"Hello?" the voice moaned
"Hello? Who is this?"
"Hello?"
"Who is this? This is not funny. Jerk." click.
The sound of the phone ringing made her skin crawl.
"Your beautiful when your maaad." the voice whispered.
Her heart stopped. She lived on the sixth floor of an apartment building. He...was....here.
"Hello, I just wanna talk to you. You know what you did to her."
She could barely hear him over her heart beating in her ears. She desperately tried to blink back tears.
Where was he? She hadn't been out all day. When did he get in?
"Your place is just how I pictured it would be. Why are you so quiet? Maybe it's time we meet."
Holly dropped the phone and ran for the door. As her hand took hold of the doorknob she was jerked backwards. Her body slammed into the glass table with such force she immediately lost consciousness.
She awoke in terrible pain. Slowly her ordeal started to come back to her. Her heart began to beat faster, her body became bathed in a cold sweat as she realized someone had attacked her and may still be there. She could hear life going on outside her building for some time before she decided he was gone.
The next week she couldn't keep anything down and her nightmares were more intense often keeping her awake for many days. Holly had to concentrate on what was real whenever she left her apartment.
"Holly, sweetie, you don't look so good."
Holly turned to see Mrs. Clocksy standing in her doorway. Mrs. Clocksy didn't look so good either, she thought to herself. In fact, Mrs. Clocksy looked very, very wrong.
As Mrs. Clocksy approached, Holly started to back up.
"What's wrong, Holly?"
Holly couldn't believe what she was seeing. Mrs. Closky's eyes were bleeding. The blood ran down her face and hit her shoes in little droplets.
"Holly what is it?"
Holly screamed, ran into her apartment, and locked the door. Something was happening to her. Something was wrong. Why couldn't she remember exactly what happened to her?
She sat on the couch crying with her head in her hands. It wasn't until she tried to look up that the real terror began. As she pulled her hands away from her face she felt a ripping sensation. She opened her eyes and saw strips of her skin stuck to her hands that were now a foot away from her head.
A piercing scream escaped her throat as she clawed at her face. More and more strips melted away as she clawed at her arms, neck, and legs. The sight of her body without skin in the bathroom mirror made her vomit.
Why? She kept saying to herself. Why me? What did he do to me?
Flashes of that night began to come at her fast as she crossed the living room to get to the kitchen knives. First, his hot breath on her face. Then his last words to her before he.....
"I have given you a gift. All the old will be stripped away. You will know the pain you have caused. You ran over my little girl. I watched her die in my hands. Do you know me now?"
Tears rolled down the muscle under her eyes. He had infected her. She would continue to rot until nothing was left. She yanked the drawer out of the desk and dumped the contents on the floor. His number had to be there. The little girl with the yellow ribbon. Why did she have to run out into the street?
The court had cleared her. She had apologized over and over. What the hell did he want from her?
There.
On a piece of yellow legal pad paper. She quickly dialed and felt relief when a woman answered.
"Hello?"
"Mrs. Harrison, this is Holly Wilson, I need to speak with husband now!"
"Are you insane? He's dead. You killed him. One week after you were acquitted, he had a massive coronary. You bitch. You ruined my family and I hope you die!" Click.
Holly listened to the dial tone only second before collapsing on the living room floor.
An hour later, Mrs. Clocksy and the police arrived at her door knocking and calling for her.
"She wasn't crazy."
"Ma'am, you have to be crazy to scratch your own eyes out. Poor thing bled right out. Must have finally gotten to her what she did to that kid, you know?"
