It was a hot afternoon, the sun was hot enough to boil a good pot of water and her throat was so dry she needed a cold soda, she turned and waved goodbye to her best friend Jade who was still sitting in their school bus, she had just gotten dropped off at her front gate by her school bus driver, it was her father’s bright idea to make Nancy ride the bus to and from school everyday as he didn’t want her engaged in any extra-curricula activities after school, she was to come straight home everyday. Nancy had been fine with the idea of riding the bus because it saved her the stress of walking.

At exactly 3:45pm her school would close for the day, by 4:00pm she was already seated in her school bus, at about 4:45pm she would have gotten to her house, her school was not very far from where they lived but her dad made her take the bus anyways.

It was exactly 4:49pm when she looked at her watch before opening her front gate, she turned right and noticed a white Camry car parked just down the street, that was not the first time she was seeing that exact car parked in that same spot in the afternoon she observed that the car was never there in the morning time when she went out to school but by the time she got back it would be parked right there, she thought it was odd because she knew everybody on that street, they were all friendly neighbors and no one she knew drove that particular car so she found it odd but didn’t pay much attention to it anymore as she shut the front gate behind her and headed up the stairs.

*****

Nancy had not eaten anything all day and she could hear her stomach growl loudly in class making it twice as difficult to focus on Mr.Shola’s banter about demand and supply, Economics was not really one of her favorite subjects, in fact she almost fell asleep every time Mr. Shola opened his mouth to talk and today she was very close to standing up and walking out of the class in search of food but she managed to keep her calm until she heard the school bell ring (“saved by the bell” she whispered to herself). She got up and headed out of the class to their schools kiosk to get a bottle of coke, she decided to drink just that as she planned on diving into the jollof rice her mum had made earlier this morning, she didn’t have time to grab a bite because her school bus had come too early and she had to rush out without eating.

*****

She flashed a huge smile as her school bus driver pulled up in front of her house, finally she was home! And early too it was only 4:35pm she stepped down and headed straight to her front gate when she heard a car driving towards her, it was the white Camry, and there was a man inside behind the wheel she couldn’t recognize him so she froze and watched the car pull up in front of her and she watched a dark-skinned bald-headed man probably in his late 20’s wearing a ripped black Jean and a plain black polo shirt starting to walk towards her and that frightened her so she hurried for her front gate, opened it and ran inside to slam the gate behind her but she couldn’t because he was already there in front of her. She stared in shock and he said

“Don’t be scared, my name is Bidemi I live in this estate too I have been noticing you for a while now and I must say you are very beautiful I don’t mean to frighten you, I just want to get to know you and I would like you to be my girlfriend” he pronounced with a wide grin across his face.

She was utterly amazed! And confused at the same time.. who is this strange man, he is too old, he is probably almost thirty, does he know I’m in high school and I’m just sixteen years old, why would I be his girlfriend, I’m sure he must be drunk or crazy or just pulling my legs or maybe he has me mistaken for someone else…. it took her almost a full minute to process her thoughts before she replied.

“I’m sorry I think you have me mistaken for someone else, I’m not who you think I am and I don’t know you, sorry I have to go now”… she replied swiftly whilst trying to maintain her composure.

“No! He proclaimed almost loudly… it’s you I want, I want you to be mine … I am falling in love with you… can’t you see I am here for you everyday!”… he added with a straight face which sent chills running down Nancy’s spine…. what did he just say? Ok I am now convinced he is mad she thought to herself but said “I’m sorry please leave me alone I am not interested!” and with that she pushed the gate beside him and shut it which only made him angry and he banged on the gate loudly yelling “open the gate, I am not done talking to you” and with that she bolted upstairs and locked the door behind her entering the comfort of her room luckily there was no one at home so she didn’t have to explain the scenario she just jumped on her bed and closed her eyes hoping that she never sees him again; she was scared of him and she had lost all her appetite for food, she lay there mute until she fell asleep.

The next day she was still in shock and terrified of stepping out of the house to go to school even so she faked to her mum that she was feeling feverish and had a mild headache and needed to rest at home, her mum never liked her falling sick so she was on board with the idea of letting her stay at home and so was her dad. She stayed in her room all morning while they both went to work respectively, she was the only child so she ended up home alone which used to be perfect for her but today she was uneasy and desperately wished she had company probably a muscular police officer as company… yea that would do! She decided to turn on the TV to get her mind of things which worked for about two hours until she realized she was hungry and it was afternoon already, she thought about making a toasted sandwich for lunch so she went to the kitchen to make herself one only to find out that they were out of bread and she already had a craving so she decided to just run downstairs; opposite her house there was a bakery and their bread was usually fresh so she thought to just run down and get some and be right back.

She was still wearing pajamas but she really didn’t care as she was just going across the road. She stepped out of her front gate and walked down and as she was just about to cross to the other side of the road she turned and to her amazement there it was again…. the white Camry was parked in the same spot she was petrified and she instantly regretted craving bread and started to walk back to her front gate but it was already too late! He had seen and hurriedly stepped out of the car and ran towards her which made her run also instinctively to her gate, she opened the gate and locked it beside her… at least she thought she did because the adrenaline rushing through her brain made her pay less attention to actually locking the gate and as she ran up the stairs she heard the gate slam open behind her and just before she could get to the top of the staircase he was already behind her panting loudly.

“Just stop!” He yelled
But she didn’t stop, instead she ran up the stairs but wasn’t fast enough and he caught up to her and held her leg.

“If you try to move any further I will throw you down these stairs” he yelled. Fear trickled down her spine and she stopped herself from moving.

“Please don’t she said … please go away … my parents are at home I wouldn’t want them to see you it would get me in trouble”… Nancy begged.

“Don’t you dare lie to me… he replied … I know your dad left the house at exactly 7:15am and your mum also left at 8:30am they went to work and I know you don’t have any siblings or maid so you are very much alone right now” he added.

Nancy was frightened on how he know so much about her and the truth also, how did he know she was alone and the exact time her parents had gone to work? He must have been monitoring her house all day!!! No not all day who knows how long he has been monitoring her for him to get his facts right. She could almost feel herself shaking in fear she replied

“How do you know that? What do you want? Please leave me alone … she said but it fell on deaf ears as he went silent and lifted her with his bare hands and carried her inside the house

“Stop!” she yelled … put me down! Leave me alone! Go away! She yelled all at once in anger till he threw her down to the carpet floor of their living room and climbed on top of her.

“What are you doing?” She yelled… “get off me please” she repeated twice but this time she was begging with almost a tear down her eyes… “Please don’t touch me I’m a virgin”, she added

“Even better.. he replied her I want you be be my girlfriend and I will force you to be since I asked you nicely and you refused.

“Please don’t rape me!” She begged as she starting sobbing profusely which made him uncomfortable.

“I don’t want you to cry he said I just want you to love me if you agree to be my girlfriend and give my your contact details so I can call you I will get off you right now.”, he said

Nancy was scared out of her mind because she was so vulnerable lying down on the floor with this twenty -something year old man directly on top of her and there was nobody in the house to rescue her, what if he rapes her? She would be helpless she just needed him to leave so she could lock her doors and call the police so she replied

“Yes I will be your girlfriend and you can have my number, where is your phone let me type it in?”

And with that he got up from on top of her having pinned her down with his hands, he reached for his back pocket and took out his phone and handed it to her.

Her hands where shaking as she collected the phone and typed her number before handing it back to him.
“See that wasn’t so hard Nancy!”…he said

Omg he knew her name! Who was this guy?

“I will leave you now but I will call you later at night, Nancy”! He added before turning and walking out the door.

As soon as he did she hurriedly locked the door behind him and called her mum at work and explained everything to her, in a few hours both her mum and her dad where back home accompanied with armed policemen they were about five of them and one was a female, they took Nancy into her room to ask her questions, she didn’t hold anything back, she gave the exact description of the strange man, told them his name was Bidemi and he drove a white Camry, she consciously remembered the last three digits of his car plate number from seeing the car almost everyday and told the policemen that as well.

Nancy vowed not to come out of her house until she had been informed of his arrest which was not up to a week because it was easy for him to be caught as she was not the only victim of this stalker… he had terrorized two other girls in the estate and the news spread so fast when the police started asking questions around and the other victims had come forward with their own story only that theirs was more unfortunate as he had raped the other two girls on different occasions and threatened to murder them if they told anybody, it was not until the girls heard he was wanted that they were able to open up. Nancy thought to herself how lucky she was to not have been raped … was it mere luck or the grace of God? She never understood but was grateful and even more so that he was caught and put behind bars for a long long time.

Nancy never liked the idea of riding the bus everyday but she was grateful for the safety and the fact that she didn’t have to walk on the streets everyday and meet these weirdos.


source; http://tushmagazine.com.ng/stalker-fiction-story-stephneybass/

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