Inside 863

Chapter 7 | 12/26/2020

I woke with a jolt. I looked around. Where was I? I looked at my hands and realized I was sweating and shaking.

"Good morning," said Dakota, walking into the room with a bowl of cereal in hand. Suddenly, my heart stopped. That voice. How....how on earth was that possible? The voice of Syphus' accomplice from my dream sounded exactly the same as Dakota's. This didn't feel right. It couldn't be possible. But there was no denying the voice from my dream and the voice I heard just now were identical. It's just a dream. Maybe it was different in the dream than it was in real life. Dreams do that. They mix things around, I desperately tried to tell myself. I had to listen to the recording to be sure. But not here. Not at Dakota's parents' house.

"I should go home," I said hurriedly. My voice sounded sickly in my own ears. "The dog needs to be let out and fed." Without another word, I dashed out the front door and towards my car.

"Payten, wait!" I heard Dakota call behind me. He sounded startled and confused. I didn't wait. I went straight to my car and booked it out of the driveway.

Once I was at my parents' house, I collapsed on the bed and pulled out my phone. I needed to double check to see if the voices were the same. Before I could press on my camera app, my phone rang. It was the landlord of the apartment complex I lived at.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Ms. Holloway. I was calling to ask if you are alright."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused. Why would my landlord call to ask if I was alright?

"Well, you know, with the break in last night?"

"Break in?" I inquired. "What break in?"

"You don't know?"

"I guess not."

"Someone broke into the apartment complex last night. They only went into your apartment, though. I gave the staff permission to check it out and your room was completely trashed! We called the police and they're working on identifying the culprit. Whoever it was left no fingerprints, so the only evidence we have is the security camera footage of the person walking through the halls and breaking into your apartment."

I was shocked. What a crazy month it has been, and now this?! "I was staying at my parents' house for the past week so I didn't know anything about this. Will they let me come and take a look?" I asked.

"Sure. Come whenever. Just prepare yourself for what you're going to see." That last sentence gave me a feeling of dread. What would my apartment have in store for me?

***

I stood in the doorway of my apartment, gaping. It was completely trashed. I took slow steps around the place, just staring and gaping. Papers from my desk were ripped up and strewn around the place. Someone had took a knife to the couch because there were large gashes torn into the fabric. The cabinets in my small kitchen still hung open, and a pile of swept up shattered plates, bowls, and cups lay on the tile floor. The brand new 4k TV I had bought with my Christmas bonus lay sadly on the living room carpet, the large screen smashed to shards. But worst of all, spray painted in large print on the wall of my living room was the words, Strike 2. My mind immediately flashed back to the video titled, A Stalker Broke into the Abandoned Car, where spray painted on the side of the car was the phrase, Strike 1. This had to be related. But this felt a lot more personal. The Stalker knew where I lived.

I took pictures of the room to show to Matthias. I was pretty overwhelmed and didn't really know what to do. Should I just start cleaning up? I thought after I finished taking pictures. I supposed that since the police had left and there wasn't any caution tape up that I was free to clean the place. I started by getting out a trash bag from the cabinet under the sink. I definitely wouldn't be able to use the dishes and cups anymore now that they were in pieces. Using a blank sheet of paper I found on the floor, I scooped up the shards and dumped them into the bag. I kept my eyes peeled for any sort of clue, but the best one I had was the giant Strike 2 on the wall. That didn't really help me figure out who Syphus was. Dakota knows, I thought bitterly. I was pretty upset with him. If he was teamed up with Syphus, did he know about the destruction of my apartment? I guess I couldn't start blaming it on him until I watched the video again to make sure the voices were the same. The good thing about if Dakota was involved is that we could crank some answers out of him.

I finished cleaning the apartment and plopped down on the ripped up couch. I realized I'd have to repaint my wall, unless I wanted to see the eerie words every time I walked into the room. I wasn't sure if I would be able to afford a new TV or couch, so those things would have to stay like they were for a while. I pulled out my phone to text Matt the pictures, then thought better of it. He was probably trying to have a nice Christmas break and I didn't want to worry him with the break in. Instead, I watched the video of the Syphus encounter. My heart sank as I recognized one of the voices as Dakota. I decided to wait until Matt was back in the office and talk to him then.