Katie came home late to find a single red rose upon her doorstep. The card said only, “This is not from KL” KL is her ex-husband. Suddenly fear sets in. Who would come and leave a rose on her doorstep with no name on the card? She looked around, but saw no one. She goes to unlock the door only to find the door is not shut all the way. She slowly walks in, seeing her phone sitting in the middle of the floor, with a note stuck on it, “Next time you leave your house, be sure you lock your door. It’s very dangerous, especially with you living alone.” Now she’s REALLY scared. Someone’s been in her house and she knows she locked the door when she left.

After not hearing anything more from or about her stalker in over a year, she thought it was over and she was safe. Now it seems it’s all begun again. She sits down and begins to call her family. Nobody knows anything about a red rose and nobody has been in her home. She begins to call friends, again, to no avail. She wonders if she should call the police, but then remembers the last time this happened she called the police, things got worse. The police found nothing. She sits down and cries, knowing that she is alone in this, truly alone.

After pulling herself together, she eats, alone, as always. She watches her favorite TV show, which tonight, of all times, is about stalkers. “Great,” she says to herself, “this is all I need.” She gets up, showers and goes to bed. She hopes to not dream about it. Sleeping is the only time she feels free. She prays and then cries herself to sleep.

The phone wakes her at 3:30am, she bolts up in the bed, relieved it was only the phone. “Yes, hello,” she says groggily. Silence follows. Finally someone says, “Did you like the rose? Did you get my note? Really Darling, you must be more careful, not locking your door this day and age is very dangerous.”

“Who are you? What do you want?” she cries. “I only want you to be safe Love. And of course I wanted to give you a rose to show what you mean to me.” She becomes very frustrated and more frightened, she screams into the phone, “Who are you?!” But the question is followed only by a dial tone. She lies in bed and cries. She doesn’t know what to do. Who is this man, and what does he want from her? She has moved, changed her phone number, still he finds her. He knows all about her, still she can’t figure out who he is. She doesn’t recognize the voice. She finally falls asleep again.

The following morning she awakes, happy that there were no more phone calls. She dresses for work. She opens the door, and finds a dozen red roses. The card attached says, “Good Morning Love. I hope you slept well, sorry to have wakened you last night, but I had to hear your voice. Love, A Secret Admirer.” She drops the roses, looks around, and again sees on one.

She gets to work, pretty upset by the whole thing. Her boss, Ms. O’Conner, tells her, “Someone came by to see you this morning. He said to tell you not to worry, he’s watching over you.” She just stands, says nothing. Finally she finds her voice and says, “what did he look like? Did he say who he was?” Her boss stands looking at her, the blood draining from Katie’s face. “Katie, he didn’t say who he was, and I can’t remember exactly what he looked like, he was tall and, Katie, what is it? What is this all about? You are as pale as a ghost, we need to get you sitting down.” Before she can get Katie seated, Katie passes out. She and a co-worker get Katie to a sofa in the break room. They wipe her face with cool rags. Ms. O’Conner tells her co-worker, “I don’t know who that blond haired man was earlier who was here to see Katie, but when I told her about it, she got pale and passed out.” Katie begins to come to, she looks up and tells Ms. O’Conner, “I’m so sorry, it’s just that this has me so upset.” Ms. O’Conner hugs her, and tells her that it’s okay. Katie tells her everything. Ms. O’Conner tells her, “You must go to the police.” Katie thinks about this, and decides that maybe it’s the best thing to do, she’s getting pretty frightened. She promises to call them when she gets home that evening.

The rest of her day is pretty uneventful. When she gets home, another single red rose lies upon her doorstep, card attached says simply, “Welcome Home Darling. Glad you locked your door today. Will talk to you tonight. Love you, Your Secret Admirer.”

“Okay,” she thinks to herself, “I’m calling the police.” She picks up the phone, calls the police, tells the dispatcher the problem, they say they’ll send a man right out. She waits, 20 minutes later, a knock on the door. “Who is it,” she calls through the door, “Police Ma’am.” Katie opens her door, a tall blond police officer stands before her and says, “Did you call for the Police Ma’am?”

© October 9, 2003  Janice Jarnagin