Finding Fear

Chapter 1: The Texts No One Wants

Chapter 1: The Texts No One Wants

Sitting alone at home studying, Anya's phone buzzes. She picks it up, thinking it was one of her friends. On the screen was a new message from an unknown number.

You're not alone. That was all the message said. Spooked, Anya texted the number back. She figured it was one of her friends playing a prank on her, but she wanted to know who it was.

Who are you? She asked.

Your worst nightmare. You can't see me, but I can see you. Came the almost instant reply.

Prove it. Anya was smug at that point because she knew her friends would not be able to prove anything. Until her phone buzzed again. Screaming, she threw it at the wall. On the screen was a picture of her sitting on the bed, staring at her phone. The picture had just been taken, as she was wearing the exact same clothes, and her hair was in the exact ponytail as it was in the picture.

Cautiously, she walked over to her phone, which was laying on the floor face down. She picked it up and examined the picture. From the angle, it seemed as if the picture was taken from the corner of the room by her door. She went to investigate but came up empty handed. There was no way anyone could hide even the tiniest of cameras in that corner. She jumped as her phone buzzed again.

Proof enough? The person on the other end asked.

What do you want? She replied hesitantly

You, but for now, I want to be sure that you will comply with what I have to say. If you do not do all the things I ask of you, those you love will die. Is that understood?

Anya did not want to reply. She set her phone down and went into the bathroom. When she came back, her phone buzzed again.

I don't like being ignored, Anya. I will give you this one as I can see you are scared. Do you understand my last message? The anonymous person seemed to be getting agitated, and Anya was scared, so she replied against her better judgment.

Yes. She replied

Yes, what? Came the response.

Yes, I understand. Anya wanted out of the house. She was scared. She didn't know where she was safe. She had to know if the person was in her house.

Are you in my house? She sat anxiously waiting for the answer.

I ask the questions. However, I don't want you calling the cops, so I will say this. Yes, and no. I am not physically inside your house, but I am inside your house. There is no place that you can hide from me. Now for your first instruction. You are not to call the cops. If you do, I will kill one of your friends. The creep responded quickly, but the answer did not make Anya feel any safer.

I will not alert the cops if you stay away from me. She replied. She instantly regretted the sass she added at the end.

You are a fiery one. However, I doubt your friends would like to know that you often touch yourself to lesbian porn even though you claim you are straight. Came an even sassier reply.

How do you know that?! Anya could feel her cheeks burning in embarrassment, even though she was alone, technically speaking.

I know everything, Anya. Since you are still learning the rules, I will not leak this info, yet. However, for every time you mouth off, I will send out messages to all of your friends about one of your darkest secrets.

Anya didn't want to respond. She just sat there staring at her phone screen. The look on her face was one of fear, desperation, and loathing. On the other end of the screen, the person sending those messages laughed in delight at the fear the young girl so obviously displayed through a computer screen.

Finally, Anya replied.

I understand. Can I finish studying now? She set her phone down and held her head in her hands.

Please do, though I am curious. You seem to be taking this well. I expected more questions. It was a harmless reply, which the person noted seemed to throw Anya off.

Wouldn't questions cause problems for me? She sent back slowly.

Of course not. I am a very chatty person. As long as your questions are sent with a sincerely curious tone, I don't see how a few would hurt anything. How about this. To be on the safe side, you get three questions for now.

Anya took a deep breath and thought about the questions she wanted to ask. She started with the simplest one.

What is your name? She doubted she would get a real name, but she needed to have something to call this creep.

You can call me The Stalker. For obvious reasons, you cannot have my real name. The Stalker at least gave Anya something to put in her phone.

What all do you know about me? Anya couldn't help but be curious, as The Stalker obviously knew something that no one else knew.

Everything. It would take too long to mention it all. However, I will let you in on a little hint. I know you bite your thumb when you are alone and scared, and it looks more like you are sucking on it. I know that you have a pacifier that you use when you are stressed out, and you like to pretend to be a little kid. I know much more than that though, I promise. The Stalker seemed to take pleasure in divulging the fact that he or she knew a lot about Anya's secret life.

Why are you doing this? Anya did not expect a response for this question, but The Stalker, always a ton of surprises, replied fairly swiftly.

Simple, I need you. However, I first need you to realize that you need me too.

Anya looked sickened as she sat on her bed. She no longer felt safe. She wanted to know who was doing this to her. It could be anyone in the world for all she knew. In that moment, her faith in humanity plummeted. The Stalker was enjoying seeing her fear and watching her eyes dart around the room, just begging for answers.

That night, when she went to bed, she locked all of the doors and windows. Drew all of the curtains shut, and got changed in the dark. She felt violated, disturbed, and sick to her stomach. Sleep did not come easy that night, and she lay awake and tossed and turned. From the computer screen in another location, The Stalker watched her plight, nearly giddy with joy.

The next morning, Anya got up and got ready for school. She decided to leave her phone at home on the charger, which was something she never did. She just couldn't handle getting any texts that day. She knew she had to do something, but she wasn't sure what yet, and she didn't want her friends to get hurt. She made sure that she was running late so it didn't look like she was leaving her phone on purpose. She wanted to make sure that the Stalker did not think that she was trying to ignore him.

From the computer screen, the Stalker watched Anya as she rushed about. Noting how jerky and nervous she looked, the Stalker decided to go easy on the girl when she left her phone at home. Even though it was obviously left on purpose, and just made to look like an accident, the Stalker wanted to be sure that Anya did not rebel, and try to track him. His identity had to remain a secret, or else everything would not play out as planned. The Stalker shut down the computer and got ready for the day. The real fun began that night.

“Earth to Anya!” Mary shouted at Anya across the lunch table. “Are you okay? You have been really quiet today.” Mary asked concerned.

“I'm fine. Just stressing about finals. This is our senior year. These finals make or break my chance to get away and go to college. I want to get out of this small, claustrophobic town.” Anya admitted, forcing a smile.

“Wait, just last week you were planning on going to community college first because you didn't think you were ready to move away just yet,” Bailey noted.

“I just realized that too many people know everything here. There are no secrets, and no one's privacy is safe. I want to move to a big city, where no one knows my name.” Anya snapped. She felt bad, her friends were just curious, but she was really on edge.

“Is it that time of the month? Girl, you're really on something today.” Mary was taken aback by Anya's tone, as she was generally the sweetest person ever.

“It's just stress. I promise.” Anya replied.

“Are you sure?” Bailey asked, concerned.

“Yeah. Lunch is almost over. I am going to head to class early to get some studying done.” With that, Anya abruptly left the table and headed off towards her class after dumping her trash.

Back in the classroom, Anya laid her head down on her desk, glad that she didn't share this class with any of her friends. She was stressed to the max, and she wanted to tell them but feared they wouldn't believe her if she did. She was so tired from the night before, she fell asleep, and dreamed about her plight and how she would handle it if she had no fears. However, she hadn't resolved the dream when the sound of a book slamming on her desk woke her up.

“Class is for learning! Not for sleeping!” Mrs. Troub shouted, her angry face merely inches from Anya. So close that Anya got a face full of spit on the word sleeping.

“Screw off, Trout face,” Anya muttered, then immediately clapped her hands over her mouth. She never mouthed off to a teacher, but she was angry that her sleep was interrupted so rudely, when she didn't sleep all night.

“What did you say?” Mrs. Troub asked incredulously.

“Screw off, Trout face.” Anya sighed. There was no point in lying when the teacher clearly heard her. She knew what was next.

“Take yourself to the principal's office right this instant, young lady!”

Anya gathered her things, and instead of going to the principal's office, made a choice she never made before. She left school. She needed to clear her head. She decided that she would go home, and grab her phone. Her parents weren't in town all day, so she figured that she would go to the mall with her allowance. A shopping spree always cheered her up. She ran into the house, grabbed her phone, and ran back out as fast as she could. She didn't want the Stalker to notice that she had even been in the house.

She made it to the mall and checked her phone with bated breath. She let out a sigh of relief when she noticed that she had no messages. The Stalker probably didn't expect her to be out of school so early.

The first place she went was to the coffee shack in the food court. She loved their mocha coffees and their blueberry biscuits. She ordered herself one of each and sat down at a table. The mall was fairly empty, which surprisingly made her feel safe because she could see if someone was watching her with ease. After finishing her snack, she made her way to her favorite store, American Eagle.

She quietly perused the shelves and racks, not wanting to draw any attention to herself. She felt uncomfortable when she noticed the sales girl looking at her, and jumped when she was approached.

“Can I help you find anything?” The sales girl asked.

“I would actually like to try a few things on,” Anya replied, holding up the articles of clothing she had already grabbed.

“Of course, right this way.” The girl led Anya to the dressing rooms in the back of the store.

Anya looked around the small cubicle for any signs of a camera before she took off her shoe, and slid her phone inside of it. She didn't know if the Stalker had access to her phone camera, and didn't want to take any chances. She tried on the few pieces that caught her eye, and chose a single outfit to buy, hanging the rest back up and leaving it in the return bay. She purchased her outfit and left the store. Her phone buzzed as she was walking towards Victoria's Secret.

Sweating, Anya checked her phone. It was just Delilah asking her where she was at.

I wasn't feeling well, so I went home early. Anya replied.

Okay. Get better soon! Let me know if you need anything! Delilah responded.

Anya mentally kicked herself for being so jumpy, but her relief was short lived as she only made it a few more feet before she got another text. This time from the person she was dreading receiving one from.

You are not in school. Why? The Stalker asked.

How do you know I am not at school? Anya asked defiantly. Thankfully the Stalker did not catch the defiant tone in the text and merely answered the question.

Your phone is no longer on the charger. You also are not at home. Where are you? The Stalker seemed angry that Anya did not okay her plans with him first.

I'm sorry. I wasn't aware that I had to okay going to the mall with you. Anya replied back angrily

Watch yourself. Remember, secrets are easy to leak. You definitely should stop skipping school. It is unlike you, and might make people start asking questions. The Stalker threatened Anya.

I just needed to clear my head. This is a lot to take in, and I really do not want any part of this. Just leave me alone. Please. Anya begged. She needed her life back.

I can't do that. You see, if I were to leave you alone, then I would be lonely. And I don't want to be lonely. The Stalker seemed to be mocking Anya

Look. I don't know who you are, or even what you want. I don't care. I want my life back. Screw you. Anya decided that this person was just bluffing, and didn't know much of anything, and wouldn't hurt any of her friends. She wanted to not be afraid. However, her heart sank into her stomach with the next reply.

The Stalker sent a picture of Delilah with the caption.

You can have your life back in exchange for hers.

This angered Anya, and she had to let it be known.

Don't you dare threaten my friends. You are a low life creep with no intentions of doing a damn thing! Go to Hell. Anya was so sick of this creep. She didn't get a reply and sighed. Perhaps she had finally scared the creep off. However, she realized just how serious this person was when she got three texts at the same time.

The first was from Mary.

Um, I just got a text about you watching lesbian porn? WTF? Is this true?

Anya replied quickly.

EW NO!

The second text was from Bailey

Just so you know, someone is texting people that you watch lesbian porn. If you do, cool. Just giving you a heads up.

Anya replied

Thanks for the information. I will kill whoever it is.

The third text was from Tracy

Wanna be a star rather than an observer?

Anya replied

Very funny Trace. NOT.

Anya sunk down on a bench and sobbed into her hands. She did not know what to do. Now that she knew the Stalker was serious, there was no way she could go to the cops. She might just have to tell her friends. The Stalker never said she couldn't tell her friends.

The only question is, would they believe her.