I used to be a total amateur when it came to stalking and the like. It's easy to look back at the things you did and point out your mistakes. Hindsight, right? For example, the first time I broke into Harper's apartment. Granted, it was my first time ever breaking and entering but I made tons of mistakes. To my surprise, though, she had absolutely no idea that anyone had been there while she was at work. I was baffled when I saw her come home and act like nothing had happened. Maybe she didn't notice or maybe she didn't want to. But all I could see were my many mistakes.

One of the clips on the screen in the living room window wasn't clipped shut. I tracked in a little bit of mud on her carpet. Nothing too crazy but enough to drive a neat freak crazy. Lucky for me, Harper was not a neat freak. I left her bedroom door open, even though it was closed when I got there. The shoeboxes in her closet got mixed around while I was looking through them. Some of the drawers of her dresser were slightly ajar. In the bathroom, her toothbrush was flipped upside down and her shampoo bottle was left open.

Take each of these things by itself and they might not be noticeable. But I moved around almost everything in her apartment and she couldn't even tell. The more I think about it, though, they weren't really mistakes. I wanted her to see me. I wanted to get a reaction out of her. And it was frustrating that she didn't notice. Now it's different. I know she sees me now. After I chased her through the woods, she really started to open her eyes to what was happening. Now she knows that I exist. She can't ignore me anymore. And now, whenever I break into her apartment, it isn't so that she notices me. It's to get something that I want.

Something like her laptop.