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The man clasped his hands together. He was wearing a drab, taupe hoody, which hung off his skinny body. He looked kind of like a non-threatening, beige ghost.
“Umm, sorry I don’t recognize you.”
“I bet you’ll work it out in a minute.” He pulled a long curtain of hair away from his face. It wasn’t helping Esme, though. “Think about it, Esme. Who’s you’re biggest fan? Who would come all the way across the country to make sure that you had plenty of money for this month’s rent?” The man reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out an untidy stack of twenty-dollar bills, before brandishing them at her.
As Esme realized who it was, she felt a horrendous icy feeling in her gut. It suddenly felt as though all the color was being drained from her vision, and the world slowed down to a crawl.
“Twist of fate?”
The man smiled, more freely this time. As his lips parted, she saw that his teeth were cracked and yellowed. “It’s me! Your savior.”
She felt an instant urge to run, to kick him in the balls and run as far and as fast away from here as she possibly could.
Why hadn’t she told Rainer about this guy? He’d never have let her leave his place if he’d known that there was a stalker on the loose. And why had she managed to convince herself that he didn’t actually know her address? This was insanity. She was going to die.
“Um… I don’t know how I feel about this.” She didn’t want to enrage him, or make him think she was angry or ungrateful for him being here. She had to keep him distracted until she could think of a plan.
“I get it, I get it! This is weird, deeply weird. You’re probably like: ‘Oh no! A stalker’s here to kill me’!” He let out a weak laugh. “Eek! A psychopath knows where I live!”
Esme mirrored his laugh. “It’s a bit random, yeah.”
Stay calm, Esme. Don’t do anything rash. You don’t know what this guy is capable of.
“Haha, I know, right? But don’t worry, I’m not here to kill you. Damn, can I just say, you’re even more beautiful in real life than you are on stream?”
“Right.”
“Fuck. I’m getting this all wrong. I’m probably coming across as a creep, aren’t I?”
Esme didn’t know how to answer this. She decided that the safest option was to try not to upset this guy. “No way. You’re just nervous, right?”
“You’re so understanding! I knew you’d appreciate me being here.”
For the first time in her life, Esme wished that she had a panic button. If there was some way she could have had the police on call right now, she would have done it in an instant.
“So, are you gonna invite me in? I’ve come a long way.”
She remembered him saying in the private chat that he was only five minutes away, but she wasn’t about to bring that up now. “Where have you come from?”
Twist of Fate was about to answer, but he stopped himself before holding up a finger and waggling it at Esme.
“Clever. Very clever. Trying to get my address out of me, right? So you can find out who I am?”
“N-no! I just… I was just trying to have a conversation.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Esmeralda. I know you.” There was a nasty tone in his voice. “You’re scared. You don’t need to be scared. I’m a nice guy.”
Esme’s fear and panic was rising fast. Her heart was pounding, and it almost felt as though she was outside her own body, watching this situation unfold. All of a sudden, she felt an overwhelming urge to act. She had to do something, and she had to do it right now.
Without doing anything that would betray what she was about to do, Esme grabbed the front door, and slammed it tightly shut.
Or at least, she would have done, if Twist of Fate hadn’t stuck his foot in the way.
Esme tried to heave the door into its frame, but she was still weak. Twist of Fate was stronger than he looked.
“Esme! Don’t make this weird!” he grunted, pushing the door open.
“What do you want?” she sobbed, shrinking back from him. Om Baby was on the table, watching her, willing her to be okay.
