The Stalker: A Short Story

Joanna and I have been in a relationship for the past eight months. We started dating in the 10th grade on Valentine’s day. That’s still the best day of my life. Once I asked her to be my girlfriend and she said yes, I could finally see everything in colors and my world opened up once I took her into my arms.

My boring, basic looks can never compare to how gorgeous she is. I’m pretty sure she only gave me a chance in the first place because of my curly, black hair and blue eyes. I’m also pretty tall, and apparently, most girls dig that.

Joanna is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. She is short with brown shiny hair that glows in the sunlight. Her eyes are pitch black, just like the midnight sky, and whenever I look into them, I see the stars in her eyes that make her sparkle. She has turned me into the person that I am today and words can’t even explain how much she means to me.

I go everywhere with Joanna, even if she doesn’t know it. I see where she is at all times, including when I’m not with her. I installed a tracker and a camera on her phone so I’ll be able to see all of her movements. In my defense, I just want her to be safe every single second of the day because I love her so much. I need to keep a close eye on her.

Oh! Here she comes right now!

“Hey, beautiful. Why are you at my house?” I ask as she hugs me. I deeply inhale her peach-scented perfume and the sweet smell of her beautiful hair as she leans in.

“We need to talk. Now.” Joanna sounds angry and upset with me.

We walk into my kitchen and we sit on my smooth, leather-covered chairs. I give her a cup of soda that has a strong cherry taste, her favorite.

I reach for her hand, but she quickly pulls it away. I was only able to touch her soft fingertips along with her sharp nails.

“What type of person puts a tracker on their girlfriend’s phone? Are you crazy?!” Joanna’s tone of voice is getting stronger and her smile disappears in a matter of seconds.

“What? What are you talking about?” Maybe if I deny it she’ll believe me.

“Oh don’t act stupid! Some type of virus spread on my phone so I got it checked, and we found a tracker that had YOUR fingerprints!”

Oh no.

“So what’s your point?” I nervously ask.

“I can’t date someone like you. We’re done.” She storms out of my house and I hear the door slam.

No, this can’t be. She can’t just leave me like this. We’ve been together for 8 months! What am I supposed to do now? She’s the love of my life and I’m not going to let her leave me. I’m going to make sure that she never leaves.

She can’t ignore me. I have all of her passwords, I know her routines, everything. I just have to catch her when she’s alone.

I pick up my phone and text her immediately.

“Hey, I just wanted to let you know that you can’t get rid of me that easy. There’s no way you’re getting away from me.” That has to catch her attention, so I quickly press send.

My phone goes off a couple of minutes later.

“You need to leave me alone. I already said we’re done,” Joanna replies.

“I didn’t say we were over, did I?” Maybe that’ll change her mind.

No response.

Maybe she’s too nervous to text me back, so I’ll just go to her house and talk to her! Her parents probably know about what happened, so they won’t be too happy to see me. I have an idea.

I know how to get into her room through her window.

It is now approximately midnight, so I start heading to her house. I’m wearing all black so I won’t be easily spotted by anyone. Around this time, she’s barely preparing for bed so I can still catch her when she’s awake.

Once I see her large two-story house, I run towards her backyard and climb into a bush. I wait a couple of minutes just to make sure that no one is around.

And there she is, as beautiful as ever.

I spot her through her slightly tinted window. I stare at her as she brushes her long, brown hair. The colorful holiday lights in her room shine brightly against her light, soft skin that I need to touch. I need her.

She walks towards her bathroom, so I make a run for it. I dash across her backyard to reach her room. After I remove the rough tinted sheet from her window, I slide her window open and jump right in. I need to hide!

I roll under her bed and I wait for her footsteps to sound nearby. Her warm, fuzzy white rug is the only thing that comforts me as I wait.

Joanna walks into the room and closes her door. Perfect. Once I hear her bed creak, I roll out and stand up quickly.

“AH!!!! HELP!!!” She screams with intense fear.

“Hey, relax! It’s me!” I grab her face and feel her clear skin against my palms.

“I didn’t text you back for a reason! Get out NOW!!!” Joanna balls up her fists after she pushes me away. I fall over a stack of packed boxes.

“Are you going somewhere?” I ask as I stare at the boxes.

“Yeah, I’m moving, but I’m not telling you where I’m going,” she says.

“Oh, don’t worry, you don’t have to.”

It appears that she only found the tracker that I placed on her phone, but not the camera.

Joanna thinks she’s leaving me, but I can still see where she is at all times.

“Okay, I’ll leave. Just know that you aren’t getting out of my sight,” I say as I jump out of her window.

A couple of days pass, and I can’t stop thinking about those packed boxes. Why is she leaving? Why didn’t she mention it to me at all? I try texting her a couple times, but my messages don’t even deliver.

She blocked me.

I decide to pass by her house again to try to talk to her before she leaves. I drive towards her neighborhood at around noon.

Everything is gone. There are no navy blue curtains on the windows, no flamingo lawn decorations, no bird feeders, nothing. They’re gone. She’s gone.

I pull out my phone and view the camera that’s connected to hers.

Joanna isn’t even that far! I’m in Santa Clarita, and she’s in Los Angeles. Easy! I’ll head over there right now.

Once I arrive in the neighborhood, I head to her house and look for the back door so I won’t be spotted. As I slowly walk in, I gently close the door and look around the long, dark hallway. All of the doors are open, so I easily look into all of the rooms.

Oh, here’s her bedroom!

It appears that she has already unpacked some of her clothes. I pick up one of her shirts and I breathe in her peachy scent.

“What are you doing here!” Joanna snatches her shirt out of my hands and runs behind her closet door.

“I told you that you aren’t getting out of my sight, so here I am,” I quickly respond.

“You need to leave now. I’m warning you,” Joanna responds in an angry tone of voice.

“I’m not going anywhere!” She can’t just push me away like this.

“Alright, I tried warning you.” She reaches to the side and grabs something by one of her boxes.

A gun.

She has a gun.

“Get out,” Joanna says.

“No.”

Boom.

Next thing I know, I have a bullet in my shoulder. Her parents run-in at the sound of the gunshot and drag me out of the room. They throw me in their car and take me to some strange white place. The walls are cushioned and made of strange leather. I get placed on a thinly sheeted bed with a small pillow, and they leave me.

Where am I?