Chapter 9
Taken aback by the collage of newspaper letters before her, Jessica was stunned. The large house that she had held residency in now became the emptiest it had ever been. Even without Frank's presence, she still considered her home the only place to which she could surrender and not feel the cold haunting of the cruel world outside. Now, not even her house was a place of sanctuary and it seemed that whoever this figure was he wasn't going to give up until he achieved his goal. Not hesitating any longer Jessica lifted the phone off its receiver and began to dial the number of the sheriffs office. After a short lived dial tone, she recognised the friendly voice belonging to Andy, the deputy sheriff. Just listening to another voice down the end of the phone seemed to slightly release Jessica's tight grip on the hard plastic handset.
"Good afternoon Andy" she began.
"Good afternoon Miss Fletcher, what can I do for you?" replied Andy in a softened tone.
"I... I need you to come over" she replied trembling.
"Is there something wrong Miss Fletcher?" he asked, concerned for her safety.
"You'll understand when you get here" she replied.
"Ok ma'am, I'll be there right away" he replied. With that Andy placed the phone back on the handset, snapped up his dark brown jacket and hat and heading towards the door.
"Floyd, you're in charge for now, I need to run over to Mrs Fletcher's house." he said, his tone becoming more urgent and more evident in the quickening of his pace out towards the door.
"Is everything ok Andy?" asked Floyd in a concerned manor.
"I don't know yet" he replied, by which time he had raced out towards his car, buckled himself in and was already on route to Jessica's house.
Now, downstairs in her lounge, Jessica was perched on the very edge of her couch, thinking about the course of events that had occurred within the last 24 hours. Flashbacks crowded her mind, they were all so tightly packed in, she could hardly stand the increasing volume inside her head, going over and over the scenes that crossed her sight merely hours ago.
Ring, ring, Ring ring.!
Rang the phone in the kitchen, interjecting into Jessica's thoughts. Breaking from her trance like state, she pushed herself up from the couch and made her way towards the kitchen, at a slow but steady pace. Almost hesitant to pick up the phone, she cautiously wrapped her fingers around it, and put it to her ear.
"Hel..."she paused to clear her throat. Then tried to speak again.
"Hello" she spoke, her voice a little shakened still.
"I'M COMING FOR YOU" said the mysterious voice.
"Who is this?" she asked, almost paralysed in fear waiting for the reply.
Once more the voice answered with the same four words as before.
"I'M COMING FOR YOU" he replied.
"Whoever this is, it's not funny" she replied trying to use what was left of her courage to answer.
The line went dead.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Jessica spun around praying that the sound she had just heard was just her imagination. Still fearful and hesitant, she then began to cautiously walk towards her lounge, taking care with every step, unsure of whether or not this was all real.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Staring blankly at her front door, she could no longer deny the truth. It was clear that there was someone at the door and knowing that she had to find out who, she began to approach the origin of the sound.