The Stranger

11. Secrets

The room is quiet for a few minutes before Adam speaks. "Amelia, Elliot.. it's time for you two to go home for the night. Kevin and I will take some time tonight to go over everything that we've collectively gathered."

Amelia hesitates to answer. "Alright..." Adam cuts in again. "I know it's hard to take in, but you let us handle this part. Kevin will walk you to the house." Amelia glances outside and back at Adam. "It's right there, I mean you can see us from here.."

He gives her a more stern look. "I'm not arguing with you Amelia. Just don't fight me tonight please." She nods and they leave with Kevin. Once they reach the house and Kevin leaves, Elliot locks the front door.

Elliot goes to light the fire and Amelia takes off her shoes. "I'll be right back, I'm going to go to the bathroom real quick." Elliot glances back at her. "Do you need me to go down the hall with you?"

She shakes her head and gives him a soft smile. "No, I should be fine. The house is visible from the station. It should be safe enough." He nods and puts more wood in the fire. "Alright, but yell if you need me."

Amelia goes down the hall to the bathroom. When she's done she takes a minute to splash water on her face. She takes a deep breath and slowly walks towards the window. "Face it..., there's nothing there." She says to herself.

She looks out of the window and sees nothing. Amelia lets out a sigh of relief. "See... nothing." She tells herself. When she comes out into the hallway she stops. Amelia gets the feeling of being watched.

There's nothing around her though and she whispers to herself. "You're awake....there's nothing there." She notices a little light coming from Kevin's office and glances down the hall.

She peeks in the office and glances around. Amelia thinks to herself, "Maybe just a little peek wouldn't hurt... His office is eerily similar to my nightmare though."

Amelia quietly walks in and goes towards the window behind his desk. She hesitates before slowly pulling the curtain back and looking outside.

When she does, she freezes and her eyes widen. There's a face outside of the window looking right back at her. This time his face is slightly showing and she can see the lower half of his face.

It's the skinny stranger. He gives her an evil, wide smile. He tilts his head to the side a little and she can see him doing the motion of laughing. She's completely frozen in fear. His eyes grow wide and he looks psychotic.

Amelia takes a deep breath and mouths to him. "What do you want?" In an attempt to get answers. He stops and his smile slowly drops but his eyes stay wide at the same time. He slowly puts his hand on the glass and mouths back. "You."

Her heart beat starts racing and she mouths back to him. "Why me?" He laughs again and drops the smile again before responding. "Because I can." Amelia closes her eyes and whispers to herself. "You're dreaming...., wake up.... wake up."

She hears him hit the glass lightly and when she opens her eyes his expression is furious. His eyes stay wide. Amelia slowly backs up into Kevin's desk. She scrambles to leave the room and can see him making angry gestures at her as she walks out.

Once she's out into the hallway she runs to the living room to Elliot. He instantly gets a serious look on his face when he sees how frightened she is. "Amelia what's wrong? What happened?"

He walks over to her and tears start rolling down her cheeks. "I....I'm sorry... I wasn't trying to be nosy... I was just trying to face my fears from my nightmares..."

Elliot holds her and interrupts. "Hey, slow down. Tell me what happened. I won't be mad at you Amelia. I promise." She takes a breath and calms down a little.