Prologue
"W-who are you? How did you get in here?" I asked with a shaken voice. "Shhh, don't worry Raydin, I'm not here to hurt you" the strange boy said quietly. He was wearing a parka coat and jeans; the hood of his parka was up so I couldn't see his face. He stepped closer to my bed, and kneeled down so we were eye level. He looked at me with ice blue eyes, "its alright, I'm not going to hurt you" he whispered. "Why are you here?" I asked him. "I'll tell you soon enough, but you need to sleep" he answered. "No, I want you to answer my question" I said sternly. The boy shook his head, "no, I can't tell you right now, go back to sleep" he said. My eyes started to close, but I was afraid to close my eyes. I tried to stay awake, but I couldn't help it, it was like I was under some sort of spell to go to sleep. I finally gave in and went to sleep, I heard him sit down on my desk chair. He was watching me.
Ch. 1
I woke up with a start and looked around me; the strange boy wasn't anywhere to be seen in my room. But, my window was open. He must have climbed out last night. The cold air came in along with some snow. I closed the window and made sure it was locked. I checked my desk chair, and the seat was still warm, someone recently sat on it.
"Was it my imagination?" I asked myself. "No it was real, otherwise how would my window be open this morning" I answered myself. I needed to tell someone, and I knew who I could tell. I found my cell phone and found his number, "Renny, I'm coming over for breakfast be there in a few, bye". I got dressed, and went downstairs and told my mom where I was going. If there was anyone I could talk to it would be my best friend Renny.
"Morning Renny" I said, he yawned "mornin hon, come in and get out of the cold". I walked into his warm house, and noticed that I must have woken him up when I called him. He was still in his pj's, easy to tell because his pj's have ducks of all different colors on them. Oh by the way, Renny his gay. "I'm just going to have some toast for breakfast, is that ok with you?" he asked me. "Yea, that’s fine" I followed him into the kitchen.
We ate in silence for a bit, and then I finally told him about last night. "Oh my god, are you ok? He didn't hurt you or anything did he?" he asked with a worried voice. "No, he didn't at least I don't think he did" I said back. "When I fell asleep he was still there, but then I heard him sit down on my desk chair. He was like, watching me". "We should call the police and tell them" Renny said. "No, do you really think that they will believe me?" I asked him. "Well, they have to don't they?" he asked, "After what happened last year, they won't believe a word I say".
Last year there were ax men cutting down trees, and I protested against them, saying that they were destroying homes of animals. I was able to get a bunch of the kids around town to agree with me, including Renny. We made signs and stood guard over those trees, we even camped by them to. After days of negotiation with the police, they stopped cutting down the trees and we were sent home. But now the police give me nasty looks when ever they see me. Oh well, I did what I believed in and I'm damn proud of it.
Ren gave me a concerned look, "then what are we going to do? This guy could come back and really hurt you hon". "I locked up my window again, maybe I forgot to lock it last night" I said. "But what if he still gets in your room?" He asked me.
"Then we'll have to figure something out, but for right now lets keep this between you and me, okie dokie?" I said
"Okie dokie" He replied.
"Well what are we going to do since we don't have school today?" Renny asked me. "We could go to the mall" I suggested. "Oh great idea, I saw some clothes on sale today and I want to see what they look like" Renny said with excitement. He ran to his room to get dressed and he came back wearing his black t-shirt, skinny jeans, and a red tie that had a black duck with horns and a pitchfork. He has an obsession with ducks you could say. "Ok lets go" he said and grabbed his coat and was out the door in seconds. I followed in his steps going out in the cold.
"Oh my god! Raydin look at this!" I heard Renny call me over. He showed me a shirt that said 'I'm simple but cute' and there was a picture of a black blob with white eyes. "Your going to buy that aren't you?" I asked him. "Of course I am, look it’s even on sale" he said. "What did you find?" he asked me, I shrugged, "nothing". "Hmmm, well that just means I'm buying this shirt for you, ok?" Ren said and showed off the shirt with the black blob on it again. "No Ren you don't have to do that" I protested. "I want to, don't worry" he said with a smile. I sighed, "alright you can buy me the blob shirt".
We walked around the mall some more, talking about random stuff that popped into our minds. We decided to get some food, more like salad. Ren and I eat salad when we go out, or else we would be eating greasy food and we're not big fans of that.
As we ate we people watched, you know, watch different types of people walk around the mall. As we watched a mother drag her kid away from the arcade I noticed someone that was familiar. It finally struck me who it was, "Ren that’s him, the one that was in my room last night" I whispered. The strange boy was standing in the middle of the mall just looking at me, now that he was in the light I got a better look at him. He looked to be about my age, maybe a little older, sixteen at least.
"You sure?"
"Yes, he's wearing the same parka coat and jeans, that’s defiantly him"
"Ok, come on lets go some where else" Ren took my wrist gently and led me away from the food court. I looked over my shoulder and the boy was walking our way, he was following us. "Ren he's coming!" I said starting to panic. "Come on!" Ren broke out into a run and I followed him. I looked back one more time, and the strange boy was running as well. That made me run harder, we had to get some place safe. Ren took a left and kept running, I kept following but my lungs started to hurt. A shot of pain went down my legs, but I didn't stop. As I watched Ren run, I knew where he was going. "Go into the bathroom, he shouldn't follow you there" he told me "but what about you?" I asked my friend. "I'll be fine, just go" he told me sternly and I listened to him. I ran into the bathroom and went into one of the stalls and locked it behind me. I stayed there till I felt safe.
I checked my phone, it’s been ten minutes. I stayed in the corner of the stall, wondering what had happened to my best friend. "Come on Ren, call me" I whispered to my phone. Suddenly it started to ring, I answered it, and no one answered for a few seconds. But I could hear someone breathing, "hi Raydin" a voice said. It wasn't Renny's voice; it was the strange boy's voice. "Don't worry, I know where you are, but I won't come in, that would be rude" he said. "How did you get my number?" I asked him. "From your friend, this is his phone" he answered. "What did you do to him?! You better not of hurt Renny!" I said with anger. "He's fine, I just borrowed his phone for a while so I could talk to you" the boy answered. "Why are you doing this?" I asked. "I can't tell you yet, soon though. Your friend is out here waiting for you" the phone went dead. I ran out of the bathroom and saw Renny sitting by the wall. "Ren, Ren you ok?" I asked. "Yea, I'm ok, you ok hon?" he asked. "Yea I'm fine, come on lets go home" I helped him up, he staggered a bit but he managed to walk. "Ren do you have your phone?" I asked him. He checked his pocket and pulled his phone out "yea its right here, why?". "I’ll tell you when we get to your house".
When we got back to Ren's house I told him about the strange boy calling me. "Ok, now we have to tell the police" he said, as he held a pack of ice to his head. "No, I can handle it" I protested. "Handle what hon? There is this maniac stalker, stalking you! What are you going to do? Chase him down the street with a shotgun, then you'll just get in trouble for that" He said back. "That’s not a bad idea but no, I won't chase him down the street with a shotgun. Maybe if I just talk to him he'll leave me alone" I suggested. "No way, I ain't having my best friend talk to a crazed stalker, your sleeping here tonight. Whether you don't want to or not" Ren said and left the kitchen. I could hear him talking on the phone with my parents. He came back, "your parents say its ok if you sleep here". "You didn't tell them about today did you?" I asked. He shook his head "no I didn't, your lucky though, I almost did".
When night came, me and Ren watched movies in his room. The two of us were fans of action movies, like: Live Free or Die Hard, Transformers, and Blood Diamond. We just started watching Eagle Eye, but then Ren's mom told us to go to bed. I looked at the clock, 12:00 p.m. "wow, it is late" I said and climbed into my sleeping bag. "Yea, but not a record. To break our latest record, we have to stay up till five in the morning" Ren said and laid down on his bed. "Yea, how did we do that again?" I asked "with lots of coffee" he said and we both started to laugh. "Good night Ren" "Good night Raydin“.
I felt a cold chill as I slept, I woke up freezing. The room's window was open, I looked over at Ren's bed and he was sleeping soundly. So, I got up quietly and closed the window. When I turned around, a figure was standing in front of me, and when I mean in front of me, I mean like so close I could feel his breath on my face. I knew who it was, "what are you doing here?" I asked him. "You said you wanted to talk to me, what do you want to talk about?" he asked in a whisper. "How do you know that?" I asked him, slightly scared. I could tell in the dark that he shrugged, "I just do, so what did you want to talk about?" he asked again. "Why are you following me?" I asked. It was a obvious question to a stalker. He shrugged again, "I just am". "Not much of a answer, I want a more specific one" I said. "Watching humans in their daily life is interesting to me. When I came here and when I first saw you, I don't know...its just so much different then what I'm used to. Everyone just seems so happy, no crying, no pain" he answered. "Well then you obviously haven't been to a hospital, where are you from?" I asked still a hint of shakiness in my voice, after all he is 'stalking' me. "Thats not important" he said in a low voice. I could see his eyes, thanks to Renny's duck nightlight. His eyes were ice blue, I could feel tension in the air. Tension leads to danger, which is not good. So I started to back up, but didn't get far since the window was behind me. A sad look came to his eyes, as he watched me step back. "I can see we can talk later...bye" he said. I moved away from the window to let him leave. "Oh its alright, I'll go use the door this time" he said and left the room quietly. "Get away from my shoes b***h!" Renny yelled in his sleep. He kept mumbling god knows what, probably the price of the shoes. "Wake up!" I walked over and slapped his butt, not feeling uncomfortable because I know he is attracted to guys. He woke up "what...what do you want?". I looked at him, "dude, you have drool on your cheek". "Oh my goodneess, yuck" he wiped the drool off with the back of his hand. "Why are you messing with my beauty sleep?" he asked. "He was here, he was in your ducky room" I told him. His eyes big with anger, "my ducky room...how dare he! first he knocks me out by hitting me on the back of my head to use my cell and now he enters my ducky heaven!" Ren whispered angerly. "Calm down, he didn't touch anything, except for the window sill...and the doorknob...and the carpet, but thats besides the point. He knew I wanted to talk to him" I said. "Well, what did he say? Did he ask you on a date?" Ren asked, "Oh he said he wanted to take me out for a coffee...ummm no, he said that and I quote 'watching humans in their daily life is interesting to me' " I said. "Wonder what that means?" Ren said. "How the hell should I know, this guy is a freak!" I yelled. Ren threw a pillow at my face, "shhhh, you'll wake up my parents". I laid down on my sleeping bag again, "what is going on?" I said. Renny sighed, "don't worry hon, we'll figure something out just like you said, lets get some sleep" he fell asleep almost instantly. It took me a few tries to fall asleep, but when I did, I felt like someone was watching me again.
