The Stalker
“The Stalker” – A “short” Saturn Herald Short Story June 2020 by Penny Nair Price
Natalie had moved out of London to a town near where she was born, to get away from the so-called but many of us might wonder why so called?…to get away from – “the rat race”. It wasn’t without a struggle and she made a huge attempt to get on with people at her new address and to get a job. There was a little bit of paranoia from locals who were wary of people from the South..but she seemed to fit in pretty well and employed her special “locally modifiedl” accent to blend in with the neighbourhood.
Natalie set about making links at the Job Centre and joined a pottery class and did a lot of reading through the town’s library. At the time she was a mother of two teenagers and they popped round to see her as they lived there, including for sumptuous Sunday lunches which were followed by board games if it was raining, or leisurely walks if the weather was bright.
As Natalie had been mugged and stalked in London, perhaps the police in the locality were aware that she had come away from the city with a little bit of “baggage.” Natalie had moved to get away from the rough lifestyle nasty people had engineered in the capital city of her birthright.
However, one night, around midnight, Natalie was just finishing the washing up and wiping the pots and pans after a lovely weekend, when she suddenly saw the face of a man looking straight at her as her sink was right by the kitchen window. The slimline garden had a back gate which he must have come through, and the front door in the adjoining room opened straight onto the street in her little stone- built terraced rented townhouse. Natalie took a good look at the man – medium sized, medium build, aged perhaps in his thirties and a navy shirt on, jeans and a baseball cap. Staring blue eyes that seemed to penetrate her, scrutinised the kitchen and her whole persona as she quickly turned off the light. But he was still there – tapping on her window and his bulging blue eyes could still be seen in the relative darkness.
The tapping on the window did not cease as Natalie sat in the only other ground floor room – her lounge. Finally deciding enough was enough, Natalie picked up her phone and called the local police station giving her name and address, still irritated by the tapping. Dusk was fast approaching, and Natalie waited patiently for both the tapping to cease and the police car to arrive, wondering what she was to face when she opened the door of her terraced stone cottage with master and guest bedroom and an extension for indoor bathroom and toilet which were both on the groundfloor.
Natalie busied herself reading, avoiding going into the kitchen or near the window before there was a sharp knock on her door. She smoothed down her t-shirt, prodded her hair and got ready to give a full description of her nasty stalker. When she opened the door Natalie however got a shock. There was a police car outside and a uniformed officer with a huge Alsation on a lead was standing outside with another man – in plain clothes.
“OK love, let’s get a look at the kitchen and the window where you saw the stalker and then you can give us a description of him – the dog won’t bite – he’s trained.” In a decidedly confused state Natalie showed the two men ( and the dog) into the kitchen. The uniformed officer opened the back kitchen door and shone a torch into the garden. The high wooden back gate was shut and there was no sign of anyone around at all.
What had given Natalie a shock, however, was the plain clothes “officer.” As she invited the man in uniform and the plain clothes “bod” to come and sit in her sitting room to describe the stalker, she was sure she was staring straight at him – yes – the man in the plain clothes outfitwasthe man who had been stalking her in the twilight!
Natalie brought her hands together and clasped them. She asked herself an ominous question – “Were the police trying to play a nasty prank on her? Why did the plain clothes man have a navy T shirt on, and lookexactly like the man she had taken a good look at who had stalked her and stared through her kitchen window?” Natalie was not prepared just yet to doubt her own sanity. She felt a bit like an alien in her own home. She drew a gasp of breath and simply dismissed the two men and the dog. “Well thanks for coming round. As you know you have a description of the intruder to my garden. Please keep an eye on the area so it doesn’t happen again. Thankyou. Goodnight.”
Natalie sat down on her settee and thought deep and hard.
Next day she drove her car to a shop that was a little “alternative”. There she found some small exploding caps which would be triggered to go off with a “bang” if the tripwire they were attached to was in any way “interfered with”, for example if a foot was caught in the wire. That afternoon the cunning Natalie set them up in her back garden especially near the kitchen window, sat down crossed her arms over a cup of tea and laughed. Next time an intruder thought they could scare her she and her antics would scare them hopefully!
And that, dear readers, is the end of the story for now. The above tale is based on a true incident.