I was on the bus, stuck in traffic on 47th when my phone chirped. I would have ignored it. Nobody that I actually want to talk to ever calls me, but we'd been sitting at this intersection for three rounds of the stoplight and I was about to go out of my mind with boredom, so I glanced at the screen. Someone named Dr. Thomas Harker was calling me. I had no idea who that was, no recollection of programming that name in, and to be perfectly honest I'm really crappy at the whole yearly physical thing. Since my gynecologist was female, and I really wasn't seeing anyone else, I had my finger poised over the ignore button. Then it occurred to me. My dad was a doctor. We only saw each other like once a year when I'd go to Wisconsin for a visit and a Green Bay game. But maybe this was one of his friends. He was an old coot, but I loved him and couldn't help but worry, so I went for the answer button instead.
"Hello, hello?" I shouted into the phone, because the bus was full of irate riders who just wanted to get home and were being very vocal about it. I covered my other ear, trying to make out the words on the other end.
"Thirty minutes. Leave your door unlocked, be naked, kneeling in the middle of the living room."
I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at it. I didn't put it back quite as close to my ear, because, you know, radiation. And bad vibes. "Who is this?" I demanded.
"Thirty minutes." The voice repeated, then there was only that peculiar silence that cell phones give you. No clicks, no dial tones, just dead air.
"Okay," I said to myself. "A wrong number. No biggie." Except that the call was from a number programmed into my phone. I went to the contact list. Sure enough, there was a name and a phone number, listed as business. Nothing else, but the area code was local. I tapped a few more icons and opened up a Google Search. Typed in the name. Went back and added the city. Went back again and added doctor. It might as well have been Tom Jones for as much clarity as the search gave me.
The bus was moving again, sort of, and I shoved the mystery to the back of my mind. Whatever the case, I sure as hell was not going to strip and kneel in the middle of my floor with the door unlocked. This was the big city, after all. We made it a few more blocks then some cab tried to cut in front of the bus. The driver swerved and a drunk teenager fell into my lap. I shoved him back into the aisle. A couple more blocks and some perv slipped into the seat next to me where a sweet granny had been sitting. When he started leering, I fervently wished for the granny's knitting needles. I finally abandoned mass transit a couple blocks early, asking myself yet again why it was I'd moved to the big city. The phone call was all but forgotten.
I stopped at a sidewalk vendor and bought a chili dog. See, that's what happens when you have to hoof it; impulse buying. And of course they always smell way better than they taste, but at least I didn't have to give more thought to dinner. I paused in front of my apartment building to finish off the dog. The doorman gets really irate if you bring food into his lobby. I've found that if you're lucky enough to have a doorman, you really want to stay on his good side. Otherwise, packages, pizzas and other goodies can go astray way too easy. I dropped the wrapper in a handy waste bin on the corner then climbed the steps, still chewing. When I mumbled a greeting to the doorman, he gave me his usual crap about how bad my diet is. I just smiled and kept chewing as I headed for my mailbox.
Inside, there was the regular stack of junk mail. I almost threw it all into the recycling bin, but then I noticed a thin envelope with a handwritten address on it, using my full name. God I hate that. "My name is Sky," I announced to the empty hall. Next I noticed the return address, or rather lack thereof. All it said was Dr. Thomas Harker. The creepy-crawlies went up and down my spine. I started to open it, but then the jerk from 203 came around the corner. He had no business of his own, so he was always getting in everybody else's. I tucked the envelope under my arm and headed for the elevator.
Once I reached my apartment, I tossed the envelope on the counter and searched the fridge for some wine or beer to wash the chili dog taste out of my mouth. All I found was beer, of course, because if there was wine, I would have drunk it already. It always held priority over beer. I popped the top and took a long swig, then stared at the envelope. Did I really want to know what was in it? I finally convinced myself that not knowing was not an option. I took another swig, then ripped the envelope open. Inside there was a handwritten note. It said, "6:00 pm, door unlocked, naked, kneeling in the middle of the living room." I dropped the note as if I'd been burned. When I could breathe normally again, I glanced at the microwave. It was pronouncing that the time was 6:23. I rushed to the apartment door and threw a couple more locks, then I pulled out my cell phone and checked the call log. The call had come at precisely 5:30. So, okay, I told myself. Whatever was supposed to happen at six had come and gone.
I retrieved the note and studied the hand writing. A cold chill was coming over me. My old stalker friend had left me alone for almost two months. I had dared to hope that I was done with that whole episode. I still hadn't figured out how an encounter could be so intensely wonderful in the moment and so incredibly creepy when viewed from a distance. While I never did manage to get his name (yeah, long story) one of my friends claimed it was Tom. He had written me a note once before, but I hadn't kept it and recognizing handwriting was not my forte even with side by side samples. I drained the beer and pulled another one out. I looked at my cell phone again, trying to see when Thomas Harker had been added to my contacts. If there was a way to tell, though, it eluded me. I decided that it would be a really good night to crawl into pj's and watch some mindless TV; maybe even fall asleep on the couch. If you can't solve a problem, deny it exists.
I might just mention that I'm a real lightweight when it comes to alcohol, so guzzling two beers in a row was never a good idea. I was beginning to feel the buzz as I headed for the bedroom to change. I threw my head back to finish off the bottle, which is why I tripped over something on the floor. I stumbled into the wall and when I finally righted myself, I was searching for what had tripped me. Hence I was staring at the rope that was trailing out from under my bed instead of the man standing on the other side of the bed.
"You're late," he said, in a stern headmaster sort of way. I jumped about six inches.
"You're not naked. You're not kneeling in the living room. Have you forgotten entirely how to obey?"
"How did you get in here?" I demanded.
"With a key," he replied, and gave me a condescending look as if I was campaigning for village idiot. I glanced at the bathroom door, but he was between me and it, and frankly, hiding in a bathroom hadn't worked out so great last time.
My brain was screaming "Run!" at my feet, but they were busy remembering how he was capable of delivering orgasms that tingled all the way to the tips of my toes. In fact, pretty much everything from my neck down was totally ignoring all those fight or flight signals. At least the adrenalin was starting to clear the beer fog. I remembered the extra key that I kept in the kitchen drawer for when my brother would visit. Or maybe, that I used to keep there.
I raised my hands like I was trying to ward him off, even though he was on the other side of the room. "Look, I'm not going there anymore. We're through. Find someone else to be your whipping boy. Girl. Whatever. Just leave me alone."
"I'm not through with you," he said in his deep, melodious and utterly threatening voice. He started toward the end of the bed, and finally my feet decided to listen. I made a dash for the apartment door and was fumbling with the third lock when he leaned against the door, arms crossed on his chest. "Where are you going?" he asked softly.
"Away from here," I exclaimed tugging fruitlessly at the door.
"This is your home," he pointed out needlessly.
"Not any more. I'm moving." I kept tugging at the door. I'd get it open a fraction of an inch and then it would slam shut. Maybe if I annoyed the neighbors enough, but no, it was Friday night. I was the only one home on a Friday night. Me and the jerk in 203.
"You don't want to move," he said, reaching over and unwrapping my hands from the door knob. "Think of all the memories we've made here."
I yanked my hands free and backed away. One of those voices in my head was screaming "Don't let him touch you!" I only had a few states of being when he was anywhere near; angry volcano, which I was clinging desperately to at the moment; putty, which was pretty much any time his fingers touched me; soft and gooey when his lips touched me; stormy ocean when his tongue touched me; and molten lava when his cock was buried inside me. I hadn't ever seen those phases described on a National Geographic special, but they should have been. When he wasn't around, I could pass as a normal human being, even hold down a job and pay bills. When he was around, well, I was basically mindless goo.
He calmly reached over and slid the deadbolt lock shut. "Last time I was here, you said you would never deny me again," he said, still leaning against the door.
"That's not fair! I was under duress," I argued.