The Facebook Stalker

The Facebook Stalker -- Chapter 11

Monday at school was back to the same grind as the previous week, as the professors had warned. More chapters assigned to read from the books, two online articles, and Kate’s professor in her last class assigned a three page paper that was due Friday. Everything combined was stressing Kate out more and more by the second. 

Slowly walking back to the dorms after being dismissed from her final class for the day, Kate’s mind drifted to ‘Pete.’ Whoever he really is, must be some kind of loner, an outcast. Surely no one with any kind of social life, or any kind of life period, for that matter, could be twisted enough to seriously stalk someone online. At least real stalkers got out and done the footwork. The words from ‘Pete’s’ last message on Facebook flashed momentarily in Kate’s mind, sending a cold, tingly chill through her. 

Shaking her head to clear her mind of the image, Kate had reached the dorms, and was walking down the hall to her door. Reaching in her purse for her keys to unlock the door before she reached it, Kate looked up and saw a small yellow Post-It stuck on the middle of her door. Keys in hand, Kate pulled the note from her door. Horror washed over her face as she read:

‘Hope all was great at school today. You may not have to worry about your paper due on Friday. Who knows if you’ll live that long. I guess we shall see. --Pete.’ 

Rushing into her room and slamming the door shut behind her, Kate leaned against it, tears threatening to overflow from her eyes. A death threat?! A for real, honest to goodness death threat?! On her?! Kate couldn’t believe it. She quickly locked both locks on her door, the normal one on the knob, and the dead bolt. Hands trembling with fear, she dialed the police station.

“Hello? Cook county police station. This is Karen. How may I help you?” came a lady’s voice from the other end.

Kate was breathless when she replied, like she had just ran a marathon. “Hi. My name is Kate Anderson. I just had a death threat on my life.”

“Okay, ma’am, calm down, please. Take some deep breaths. What do you mean by ‘death threat,’ exactly?” Karen asked calmly. Of course she was calm, it wasn’t her life that had been threatened, after all. 

Slowly inhaling and exhaling, Kate answered, “Okay, well, there was a Post-It note on my door. I’m staying at the dorms. It said I may not have to worry about this paper I have due for a class on Friday, ‘cuz I may not live that long.”

After a moment’s pause, Karen replied, “Is that all?”

‘Is that ALL?!!’ Kate wanted to scream at this woman. “No,” she replied instead. 

“Well, what else?” Kate hinted a bit of impatience or annoyance in Karen’s voice.

“I added this guy, this ‘Pete’ guy, as a friend on Facebook not real long ago. He started instant messaging me and sending me private messages, and commenting on all these pictures I have on there. I deleted him from my friend’s list, and now he’s left this note.” Kate told her. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she felt silly and slightly childish. She was in a panic over a Post-It note and some comments and instant messages. This lady at the police station, Karen, probably thought Kate was a lunatic.

“Well, I understand your concern. Do you know anything about Pete? Is that his real name? Do you know an address, or a phone number? Maybe what he looks like?” Kate could sense that Karen was just going through some sort of protocol now, there was zero concern or interest in her voice.

“Well--uh, no. I thought I knew what he looked like, but he had posted a fake picture on his profile. It turned out to be someone totally different. He’s never mentioned where he lives, let alone any kind of address or phone number.” Kate responded.