Malediction

Fixed on Her

My blood boiled upon seeing the last picture the anonymous man sent. "He knows I'm the one seeing the pictures. He's mocking me " I muttered under my breath. My hand curled into a fist. This wasn't the first time stalkers took interest in Andrea, but this should be the last. He even tried to be cheeky with me. Where is that little weasel?

I was already opening the door when Andrea called for me. I turned to her. "James? What is it?" Andrea asked with a worried tone. She probably saw my veins building in my temples as I looked on her phone. The tension was already in the atmosphere. While I was clutching her phone, I tried to smile, despite her knowing me too well. My mouth couldn't even speak to get an answer for her. "Another creepy man you need to take care of?" She asked. I nodded. "Lock the doors. Lock the windows." I said to her, dead serious. "And don't let anyone in, unless it's me."

I closed the door and looked for a ladder. Luckily, there was one closeby. It was placed on the side of our little apartment and climbed. He was probably by the tree on the other side of the house. Despite my unfamiliarity with the wooden ridges of the apartment, I used it as support to my feet aside from the ladder. I can already hear rustling on the trees by the other side. I sped up to catch him at the very least.

I walked on top of the apartment without making a sound despite its unfriendly structure. Jumping from the roof to the nearest mango tree, I searched for his maneuver around thick tufts of leaves from the sturdy branches. He wasn' by the tree anymore.

I worked my way down the tree with no hesitation. My heart was already racing with me, anxiety and excitement in a funky mix to mess up with my thoughts sooner or later when I needed it crystal clear the most. I could see him running within a distance, to the thick forest ahead. He wore a dark hoodie and jeans with his phone tight on his hand. He had a mask covering most of his face. Without even stopping to breathe, I ran like my life depended on it. I made every footstep of mine longer and faster that I almost jumped just to knock him down. I tried circling to block his way but for a weasel like him, this was nothing. I had to step up my game.

I stopped midway our chase. I can't catch him like this. He was just too fast. I tried to look into my surroundings. There, at the far right of me was an elevated ground, five feet above it that goes to a straight line he ran to. I went there with a plan. With trees, I blended in.

He stopped running with heavy breaths, crouching down to get some fresh air by the lake with large rocks around it. I was behind a tree from the elevated ground looking over, waiting for my chance. From where I stood, below was a good shade to rest on and the weasel took the bait. He sat comfortably under a shade of a tree viewing the lake. It was time.

From five feet off the ground, I jumped on to him. His reaction was a little too late, he was unable to run. I landed exactly on top of him which he groaned from sheer pain from the impact. He was face first on the ground with sharp rocks scattered over. "Gah!" He exclaimed and coughed from forced expulsion of the air inside his lungs. I tried to shift my weight, thinking I should not kill him. He had to suffer more than this.

The ground near the lake was slippery and muddy so he managed to escape from my pressed weight. Upon standing, I tried to pull his hoodie, as I balanced myself from the thick viscous mud sucking my shoes. I tried to remove mud from me. I was stuck in it. When he was able to slowly stand, his hands were close to me. Gathering one sharp rock from the pile, I took the chance to cut through his hand as a reminder of the weasel that he was marked by me. "Agh! That hurts!" Said the weasel, hissing in pain. He grimaced, taking his bleeding hand away. He stepped back, and ran again far from me. I felt proud despite a failed plan. I'll see him, if not today… I'll hunt him again.I'll see his face in full form, not in a mask. It'll be sooner than he thinks.

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I went back to the apartment after the chase. Mud was everywhere on me, from head to toe. It took me almost a half hour to come back due to how far we came from. Looking out, seeing the apartment I saw that Andrea took my words seriously despite me not explaining it much earlier. I couldn't get in even with a key.

"Andrea, I'm back." I called for Andrea and gave two strong knocks. It was a code for us when we didn't want to be disturbed by others, but let each other in. Fews minutes passed and Andrea wasn't responding to my words, nor my knocks. I began to worry.

After trying twice, I was already panicking. What happened to her inside? I roam around the apartment to look for other ways to get in, but Andrea was too diligent to even make a mistake. "Andrea, open the door." My heart hasn't stopped accelerating from the adrenaline rush I felt back in the forest, it was just that I was now having a bad feeling with how she was unresponsive instead of excited to catch the little weasel.

After one round of checking ways of entry, I knocked again and called for her louder. If she didn't answer this time I would be itching to use a picklock, even smashing the door. Despite its perfect location to be near the government affairs, if it makes it dangerous for Andrea to stay while we work on the field, I'll try to find an alternative regardless of what she'll say against.

The broken window was my only way of going in without breaking anything. I let my fingers slip through a crack large enough for them to move along inside the apartment's window. After my fingers, I let my hands slip through to reach for the lock. Luckily, it did open. I opened the window fully and made the impossible work. I tried to squeeze myself in, making the mud scatter everywhere from the outside in.

I let myself drop to the floor. I sighed in relief and in success of letting myself in. I gazed over the ceiling, trying to rest. My eyes were already giving up and my body felt extremely tired. Exhaustion was taking over me and I became sleepy. I could hear light footsteps walking to me. "Andrea..." I called out.

Andrea popped out of nowhere. She loomed over me who was laying on the floor, covered in dirt. A pan was above her head, ready to take a swing. I held my hands high. "James?" She asked. I smiled. She lowered the pan and helped me sit up. She closed the windows again after peering the outside from left to right.

"He knows our door code, I almost let him in." What? I looked into her eyes to see if it was just a light hearted joke but no, her face was dead serious. "Luckily, I could see him from the peephole of the door." She told me, looking at the door, remembering how scared she was. "And this," She showed my phone. On the screen was a picture of her inside the apartment, sitting on the table she worked on, hugging herself as she waited for me.

It was inside the house.

I jumped in realization of danger. "If you didn't let him in, then how did he do that?" I stood up and studied how he would put the camera in that certain angle. Was he here? Then who did I chase back there?

It was from the cabinet. I looked at the angle and it was identical. I took the pan Andrea was holding and gripped on it. My heart was already tired from accelerating continuously for the past hour but my head continued to buzz with adrenaline. I might end his life with one blow.

I kicked the cabinet open to catch him but it was empty. No one was in there at all. I dropped the pan. I felt every part of the cabinet and there it was, a tiny camera the size of my finger attached to the side. Andrea's face became pale.

He has been watching Andrea ever since we came here. He knew everything from where we were living to where Andrea was sleeping. He knew the door code.

That man knew everything. Could it be Manunulat or another stalker we need to deal with?

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It was just yesterday when I chased the man down so body continued to ache as I moved along, following Sandra. Tim and I were tasked to guard Amanda under Elo's orders. He wanted his own men to see what his estranged wife was up to after their fight.

Amanda, who was a mess from the past few days, was back to her intimidating, sophisticated self. It was as if the attitude and personality she exudes even when she only walks built a wall to her most vulnerable self.

Her schedule for today was an array of meetings and events she needed to show up to as the governor's wife but here she was, shopping because 'her mind was so tired of dealing with peasants'. I wanted to shake my head but I knew I would be immediately noticed as her eyes were always fixed on me every time our eyes met. I turned away.

And that wasn't the only thing bothering me from doing my job. Sandra had taken every chance she took to spark up a conversation between us.

"You looked tired." She commented on my appearance. She looked at me with concern. I was too stressed to notice such detail. "I guess so." I replied without wanting to continue the conversation. "I guess it's really hard to adjust to more work than usual, do you need help?" She offered in her sweet voice. All I could remember from that voice was Maddie when she tricked me to get my necklace. I didn't appreciate Sandra's way of getting my attention. It wasn't really great to associate a sweet voice with a dead face.

Amanda went to a shoe store she loves but her budget for the week was already maxed out. Sandra and I looked at each other. Was she really going to go bankrupt for shoes?

Instead of picking shoes at the stall, Amanda took an order that was already made and handed it over to Sandra. It was a matte black Louboutin high heels that costs pretty much more than how it looked. Her thin lips spread to a smile of satisfaction. She had no shame at all. Sandra and I tried to keep our contempt but it was difficult.

The shoes were from Jerry with a message he wrote: 'I miss you, when will it all be over?'

I tried really hard to not roll my eyes.