☠DANGER☠(An Original Short Story)

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☠DANGER☠(Story Written by Marialin)

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A traumatic ordeal can sometimes overtake our lives. We cannot always forget, and we cannot always move on. some are able to face their fears, deal with them, then live happy lives. On the other hand, with some people, their future may be determined by one incident in their past. Something so traumatic, that they cannot allow themselves to heal. Such is the case of Carrie Dawson.

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Carrie Dawson came home, a hard days work it was. She kicked off her shoes, her aching feet begging for release. She locked her door, walked into the living room, and checked the mobile for messages. No one had called. In fact, she didn’t want anyone to call. She wanted to be alone, to have solace to escape the ordeal she knew she couldn’t escape in her mind. A phone call from anyone she knew would surely stir up bad memories from her past, things she would rather forget....forever. Things she had tried to lose in the abyss of her mind.

As Carrie sat in her tub of bubbles, she took in the peace and quiet. It had been years since she didn’t have to be afraid - afraid of him and his stalking her. The fear he invoked was one she had never experienced before. She was finally free of him, whoever he was.

Carrie reached on the bathtub counter to get her favorite scent of soap, but surprisingly, it wasn’t there. She dismissed it as her imagination. Maybe she hadn’t taken it from the cabinet since she bought it the day before. Maybe, maybe not. She quietly cursed herself for having to get out of the tub of warm water and bursting bubbles to retrieve a bar of her favorite lilac scented Yardley’s Soap. She remembered she had indeed left it still in its bag on the kitchen counter, but it wasn’t there either. "Where could it be?" She said, frustrated.

Carrie walked back into the bathroom to look in the cabinets there, thinking maybe she had put it away. As Carrie walked towards the cabinets, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. A brand new bar of her favorite soap lie on the side of the bathtub, but where did it come from?

"Carrie?"

A stranger called, from somewhere in her apartment. She screamed, knowing that was his trademark. Drive you crazy, then make you doubt what you’ve seen. Call your name, then make you wonder where he is. That was his pleasure. He came back, just like he said he would.

She wanted to run, but wasn’t sure which way to turn. "No, not again." She thought.

"Leave me alone!" She screamed. "Just get out of here and leave me be!"

He couldn’t do that.

"Carrie?" He called again, ignoring her plea.

She ran out of the bathroom and into her bedroom, locking the door behind her. She reached for her telephone and was barely able to dial 911. After the operator calmed her a bit, Carrie was able to tell her exact location and what was happening. The police arrived minutes later, but the intruder was gone, nowhere to be found. There was no evidence of any intruder ever being in Carrie’s apartment that night . The front door was still locked, and there was no way he could have climbed in through her 6th floor window. He had vanished, but how?

She was safe. Maybe it was her only mind playing tricks on her. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time. Carrie had a sickening feeling inside her, but she was determined not to let the stalker who tried to kill her years ago ruin her life again. She had moved forward with her life and couldn’t take any steps back.

For years he had watched her, followed her, left her gifts, but never manifested himself to her. Things would change tonight. There was a knock at the door. Carrie’s heart almost stopped, but a stalker wouldn’t knock, or would he?

"Carrie? Are you in there? Are you alright?"

It was her neighbor Rob.

"Oh Rob, I’ll be right there!" She yelled.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she opened the door for him to let him in.

"I just wanted to make sure everything is alright. I saw the police leaving a while ago." Rob said.

"Oh yeah, that. Well, I thought someone was in my apartment. As it urns out I must have been mistaken. It was a false alarm. Listen, I’m gonna make some coffee, would you like some?"

"Yeah, sure. That would be great."

Carrie went to the kitchen to prepare a fresh pot of coffee. She set two cups on her counter and reached for the coffee pot to ready it for brewing. Then she heard it again.

"Carrie?" He called.

He came into the kitchen and smiled at her. She dropped the empty coffee pot, shattering it into a thousand pieces. She screamed, knowing this encounter with her "trusted" neighbor Rob had sealed her fate. She couldn’t move. There she stood still, as if time had stopped. As he neared her, she screamed once again...............

............... "Carrie! Carrie wake up!"

"Mother, help me!"

"Carrie, you were having another nightmare. Its over now, honey. He’s gone and he’ll never come back."

She sat there being cradled like an infant by her mom, half out of her mind. It had all been a dream. Carrie Dawson’s stalker was dead. He could never bother her again in the physical sense, but in her mind, he would haunt her forever.

THE END