it's so lonely here

How I Got to LA

Emma had recently moved to LA. She was already friends with the Sister Squad and life was looking up.
Emma's POV
" I'm going to miss you," I said to my dad as he walked out the door. He had been in town for a few days to help me set up some of my furniture. It was nice having him here for a bit, I wasn't so lonely in my apartment. Just knowing another person was around kept me comfort. But now I was alone and I could feel the darkness settling in. The truth is, I am so lonely, but I'll never tell my parents that. It was hard enough for them to let me move to LA at 17, and telling them I was extremely lonely would only add to their guilt. The whole situation of me moving wasn't there fault, it was my fucking neighbors. Not long after I started to gain popularity at an extremely fast pace, Things started getting odd. At first it was harmless, I would get little notes left on my car. Nothing scary, in fact they were kind of sweet. It was usually a joke or something, but then things started to escalate. After the notes came gifts, boxes and boxes of gifts. Some of the presents were innocent, maybe a sweatshirt or some fuzzy socks, I even got a few whisks, nothing that would warn me for what was coming. However, soon I started getting gifts with stacks of pictures in them. Pictures of me. I'd be making coffee, in my bed, or walking to my car. It seemed like whoever was taking the photos knew where I was at all times and was keeping a close eye. I told my mom and we went to the police, but since nothing major had happened they couldn't do anything. I had just accepted the fact that this was my life and I would have to get used to it. I was the one that had decided to put myself out online and having fans or people following me was just part of it. I had let everything slide until one weekend, one weekend that changed everything.

I woke up to the sound of banging on my front door. My mom had left for work an hour ago so it was just me and the animals at home. I thought maybe I had received another package, so I rolled back over thinking that they would just leave it at the door. But the banging didn't stop, it got louder and faster with each passing second. Eventually I decided to get up and look out the peephole to see who was there. Whoever it was must have needed something, they sounded desperate to get in. Slowly I walked towards the door, my heartbeat picking up, I was terrified to see who it was. I glanced through the hole and saw that it was my neighbor from across the street, strange, what on earth could she want? She looked absolutely insane. Her hair and clothes were a mess, my guess was that she was high off acid or something so I decided to call my mom. She said she would come home and try and talk to her. "No big deal, right?" I told myself as I retreated back to my bedroom, locking the door behind me. "It's my neighbor, she's seen me since I was two, what's was the worse she could do," I thought. Thirty minutes later my mom came home, but by then my neighbor had was gone. "She must've been on some heavy drugs or something," my mom said, "we've never had a problem with her before so I don't think there is anything to worry about. Call me if anything happens again," and with that she was back at work. The rest of the day was fine, that was until a note slid through the mail slot. I opened it and was terrified with what it said: Tomorrow 2pm, tell anyone and you're dead. I didn't know what to make of it but all I knew was that I was in trouble. As stupid as it sounds I ended up not telling my mom. She had so much on her plate already with work that she couldn't miss and I knew if she saw the note she would take the rest of the week off to make sure everything was ok. As I lay in bed tonight I am terrified for tomorrow, what was going to happen? Was I going to be okay, soon I fell asleep hoping this was all a dream. By the time I woke up the next morning the knocking had already begun, however it was ten times worse than the day before. Whoever was there was pounding with all of their might. I slowly walked towards the door again, wondering if it was my neighbor. The person on the other side was jingling the door handle, trying to get in. They were screaming for me to open the door, begging for me to help them. They sounded like there were in danger so I decided against my better judgement to open the door and see if I could help them. As I unlocked the door it swung open and in ran my neighbor. She looked the same as yesterday and had a crazed look in her eyes. "Emma, thank god you opened the door," she said as she slammed it shut. She started walking towards me, not breaking eye contact, when I spotted something In her pocket. It was a butcher knife. The blade gleamed and in that moment I knew what she wanted. She wanted to kill me. I made a mad dash for my room, slamming the door behind me and locking it. I pulled my dresser from the corner of my room in front of it and called 911. At this point she was stabbing the door with her knife, trying to get in. "Emma I swear to fucking god if you don't open this goddamn door I will kill you without hesitation. Open the fucking door bitch!" Tears began sliding down my cheeks as my chest started to tighten. I was going to die, she was going to murder me. It felt as though my life flashed before my eyes. I had so much life ahead of me, so many things I haven't experienced, this really can't be the way I go, please God please don't let this be the way I die. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the 911 operator on the line. "911 what's your emergency?" she calmly said into the phone. "Uhhhhh someone is in my house and trying to kill me," I shakily said. "Okay miss we have police enroute, where are you right now?" "I'm in my closet hiding from her. Please hurry she has a knife. I don't want to die," I cried. "Miss please stay calm, help is on the way, can you please tell me your name?" "Emma, Emma Chamberlain," as soon as those words came out my mouth my neighbor busted through my door, "She's in my room, are they close???? she's in my room I don't know how she got in but she's here, please help, oh my god she's going to kill me," I screamed into the phone. By some stroke of luck, at the same time she got into my room the police had arrived and she made a mad dash out my window. Ten minutes after the police got to my house my mom ran through the door, embracing me in a hug, "My god Emma why didn't you call me? I would've been here in a heartbeat, sweetheart are you okay?" she said as I sobbed into her chest. That evening we went to the police station where we discussed what had occured. Luckily my neighbor had been taken into custody, unluckily she made bail and would be released later that evening.
"Miss Chamberlain you're very lucky to be alive today. After looking through the residence of your neighbor we found boxes and boxes of photographs of you. Were you aware that she was stalking you?" the office asked me. "I didn't know that it was her. I have been getting notes, gifts, and pictures for a while, but just assumed that it was a fan or something. I didn't want to make a big deal about it I was hoping with time whoever it was would get bored and stop, especially if I didn't give it any attention." "Unfortunately that isn't the case. Her end goal was to murder you," he said, "we want to go through with a trial, try and get her put away for good. Would you be willing to face her in court? Would you like to go through with something like that?" he asked. The idea of having to see her again terrified me, I couldn't be in the same room as her and what I wanted more than anything was for the whole situation to disappear. "I think I'll take some time to think about it. Is that okay? "That's perfectly fine, but just so you are aware she will have the ability to go home tonight as she made bail and we have no reason to keep her if you do not wish to go through with a trail," the officer explained. "I think I need to move," I said to my mom as we were laying in bed. I decided to sleep with her since I was too afraid to be in my room alone. "Where to?" she questioned. "Maybe LA? It'll be better for work and I have some friends there that know of some secure buildings. I just need to get away from here and go where she can't find me. Would that be okay?" I asked my mom. A small sigh escaped her lips, "I suppose that is best for you. You know I love you very much and will miss you but you need to be safe. Do you think you're ready to be on your own?" "I think so, you know how independent I am. Remember that time I drove to Long Beach to meet you on your business trip?" we both laughed remembering how stressed I had gotten after I missed my exit three times. "Haha yeah that went really well for you. No mental breakdowns right? If you feel ready and that you can handle it then I think we should book a trip and get started on finding an apartment. The faster you move out the better peace of mind we will both have." "Sounds like a plan. Love you mommy," and with that we both drifted into sleep.

I sat back down on my couch, scrolling through my phone. As much as I missed my parents and wanted them to be here with me, I couldn't let them know, I needed to make this work and be strong for them. "Maybe I'll see if the sister squad wants to hangout," I thought. It's been a while and I miss them. We could even film something. People love our collabs and they get tons of views so it would be a win for all of us. A few quick factimes and an hour later I heard a knock on my door letting me know they were here. "Hey Emma!" they shouted in unison, taking turns to give me hugs melting my loneliness away. At least for tonight I had my sister squad.

AUTHORS NOTE:
hey so this is my first story let me know if you have any suggestions on what you'd like to read. Ethma will start to form soon so stay tuned!!

Word count: 1969