“Don’t you think it’s scary?”, my friend Jamie inquired, “You live in the middle of God-knows where, and not to mention - cause’ I’m sure you know - you can’t see Steph!”, she exclaimed.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, alright”, I continued in amusement,”for someone who lives just a couple acres away, you sure do have a lot to say!”, I said, laughing through the phone.

“Whatever! You know how Greg likes it so much out here in the ‘open wilderness, clean air, and secluded serenity’ LOL” Jamie cackled at her own horrible impression of her husband. “I’m just glad he’s on vacation so I can get away from all the ‘nature is God’s gift’ spiels”.

“Alright, anyway Jamie, cut the crap and come over, I’m making our favorite tonight…” I paused dramatically, “brussel sprouts and baked chicken! Mmmmmm!”, I jokingly exclaimed.

“You better be joking, I’m expecting a cheese pizza on the counter waiting for me by the time I get there.” Jamie said with a hint of anger.

“We’ll see”, I said as I put the cheese pizza in the oven. “Where are you at anyway?”, I questioned.

“I’m taking the trail. I’m right around the corn-”, her words came to a halt.

A rustling sound rang clear through the phone, almost as if she had gotten into a car accident. I frantically paced around the kitchen. The roads were never busy, especially around this time of night. The strange noise being emitted from the phone stopped abruptly, my fingers grasped the slickness of my phone tightly.

“Jamie?! Jamie, can you hear me?”, I scream panickedly.

“Hello?”, a man’s voice answered. His voice lacked any great familiarity, but a twinge in 

his words reminded me of someone I knew- or know…-

“Hello? Hello Ma’am?”, the man had broken my intense train of thought.

“I’m sorry, who is this? Is my friend ok? Is she dead? No she’s not dead. Where are you at?”, a smorgasbord of questions had spewed from my mouth in an attempt to find out what was happening.

“Please calm down Ma’am, everything will be alright. I’m gonna’ need you to help me, ok?”, the man calm and collectively asked of me.

“Of course!”, I exclaimed, eager to help my best friend.

“Now tell me, what is your friend’s name, and where does she live?”, he asked.

“Her name is Jamie Ramirez, and she lives in 2509 Oak Creek, exactly five minutes away from my home.”, I spoke frantically.

“ Okay, thank you. Now does she live with anyone in her home; a brother, sister, mom, dad, husband-”, I cut him off.

“Yes! She has a husband, but he’s not here at the moment. He’s gone away on vacation.”

“And you Ms.? Is there anyone who lives with you?” he inquired.

“Umm, no. Well, excluding my caregiver that comes to check up on me every Thursday.”

“Mhhmm”, he hummed, “alright Ms., I do appreciate it.”, he commended me. “Just one more question, where do you live?”, he asked.

“No problem officer! I live at 3908 Cape Fe-”, a muffled scream had broken it’s way in to our conversation. “What wa- was that?”, I questioned, frenzied.

“Oh nothing Ms….”, he paused for me to fill in my name, but I was slowly decreasing in haste towards helping the officer. 

“ I have a question for you officer”, I brashly interrupted him, “What station do you work for? And how did you show up to the scene so quickly, considering the closest police station in our area is 45 minutes away?”

The receiving line had come to a pause. The pause possessed a tangible characteristic that could be thrown around a room, stepped on, and repeated twice.

“Hello Stephanie.”, the words swept through the telephone, into my ears, down my throat, and into my spine, sending a violent shiver fluidly through me. My name oozed from his mouth in the way that old high school buddies at a class reunion would confront each other: a tone set in familiarity. The voice on the other end had flipped into a colluded growl. “I’ve been waiting. I’m coming. I’m coming baby, and you’ll never see it coming”.

I hung up the phone. I could physically feel the color in my face leave my body. I attempted to run to the home phone up stairs, tripping and falling in the process. I rely on my hearing and touch to lead me in my everyday life, but in this situation, all of my senses had flew out the window, nowhere to be found. Once upstairs, I felt around vigorously for the phone; as soon as my fingertips came in contact with the large silicon buttons that sat upon the bulky telephone, I picked it up and began to dial 911.

“911, what’s your emer-”, the power had went off.

I could hear the front door creak open downstairs. He’s coming.