The following day….
Lucy arrived home from work and kicked off her shoes, hanging up her jacket on the coat-stand.
"Evening Lucy. So, who's the admirer then?", asked Lee as he walked into the room.
"What do you mean?", Lucy replied.
"You had flowers delivered, no card though".
Lucy replied that she didn't know, and Lee was surprised when she threw them straight into the bin, before walking away towards the kitchen.
Lee caught up with her. "Lucy what's going on? You seem really jumpy at the moment. Have you got a secret boyfriend or something?".
Lucy replied, "no, of course not. The flowers probably weren't even for me, maybe they got the address wrong".
She feared they were from the same person responsible for the phone calls but tried to act normally, telling herself she must refuse to let this person get to her.
When a few days later, Lucy started to receive text messages from a mystery phone number, she started to think she should tell Lee what was going on, but was worried about how he might react, imagining he would probably decide to try and track down the culprit and attempt some dangerously ill-thought out heroics. Either that or he would make her go to the police, and she really wasn't sure if she wanted to do that, especially as she now had a theory about who it might be. The messages started off merely cryptic, but then one referred to getting back together and the next simply read "I still love you". The more she received, the more certain Lucy was that the sender was Guy, her ex-boyfriend. She didn't respond to the messages at first, but after a couple of days decided to send one asking him to stop texting her and leave her alone. Her plea did not work - the messages not only continued but were increasingly threatening, and Lucy began to think about nothing else. She was struggling to sleep, and when she did, she was having nightmares.
Lee got up in the middle of the night to get a drink, and he found Lucy on the sofa. Her legs were tucked up against her body and she was hugging a cushion, staring into space. She looked pale and tired. He realised something was wrong and sat down next to her. When he asked what was wrong she didn't tell him at first, insisting she was fine. He didn't believe her though and was persistent. Touched by Lee's concern and tired of keeping this to herself Lucy started crying and the words began to fall out of her mouth. She told him everything and he was horrified and angry when she told him about the phone calls and showed him some of the text messages.
"Lucy, you have to call the police first thing in the morning, this man is stalking you. He knows where you live, what if he…".
Lucy interrupted, not wanting to think about that possibility.
"Lee, I'm probably just overreacting, if I just ignore him, he'll get bored and give up", she said, trying to convince herself more than she was Lee.
"Lucy, I'm serious if you don't call the police, I will".
"Lee, please it's not as simple as that".
"Why, do you know who he is?"
"Yes. Well, I don't know for sure, but I think it's Guy".
Lee's mouth opened in shock, but his shock quickly turned to rage.
"Guy? As in your ex Guy?".
Lucy nodded, and Lee continued, "the perverted bastard, I swear I'm gonna go round to his club and kill him with my bare hands".
Though part of her appreciated his protectiveness, Lucy begged Lee to calm down, and he did, a little, when she promised she would contact the police. Lee went to make them both a cup of tea, and returning to the living room saw Lucy was now sobbing uncontrollably, her head in her hands. He placed the mugs of tea on the coffee table and sat back down, tentatively putting his arm around her.
Lucy turned to Lee and whispered, "Lee, I'm really scared".
He tried his best to comfort her, lightly stroking her back with his hand. He was slightly taken aback when she flung her arms around him and bawled into his shoulder. He felt her relax a bit in his arms and whispered reassuringly, "it's ok Lucy, it's going to be ok".
Once Lucy had stopped crying, Lee told her she needed to go back to bed to try and get some sleep, but she explained she was having nightmares, and didn't want to be on her own.
She spoke quietly, "Lee, will you sleep in my bed tonight, I'd feel safer I you were there?".
Lee gulped, and looked at her nervously. They had shared a tent before – recently in fact, but never a bed. He nodded and followed her into her room. He had to be composed about this. Sharing her bed was a big deal to him, having been secretly in love with her for years, but he knew it was just about comforting Lucy and being her friend. Once Lucy got into the bed she unfolded the other side of the duvet and patted the bed next to her when she noticed Lee's hesitance. He shyly got in, and lay down next to her, leaving as large a gap as possible between them, not wanting to make Lucy feel uncomfortable or awkward. After some time, Lucy fell asleep and Lee followed shortly afterwards.
Lee was awoken by Lucy calling out and whimpering in her sleep. She was clearly having a nightmare. He had unconsciously moved nearer to her during the night, and he lightly touched her arm, speaking quietly to try and wake her up. She began thrashing around and Lee held her gently, whispering reassuring words as she woke up.
"Ssh, Lucy, it's ok. It was just a nightmare, you're safe, I'm here".
As Lucy calmed down, Lee went to let her go but she clung on.
"Lee, please can you hold me? You make me feel safe".
"Of course", he answered.
As Lucy drifted back off to sleep, Lee couldn't believe he was really holding her in his arms. This should have been a dream come true. Yet, he wished more than anything this wasn't happening, not in these circumstances. Seeing Lucy so frightened and knowing that someone was threatening to harm her was his worst nightmare. He wished he could do something to help but felt powerless.