My Achilles Shoe | ONC 2024

○ Chapter 09 ○

I squinted my eyes as the morning sun rays were starting to seep in through my window. I hadn't slept a wink the whole night, penning down the second chapter of my book. This time, writing came easy to me.

I could deeply understand the meaning of catharsis and how writing could lead one to it. I felt like a soul tortured by my reality. Just a week ago, I was going on about my mundane life. Now, it was hard to even find sleep.

One big thought, however, had kept me up the most. It felt like a bug roaming over all the recesses of my brain. It was, why wasn't I able to talk to Jessica about the entire situation that I was going through?

I remember not telling Wesley because he was a new person to me and I couldn't trust him. But why not Jessica, who had always been there for me for a year now?

Not just her, why was I not able to talk about it to anyone? What about my family?

That same old feeling of being spied upon was making me nervous. Was it nervousness? Was that why I couldn't talk about it to anyone? Was it because I felt like I was being stalked?

‘Was I being stalked?’ That thought alone gave me the worst kind of chills.

My eyes involuntarily crept toward my open window. I closed my book shut and slowly walked to stand in front of it.

Glancing outside, I saw that the street was empty. It was a given, considering it was still so early in the morning plus it was a Sunday.

A feeling of foreboding took over me when I heard the familiar ping of my cell phone. I abruptly turned around with a quickened pulse. It was like this now. Every time my phone would make a sound, my heart rate would go up like an overnight success.

I took a deep breath before I made my way to my bed where the device of my almost demise lay. A hopeful part of me was praying for it to be someone that I knew. However, all my hopes vanished when I saw the same unknown number on my screen.

The message read: Was it me? Did I cause that fear on your beautiful face? Do I get the honors for it?

With a scrunched face, my eyes once again darted toward my open window. “But there was no one out there,” I whispered to myself.

Just then, a thought struck me. I knew that I couldn't keep living like this. I knew that I had to at least take a step forward, to at least fight.

After replying to that person with a quick “Yes”, I decided to start finding out the person behind this.

After taking a shower, getting ready and inhaling deep breaths, I put on my shoes. It took me 15 more minutes to prepare myself before I went downstairs.

I paused outside Mr. and Mrs. Brown's apartment. My hands were shaking when I rang the doorbell. It was now or never, I had to remind myself.

A few seconds later, the door was opened by Mr. Brown, who was giving me the stink eye. However, today I wasn't having any of it. I couldn't let their behavior get me backtracking from the mission.

“Who's it, honey?” Mrs. Brown asked before she appeared next to her husband.

“Reese,” he mumbled, even though she saw me.

“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Brown,” I greeted them with a feigned smile.

“What do you want?” Mrs. Brown snapped.

“I just wanna ask, have you given my phone number… to someone I don't know?” I asked them, cutting straight to the chase as rudeness seeped in through my words.

Both of them exchanged a weird look and I knew that something was fishy. “No, we didn't,” she replied and went to close the door speedily.

With my heart beating fast and fear and rage taking over all of my senses, I slapped my hand on the door. It seemed to startle them altogether and I took the advantage to push the door open.