The Neighbor

Obsession

"Are you trying to leave me?" Diane's eyes were cold, and she looked murderous. But her voice waivered slightly revealing just how much the idea pained her. 

"N-no Diane, w-why would I try to leave you?" You flinched when you heard how meek and afraid your voice sounded. You were falling for her; you'd excepted it for a while now, you'd never actually abandon her... but you were scared so you needed to be away from her until she calmed down. The sun seeping through the single window lit up the previously dark room and you were finally able to take a look around the room. It was hard to miss the thousands of pictures that lined the walls and white bored with jotted down information in front of you. 

'They are all of me!!' Your mind blanked. Nothing could've prepared you for this. You had picked up that Diane was a bit odd in her own ways, but you figured that was why you got along so well because you both had little quirks. Turns out Diane was a little less odd and a little more disturbed. You panicked as you discreetly eyed the photos, some of these pictures were more than two years old and looked like they had been taken while you were out walking randomly. There were also pages and pages of information about you, from your old address to your favorite color. The reality was crashing down on you... you thought that you'd just clicked with Diane. That the two of you were just meant for each other. But that was all a carefully crafted lie. You felt like you didn't even know her anymore... were any of your interactions with her even real? Or were they just manipulated by her. 

"H-how'd you get these?" You asked hesitantly bracing yourself for the response you knew you'd receive. She had been stalking you. This is something you heard about on shows and television, but you never thought it would happen to you. You never grabbed anyone's attention, you felt practically invisible in your family and among your peers. A sick part of you was flattered that she had chosen you, and obviously devoted a lot of time to 'knowing' you. But you knew you couldn't listen to that little voice telling you that all of this could work out. You had definitely developed an unhealthy attachment to Diane, and you didn't know if you could just stop seeing her.

 It was a struggle to convince yourself that you wanted to leave her home. After everything, the thought of leaving her left a hollow feeling in your chest. A huge part of you just wanted to forget everything from yesterday and this morning and just continue on with Diane as you had been. But now you were burdened with the reality of the situation: Diane is dangerous. 

Eventually you tried to get up so you could take a better look at the twisted collage of images Diane had put together. There were hundreds of photos. You at school, you with friends, you with your brother and father. There were even ones of you recently. A bunch from the day you arrived... pictures of you sleeping in your home, pictures of you curled up next to Diane, picture that looked like they were taken from outside of your bedroom windows...

'Oh god' you felt sick as you remembered a conversation you had with your father. 

............

"I think I might ask Diane out tonight, do me a solid and watch your brother?" 

"What!"  you snapped. 'He cannot be serious!' you thought.

"I'm going to ask-" 

"I heard you! Why would you do that you don't even know anything about her! You've had like one conversation with her. She's clearly not into you, she avoids you like the plague."  You didn't want to hurt his feelings but the thought of him asking out Diane filled you with a jealous rage. 

"And you do?"  He quipped. 

"Yes! ......Well, no" you said as you tried to think of the things you actually knew about Diane and came up surprisingly short.