Sara

My cell almost slipped from my fingers, I was so shaken. Dialing Alexa’s number, I held my breath until she answered. Finally, on the fourth ring I heard her voice.

“Hey, Sara, what’s…” I didn’t let her finish before I spouted out a barrage of words.

“Alexa, can you please come and get me right now? Please…I have to get out of here.” I didn’t sound like myself, and I was probably starting to scare her.

“Oh, my God. Sara, are you all right? What happened?” She sounded as panicky as I did.

 “I can’t get into it over the phone. Please tell me you’ll come pick me up.” Of course, she agreed. I gave her the address and told her to text me once she reached the end of the road. After that, all I had to figure out was how I was going to get out of there without him noticing. And how the hell am I going to get the damn security gate open?

I threw my clothes on, getting dressed faster than I ever had before. There was no time to waste; I had to devise a plan and do it quickly. I debated on whether or not to put the pictures back where I thought they had fallen from or leave them sprawled out on the ground. I ended up leaving them there. That way, he would undeniably know why I’d left.

As I threw on my heels, I heard him coming up the stairs. Shit!

“Sara, the food is almost ready. Do you want to come down now?” I could hear him walking down the hallway as he called out to me. He’ll be in the room any minute. I had to hide, so I went to where everyone eventually tried to shield themselves.

I hid under the bed.

Hopefully, he’ll think I’m already on my way down and won’t spend too much time up here searching for me.

My breath hitched as I saw his feet come into view. I wanted to desperately close my eyes but I needed to pay attention. I needed to know when he was gone so I could make my escape.

“Sara? Are you in here?” He proceeded to enter the master bathroom, probably assuming that was where I was. But obviously he didn’t find me in there.

Once he came upon the mess on the closet floor he stopped.

He didn’t move.

He seemed frozen in time, not quite sure what to do.

Then came the cursing, various expletives flying from his mouth so fast it almost didn’t sound like English.

Taking off like a bat out of Hell, he ran through all of the upstairs calling out for me. “Sara! Sara, where are you? Please, baby…please, let me explain.” His voice disappeared. I could only assume he was running through the downstairs looking for me, as well.

Now’s my chance. I had to escape his house immediately. I crawled out from underneath the bed and quietly made my way from his bedroom, peering down the long hallway to make sure he wasn’t anywhere to be found.

As quietly as I could, I creeped down the stairwell, being very cautious not to make any noise. I thought I heard him toward the back of the house, near the dining room, but his house was so large I couldn’t be sure. I sure as hell wasn’t going to stick around long enough to find out.

Before he had the opportunity to find me, I bolted down the rest of the stairs and went straight for the front door. I yanked it open and ran down the steps, heading down the long driveway toward the gate. Alexa should be arriving soon, so I only have a limited amount of time to try and figure out how to open that damn metal confinement.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t be going anywhere, which was so not an option.

A text came through from Alexa as soon as I reached the gate. I didn’t text her back, choosing to call her instead.

“Lex, I’m at the gate, but I can’t figure out how to get it open!” I yelled, knowing I sounded as frantic as I felt.

“Try to calm down, Sara. See if there’s a button somewhere, maybe off to the side of the frame.”

I fumbled around in the dark, trying to use the light from my phone to guide me, when I heard Alek screaming my name. I knew he saw the open front door and was coming my way. I had to hurry, or I’d find myself in a situation I wouldn’t be able to handle.

Even though I knew he was hiding something big, possibly something dangerous, my heart was having a hard time catching up with my brain. So the sooner I get out of here, the better.

“Lex, I can’t find it. I can’t fucking find it!” When I thought all hope was lost, my finger found a button higher up on the metal frame than where I’d originally been searching. It was hidden behind part of a tree which was hovering over the side of it. The way it was positioned no one would be able to access it from the outside.

Please, let this work…please.

It did. The gate started opening.

My name drifted on the light breeze, goose bumps of fear breaking out all over my body. I could hear Alek getting closer and closer. I pushed my way through the small opening the gate provided, almost getting stuck waiting for it to open wider.

I saw Alexa’s headlights down the road so I ran faster than I ever had before, praying I didn’t trip over anything in the dark. It wasn’t until I’d reached the passenger door did I finally turn around to look behind me. That was when I saw him running down the pathway.

“Sara, please stop! Please, let me explain. It’s not what it looks like. Please!” he yelled as he ran toward me.

I had to leave and do it right then before he reached me.

Grabbing the handle, I yanked the door open and jumped inside as if my life depended on it.

“Sara, are…”          

I cut her off before she could finish asking if I was okay. “Go, Lex! Go!” She peeled off down the road at my command, not questioning me any further. When I dared to look behind me, I saw Alek in the middle of the road, arms down at his side, looking defeated.

The shrill ring of my phone caused me to jump. I looked down and, of course, it was him calling me. I pressed the ignore button but as soon as it went to voicemail, it started ringing again, and again, and again. Finally, I had to turn it off completely.

“What the hell happened back there? You damn near scared the shit out of me. I thought someone was trying to kill you.” She glanced over at me, thinking the worst, I was sure. “What the fuck did he do to you? Tell me.”

“Nothing. He didn’t do anything to me. It was what I found in his closet, by accident. I found pictures of me, probably close to a hundred of them, all taken over the past eight years or so. He has either been stalking me for years or having someone else do it. What I can’t figure out is why, Lex. Why?” I asked, as if she was going to have an answer. “Why would he do this? I don’t understand.” My last rambling was more rhetorical than anything.

Alexa remained silent, probably trying to process everything I’d just dumped in her lap. Hell, I was still trying to process it all, and I was the one who was directly involved.       

 “I guess we never really know people,” she said, finally breaking the silence. “If he could fool us, then I guess anyone can.”

For some reason, her words were the last straw. I cried. Uncontrollably. I couldn’t believe after all this time, I’d finally found the man of my dreams and he turned out to be someone I couldn’t trust.

What was the point of it all?

His incessant need to always make sure I was safe seemed odd to me at that point. But if he was following me all those years then he knew how easy it would be for someone else to do it. Is that why he always wanted to keep me close and out of harm’s way? So someone else couldn’t do what he was doing?

My heart broke as I realized I would never find out.