Mercy

Part 4: Stalking

A/N: For the sake of this story I'm going to need you to be ok with me thinking of auburn as a brown with just specs of red. I know that this might be a hot topic but please just go with it.(This is mostly a joke)
/N



I didn't know much about stalking but honestly it was not hard. I think it might have been easier for me as a conventionally attractive woman than it would have been for a man. It took me weeks of hanging around in pubs and honestly it was exhausting. There were of course men there who would try to get my attention. It was a good thing too, just lurking would draw suspicion. I was just a woman alone at the bar and I talked to drunk men most nights while watching drunk women. Does it sound creepy? Well, I guess it is. But as I made obvious and just like I had promised myself, she would have to be perfect.

After three or four disappointments I saw her. She had long auburn hair. I always like that color. My mother had a similar color but I did not get her hair, I got my dads red hair. I hated the light ginger color so I started to dye it a dark and deep red early in my teens and I had not seen my natural hair since. She was younger than me, not by a lot but I could tell. If I had to guess I would say about 24. She was out with a friend but she stood silently by her as she chatted with some guy. I wouldn't say that I was good at recognizing emotions but I knew that one, she was sad. A man walked up to her and put his arm around her, she still looked sad though. She could be perfect. I had not seen her around and I knew that I had to follow her, I didn't want to lose her. She just got another drink so I knew that she was not about to leave. I needed to use the restroom so I went. As I got out of the stall the thing that could not happen happened. I bumped into her, she was crying.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry" She was trying to wipe her face without smudging her make-up. She was really pretty. Not magazine pretty but Victorian painting pretty. This situation was not good, I was no longer invisible to her.

"No problem, you're good" I walked past her. I think that she tried to say something but I just kept walking hoping that she would not think about this interaction ever again.

I had to make a decision right now. Should I leave and move on or... I could stay and if there was too much interaction I could simply not kill her. I sat in the darkest corner I could find and I kept watching her. She came out of the bathroom and went back to her table. The man she sat beside once again put his arm around her, some might find it cute I didn't. She didn't look too happy either. I don't bother too much with other people's feelings but I did wonder why she was crying. She had friends, a boyfriend and she was pretty. It might sound superficial but that really is the baseline for most people, to be liked, to be loved and beauty was just an added bonus I guess. She wasn't engaging with the group, every now and again she would look up and laugh at what someone said. She didn't think it was funny and if her friends paid any attention they would realize that this girl is fucking miserable. That might actually be a good thing. Maybe I could help her, like I helped Deliah. I felt how my heart started to raise, she was the one. I was lost in thought and I didn't realize that I was staring, not until we made eye contact. FUCK.

She stood up and started to make her way over to me. It would be weird if I got up and walked out but I can't have contact with her, there are witnesses here, there might even be security cameras. It was too late and she had made her way over to me. She reached out towards me, I was confused but then I saw something in her hand. A lipstick, more specifically, my lipstick.

"You dropped this... And then you ran away" She gives me a smile that doesn't reach her eyes. She fixed her make-up and her eyeliner was noticeably thicker than earlier meaning that she probably reapplied it, painted outside of the line and had to cover it with more eyeliner. I looked at her, maybe too much but she really was perfect. So innocent, she looked like a Sunday school teacher or something. She was dressed conservatively with a long sleeved dress and black tights, not showing any skin but still showing off her figure. Her hair was curled at the ends and she was wearing a silver necklace. It was a y-chain, you don't really see them much nowadays. I reach out and take the lipstick from her hand trying my best to act as casual as possible.

"Thanks" I smile. My smile actually reaches my eyes, I had worked really hard on that in my younger years. Roger didn't care to learn but I wanted to be better than him, no, I was better than him.

"Were you... Were you just looking at me?" She sounds shy. I am the creep here so I do not understand why she looks so ashamed. If I felt things like normal people do I would probably be embarrassed but I was not, I was concerned.

"Yeah, sorry. I get lost in thought sometimes" I sounded convincing.

"Right. So, are you here with your friends?" Fuck, why didn't she go away.

"Nope, just grabbing a drink before heading home. Long day at the office" It was better than 'No, actually I am looking for a pretty woman to murder in my living room and I just love your hair'.

"Oh, ok. I didn't mean to bother you" She turns around but then she changes her mind. "If you want to... You could join me at our table" Why would she do that? Why would she invite me? Maybe that is what people do, maybe this is how people made friends? I wouldn't really know, all my friends were from school or work, it didn't seem necessary to have more. Having friends is a lot of work and no one talks about all the upkeep. The pointless text and talking. I did not need more friends.

"That's so nice, but I am actually just about to leave" I stand up and grab my coat. "Thanks though. Have a nice night" I leave. I think I just blew any chance of killing her. I curse myself, she could have been the one.

I walk to another pub but people are boring and she is the only thing I can think about. I decided to call it a night and make my way home. Although I don't live in the middle of town it is still walkable and that is great because I don't have to take a cab and I won't leave a paper trail. If I were to take anyone home. As I get to the bridge I see a person on the railing. Some poor sap got drunk and decided to off themself, that is original. I start to walk towards them, what is the worst thing that can happen?

As I walk the streetlight bounce of her shiny hair. Her shiny auburn hair. It couldn't be her? Right? I felt panic in my chest, she couldn't die like this. It was like when one of the old people I had made to trust me passed away naturally in the night. It was supposed to be me, they were mine.

"Wait" I yell still pretty far away but she hears me. I keep walking towards her. I don't want to run and scare her but I don't have any time to waste so I walk with some urgency in my step. She looks at me and it is her, my girl is here. "Hey" It is the only thing I manage to get out, it is not a great start but she hasn't jumped yet. She is crying and as I am getting closer I can hear her small sobs.

"Don't" She speaks loudly. I freeze for a second but then I keep walking until I am just a couple of meters away I start to climb onto the railing straddling it. This way I am able to face her. I can finally really look at her.

"Did you ever see that movie with Jim Carrey? Yes man?"

"What?" She is confused and to be honest, so am I. I don't like comedies but growing up Reece made me watch them, that man sure loves Jim Carrey.

"Well there is this part where he sings the song 'Jumper' to a guy who is about to kill himself" She is looking at me like I am a UFO. "Do you think that it would help if I sang to you?" She lets out a snort, something between a laugh and a sob.

"Look you seem nice so please leave" Is she really going to jump?

"So you are really doing it then? You're killing yourself? Here?"

"Please... Just leave" She is serious.

"If you are... Can I ask you a question?"

"Will you leave if I let you?"

"Sure" I smile to myself.

"What is it?" She sounds annoyed and it makes me kind of giddy.

"Can I push you?" Then there is no more sobbing, just silence.