It’s strange, the memories that will suddenly flash before you when you’re faced with this sort of terror. If I suspected it before, this definitely confirmed it. Someone had been watching me. Given the history, it wasn’t unreasonable to suspect it was Jeff. He could be fucking with me. He could be here to get back at me for the other day with Samuel.

I peered out into the front yard between my blinds. There didn’t seem to be much happening on the street. I didn’t notice any unfamiliar cars. I walked over to the front door and double checked to make sure it was locked. I ran to the back door in the sunroom to make sure that was locked, too. Wow, that’s a lot of easily breakable glass. I looked all around my backyard through to the tree line but saw nothing. Most of the trees were bare at this point so it wasn’t hard to look through the first few of them.

I checked every window in every room before circling back to the kitchen for a knife. I sat it next to my phone on the coffee table and checked the front door again. I sat on the couch and tried to relax my body just a little. I sank deep into the cushions and laid my head back to find myself aimlessly staring up at the ceiling. Should I call the police? But what did I really have? A text message from an unknown number wasn’t going to give them anything to go on. What would they really do? Have a cop car babysit my house maybe? Doubtful. Should I text Samuel? What would I say? I grabbed my phone.

Nothing. He’d probably fallen asleep earlier given the events of the day. It was getting pretty dark out by now and despite my nap and the rush of adrenaline I’d gotten after the text, I was feeling pretty tired myself. I really needed to stay awake though. Coffee! I walked into the kitchen, grabbed the coffee from the cabinet, and started making some. This entire scenario was leaving me too alone with my own thoughts. Why would someone be watching me? If it was Jeff, what was the point? Maybe he was too scared to show his face because of what Samuel said to him. And if he was scared of Samuel, why would he be risking it? Maybe he’s been waiting until he knew I was alone? I shook the thoughts from my head. This was going to make me insane.

That last thought made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I could feel a wave of chills run over me. If he was waiting until I was alone, that could only mean one thing. I sat at the kitchen table and sipped my coffee, gripping another knife with my free hand. I sat here trying not to think anymore. I sat here asking myself over and over again if I was capable of stabbing someone even if I needed to. I really hoped I didn’t have to find out. Calm down, Delilah. Nothing has even happened.

After sitting here tapping my fingers for a few more minutes and finishing my coffee, I started pacing in the living room. It was hard to be still when you were this worked up. Ding.

They’ve been watching Samuel, too? What the fuck was happening? This is like one of those thriller slasher movies where someone pops out of the closet now.

My eyes frantically searched the room, down the hall, out the back windows looking for answers. There was just nothing. I saw nothing. I heard nothing, not even dogs barking, birds, or wind in the trees. It was eerily silent. I sat back down on the couch feeling defeated. I stared up at the ceiling again, taking deep breaths to calm myself. I felt my grip on the knife relax. I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. I felt a strange calm wash over me. Something happens after a rush of adrenaline. Your body calms, your mind calms, and I didn’t know if maybe it was some sort of self-preservation mode but it was impossible to fight. I flashed back to a memory of when I was about eight. I could hear someone trying to break into our house. They were pushing and pulling on the door. I pulled my blanket up over my head, frozen in fear. I couldn’t manage to work up the courage to run down the hallway to my parents’ room. All I remember is waking up some time later. I had fallen asleep in the midst of this panicked moment. I never understood why or how I could do that at such a time. But here I was again, falling asleep in the midst of this strange and frightening situation. I couldn’t even fight it.

* * *

I dreamt of a little girl, sitting on my porch stoop, crying. I just watched her from my doorway. I didn’t try to reach out for her or ask her what was wrong. I just kept watching her. She didn’t look injured and I didn’t see anything wrong. I don’t know why I didn’t reach out to her. She looked back at me with black eyes.

“Delilah.” The little girl’s mouth didn’t line up with the sounds.

I tilted my head at her.

“Wake up, Delilah,” she said.

Something was wrong. She wasn’t really saying these things. The voice speaking wasn’t coming from her. I felt so confused.

“Delilah. Wake up, Delilah,” the voice said.

I shot up from sleep, opening my eyes. I looked around my living room, trying to take everything in all at once. As the sleep fog lifted and my eyes started to adjust, they settled on the figure sitting in my chair. It was just an outline at first and then the details began to come through. It was a woman. Who the fuck is that?

“Hello, Delilah,” she said. She had long blonde hair and crystal blue familiar eyes. Somehow, I knew them. Not really her, just her eyes. I followed her arms down to see her hands resting on her lap.

“Who are you and what are you doing in my house?!” I said, fear in my voice but I tried to sound stern.

She looked at me, studied me up and down. “I’ve been watching over you for a very long time, Delilah. I want to be your friend,” she said, tilting her head to the side. She stared at me with a sort of madness in her eyes.

“My friend?” I asked, confused. I shook my head and rubbed my temples.

“Yes,” she said.

“Friends don’t break into your house. Are you the one who has been texting me? Friends don’t do that either!” I raised my voice a bit, hoping to get a reaction but she was stone cold still. Her overwhelming sense of calm frightened me the most. She didn’t move a muscle. She just kept looking at me and smiling the creepiest smile I’d ever seen.

“Well, I’m not sure you would have accepted me any other way,” she said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Let’s just say had our paths crossed in a conventional way, we probably wouldn’t be so close right now,” she said.

“So close? We aren’t close. I don’t even know who you are,” I said.

“My friends call me Mare,” she said.

“Mare? Okay, Mare. What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I already told you. We are going to be friends. For at least a little while anyway,” she said.

“What if I don’t want to be your friend? And what do you mean by a little while?” I asked as my hands frantically searched around the couch for my phone and the knife.

“Are you looking for these?” she asked, holding my phone in one hand and the knife in the other. She threw the knife into the fireplace. I had started a fire earlier. Shit.

“Give me my phone,” I demanded.

“I can’t do that.” She shook her head.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because you will call the police and it will ruin everything,” she said.

The way she looked at me shot fear up my spine. Mare pulled herself to the front of the chair before lifting off. I hadn’t noticed it while she was sitting but as she stood, a plump round belly began to protrude. I watched as she cupped her hand around the bottom. I felt my own hand curl around me.

“Do you want to feel her kick?” she asked.

“No,” I said.

She tilted her head with both confusion and understanding. “Some other time then,” she said, smiling.

“Look, I don’t know what you want, but I really would like you to leave,” I insisted.

“I told you I can’t,” she said. “Would you care to chat with me?” she asked.

“Not really,” I hissed.

“Just listen then. This is important.”

I sank back into the couch, attempting to get myself as far away from her as I could. She started pacing in front of the mantel as if she were trying to choose her words very carefully. She took slow, deliberate steps. I waited.

“I think it’s important for you to understand the truth about who I am. I’m Jeff’s new wife. I know this may come as a shock to you. I apologize for that. I just thought you should know. It’s only fair,” she said, looking at me as if she were waiting on a response.

I remained silent.

“I also think it’s important for you to understand that he doesn’t know I’m here or that I have been watching over you. In fact, he probably wouldn’t be very happy about it. I know he came to see you the other day. He doesn’t know I know that either. But I’m carrying his child now, and well, it was important for me to keep tabs on everyone. I think I have a right to. I’m sure you understand?”

“No, I don’t understand. I don’t understand how your new life with him has anything to do with me. I’m not in his life anymore and I don’t want to be. I don’t understand why you’re here or why you want to be friends. I don’t understand any of this!” I yelled.

“Oh, dear. I thought you would have understood by now. I thought perhaps you’d have figured it out on your own.” She paused. She looked at me for a few moments, studying my face. She looked at me with pity, with empathy, almost like she felt bad for me.

“What do you mean?” I snapped.

“You see, Jeff is still obsessed with you. You’re all I ever hear about. You’re all I ever worry about. And I clearly can’t go on, carrying his child, loving him, and being a wife to him with you, this wedge, between us. Don’t you see, Delilah? You have to die.”