Her Stalker

Short thriller by Kalypto x

Have fun fellow wattpaders!

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Joanne had always craved attention. Ever since she was a little girl, she had dreamed of being in an amazing accident and to survive, or to be swept off her feet by an adoring, handsome man. She should have been careful of what she wished for.

Her wristwatch said it was three minutes past nine, but she was in no hurry to get home. It had been another stressful, late night at the hospital and right then, the ill patients seemed better company than her pet fish.

She drove slowly, though not particularly carefully. At the age of seventeen, Joanne had barely past her driving test. The man following her knew that. He knew everything.

The car lingered in the driveway, and at least five minutes later, Joanne got out of her red Volvo. The sound of his motorbike made her look round, but the dark eluded him, and she went inside her house.

The man got off of his bike, and quietly walked to her house. This was not the first time he had been here. Unknown to Joanne, her stalker regularly visited her house, but only at night. The dark kept him hidden as he crept to the wall of the house.

He saw her closing the curtains of her living-room, then the kitchen, and finally her bedroom. He was nervous, but the anticipation of his plan was a good feeling. But he was impatient. She was taking ages getting ready for bed, though she was going about her business at her normal speed.

The stalker tapped a finger against the brick wall, each beat, to him, a loud boom marking the seconds as they dribbled by. Adrenalin started to burn at his veins, his heart beat increased, and he was excited. And then sonorous boom fractured the night's quietness.

He jumped, and crouched lower, trying to hug the wall even closer. After a minute, he allowed himself a glance around the corner. Joanne's bin was on its side: the wind had blown it over. He laughed, but at the same time he punched the wall in annoyance.

This wasn't going perfectly. He had planning for months; it should be going perfectly. He was thinking about going home, but then he thought of how much work and effort had gone into this night. Joanne's beauty was not something he could easily ignore. He went back to his plans.

There was silence. He was waiting for her to come out of the bedroom, and go into her living room. About a minute later, soft noises from the TV reached her stalker's ears. A wide grin appeared on his face. It made him look wicked. Things were back on track.

As he walked round to the back of the house, the gravel clicked together, rustling under his feet. A loud bird call echoed from the tall pine tree, but he didn't look round. He had been here enough times to get used to the annoying wildlife.

Joanne would never notice anything odd going on unless he stood between her and the TV screen. She was not a good listener, always got deeply engrossed in the TV (he blamed it on her weekly Yoga classes), and never suspected a thing.

It had taken him a month to work out where she was going on Thursday evenings, and when he found out it was Yoga, he had hated the 'sport' ever since. Those hours in the dark waiting for her to come home were a time he did not remember clearly: he had a strange part of his brain that forced him to forget any awful memories.

As usual, the back door was unlocked. It always was, always had been as long as he could remember. He opened it slowly, but it still clicked when he pulled the handle down. He cursed silently, and paused, but there was no noise from the living room.

The man walked in, pushed the door closed. It clicked again, but he knew that it was fine. He almost locked it but didn't. He didn't know why, but he just couldn't turn the key and lock the door. He shook his head, and turned. This was the most important night of his existence.

Why it had to be Joanne, he had no clue, but sometimes, our destiny is purposeful, not just chance.

He walked slowly, carefully down the hallway; the thick piled carpet muffled his footsteps. He made no noise. He carried on through the dark, until he came to a corner. He rounded it, and light greeted him from the living room. The door was wide open, and he could just see the top of Joanne's head, her blonde, wavy hair was messily tied back.

Quickly ducking back behind the corner, he sighed softly and rolled his eyes. So close. Then he froze. What should he do now? After all that planning, and careful watching of Joanne, he had not thought once of what he was going to say to her.

Though he admitted to himself at the start that stalking is creepy, he was not himself a creepy man. Unlike in the films, he had no intention of killing Joanne. It was just that one day, he had seen her crossing the street, and at once thought that he should know her.

He was almost on the brink of thinking that maybe, she was the one. Yet there he was, the nearest to her he had ever been, but with no idea what to do. He cursed in his mind. There was nothing else for it; he stood up straighter, and turned to go.

But Joanne shuffled on her sofa, and the image of her snuggling into the cushion intoxicated him. He turned around quickly, determined that this would be the night. The night for what, he was not yet certain of, but something would happen, he was sure of that. He did not yet know that something definitely would happen, but nothing like he expected.

He rounded the corner, and walked straight up to the living room door, but did not pass the threshold. A minute passed before Joanne switched off the TV. He tensed, not wanting Joanne to turn around and see him there unless he spoke first, but she just sat there for another minute, lost in thought.

The man decided to speak. He said:

"Joanne-"

He would have said more, but hesitated. Joanne jumped and gave a high-pitched little squeal. She leapt up, and turned round so fast she was a blur.

His mouth opened to speak, but no words came out. He closed his mouth. Joanne's face was as pale as moonlight. Then she did something he had not anticipated. She cried:

"Andrew? Andrew it's you!"

An ran at him, arms flung wide and hugged the bewildered man fiercely. She leaned back and whispered,

"I told them you would come back, that you weren't dead! I missed you so much..."

And then Joanne kissed her stalker full on the mouth.

****

I know this is rubbish, it's my first attempt at a thriller, and tbh, it's not that's thrilling, but yeah.

Btw, this is just a draft, and although the grammar and spelling will be okay, it may be a bit bland.

So please Please PLEASE comment and help me improve it! Nothing too mean though :)

Thanks x