The Lurker

It's 7:50 am, this is usually the time where she stands by the window and completely unaware. I draw the curtain just a little bit, enough for me to see you. You are taking off your shirt and reveal your smooth body. I watch as you slowly strap on your bra lifting your breasts, not that it is needed. You slide on your underwear and slip into your little black dress. How much I desire you, I want all of you. Oh and there’s your husband, he’s so ungrateful to you- cheating on you with his assistant. How dare he lay his lips on you? How could he betray such a gorgeous woman? I need to protect you from him, all I want is to protect you. You deserve better, you should be with me. After you leave for work he will invite his assistant over and they’ll get at it. We’ve never spoken all I know is that your name is Rebecca but you go by Becca. Photos and I can send them to you anonymously... Yes, then you’ll see what a pig he is. I will just have to sit and wait.

There she goes, into her red Nissan Sentra car and now she's gone. Sure enough he is calling his assistant right now...that means I have about fifteen minutes. I grabbed my camera rom my closet, checked the batteries. I should change them just in case, I wouldn't want to get caught in the middle with no batteries. I checked the memory card, it's all there. Perfect. I look out the window again and her silver Honda odyssey. She must be a soccer mom; had just pulled up.

Here, we go. I start snapping, she is leaving the car walking into the house and snap, snap. Her husband Julius is touching her and starts to kiss her neck. Snap, snap. That's maybe all the proof I need, but if I have more proof, it'll be better. Julius start to remove her blouse and up they go to Becca's and Julius's bedroom, now he is in just his boxers and she is laying on their bed, completely naked. Snap, snap. There's your proof Rebecca. I am coming to save you from him. I plug in the camera printer. And I start printing. Photo after photo starts printing and I see them together, how could you be with someone like that? Someone that doesn't respect you, someone that doesn't go into the office and instead decides to be with another women, when they have you...I need to protect you. The photos finish printing and I place them in an envelop using black gloves, careful to not leave fingerprints anywhere. I will have to wait until Becca gets home and time it perfectly. She usually arrives at 4:00 pm. He doesn't arrive at the house until later.

Maybe I could kill Julius and the assistant...I've got time. Time to kill and then I will leave those photos or is that just cruel to you Becca? You deserve to know before he dies. How would I do it? I've done it before and gotten away with it. It can't be the same way the police would recognize a pattern. I would hang him...leaving a suicide note...he couldn't live with the guilt of cheating. Yes, I would drop off the photos, she would see them, get mad, throw him out of the house. I would follow him and kill him, make it look like a suicide note. Or hold him at gunpoint make him write it himself? yes, that's far better. I started to prepare my gear, this is all for your Becca. 3:55 pm, I leave the house and put it in the mailbox. I come back in and watch. She checks the mail box, she pulls out the envelope, there it is, her hands are visibly shaking, I see her get into her house. I can imagine the fury, but then I no longer have to she is now throwing all of his belongings throughout the room. I can see her crying the hurt, he hurt you the way that I would never. She then collapses to floor and I can't see anything now. I imagine her hugging herself on the floor. All I want to do is hug you and tell you he will be soon gone. But I can't not yet. She is there for a long time.

Here comes the scumbag himself, so high and mighty. They are now yelling at each other, she takes a vase and throws, ti lands on the floor and now, the screaming is so loud I can hear it in my own home. Perfect. I dial 9-1-1.

"9-1-1 what's your emergency?"

"My neighbors are being very loud, I would like to report a domestic disturbance, I hear yelling and something crashing. Please hurry, I am worried."

"We are on our way now, I've sent dispatch to the address"

Perfect. They arrive on the scene, I watch as they enter the house. I head upstairs to see. A few hours later, they seemed to have calmed the situation. Yes, he is leaving. He has a bag of clothes. I get into my own garage, I start my car and I can hear his engine roaring loudly down the street. i follow him, closely, but not too close. I have everything I need. Julius is staying at the Hilton, of course he is. Douchebag. I follow closely to him, he drops off a bag. He is setting this up perfectly for me. To easy. I find the staff room and open up a locker hoping to find a uniform. Bingo. This is so easy for me. I change into it and immediately grab the trolley.

"Room 250, you must be the new guy, parker right?" asks the front desk attendant.

"Yeah, great"

"I'm Shiela by the way," she said with a smile.

"Great, I will see you around," I say and give her a big charming smile. I take the trolley.

I knock on the door.

"It's about goddamn time," I hear him say through the door.

I wheel it in and lock the door behind me.

"What are you doing?" he says. "Wait. I recognize you, you're my new next door neighbor," he says. What a looser, I've been living there for two years and introduced myself numerous times. You deserve this. Becca, I will be your hero.

I pull out the gun.

"You won't shoot me."

"Try me, you are going to sit down, grab that pen and paper," and he does exactly that. "You are going to apologize to Becca, write this: Sorry for betraying you, I cannot live with it. I am sorry." and he writes it in his handwriting.

"Now are you going to shoot me?" he asks trembling, he gets it now.

"No, I will do much worse," I say and I pull out the rope and wrap it around his thick neck. This is what happiness feels like, I start to tug it tight, he starts wanting to fight back, but I caught him by surprises, he is now coughing and chocking, I watch him as he struggles, it's so gratifying it feels better than the first time I killed someone, plunging a knife into someone's throat was satisfying. But, actually watching the light disappear much more rewarding, he is struggling to keep alive I just keep pulling, his hands try to free the rope and I pull harder, I can see him realizing what is happening, yet he continues to struggle. It feels like the first time- liberating. Almost like when I plunged my knife into Howard Star's throat, minus all the blood. Clean up was much more difficult, bleach, blood, cleaner, dirt, digging. I get to skip all of that mess this time. This is so easy, almost like riding a bike.

You will die Julius, you with your betrayal will die. Just give up. You're dying you stupid man. I am doing this for you Becca. I start to sweat and I keep pulling and finally his eyes widen, his heart beat slows. It feels so good exactly like doing this for the first time. I've now killed twice and both times felt just as good. They both deserve this. Death. Relief, another woman saved because of me, I did this. I leave the rope around his neck and tie it tighter, then I hang him from the ceiling. I take a chair and make sure that his shoe marks are on it and I leverage him up and place the chair down as if he had kicked it. Suicide note done. This is perfect. I leave the scene of the crime.

"That took you a while Parker, did you get lost?" asked Sheila.

"Yeah, it's easy to get turned around here," I reply. It's okay, I got away with it. I start to walk out the front door.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Oh I really need a cigarette, is that alright?" I ask.

"Oh sure, you want to go around back though," she said and just like that, I am in my car driving to you Becca. I will be your knight in shining armor. Julios is gone and we can be together. I can finally kiss you and hold you, but it will take time and you'll see how I will protect you at all costs. I will be so great that Julius will be long forgotten. I drive into the garage late at night. I need to hide all my equipment, the deep freezer, here we go. Now, Becca it will be me and you and no one will hurt you ever again, we can have a great life together. Like what I had with Sam. I won't be making that mistake again. Becca, oh Becca. I can't wait.