Stalker 📸

Chapter 5 - Thursday

The next morning I woke up in an awkward position. I stretched my limbs enjoying the slow relief as the tight muscles began to loosen. And then I felt a crunch of paper somewhere near my shoulder blades, and I turn around to find another picture. One of me sleeping peacefully, my face half visible from the corridor light that is always turned on. I got off my bed to see if I can find any note, there was none. I took out the envelope and slipped the picture inside.

Who had access to me while I was asleep?

The curtains are always drawn closed.

I live on the 7th floor so no-one could have reached the window in the first place.

No-one in my family owns a polaroid camera and they have better things to do than stalk me in my sleep.

Unless this was all a prank from my good for nothing brother. It is only 7 am I still have half an hour before I have to get ready for school.

I took out the handwritten note and compared it to my brothers. No, not his handwriting. Besides since when does he have enough money to afford a polaroid camera?

But then again, it is just as likely that he got one of his friends to buy it for him and write the note.

"Elaynah, get up! You are going to be late!" I jolted back to reality, it seemed I zoned out for a little too long. I looked at the clock, 7:30, bang on schedule.

"Elaynah!" My mom yelled out again, probably from the kitchen.

"I'm up!" I yelled back, already twisting and turning my way into my uniform.

By the time I got out of the house, it was 8: 12. It was another miserable morning with my brother taking his time in the bathroom making me miss my bus. Not to mention his endless gloating about some certificate he got for excellence in maths.

And my parents condemning tone, "Why can't you be more like your younger brother, look at him, three years younger than you and already on his way to greatness. You are a disgrace to the family. Look at your cousins getting medical degrees and what are you doing? Sitting there playing with a spoon!"

I gave up on breakfast and simply walked out of the house in a terrible mood. I looked across the street in wistfulness, wondering what it would be like to live someone else's life. A short woman with a buggy passed, a man in jogging gear, a blonde woman, a student... WAIT! A blond woman! I squinted harder at the woman dragging her feet across the street. It was her! The one that gave me the envelope.

"Wait...!" My voice trailed after her, not knowing what to say to single her out from the morning crowd. "Woman with the red bracelet and blue jacket!" She turned her head, acknowledging me. I stepped forward and then I caught myself. Don't be stupid Elaynah! If you try to cross now you will be caught in a traffic jam and possibly get run over. She laughed and with a small salute she jogged away, leaving me speechless as my bus came to a stop right in front of me, blocking my view.

I had no choice but to get into the bus and on my way to school. I took a seat, suddenly aware of every movement in the bus, high on adrenaline. On my way off the bus, I lost my footing and fell on a green-haired man. I mumbled a "sorry," and became a little flustered. It's not every day you fall on top of a random man on the way to school. I got up and offered my hand and pulled him up. I began to turn away when he said: "Here, you dropped this." Shoving a brown, vintage-looking paper into my hands.

Before I can get a coherent sound out my mouth, he was gone, leaving me looking like a fool standing in front of the bus stop gaping like a starfish. I shook my head and unravelled the piece of paper I definitely did not own till this moment. I recognised this handwriting, it was the same as the one in the envelope.

It read 'It's fascinating how mortals spend half their lives sleeping, isn't it little star?'

If this was a prank orchestrated by my brother, he is really going all out for it. But that man, there is no way my bother was friends with a man twice his age. Besides, where could he have possibly met someone like him. It made me think about that little trip too, I trip over on a daily basis but something about this one seemed a little orchestrated, a little too organized.

I looked up to see the crowds of students thinning out, indicating my lateness. I crossed the road towards the beckoning gates, hoping for a normal day.