The Doorman

Good Girl

I ran until I arrived at the train station. I was so frightened. I became confused. I ran down the stairs to catch the train, then changed my mind. I ran back up the stairs and decided to take a cab instead. I did not look behind me to see if John was following after me. I was just so terrified for myself and John. I flagged down a cab, opened the door and rushed in, closed the door, gave him my address and he drove off.

In the cab my phone rang and rang. John was calling and texting me. It read.

"What happened?" "Are you OK?" "Where are you now?" "Is there anything I can do to help?" "I am worried about you." "Please, pick up your phone."

My emotions went into overdrive and I began crying. After about forty-five minutes, the cab pulled up to my building. I paid the cab driver, got out, closed the door, pushed the codes to enter my building and ran upstairs to the second floor to my apartment. I shut the door and locked it. I rested my back against the door and split down in tears. I brought my knees to my chest and placed my hands around my feet and put my head on my knees.

I sat there in that position for what felt like forever. During that time, my phone was still ringing and lots of notifications were coming in. I took my phone out of my pocket and opened the last text from the unknown number. I took a deep breath and typed out a short message. "Please don't hurt him, I will never see him again." The response came back also immediately "Good girl!" That's all it said.

"Pull myself together," I told myself. I got up, got undressed, took a shower and decided it was time to call the girls. I called them on our group chat. That way I would only have to say the story once. Susan, Liv, then Rose and last was Ava. They all greeted each other. I said hey ladies, "I have news."

"What news" came Liv

"So, as you know, I had dinner with John this evening."" What did that prick do to you?" Ava spat

"Nothing."

"Then what is it?" Mia chimed in.

"After dinner, we went walking. I got a text from an unknown number that said, "I told you to leave this guy, now you will see what happens to people that don't listen."

"It was from Steven, I know it."

Rose said, "I told you, you should go to the police."

"It will be my word against his. I have no proof that he sent it."

"Ava said, "Maybe we can get him kicked out of the park."

"How do we do that? We do not have a clue who we could contact to get rid of him. I am just going to stop seeing John. I will send him a text and let him know, that way he can be safe."

"You can't do that, you will only play in his hands," Ava shouted.

"Susan, say somthing?"

"Katie, I don't have an answer, maybe you should tell John what is going on."

"He is in danger. I cannot tell him. I don't think I will be going back to that park anymore."

"Where will you go?" Liv asked.

"There is a park four blocks towards Lexington Avenue, that is where I will go starting Monday."

"You have been going to this park long before he decided to come and sell his stupid sandwiches. I will no longer be purchasing anything from him anymore. I will go one step further. I will tell all the nannies that come to the park what he has done, and they should not buy anything from him either. It will be like a domino effect when the nannies tell their employer and just maybe they can have him kicked out," Ava angrily stated.

"Thanks guys for having my back, I truly appreciate it. I will see you guys tomorrow. Have a good night, ladies."

"Night," they all said in unison.

"Hey John, I've enjoyed our time together, but I don't think we are the right match to continue seeing each other. I wish you the best." Send. "That is the last text he will receive from me." After sending the text to John, my phone blew up. I turned the volume off and went to sleep.

The next morning was Tuesday. I woke up just feeling down because of what I had done to John, but I had to do it. I needed him to be safe. I went through the motions of showing, getting dressed and heading for the train. Getting off the train, I got my morning bagel, and started heading in the direction of John's building when I remembered the text I sent him. I double-backed and went down East End Avenue to First Street and then made a left walk down one block, and I was looking at the building where I worked.

This new route is not so bad. I just have to get used to it. Just then a text came in from John.

"We need to talk." I did not respond.

Avoiding John is going to be so hard for me. I truly liked him. He does not deserve that. Thank goodness he does not know where I live. I will not be going to my usual park so he will not be able to find me. Steven has ruined my life.

I arrived to work five minutes to eight, ten minutes later than usual. I prepared breakfast for Sara, cleaned her up, dressed her so we could be off to our new park. I know she will miss her little friends, but safety comes first.

After getting Sara ready and our bag packed with snacks, we took the elevator down to the lobby. Tony played with Sara and we said goodbye. I then walked out of the building to the left and up four blocks. I was exhausted by the time I got to Lexington Avenue. I made a left and the park was on the right-hand side of the street. After crossing the street and entering the park, I noticed that it was a lot bigger and had more stuff for the kids to play in. It was worth it, I told myself.

Twenty minutes of being in the park, a text came in from Susan.

"Where are you? Tony said," You left almost an hour ago, and you are not here."

"Susan, I am at the park on Lexington Ave."

"s**t, I did not think you were serious."

"I need to avoid Steven at all costs and this is the only way I can do it. If he asks for me, just tell him I quit because I did not want to deal with his crap anymore."

"Are you sure you want to disrupt your life just so you can avoid this creep?

"That decision was forcefully made for me, Susan. What would you do in my situation?"

"Honestly, I truly do not know."

"This way I am keeping John safe."

"Have you heard from him today?"

"Yes, he texted me this morning, I am guessing that he did not see me."

"The girls are coming. I will chat with you later."

"Okay."

After my text conversation with Susan, I was feeling so sad and lonely. I played with Sara, we then had lunch in the park. We played some more. Before I knew it, two hours had past. I needed to get back to put Sara down for her nap. I put her back in her stroller and sang to her while on our back to the building so she would not fall asleep on the way.

When we arrived at the building, she got upstairs and changed her diaper and put her down for her nap. Now I had all this time to think about how crappy my life had become. How the guy I have been secretly pining over is now out of my reach. I received a text from Susan.

"Hey, we need to talk. Stop by the apartment when you get a chance so we can talk."

"When Sara wakes up I will come down."

Two hours later, Sara woke up. I changed her diaper, gave her a snack and some juice, then we took the elevator down to the third floor to Susan's apartment. I knocked, Susan opened the door and practically dragged me in. Thank god I did not have a stroller. I was holding Sara in my arms. We went into the play area, where I placed Sara down to play. "I turned to Susana and said, "What has gotten into you?"

"John came to the park looking for you. He really likes you. He wants to help. He asked for your address, which I did not give him. He looked so pitiful. We all felt bad for him. Why did break up with him?"

"We told you not to. You can still see him."

"How?"

"Well, you are no longer coming to the park. Steven can't see you. You just have to make sure you do not meet John anywhere around here."

"Do you think this could work?"

"Sure it can."

"One more thing. When John left the park today, I stopped by Steven's cart, to let him know you had broken things off with John. That is why he came looking for you. He had a smirk on his face. That is when,"Steven threatened us at the park that if you did not return that he would deal with all of us."

"What?"