I See You

1

Lena sat in the darkness of her room, the shadows had engulfed the house hours ago, but the young woman hadn't moved from her bed since the sun had started to set. She was looking out the window but Lena hadn't noticed that the sun had set already, her mind had drifted away the moment she sat down, but now the buzzing of her cellphone brought her back to reality.

Lena looked down at her lap, and the light of the screen made her squint, it was almost as being blinded for a few seconds, she took the phone and looked at it closer, the name Junior appeared on the screen as well as a photo of Lena wearing winter cloths while having a piggy back ride from Junior.

Both smiling at the camera.

Lena waited until the phone went to voice mail and looked away from the screen, she frowned as she looked out the window, surprised to notice that night had already taken over the small town.

The phone started buzzing again and Junior's photo and name appeared once more over the screen of the cellphone. Lena looked down at the phone and with a sigh she declined to answer it, she had no intention in talking to Junior that day; or any day soon.

Lena stood up and walked across the room towards the light switch, she flipped it and the light spread in the room rapidly, Lena closed her eyes for a few seconds and then squinted as her eyes adjusted to the bright light.

Junior called once more as she stood next to her room door, the blond grunted and rolled her eyes as she looked at the screen.

"Junior, seriously, take a hint"

She ignored the call once more when the doorbell echoed through the house; her blood froze and Lena could have sworn her heart had skipped a beat. The girl didn't move as she clutched her phone as hard as she could, her knuckles slowly turning white.

Lena stood in place, her hand had started to ache but she had no intention in moving from her place, a few seconds passed and the doorbell still didn't ring for a second time; the young woman started to relax and her heart beat started to slow down.

Her phone buzzed twice; Lena jumped scared out of her skin and looked down at her phone, she had received a text.

Her heart started to pound harder, and her breathing accelerated as well, an inner heat took over her body as Lena opened the text.

Get the door, you don't want your mother opening those pictures.

Lena had learned a few months ago that she had to obey the person at the other end of the text messages and the strange phone calls, bad things had happened when she hadn't, and the last thing she wanted was to add another problem to her list of troubles.

Without thinking it, the young woman turned around, with a rapid movement she pulled the door opened and dashed through the hallway and down the stairs. The house was pitch dark but Lena knew her house by memory and without trouble she reach the front door and pulled it opened; the light of the porch turned on automatically and showed Lena, that as usual there was no one outside.

Lena looked down at her feet and saw the usual brown envelope, she bent down and picked it up, she pressed it against her chest and stepped back in the house, the fear and adrenaline had made her unaware that Junior had called her twice since the text had arrived. Lena scanned her front yard and the street in front one last time before she slammed the door closed and turned the light of the living room on and walked towards the sofa.

Lena sat down over the beige sofa and pulled her legs up to her chest, carefully and almost without breathing she opened the brown envelope. The paper cracked and the sound seemed painful to Lena, although this had become a strange and sadistic ritual, the paper always sounded evil. After ripping the paper slowly, Lena pulled out the photos the text message had mentioned and het heart skipped a beat.

These photos were different; they had never been of Junior and her, but most of all, those pictures had been from at least a year ago, before Junior left to college.

"Oh my god" she whispered.

Her cellphone buzzed once more, it was Junior again and this time Lena answered.