« Skylar's POV »

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"Ms Anderson, are you sure you saw a person breaking in your house?" The tall police officer, with his very much scary gaze, asked me.

I looked at my bedroom door. Fear crawled in my stomach.

Why was this happening?

"Y-Yes. I saw– I mean, I didn't see anybody. But my room–everything was thrown around. And somebody wrote something on that mirror!" I pointed over to the wall mirror in my room.

The officer, who looked kind of irritated by now, turned around and moved his gaze over to where I was pointing. The other police officer, a woman who looked less scary, came out from Nora's room and looked at me.

"There is no such evidence, Ms Anderson. I'm afraid you must've...mistaken it." She said with a dissatisfied look directed towards me.

Mistaken it.

Let me start from the very beginning. I mean, why else would some random police officers end up in my apartment? Unless something bad happened.

Which did happen.

I had spent my time after classes helping out Mrs Marshall with her flower shop just few blocks away from my apartment. She was a sweet old lady. And spending time with her, helping out with her customers, was sometimes way better than sitting all alone in my lonely apartment. With only Chicken by my side.

So, I had been there till the evening. When I left, the sky had almost started darkening up. And I was really looking forward to sleep once I reached my apartment.

Meanwhile walking back home, my phone started ringing. It was mom.

"So, are you coming over at the weekend?" She asked once we were done with the usual how are you and how's everything going.

"You guys are staying for the weekend?" I asked, not sure why else would she ask me that.

"Yes. No trips for now." She said. "And we were thinking about inviting your Aunts and Uncles for a family get together."

I actually groaned at that.

"Come on, Skylar. You must miss New York, don't you?" She asked.

I did. But not those crappy parties.

"Chicken would be happy too." She added. Which was true. I swear to God, sometimes I did hear her sulking around in my apartment probably missing our house back in New York. I couldn't blame her. She was practically raised up there. Like me.

"You can meet Caden too?" She pointed out.

"All right, all right. Geez, mom, you miss me that much?" I asked with an unbelievable laugh.

She laughed back. "Of course."

We ended the call when I reached my apartment. The downstairs lobby, as much compact as it was, was empty. I barely saw the security guard here. I actually think he was just here to earn his wage, not care about the security of the people living above him.

He didn't even know who came by my house to drop that letter in front of the door. How could someone be so blind without actually being blind?

I went upstairs, shouldering my handbag. Once I was inside my house, I closed the front door behind me. Nora wasn't here yet. Especially since her brother was back from New York.

The very much suspicious brother.

I still didn't know what he had meant by that last sentence he had said to me that day. Maybe he was friends with Caden or something. Or maybe he was talking about another person named as Caden.

But why the hell had he given me that secret look?

Was I supposed to know something? Was he trying to tell me something? Did he do that on purpose just to rise up the paranoia inside me?

I should've asked Caden. But once again, not surprisingly, he didn't bother answering my calls.

I placed my bag on the couch and looked around.

A small frown formed on my forehead. For some little reason, something felt odd. I looked at the refrigerator and saw a magnet missing.

Nora was very much particular about her fridge magnets. That girl was obsessed with them. And I knew they were total 7 stuck on the fridge.

Why were they 6 now?

"Chicks, I'm home." I said. For a mere horrible second, she didn't come out from her hiding places.

But then I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard a meow.

"Oh Chicks, I thought somebody kidnapped you." I murmured, picking her up before hugging her. She just mewled in response.

"Come on. I'm so tired. Let's just sleep." I went over towards my room and opened the door.

To my surprise, the lights were on.

And everything was a mess.

And when I say mess, I mean pillows thrown on the floor. My stacks of photographs were scattered everywhere. The curtains were thrown open. Chicken's toys were scattered. And every book from my shelf was on the bed.

A small gasp escaped my lips when I saw my wall mirror. For a second, I thought I had seen a blur figure on it. But it was just a sentence scribbled on it. With a red substance.

Hopefully a lipstick.

Slowly, I went over towards it, touching the substance with my index finger.

It did feel like a lipstick.

I could hear my heart beating rapidly in my ears as I repeated the words written on the mirror.

"I would really love to see you wrecked up like this, sweet Skylar." I whispered the words.

I looked around once again. Blinking, I realized how much scary this actually was. The curtains blew as a gust of wind came from the opened window.

The opened window.

At that moment, I turned around and practically ran out of my apartment with Chicken clutched in my arms. I ran downstairs, not trusting my house at that point.

Going over towards the lobby, I had snatched the telephone and dialed 911. Even my fingers were shaking.

"Please pick up. Please pick up." I whispered, my heart almost about to leap out of my chest. I didn't know what I was expecting at that point. Sound of footsteps? Some guy to emerge from upstairs? Somebody to kidnap me?

And when someone from the other end had answered the call, I had told them about a break in. I had stayed in that lobby the entire time until I had heard the sirens. And then those two police officers had come. And we had gone upstairs.

"Ms Anderson, stay outside. Let us go in first." The lady officer had said. They both had gone inside my room and came out just as quick.

With a very much confused look.

"There is nothing ruined inside." The man, I think his name was Officer James, had said.

I had gone inside in utter shock. And found not even a single thing out of it's place. Which was totally fucked up.

"But...the books, they were there. And my photographs–" I didn't know how everything could just go back to it's place. I had seen everything messed up. I had seen those words on my mirror.

As if on instinct, I heard Chicken mewl around my feet.

If only she knew how to talk, I wouldn't have looked like an idiot at that moment. Chicken had seen the mess too.

I looked down at my index finger, at the light red smudge from when I had touched my mirror. Those words had been real. I hadn't imagined them.

"There is no such evidence, Ms Anderson. I'm afraid you must've mistaken it." The lady officer said, coming out of Nora's room.

I couldn't have.

"I'm sorry." I whispered, looking at my room once again. Just these few moments and my brain felt like it just ran a marathon. "I-I thought–"

"It's all right. Just be careful about such situations next time." She said with a polite smile.

"We should get going." They both nodded before walking towards the door.

I felt so stupid. And so confused. And the tiny feeling of fear was just too much at the same time.

Before they both could've left, I saw Nora coming in. And Kyle, since he was staying here for few days.

God, could this get any worse?

"Hey–" Nora stopped midway when she noticed the two police officers. "Officer Pierce." She looked at the lady officer. They both seemed to know each other. Maybe because Nora's dad was in the police department.

"And Officer James." Kyle added with one corner of his lips turned up in a smirk.

I felt the sudden need to jump up in frustration. Why was this happening? I just wanted to sleep and end my day peacefully. What would I say when Nora asks me about these police officers? What if it was Kyle who broke in my room?

"Nice catching up with you two. But it would be better if we leave now. Duty calls." Officer James responded with a polite smile. I have never felt that much embarrassed before.

I called two police officers for absolutely nothing.

Once they left, Nora gave me an odd look.

"What?" I asked before turning around and picking up my bag. I really hoped my voice didn't waver.

"Why were they here, Skylar?" She asked.

I took in a deep breath and turned around again.

"Nothing. They just stopped by for some...stuff." I said, directing a glance towards Kyle. For some reason, he didn't look interested in the talk.

What if he really was the one who did this?

"What stuff?" She asked.

"Look, I'm really tired. Can we not talk about this now?" I asked as politely as I could. She just looked at me and didn't respond.

Taking that as my queue, I headed for my room and closed the door behind me. Chicken followed me on the bed and mewled.

I was scared. And confused. So much.

I didn't know what this meant. Or how this all happened. It seemed so bizarre.

I looked at the window. Which was closed now. My heart started racing all of a sudden. My palms getting clammy with the sweat.

Somebody had come inside while I was gone downstairs in the lobby, calling the police.

The same person who wrote that letter.

This was getting serious. More serious than I had expected.

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Sorry for the late update. I'll try my best to update as soon as I can ♥

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Xoxo,

Crystal 🌿