Outside, the night had grown cold and ominous. The moon and the stars had given way to a long, dense and menacing dark sheet of clouds. Unsteady gusts of wind came and went like lost ghosts, haunting the streets. The scent of oncoming rain had been slowly filling the air like burning incense for the last hour, and just as Kirsten read that last message, the first heavy drops began drumming against her rooftop.
Kirsten wasn’t one to scare easily, but right then, sitting alone in her bed, with the rest of the house in total darkness and the rain rattling against her windows, she felt unsettled.
She read the two last messages again.
Does it scare you?
Knowing that you will die tonight?
She, once more, tapped the ellipses on the top right hand corner of her screen and searched for the ‘block’ option on the drop down menu. It must be there somewhere.
It wasn’t.
Ding, ding.
A new message.
Shall we make a start with the first lesson, Kirsten? FEAR.
Kirsten hesitated for a second, unsure of what to do. Yes, she could simply turn her phone off and put it away, but that just meant that when she turned it back on, in the morning, it would go crazy with all the unread messages. Plus, Kirsten had always been a curious soul. There was no way that she would be able to fall asleep knowing that some idiot was sending her stupid messages, trying to prank her, because this had to be a prank… right? There really was no other explanation for it.
Instead of putting her phone away, she decided to type one last message.
Look, this has now gone way too far. It wasn’t funny to begin with and now, it’s just plain stupid. I’m tired… it’s late… and I had a very difficult day at the hosp. Don’t message me ag—
Ding, ding. A new message arrived before Kirsten had finished typing hers.
I’m not sure if you noticed it, Kirsten, but the window in your kitchen was left unlocked.
Kirsten’s fingers trembled against her cellphone screen. How the hell could this freak know about the unlocked window?
She quickly deleted what she had just typed and started a brand new message.
This really isn’t funny.
The reply came moments later.
The reason I know that the window was left unlocked, Kirsten, is because I was the one who unlocked it.
Kirsten’s instinctive reaction was to look in the direction of the door to her bedroom. As she did, a horrible shiver shot down her spine. She immediately began doubting her own thoughts.
Could this actually be Troy? Who else would’ve known about the kitchen window?
Troy, is this u? If it is, I swear to God.
No, this isn’t Troy, came the reply. This is the person who left your kitchen window unlocked…
Another deliberate break.
New message.
After I climbed through into your house and hid somewhere inside.
Kirsten’s breath caught on her throat. She had to read the message a couple of times just to be sure.
Ding, ding.
That’s right, Kirsten. I’m in here with you. Just the two of us. So how would you like to play a game of hide and seek? I’m hiding… now you seek.
That was it. Enough was enough.
OK, u fucking freak, she typed back. It was better to sound angry than scared. That’s it. I’m calling the cops on ur ass.
Ding, ding.
A pop-up displaying just part of the new message appeared at the top of Kirsten’s screen. She tried to dismiss it, but her unsteady fingers tapped it instead and the full message was displayed.
What if I told you that I was already inside your bedroom?
Kirsten’s heart did a triple somersault inside her chest and she shifted in bed, her eyes sweeping the room, the corners, the shadows… but even with the bedside lamp on, there were too many of them.
Ding, ding.
There aren’t that many places to hide in here, Kirsten. In fact, there are only two places where I could be.
Kirsten’s breathing became heavy. She was about to reach over to the bedside lamp on Troy’s side of the bed when a new message arrived.
Would it scare you if all of a sudden, you felt something move from under your bed?
‘What?’ Kirsten yelped. Reflexively, she brought her knees to her chest to make herself into a human ball.
Prank or not… lesson or not… ‘fear’ had definitely been achieved.
Ding, ding.
Would you look, Kirsten? Would you stretch your body and look under your bed… right now?
Kirsten didn’t look under the bed, but she did angle her body slightly so she could see past the edge of it on the side that she was on – the left side. Her gaze stayed on the floor for several seconds – nothing there but her slippers. She took a deep breath, readying herself to scoot over and have a look on the other side, when she received a new message.
How about your wardrobe, Kirsten? I could be hiding in there.
Ding, ding.
Have you noticed anything different about your wardrobe?
Kirsten’s eyes immediately moved from her cellphone screen to her wardrobe, which was built into the wall across the room from where the bed was, and she froze in place.
The doors were just a little ajar, and she was pretty certain that after her shower, once she’d collected her slippers from the wardrobe and gone back to the living room to wait for her pizza, she had closed them both.
Fear was starting to turn into panic.
Outside, the rain was getting heavier and heavier… the drumming against her window and rooftop, louder and louder.
Kirsten’s attention returned to her cellphone. She was done playing this stupid game.
Yes, she was scared, and no, she was not about to get out of bed and go check under it or inside her wardrobe. What she was about to do was dial 911.
New message.
Did you notice the doors?
‘Fuck this bullshit,’ Kirsten whispered to herself. As she tapped the phone app, her frightened gaze returned to the wardrobe. The doors were still ajar, but she could swear that there was something else different about it now… Kirsten couldn’t quite tell what it was and instinctively, her eyes squinted at it to gain better focus.
With her full attention fixed on the wardrobe, she never noticed the figure, dressed all in black, that began slowly slithering from under her bed.