In the past four weeks, Kimberly Blake had known someone was following her. She could sense it so clearly, that prickly sensation down the center of her spine, hair standing up at the back of her neck, goosebumps marching an eager path down her arms. Someone was there. When she went shopping for groceries, when she got the mail, when she dressed for bed at night. Someone was watching.
She hadn't communicated her fears to anyone, because she feared they wouldn't believe her and think that she was crazy. Hell, she was actually beginning to think that she was a little bit crazy. Because no matter how weird she felt, she never saw anything to prove that she was being followed.
But she felt it. She just knew. Somehow she did.
Who would want to harm her? She often wondered. Fine, maybe she got into a little quarrel and disagreements with people... Everyone did. She was sure it wasn't enough for someone to want to hurt her.... Or was it? People could do really weird things sometimes. For really little things.
Though you couldn't be too sure. Her family was wealthy and they had a lot of family friends. Her father and his friend Christopher Keane sometimes held parties at the house. Parties Kimberly usually found boring. She knew most of the people who attended just came to show off their designer clothes and brag about their latest achievements. The women regarded food as an enemy and the men were so damn arrogant for her liking... People who thought they could get anything they wanted because they had wealth. Sometimes she couldn't understand why her father hung out with such people.
She was an only child. Her mother, Clara Blake, had died when she was still a baby. So she had no memories of her. But she had seen pictures of her and most times she wondered what it would have been like growing up with her mother. It wasn't so easy when she was a teenager and wanted to talk about things she didn't feel like talking about with her father. Things she felt her mother would have understood better. And most times she envied her friends when she saw them with their moms.
Her father, Hillary Blake had loved his wife so much and he had been so broken when she died. He never remarried. So he raised Kimberly as a single father. He was filthy rich. He owned his own company. And so Kimberly never lacked anything... At least, not any material item.
Hillary loved his only daughter and only child so dearly. He would do anything for her and everyone who knew them knew that. Kimberly was the apple of her father's eyes and he would do anything to protect her.
Kimberly knew this too. She was Twenty five years old and she headed one of her father's branches. She would soon inherit her father's company and she knew Hillary would do anything to protect his lovely daughter and heir to his fortune. Which was why she didn't tell him about her recent suspicions about being followed.
She knew that if she did, he would immediately order her to do something crazy like move back into his mansion. And that was the last thing Kimberly wanted.
Kimberly loved being independent. She loved having control over her life and she hated being told what to do more than anything. That was another reason why she hadn't told her father how she had been feeling lately. She wanted her freedom and she knew she wouldn't have that if she continued to live in her father's big house. She also preferred being known as her own person. Not the daughter of billionaire, Hillary Blake.
She didn't want people walking on eggshells around her and so she hardly told people who she was... Though some people did. Mostly those at work.
Kimberly loved simple things... And beautiful things too. She had an apartment not too far away from her office and not too far away from her dad too. She didn't want to be too far away from him. He was all she had and vice versa. And besides, he wouldn't even let her go too far away from him even if she wanted to. Good thing she didn't.
She loved her father dearly. Which was another reason why she didn't tell him about her worries was because she didn't want to bother him. She hated to see him worry. And she wasn't going to bother him about something she wasn't entirely sure about. She kept it to herself.
The only person she told about it was her best friend, Phoebe Martin. Phoebe and Kimberly were childhood friends, and they had a very strong bond. They thought of themselves as sisters and told each other everything. They had sworn from childhood to protect and respect each others' confidences.
Kimberly needed one person in her life to whom she could say anything. Phoebe was that person. And Kimberly told her everything. And so Phoebe knew about the weird feelings Kimberly had been having lately.
But even if Phoebe had tried her best to convince Kimberly that she was just being paranoid, her reaction at first was to laugh long and hard. Which was another reason why Kimberly wasn't sure telling her dad was such a good idea.
"You know when I tell you stuff like this, I expect you to be a good friend and try to make me feel better" Kimberly had said to Phoebe. "I don't expect you to laugh. Quit being an asshole".
But Phoebe had laughed some more before she said. "Ohhh... Maybe it's a vampire. Stalking you... Who knows maybe you are his 'mate' and he's you know.... Protecting and watching over you." She said, placing emphasis on the word "Mate".
"You know what? I'm done with you. You are an idiot. Just forget it" Kimberly had said, smiling.
"Relax, Kim" Phoebe said, finally getting serious. "I'm sure it's nothing, and you are just stressed. You said it yourself that nothing has been out of the ordinary. It's just a feeling. I'm sure it will pass. Besides you have me. I will watch over you"
Kimberly smiled. Maybe Phoebe was right and she was worried for nothing. If someone wanted to hurt her. The person would have done it by now. Why lurk around in the shadows? She was imagining things. This was one of the effects of watching too many horror movies.
She wanted to believe Phoebe. But the weird feeling stayed with her. And no matter how much she tried not to think about it. She did, because she couldn't help it.