Wish Upon A Sunset

Arlo's New Knife

Emma

After dealing with my mother's hospital trip, the unsettling possibility of being stalked, a sleepless Sunday night, and a grueling day at work, I was left completely drained. Feeling unsafe after the incident in the hospital parking lot, I breathed a sigh of gratitude that I didn't have to walk home.

As I walked to the stairwell, I locked the car door behind me, a surge of happiness brightening my day when I noticed that the laundry room door was closed and Arlo was nowhere to be seen.

I opened the door to my apartment with a sigh of relief.

When I had first moved in, I never thought I would be so excited to see this place. Maybe it was my own false sense of security, or maybe it was because of the judgmental stares I received everywhere else I went, but here I could relax and not worry about sneering faces or looks of disdain. Despite my creepy downstairs neighbor, who had left me alone since he gave me that necklace, this was home.

In a hurry to get to the bathroom, I quickly took a shower and changed into comfortable pajamas.

As I popped a cup of noodles into the microwave, my phone rang.

'Bestie' flashed across the screen as I picked it up, and the nickname had me shaking my head with a smile. I had texted her Sunday morning to make sure that she had gotten home alright and, thankfully, she had. Not wanting to cause her distress, I had kept quiet about what had happened to me. She was already concerned enough as it was about my safety and mental well-being.

"Hey, girl," I said as soon as I answered the phone.

"Hey, Em. Guess what?"

Snorting a laugh at her excitement, I asked, "What?"

"I just saw a flier announcing that the county fair was coming to town this Saturday, and I wanted to know if you would go with me. I mean, I know I'm the size of a house, but I can at least walk around and eat everything in sight."

She wanted me to go to a fair surrounded by hundreds of people, most of whom disliked me? Was she nuts? That was the last thing I wanted to do with my time. "I don't know," I began hesitantly, ready to throw out an excuse to turn her down, but she cut me off.

"I know you don't want to be around people, and I totally respect that, but I think it'll be really good for you to get out and have some fun. I mean, seriously, when was the last time you had any fun? Seven, eight, ten years ago?"

I mean, she wasn't wrong. It had been years since I had done anything fun, especially with friends. Grudgingly, I asked, "This Saturday?"

Her voice grew more excited as she realized she was winning the argument. "Yes, this Saturday. And there's a parade happening first thing in the morning that I wanted to go watch."

"What time does that start?" With a sigh to myself, I leaned against the counter. Of course, she would throw in a parade after I already agreed. The little sneak.

"It starts at ten, but we should be there a little earlier so we can get a good seat on the sidewalk. Do you want to just meet me there?"

"Sure, that sounds good," I told her with a smile in my voice. Molly could be convincing when she wanted to be and her childlike excitement was winning me over.

"All right. I'll see you Saturday. Love you. I'll talk to you later."

"I love you too. Bye." I laughed as I hung up the phone, and the microwave beeped behind me, my not-so-healthy dinner ready.

As I went to take it out, a knock sounded at my door. Who would knock at this time? My first thought was my dad, and that something had happened to my mom.

With that in mind, I swung it open, readying myself for bad news, only to find a surprising sight that rendered me speechless.

Arlo was standing outside my door. He was wearing the same grungy black outfit with the same dark sunglasses, and I wondered for a moment if he ever took it off or changed his clothes. By the looks of him, I doubted he even rarely bathed. That thought reminded me of the smell from his laundry room, and I fought back a gag. Appearances aside, what shocked me the most was the giant knife strapped to his waist in a leather sheath. His right hand rested on it and he had a wide grin on his face.

"Emma." His voice caressed my name almost reverently.

I inched behind the door a little and clenched my hand tighter around the knob. "Hi, Arlo. What can I help you with?"

"Well, first, I wanted to show you this new knife I just got for my collection. Remember my knife collection that I showed you the other day?" He unbuckled the knife from the sheath and pulled it out, the swish of the metal scraping leather sending a chill down my spine.

How could I forget? The sight of his sleeping quarters and the smell would stay with me forever. Not to mention the arsenal he had tacked up on his wall. "Wow, Arlo. That's really cool. That'll go nicely with your collection." My hand tightened around the doorknob, ready to fling it shut at a moment's notice. "Thanks for showing me that."

"Yeah, I thought you would be impressed," he said as he twirled the knife back and forth, his grin a little unstable. "You were the first person I thought of when I got it."

I definitely didn't like the sound of that. "Oh, that's sweet Arlo. Thanks for thinking of me."

I didn't know how to shut this down. I didn't want to piss him off or correct him on the relationship he thought we had, but I also didn't want him to continue thinking that we were closer than we were. The level of familiarity he had with me was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. "Well, thanks again Arlo, that was very considerate of you, but my dinner is ready and I need to go eat it before it gets cold." I made to shut the door, but Arlo stopped me with a hand on the wood.

"Wait, Emma. That wasn't the only reason I came up here. I also wanted to ask you about the fair this weekend. Would you like to go with me?"

His question surprised me and for a moment, I wondered if he had been listening outside of my apartment when I was talking on the phone with Molly. Between his dark clothing, his creepy behavior, and his burgeoning obsession with me, I thought about my experience in the parking lot the other night. Could it have been Arlo stalking me to my car? But how would he have even known I was there? He couldn't have known about my mom.

My blood crystallized, sharp and jagged in my veins as I stared at him, sheathing the knife back at his waist. I mean, how do you tell a guy holding a knife 'no'?

"Oh, I'm sorry, Arlo. I've actually already made plans to go with my friend this weekend. But thank you for the invite."

His face fell, and I fought back a shiver as his body tensed. Once again, I wished I could see behind his sunglasses so I could read his expression better.

"That's all right, Emma. Maybe another time." His tone of voice had gone husky and dark, and I didn't like the hidden meaning behind it.

"Okay, Arlo. Well, have a good night," I said as I went to shut the door.

"Have a good night, Emma." But he didn't move away from the door and stood there until it shut firmly in his face. I tried to lock it as quietly as possible and cringed when the bolt slid into place, knowing that he had to have heard it if he was standing as close as he was to the door.

I had lost my appetite at that point, but I forced myself to eat dinner even as my stomach twisted. Hopefully, I hadn't pissed him off.

I struggled to sleep that night, restless and unable to shake off thoughts of Arlo's unsettling actions and the presence of a stalker in the parking lot. I couldn't stop myself from wondering if there was a connection between the two.