CONSUME

04.

CHAPTER FOUR

Esther didn't want to be at the police station, in fact, she wanted to be anywhere but the police station. It was strange, despite knowing it was the right thing to do it felt wrong. The last time she went anywhere near the station she had been eight years old, crying her eyes out because her bike had gotten stolen. Nothing had really changed, it smelled like coffee and leather mixed with the distinct scent of men's perfume, which created an odd nauseating odor. Despite the building's large size and the strategic planning behind it, it felt nothing but suffocating and enclosed, the dark walls together with the interior creating a claustrophobic feeling.

Eva stood patiently beside her, a hand on her arm in a comforting way. Her hands had stopped shaking but Eva still held onto her for both reassurance and security, almost as if she feared that she would begin to shake again. Her hand was gripping two things, a letter and a pink rose with edges that had taken a light brown color. To most people, the two items together would look endearing and sweet but in reality, it was nothing but disturbing.

There had been a letter.

The letter had been placed on her doorstep and it was undoubtedly a conformation that she wasn't going crazy, which in the moment she would much rather had preferred. Dark ink was scribbled onto it, the handwriting was neat but you could tell that it was written from a man.
With the letter there had been a flower, both something physical that could prove that she wasn't paranoid or insane. It confirmed that her intuition of something going on was right. The comfort of being wrong was gone and it was terrifying. The misapprehension wasn't in her mind anymore, which was an unsettling and nagging thought.

In a short time, Esther had learned that there was a vast difference between being watched and being seen. When you saw someone, you acknowledged them. It could be the cashier or a person you would walk past on the way home from work. When you watched someone, you did more than just see them. You analyzed them. You took notice of things, like their hair color, their smile and perhaps even their mannerisms. They became stuck in your mind and the little things about them slowly but surely imprinted in the back of your head.

Esther wasn't being seen, she was being watched.

The second she stepped outside, she sensed that someone was watching. The days before she had revived the letter, she had an overwhelming feeling clinging onto her, the one of being observed. She could not breathe without feeling restricted and it had gotten to the point where she immediately could recognize and pinpoint the bizarre feeling like the one of being watched, it didn't sneak up on her anymore it was more like a switch that was off and on depending on if she was being watched or not.
The only place where she actually felt safe was her apartment where she could hold Leo, but at night, even then she would feel that she wasn't alone.

"In all honesty, there's not much we can do since the note isn't threatening." The gruff voice of the officer spoke. "In my experience, it's probably coming from an innocent admirer, nothing to actually worry about." The words from the policeman sounded awfully uncomplicated and light, almost coming off as insouciant. The officer barely took a glance at the note, almost as if it wasn't enough to even be deemed or kept as evidence.

Despite him believing it was guiltless it felt nothing but innocent to Esther, it felt like the first stab wound in a repetitive attack that would indifferently get worse. It didn't matter what the officer thought, he was stupid for thinking that any of this was innocent. It could be a one-time thing but it should be taken seriously if it was making her fear for her safety, no matter how innocent or cute it seemed. Admirers weren't supposed to make you scared, but stalkers and creeps did.