Monday at school was back to the same grind as the previous week, as the professors had warned. More chapters assigned to read from the books, two online articles, and Kate’s professor in her last class assigned a three page paper that was due Friday. Everything combined was stressing Kate out more and more by the second.

Slowly walking back to the dorms after being dismissed from her final class for the day, Kate’s mind drifted to ‘Pete.’ Whoever he really is, must be some kind of loner, an outcast. Surely no one with any kind of social life, or any kind of life period, for that matter, could be twisted enough to seriously stalk someone online. At least real stalkers got out and done the footwork. The words from ‘Pete’s’ last message on Facebook flashed momentarily in Kate’s mind, sending a cold, tingly chill through her.

Shaking her head to clear her mind of the image, Kate had reached the dorms, and was walking down the hall to her door. Reaching in her purse for her keys to unlock the door before she reached it, Kate looked up and saw a small yellow Post-It stuck on the middle of her door. Keys in hand, Kate pulled the note from her door. Horror washed over her face as she read:

‘Hope all was great at school today. You may not have to worry about your paper due on Friday. Who knows if you’ll live that long. I guess we shall see. --Pete.’

Rushing into her room and slamming the door shut behind her, Kate leaned against it, tears threatening to overflow from her eyes. A death threat?! A for real, honest to goodness death threat?! On her?! Kate couldn’t believe it. She quickly locked both locks on her door, the normal one on the knob, and the dead bolt. Hands trembling with fear, she dialed the police station.

“Hello? Cook county police station. This is Karen. How may I help you?” came a lady’s voice from the other end.

Kate was breathless when she replied, like she had just ran a marathon. “Hi. My name is Kate Anderson. I just had a death threat on my life.”

“Okay, ma’am, calm down, please. Take some deep breaths. What do you mean by ‘death threat,’ exactly?” Karen asked calmly. Of course she was calm, it wasn’t her life that had been threatened, after all.

Slowly inhaling and exhaling, Kate answered, “Okay, well, there was a Post-It note on my door. I’m staying at the dorms. It said I may not have to worry about this paper I have due for a class on Friday, ‘cuz I may not live that long.”

After a moment’s pause, Karen replied, “Is that all?”

‘Is that ALL?!!’ Kate wanted to scream at this woman. “No,” she replied instead.

“Well, what else?” Kate hinted a bit of impatience or annoyance in Karen’s voice.

“I added this guy, this ‘Pete’ guy, as a friend on Facebook not real long ago. He started instant messaging me and sending me private messages, and commenting on all these pictures I have on there. I deleted him from my friend’s list, and now he’s left this note.” Kate told her. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she felt silly and slightly childish. She was in a panic over a Post-It note and some comments and instant messages. This lady at the police station, Karen, probably thought Kate was a lunatic.

“Well, I understand your concern. Do you know anything about Pete? Is that his real name? Do you know an address, or a phone number? Maybe what he looks like?” Kate could sense that Karen was just going through some sort of protocol now, there was zero concern or interest in her voice.

“Well--uh, no. I thought I knew what he looked like, but he had posted a fake picture on his profile. It turned out to be someone totally different. He’s never mentioned where he lives, let alone any kind of address or phone number.” Kate responded.

“Well, ma’am, Kate, there isn’t much, if anything, honestly, that the officers could do right now. Without an address to check out, or even a phone number or physical description, it’s basically like these supposed ‘threats’ are non-existent. All that I can really tell you in the way of advice is to make sure you’re safe. Maybe carry Mace with you at all times, keep your doors and windows locked, that sort of thing. Have the police station’s number here on speed dial. I’m very sorry I can’t help you further. If anything else happens, please don’t hesitate to call us back.”

“Oh-okay. Well, I, uh… Thank you.” Kate stuttered out her reply.

“Have a good night, ma’am.” Karen’s voice came, and then the line went dead.

Kate had been pacing back and forth in her room the whole time she had been on the phone with Karen at the police station. This was insane. Kate didn’t know what to do. She would take Karen’s advice and buy a can of Mace first thing in the morning, even if she had to miss her first class of the day. She had never been this frightened in her life. Of course, nothing like this had ever happened to her before. Glendale was such a small, sleepy little town, that the worst thing that ever happened to you was maybe having your yard covered in toilet paper around Halloween time. Here in Chicago, it was a whole different ballgame.

Cautiously sitting on the end of her bed, Kate rested her hands on her knees and thought about ‘Pete.’ The same questions kept running through her mind over and over. Why her? What did she do? Who could do such a thing? Who was this ‘Pete’ guy, anyways. So many unanswered questions. Kate squeezed her eyes shut, wishing and praying for all this to end, for ‘Pete’ to disappear, to just go back to being a normal med student.

Hoping to clear her mind, Kate logged onto Facebook. Thankfully, there weren’t any messages from ‘Pete.’ Kate breathed a sigh of relief. She was browsing through some pictures that Megan had put up the day before of ‘old times’ as her album title stated, when Kate heard her phone buzz, signaling a new text message. Thinking it was Megan, or maybe even her mom or Amanda, Kate picked her phone up from the bed, and opened the new message, and at the sight of the words on the iPhone’s screen, Kate immediately dropped it and practically fell over backwards trying to get away from her phone. The screen blared it’s message, tauntingly, at the ceiling:

‘It’s much more convenient that I have your cell number now. We can chat any time we want, this way. --Pete’

Kate fought back the urge to vomit. She suddenly felt light headed and woozy, so she slid down against the wall, sitting on the floor. Her eyes never left her bed, where the phone lay, the message from ‘Pete’ still displayed.

A sudden loud knock at her door made Kate jump practically out of her own skin.

“Who-who is it?” Kate stammered, almost dreading the reply that would come from the other side of the door.

“It’s Amanda. Can I come in?” Came Amanda’s chipper voice from outside the door. Kate slowly made her way up from the floor and over to her door. Looking through the eyehole, she confirmed that it was, in fact, Amanda. Breathing a sigh of relief, Kate unlocked both locks and opened the door, inviting her friend in.

“Dang, girl! What’s wrong? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost!” Amanda exclaimed, looking Kate over.

“Well, in a sense, I have.” Kate answered. “Here, look for yourself.” Kate picked her phone up from the bed and all but shoved it into Amanda’s hands. Watching Amanda read the message, Kate anticipated her reply.

“Wow. This is creepy. Did you call the cops or anything?” she asked, looking up from the phone.

“Yeah. The lady told me that there wasn’t anything they could do, really. She just told me to buy a can of Mace and keep all my windows and door locked at all times.” Kate informed her.

“Geez. I mean, wow. Really. It says here that the number is blocked. I wonder if they could still trace it, maybe?” Amanda offered. Kate just shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t know either.

“I guess I could call and ask.” Kate said, after thinking it over for a minute. She retrieved her phone from Amanda, and redialed the police station. Karen answered again. “Hi. This is Kate Anderson again. Somehow this lunatic I told you about earlier got my cell number and sent me a text message, but the number is blocked. I was wondering if there was any way that you could still trace where it came from?”

“What lunatic?” Karen asked. Did this lady have amnesia, or something? Good grief.

“I called maybe an hour ago, at most, about someone that had been ‘stalking’ me, I guess you could say. They had left messages on my Facebook, and a Post-It note on my door. And now this text message on my phone.”

“Oh. Yes, I remember you now, vaguely. Honey, you have to understand that this police station receives hundreds of calls a day. I can’t remember every last one of them. But to answer your question, I don’t know that we could trace it. Blocked numbers usually tend to be from disposable phones, and if this guy is real, and serious, which I hope he isn’t, then he may have a stock pile of those phones. I’m sorry. Again, keep your door and windows locked, and invest in some Mace.” Karen answered. This lady was becoming more useless by the second, and really starting to piss Kate off.

“Yeah, well, thanks for nothing.” Kate said into her phone, and immediately ended the call.

“Well?” Amanda asked, curiosity written all over her face.

“Well, nothing. I don’t know how that lady got her job, but she wasn’t any help.” Kate spat out, with anger in her voice.

“I’m sorry, Kate. I wish there was something I could do, or say. I don’t know…” Amanda trailed off, sitting down next to where Kate had sat on her bed.

“I don’t know what to tell me, either. I just want this nightmare to end.”

“Yeah. Well, at least it’s nothing too serious. I mean, it’s scary, sure, but it’s just words on screens and paper so far, you know?” Amanda offered.

“What do you mean?! Not serious?! I take any threats to my life serious, Amanda!” Kate was practically yelling now. “And what do you mean by ‘so far’? Oh, maybe ‘so far’ since I’ve not been killed yet?! This guy is a maniac! A lunatic! And somehow, just by my fantastic dumb luck, I’ve got his attention, and he’s all about making me a crazed mess. I’m constantly looking over my shoulder, replaying everything from Facebook in my head. I can’t even concentrate on school work, and you’re telling me ‘so far’?! Christ, Amanda! What the hell?!”

“Kate, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I just simply meant that words on paper and screens can’t actually hurt you. Damn.” Amanda replied, shocked by Kate’s sudden outburst. After a minute she added, “Well, I’m just gonna go. I’m no help here. Later.”

Amanda was up and out of the room before Kate could even answer her. Instantly feeling terrible about her rant on Amanda, she picked up the phone to send her a text apologizing. Before she could, Kate’s phone buzzed in her hands.

‘The cops aren’t going to help you. They’re too busy with ‘real’ cases. --Pete’

Dropping her phone to the floor, Kate ran out into the hallway and saw Amanda at the very end of it, getting ready to descend down the stairs. “AMANDA!” Kate screamed down the hall. She saw Amanda stop and turn around. Kate ran down the hall towards her. “Where’s your phone?” Kate asked, catching her breath once she got to where Amanda was standing.

“In my dorm room. I was going out to get something to eat, and to get some fresh air to clear my head after your little explosion in there a minute ago,” Amanda answered, nodding towards Kate’s dorm room, where the door had been left ajar. “Why?” she added.

“I don’t want you to hate me, but can I check your purse? Just to be sure? I just got another text from ‘Pete.’” Kate told her.

“Oh, for the love of---here--” Amanda dumped the entire contents of her purse onto the floor. “I told you. I left it in my room. You’re starting to turn into a paranoid basket case, you know that?” Amanda asked, crouching down to recollect all of her belongings.

Studying her, Amanda just had on a plain tshirt. No jacket, no pockets on her pants. No where to hide a phone. Kate immediately felt awful. “Amanda--I’m so sorry. The text just said that the cops couldn’t help me, and I just thought, since you left, and since I had screamed at you, that, well---” Kate tried explaining herself, but was having a difficult time.

“Forget it.” Amanda practically hissed, shoving the last of her stuff into her purse and stomping off down the stairs. Despair and regret washed over Kate as she slowly trudged back to her dorm room. The only friend she had here in Chicago was pissed at her, and would probably never talk to her again.

‘And with good reason,’ Kate thought, as she changed into her pajamas. She’d basically just accused her friend of being some psycho stalker. “I’d hate me too.” Kate said aloud to her bed. She picked up her phone and sent Amanda a quick text message:

‘I’m so sorry. --Kate.’

And then went to bed, trying to block out and forget everything that had happened.

****