The girl’s eyes were wide-open, fatigued with exhaustion but aware of every movement in her bedroom. The window shades were shut tight, the lights were on, and the door was locked. It was the middle of the night, and it was so silent that she could hear a pin drop in the swathe of darkness. The girl gripped her cellphone in her hand, ready to dial 9-1-1. Just one call and she could be safe, she thought to herself. But she couldn’t risk it.

The girl glanced over to her laptop sitting at the foot of her bed, with an e-mail already on the screen. Its glow bathed her in a harsh, fluorescent light, like an ivory wave.

Your name is Nicole. Your address is 19 Horseberry Lane, Chicago. I am coming for you. Tell anyone about this e-mail and there will be consequences involving your family. Tell the police and your family will pay the price. I’ve been coming for you for a long time, Nicole.

Every fiber in her body wanted to believe the e-mail was fake, a hoax, a prank. She told herself it was fake every minute, she wanted it to be fake, but still she could not stop the slow, creeping horror festering inside of her. The summer night dragged on, the tense seconds ticking by, her long limbs paralyzed with sleepiness and fear. It wasn’t until she could see the daybreak creep through her window that she finally allowed herself to drift off to sleep.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

The girl jolted up from her sleep. She frantically looked around the room for a place to hide, breathing in shallow whispers.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

“Come on Nicole! We have to go to the airport! Please tell me you packed last night!”

The girl was comforted, realizing it was only her mother. Forcing her tiredness aside, she took a deep breath and mumbled in response.

“Sorry mom, I completely forgot...”

***

The girl was happy to be away from her home. It had been two weeks in their Californian hotel, on summer vacation, drenched in sun and relief. She had showed the e-mail to her parents, who firmly instructed her to block the sender, which she did.

She quickly began worrying about other things—her summer reading assignment, her health, and her relationship with her boyfriend. Although yesterday, while she was walking back from the mall, she felt a strong bump on her shoulder. The collision had knocked her backwards onto the ground, scraping the skin off her palms.

A man in a business suit with black hair had helped her up. His appearance unsettled her—the slicked-back hair and torpid demeanor made him seem like a mirage of the summer sun.

“I’m so sorry missy, let me help you with those bags.” His voice was sickly, almost nauseating. The man had started to pick up the bags while the girl was getting up. “I am so sorry, really. I have to go right now find my parents.” And she had sprinted off faster than she thought possible.

Arriving in her hotel room, she took the clothing out of the bag and realized there was a slip of paper in the bag. She decided to take a look out of curiosity. The piece of paper was really a picture, splattered with the images of two individuals she’d recognize anywhere.

It was her parents, dead on a bathroom floor, streaked in blood.

She felt the world slip away around her, she had no screams to muffle. It was as if her eyes were bulging out of her sockets.

911.

911.

911. She had dialed the three numbers five times in a row before she realized it.

Not five minutes passed and there was a knock on the door. The girl took a look through the peephole and saw a police officer there. She opened the door, shivering. Closing the door shut after the officer came inside, she let out a sigh of relief.

“My parents...” she whimpered.

“You’re okay now,” the officer told her.

Then she saw the same greasy strands of black hair protruding underneath his cap. Their eyes met, his ripe with malice, hers growing with terror.

“You’re okay now.”

***

POLICE REPORT PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA. A 14-year-old-girl was found dead on the ground in room 718 of Summer Inn. The only evidence in the room was a picture of two dead people identified to be the girl’s parents. There was blood smeared all over the walls in the picture of a smile. The murder weapon was identified to be a knife. Security cameras show the suspect has black hair, is around 6 feet tall, and used a fake police disguise to get inside the house. Police officers advise everybody to stay inside with locked doors and don’t open the doors for anyone who you do not know personally.