The Stalker

The Lagos nightlife was as it has always been. Busy and buzzing with activities from every corner. But on this particular night, it felt different; everywhere seemed quiet, which was weird.

This wasn't the first time Ada was heading home late from work. Dressed in her red dress and tiny heeled shoes. She knew how busy the streets always were, but something about that night felt off to her. She was scared to her bones, especially now that she was getting a series of texts from unknown numbers recently.

She felt cold shivers run down her spine. Gradually, she quickened her pace, steadily looking over her shoulders. But no matter how fast she walked to see if she could meet up with people on the street, it still felt quiet and lonely.

"I'm never going to work late again" she mumbled, her breath rising.

She got to the gate that led into her apartment and there it was parked again. The same silver sedan that parks outside her building every night. Several times, she had asked questions from her neighbours if they had visitors visiting them with such a car, but nobody agreed to know about the car or its owner.

It felt creepy, she had even called estate security. But before they could arrive the car must have driven off. She was being watched, stalked and she knew it, she felt it, and she was sure it was her rival at work, Mathew, who was playing his dirty tricks to get her scared and make her back out of the current promotion going on in the organisation.

She quickly got into her house and made sure to lock up all her doors. Then she fell into her bed, exhausted from work when the weird text came again., she checked and it read.

"You looked beautiful in that red dress"

She quickly got up from the bed and walked to the window. She looked out for the silver parked sedan but it was gone.

Scared, she picked up her phone and called her friend Ellie. She wasn't going to sleep alone in her house that night.

"Hey girl," Ellie's voice echoed from the other end of the phone.

"I'm scared Ellie. The text came again and this time it mentioned the exact colour of dress I had on today"

"What?" Ellie asked.

"Ellie, I'm not going crazy. Someone is watching me, and I'm sure it's Mathew," she cried, terrified to the bones.

"Okay, hold on, I'm coming to get you. Lock up your doors and don't open up to anyone but me okay?" Ellie said, then she hung up the phone.

Ada sat there in her room in the dark, fidgeting at any little sound. She couldn't be herself to even shut her eyes and take a nap, although her eyes craved rest.

Sooner, there was a knock at the door and she froze to her bones. She picked up a bat at the edge of her yard and walked to the door.

"Who's there?" She asked in a scared tiny voice.

"Open up, girl, it's me, Ellie,", the voice replied.

She quickly unlocked her door to let Ellie in. She paced around her room, explaining to Ellie all that happened on her way home plus the silver sedan. Ellie, on her part, did all she could to calm her down. But the more she tried, the more Ada got scared, the more.

"Alright, you're not sleeping here. Grab your bags, you're coming with me to my house," Ellie offered when she noticed she couldn't get her friend to calm down.

Without arguing, Ada packed her bags and locked her doors. She wasn't going to risk sleeping alone at home with all that has been going on around her.

The drive to Ellie's house was a quiet one. Ada sat there looking out the window, wondering why someone would have to go to such lengths to get a promotion at the office. She was also disappointed with the police and her boss for not believing her when she reported to them that she was being followed.

They had called it a bluff after a series of investigations, stating that Mathew was innocent and that she was exaggerating. Mathew had even gone to the length of getting a restraining order from the police to restrain her from telling people that he was harassing her. He threatened to sue the next time she did such.

Because of that, Ada had kept all that she had been going through to herself. But with the reassurance that night, she couldn't take it anymore. She was going to confront Mathew and face the consequences of a lawsuit later.

Just a few blocks from Ellie's house, her phone rang. Scared it might be the unknown number again. She checked but the caller ID read 'Estate security'. Reluctantly she picked

"Hello" she answered

"Hello, ma'am; sorry to call by this time of the night. We've caught your stalker with the silver sedan trying to escape the estate this night. We would like you to come to our office"

"Okay, I'll be there", she replied. Her eyes lit up, she tapped her friend Ellie "Turn back to the estate, they've caught the stalker"

Quickly, Ellie swerved into the next street, and they were on their way back to Ada's estate.

Ada held her breath throughout the drive back to the estate. She couldn't wait to see who it was that had been stalking her. She was sure it was Mathew. They drove into the estate and got to the estate security office. They got down, and Ada quickly walked into the office, angry and yelling at the top of her voice, demanding to see who it was.

Finally, she was taken to the detention room and was shocked by who she saw as her stalker. It was David, his ex-boyfriend.

"I can't believe it. David?" She asked surprised. To the estate security officer, she asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yes ma'am. We caught him trying to escape through the back gate"

Ada pulled a seat and sat down. She was speechless for minutes, just staring at David and muttering some audible words. She couldn't believe it.

Her relationship with David had started beautifully, with David buying her flowers and being so sweet. Until he started being obsessive. He tried to control her life, who she spoke to, and where she went, and whenever she tried to quit, he would guilt trip her into staying in the relationship with her. It got to a point where David became violent that was when Ada drew the curtains

Which David didn't take too likely. He showed up several times at her house and office. Sometimes, causing a scene. She never knew he would get to the level of stalking her.

"David, tell me they're lying?" She asked.

"I wish I could but they're not," David replied without any atom of remorse in his voice.

"Why?" She asked, sitting up. At the same time angry at herself for accusing Mathew wrongly.

"Did you just ask me that? You think you can just wake up one day to tell me you're done with the relationship. Look Ada if I can't have you no one else will"

She stood up and walked closer to David "It's been one year since we broke up. If you can't deal with that then it's your cup of tea." She raged and stormed out of the room.

David was later handed to the police, who charged him in court for stalking Ada.

Ada, on the other hand, apologised to Mathew for accusing him of stalking her. She eventually pulled out from the race for the promotion and took a leave so she could go on a vacation and clear her head.

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