You had known how much he liked to stalk you. Your lonely, isolated house on the field, sprinkled with pine trees that overlooked the river. You don’t know why he chose to stalk you, out of anyone. Maybe it’s because there was no one else around to catch him in his act. You didn’t care about the situation at first. But as time dragged on, things started to get worse.

You saw him standing in your garden, looking up at you through the bay window. Often times when you were trying to sleep, you heard glass breaking downstairs, and all the time, you’d have to hide out in your attic until dawn arrived. It was unbearable, so you decided to do something.

You decided to take your death. You lived in an isolated space, yes, but you still had family and friends living in urban areas. Days after you fled, news spread. ‘Young woman living by herself died due to drowning.’ People mourned, even the stalker did, for a while.

But things changed, you snuck back into your house, and you never heard the breaking of glass, or the stalker’s desperate attempt at trying to spy on you. It was peaceful, until one night.

You couldn’t sleep. You went downstairs, the time was around 2am, to the kitchen, to get a glass of ice water. It was refreshing, but it also made you tired. There was a lot on your mind. “Is my family alright? Is that creepy guy still stealing me? What am I doing, faking my death to get away from things…”.

You opened the freezer, eyes tracking the door as it swung to the side. Then out of the corner of your eye. You saw him. The stalker, or as social media called him, ‘The Knocker’. You were slightly surprised, at first. Then you looked at him. Properly. He looked bored, tired, restless. You knew he was a stalker, and he probably wasn’t human, but you felt empathy for him. So you decided to ask him what was wrong. He looked up, slightly surprised, and mostly confused. His question started with your name, you weren’t surprised though, Hes a stalker, after all.

“Ruby? I- I thought you were… dead…”

It made sense to you. He had been miserable since he thought you were dead.