Have you ever had that feeling that you’re being watched? That someone’s stalking you, watching your every move? Well, I have, and being stalked wasn’t even the worst part of it. What if this stalker knew something you didn’t? Or, what if this stalker knew something you didn’t want to know? It all started on the morning of my sixteenth birthday . . .
I walked downstairs, happier than usually on that Saturday morning. The sweet aroma of pancakes and syrup filled the air as I entered the kitchen.
“Hey, honey,” my Mom chirped as she noticed me walking into the room, “Happy birthday!”
I smiled as I took a seat at the kitchen table, “Thanks.”
“I’ve got a surprise for you,” Mom said, in a sing-song voice.
“Really? What is it?”
My Mom just smiled as she placed a plate full of pancakes and bacon on the table in front of me. I looked up at her quizzically.
“You got me pancakes and bacon?”
Mom shook her head and laughed, “No, silly. Take a closer look.”
I stared down at my plate, examining it closely. At first I didn’t notice anything different, but then as I looked closer, I could see a small piece of blue paper sticking out from under my plate. Slowly but surely, I pulled it out. My eyes widened in excitement as I realized what it was. In my hand I held three first class plane tickets to Hawaii.
“No way!” I exclaimed as I jumped out of my chair, gripping the tickets in my hand, “Are you kidding me?”
My mom smiled widely, “Nope, I’m not kidding. We’re leaving in two days. I know it’s always been your dream to go there. I’ve actually had these tickets in advance for a long while, but,” Mom’s voice softened a little as she continued to speak, “ever since your dad passed away last year, I just never had it in me to go anywhere . . . “ her voice trailed off.
I frowned slightly at the mention of my father. Mom and I never really liked bringing him up; it was just too painful; even though it had been over year since he got sick and passed away.
“So anyway,” Mom began again, awakening me from my thoughts, “I thought you’d might want to use the third ticket to invite one of your friends to come along.”
I smiled, “Really?”
She smiled and nodded.
I quickly ran over to her, almost knocking her over as I hugged her tightly, “Thank you! This is the best birthday present ever!”
***
As soon as breakfast was over, I quickly ran upstairs to my room to call my best friend, Jessie and tell her the news.
“Hey girl,” I spoke into the phone.
“Hey, Megan,” Jessie answered, “happy sweet sixteen!”
I laughed, “Thanks. Oh, guess what! You won’t believe what my mom got for me.”
“What?”
“She bought us first class tickets to Hawaii!”
“Wow! You’re so lucky, I wish I could go,” Jessie whined.
“Well guess what else. You can go, my mom said I could invite any friend I wanted, so I chose you, of course.”
Jessie’s high pitched scream rang through the receiver. “Oh my gosh! Are you serious?!”
I laughed, “Yep, I’m dead serious. We’re leaving in two days.”
“Wait a minute, I can’t go. I don’t have enough money to buy a ticket.”
“No, no, it’s okay; you don’t have to pay anything. My mom’s already bought all three tickets.”
Another high pitch scream rang into my eardrum.
I laughed again, “Hey, I got to go, okay? Oh by the way, tomorrow my mom’s taking us shopping to buy clothes for the trip tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Jessie said, “I’ll see you then. Bye.”
“Bye,” I said before I hung up the phone.
Not even a second later, my phone started ringing. Thinking it was Jessie calling again, I quickly answered it.
“Hello?”
No answer.
“Hello?” I asked again, louder this time.
A chill ran down my spine as I heard low, deep breathing coming through the receiver.
“W-who is this?” I asked, nervously.
The breathing continued until finally, someone answered.
“Don’t go,” the scratchy voice of a male spoke, his voice barely above a whisper.
Before I could even respond though, the phone line then went dead as the man hung up.
That was weird, I thought to myself, wondering who that was.
I shook my head. Maybe he had the wrong number.
I then walked over to the other side of my bed to grab my suitcase; I wanted to start packing early for the big trip. But just then, something caught my eye. I slowly turned my head to the side and peered out my bedroom window. Another icy chill ran down my spine as my eyes met with a mysterious, dark figure, standing just outside my yard. The figure was dressed all in black; a long black trench coat, black boots, and a black hat that covered the person’s face almost completely. It took me a moment to realize that this person was a male. My heart then skipped a beat when I noticed something the man had in his hand; a cell phone. I gulped.
Could this be that man that just called me? I wondered nervously. No, no, it must just be a coincidence. Yeah that’s what it is, just a-
My thoughts were interrupted when I then took my attention back towards the window. I gasped slightly; the mysterious man was gone . . .
***
The next day, my Mom took Jessie and me to the mall just as planned. I decided not to tell either of them about the creepy phone call or the man outside my window from yesterday; I didn’t want them to be worried. Odds were it was probably just pure coincidence. I wasn’t about to let one creepy old guy ruin my vacation for me; the vacation I’ve been dreaming about for years.
After trying on some new bathing suits and bikinis for the trip, I stepped out of the dressing room to go pay for my stuff and find Mom and Jessie. With all the different clothes and bathing suits in my arms, it was kind of hard to see where I was going, and being the klutz I usually am, I was wasn’t too surprised when I accidently bumped into someone, causing me drop all of the clothes onto the floor.
“I’m so sorry,” I apologized politely while picking up my things. But when I stood back up, my eyes widened with fear at the sight of the person towering over me.
It was the same exact man I saw yesterday. He was still wearing the same all black outfit from the last time I saw him; black coat, boots, and hat. But as the man slowly lifted his head, I was finally able to see his face. He looked pretty old, around in his sixties or so. His face was extremely pale. He had a long chin and slightly long nose too. And across his left cheek was a long, faded scar. He looked like he came straight out of a horror movie. A small smile slowly spread across his face; but the smile was anything but friendly. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up as he stared at me with his gray, stern eyes.
“Wh-who are you?” I finally managed to ask after a long moment of eerie silence. “And why have you been stalking me?”
The old man just smiled wider.
“Stalking?” he asked, his voice was scratchy but deep. “Who said anything about stalking you? I’ve just came here to warn you.”
“W-warn me? Of what? Creepy stalker guys like you?” I asked as bravely as I could, hoping that he wouldn’t sense the fear in my voice.
His grin disappeared as he leaned in closer to me. I could feel his hot breath as he whispered into my ear, “Don’t go on that trip tomorrow.”
My eyes widened in shock, “W-what? . . . How did you . . . ?”
Before I could even finish my question, the man leaned back, towering over me once more as he answered, “Just don’t go.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Whatever. Get away from me before I call the police,” I warned as I pushed my way past him.
As I walked away, I could hear him chuckle quietly to himself as he called out, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”
***
I woke up early the next morning, full of excitement. Today was the day of the big trip to Hawaii; the trip I’ve been waiting for my whole life.
As we got to the airport though, my excitement soon wore off. I couldn’t get those guy’s words out of my head. What did he mean by, ‘don’t go’?
“Hey Megan. Megan! Are you alright?”
I jumped suddenly as I felt Jessie tap me on the shoulder. I smiled over at her nervously.
“Y-yeah, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Jessie shrugged, “I don’t know. You just look real nervous to me. Are you sure you’re okay?”
I nodded, “Yes, I’m sure. I-I’m just sort of nervous about flying, that’s all.” That wasn’t really a lie. I was truly nervous about flying as well, since I never actually flown on a plane before, but of course that wasn’t the only reason why I was scared.
Jessie smiled at me, “Don’t worry about it. Flying is actually pretty fun; sort of like a rollercoaster ride.”
I nodded, taking a deep breath as I tried to calm myself down as my Mom, Jessie, and I all boarded the plane. I got the window seat as Jessie sat in the middle between me and my Mom.
I shook my head, trying to clear those bad thoughts away. Why was I so freaked out about some old guy? It’s probably nothing, I thought, He’s just some crazy, confused old man who escaped from a mental hospital. That’s all. I shouldn’t let him ruin my vacation.
The plane then suddenly roared to life as it shook gently, and then started speeding its way down the runway. As it finally took off however, the plane started shaking violently. At first I thought it was just the turbulence of the wind. But the shaking continued even more roughly. As I looked out my window, I gasped in horror to see the engine a flamed.
As the violent shaking continued, the oxygen mask suddenly fell from the compartments above. My fingers fumbled with the straps as I quickly managed to pull the mask over my head. I could hear everyone screaming and shouting, including my Mom and Jessie. I was in complete shock as I couldn’t believe what was happening; I didn’t even realize I was screaming myself.
“Please stay calm everyone! Place your mask on! Fasten your seat belt! Brace yourselves!” the flight attendant yelled over the noise.
Just then, the windows started breaking. I watched in horror as one wall of the plane ripped off; sucking helpless passengers into the sky.
Everyone was in total pandemonium as the plane then caught on fire. I braced myself as much as I could. I screamed as the flames engulfed in my face as the plane blew up in fiery flames.
***
I woke up in my bed, screaming. My hair and clothes were wringing wet with cold sweat. I quickly looked around my dark room, making sure everything was still safe and sound. I sighed in relief.
It was only a dream.
I slowly closed my eyes and fell back asleep.
***
The next morning we headed for the airport.
On the plane, everything seemed to be going fine. I had managed to shaken the nightmare away; I was determined to have fun on this trip, and nothing was going to stop me.
As the plane zoomed down the runway I looked out my window. A horrific gasp escaped from my throat as I noticed the strange old stalker man from yesterday, staring right at me from the terminal. A frightening chill ran down my spine as a sadistic smile formed across the man’s face as he slowly raised his hand and waved at me.
“No, no, no, no!” I cried.
“What is it, sweetie?” Mom asked, concerned.
“W-we got to get off of here!” I frantically tried to unbuckle my seat belt as I continued to yell, “Someone please stop the plane! Let me off! Please!”
The flight attendant quickly rushed over to where I was sitting. “Miss, we can’t stop the plane. Now please calm down, you’re scaring the other passengers!” She told me sternly.
“N-no, you don’t understand!” I cried as I tried to get up, “The plane’s going to blow up! Please, listen to me!”
“Megan!” Mom shouted at me, “Sit down right now and stop this!”
I continued to beg and scream and cry as both the flight attendant and my Mom managed to sit me back down in my seat.
“Please just listen to m-!” I started to yell again, but at that moment, the plane took off as it started shaking violently.
“No!” I cried as the plane’s wall was then ripped off, sucking people into the sky.
Everyone began screaming and shouting as the plane suddenly caught on fire. I closed my eyes as I tried to brace myself, but it was no use. I screamed loudly as the hot flames engulfed in my face as the plane then blew up in fiery flames.
Sometimes, dreams really can come true . . .