Chapter 17

Freshia Ava's POV

After returning from the hospital to consult with a psychiatrist and undergo a series of physical examinations, Amara and I decided to visit my apartment briefly, to ask the apartment receptionist what I wanted to confirm.

“Good afternoon, Miss.” Said a woman from behind the reception desk when I arrived near her.

"Afternoon. I am a resident of unit 501. Want to ask about something.” I said.

“Please, Miss. Is there anything I can help with?"

"May I know who the receptionist was on duty this morning?”

"If I may ask, what time in the morning, Miss? Because I change shifts with my friend at seven in the morning.”

"Okay, then did someone come here this morning looking for me, Freshia Ava from unit 501?"

The receptionist looked thoughtful. “Nothing, Miss. As long as I've been here since this morning, only two people have approached the reception desk and that was around eleven o'clock and half past two in the afternoon."

"Apart from that, can I use my rights as a resident to view CCTV this morning?"

“Yes, Miss. But can you show me the special card for previous residents of this apartment? And the only person who can go inside are you as a resident."

I immediately showed the access card I had and asked Amara to wait for me in the lobby. The receptionist immediately took me to a room where many monitor screens were showing various corners of the apartment where the CCTV was placed. Then, a man guarding the CCTV room immediately complied with my request to show the recording in the apartment lobby around five to nine this morning. However, after checking, I didn't find Martin's figure appearing in the apartment lobby this morning.

After that, I also dared to try to check the recording in front of my unit in the early hours of this morning, where the incident that traumatized me occurred. But I was surprised when I didn't see anything there. The recording looks like it has been manipulated.

I came out of the CCTV room with a frown on my face. Then Amara immediately approached me. "How? Is it true that Martin was here this morning?" Amara asked immediately.

I just shook my head. “Martin lied, but in any case, I have no direct evidence to suggest that he was the real perpetrator. Apart from that, Amara, what surprised me even more was that when I also checked the footage earlier this morning, there were no incidents or incidents recorded on CCTV. It seems the perpetrator manipulated the CCTV footage. I feel like this apartment is no longer safe."

“We'll wait for more definite results from the police tomorrow, Ok, Freshia. For now, let's go back to the dormitory. You look tired after going to and fro all day." Amara said which I immediately agreed with. After that, we decided to return to the hostel.

***

The next day, as Amara and I had expected, the police contacted me to provide the results of the investigation and I was asked to come to their office immediately to receive an explanation. Again Amara accompanied me. When we arrived at the police station, the male police officer who came to my apartment yesterday said that the perpetrator of the incident was someone who was drunk. Then a man was removed from the temporary cell in the office.

"Do you recognize him?" The policeman asked me as the man they said was the suspect sat next to me. It made me shiver instantly and immediately moved my body away from him. After that, I answered that I didn't recognize the man.

"He is the person who was recorded on CCTV banging on the door of your apartment unit, Miss." The police said the man again and this time he showed CCTV footage which captured the man beside me breaking down the door of the apartment unit at two in the morning yesterday. "This man's fingerprints also match the fingerprints on the doorknob of your apartment unit. So it can be confirmed that this man is the suspect. But he was drunk last night, Miss."

I furrowed my brow confused as to what was actually happening. How come there is a recording that captures this man on the CCTV footage, where when I checked it earlier in the CCTV room in my apartment, nothing happened at two in the morning and I'm sure the recording was manipulated. But I couldn't prove anything and with a heavy heart had to accept the results of the police investigation which finally identified the man who was drunk as the suspect.

On the way back to the dormitory, I was still thinking about events that still felt strange to me. Amara probably caught me who was still restless and she calmed me down again. “Just stay in the dormitory again, Freshia. I think the dorm is the safest place for you right now because there are a lot of people in the dorm,” he said.

“Yeah, I think so too. Besides, it doesn't look like I'm going back to that apartment, Amara. Tomorrow I will ask Mrs. Haidee to leave the apartment unit because I felt unsafe there. Apart from that, my trauma will definitely reappear if I see my apartment unit."

"Yes, do it if you think it's best," Amara said again after receiving a telephone call.

A few minutes later the phone was hung up and Amara's face turned sluggish. "Just now my sister called me, Freshia, she said my mother was in the hospital."

“Go home, Amara. You have to see your mother's condition directly."

“But what about you? I can't possibly leave you alone."

"You said it yourself that this dormitory is a safe place for me, Amara. Besides, my situation is much better now. Your mother needs your presence more now, Amara."

Amara still seemed hesitant to leave me, but she also had no choice not to go home and visit her mother in the hospital.

“Say hello to your mother, Amara. I hope your mother recovers quickly and recovers quickly." I said when Amara was about to leave our room, leaving me alone.

I'm not lying when I say that my situation is much better now. Maybe the medicine I took also helped speed up my recovery. Not long after taking the night medicine, I felt my eyes getting heavy. The effects of this drug are no joke. Not long after consuming it, I immediately fell asleep and that made me grateful because I no longer had to think about things that only made my fear and anxiety come back.

In my deep sleep that night, I was still quite sensitive to my surroundings in case something happened. My eyes were closed but my body seemed to be constantly awake and that night, suddenly I felt someone's presence and he was hugging me from behind. However, at that time it felt very difficult for me to open my eyes and get out of my sleep. Fear started to creep over me again when I felt that someone had broken through my dorm room door. I am sure of it. However, the influence of the medicine I was taking made my body weak and helpless.