A screeching like noise could be heard from my phone. Trying to cover up my ears with my blanket to block out any of the noise, I grunted in protest.

‘I don’t want to wake up I don’t want to wake up.’ I kept repeating to myself.

But knowing how society works and knowing that my horrible chief would fire me if I even dare to get to work late; I slowly sat up in bed and stretched out my arms.

Sighing at the site of the orange rays that the rising sun was radiating through my window, I stood up. “I guess I have to go to hell today too, great.” I muttered.

I walked to the bathroom while yawning and scratching my stomach. I tied my long, wavy auburn hair up in a bun so that it wouldn’t hinder me while I was washing my face. I stared at myself in the mirror and sighed. All that I can see is a 23-year-old woman who’s already suffering from baggy eyes and tired, pale skin. Who also lived by herself in a rundown apartment with two bedrooms and a bathroom combined with a toilet.

Out of nowhere, a message popped up on my phone as I was trying to leave for work. It was from… Private number?

Private number: “Hi, is this April?”

Red flags were going off like crazy in my head. One thing that I’ve learned from stories with a dark twist is to never give a stranger your name or even confirm it. Hell to the no that I’m going to be killed, scammed, or fooled.

April: “No, sorry you’ve got the wrong person.”

Before I could even put my phone back in my pocket, it went off again.

Private number: “You sure?”

I furrowed my eyebrows in frustration. What the hell? Why is he even asking if he doubts me so much?

April: “Yeah I’m sure, I sure as hell know who I am. Could you leave me alone now?”

Without waiting for his reply, I blocked this person’s number and deleted the conversation.

“What a brilliant start of the week.” I muttered.

…

“April!” A sudden heavy weight could be felt as my best friend jumped on my back. “I’ve missed you.” She said as she proceeded to strangling me in to a tight hug.

“Cherry! Get of me you cow!” I was trying to shake her off my back while she was giggling.

“Cher.” I said.

“Okay, okay, I get it.” She slumped down and looked at me. “Ready for the battle?” she asked with a grin

I shook my head and exhaled. “Nope, I want to go home and crawl into my bed watch some good old shows on Netflix.”

She nods her head. “I get ya. I just want to cuddle with my babe right now.” She said as she stared dreamily at the sky. I just smiled and rolled my eyes at that. Her boyfriend, Brandon, is also our childhood friend who we have known pretty much all of our lives. They both started dating each other somewhere in high school and they have been going strong ever since. They even lived together since a year ago.

Well, I couldn’t blame him for falling in love with Cher. She’s the embodiment of alluring; with her deep brown eyes and dark chocolate hair with some natural golden streaks in them. Her sun tanned kissed skin and her model type body that women would die for. That poor sucker had to fight off those thirsty hyenas of her.

“Well, I am not holding you back. Please go back.” I gestured her towards the exist. She gave me a glare.

“Shut up. Where is your man?” She said in a mocking voice.

I just shrugged. “You can find him if you dig deeper in my ass.”

“Ew,” she said in disgust.

“Exactly. Ew. I don’t need and don’t want a boyfriend/man/ husband or any other synonym that you can think of.”

She stared at me like I was nuts. We were almost in front of the building until she had to stop me. “But, why?” She asked while crossing her arms.

“Do I even need a reason?” I asked back.

She looked at me worriedly. “Is it because of that day?”

I groaned in frustration. “Look, can we not talk about this right now?”

Cherry was about to open her mouth when we suddenly heard a scream. We both stared at each other and ran inside the building.

The moment we entered the building, our feet stepped in to a puddle that was dyed in the color red. We were frozen in place.

‘W-What is this? Blood…?’ As I was asking myself, I could see one of my female colleague fall down on the floor as she was screaming. I looked back at Cher, who was petrified in fear.

“What’s wrong Cher?” I asked, worried and confused by the whole situation.

“L-L-L-Look u..” She rambled out words I couldn’t understand.

“What? “

“L-Look u-u-up.” She said this time clearer.

I slowly looked up.

I gasped as I saw what made everyone freak so out. I wanted to scream, but my voice was caught in my throat.

There hung three bodies from the ceiling. The rope was twisted around their neck, making it seem like they hung themselves. Their stomach was gashed open, letting their intestines leak out of their body.

The sight was just utterly horrifying, but the one thing that really set the shivers down my body were the words carved on their body.

THIS IS A WARNING.

My eyes went wide, and cherry gave her own share of a scream. People were panicking, telling other people to call the cops and the ambulance. Everything was just in chaos.

I was trying to find the right words for this type of situation, but my brain went in to panic mode. My phone has been going off from the moment we saw the dead bodies. It just kept vibrating, asking for my attention. Slowly, I took it out of my pocket. I froze at the sight of the notification screen.

Private number.

My body went rigged. It can’t be the same person who had messaged me this morning, can it? It just couldn’t be. I blocked that creep, I’m sure of it, and even if it is that creep, there’s just no way that he had anything to do with this.

With my trembling finger, I slowly pressed on the notification. As I was reading the message, I could feel my nonexistent breakfast bailing up.

Private Number: “How do you like my present? I enjoyed slicing their stomach up. It was like I was a kid again, playing doctor. You never liked them anyway, but let this be a warning. I don’t like being lied to or even better, don’t make me angry, cause when I get angry it wouldn’t be fun for you. The reason for it is that my April may lose some people close to her.

Here are some rules for you to follow for now:

1. Don’t make me angry, or I will kill someone you love.

2. Don’t EVER block me again, or I will kill someone you love.

3. Don’t flirt with anyone, because you’re MINE, or I will kill someone you love.

4. Don’t tell anyone or go to the police, or I will kill someone you love.

5. Keep your phone with you at all times, or… you get the gist of it.

Don’t try to be smart, because I’m watching you 24/7.

Love, your stalker.”

Okay, so that just confirmed what I was so afraid of, but how to fuck? I had blocked him. Not only didn’t it matter that I had blocked him, this fucker was even angry about it. It made him so angry that he just decide to kill off three of my coworkers and if I may add one of them was the chief of my department.

A headache slowly started to form as it was too much for me to process what was happening right now. I slowly rubbed against my temple, trying to ease the headache.

I glanced to my side to see how Cher was processing this and, lord behold, the poor child was crying in a trance. Not that I blame her I don’t want to see this sight any longer than that I have to.

I grabbed Cherry by her arm. Still in a trance, she slowly turned her head to look at me with hazy eyes.

“Let’s go home. They wouldn’t mind if we play hooky seeing how our chief was murdered . I will walk you to the bus stop.” She quietly nodded her head and followed me as I was pulling her along. Far in the distance, I could hear the sirens of the police cars.

…

Opening my front door, I looked around, trying to find any sign that he/she/it, a.k.a. Private Number, a.k.a. my stalker. Which is strange, because who would want to stalk me? No, scratch that who would be this obsessed with a weird potato like me.

I groaned. “This sucks.”

My phone vibrated again.

Private number: Next time you wouldn’t be able to bring your friend safely to the bus stop.

He fucking followed me.

April: “You fucking followed me?”

Private number: “What about a stalker don’t you get? Yeah, I followed you home.”

“This person is crazy. I’ve to somehow find a way to notify this to the police without him knowing.” I said, while pacing around in the living room and biting on my nail.

My phone screen lit up again.

Private number: “Nope, you don’t. Are you already trying to get someone killed? Also stop biting on your nails even though it’s cute it’s not good for you.”

I stared at the screen and then around me, hoping that what I was thinking right now was not right.

Private number: “Lol. Don’t bother denying it. I am watching and listening to you at the very moment. That’s why I love cameras and microphones :).”

I Narrowed my eyes at the screen in disdain. “Fuck. You.” I spat.

Private number: “Gladly”

Scared that I would break my phone in anger, I threw it on the table and went inside the bedroom, hoping that this was all a dream.