Tales To Tell In The Dark

I loved You

Meet Tom, a simple minded guy who loves anime and Japanese songs so much that he had become too attached to his laptop 24/7, watching re-runs of his favorite cartoons and listening to music that he himself finds hard to understand.

Life is crappy, he thinks. Many of his friends make fun of him because he doesn't really get out that much. It's okay for him. He doesn't really care what other people say about him. As long as it doesn't involves the things he likes most, his cartoons and favorite band!

Most of the time, he would just lay in bed, with his laptop on his stomach, watching episode by episode of more than a hundred gigabytes of cartoons until eventually he doze off. When not watching any of his collections, he would wander off in the cyberspace, finding solace and a place where he thinks nobody would judge him.

See, the thing is with Tom is, he tries so hard, but forgets what is important- originality. Sometimes he would imagine to be one of the character in the cartoons he owned and act like one. You can pretty much say that he is a nerd.

Tom is quite good looking. Unlike his older brother, Tim, who is fat and works at a comic book store. But much to people's surprise, his brother is nothing like him. Tim is a more well mannered and out going person. He loves hiking and outdoors. Rarely would Tim stay at home lazing around doing nothing. He would go out for walk and sometimes go camping trips on weekend.

The other day, Tom decided to find a girl on a matchmaking site he found on one of his forums online. So long story short, there he found Erika, a cute girl lives right next door to his neighborhood. How convenient, he thought. They could go on dates often. So he decided to meet up with Erika and hope Erika would agree.

Later that night, Tom received an email from Erika saying that she would love to meet him and asked where they should meet. Upon receiving this mail, he jumped in joy and suddenly, for the first time in his life, he feels that something is more important than his lifetime collection of anime and songs.

The day came and Tom went to the park, just as they'd agree. He was wearing green T-shirt and jeans, casual as always. Hoping that Erika would dress cutely like a girl from an anime, Tom couldn't wipe off the smirk on his face, imagining Erika in a Japanese maid costume.

Tom suddenly realized that he had nothing to start a conversation with Erika! That would end up for a guy like him to mess things up! Its not like he talks to girls all the time. He list down all the things that could move a conversation, nothing fancy, just the typical stuff. Tom tries to avoid talking about anime because that could give Erika some clue to what Tom really is, a nerd.

After everything is sorted out in his mind, he sat there, waiting patiently for Erika to arrive. It could take her a while to get there, he thought. I will try not to be creepy, he warns himself because he knows for sure sometimes, he could be one! From afar, he could see a Erika waving from a distance. Wow! She's sure excited to see me, he thought. He waved back, not letting her feel awkward.

'Hi!' the smile on her face says it all. She is pretty much excited to see him.

'Hi!' now Tom is feeling a little bit shy.

They chat for a while and decided to go out for a movie. Tom wanted to see a love story, to play with the mood a little. But Erika insist that they watch a horror film instead. Interesting personality, Tom figured. The spend the whole day together and it was fun. For Tom at least. But for Erika? It's a whole different story..

Tom went back home, happy, satisfied. He feels like a normal person, with normal feelings. He never felt better. For now. ---

Days went by and their relationship escalated quickly. Quicker than he'd imagine! Seems to him that Erika is much more desperate in having a relationship than him. Tom? Well, he's just plain bored actually. Never tried having a relationship before. Eventually, Tom got bored of Erika and sought sanity back in his old collections.

Apparently, Erika didn't get the notice and still thought Tom liked her. She kept sending mails, text messages until eventually, she gave up when Tom did not reply or respond to any of her mails and messages.

Years went by, Tom finally settles down with his new adult life, and get out from the life he had before. He did quite good actually, having a desk job, a beautiful wife and two wonderful kids.

One night, Tom was watching a movie in the living room alone.

Ding Dong!

The front doorbell rang. Who would come to my house this late? Tom thought to himself. He got up from the couch and walk straight to the door. He opened the door, and no one was there.

'That's weird..' Tom said silently.

Down on the floor was a parcel. Wrapped in red ribbons. And a smiley drawn on it. A large smiley. Tom was dumbfounded when he saw the parcel. Unintended, he took the parcel inside and closed the door. Before closing the door, he peeped once again to make sure no one was outside.

He took a knife and cuts the ribbon. He tore the paper wrapping the parcel carefully, not to destroy the wrapper totally. Unveiled was a white box. With his name on it. Carefully he opened the box. What was inside shocked him.

Inside was a set of pictures taken of him sleeping when he was still 21 years old. Pictures of him getting married snapped from a distance. Pictures of him on his honeymoon. Pictures of her wife when she was pregnant at the hospital. Pictures of his two kids when they were still in the incubator in the hospital. There was also a note in the box. Tom unfold the note and read its content.

Dear Tom, you may have noticed that I took some of your pictures to remind me how you cute you are.. I decided to share 'some' of my collections of you with you Tom. I hope you liked it. There are plenty more where that came from love.

Sincerely.

ERIKA

Tom was speechless. He kept staring at the pictures, not realizing that a pair of eyes were watching him by the window outside his house. Scared to his bones, Tom went to bed shivering under his blanket.

The next day, he decided not to tell his wife about the pictures he got last night. His wife noticed he looked pale that day and asked why. He just kept quiet and looked away. For the next week, he kept getting hang up calls and receiving pictures of him and his family, recent ones. Unable to stand the suspense, he reported the incident to the local police. The police checked to see who the person was who had been threatening Tom and his family. Tom insisted that it was Erika. The police then checked their database to see where Erika lives.

The case lead them to an old abandoned apartment near his old neighborhood. This must be it! He thought. He entered the apartment with the aid of the police, of course- he would never enter there alone. When they reached the place where they thought they would find Erika, they did not find anything except some notes left on the floor. Notes clearly meant for Tom.

'Please open the drawer.' one of the notes said.

Tom opened a drawer in a room that he believed to be Erika's. There he found an A4 envelope. He took the envelope and opened it to see what was inside. A set of pictures of his wife sleeping and his kids at school. 'This is getting creepy' he thought.

A policeman that went with him received a call from the station. After a while, he went to Tom and said something which horrified Tom.

'Sir, I'm afraid we're looking for the wrong person. The Erika you're looking for is dead' This left Tom puzzled, and more scared than ever.

The letters he received stated they from Erika... if they were not from her, then, who?