Obsessed 2

Chapter 5

The drive back to the grocery store was steeped in tension. Sharon sat quietly beside Derek, her mind racing with possibilities, each more unsettling than the last. She couldn't help but replay Lisa's voice in her head, that chilling familiarity, the insinuation that she was still out there, watching. Derek, usually so composed, was visibly tense, his hands gripping the steering wheel with a force that made his knuckles turn white.
As they pulled into the parking lot, Derek finally broke the silence. "We need to stay calm, Sharon. We can't let her rattle us. If she's playing games, it's because she wants us to be scared."
"I know," Sharon replied, though her voice betrayed her fear. "But it's hard not to be when she's supposed to be dead."
Derek didn't respond immediately. Instead, he parked the car and turned to face her, his expression serious. "Whatever happens, we need to stick together on this. If Lisa is alive, we can't let her divide us or use our past against us. We have to be united, for Kyle's sake."
Sharon nodded, appreciating Derek's resolve. "We'll get through this. We've faced her before, and we'll do it again."
Together, they stepped out of the car and made their way into the store. The manager, a middle-aged man with a friendly but harried expression, was at the customer service desk. When Sharon approached him, he looked up with a polite smile that faltered slightly when he saw the intensity in her eyes.
"Excuse me," Sharon began, her voice steady despite the anxiety gnawing at her. "I was here earlier today, and I need to ask if you have any security footage from the dairy aisle around noon."
The manager blinked, clearly taken aback by the request. "Uh, is there a problem? Did something happen?"
"Yes," Derek interjected, his tone firm but not unkind. "There was an incident, and it's very important that we see the footage."
The manager hesitated, glancing between the two of them before nodding. "Okay, I can take you to the back room where the security monitors are. But I'll need you to explain exactly what's going on."
Sharon and Derek exchanged a quick look, silently agreeing to keep the details to a minimum. As they followed the manager through a door marked "Employees Only," Sharon's pulse quickened. She wasn't sure what she hoped to find on the tapes—confirmation of Lisa's presence, or perhaps evidence that she was imagining things—but she knew she needed to see it for herself.
The back room was small and cluttered, with several monitors displaying live feeds from various parts of the store. The manager sat down at a desk and started typing on a keyboard, pulling up the recorded footage from earlier that day.
"Here we go," he said, fast-forwarding through the video until it reached the right timestamp. "You said it was in the dairy aisle, correct?"
"Yes," Sharon confirmed, leaning in closer as the footage began to play. She saw herself on the screen, walking down the aisle, and her heart pounded in her chest. This was it—proof of what she had seen.
But as the seconds ticked by, something strange happened. Sharon watched herself pick up a carton of eggs, glance around, and then freeze, just as she had in real life. But when she looked toward where Lisa should have been standing, there was no one there. The aisle was empty, save for her own reflection.
"That's impossible," Sharon whispered, her hands gripping the edge of the desk. "She was right there. I saw her."
Derek frowned, leaning in to scrutinize the footage. "Are you sure it was that spot? Maybe she was further down the aisle."
Sharon shook her head, panic rising within her. "No, it was right there. She was standing right there."
The manager looked at her with a mixture of concern and confusion. "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but there's no one else in that aisle. It's just you."
Sharon's mind whirled. How could this be? She was certain she had seen Lisa, had locked eyes with her. The memory was vivid, seared into her brain. But the video showed nothing—no Lisa, no sign of anyone else in the aisle.
"Maybe she left before the camera caught her," Derek suggested, though he didn't sound convinced.
"Or maybe the camera just missed her," the manager offered helpfully. "It happens sometimes if someone's just out of frame."
Sharon wanted to believe that explanation, but deep down, doubt gnawed at her. What if Lisa had somehow orchestrated this, making it seem like she wasn't there? Or worse, what if Sharon was losing her grip on reality, haunted by a ghost from her past?
"Can we get a copy of this footage?" Derek asked, breaking the heavy silence.
The manager nodded. "Sure, I can burn it to a DVD for you."
As the manager worked on copying the footage, Sharon and Derek stepped out of the back room to wait. Sharon's mind was still reeling, trying to reconcile what she knew she had seen with the stark reality of the empty aisle. Could stress and trauma have conjured Lisa's image in her mind? Or was there something more sinister at play?
When the manager returned with the DVD, Derek thanked him, and they made their way back to the car. Sharon was quiet as they drove away from the store, her thoughts churning with unanswered questions.
"I believe you, Sharon," Derek said suddenly, breaking the silence.
Sharon turned to him, surprised. "You do?"
Derek nodded, his expression serious. "I know what kind of trauma Lisa caused you—caused both of us. I don't think you're imagining this. If you say you saw her, I believe you. We just need to figure out what's really going on."
Sharon felt a wave of relief at his words. It was one thing to have doubts about her own sanity, but knowing Derek was on her side gave her strength.
"Thank you," she murmured, her voice thick with emotion.
Derek reached over and squeezed her hand. "We'll figure this out. Together."
But as they drove back to Sharon's house, the ominous voicemail from Lisa echoed in her mind, a reminder that the past was far from over—and that the real nightmare was only just beginning.