.
She was going absolutely crazy.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
She stared at the door in confusion. Who was there? Margery pushed herself off the couch and walked toward the door, opening it.
The first thing she saw were two zebras sitting on the porch in front of her door. Her whole body froze as she stared at the new blue and purple animals. Where had they come from?
She gasped. There had been a knock on the door, which meant a person had been there. Her gaze searched the surrounding areas until they landed on someone walking away.
“Hey!” she yelled. “Stop right there!”
She stepped out of her house and speed-walked in his direction. He had to be the one who put them on her porch. He was the only one outside right now.
“You! Stop right there! I’m talking to you,” she continued to shout as she ran down the steps and onto the sidewalk.
But by the time she made it to the end of the sidewalk, he was gone. Where did he go? She looked right and left, trying to find out where he could have snuck off to, but there was no cover. But there were no cars out on the street; the only thing left were houses.
“You can’t hide from me!” she screamed, knowing she sounded like an absolute maniac. There was obviously nobody out here. “Come out and talk to me!”
She spun around, trying to see if the person was going to come out or not. But as she continued to turn around, she realized he wasn’t going to come out.
“Fine. Be a coward!” she screeched.
Margery waited a couple more seconds to see if she had angered him enough to come out, but he didn’t. She scoffed and turned around, heading back to her house.
But as she was walking back, she saw one of her neighbors standing out on their porch looking directly at her. The neighbor looked at her pitifully and shook his head.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, knowing full well he wasn’t able to hear her.
She looked absolutely crazy. No doubt they were going to call the police or some department to come and get her. She didn’t want or need that. Then, Adalisa would be right.
Grabbing the two stuffed animals, she quickly slipped into her house and shut the door.
Why were there two now? Normally, she only got one, but this time, it was different. Had she done something to warrant two? Or had one of them been out there for a while?
She sighed and placed them at the very end of the line. Her eyes narrowed on the heart where the word normally was.
The number 2 was embroidered on the first zebra.
The number 1 was on the second.
Why were there numbers instead of words this time? That was the only difference from the other ones. The same initials were embroidered under the numbers Y. L.
Ethan’s signature sign-off to her.
Margery remembered when she looked forward to getting a note from him and seeing ‘your love’ at the bottom. It was always her favorite part of getting them. Well, besides receiving them from him and the contents of them.
He used to write the best things in the notes. Some of it was what he would do to her, but others were plans about the future. He would talk about marriage, living together, moving away, and starting a life.
Everything she wanted but was never able to have. She figured her happiness and dreams went down the toilet when he died. Part of it was true, but before the zebras started to show up, she was starting to get back to living.
Maybe he saw that and wanted to ruin her peace. Maybe he wanted to show her she needed him and should rely on him. But how was she supposed to do that when he was dead? Well, she thought he was.
“Stupid zebras. Why did you have to start appearing out of nowhere?” Margery scoffed.
The longer she stared at the stuffed zebras, the more her brain started to think of different things. Maybe it was a countdown. Maybe he was finally going to give up and leave her alone.
She would love that.
To feel the peace she had once felt before all of this had started. She had taken it for granted, and Margery would do anything in her power to have that back.
Her phone started ringing, and she answered it without looking at the name.
“Adalisa, I’m fine. You really didn’t need to call me. You have fun at the concert,” Margery said before Adalisa could say anything.
Adalisa needed to stop worrying so much about her. Yes, she had a couple of things that probably did warrant some worry, but her friend needed to have some fun.
But the only thing Margery heard through the phone was a chuckle. A deep and dark chuckle.
“E-Ethan?” she stuttered.
Silence .
“I know it’s you. I know you are the one that’s sending me these zebras. I know you’re the one who called me yesterday. I know it’s you.” Anyone listening would have known how nervous she was by her voice. Especially in the shakiness and slight hesitation as she spoke.
She was met with silence again. He breathed down the line, letting her know he was still there.
“I know it’s you. If you were really a man, you would come over and talk to me. You would say something instead of sending me these stupid stuffed zebras that make no sense.”
She felt partially good to say that to him, but she didn’t know if she really meant it. Did she want him to come over and talk to her? Probably not, but she wanted him to stop sending stupid gifts. And were the zebras stupid? No—she absolutely loved them, but not how she got them.
“But maybe you aren’t a real man. I mean, you are hiding behind something. Not showing your face and not talking to me,” she spat out.
Margery didn’t know where this was coming from. Maybe it was all the pent-up anger she had been feeling. There had been so many emotions running through her, but the most prominent one was fear. She was so fed up with all of this and was finally tipping over the edge.
Whatever it was, she was here for it. Perhaps it would do her some good and show Ethan she meant business.
But her mind still went back to him killing Max for her. Well, technically, not for her. He was trying to get her back from him. Max did say some weird things, but it wasn’t like he was holding her hostage. He was going to help her get back to town so she could get home .
“I’m serious, Ethan. You either talk to me in person or don’t call again. Don’t send any more zebras. They aren’t my favorite animal anymore.” That was a complete lie. She was still obsessed with zebras.
“Lies,” his deep voice rang through the phone.
Her whole body tensed .
“So, you can speak.” She rolled her eyes.
“Don’t you dare roll your eyes at Daddy.”
She gasped as she looked around the room. How did he know she had rolled her eyes? Was he in her house?
Scared, she looked around her living room, trying to find where he could possibly be standing, but she found no one.
“Where are you?” she asked.
But she was met with silence yet again. She clenched her jaw and took a deep breath in.
“So, you’re going to answer some of my questions but not all of them?”
“I haven’t answered any of your questions.”
She thought back to everything she had said and realized he was telling the truth. Every question she had asked, he didn’t answer.
“Show yourself. Show me where you are like a real man would.”
Her brain was screaming at her. It was a dangerous game she was playing, and it wasn’t going to end well, but she needed to see him. She needed him to know that she was done with this.
Ethan chuckled once more. “When Daddy gets his hands on you, I’ll never let go.”
“You’re not going to have me. I’m not yours anymore. ”
“But you are. You’ve been saving yourself for me. Like you always planned when we were younger.”
She sucked in a breath. How did he know she was still a virgin? Margery had tried so many times to have sex with guys, but it never worked out. She always ended up feeling guilty about betraying Ethan, even though he had been dead. Or so she thought.
“I’m going to love every second of Daddy popping your cherry.”
Margery should have been turned off and disgusted by this, but she couldn’t help but be turned on. She had always fantasized about Ethan taking her virginity.
“Stop calling yourself Daddy,” she snapped.
“But I am your Daddy. I will always be your Daddy, and you will always be my Little girl,” he replied before hanging up.