The young woman walked into her apartment at the end of a long day. She was dead on her feet, and honestly, all she could think about was a quick shower and her bed however that all changed the second she reached for the lights. When she switched them on, she saw, and panic flew through her body. Her place had been trashed again. She listened for a second and then walked out of the apartment locking the doors behind her. She walked back down to her car and calmly called the police and told them that her apartment had been broken into and that she was waiting in her car in front of the building. She knew how this would go, an officer would be down to look around and basically tell her they were sorry but there was not much they could do. Even with the restraining order, she had in place she could never prove it was him. The torment he had caused in the three years since she left him was becoming almost comical to an outsider, but to her, she could see the escalation in his desperate attempts to hurt her.
While she waited for the police, she started looking up new apartments that she would have to try to look at over the next week. His ability to find her was becoming beyond human and he was doing it quicker each time, she couldn't figure out how he was doing it either. She had a whole network of friends he never knew about helping her with placing utilities in their name, and she had a PO box instead of having her mail forwarded, she was careful to give a friends address for work instead of her own, even her phone was in her father's name. She was lost and fighting with a man who hid better than she ever could. She was becoming desperate, and the worst part was she knew he was too.
When the cop finally showed up it was a repeat of every other time this had happened except they questioned her if she had done it to get attention. She looked at them appalled as she asked them if they had ever dealt with a crazy ex before? If not then she didn't want to hear it. She was scared for the first time as it really hit her as the cops left. She was entirely alone in this. No one could see what he was doing to her, she had moved fourteen times in the last three years, and he was still right there with her at every step. He could come back right now and do whatever and the police would ignore it. She picked up her phone and called one of her co-workers, "Hey sorry it's late.", she said into the receiver.
"It's not a problem I just walked in the door.", he said.
"Sasuke I have a favor to ask.", she said matter of factly.
"Shoot.", He replied. Sasuke worked in one of the adjacent departments to hers on base.
"Can I crash at your place for a few days?", she asked.
"Problems?", He asked. She thought to herself that he really was simply spoken as his responses were usually one or two words at the max if he was considering something.
"He found me again.", she replied.
"Then why are you still there?", he asked at first then continued. "Of course you can stay here."
"Thanks, Sasuke. I'll be there in 20.", She said as she hung up the phone and went to grab some clothes and shove them into a bag. She looked around again and wondered what gift he had left for her this time but didn't stay to find it. She had that rush of instinctual fight or flight energy hit her, and she bolted from the apartment again, barely stopping to lock the door. As she got to the bottom of the stairs and hit the pavement, she turned and looked, and though her apartment was on the second floor, she was sure she saw the blinds moving. Luckily for her, Sasuke was even more paranoid then her when it came to his privacy, and he had nothing in his name either. She was sure he was in the apartment still, and there was nothing anyone could do to help. She got in her car and took off peeling out of the parking lot and down the long highway that led straight to the base. Sasuke had managed to get a small house on the beach right next to the base his reasoning was it was best to live close to where you work if there is an emergency you can get there faster. She could see his point, but at the same time, the base was only partly safe to her as she knew her ex-had enough friends that could bring him on at any point. That scared her even more as she was virtually defenseless against him and he could thoroughly torment her and force her to move again. If she did run again she would have to run far away but she was scared he had gone to the lengths he already had, he would just follow her where ever she went. She knew somewhere deep down he would always follow her and torment her, no place on earth was safe.
"How did he find you?", Sasuke met her in the driveway.
"If I knew that I would have stopped him finding me.", she replied.
"Princess, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to accuse you or have it sound like I was at least. That is the furthest from my mind.", he said with his shoulders shrugged he looked like he was beating himself up.
"Nah, it's okay Sasuke.", she said. "I know what you meant. I have no idea how he does it. I leave no paper trail, and I cut contact with anyone we knew together. I think he was in the apartment when I called you.", she said.
"What?", he nearly yelped.
"I got that rush of energy, and you know when something is really wrong before you know it's wrong. I ran out then when I looked up I will swear that the blinds in my bedroom where I was moved like someone was looking out.", she said.
"And you didn't call the police?", he asked as he took her bag and led the way into his house.
"I did after I first walked in and saw. They accused me of doing it myself.", she said.
"Lazy asses.", he replied.
"I get it, their viewpoint sort of at least. If I didn't live this, I wouldn't believe it either. Sasuke it's real, I know it's him, but I have no way of proving it is. They barely listen to me anymore and honestly I'm scared now. He was brazened enough to stay in the house with the police there while they were looking around and for what? What is his end game?", she asked.
"I think we both know what that is, Princess.", he said softly.
"Exactly.", she said hanging her head down. "I brought this on myself."
"What?", he asked. "And how did you do that? This I have to hear."
"I let him in my life.", she started to which he laughed and then stopped her.
"You dated him, Princess. You had no idea he was so mentally unstable that isn't your fault. You tried to help him, remember I was there as well. You tried to help you didn't ask for him to turn your life upside down, or for him to stalk and harass you. You sure as hell didn't ask for the other things he did.", Sasuke said.
She hung her head, even more, when he brought that up, she had hoped her friends and co-workers had forgotten the massive bruises she had received because of him. "God, I was so stupid.", she said mostly to herself.
"You were alone, and you thought you were in love. That tends to make the smartest people rather stupid for some reason.", he stated.
"Thank Sasuke.", she said chuckling.
"It's scientific reasoning at it's best.", he said with a slight smile. "We had a long day. You know where the bathroom is but for as long as you want to or need to stay this can be your room."
He motioned to a good sized bedroom that had a computer station and a good sized bed. "Help yourself to anything anywhere. I am down the hall if you need me."
"Thank you, Sasuke. Really Thank you.", she said as she hugged him and he pat her three times on the back.
"Good night Princess.", He said as he went to his room that was four doors down and she turned and walked in the room he had let her have. It was safe here, she thought to herself for a second. She knew she could let her guard down with Sasuke more than just about anyone else, and he was one of the few techs in the building which was like her, a civilian, he had also been there through the break-up and all the moves. He had been a good friend to her when she needed one.
She took a long shower, much longer than the ones she usually took. She had a lot to think about. She knew in her heart she had to leave the area if not permanently then for an extended period of time. She could request a temporary transfer, but that would leave a paper trail, and even though he was in the military, she was sure he would still be able to find her somehow. She thought about moving back home but in a way that would be a defeat too. She had struck it out when she was just eighteen and for the most part had succeeded in her life, moving back home to the northeast would mean she lost. She was lost, but she still had some fight in her. She knew she had to figure something out and soon before she put Sasuke in danger too. She really had no idea what her ex was capable of but she was sure in the long run he would kill her if he got the chance, it was really the only ending to all of this that she could see, and she wouldn't let her friend get caught in his crosshairs.
She crawled into her borrowed bed and fell fast asleep where her dreams haunted her even more. She was caught in a cycle where she couldn't even get away from him in her sleep. She woke up to Sasuke standing over her, "Princess, wake up!"
"I am.", she grumbled.
"You were having a nightmare.", he said.
"I can't even sleep without him bothering me.", She said as she realized tears were streaming down her face. Sasuke sat on the bed and wiped them all away as he spoke.
"You are not alone, Princess.", he said calmly and in an even tone, "Tomorrow we will figure something out, okay?"
"Okay.", she hiccupped. "Tomorrow we will figure something out."
"For now let's go watch tv.," he suggested.
"Why?", she asked.
"Because as much as I would like to sleep, I don't think you should be alone. I believe this setting that we are currently in is not conducive of either of us getting to sleep if I stay. So the living room is much better for the setting and enough space where nothing questionable can happen.", he stated.
"So you don't want to leave me alone but don't want to give the wrong impression by suggesting we sleep in the same room?", she asked chuckling.
"Correct.", He replied and reached out his hand to her. She looked at it and then placed her hand in his as the two settled into the couches in his living room as he flipped on the television. Soon he looked over as he flipped through waiting for her to say stop on a channel and realized that she was fast asleep. He didn't know how to help her in the long run, but by being his usual self, he knew they would find some way out. She mostly just need one person to believe in her and everything Sasuke had seen of her of the past four years he did, he also saw the terror in her eyes, and he knew he would help her do anything to erase that look, so she never had to look that way again.