Chapter 13

Isolation

Good friends are hard to find these days; Bayley was so glad she could stay with Alexa for tonight.

She had been thinking a lot about what Sami said in the afternoon, and she agreed with him. It was the terrifying truth, but it was the only logical explanation; she had a stalker in her life.

The young woman hoped from the bottom of her heart the stalker didn't know where Alexa lived. Her arms were covered with goose bumps when she thought about the possibility he could've watched her when she barely managed to escape from her car, seconds before crashing against the guardrail. And who knows... maybe he had been watching her while she was waiting for help. Oh God, Bayley wanted to vomit at that point. But she had to try her best to remain calm, despite all the madness. If she would panic even more, she would become paranoid. That's what the stalker probably wanted her to become; a nerve-wracked shadow of her former self who looked over her shoulder every second when walking outside on the streets. No, Bayley refused to become that kind of person. If she would do that, she would give the stalker exactly what he wanted.

She had to stay strong, even in a difficult time like this.

Time seems to crawl by when you're expecting your stalker to show up at your friend's doorstep at any moment. Dusk fell after a couple of hours; Bayley had spend most of the time sitting on the couch, wondering what the hell she had to do to stop all this. The first thought she had was going to the police the next morning, perhaps they could help her. She also planned to buy a can of pepper spray, just in case. Dear God, the young woman never thought it would ever come to this. Bayley tried her best to take a couple of bites from the dinner Alexa cooked up for tonight; not because she was a terrible cook or anything, but everything had been so fucked up lately... her nervousness affected her stomach big time. It was a miracle she could keep her food down.

However, after dinner, Bayley managed to forget about her stalker for a little while. Alexa did try her best to make her friend comfortable, sitting down on the couch with her, chatting and cracking jokes with her. It all made Bayley forget about what had happened these past days.

'I don't know whether it's just me...' Alexa said with a big grin after swallowing down a gulp of wine. 'But... I think Sami might have a crush on you!'

'Oh come on, Alexa!' Bayley laughed. 'Are you getting tipsy again?'

'No no no, I'm serious! When we were at the beach, he was so worried about you, you should've seen him.'

Holy cow... so he really did care about her. If Bayley had been in a slightly better mood, she would've probably blushed from ear to ear. But if somebody was worried about someone else, it didn't immediately mean that person would have a crush on that one. She and Sami were just good friends, that's what Bayley thought. But the thought of the bearded redhead having feelings for her... it made a pleasant warm feeling develop inside Bayley's stomach, taking the nervousness away.

'Oh? What do I see there?' Alexa pointed at her friend's face. 'Is that a blush again? I freaking knew it! You also have a crush on him!'

'Could you knock it off already, Al?' Bayley replied giggly. 'There's nothing going on between us, we're just good friends, that's all!'

'That's what they all say...'

'For goodness' sake.'

Bayley let out a yawn. 'You know... I think I'm going to bed a bit earlier today. Do you mind that?'

'No, not at all. I can imagine you're already tired after everything that happened today... You know what, I think I will go to bed too. Hold on, I will fetch a nightgown for you. You know where the bedroom is, right?'

Inside the spare bedroom, Alexa handed over a nightgown of her own. It was a blue and a little bit short; the kind of clothing Alexa preferred to wear. But Bayley could live with it.

'Hey... if you need anything, you can come to me, okay?'

'Yeah, alright. Thanks a lot for letting me stay here, Alexa.'

'You're my best friend Bayley, of course I would let you stay here. Tomorrow, I will help you to fix all of this... We will stop that sicko, I promise you that.'

Bayley curled the corners of her mouth into a small smile and hugged her friend. 'Again, thank you so much... I don't know what I should've done without you guys.'

'We're there for you, always.' Alexa replied, hugging Bayley back. 'Good night, Huglife.'

'Sleep well, Glitter Girl.'

But a little while after the light was shut off and she got inside the bed, Bayley was wide awake.

The calmness she had felt earlier in the living room with Alexa started to fade away and was slowly replaced with the paranoia she tried to ignore so hard. Here in the darkness, she felt more vulnerable than ever. What if her stalker had followed them all the way to Alexa's apartment? Would he know what floor she was on? Now that it was dark, was he waiting in the hallway, planning on how he was going to break into the apartment? Bayley closed her eyes, desperately trying to get some sleep, but that was nearly impossible. Her head was pounding, it started to become painful. When she was a little girl, the only thing she was afraid of was the darkness of her bedroom at night; the only thing that could make her less fearful was the little lamp on the wall. But right now, a lamp wasn't going to make her feel any more safer. Someone out there was following her, wanting to hurt her. How the hell could you have a peaceful night of sleep if you knew that? Bayley tossed and turned, but couldn't fall asleep.

'Damn it, Bayley!' she mentally yelled at herself. 'Don't become paranoid! Don't give that bastard what he wants!'

The young woman sighed. Of course she didn't want to give into the paranoia, but... how the hell was she going to remain calm? How long would it last before she would eventually break? No, she had to stay strong, she had to! If she would lose her mind, things would only get worse! Bayley stared at the ceiling in the darkness. She remembered a time in elementary school where she was bullied by a classmate. When she told her father about the bullying, he went straight to the bully's home and told his parents about his appalling behavior. The parents must have punished their son for this, because the next day he apologized to Bayley for what he did and she was never bullied during elementary school again. But it was most likely the stalker wasn't going to give two shits if her father told him to stop stalking his daughter.

'It's going to be alright...' Bayley whispered to herself. 'Tomorrow you're going to look for a way to stop all of this.'

She closed her eyes once more and relaxed her body. The pain in her head seemed to lessen. Slowly, Bayley drifted off to sleep.

Everything was going to be alright...

But before her consciousness could fully disconnect itself from the world around her, Bayley was hard-handedly woken up by a sharp pain at her scalp.

Immediately she was pulled out of her sleep as she let out a yelp in pain. Someone was pulling her hair with an immense strength, as if that person wanted to rip her hair straight out of her head. It had to be the stalker, was the first thought that went through Bayley's head. Oh dear God, he got into the apartment! Bayley desperately tried to struggle free, grabbing at the hand that was trying to rip out her hair. Her hand found that hand; immediately she started scratching it like her life depended on it... which was probably the case. The stalker looked like he wanted to pull his victim out of the bed. But as sudden as he appeared in the bedroom, as sudden as he let go of Bayley's hair. The terrified woman nearly fell out of her bed, but managed to sit up and quickly turn on the night lamp on the nightstand. The room was immediately illuminated... but it was like the stalker had vanished into thin air.

It was completely quiet, if Bayley's loud rapid heartbeat and shaky breathing didn't count. Her limbs were trembling, it felt like her heart was about to jump right out of her chest. With her eyes widened in fear, Bayley looked around the room. Where did he go?! Where did that bastard go?!

Her heart skipped a beat.

Oh God.

Could it be that... he was hiding underneath her bed?

This was something straight out of a horror movie. Here she was, alone in her bedroom... and the monster was hiding underneath her bed, ready to attack her and tear her to pieces. Bayley wanted to scream for Alexa, but just like in a nightmare, it felt like her throat was filled with sand. Not even a sound could escape between her lips. She had to know. She had to know what was under her bed. Gathering all the courage she had, she took a deep breath. She didn't want to, but she had to do it. And if her stalker was indeed hiding underneath her bed... she was going to make a run for it. She would run out of her bedroom, wake up Alexa and get out of the apartment along with her.

'Come on, Bayley...' she thought. 'You can do it...'

Her heart was pounding in her head when the young woman got out of her bed; for a moment she expected the stalker to grab her by the ankles, but that didn't happen. She got down on her hands and knees and slowly lowered her head, mentally preparing herself to run like a bat out of hell.

The space between the floor and her bed was empty.

But it was still too early to catch a relieved breath. If the stalker wasn't underneath the bed... then where was he?

Two male voices could be heard mockingly chuckling behind her.

Letting out a terrified gasp, Bayley jumped up and looked behind her. There they were again. The shadows that haunted her apartment last night. Like giant blots of pitch black paint, they stained the walls and didn't move... as if they were taunting Bayley once again. Nothing in this room could produce this kind of shadows. The shadows glided down from the walls to the floor and slithered towards the bed, making the scared woman jump back into her bed, covering herself with the sheets, protecting herself against whatever they were going to do next. Peeking above the sheets, Bayley watched in horror as the two shadows grew larger, slowly taking humanoid shapes. The shapes of two tall men. The 'shadows' chuckled once more, only this time more sinisterly.

They were no ordinary stalkers.

These stalkers weren't human.

Until now, Bayley's throat was unable to produce a single sound. But now, she managed to finally make one. She clenched her eyes shut and screamed as loudly as humanly possible, praying to God and everything else that was holy that Alexa would hear her. And thank God, apparently she did hear her; rapid footsteps could be heard in the hallway, getting louder as they got closer to the spare room. Just a split second before Alexa could swing open the door, the two 'men' disappeared in the blink of an eye. The door's handle hit the wall with a loud bang when Alexa entered the bedroom, rushing towards Bayley.

'Jesus Christ, Bayley! Are you alright? What the hell happened?!' she asked with a startled voice as she protectively put her arms around her friend.

But Bayley was unable to say anything. All she could do was stare in front of her, her eyes widened in fear and her body trembling uncontrollably.

Nobody slept that night.

Immediately after Bayley managed to utter that her stalker (who apparently didn't work alone) was inside her bedroom, Alexa called the police. While waiting for the police to arrive, she had stayed with her friend the entire time, trying her best to calm her down, which she was barely able to. Two policemen arrived a little while after Alexa made the call; they inspected the entire apartment for signs of a burglary, anything could lead to the 'burglars'. (In a brief fit of paranoia, Bayley thought the policemen were the two shadows, transformed into human beings) But unfortunately, they couldn't find anything. They advised Alexa to purchase a door chain before they left.

Bayley probably only had less than half an hour of sleep before the first sunbeam woke up the city. When she entered the kitchen, already fully dressed, guilt poured over like a heavy rainstorm. Her friend was preparing a pot of coffee, she looked just as tired as Bayley.

This was her fault.

She should've never let her friend get involved into this misery.

Bayley had been thinking about this from the moment she woke up from her short nap. It was so painful for her, but... it was the only way.

Alexa noticed her friend in the corner of her eye and looked up. But right now, she didn't get the chance to comfort her.

'Al... I'm sorry...' Bayley whispered. 'I'm so sorry... This is all my fault.'

Alexa shook her head. 'No Bayley, don't say...'

'It is my fault, Al. I should've never let you get involved into this, you don't deserve this. Those... things last night. They weren't human. And those things followed me all the way here, to your place. They could've harmed you, Alexa. I would never forgive myself if they did anything to you. Heck, I can't even forgive myself right now for pulling you into this mess. I don't want you to get hurt, Al, I don't want Sami to get hurt either. Which is why... it's better for you to stay away from me.'

'Bayley...!'

'Trust me Alexa, it's the best for you and Sami. Those things seem to know where I'm going. This should've never happened to you. So please Al, I'm begging you... don't come near me again. I'm so sorry. I will always appreciate what you have done for me, but... it's too dangerous. I hope you can forgive me one day. Goodbye, Glitter Girl...'

With tears burning in her eyes, Bayley turned around, left the kitchen, walked through the hallway and exited the apartment.