"Who are you?" I repeated. He ran a hand through his hair again. He had done that so many times now, I wondered if he was going to be bald in five years. He smiled at me.
"I'm Christopher Kander." He told me. "I see you ever day."
"Did
you go to school with me?" I demanded, trying to keep my focus and
look into his eyes at the same time. He sighed.
"No, I didn't."
The weight of what he just told me started to sink into my heart. I felt my lungs tighten, and I stared at him. If he didn't go to school with me, how did he know me so well? How could he know my siblings? My old job?
"Wait. Did you work with me?"
"No." He answered.
"Oh my god." I said and got up and backed away from him. "You're stalking me. That's it. You stalked me. How do you know me? Where did you see me?"
"Raina, calm down, please…" He trailed off, looking at me. "Please don't freak out. Listen, I just needed to talk to you. You've graduated now, you're nineteen. I just need to talk to you."
"Talk to me? Oh my god, you've been stalking me!" I hissed. "Get out! Get out, get out, get out!"
"No, Raina, you have to listen to me. You're life could be in danger. We need to talk. I can help you. Raina, you don't understand."
"In danger? What the hell? I haven't done anything to anyone! Is this about my old boss? Look, I'm not dating him. He's a creep! I went to the cops about harassment, but they didn't do anything, and I'm sorry. Did he put you up to this?"
"Your old boss?" He laughed. "No, no! He's not a threat to anyone."
"I think you should leave." I said.
"No, you have to listen to me." The urgency in his voice quieted me down for a minute. "Look, this is all going to sound really horrible, and to be honest, I wouldn't have introduced myself to you in such a hurry—"
"What do you mean you wouldn't have introduced yourself in such a hurry? You would have kept stalking me!"
"No, quiet now, the baby's asleep." He scolded. "I wasn't stalking you. I was just keeping an eye on you. I needed to make sure you were safe. Raina, I've know who you were for a year and a half now. I've only wanted to see you safe, and I knew that it wasn't the right time to talk to you yet, so I haven't. I couldn't believe you were so young. Raina, I just can't sit back anymore. It's been a year and half since you and I were assigned together, and—"
"Excuse me?" Raina screeched. Kander tried to quiet her down. "No! No! You and I were assigned together? By who? For what? What the hell are you talking about?"
"Raina, I'm going to have to ask you to be quiet, or we'll need to go somewhere else, but I can't leave without you. I know you won't go anywhere without your siblings, which is why I've come to you like this. Raina, you have to listen to me."
"Go somewhere else?" I hissed. "Where else would we go? I'm not going anywhere with you!"
"Raina, your siblings can't know about this right now. Come on, let's go."
"No!"
"Raina, please." He looked at me, his bright blue orbs piercing right through my chest. I felt like crying. "I need you to listen to me."
I looked to my side, and Alex's room was so close. I could duck in there right now if I wanted, and part of me wanted to. I had closed his door, and on the front of his door I saw pictures that Melanie and I had posted. Pictures of the three of us, smiling at each other, and pictures of Alex, crying, laughing, eating. I looked back over to Kander.
"Are you going to hurt them?" I asked, suddenly insecure and protective at the same time. Suddenly, I wasn't as worried about me. If he was even thinking about touching a hair on either of my siblings heads, I would kill him right now.
"What?" He looked genuinely shocked. "Raina, I would never. I can't believe you'd even say that. No, I won't touch them. I need to talk to you, though. To keep you safe; to keep them safe. Raina, you don't understand what you've been thrust into, and I promise that if there's anything I can do to make this easy for you, I would do it."
"Then just leave now." I growled at him. He threw his head back in frustration, and ran a hand through his hair. Sighing, he looked me straight in the eyes.
"Quietly, come with me." He demanded.
"You can't tell me what to do." I argued, and jerked my hand away from his reaching arms. He got up and trapped me in between his arms against the wall, standing threateningly in front of me. I swallowed, and the tension that stood between us was more than just anger. I felt warmth lower than I wanted to.
"Raina," He whispered with an intensity I hadn't known before. I suddenly felt my heart speed up.
"Get off of me." I growled. "Go away."
"Come with me." He offered. "I need to talk to you. I have to. Raina, I l—you don't understand right now. I understand that you're probably taken back, and that you probably don't know what to think. I know that you don't trust me, and you don't even know me. And Raina, I wasn't going to introduce myself to you like that, but I just didn't get the balls to do it when I should have. It's been a year and a half since we've been assigned together, and I need to make sure you're safe. That your family is safe…"
"Safe?" I repeated. He smelled masculine, and I looked into his eyes. I was trying to aim for fierce and demanding, but his eyes beat mine out, and I think I ended up looking more frightened and weak.
"Raina, will you just come with me and let me explain?" He stepped back and I took a big breath of relief.
"Absolutely not!" I said, a little too loudly.
"Shush!" He hissed. He looked over to where Alex's room was. "I don't want to wake him, and your sister doesn't need to know about this right now. Of course, we'll make sure we clue them in later, but right now, we need to talk about some things. I know this all seems rushed, Raina, but you have to hear me out. I have so much I need to tell you. Look, let me take you to lunch tomorrow. My treat; in fact," He said, and pulled out a small stack of twenties. I stared at them. That was at least two hundred dollars. "Here, get your siblings and yourself some nice clothes – send your sister shopping if you'd like; I know that means a lot to you."
I stared at the money. Was he really trying to buy me off?! I felt appalled but tempted. He only wanted to talk to me tomorrow, and he was going to give me two hundred dollars to do so? Maybe it would be worth it – to humor this man just a little more and let my siblings have some extras. It was true; I loved to see my sister go out and buy the clothes she wanted, and I was dying to get Alex some clothes that really fit. Maybe even some nice snack foods, or I could buy Alex a few new toys.
"Raina, you can trust me." He reassured me. "I know it's getting late, and you probably want me out of your house, but think about it, please. I need to talk to you. This could possibly be a matter of life or death."
"Death?" I whispered. I thought about my siblings.
"Yeah," He said, and he reached out for me. I shrank back. I was so confused. Part of me wanted to go out with him right now and figure out what the heck he was talking about; hopefully get some answers. Part of me wanted to just bite the bullet, follow my gut and trust him. But the other part logically argued that I had never seen him before. He wasn't from my school – I didn't know who he was, where he was from, what he wanted from me. Isn't this how horror stories begin? With some guy, who's obsessed with some girl?
"You need time." He said and stepped back, giving me some space. "I don't have much time to give, but I will give you as much time as I can. I want to make this easy on you – I want you to trust me."
"You just…waltz in here," I grumbled. "and I don't even know who you are! You just walk into my life last night, and talk about life and death, and that you have this huge thing you need to tell me, but you've yet to tell me what-"
"Raina!" He interrupted sharply. "I would love to tell you exactly what, but I can't here. I'd need you to trust me, let me take you somewhere…It won't be for the whole night, but it might take a while. You just have to tell your sister, and I can tell you."
"How do I know that I can trust you?" I asked, but I knew I would. There was something there in him…something that put me completely at ease. Despite the fact that he was a stranger and he was in my house, watching me trying to make a decision, I felt almost a connection. I hated it. He could be a rapist, my brain yelled at me. He could just be waiting to get you alone! I took a step forward, closing some of the space between us, and I could feel his warmth. Everything was happening so fast.
"Maybe I'll wait." I said before he could answer. "Just go."
"Okay, Raina." He said quietly, and he looked at me. His eyes grabbed my gaze and I found that I couldn't look away. He stepped even closer and put a hand on the back of my head. I felt slightly panicked, but breathless. I wanted to fight him; I wanted to pull away before he did what I knew he was about to do, but I couldn't because deep down, I wanted it to. It was just lust, I know. But, when a model wants to kiss you, who am I to say no?
When his lips met mine, I was surprised. There was a rough, passionate edge to the kiss, and his lips were soft. My arms stayed by my sides, and my brain shut down completely. I couldn't think anymore – I could just feel warmth spread through my body, and my heart sped up. I was breathless when he pulled away, just as quickly as he had started it. The kiss itself had been short and chaste.
"Goodbye, Raina." He said, his voice deepened and husky. "I'll be over tomorrow at eleven a.m. Expect to be gone for the rest of the day."
And with that, he left me standing there, shocked and staring after him. I had just gotten kissed by a complete stranger – a stalker even. I took a deep shaky breath, and looked down the hallway. I jumped; my sister was standing there, gawking at me. I hadn't expected her to be there.
"Oh my god, Raina!" She said.
"Um," I muttered. "How long have you been there?"
"Long enough." She told me, and her face looked serious. "You're going out with him tomorrow too?"
"Maybe." I said cautiously, wondering how long 'long enough' really was.
"Oh my god; Oh my god!" She repeated. She jumped up and down with a huge grin. "You totally have to go! He's so hot, and you so need a rich boyfriend right now. Look!" She pointed at my pocket. I looked down, and saw that somehow, during all that had happened, he had stuck the two hundred dollars in my pocket. I grabbed the cash, and started counting to see if my estimate was right.
"Raina, he was so hot! And cute, and sweet, and rich."
"Melanie!" I scolded. "Stop it, you don't even know what's going on."
"Uh, do we really need details? I mean, hello? He's hot and rich and sweet. He took us all out to dinner and he's funny too. What more do you really need? You deserve a great guy." She sounded so sure of herself. I sighed. Two hundred and sixty dollars is what I was holding in my hand. I gave her sixty.
"You can go out tomorrow." I told her. "But you have to call grandma and let her watch Alex."
"Oh my god!" She screeched again. I winced at her high pitched squeal. "Oh my god, I can't wait. I'm going to call Brandon right now, and I have to call Kathy! Oh, and Charlie and Jacob, and Nicole!"
"That's a lot of people to call. You better call Grandma first thing tomorrow, though. You know she'll take him, but you'll have to call her early."
"I'm going to get up at seven!" She stated proudly. "She's always up by six, right?"
"Yes." I agreed, not really knowing. "But you better go to bed soon."
She walked off, ignoring my warning, and I sighed again. I folded the money and put it into my pocket again as I walked down the hallway to my room. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, and I was exhausted (as well as slightly excited). I laid down in my big bed, and curled up underneath my dark blue covers. As I laid there, letting throughts run through my mind, I remembered that I had been so distracted and so caught up in this Kander guy, I had forgetten to check my cell phone at all today. I reached into my pocket and pulled it out, and flipped it open.
Five New Text Messages
"Oh Jesus." I muttered. I opened them to read them, and got two forwards and a message from Karen (How r u?), and two from Paul (Hey do u wnt to go out 2day? And I gues not. Call me). I felt a streak of guilt run through me. Paul had been trying to hang out with me for weeks now, and I had been too busy. Finally, today when I had a day off from everything, I spent the day with some stranger that stalked me. I would call him tomorrow, I thought before I started to drift off to sleep.
I woke up the next morning to my phone ringing. The annoying song blasted through my dreams and cut into my sleep. I jumped up and grabbed it, answering it before I could see who it was.
"What do you want?" I growled, my voice still adjusting to the morning.
"Hello to you too miss cranky!" I heard my sister's cheery voice greet me. "I just wanted to call and tell you that grandma already picked up Alex, and I left like…two hours ago. But you were asleep and I didn't want to wake you up. But I figured you'd be awake by now because you have that date in like fifteen minutes."
"Fifteen minutes?" I nearly yelped, jumping out the bed, adrenaline pumping through my body. I hadn't gotten undressed last night, but I should at least but on a different shirt and I still had to find some shoes, brush my teeth, and my hair was a complete mess. I threw off my shirt while still on the phone, barely listening to my sister go on about what mall she was going to and the stores she wanted to visit while she was there. I threw on a checkered purple shirt, and put my phone on speaker as she babbled on and on about the movies.
"Okay." I said loudly. "Okay, Melanie I need to go."
"Alright. Don't have any babies!" She giggled, and I heard a male voice giggle in the background as well. I ignored it, and shut my phone off. Running to the bathroom, I threw open a drawer and grabbed a brush. While attempting to brush my hair with one hand, I turned on the faucet and grabbed my cute little toothbrush.
With the toothbrush in my mouth, and my hands trying to flatten my hair, I heard a knock on the door.
Finally finishing up, I ran to the door and threw it open.
"You're early!" I accused the model, and he looked directly into my eyes and smiled, making me forget everything that had happened already. I felt like melting into a big liquid puddle of me.
"I am." He calmly agreed. Today, he was wearing jeans that looked like they had to have cost him over two hundred dollars, and a t-shirt that, though semi-loose fitting on him, showed off his obvious muscles. It was a light baby blue t-shirt with an abstract design on the front. It brought out his eyes even more than they already were. I felt my breath catch.
"And you," He smiled. "aren't even ready to go anywhere."
"I am too." I argued. Had I already forgotten that he had been stalking me? My brain was screaming at me, but my hormones were raging a pretty good war. The door was still open, and the sun poured into the room, highlighting the fact that I had a huge lack of furniture. I felt embarrassed all over. It smelled beautiful outside – someone had just mowed their lawn, and you could smell the grass. I could hear the birds singing. It was a storybook beautiful day, and I was going out with my stalker.
What the heck.
"You aren't wearing shoes." He commented, glancing down briefly. I looked down as well, and sure enough, my feet were bare. I glared at him, and put on the purple flip flops that were near the door after kicking away the brown ones.
"I am too." I said finally, and he smiled at me again, holding his hand out.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"I'm trying to hold your hand." He said matter-of-factly. "I kissed you yesterday, if you remember."
I blushed, but I'm not sure why. I'd been kissed before. It wasn't that big of a deal…maybe. I hated that he had that effect on me although I had only spent one day with him, and because he was a potential stalker, my mind reminded me. Stalker, stalker, stalker, stalker, and here I am acting like he's my boyfriend. I quickly corrected my arm which had, of it's own accord, started to move towards his hand.
"I'm not here to be your doting little girlfriend." I growled at him. He looked startled at my change of pace. "I'm only here because you threatened my siblings' lives."
"I didn't threaten anyone!" He defended. "I'm trying to help you, Raina. I'm hoping they won't get involved, but—"
"Involved in what, exactly?" I demanded. He sighed.
"We'll get to that. Come on, Raina. Let's go."
He grabbed my hand, and to my surprise, I didn't protest, but rather melt into the feeling of his warm, protective hand over mine. I followed him without a fight down the sidewalk when I noticed something peculiar. It sent chills down my spine when I looked at him, and his expression became softer.
"Where's your car?" I asked.
"I didn't bring it."
"You didn't bring it? What did you do? Walk here?" I snapped. He smiled at me.
"This is part of what I want you to see. It might…make things real for you. I'll explain after it happens. I just want to warn you first."
"Warn me?"
"Yeah, I don't want you to be too shocked when everything around us changes. I'm taking you to my house. Right now."
"How do you plan on doing…" I trailed off.
What happened next, I'm not sure I have the words to explain.
The houses around me in my neighborhood melted. The sun dulled and the grass blurred. The cars around the neighborhood melted as well, and soon everything blurred together creating this huge brown mess. The smell of freshly cut grass faded into a musky, masculine smell, and although nothing made much sense, things began to take shape. The birds that had once been in the background abruptly disappeared and transformed into silence. From this big brown mess that smelled exactly like Kander, formed the shape of a couch, some chairs, and entertainment center, four walls, and a roof. The soft grass that had been under my feet became a harder, carpeted floor.
Finally, things came into focus. The couch and chairs were sophisticated and black, chairs on the opposite sides of the room, and the couch in the middle of the wall. A hallway led from the room and connected to several other rooms, eventually ending in what looked like a door to a large closet. Across the room from the couch was a massive television, standing on a dark wooden entertainment center, highly contrasting from the bright white walls. Next to the entertainment center were shelves of books and movies. On the walls, paintings came into sight; beautiful, abstract things. There was a large window, with the blue and red striped curtains drawn. Everything took place within a second.
I gasped, and fell to my knees, my breath taken from my lungs.
"Raina," Kander said quickly, with concern. I felt his arm around me, and I sat back on the floor.
"What…" I had no words. I looked around, and felt the blood drain from my face. "I don't…what…?"
"Raina, listen to me before you freak out, okay? Please!" I heard him say. I could still feel his arm around me, and I felt myself hyperventilating. My chest hurt and I couldn't grasp quite what had happened. There was no way this was physically possible. Suddenly, his arm around me seemed suffocating. I wanted to be as far away from him as possible. He wasn't human. He wasn't real. This was all wrong – something was really wrong with this whole situation.
"Get away from me." I nearly screamed. "Go! Go!"
He let go of me, and let me drink in more of my surroundings. I recognized a softly playing song in the background and looked around for the radio. It was sitting beside the television, on a small end table. The carpet was a blue that matched the drapes, and the room was lit up by a ceiling fan light that rested smack dab in the middle of the room's ceiling. What looked like the kitchen was attached to the living room that I was in, and a beautiful dining room table sat atop the black and white checkered tile. It was beautiful, really. A small chandelier hung above the table, and the chairs had royal looking cushions on them. I took a deep, slow breath.
It looked like a normal, well decorated home. Not scary…not scary. I ignored my brain as it screamed I told you so! I told you so! This guy is a freak!
"Raina," He said softly. "I don't want to throw you into shock again. But there's so much more than just this. This is just a small portion of what I can do."
I looked at him, suddenly frightened. What was he going to do to me?
"No, no…" He muttered, and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not going to hurt you, Raina. I lo—I'm here to protect you."
"What are you?" I whispered.