Murder On The Next Street

It was a dark cold snowy night, when all of a sudden Trina heard what she thought was a scream coming from somewhere out in the still, silent wintery night. She got out of her bed, grabbed her robe, and made her way to the window to peer out into the darkness. All she could see was the snow covered ground lit up by the street lights, casting shadows from the trees on the ground. Trina shrugged it off, thinking maybe she had imagined it, and went back to her bed, picked up her book, and continued reading.

The next morning when Trina woke up, she opened her front door with her hot coffee, like she does every morning, grabbed the newspaper from the stoop, and went back inside. She sets the paper down on the kitchen table, and proceeds to make herself her normal breakfast of eggs and toast, then makes her way back to the table. She starts flipping through the paper, while enjoying her breakfast, when she suddenly stopped mid sip. The article she just stumbled upon made her heart skip a beat.

The article is titled, 'Murder Has Neighborhood Shocked'. Trina can't believe it. Did she actually hear someone's screams for help? She thought she had imagined it. Now she is shaken, wondering what happened. She continues reading the article. to find that the next block over from her, a 23 year old woman was brutally murdered. There's not a lot of details, but she realizes the reason she heard the scream so clearly last night is because that house is on the block behind her home, two houses over to the right. Then it clicks. The name of the victim was withheld, but she knows now it was her neighbor Sasha. Trina finishes reading the article, and at the ends reads the words that she was hoping weren't there, 'Suspect is still unknown and at large.'

Trina sits there wondering about the what ifs and how she just can't believe that something like this happened so close to her home, when suddenly her phone rings, startling her back to reality.

"Hello?," she says, with a questioning tone.

"Hey, T, it's Sam. Did you hear what happened to Sasha?"

Trina debated on playing dumb, but decided to just keep it vague, "Yeah, I just read the paper. They didn't disclose her name, but I knew it was her."

"Yeah, me too," Sam said. "Did you hear the sirens or anything? This has to be scary since she lived behind you. I wonder what's going to happen next."

"Honestly, I didn't hear anything," Trina lies. What would her friend think if she knew Trina had heard the last screams of Sasha and didn't call the police? She couldn't tell her that. "I hope they find that bastard sooner than later, that's for sure. Now I'm gonna be double checking my doors and windows to make sure I keep everything secured. I just can't get over how close it was, and in our quiet little town at that."

The two women continued to talk for a few minutes more, confirming their upcoming plans for the weekend, then they said their goodbyes and hung up. Trina knew this wouldn't be the last call she got about her neighbor's death, but she knew she needed to get ready for the day. Even though Trina works from home, she still takes great pride in her appearance, but today she just wasn't feeling the need for going all out. She chose something comfy, didn't bother with any makeup, and decided to just get her day started.

A few hours into working, Trina decides she's going to step out and run to the store. She grabs her boots and jacket and gets ready to head out when she had this odd feeling she was being watched. She slowly looks around at all the windows, realizes nobody is there, shrugs, and walks outside, making sure to lock the door behind her. As she's walking to her car, she still feels like she's being watched. Scanning her yard and her neighborhood, she decides she's just being paranoid, and gets in the car and leaves.

Trina is walking through the grocery store, when she's stopped by her friend, Dennis. "Hey," he says. "How're you holding up?"

She looks at him puzzled, "I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, I saw the news. I realized it was your neighborhood, and I figured you'd be shook by what happened to Sasha."

"Well, yeah, I'm bothered by it, but what can I do? I feel terrible it happened to Sasha, she was such a sweet person, but what can I do, ya know?"

"Alright, I get what you mean. I guess this is just so uncommon that I'm worried for you. I mean, I would come stay with you if you need or want anyone to keep you company. Like the buddy system haha."

"Dennis, I don't need anyone to come stay with me. I'm a big girl and know how to keep everything locked up. I appreciate the thought though, but I have to get going. I'll give you a call if I need anything, Ok?"

Dennis looks a bit defeated, but says, "Ok, just let me know if you change your mind." He walks away looking rather sad, thinking 'I just wish she'd give me a chance to show her what it's like to be taken care of, but she's so damn independent and stubborn at that.' He shook it off and walked out of the store, left with his thoughts.

Trina looks at the time, and continues her shopping, planning her next stop while she walks through the store. 'I wonder if we know the killer. Is it someone from our town? What if they never catch the person? Was it a man or a woman who could've done this horrible crime?' Trina realizes she let her thoughts get the best of her and she hadn't even realized she was in line at the checkout already.

She finishes her errands, and makes her way home. When she pulls into the driveway, she notices her living room curtains are slightly more closed than they were when she left. 'I'm losing it,' she thought to herself. She gets out, grabs her bags, and makes her way to the front door. Before she tries to unlock the door, she looks around, getting the feeling she's being watched again. 'Ok, now I REALLY must be losing it,' she thought.

Trina sits down at her desk after she finished putting everything away. As she waits on her computer to load, her home phone rings. 'What the hell? Nobody has that number,' she thought to herself as she goes to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hello, I'm just wondering if Tyler is there," asks the male voice on the other end.

Tyler is Trina's little brother. He doesn't live with her, and she hasn't seen him in a few weeks. "No, I'm sorry, but you have the wrong number."

"I'm sorry ma'am. I was given this number in order to reach Tyler. Are you sure he's not there?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm sorry you were given the wrong number." She debated on whether or not to tell this mysterious caller that he's her brother, but decided against it.

"What time should he be home," the man asked.

"You know what," Trina decided to play along, "lemme take a message, and I'll give it to him when he gets home. What's a name and number?"

"Ma'am, I'll just try back later." And he hung up. Trina looked at the caller ID just to realize the call came in private. 'That's weird,' she thought.

She decides to call her brother and let him know about this strange call.

"Hey little brother, how have you been?"

"I've been ok. How about you sis?" Tyler hasn't spoken to his big sister in three months, not since their cousin Jimmy's funeral.

"Hey, I'm alright. Did you hear about my neighbor?"

"Yeah, I heard. You doing ok from that?"

"I'm ok, just a little shocked. But hey, the reason I'm calling is because I just got the weirdest call." She goes on to explain the call to her brother, as he sits in silence just listening. "You there?," she asks, realizing he's just been too quiet.

"Sis, I need you to not answer your home phone anymore until I get there. I'm packing a bag, and heading to your house right now." He tried to stay as calm as possible, but he knew his sister sensed something was off.

"Damnit Tyler, what in the hell did you get yourself into this time?," Trina asked with a hint of anger in her tone.

"Nothing. I'll explain when I get there. In the meantime, make sure your doors are locked and don't answer the house phone anymore. I'll see you in about 45 minutes." He hung up after that.

'What the hell is going on,' Trina wondered. 'What could Tyler have gotten into that he's acting like that and now coming here?'

She couldn't shake the feeling she now had after that call with her brother. She tried to distract herself with her work, but it was no use. She turns the tv on, but they just keep talking about the murder from the next road over, every channel she tried she kept seeing 'BREAKING NEWS'. At that point, she decided to turn on music, and start prepping dinner, seeing as though now she's going to be having her brother over. This is when Trina realized the basement door was open a crack.

Tyler is getting ready, packing a bag, double checking his house, and about to walk out the door when his phone rang. He looked at it, saw it was his friend James, and just let it go to voicemail. 'I have to get to Trina,' was all he kept telling himself. He gets in his car, and pulls off. 'I can't believe this is all happening right now,' he thought. The entire drive Tyler was left pondering, his thoughts full of worry and his body tensing the closer he got to his sister.

Tyler hadn't told his sister about his recent troubles. He didn't want to disappoint or worry her. He had witnessed a murder, and because he knew if he testified, he and the rest of his family would be in danger, he didn't even want to tell his family. He had broken off his engagement, moved to a different city, changed his number, and changed jobs. Now he's thinking that didn't help, his older sister is starting to get the heat. Seems that even though he didn't confirm any knowledge of the murder, and refused to testify, the ones responsible still thought they needed to get their point across and chose Trina as the target.

It was then that his phone rang again. "Trina, what's wrong? I'm about five minutes away."

"Tyler, I think someone has either been in my house or is hiding in the house somewhere still," Trina tells him with fear seeping through the phone.

"Hang tight T. I'm literally pulling onto your block now."

"Hurry!," Trina says as she hangs up the phone.

As Tyler pulls into the driveway, he realizes Trina is sitting in her car, with pure terror on her face. He gets out of the car and runs over to her. "T, I'm here now. What did you mean when you said someone has been here or might still be inside?"

"I went to get dinner started. As I was moving around the kitchen, I realized the basement door is cracked open. I know for a fact it wasn't open this morning, and I haven't been in the basement since I did laundry a few days ago." Trina and Tyler sit there silently after she tells him this.

Tyler makes a sudden movement that confused Trina. Within a split second, Tyler now was brandishing a 45 and started walking towards the house. "Tyler!," she yells. "What the hell are you doing with a gun? I thought you were against gun violence!"

He can tell his sister is shocked, and even more worried. He turns to her to shush her. He holds his finger to his lips so she can see him, gun gripped firmly in his right hand as he continues to make his way towards the house.

He makes his way up the steps to the front door. He slowly opens it, his heart racing with every step he takes. 'What the hell am I gonna do if someone is in here,' Tyler starts to wonder. All he does know is he has to protect his big sister. He continues to search the first floor, clears it, then moves upstairs. Once he's cleared both floors, he knows his next step is to head to the basement. He makes his way back down the stairs, towards the kitchen, his heart beating what seemed to be a million beats a second, approaches the basement door, that is still sitting cracked open. He takes a deep breath and throws the door wide open, the door slamming against the wall, gun pointed straight down the basement steps.

The basement seemed extra dark. Tyler searched for the light switch, while never taking his eyes off the bottom of the steps. His heart was beating so fast and loud, he was sure if anyone was hiding down here, they would be able to hear it beating against his chest. He flicked the light on, while exhaling a small sigh of relief. 'Finally,' he thought as he took the first step down. 'What am I about to find?,' he starts to wonder. Tyler wasn't scared for himself, but for his sister, and that kept him motivated enough to keep heading downward into the basement.

Tyler finally gets to the bottom, looks around, and started to feel a bit of relief. He made his way all over, checking behind everything, under the stairs and even throwing the bathroom door open. He found a flashlight, so he decided to start shining it everywhere just to double check and see if anything was slightly out of order. His sister keeps her house so clean and organized, it would be obvious if something was even slightly displaced. Once he realizes it's all clear, he makes his way back upstairs to the kitchen. He looks around and closes the door, double checking that it's closed tightly this time, and heads outside to tell Trina the house is clear and she's safe to come back inside. That's when he hears it. The sound of his sisters gate in the backyard, clanking shut.

He ran out the front door, startling Trina. "Did you see anyone coming from the backyard?," Tyler asked his sister while trying to catch his breath.

"No? What do you mean?" The fear is so vivid in Trina's question.

"I swear I heard the back gate clank shut. I couldn't see anyone, but I know what I heard."

"I think it's time I just call the police. I can't keep living in fear. Maybe I'm just being paranoid after Sasha's murder," Trina says as she takes out her phone.

Tyler reaches up to stop her from making the call. "T, we need to talk. Don't call the police just yet."

"Whatever is going on is worth calling the police, especially after what happened last night. You of all people would usually agree with that. What's going on Tyler? What do we need to talk about?"

"Let's just go inside first. Lock the car and let's go." Tyler turns away from her, and starts scanning the area, trying to see if anything is moving. It's cold out, only fifteen degrees out, and he's just now feeling the cold. 'How do I explain this without making her panic even more?,' Tyler wonders as he watches his sister lock the car and start to follow him.

Once in the house, Trina locks the door, peeks out the window, then heads towards the kitchen. "Want something to drink?," she asks her brother who won't stop pacing.

"Yeah I'll just take a soda," he replies, still pacing. "Look, I don't want you to worry about me, but I need to tell you something and I think what's going on has to do with what I'm about to say."

Trina hands her brother the soda and motions for them to head towards the living room to sit. "Tyler, what's going on? And don't bullshit me."

"So you remember how I called off my engagement and I said I just wasn't ready to get married yet? How I moved, changed my number, and even changed jobs out of nowhere? Well, it's because I'm a key witness in a murder case. I saw the whole thing go down, and I knew if I were to testify, it would put everyone I love and care about in danger. So, I ran. I think they found us though."

By now, Trina isn't sure if she's more terrified or angry that he hid this from her. "What do you mean they found us?," she asked.

"I think Sasha was a warning. I think they killed her to prove they know where you live and that I better keep my deal and mouth shut."

"So basically, you're saying whoever these people are, came here, killed my innocent neighbor, just to prove they knew how to find me, and how easy it is to get in and out without being caught? This is fuckin insane, Tyler. Do you realize how crazy this sounds?"

"I know it sounds crazy, but I'm pretty sure I'm right. Why else would someone call your home phone looking for me? How would your basement door end up open, knowing how meticulous you are? C'mon now T, you've got to believe me."

"Tyler, I don't want to say I don't believe you, but this just sounds like something out of a movie. Did you get yourself into a mafia or something and you're ashamed to tell me? I'm your big sister, you know you can trust me."

"Trina, seriously? Why the hell would I be so stupid? I may do dumb shit, but I'm not that fuckin dumb!," Tyler is slightly offended by his sister's ridiculous assumptions. 'Can I blame her though?' He sits silently with his thoughts for a few moments, looks at his phone and sees its almost nine o'clock. "Look, let's just call it a night, okay? I'll sleep down here, you go on up to bed and get some rest."

"You're right. I'll try to get some rest, but I doubt I'll do much sleeping. I love you little brother, thanks for getting here so quickly." Trina kisses her brother on the forehead, and starts to make her way upstairs. 'What the hell is really going on,' she wonders as she starts the climb to her bedroom. 'Who could these people be that they have so much access to people's personal information. I'm not listed in the phonebook or even online.' She's left wondering many things as she gets dressed and climbs into her bed. She lets her thought take over and as she's pondering, she slowly fades into a deep sleep.

Tyler can't sleep. He's too busy wondering if they're going to come back to the house or if they're going to wait it out a bit longer. He decides to just play some games on his phone, hoping that'll help him fall asleep. Looking at his phone, he realizes it's already almost midnight. 'I've been laying here for almost three hours, I wonder if I'm ever gonna fall asleep.' He's lying there deep in thought, when he suddenly hears a car door not too far off in the distance.

Trina jumps up, startled out of her sleep. 'What the hell?' She can't be hearing things. She gets up, slips her robe and slippers on, and grabs her phone. She quietly starts making her way down the hall towards the steps. She gets to the top of the landing, and sees Tyler standing at the bottom of the stairs. She sees his silhouette just paused, like he's hiding in the shadows. Finally, Trina started making her way down the stairs as quiet as she possibly could.

"Tyler, did you hear that?," she whispers to her brother.

"Yeah, I haven't gone to sleep yet. I've just been laying here listening to the silence," Tyler whispers back.

The two make their way around the house together to recheck doors and windows, making sure everything is locked up tight. When they get to the kitchen, that's when they both hear the distinct sound of the gate in the backyard squeaking open. They turn to look at each other, motioning to stay quiet and get down, just in case someone tries to look through the curtains. As they're crouched down on the floor next to the counter, they hear voices outside. It sounded like two men to Trina, but she wasn't sure if there were more than that. She could tell Tyler was focused on the voices, so she stayed silent, head bowed, and started to pray.

"I think I saw her with a man earlier when I left here," the first voice said.

"Do you know if she has this man here a lot?," asked the second man.

"No, I haven't seen the guy before. So either he's a new boyfriend, or she's scared."

"Well, we're not going in there tonight, we'll wait. But let's get the rest of this done and over with," the second man's voice trailed off as they started to walk towards the shed in the far back part of the yard.

"Tyler, do you know them?," Trina asks, as she's shaking from the fear. The realization that they were still planning to enter the house eventually, has her mind racing and debating on hitting the emergency call button on her phone, but she didn't want to risk being heard.

"No, I don't recognize the voices. I was trying to listen to see if maybe I did, but I don't," Tyler responds, realizing this is a lot more serious than he could've ever imagined. These people are still planning to enter his sister's house, but when and why is the biggest question. 'How do I even keep my sister safe at this point?,' Tyler starts to wonder.

They sit in silence for what seemed like eternity, just waiting for the sounds of the men leaving. Finally, they heard the voices getting closer, and then they stopped by the back door.

"Should we just pop the back door open to spook her?," asks the first man.

"Nah, I think we did enough. Now, we sit back and wait a few days," says the second man.

Just then, Trina's mouth drops. She knows the second man's voice, and she's in total and utter disbelief. Tyler sees her reaction, and puts his finger to his lips and shakes his head, as if to say 'Not yet,' and they just lock eyes. Finally, they hear the gate close and the voices fade into the distance as the men make their way back down the driveway. The two still stay where they're at for another five minutes, just to be sure that the men are gone. Once they felt like they were in the clear, they both stood up and just stared at each other in the dark.

"Tyler, I know who one of those guys is," Trina tells her brother, the shock clear as day in her voice.

"What do you mean T? Are you sure?," Tyler stares at his sister, wondering how she knew one of them. 'Is she actually in danger? Does this even have anything to do with the murder I had witnessed?' Tyler's mind started racing.

"Do you remember that guy Dennis I told you I went on a few casual dates with?," she asks him.

"Yeah, you had said y'all didn't have that much in common and he just gave you a weird vibe. What about him?"

"The second guy we heard was him! I'm almost a hundred percent sure of it!"

"Come on T, how do you figure?"

"Tyler, I'm not joking! I ran into him today at the store, and he immediately started asking about Sasha's murder and asking how I was holding up. If it wasn't for the fact that I had just spoken to him so recently, I probably wouldn't have even realized it."

"Okay, maybe we should call the police. Maybe this has nothing to do with what I witnessed at all. But do you think he was the one who called asking if I was here earlier? And how would he have known my name?" Tyler is a bit confused now.

"Honestly, I don't remember if I ever told him your name, but it's listed on my socials, and I'm almost positive he's still on there. As for the call, it wasn't his voice, but maybe the other guy that was here with him. It was similar, but I'm not totally sure."

Just then, they hear sirens approaching. They seem to be getting closer and closer. They look at each other and quickly make their way to the front of the house to see where the sirens are going. That's when they see the fire. Trina's neighbors Jeff and Donna's house was on fire.

"Oh my God! Please tell me this isn't because of me," Trina gasps as she runs to the door.

As all the emergency vehicles arrive, Trina is scanning the gathering crowd to see if she spots Dennis. She's always heard that the perp comes back to the scene of their crime during the arrival of emergency personnel, and she wanted to see if this could be true.

"Tyler, keep your eyes open for a blacked out Charger or a blacked out GMC. Those are what Dennis drives, and I want to see if he shows up to watch this unfold," she tells her brother, and he immediately starts scanning the surroundings with her.

They sit outside on the front steps watching everything unfold. Just then a police officer approaches them and asks if they've seen anything strange tonight. "No, sorry officer, we just got woken up by the sounds of the sirens," Tyler lies.

Everything in Trina is screaming that she should tell the officer about her night prowlers, but decided to wait to see what they actually did to her shed out back. She looks at Tyler, and he can clearly tell what she's thinking and shakes his head at her. They sit watching everything, and that's when they saw the medical examiner arrive. They turn to look at each other, knowing that means someone didn't make it. 'I've got to say something,' Trina thought again.

Suddenly, her phone vibrates in her hand. 'Don't bother Trina. You won't be able to save yourself.' The text came from an unknown number. Trina starts looking around, her heart racing. Tyler notices her looking around frantically, and grabs her phone to see what scared her. He sees the text and immediately starts looking up and down the street, looking for that Charger or GMC.

"Now do you believe me about it being Dennis?," she asks Tyler.

"Yeah, but why would someone call and ask if I was home? Unless, they just wanted to make sure nobody lived with you," Tyler's response actually made sense to Trina.

Trina's phone vibrated again, this time saying, 'I can see how scared and confused you and that man are. Don't worry, this is just a warning for you. Just like Sasha was, but you didn't understand that, so maybe once you go out back, you'll understand. Oh, and don't worry, today isn't your day to die.' Tyler was the one holding the phone, while Trina read the message from next to him. That's when they decided maybe it was time to go check out the backyard and see what happened to the shed. The siblings stood, looked around the area again, and agreed it was time to go investigate.

Once out back, they were both hesitant to even go near the shed, both constantly looking around as they approached. Trina stops dead in her tracks and looks at her brother. "Tyler, what if there's a bomb in the shed that's gonna go off when we open the door?," she asks looking beyond terrified now.

"T, he said 'today isn't your day to die'. I don't think he'd lie, when he's getting off tormenting you like this. Seeing you terrified is what's keeping him going. So, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna check the shed, take pictures of everything, and then we're going to make our way back out front. No matter what we find, we need to hold it together, like it didn't phase us one bit. Don't give him that satisfaction of seeing the fear on your face. You think you can do that?"

Trina sighs, but nods in agreement. They keep walking towards the shed just wanting to get this part done and over with. They get to the door, and both take a deep breath before reaching to open it. Tyler grabs the handle, looks at his sister, "Ready?," he asks. Trina nods, and he proceeds to pull the door open. When they looked inside, neither of them could believe what they were looking at.

They were in shock, and also immediately sick to their stomachs. 'Who could be so fuckin sick?,' Trina wondered as she had to back away from the doorway. They were staring at the carcass of a dead deer, gutted and hung from the rafters of the shed by chains. Tyler notices there is something stuffed into the gaping abdominal cavity.

"T, is there a towel or some plastic I can use to grab this?," Tyler asks looking around the shed.

Trina grabs one of her paint rags and hands it to him. "Tyler, please be careful. That could be a trap of some sort."

Tyler takes the towel and reaches into the cavity. He grabs a plastic bag out, opens it, just to find a gallon sized baggie with a typed note inside it. "T, it's a note to you," Tyler says as he wipes off the baggie so he can read it.

"'Trina, you have stolen my attention for far too long. I'm tired of this game of cat and mouse with you. You flirt and bat those lashes, but reject me of any advances and offers of a date. We had a lot of fun on our few dates we went on. I don't understand why you think it's cute to continue teasing me. You WILL be MINE!!! Dead or alive, that's up to you.'" Tyler finishes reading the note and Trina now can solely confirm that it HAD to be Dennis who's done these horrible things.

"What should I do?," Trina asks her brother. "Should I just keep staying quiet, or go to the police now that I know for sure who's behind this?"

"I don't know sis, but this guy doesn't seem to be ready to give up anytime soon. He killed your neighbor, set your other neighbor's house on fire killing at least one person for sure. I think you might need to play his game, make him feel safe and comfortable and then make the move for the police. Either way, I'll be right here with you to be protection."

Trina thought about it, but she can't shake the feeling that there's an everlasting doom awaiting in her near future. They walk back into the house, where they started to plan the next move. 'What am I going to do?,' Trina sat wondering as her brother started wandering around her house, checking and double checking all the locks on the windows. Trina remains lost in her thoughts, when suddenly her phone rings. She looks at Tyler, then her phone, then sighs and goes to answer it.

"Hey, Sam. What's up?," Trina is relieved it's her close friend.

"Hey, T, I'm just checking in on you. All that crazy shit happening in your neighborhood, how you holding up?," Trina could hear the concern in Sam's voice, and she debated on whether or not to tell her the truth about it all. She listened to Sam go on and on about how she hopes she stays safe and to make sure doors and windows are locked, all while still debating on telling her the truth.

"Sam, I gotta run. My brother and I have a bunch of stuff we're trying to get some things done around here. I'm gonna be doing some remodeling," Trina figured lying to her friend would stop her from showing up full of complete panic and fear.

"Oh, alright, but please keep in touch. I'm worried about you," Sam really was worried, and Trina could hear it in her tone.

They said their goodbyes and hung up.

As Sam hung up the phone, she had the feeling her friend was lying to her for some reason. 'She never mentioned doing work on her house before. Why didn't she mention her brother was coming to town? I forgot to ask her about this weekend. Did she forget?' Sam's mind was racing with all her thoughts flooding her so quickly.

Sam and Trina had been friends since they were ten, and they told each other everything, no matter how insane it was. They used to do everything together until life happened and they got busy with their careers. They grew up in the small town where Trina still lived, and Sam moved about twenty minutes away and opened her own thrift store to help those less fortunate. When Sam was a kid, she wasn't lucky like Trina and Tyler, who's parents were decently well off. Her family had to struggle more than most in the small town. Yet, Trina chose to not be friends with the kids of her financial class, but chose to be Sam's friend.

The girls used to talk about their future all the time. Sam always had the goal of being the one to help those who were struggling and Trina always wanted to become a business person, she could never decide what exactly to do until Sam opened her small shop from home. Then Trina took on accounting and business management in order to help Sam follow her dreams. The pair made a great team, even if they were in different towns most of the time. With Trina's help and knowledge, Sam was able to open a huge thrift store.

Sam was sitting at home, still wondering about what's going on with Trina, when her phone rang. She looked at it and realized she didn't know the number. 'Huh, maybe it's someone from the store,' she thought, as she went to answer it.

"Hello, this is Sam."

"I know who this is. I'm calling to inform you, that your friend is in danger. I'd keep my distance from her if you don't want to have your own problems yourself." The mysterious male caller then hung up, leaving Sam extra worried and more confused than anything.

'What in the hell is really going on?,' she wondered, debating on whether or not to call Trina back. 'What isn't she telling me,' Sam wondered now. She decided she wouldn't tell anyone what she was doing or where she was going. Sam called the store to let her manager know she would be taking a few days off due to a family emergency, and said she could text if she needed anything. Sam's manager, ran the store so well that Sam knew it was being left in good hands.

She packed a bag, locked up her house, and got in the car. She started the short drive to her hometown, and booked a hotel room from the car. 'I won't even tell Trina I'm in town, and I'll keep my distance while looking into things on my own.

Back at Trina's house, her and Tyler were planning their next move. Tyler made his way to the basement to make sure the windows down there were closed and blocked off. He heads upstairs to go talk with his sister about some things he thought they should do.

"Hey, let's run to the store. I think I want to put up more cameras inside and out, and even get some motion detectors for blind spots around the house and property," Tyler says to Trina.

"Yeah, I was actually starting to think about a store trip myself. I'll grab my purse."

The pair headed to the store, and started gathering all the things on their list. "What do ya want for dinner?," Trina asked Tyler.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter to me," he responds.

"Okay, well I'll head over and grab something for dinner and I'll meet you back in the electronics shortly," Trina tells him as she walks away.

They finish their shopping and head back to the house, where Tyler immediately gets started on installing the new cameras and motion detectors. Trina gets started on dinner, and sits with her thoughts.

"Dinner is ready," she yells down to her brother. He makes his way up, and they eat, in silence.

When they're finished, they both cleaned up the kitchen and decided to call it a night on the extra stuff. They both head into the living room to sit and enjoy some TV together.

"Ya know what?," Tyler says.

"What?," Trina asks.

"We're taking all this time to be cautious and set up cameras and everything else, but do you really think that's going to stop that Dennis guy from whatever he has planned?"

Trina was already having those thoughts while at the store, and now that her brother said it out loud, she's really wondering. "I have no idea. He seems crazy. I can't even believe it's him this whole time still. Like how long has he been planning all of this? Or did he just randomly snap?"

"Sis, I'm not sure if we will ever really know. Unless you can get him to confess."

"Maybe I'll just set up a meeting at the coffee shop and see if I can get him to come clean. Maybe he will see it as a date and lay off for a bit longer."

She contemplated what she should do, while listening to the sound of the TV, even though she had no idea what was even on. She was so deep in her thoughts, that she couldn't seem to make out any of the words coming from the television, it was basically just background noise. She decided to just go to bed, and told her brother goodnight, and headed up to her room. Once in bed, she fell into a deep sleep, thoughts still racing through her mind.

The next morning, Trina and Tyler both got up, and had breakfast. She got to work on her laptop, knowing she had a bunch to catch up on since she missed yesterday, while Tyler got back to installing whatever was left from the day before. They both continued their tasks well into the afternoon.

"Alright, sis, everything is installed and set up. Lemme show you the set up," Tyler says, as he motions for his sister to follow him.

He had set up an entire area for surveillance. There was a monitor with all the camera views, there was a speaker for the motion detectors that tell you what what area has been activated by the motion, and even an emergency phone set up from her landline, in case she doesn't have her cell phone on her, she will still be able to call the police. Trina was rather impressed by her brother's work, that she told him he should open up his own security business.

"Alright, now that's all set up. Let's go ahead and test it all out. I'll go outside and walk past all the hidden sensors and the cameras, you sit here and listen for the voice from the speaker. After I make a single pass around the house, then go stand in the kitchen to make sure you can hear the speaker in there as well." Trina nods in agreement and Tyler heads outside to start his rounds.

As Trina is listening to the alarms, the speaker, and watching the cameras, something catches her eye on the camera in the backyard facing the shed. She sees movement, and she knows it's not Tyler, because she just watched him go past the front window. She sits there, focused on the picture, wondering how to zoom in. 'Damn, I should've had him show me this first,' she thought. Just then Tyler came into view on the camera she was staring at. She noticed he had paused, and looked around, then continued walking around, and came in through the side door.

"Hey, let me see something quick," he says, making his way to the monitor.

"Tyler, I think I saw something by the back shed," Trina says, pointing to where she thought she saw movement. "It could've been a squirrel, but I just want to know how to zoom in and rewind, and overall know how to use this damn system."

Tyler gets to work, rewinding and explaining the entire system to his sister while he is watching extra close. He pauses it, then hits play. Just then, he sees the movement in the far back, so he zooms in. "See!," Trina exclaims. "That's what I saw, and I froze watching it."

He zooms in, and that's when they both saw it. A hand was reaching through the bush, phone out, taking pictures. They couldn't see who it was or even tell if it was a man, woman, adult, or child. All they both agreed on, was that it was very strange.

Back to watching the live camera, they both sat with the camera zoomed onto that spot to see if they saw anything else. About ten minutes later, both staring at the camera, they noticed movement again. This time the entire bush started to move. There is no wind, so they knew someone or something had to be causing the movement. They watched, both holding their breath, hoping to be able to catch whoever it was back there. Just then, Sam popped out of the bush. "What the hell!?," Trina gasped. "What is Sam doing out there?"

They watched to see what Sam was doing. Sam was looking around, then headed out towards the alley in the back, they heard a car door, then watched her drive off.

"Seriously? I'm calling her to see why the hell she was hiding back there taking pictures!," Trina says angrily.

"No, wait. Let's see where this goes. You don't think she would be working with the psycho to hurt you, do you?," Tyler asked as he continued to stare in shock at the camera. "She's supposed to be your best friend. Something seems odd about this whole thing."

"No, I don't think she would be involved in something that could hurt me, but at this point, I'm not sure what to trust or believe." Trina walked away from the security area, and went to get the kitchen to grab some water. She is so shocked by the fact her best friend was just caught hiding in her bushes, and Sam hadn't even told her she'd be in town. 'What is she doing here,' she thought to herself.

"I've got an idea," Tyler says. "Let's go out for something to eat. Then it'll be obvious that we're gone, and when we get back, we can see what happens while we're gone."

"That actually makes sense," Trina says. "Let's go."

They grab jackets and she grabs her purse and keys, and they head out the door. They head into town to grab some lunch at the local diner. Then decide to stop at the gas station for gas, then start to make their way back to the house. At this point, they had been gone a good two hours.

As they're pulling into the driveway, the sun is going down, so shadows are being casted all over the property, making it difficult to tell if anyone is out there. They get out, lock the car, and make their way into the house, locking the door behind them. "Alright, let's see what we got," Tyler says walking over to the monitor. He rewinds the cameras, and hits play. They sit watching for about twenty minutes before anything happens. Then, movement is picked up on that same back camera as earlier.

They zoomed it in, and sat watching, waiting to see Sam again on it. But this time, it wasn't Sam. It was a man that neither of them recognized. "Sis, do you know him?"

"No, I've never seen him before. At least I don't think so," Trina squinted at the man, trying to see if just maybe she did know him. She realized she didn't and shook her head. "No, I don't know who that is."

They watched as the man walked into the yard, towards the house, then they had to switch to another camera to get a better view of what he was doing. He had made his way to the back door, tried to open it, looked around as if he had heard something, then just took off running. They started to check all the other cameras to see what spooked the man, when they realized a car had stopped in the back alley. It was Sam's car again. 'What the hell,' Trina thought. She could see the confusion on her brother's face as well when he realized it was Sam's car too.

"Okay, now you can call Sam. This shit doesn't add up," Tyler said. "Why hasn't she called you to tell you she is in town?"

"I'm not sure. This definitely is unlike her. But you're right, it's about damn time I call her to get an explanation," Trina says as she grabs her phone from her pocket and hits the call button for Sam.

"T, what's up?," Sam says when she answers the phone.

"Ya know, Sam, I should really be asking you that question. What have you been up to today?," Trina asks while trying to remain calm and collected. She's wondering what kind of lie her best friend will be feeding her.

"What's that supposed to mean? I haven't really been doing too much. Just been doing some loss prevention activities.," Sam lied, and she was hoping Trina wouldn't notice the lie in her voice.

"Interesting. I've been doing something similar. Hey, why don't you come have dinner with me and Tyler tonight. I'll whip something up quick."

"Oh, do you have some new ideas for the store?," Sam is curious because they've been discussing some new security ideas for the store lately.

"Yeah, you could say that," Trina isn't about to give away the shocking revelation. "What time do you think you could be here by?," Trina can't wait for this answer she thinks while rolling her eyes.

"Give me about half hour and I'll be there. Let me just close this all up and I'll be on the way." Sam told Trina goodbye, and started to get ready. She didn't like lying to her best friend, but she also didn't want to worry Trina either in case she didn't know she was being watched.

Sam gets to Trina's and is all hugs and smiles. 'She really comes in here acting as if nothing is wrong,' Trina thought, while she faked a smile and hugged her best friend back. "I'm so glad you came, Sam. We've got a lot to go over tonight," Trina tells her friend.

"I'm excited to see what you've come up with," Sam says. "What made you so determined?," Sam asks, looking intently at Trina.

"Well, I'd rather just show you. It's a lot easier to than trying to explain it," Trina says.

Trina smiles and motions for Sam to follow her and Tyler. They get to the security area, Tyler turns on the monitor, and Sam gasps. "I can explain," she immediately says, as she realizes it's her on the screen.

"Please do, Sam. I can't wait to hear this one." Tyler sounds so heartless Sam notices.

"After I talked to you yesterday, I got a weird call. Telling me that you're in danger and if I don't want any problems myself, I should keep my distance. But it made me feel uneasy and so I packed a bag, got a room at the hotel in town, and started watching you and the house. I never meant to be sneaky, but I was worried and didn't want to worry you. But I'm assuming you must already know something is wrong, seeing as though you've got an entire security set up going on," Sam continues to explain her concerns and apologize to Trina. "Look, T, I'm sorry I was sneaking around, but I thought it was best to not worry you."

Trina and Tyler go on to explain the insane few days they've been having, including how Trina knew who it was, and how they're trying to figure out how to get Dennis to stop. While they're deep in conversation and planning, the alarm for the side of the house goes off, causing them all to go look at the cameras. They all watch as a man makes his way into the backyard, just casually walking towards the shed. 'Here we go again,' Trina thought to herself, as she let out a heavy sigh.

Dennis is sitting in his car, watching his friend make his way into Trina's back yard. 'He better not screw this up,' he thinks to himself as he watches his friend disappear and the shadows move around in the house. 'She knows it's me, yet hasn't called the police yet. I wonder what she's planning.' Dennis is lost in his thoughts when his phone dings. Its his friend, letting him know everything is in place, and to come grab him from the back alley. Dennis makes his way around back, the friend gets in the car, and they speed off into the night.

Meanwhile, back in the house, the three continue to watch the cameras, watching this unknown man enter the shed, then exit, then leave in a car speeding down the alley. "Trina, are you sure you don't want to call the police? Like nobody will judge you if you do. This is getting out of hand," Sam says, while her eyes are huge with true fear.

"Nah, there's no point. He would know if I did and frankly, I don't want to piss him off anymore than he already is."

The three continue chatting until almost midnight, when they all decided they're too tired to stay awake. Trina and Tyler make the rounds and make sure everything is locked up. Trina makes up the spare room for Sam, since now she's too afraid to even go back to the hotel alone, and they all said goodnight and went off to bed.

As Trina lies awake in her bed, deep in thought, she realizes that this psycho isn't going to stop anytime soon. So she needs to really come up with a plan. 'Do I set a trap,' she wonders. 'Or do I just keep recording for my safety?' Lost in her thoughts, she looks at the clock. 'Two A.M.,' she thinks to herself. Just then, the security alarm goes off, and she knows Dennis has finally decided to make his move.

She hears a commotion downstairs and isn't sure if she should go down or not. She's almost frozen in fear as she hears things being broken and her brother yelling. She snaps out of it, and takes off towards the guest room where Sam is. "Sam, are you in here?," Trina whispers.

"Yeah, what the hell is going on T?," Sam replies.

"I'm not sure, but I don't think it's anything good."

Finally, it's quiet and Trina begins to make her way towards to steps. "Tyler?," she yells. She waits a few seconds, and when she doesn't get a response, she yells even louder. "Tyler!?"

Tyler appears at the bottom of the steps, panting and trying to catch his breath. "Fuckin teenagers," he says. "These little pricks took a bribe to break in, and cause damage."

Trina sighs, and heads down by her brother, Sam following closely behind her. "What do you mean?," she asks while looking around and noting the two teenage boys knocked out on the floor. "Tyler! What did you do to them!?"

"Don't worry, they're fine. I just knocked em out," Tyler explains. He goes on to explain what he got out of them before he decided to knock them out. They said a man had paid them each two-hundred dollars to break in, cause damage, and distract the three of them. This sounded too strange. 'Why do we need to be distracted?,' Trina wondered.

"Tyler, take the money, and we'll call the police and say it was a random break-in. Dennis wouldn't expect them to tell us the truth, so we should be able to play dumb. Like we had no idea he's behind it all." Trina walks to the camera monitor and plays it back to when she first heard the noise downstairs. She watches while Tyler deals with the kids and the police. Within two minutes, she sees why they needed to be distracted. Dennis had made his way into the back yard, and put his own device back there. Though, she's not sure what exactly it is, she can only assume it's his own camera to help him monitor her when he can't be sitting outside.

Trina can hear the police talking with Tyler about the break-in and damages that the two teens had caused. She continued watching the camera footage while listening to the conversations going on in the other room, hoping an officer doesn't sneak in behind her and see the suspicious man on the monitor as she plays the footage over and over, trying to make sense of it. She just wants to figure out if Dennis had really left, or if he was just hiding out back waiting on the police to leave. She doesn't seem to see him on the live feed, but she knows that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

Finally, Trina hears her brother tell the officers thank you, and hears the door close right after. "Tyler, ya gotta come see this," she calls out to her brother.

"Yeah, what's going on?," Tyler sounds as if he's just ready to go back to bed.

"Look," she says while pointing to the monitor. "I can't seem to tell if Dennis left or not though, that's the only problem. But I see what the distraction was for. He put something out there, maybe a camera, I'm not sure."

Tyler just stands there staring and you can clearly see he's not even shocked at this point. "T, what are you going to do? This guy is clearly not giving up. I think it's time to just turn all of this into the police. I know it's only been a few days, but let's be for real. He's getting more psychotic and I think this is just going to end horribly."

"Yeah, I know, but I want to see just how far he's going to take it. I get that it might end badly, but something in me can't just give in yet."

"Alright, sis, if that's what you want to do, then you know I'll be right by your side."

"Trina, I think your brother is right on this one," Sam piped in. "I think with you being his main target, he's only going to get worse."

Tyler and Sam decided to go back to bed, while Trina sat up just watching the monitor while sipping on her coffee. There was no way she could go back to sleep. She wanted to know if Dennis for sure left. She sits up watching for what seemed like forever, when she realized it's only been an hour since the other two retired back to bed. 'Maybe they're right,' she thought to herself. 'Maybe I should just turn this over to the police. But what would they really do to protect me?' Her thoughts began to overtake her and she ended up dozing off at the desk.

Sirens blare in the distance, heading right towards them. As they got closer, Tyler was woken abruptly and jumped up to see where his sister was. He noticed she had fallen asleep at the desk, and debated on going to wake her, but his focus changed once he realized those sirens that woke him, were right out back, on the next block over. 'Where's Sam?,' he now wondered. He ran upstairs to go make sure she was in the guest room, but realized she wasn't. He checked the entire house before waking his sister.

"Trina, wake up!," Tyler yelled. "We've got to find Sam! She's gone!"

"What do you mean she's gone?," Trina asked as she jumped out of her sleep. "Where in the hell would she have gone!?"

That's when they both looked at the monitor. They turned to look at each other, and decided to play the footage back. What they saw, scared them both half to death. Dennis had made his way into the house, neither of them waking for any alarms. Trina now realized there were flashing lights coming from the block behind her house, and looked towards her brother.

"Keep playing the footage, we need to see what happened," Tyler says.

Trina nods, and takes a deep breath. They keep watching as Dennis made his way through the house, stopping and looking at Tyler sleeping on the couch, walking up behind Trina and smelling her hair, then turning to make his way up the stairs. The next time he's caught on camera, is when he's seen carrying a limp Sam over his shoulder and down the steps, then out the back door. He had made sure to relock the doors, because when Tyler went to check them, they were both locked, as if nobody had come or gone.

Now, there was pure panic running through Trina. 'Where the hell did he take her?'

"T, look, he walks right out of the back yard with her. I don't see his car, or anything for that matter. So where did he take her?," Tyler says, as he keeps zooming the camera in to try seeing which way Dennis disappeared with Sam. Neither of them could tell though, no matter how many times they re-watched it.

"This is all my fault. I should've made her leave instead of letting her stay here. I shouldn't have told her what was even going on. Maybe she'd still be safe." Trina's eyes fill with tears, and she is overcome with guilt. "We've got to find her, Tyler."

"Well, should we start with seeing what all the sirens are for on the next block?"

Trina nods, and begins to stand, when she notices a text on her phone. She hoped it was Sam, but was sure it was Dennis taunting her some more. 'Hey sleeping beauty, just wanted to show you just how close I can get, even with all that fancy security you've got set up.' She shows Tyler the message, and then another message comes in, this time it's an image. She's terrified to click the image, fearing what she might see.

"T, you've got to open it. We've got to see what he's done with Sam."

"I know, I'm just scared. What have I caused?," fear emitting off of Trina and her voice shaking, she opens the image. She takes a deep breath, and prepares for the worst.

"Trina, this isn't a game anymore. We need to leave. NOW!," Tyler exclaims. "There is no more waiting to see what he does next. Go pack a few bags. We're leaving in ten minutes." Tyler starts gathering all of the monitoring equipment, his stuff, and other necessities. Trina quickly runs upstairs and starts grabbing clothing and shower stuff. They both grab anything that's needed and pile into Tyler's car. They buckle, and take off, neither of them looking back.