In a rural home in the south, Kelly Smith, a sixteen-year-old girl, sits alone in her bedroom talking to her friend over the phone and surfing the Internet. The house is silent from her parents being gone to dinner and her bedroom is barely lit from a lamp on the bed-stand behind her. She sits in her pink Hello Kitty pajamas and in her pink tank top, her curly blonde hair flowing to her shoulders.
"He just like, smothers me, you know? Like, he won't stop calling, but like, we broke up like, a week ago and he won't like, leave me alone," Kelly says into her phone. Her friend, Samantha, replies on the other end,
"Did you block his number?"
"Yeah, but he like, his calls keep coming through."
"Are you picking up?"
"No--I always ignore him and mute the phone until he stops calling me."
Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep.
"God, that's probably him."
"I'll stay on the other line if you want me too, Kelly."
"No, it's fine. I'll call you back-just let me talk to him."
She touches the 'end call' button on her phone, then answers the ringing call from her boyfriend on the other end of the line.
"Look, Chad, we're done. Do you understand me? Quit calling me and leave me alone!"
"Hello, Kelly."
"Shut up!"
"How are you, today?"
This voice was not what Kelly found to be the familiar and somewhat soft voice of her boyfriend, Chad. It was deeper and ominous. It was almost frightening to her, though she figured it was a prank from her past boyfriend and future stalker.
"I'm hanging up."
"No, don't, please. I only wish to talk."
She clicks 'end call' and sits her phone down. She stands up, closes her laptop, then walks to her hallway and over to the stairs. She walks downstairs and into the kitchen, where she opens up the microwave and throws in a bag of popcorn from the cabinet.
Behind her are a set of counters, creating a barrier between the kitchen space and the living room. There sits a couch and a television; behind it is a glass door leading out to the garden.
Kelly walks off and back up the stairs to get her cell phone and call her friend back. As she lifts it up, the phone rings and she looks down to see the blocked number profile again. She answers it only to yell, "Leave me alone!" and hang back up.
She calls her friend Samantha back, but before Samantha can pick up, the phone buzzes into her ear. However, she refuses to answer this time. Samantha answers and asks, "How's Chad doing?"
"He won't leave me alone. He's calling right now, actually."
"Well, call the police. That could constitute stalking."
"Chad isn't stalking me."
"Are you sure? He could be in your house right now!" Samantha teases, and starts to laugh.
"That's not funny, Sam."
Then the phone rings again. Another blocked number. Kelly, without warning, hangs up on Samantha and answers the call. "Chad, leave-"
"Do not ignore me, Kelly. You won't want to do that. Now, listen closely-" Kelly hangs up on the blocked number, and throws her phone down.
"I swear, if you don't leave me alone I will call the police," she mutters to herself.
Beeeeeeeeep.
Kelly walks downstairs and into the kitchen to retrieve her bag of popcorn. As she opens it, she walks out and into the living room. She turns the television on and sits on the purple couch. For a few minutes, she sits there watching a movie until the landline on the counter begins to ring.
"Hello? My mom's not here, but-"
"You hung up on me, and I don't appreciate that. I'll be over in a minute, Kelly."
The phone goes dead with a buzzing noise. The voice had hung up on Kelly. She puts the phone down, and looks at the front door on the right wall. She stands up and walks over to the window next to it. There's nothing out there, and so she closes the blinds and backs up. She dashes to her bedroom upstairs and calls Samantha.
"He said he's coming over to settle this, and he sounded kind of angry. Wha-what should I do?"
"Call the cops, Kelly. Unless you don't think he's serious."
"I don't know if he's being serious or not--all I know is that he said he's coming over and I'm worried. My parents won't be home for a while, Sam."
"Do you want me to come over?"
"Please?"
"Fine. I'll be over there in a few minutes."
Kelly hangs up her phone and sits it down onto her bed. She creeps down her stairs and looks over to her sliding glass door. She walks up and looks around for anyone, and finds nothing. In the corner of her eye, she sees a tall figure in a tuxedo with a red carnation on its right side of its chest. It seemed to have a mask on, but she couldn't tell. She turns to the side and it's gone.
She backs up and walks over to the front door, where she peeks through the peephole at the top of the door. Behind her stands (outside of the glass door) the figure in a tuxedo. He has on a 'plain-face' doll mask, with black outlined lips and darkened eyes. In his left hand is a long machete. He tilts his head, and turns around to reveal a thin buzz-cut line of hair colored black. He walks over to the fence and steps over it, and vanishes.
Kelly turns around and walks to the stairwell. She walks up the stairs and enters the bathroom immediately to her left. She walks in and shuts the door, and begins to splash water onto her face.
"You're just being paranoid," she confides in herself.
The man approaches her front door and begins to knock. After the third knock, he walks off to the back glass door and stands there, watching the inside. Kelly walks down the stairs and over to the door, where she peeks outside from the peephole. Nobody is there, of course.
She turns around to see the man just as he vanishes to the other side of the building. All she saw was the tail of the tuxedo, and she begins to panic. She backs up to the front door and stares at the glass door. She looks around and notices her basement door is slightly ajar. She prepares to take flight into the basement if something goes amiss.
And that's when the window beside the door breaks open, and the man's arm holding the machete bursts through and begins swiping at the door.
"I love you, Kelly! Let me inside!"
She screams and backs up. She dashes into the kitchen area and slides open a silverware drawer, where she grabs the sharpest knife she can find. She then walks back inside where she sees the man grabbing onto the front door and unlocking it. She sees the bare mask and instead of running into the basement like she planned, she runs upstairs, grabs her phone, and hides underneath her bed.
She calls up Samantha, and whispers into the phone. "Where are you? He's here and he's trying to kill me!"
"Call the police? I'll be there in like, two minutes! Don't worry!"
She hangs up her phone, and then calls the police. As it rings, the man slices through and breaks down her door to step into her room and begins searching around. She gasps and hangs up the phone, then places it flat onto the floor to avoid any light escaping the underside and giving away her location.
"Kelly, I've been waiting for you for so long. Why don't you love me? I've been waiting. I've been waiting."
He walks up to her bed and sits down, with his legs dangling in front of her face. "I know you're under there. Why won't you talk to me?"
Kelly remains completely silent. She cuts off her breathing, and begins to reach slowly for her knife. She pulls it from her side and reaches out to swipe at his legs. "You won't cooperate with me, even though I just broke into your house? I knew you were stupid."
He stands up and walks to the bedroom entrance. "Kelly?" Samantha calls out into the house, and the man looks out into the stairwell. "You have friends? I wouldn't have expected this. I'll just go answer the door."
Oh god, Samantha's down there!
"Kelly? Are you okay? I called the police and they said they'd be here soon. Are-" Samantha's voice is cut off with a gasp. "Who are you!?"
Downstairs, Samantha backs out of the doorway of broken glass. She gasps at the tall stranger in Kelly's home, who stares at her menacingly while brandishing his machete. He takes a step forward, giggling and mumbling incomprehensible whispers.
Samantha takes off to the street, where she vanishes.
The man shuts the front door, and takes a step over to the stairwell. Instead, he goes around and into the basement.
Kelly, upstairs, leaves her bed and takes the knife with her. She holds it out to her side and walks through the hallway outside. She approaches the stairwell and takes a step down, listening for any sign of life. At this moment, the lights in the house go out. She looks around, trying to adjust to the darkness, and takes another step down.
"He's in the basement," she whispers to herself. She reaches the bottom and walks through the dark house to the basement.
"I love you so much," he says from behind her. He raises his machete and swipes down onto her shoulder. She shrieks, and drops to the floor. He grabs a hold of her leg, and drags her back to the living area. He props her up onto the couch, and giggles.
Crying from both fear and pain, she mutters, "Wh-Why are you doing this, Chad?"
"Take off your shirt."
"An-Answer me!"
"Take off your shirt."
Still crying, she lifts up her shirt to reveal her belly button. At this time, Samantha opens the front door and dashes into the dark house. She races forward and tackles the man, knocking him to the ground. "Sam!" Kelly shrieks, jumping up from the couch.
Samantha reaches for his mask, when he raises his machete and drives it into her rib cage. She screams, and falls to her side. Kelly races to the front door, when she hears the man shout from behind her, "Stop. Right. Now." Kelly turns around to see the man standing over Samantha.
"If you leave, I will kill her. Simple enough, yes?"
Kelly nods and takes a step toward the basement door. "Go into the basement. Turn on the lights. Go on, now."
Kelly opens the door and walks down the stairs. Inside sits a few shelves with toolboxes and old family photos and toys. Some gasoline sits on one shelf, and a fire ax on the floor nearby. She approaches a fuse box at the end of the room and flicks up a switch. The lights come on in the house to reveal Chad holding Samantha near the stairwell. Kelly looks over to her shoulder to check it, and sure enough she's losing a lot of blood. She places her hand over it, and looks over.
"Since you don't love me, dear, I will prove to you that I love you."
He throws Samantha to the bottom, and Kelly races over to lift her up. "It'll all be over soon, Sam, I swear. The cops are coming, right?" Kelly asks. Samantha nods, slowly going out of consciousness. Chad steps down and looks up to them. He throws his machete down and grabs the fire ax.
"I love you, Kelly."
He grabs the gasoline from the shelf and opens up the lid. "Please don't do this, Chad," Kelly pleads. He douses the floor with gasoline, and sprays most of it onto the girls.
Kelly shakes off some of the gasoline and charges. She knocks back her stalker onto the ground. He lifts up the ax and shoves Kelly off of himself. He stands up and raises the ax into the air. Kelly rolls to her side to avoid the blade. Samantha barely manages to stand up near the fuse box. He holds onto it and reaches for the lever.
Chad throws the ax at her. The blade smashes into her back, slamming her into the fuse box. It smashes, crushing two wires inside and releasing sparks. The sparks ignite the gasoline on Samantha, lighting her ablaze. Her body collapses backward, igniting the rest of the gasoline.
Chad lifts up his machete from the ground and forces it into Kelly's back. The flames grow larger, and Chad abandons it to escape. He approaches the top floor, and turns around.
"I love you so much, Kelly. It's too bad we couldn't be together."
However, Kelly, before she can be engulfed in flames, crawls to the stairwell. She climbs her way to the top when Chad is gone, and escapes the burning basement. She crawls to the front door to see Chad walking into the road. She attempts to stand up, reaching for the couch to support herself. She screams and yanks out the machete, nearly fainting.
She staggers outside as the flames approach the living room. Chad notices, and begins to panic. "You're alive..."
Kelly approaches the road as Chad tackles her. "You were supposed to die you stupid bi-"
Kelly drives the machete into his side, ripping into ribs. He shrieks, and falls over. She rips out the machete and rises up from her back.
"I don't love you."
She stabs him in the heart with the machete, and collapses on her side, unconscious. As the police arrive on the scene of the burning house, Kelly opens her eyes. She flips over and looks at her burning home. Chad is still lying beside her with a machete in his chest.
"I'm never staying at home alone. Never. Again."