In My Skin

CH 39 || This One Stinks

After locking the door, I placed the box on my kitchen table. My plans had turned to dust and suddenly I was at a loss, feeling overwhelmed, and alone.

A strange, pungent smell wafted up my nose. Did I have any rotting groceries? I grimaced and checked around the kitchen. Nothing. Then my eyes fell on the package. I inched closer, sniffed, and instantly backed away. It seemed to be the origin of the strange smell.

My head sank into my palms, and I slumped to the ground. Some emotion clawed at the back of my throat, but I swallowed it down.

Talking to Suz was out of the question. I knew who I wanted to talk to. My fingers hovered over Killian's contact. Yet, I couldn't press it. Why was it so hard to ask for his help?

Actually, I knew why. In a way, asking for help was a personal failure. It meant being vulnerable in a way I just couldn't. Like admitting that I couldn't deal with something. Knowing he was different didn't help lessen this irrational fear that I would become a burden. And then he wouldn't want to deal with me anymore. Just like all the others.

My fingers scratched across my scalp in quick hard strides until I realized what I was doing and forcefully pulled down my hand. My nails came away bloody. Fuck. I hadn't realized how much they'd grown again. I jumped to my feet, marched into the bathroom, and filed my nails right down to the flesh.

How should I handle this? I dropped my hands. Maybe that was a question I should ask someone with more expertise. After thinking for a while, I called the police.

Not even an hour later, two officers stood in my apartment. The female officer looked around a notepad in her hand. The male officer was studying the package and the box of letters that I had pulled out. Now, I was glad that I hadn't thrown them away.

"How long did you say this has been going on?" the woman, Officer Williams, asked.

I shifted my weight. "It's been going on for about a month now."

"Has there been anything else unusual lately? Any strange men around the apartment?"

I was instantly reminded of the guy who stalked me when I was for a run. "Just once," I said and proceeded to tell them about the man that had followed me. "But it could have been a coincidence, right?"

"It could be, yeah," Officer Williams said in a comforting tone.

The man, Officer Smith, held up his phone to take a picture of my destroyed student ID. "And when did you lose this?"

"Around Halloween."

"Do you know where?" he asked.

I hesitated. Their gaze sharpened and narrowed on me.

"Miss West," Officer Smith said sternly. "You have to be honest if you want to take this seriously. Because it does sound very serious."

I gulped. "Well, we sort of went to the abandoned asylum. Down in Richerston. They did a dare there..."

Both of them exchanged shocked looks.

"What?" I asked.

"The Richerston Asylum?" he echoed. "Did you by any chance see anyone there?"

My hands went cold. "Um... actually I—I did the challenge alone and I ran into a man..." I summarized the happenings of that night.

They exchanged meaningful glances and nodded gravely.

"Alright. We will take these to run fingerprints over them," the male officer said. "Sadly, that's the only thing we can do for now. It's important that you keep collecting if any more letters come in. And give us a call if anything suspicious happens again."