Chapter 12 – Sweet Like Sarah
Emily woke to the dim gray light spilling through Sarah’s thin curtains, her body heavy and her throat dry as though she had been holding back tears all night. For a moment, there was peace. A sliver of comfort in the way the sheets smelled faintly of lavender detergent and the safety that came with not being alone. But that illusion shattered as soon as her mind dragged her back. The shadow in her apartment. The chase. The texts. The feeling of being hunted.
Her chest tightened.
She sat up on the couch where she had finally passed out, her head aching. Sarah had insisted she take her bed, but Emily had refused. It felt wrong. Too invasive. Besides, she did not want to close a door and sleep without knowing what was on the other side.
“Morning,” Sarah’s voice came softly from the kitchen.
Emily turned her head to see Sarah fussing with a coffee pot, hair up in a messy bun, wearing the same t-shirt she had slept in. It was a homely scene, ordinary even. But Emily’s insides twisted. Sarah did not deserve this. She should not have been dragged into the nightmare spiraling out of control.
Sarah set a mug down on the counter. “Come drink something. You look like death.”
Emily tried to smile, but it barely tugged her lips. “Did not really sleep.”
“I noticed,” Sarah said gently, joining her in the living room. She carried two mugs, placing one in Emily’s hands before sitting cross-legged in the armchair across from her. “You were tossing and turning. Then mumbling.”
Emily flushed, wrapping both hands around the mug for warmth. “Sorry. I did not mean to keep you up too.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Sarah said. “What are friends for? If it were me being stalked, I would want someone to crash on my couch, too.”
The word stalked sent a shiver through Emily. She had avoided labeling it that way. Stalker. Killer. Psychopath. Words had power, and she feared speaking them into existence would only make them more real.
Still, Sarah leaned forward with that same fierce loyalty she had always had since college, her eyes searching Emily’s tired face. “You can not go to work today. Not like this.”
“I have to,” Emily said quickly, the guilt rising in her throat. “I have already dragged you into this. I can not just keep disrupting your life.”
“You think I care about that?” Sarah frowned. “Emily, you barely made it out alive last night. If you think I’m letting you walk into an office pretending you are fine, you are delusional.”
Emily stared down into the coffee. Her stomach was too tight to drink. “I am sorry, Sarah.”
“Don’t apologize. Just… be safe. Take the day off.”
Emily was about to argue again when her phone buzzed on the coffee table. The sound was like a gunshot in the quiet room. Both women stiffened.
Her hand shook as she reached for it.
Unknown Number: “I like Sarah. She’s sweet.”
Her blood froze.
Another buzz.
Unknown Number: “Shame if she got hurt.”
The mug slipped from Emily’s grip, crashing to the carpet with a splash of brown liquid. The sound startled Sarah, who jumped to her feet instantly.
“What? What is it?” she asked, alarm sharpening her voice.
Emily’s throat closed up. She turned the phone around slowly, her fingers trembling so violently she nearly dropped it.
Sarah leaned over, reading the message. For a second her face drained of color. Then she straightened, her jaw setting hard. “He’s threatening me now?”
Emily nodded, tears springing hot to her eyes. “Oh God… it’s not just me anymore.”
Sarah crouched in front of her, grabbing her hands. “Listen to me. This does not change anything. Whoever this is, he’s trying to scare you us into falling apart. That’s what he wants. He feeds off it.”
Emily shook her head, voice breaking. “No, you don’t understand. He knew I was alone in my apartment. He was inside, Sarah..... He chased me through the alley. .... He knew where I was every second..... And now now he knows I’m here with you.”
The words cracked out of her, raw with terror.
Sarah squeezed her hands tighter, trying to anchor her.But Emily barely heard her. All she could see was the text. The sickly sweet taunt. The way the words were so casual, like Sarah’s life was nothing more than a toy the killer could snatch away whenever he pleased.
Her breath quickened. The apartment suddenly felt too small, too vulnerable. Every creak in the walls, every hum of the fridge became an intrusion. The curtains stirred faintly with a draft, and Emily’s eyes shot to the window, convinced someone was out there watching.
She jumped to her feet. “We have to leave. We can not stay here. He is watching us.”
Sarah followed her, gripping her shoulders firmly. “Emily, look at me. There is no one out there.”
“You do not know that!” Emily cried, the panic overwhelming. “You do not know what he is capable of!”
Sarah’s voice softened but carried an edge of steel. “Then we will make sure we are prepared. I will call the police ”
“They won’t believe me,” Emily cut in sharply. Her voice cracked with desperation. “Every time I try to prove it, the messages disappear. They think I am imagining it. They will lock me up, Sarah.”
Sarah’s lips parted, but she didn’t argue. The truth hung between them Sarah had not seen the messages vanish before her eyes . Sarah had not been chased through dark hallways by invisible shadows. For Sarah, this was all still… secondhand.
But for Emily, it was life or death.
Tears blurred her vision. She clutched Sarah’s arms like they were her lifeline. “Please. I can not lose you. He is coming after you now because of me.”
Sarah pulled her into a hug, holding her tight. “You are not going to lose me. We will figure this out.... Together.”
But Emily’s heart thudded with dread, her pulse screaming that the killer was already closing in.
She had thought she was the only target. She could live with being the prey. But Sarah? Sweet, loyal Sarah who had only ever tried to help her?
Emily knew, with bone-deep certainty, that she had dragged Sarah into the line of fire. And now there was no going back.
Her phone buzzed again in her trembling hand.
She did not want to look.
But she could not stop herself.
Unknown Number: “Tick tock, Emily. Sweet things do not last forever.”
Emily’s breath caught. Her whole body went cold.
For the first time since it all began, the fear wa not just hers to bear. It had spread, seeping into Sarah’s life. And that meant the game was changing.
The killer was not just tormenting her anymore.
Now Sarah was the prize.
And Emily knew with terrifying clarity if she did not stop him, Sarah was going to die.