Literary Series:Because You Never Know

Anna crumpled the receipt in her hand and stuffed it in her pocket as she left the store. Lucas was waiting outside on the sidewalk, and he looked up from a text message he was reading when she approached him.
 “That was fast. What did you get—anything for me?” he asked, glancing at the plastic grocery bag she was carrying.
 Anna laughed and said, “No, I just picked up some pepper spray.”
 “Are you serious? This is a small town, why would you need it?” he scoffed.
 “Because you never know,” she said. They started walking towards the engineering building where their next class was, passing other university students on the sidewalk. “Didn’t I tell you what happened to me yesterday?” she asked.
 “No.” He frowned at her. “You weren’t attacked, were you?”
 “Not exactly,” she sighed. “I was lucky.”
* * *
“Good morning, beautiful,” said a voice behind her. Anna felt the stranger’s gaze sear into her back and she became acutely aware she was being watched. She was standing at an intersection, drumming her fingers against the straps of her backpack and silently cursing at the crosswalk to grant her an escape.
Against her better judgment, she glimpsed over her shoulder to see a man leaning against the building behind her. He was filthy. The red sweatshirt he wore was smeared with multiple stains, and beneath his hood greasy tendrils of hair hung around his face. She noticed a rash was spread over his cheeks and forehead, causing his skin too look cracked and dry like eroded earth. The stranger leered back at her with alarming intensity. “How are you doing, gorgeous?”
Anna broke her stare and saw that the crosswalk signal had changed, seizing the chance to get away from the creepy stranger. She strode quickly across the street and didn’t slow her pace until she turned the corner on the next block. Despite the proximity to her apartment, she wished more people were out at 9 a.m.; the neighborhood was dead. She passed a laundromat with long windows running the length of the building and instinctively checked her appearance in the glass . While using her hand to smooth down her hair, she noticed something red farther back in the reflection. The stranger was following her.
A wave of terror crashed over her and she tore her eyes from the glass. This can’t be happening, she thought. Anna turned the corner and bolted the last twenty feet separating her from the safety of her apartment and she clumsily unlocked the door. Just as she stepped inside the man turned the corner and watched her retreat into the building. Anna locked the front door and ran up the stairs to the second floor, finding room 9B. Her roommate greeted her from the kitchen when she entered, but Anna didn’t notice; she went straight to her room and peered through the window to check for the man in the red sweatshirt. Fear surged through her chest when she saw him on the porch tugging at the front door. When it didn’t budge, he lost interest and wandered away.
 She stayed by the window for another twenty minutes waiting for his return  No one came. 
* * *
The large auditorium was buzzing with students as Lucas followed Anna to the front row of seats. They sat down together and started unpacking their things for class.
“That guy was definitely creepy sounding,” he said, after she relayed the story to him. “What were you wearing, anyway?”
Anna was rummaging through her bag for a notebook when he spoke, and she paused to shoot him a look. “Are you actually implying that it could be the victims fault for being stalked?” she asked, eyes narrowed.
“No, I was just wondering. Forget it.”
“Well, since you asked, my outfit consisted of jeans and fleece jacket. Totally seducing.”
“Sorry,” he grumbled. “Did you at least report it to the police?”
Anna nodded and took out her keys so she could attach the small cylinder of pepper spray to the ring.
“I guess it is good you bought that,” he admitted. “Better to have it than not; you never know what could happen.”
The professor strode into the room and the noise died down to a hum. She greeted the students and when she started the lecture, Lucas leaned over to Anna so he could whisper, “By the way, I’ll walk you home after class.”
 

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