The Victim

Alice Norman had lived in California her whole life. She was born and raised there, and she would probably die there.

All the people were the same- using her hometown as a stepping stone to get to bigger things. All while Alice was stuck; stuck watching people come and go with their futures ahead of them.

Simon Miller was the first person who stayed more than a year. He’d showed up one day at her apartment, looking for a place to stay and noticing that her rent was cheap. He’d moved in with her and Chloe, and they had been ‘Not Friends but Not Strangers’ for nearly two years now. Simon was a constant.

Chloe, unfortunately, was also a constant.

“You need to kick him out,” she urged, gripping her coffee in both hands violently. “He barely talks.”

“I don’t care if he talks,” Alice said, willing her eye not to twitch. “And I think he’s nice.”

“He’s so tetchy,” Chloe complained, taking a huge drink of her coffee and widening her brown eyes. “And paranoid.”

In hopes of escaping conversation with her pushy roommate and sadly her closest friend, Alice looked up and scanned the coffee shop.

There was something a little… off. Something was pricking at the back of Alice’s head like someone was burning into her blonde hair. Like someone was targeting her, about to strike-

“There’s a cute guy looking at you,” Chloe stage-whispered, bugging her eyes out and raising her eyebrows in a completely embarrassing way.

Alice wheeled around and saw dark blue eyes from across the room, staring at her like she was the most interesting thing on earth. Dark brown hair framed the guy’s face, and he was wearing something that almost made him blend in too well.

And he was looking straight at her. He hadn’t even blinked.

Alice turned back around and pretended to laugh at something Chloe didn’t say. Chloe flipped her auburn hair and said, “Smooth, Norman. Very smooth.”

***

The next time Alice came to the coffee shop, she’d almost forgotten about him. She was talking about something stupid with Simon, and Simon was doing what he always did – listen and nod, a hint of a smile on his face. Simon wasn’t good with conversation, but Alice still found herself wanting to talk to him.

“I finally finished my bio essay,” she offered.

Simon smiled – a reaction! They were both in their sophomore year of college, but Simon was one hundred percent smarter and nicer than Alice could dream of being. He was going to save the world one day, and he’d be humble about it too.

They were just sitting down when she felt it again — the prickling feeling. She told herself she was being stupid and raised her hand to wave over a waitress.

Simon lunged forwards and pulled her hands down, the quickest he’d ever moved. 

Alice instinctively smacked his hand away and hissed, “What’s your problem?!”

He let go of her and pushed his glasses up, nervously, like he was waiting for something terrible to happen. His green eyes were unnervingly serious when he whispered “We need to go.”

Simon Miller never spoke, so when he did Alice listened. They stood up and walked right back out of that strange coffee shop, but not before Alice felt the prickly feeling on the back of her neck.

They were halfway across the street when she finally braved the question “What was going on?”

Simon was shaking. He grabbed her arm and pulled her further along the street. “Someone was watching you.”

Alice felt a little annoyed. Simon never talked and here he was, getting obsessed with who was looking at her. “So?”

“He didn’t blink.”

“Maybe you’re blinking when he’s blinking.”

Simon sucked in a deep breath and shuddered. “I’ve seen him before. Just before I moved here.”

That was … concerning. Simon had moved from Montana. “Are you sure it was the same person? It’s been two years.”

“Stay away from that place,” he told her, quickly, eyes focused in front of them. He wouldn’t even look at her.

“You’ve gone insane,” she told him angrily. She finally listened to Chloe and signed him off the lease that night.

And he was on the news the next morning. Missing.

The Stalker

When I was five years old, something happened to me.

I was taken by someone who was a stranger to me. He kept me for over a month and then I escaped. It was hard, but I did it.

When I got back home, everyone wondered where I had been. “Where were you? When did you get back?!” my mother had asked me incredulously like I was just annoying her with my presence.

I didn’t even answer; I just went up to my room. I’ve never had a good relationship with my parents. They were always scared of me. Everyone was.

When I came back to school, Simon Miller was the only person who would ever sit with me. Everyone always thought I was different, and I scared them. Simon never thought I was scary. I thought he was my closest friend.

Thirteen years later, he left the state to go to California, to do bigger things. He didn’t even say goodbye.

I thought he was my friend. So technically, he started all of this. Technically it’s his fault he went missing.

I followed him, as soon as I could leave for California. It wasn’t that hard to find him. I have a lot of experience with that. I followed two of his roommates to a coffee shop they usually went to. I didn’t talk to them. I just watched it. I’m good at watching. Waiting. I’ve always been patient.

When I was in the same coffee shop, a day later, I finally saw him. I didn’t go up and talk to him. I just looked at him and the beautiful girl he was with. I could hear him saying that they needed to leave. I was wondering if it was my fault or not. Was it?

Hearing him say that they needed to leave hurt. No… it didn’t hurt. It made me angry. So I followed them home. I kept my distance. Patient. Waiting.

When they had gotten home later that night, I had finally grown tired of waiting.

“You never said goodbye,” I told him, stepping out of the shadows.

He jumped, his breathing getting shaky. “You’re supposed to be in Montana,” he whispered. “What’re you doing here?”

“Catching up,” I said.

He seemed scared. Simon was always scared of one thing or another. I ignored his begging for help. He’d always been a crybaby.

He did say one thing that stuck out to me. “Why would you do this? I knew you were a freak; I knew you scared everyone- but why would you go this far?”

I stared at him. “You didn’t say goodbye to me,” I said, because wasn’t it obvious?