Flash Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 57
Reagan answers her phone without checking the caller ID.
“Hello.”
Nothing.
“Hello?” Reagan says.
“Did you really think you could run away from me, Ray-Ray?”
Only her father had called her Ray-Ray. Reagan had always found her stalker’s presumptuous over-familiarity to be nearly as jarring as his gruesome threats.
She hangs up, presses the panic button on her security fob.
She wants to cry; he found her again.
Another call; this time, she checks the caller ID.
“Reagan? I am Brian, with Regal-Sentry.”
She confirms her identity by supplying the requested information.
“Fruits or veggies?” he asks.
“I prefer apples,” Reagan answers, signaling she’s not in distress.
“We’ve traced the call. It’s coming from inside your house.”
Reagan’s knees nearly buckle. The first night in her new mansion, and it’s already been penetrated?
Reagan plans to work from home, have everything she needs delivered. It was the only way she could feel safe.
Brian tells her it’s essential she doesn’t leave the house. Her intruder is listening; can she lock herself in a bathroom until help arrives?
Twelve minutes later, the alarm panel in the bathroom tells her Officer Brady is at the front door. She keys the code into the display that will unlock the door.
Five minutes, she hears four quick knocks on the bathroom door.
“Maam, Officer Brady here? It’s safe to come out. He’s fled the premises.”
She cracks open the bathroom door, peers out. Brady holds credentials up to the slit.
She opens the door, throws herself in his arms, sobbing.
Officer Brady hugs her for a second.
Then he whispers in her ear, “It’s okay. You’re safe now, Ray-Ray.”
Reagan gasps as he wrenches her arms back. She hears the click of the handcuffs, cringes as her bladder empties.
Stories by Shawn 