Trigger warning: The following story deals with instances of stalking and graphic violence.
I advanced my way up the winding staircase. Taking a sigh of relief at the top, I faced the front door of my new unit with pride. Opening the door with confidence, I knew it would be a fresh start. A chapter of my life where I could separate myself from the drama and turmoil of daily social interactions. A place I can call my home. The place was a two bedroom loft with a large living room.
Settling into my new small and humble took a short period of time. Within two weeks, everything was together. Moving from Nipissing to Toronto was a big decision, but worthwhile. Since graduation from Nipissing U, I had begun my new career as a nurse at Mount Sinai Hospital. Coming home from work was never a walk in the park, especially in my area. Especially being downtown, I was very cautious about my walk home at night.
After one long Thursday shift at the hospital, I staggered into my apartment filled with exhaustion. Once I had entered my place something appeared off. One of the windows on the right side of my apartment was open. It raised a red flag in my mind, but nonetheless, I made it to my bedroom and collapsed on my bed. As my eyes began to shut, I heard a buzz from my phone, lighting up my pitch black room. Checking the phone, I received a notification from Snapchat: a user named loverboy28. I have never heard of this person before in my life, so naturally I was curious to add the person to see what they wanted. As soon as I opened it, I received the message “Hello, beautiful.”
Tired and annoyed, I asked, “Who is this?”
The response was, “Why you don’t remember me? I certainly remember you.”
Confused, and thinking it was some ex-boyfriend looking for side action, I put down my phone and quit responding. Right as my head hit the pillow, my phone began to buzz yet again. I was unable to ignore the sound, despite it being three in the morning. I picked it up to turn it off, only to see five new Snapchat notifications from loverboy28. Opening the text chat first, I saw: “Don’t put your phone down on your nightstand.”
My blood ran cold.
The next messages sent by loverboy28 were picture messages. Hesitant to open them, for the sake of my safety, I chose to do it anyways. To my horror, I was greeted to pictures of me resting and sleeping on my bed, sent at 3:01 a.m.
I decided to check the snap map to see the location of the Snapchatter’s avatar, only to see they were at the exact same address as I was. Every hair on my body raised as I immediately realized that whoever the Snapchatter was, he was standing in my closet near the door to exit my room. My bedroom only had the door, and the window across from my bed. As soon as I turned toward that direction I received another message. “Don’t even think about it or I’ll come out and cut your throat right now.”
I shook with fear, using my phone light to see if there was anything nearby I could use to defend myself, and of course there was nothing. I assumed whoever was in my closet was armed, and even if I was able to call 911, they would see me doing so and it would anger them. As I planned what to do, I received a phone call from him and picked up.
“What the hell do you want?”
As the voice spoke, I recognized it straight away. “Planning to leave so soon? Like you did in the last city? I’ve tracked you down on your phone’s GPS system. You really shouldn’t leave that lying around at parties. Just like other females shouldn’t leave their drinks around you. Didn’t medical school teach you how to roofie people with date rape drugs?”
I hung up the phone, ready for a fight, only to hear dead silence. I looked around my pitch black room. Before I could make any movements, I was greeted to a napkin covering my mouth before I passed out.
I woke up in excruciating pain, my arms tied behind my back. I could barely see out of one eye, trapped in a chair, seeing the sight of someone with a pick and hammer.
“You know they love to use this on the mentally ill, to cleanse their mind from perverted thoughts.”
The last thing I saw was the sight of a girl, bruised and bloodied, one I recognized because I had caused it. Before I knew it a sharp pain and jab hit my eye, before everything turned black.
