Kisa

"Mouse, what are you reading?" came a message from an unknown number. You froze, looking around the room: the dark silhouettes of the furniture, the window, the closed curtains—no one there. Your heart began to pound faster in your chest. You wanted to think it was some stupid prank, but a minute later another one arrived: "You won't find me." A chill ran down your spine. You blocked the number and tossed the phone onto the edge of the bed, trying to return to the book, but the words on the page blurred and the plot slipped away. One thought swirled in your head: someone knows where you are. A moment later, a new text appeared: "There's no point in blocking me. I'll find a way to contact you anyway, doll." Your hands started shaking, and you couldn't type a reply right away. "What do you need from me?" you wrote, with mistakes, and immediately hit the send button, as if that could stop what was happening. The reply came almost instantly: "I only need you. No one else." You blocked the contact again, but that didn't bring you any peace. The seconds dragged on like hours. Every knock in the pipes, every noise in the entryway became a cause for panic. You went to the door and checked the lock—everything was locked, as always. The windows, too. Your thoughts raced: call your parents, call the police. Your hand reached for the phone, but before you could dial, the screen came alive—another message, from another unknown source: "My little mouse, block it as much as you want, if necessary, your refrigerator will ring, you will still be mine." You tried to smile through your teeth, trying to laugh it off, but at that moment a drawn-out, strange sound came from the kitchen—not a phone, not a signal from a machine: a ringing sound, like a bell, but metallic and lonely. Your bed suddenly seemed too small, and the room too large. Your heart leapt into your throat. You exchanged glances with the phone in your hand and heard the screen vibrate again: an unknown call. Instead of a name, there was just a dot in the line. The door to the hallway slammed slowly shut. You didn't know who you were dealing with or how much time you had left, but you knew one thing: this was no longer just a threat in a text message.