The UNKNOWN stalker

Emily Brown lived in the beautiful quiet suburbs of Texas. She loved the sounds of the birds in the morning, the wind blowing in the trees and the children playing outside. Emily had it all, the looks, the house, the education, the job, and the pride. She was the type of girl that does everything in her power to get what she wants. As one of the most successful therapists in Texas Emily new she couldn’t want anything else. Waking up around five a.m. was the usual for Emily. She took her daily morning walk, ate her healthy breakfast, changed her bed sheets, folded her laundry, sparkled the kitchen and bathroom sink, and got ready for work. Emily enjoyed working and felt that she was perfect at what she does. Monday morning Emily was running a little late on schedule but that did not stop her from cleaning her sinks and folding her bed sheets.

When she got to work she felt really tired and asked her best friend Rosy for some Advil. Rosy was surprised in seeing Emily so stressed out she couldn’t help but ask. “Hey Em are you okay? Because you don’t look your best today, is everything okay?”

Emily looked at her friend and knew that she couldn’t give in so she hesitated, “Of course I am ok, what if I am tired now, all of a sudden I’m crazy or something is off”. Rosy was very shocked in Emily’s response but didn’t question for the sake of their friendship. Emily went back to her office, started her paper work and met with her patients. During lunch Emily and Rosy went for pizza. “You know Rosy this is the best pizza in the world, I mean it is really good”

“I know Emily it is so good, how was your day?” Emily explained that everything is ok and she just feels stressed out. They walked and talked. Emily got to her office, rapped up everything and drove home. As she was driving home she was thinking about her family and how she didn’t talk to them for a while.

When Emily got home she went straight to the shower to relax and release her stress. When she came out she noticed that her bed sheets were not made all the way. She panicked and began to think if she maybe forgot to do them this morning because she was running a little late. Emily was confused but knew that she couldn’t make a big deal about it. She stayed up late doing paper work. Finally she fell asleep around two a.m. Her alarm went on around five thirty and she woke up in a startle. It was a Friday and that was something that made Emily smile because she wanted to visit her family for the weekend.  When she got to her office, Emily noticed that her workload was increasing but she didn’t want that to change her plans. Around four, Emily received an unusual phone call that appeared as unknown on her caller ID. When she answered she heard someone breathing really hard on the phone and then hangs up. Before she began to worry she thought that it might be her mischievous teenage neighbors pulling some kind of prank on her.

She smiled and said, “Man! Those kids, they just don’t have anything to do”. Emily stayed in her office late trying to finish her work. Around eight she noticed that no one else was on her floor but her. She began to pack up and her cell rang, it was Rosy reminding her to meet for a couple of drinks around ten. Emily rushed out of her office to get home, change and meet her friend Rosy. When Emily got home she went straight to the kitchen for some Chinese leftovers. As she reached for the saltshakers, she noticed that they were knocked down. But she was certain that after dinner last night she put everything perfectly in its place. Emily started to worry that her workload is really affecting her. She thought about not making it a big deal but she couldn’t help the bed sheets the other day. She thought that she might be loosing it but then she told her self it’s only a saltshaker. Her phone rang and she thought it might be Rosy calling to rush her. As she reached for the phone she noticed it was the same unknown caller she answered at work. Hesitating, Emily picked up, “Johnny if that’s you, I swear I am going to meet with your parents, stop it because it is not even funny”. The long heavy breaths made her so nervous that her ear began to sweat. She immediately hung up and knew that Johnny would never do that to her. He isn’t capable of scaring her in such a matter. Than she began to question who might it be? Who would really do this to her and why?

She called Rosy and asked her if she would reschedule the drinks for next weekend. The greatest thing that Emily loved about her best friend was her support. She knew Rosy for ten years, ever since they were in high school. She knew that she could always count on her best friend and trust her. Emily always believed that they are sisters because they have been through so much for the past few years. The doorbell rang and Emily jumped in Rosie’s arms. Laughing, Rosy said “Hey what’s wrong with you, I know where good friends but I told you I already have a boyfriend Emily”.

With relief Emily responded, “I am just really happy you’re here, I don’t know what’s going on Rose, and everything seems like it’s falling apart, my salt shakers were misplaced, my bed sheets were not done and I received two prank calls from the same person”. I have no idea what is going on,” as she wiped her tears, Rosy gave her friend a hug and told her to calm down.

“Emily you’re ok, you’re just under a lot of stress, and you just have to stop thinking about every little thing. You are acting like a crazy person, and for the calls you know it’s probably Johnny pulling some kind of teenage prank on you. You know that we will always be best friends forever and I am always here watching you, so don’t worry your safe.”

            “Yeah your probably right but it didn’t seem like Johnny” Rosy grabbed her friend’s hand and promised her that everything is going to be okay. They stayed up all night drinking, talking and gossiping about work and friends. After a while Emily felt much better and safer with her best friend. They both fell asleep on the couch from all the drinking they had. The next morning Emily woke up and made breakfast for the both of them. Emily looked at the couch and saw Rose asleep and thought to herself that without Rose she doesn’t know how she would have got through last night. Rose woke up after an hour, they both ate breakfast and took a long walk.

Rosie’s cell was ringing; it was her boyfriend wondering why she wasn’t at her apartment. Rose hung up and looked at her friend with guilt “oh, honey are you gonna be okay, because that was Rick and he wants to see me, I promised him that we were going to dinner with his parents”.

With a forced smile Emily looked at her friend and said “Oh my god, go Rose, I’ll be fine, I am just a scary cat but don’t worry about me, go have fun and tell him I said hi, and stay in touch don’t worry”. Rose gave her friend a hug and left in excitement to see her boyfriend. Emily walked home, thinking about her family. She felt so guilty for not talking to them. She decided to take a hot shower and go visit her family for the Saturday. Right when she got home, she saw her TV on and the bathroom sink over flowing with water. Emily panicked, grabbed her cell and called Rose.

“Rose, please tell me that you were the last person in the bathroom and you turned on the TV before we left the house please Rose!” crying on the phone Emily never felt this much fear in her life.

Rose answered in a hurry, “I am sorry Emily but I can’t really hear you that clearly and I didn’t turn on the TV”. Before Emily could ask Rose another question the call was lost. Emily was terrified and didn’t understand what was going on, she turned off the TV and the running water. She began talking to her self in confusion. “Why, why is this happening? What’s going on? Am I going crazy god?” Emily was feeling worthless. Her house phone rang; she was hoping it would be Rose or any friend. As she picked up the phone the heavy disturbing breathing began. Panicking Emily began yelling at the caller “What do you want from me? Why are you doing this? Who are you?”

In the lowest possible way, Emily’s unknown caller said, “How are you doing

Ms. Brown? Oh don’t feel so terrified it’s really nothing, I am sure as a successful therapist you can figure it out”.

            “Figure what out? What do you want? Please leave me alone!” Emily hung up and immediately called 911. Waiting for the police to arrive she received a new message on her cell that said, “You didn’t have to call the police, they wont help you”. Emily no longer felt safe in her home. She went to her neighbor’s to feel safer until the cops showed up. After ten long minutes the cops arrived. Emily ran to them and explained her situation. She showed them the text message. The cops told her not to worry and maybe it is some kind of prank that will be fixed, but they would keep in touch and start the investigation. She felt better and ran back inside.

 Emily went inside her room to sleep. Under the covers, she saw pictures taken of her every move. She couldn’t believe her eyes! She couldn’t believe that someone has been watching her every move and taking photos of her! The fear began crawling under her skin; she realized that her privacy has been violated and her stalker is possibly in her house.  Emily felt breathless. Her nightmare is coming true. She couldn’t believe that she is being stalked. Tears began rolling down her cheeks; her hands trembled like an earthquake and her body shivered. Emily didn’t know what to do, she ran out of her room as fast as she can. She opened the door only to see her nightmare in front of her own eyes. Her tears began dripping non-stop. She stood there still like a frozen Popsicle.

In the creepiest smile and most disturbing voice, the stalker said, “Oh don’t be that scared, it’s actually not that bad it could be worse, come here and take a seat. You see my dear Emily I was actually living with you for a while, watching your every move. Misplacing your things, just driving you crazy. I wanted to see how much you would take”

“I hate you, I am not crazy! I swear. You will not get away with this, you freak!” Emily began yelling from the top of her lungs. The unknown stalker finally got what he wanted, to see how far Emily would last before she would loose it. Wearing a black mask, Emily couldn’t identify her stalker. She began to doze off from all the shock. Her stalker plotted the perfect scene, making Emily go crazy was the plan. The stalker called 911 for Emily and before leaving the house, the stalker whispered in her ears, “This is what you get for trying to be so perfect and accusing your patients that their crazy, so how does it feel to be labeled insane? Here is a taste of your own medicine, goodbye friend.” Emily felt so vulnerable that she couldn’t believe that this was actually happening to her.

            Before completely fainting Emily took one last look at her stalker right before it left. The stalker turned around one last time and told Emily that they will always be best friends. Emily was confused, until she saw that the stalker was Rosy, standing with a smile. By the time the police arrived they couldn’t find anything. It was the perfect plan. Rosy made it look like, Emily lost her sanity. When Emily tried to speak to the officers it was no help. After a week, Emily was admitted to the mental institution and Rose took her position as one of the greatest therapist in Texas.

THE OTHER SIDE

“Be quiet and get in line!” yelled the Israeli soldier in the checkpoint was something I never imagined would ever be said to me. My sister, my cousin and I,

Had gone to Ramallah for shopping, and as we were heading back to our village my sister and I noticed an enormous line of angry people. My cousin asked me to stay quite and to obey the rules; I didn’t understand why and this made me angry. She explained that checkpoints were created by the Israel government to check every Palestinian that enters and exits the city.

So as I was standing in line for hours feeling the beaming sun only at me was like being fried. When it was finally our turn to be checked, my heart was telling me, “talk to the officer; ask him why are they doing this to us.  He asked for my Palestinian identification. When I told him that I didn’t have one, and that I only had an American passport, he looked at me with so much despise that I had to ask, “excuse me why are you people doing this to us, why are you mistreating us, disrespecting us and killing us in our own country?” he looked at me with a smile, Pointed his gun at me and asked me to shut up. Never in my life did I feel so terrified, so humiliated and most of all so powerless. As we passed with disgust, to my right I noticed a Palestinian man getting beaten up in front of his family just for talking back. As I was leaving I turned around to take one last look at the torture and suffering Palestinians go through every time they have to go to work, school, grocery store, and to the doctor.

So the summer passed and I started school. But that day at the checkpoint in Palestine stuck with me.  I wanted to educate people about the other side of the world. Not many students know about the war or even where Palestine is. I thought about organizing a fundraiser for the Palestinian victims. It seemed impossible to organize such a thing but my heart wouldn’t allow me to give up. So I started a to do list, and talked to my amazing teacher Ms. Miller that supported and had full confidence in me. I explained to her my experiences in Palestine. We decided to get something’s donated for the dinner, I went to some dollar stores and Middle Eastern restaurants and explained to them my project and asked them if they can donate food and supplies for the dinner, they generously agreed.

My second step was to create a PowerPoint presentation about the war. It depicted victims of the war, both Palestinian and Israeli. I chose graphic images to demonstrate the suffering Palestinians go through while were worrying about gas prices. My third step was to create tickets for my dinner, which was a real honor. The ticket had a Palestinian girl, smiling her heart away giving the peace sign with her to fingers. Right when I saw that photo I looked in her warm innocent eyes and knew she believed in hope, which made me even more determined in my project.  My fourth step was that I asked teachers to bring in there students in for a discussion about the war in a mini auditorium at my school where I also gave a speech and brought in guest speakers that had experience in Palestine.

Finally February 17, 2005 had arrived; I had spent six months preparing for this dinner. It was after school in the lunchroom, as people were already at the door I got so nervous that I felt numb. Everything went according to plan: my family and friends helped with serving while I walked around and thanked everyone for coming. As everyone was eating, laughing and having side conversation I called for their attention, I stood there in front of them so anxious yet proud and started with my presentation, as I looked at everyone’s eyes starring at that screen I felt their sorrow and pain. Witnessing the results of my work and determination was life changing.  The audience wiped tears and realized that the other side was asking for our help was something that gave me back my powers, strengths, and dignity. I proudly raised about eight hundred dollars for the victims of Palestine.

In order to acknowledge what we are capable of, it requires patience, organization, and leadership. The best gift you can ever give yourself is the accomplishment of influencing a society in making a difference. The proceeds were given to the Islamic relief fund. This organization provides relief for Palestinians living in Israel. My goal was to expose the Palestinian and Israel conflict to my fellow students at Curie High School. I wanted to promote awareness and show how this WAR is affecting both societies. I also wanted to show that one person could make a difference. We often see the negative images of Palestine depicted through the eyes of the media. My message was to stand up for what I believed in with pride and confidence. I am so grateful and proud that I had this opportunity to give to the other side of the world.