Paranoia. Constantly looking over your shoulders. No one to trust. Waking up in the middle of night, fearing that tonight is gonna be the night.  I knew he was coming for me. It was the question of when. I woke up that morning from someone pounding hard on my door.

“Ebby it's me, Justin from next door!” I sighed as he knocked excessively. The sixteen year old boy had a major crush on me. I was not in the mood for this.

“Hold on!” I shouted at my frontdoor and slowly crawled out of bed. I gazed through the peep hole. There Justin stood in dark skinny jeans and a red shirt with cheetah print shoes. I opened the door.

“Hey, beautiful lady.” He smiled. Really? My make up was smeared and my hair was tangled.

“What do you want?”

He pointed a thumb at himself. “Oh me?” he shakes his head. “I don’t want nothing, but I can't speak for him.”

What?!

I tried to slam the door close, but a really big boot stopped my advances. “Thanks, kid.” His deep voice echoed in the hallway of the apartment complex. My gaze slowly traveled up... and up until I was staring him in the face.

“Can I get my five dollars?”

Our eyes never broke contact as he pulled out a stack of cash and handed Justin the money. “Alright, thanks man.” Justin sauntered off like he just didn't leave me with a criminal. Guess he didn't like me that much. I dashed for a knife and my phone. He came in behind me and closed the door gazing around. He looked surprised.

“Wow, I thought because the outside  looked so shitty the inside would look the same way—

“Hello, 911, a big and scary white man just broke into my apartment—

He snatched the phone out of my hand. “Hello 911, she let me in... Yeah, I’m her ex husband...Wait a minute— Crystal is that you...”-Laughs then pauses- “How's Teddy... That's good to hear... But nah, I’m not here to kill her, just came to pick her up... We’re going on a road trip... Across the states... Don't worry I’ll bring her back... Yeah I'll talk to you soon... Alright, say hi to Teddy for me. Bye, sweetheart.”He hung up. I stood there with my mouth agape. This man is a criminal and he knows a 911 dispatcher?! Crystal needs to be fired. “Mind if I smoke— course you don't.”  He lit the cigarette while his eyes that seemed to stare right into a man's soul assessed me from the top of my head all the way down to my gold painted toes, then back up up again to my breast. I instantly covered them.

“Fix yourself up, honey,” he spoke with the cigarette in his mouth. “We're leaving.”

I shook out of fear. “I-I'm not going anywhere with you.”

He laughed. “You're cute. I hope you didn't really think I was going to let you off the hook. Get dressed. Now. Or...” he trailed off walking into my space, I backed up instinctively. “I’ll make you. You wouldn't want that, now would you, honey...?” He turned on his heel. "You got a hour. You run, you're dead... Oh yea, nice rack," he shot over his shoulder and left, slamming the door behind him.

How did he find me?