48 Hours | JB

AFTER: PART 13

I heard him clear his throat on the other side of the phone and I gave him an intense look that literally told him how much I wanted that to happen. But it didn't work because he ended up shaking his head with a muffled groan, "I can't move, Sierra. I'm sorry. It's easier for you to move."

I knew I shouldn't feel a slight offence to his sentence but I did. He expected me to give up my life, friends and career because he didn't want to move. Then again, I was technically asking him for the same thing but to me, it didn't seem like his life in Los Angeles was as important. He always complained about living there, how he didn't want to stay there because of the wildness and small privacy rights he gets. I definitely saw his point, though. 

I opened my mouth to tell him that it was okay and that we would figure something out in the future, when the time was right for the both of us, when I was cut off by the doorbell ringing, "Oh, I think Ella's here. I gotta go, love you bye."

"Love you too, have fun."

Ending the facetime call, I blew him a quick kiss and watched his face disappear. A little sad wave hit me but was quickly vanished when the doorbell rang again. I sighed, shouted out that I was on my way so that she would stop doing that. The sound was unbearable, it was noisy and made my ears wince. 

But before I had reached the door, the doorbell rang another three times.

"Jesus, Ellie, what's gotten into you?" I joked, a slight laugh leaving my lips as I opened the door only to realise that I was talking to no one. On the other side of my door was absolutely nobody. My eyebrows furrowed together and I slowly closed the door again, a chill going up and down my spine which made me want to make sure the door was locked and secure. 

It was probably just some kids running around, nothing that I should be worried about. I did that at their age too, click and run. I remember loving seeing people's faces as they opened their door, a frustrated look appearing as they were met with the same experience as I was. But there was something a little bit chilly about this, especially since all those phone calls happened too.

What was going on?

I walked back into my living room, seeing the open windows. That didn't freak me out, though because I quickly reminded myself that I had opened them myself. It was beginning to get a bit cold in the apartment so I decided to close them again. Walking up there, I felt watched. It felt like someone was definitely watching my every move as I tried my best to ignore the feeling.

It was probably nothing, anyway. I was being paranoid because of the doorbell ringing, that's it. The phone calls scared me, the doorbell ringing freaked me out even more and here I was, being paranoid as fuck. It was unnecessary to let myself waste energy on that, though.

Closing the first window was a huge relief. It felt like a little bit of that safety feeling went straight back into the apartment. I even smiled as I closed the next one, the same feeling hitting me immediately. But on the last window, I noticed a weird sound coming from just around the corner of the balcony. Looking right, I saw a little machine flying in the air. I squinted my eyes until I realised what it was, my eyes instantly doing the opposite of squinting instead. 

It was definitely a camera. 

"Oh my God," I mumbled to myself as I quickly shut the window and closed the curtains. I ran around to all the rooms, letting every single curtain I could find down. After that, I sat on my bed and stared at the wall for a few seconds to understand what was happening.

I decided to text Justin, he probably knew what to do about this since I bet he's been through having people stalking him before. He knew how to get rid of them or how to at least deal with it. If someone was stalking me, I had to know who and why.