Through Her Eyes

Through tired eyes, Lydia managed to unlock the door to her apartment; once inside, her suitcases fell to the floor with a loud, jolting thud. With a sigh, she looked at the ticking clock: 3 am. Lydia decided to save the unpacking for the morning when she had more energy. After she had changed into her pyjamas and had a mug of steaming hot tea, Lydia sat down on the window seat, the open window allowed the fresh, cool air to cover her like a blanket. Her eyes followed the rain plummeting to the ground below, 'It's not much of a view, but I'll take it.' Lydia thought happily as she gazed at the brick apartment building across from her

Lydia and the woman who lived in the other apartment would occasionally talk through their open windows, however, this night it seemed as though her window friend, Sarah, had gone to bed. During one of their talks, Lydia had been surprised to learn that Sarah also had insomnia. In the three months that Lydia had come to know Sarah, she knew that her neighbour didn't ever turn her lights off until at three thirty am; Sarah claimed that her mind always refused to quiet down until she'd had her cup of lemon tea.

Inhaling the sweet honey tea, she took a long sip, completely oblivious to anything else around her. Without any warning, a loud crash caused Lydia to spill the hot tea down her shirt; a sharp gasp of pain erupted from her lips as she quickly stood, trying to cool the area the scalding liquid had burned her. As she tried to clean herself up, her eyes caught movement behind her neighbour's curtain; Lydia froze and watched with equal measure of curiosity and fear.

Her eyes widened when the curtains rip free from the window, revealing a horrifying sight! A dark figure shoved Sarah against the window, the frightened woman whipped around and pounded her fists against the cold glass. Lydia grabbed her cell phone and dialed 911. The figure behind Sarah wrapped his arms around her neck and began to drag her backwards; Sarah's hand grabbed the lamp string, in a desperate attempt to stop the inevitable. The room was flooded with light! At long last a calm voice spoke into Lydia's ear, “911, police, ambulance or fire?”

“Police!” cried Lydia feeling helpless as she listened to Sarah's screams

“What is your emergency?”

“My friend is being attacked,” informed Lydia quickly, “She's in the apartment across from me, please hurry, I think he's going to kill her!”

“What's your address?”

Lydia rambled off the address for her street as well as the name of Sarah's apartment building; the woman on the phone calmly stated that the police were on their way and to stay right where she was. The minutes ticked by so slow that Lydia was sure that she was going to lose her mind! “Where are they?” growled Lydia a knot of fear continued to grow inside her stomach as she realized that the night had once again grown silent.

Fearfully, Lydia inched closer to the window, her eyes searching for signs that her friend was still alive. Her heart pounded furiously in her ears with each passing second, when without warning, the masked figure calmly walked to Sarah's window and stood there, a knife dripping with blood in his hand. Her body refused to move, Lydia felt like a statue as her legs began to shake from the effort of staying up right.

“What do you want?” whispered Lydia her lips trembling as she spoke

The figure cocked his head as though he was trying to understand what she was saying; she tried to muster up the courage to speak up but all that came out was a banshee scream...

“What do you want?!”

Still, he stood there silently, staring at her; he raised the knife and simply wiped the blade on the glove of his other hand, then walked closer to the window and pressed his hand to the glass for a few seconds. She stifled the scream that was frantically trying to claw free from her throat; blood dripped from the hand print he had left. Frozen in horror, she watched him pick up the lamp and gently tugging on the string. The apartment was once again plunged into darkness.

Her chest heaved rapidly as she gasped for air, 'Sarah can't be dead!' her mind reasoned over and over and over. Sirens erupted the silence; blue and red lights violently flashed into the alley, causing Lydia to snap out of her stupor and focus on them.

She looked at the time on her phone: 3:25 am, her eyes stayed glued to the room even as the lights were turned on as the police searched the apartment. Lydia blinked rapidly as she saw that the bloodied hand print was gone! Not only that, but the curtains were hanging from the window, nothing appeared to be out of order. 3:45 am.

A sharp knock on her door interrupted her thoughts, she walked slowly to the door; Lydia's hands trembled as she looked through the peephole. Relieved that it was an officer and not the killer, Lydia opened the door.

“Sorry, if I woke you up miss,” said Officer Bell fatigue evident in his eyes, “are you the one that called 911?”

“Come in Officer,” replied Lydia opening her door wider, “I did call, I'm Lydia...my friend Sarah was being attacked, I saw the killer and...”

“What did he look like?” interrupted Officer bell his eyes now seemed alert

Lydia took a deep breath, “I didn't actually see his face, you see...he was tall, like at least six feet, built like a linebacker...he was dressed in all black with a mask.”

Officer bell stared at her silently for a few moments before calmly asking her to sit down. Once Lydia had complied, she held her breathe as she waited for any grisly details.

“I hate to tell you this Lydia, but,” sighed Officer Bell sitting opposite of her, “your friend, well there's no body...no evidence that a crime ever took place in that apartment...”

“What?” gasped Lydia shocked, “That's impossible! I saw her struggling to save her life, the guy was there. He had a knife and left a bloody hand print on the window...”

“I'm sorry Lydia, but I'm telling you that there is no one in that apartment,” reasoned Officer Bell calmly, “I have to ask you, but are you taking any medication that may cause hallucinations?”

Lydia stared incredulously at him, she couldn't believe the nerve he had to ask her that! She clenched and unclenched her hands a few times before speaking:

“No!” stated Lydia through gritted teeth, “No, I am not on any medication...”

Before Lydia could finish speaking, her cell phone began to ring, Officer Bell gestured for her to answer it. Without looking at the caller ID, she snapped, “Hello?”

“Sorry Lydia, did I wake you up?” came a soft feminine voice, “It's Sarah, I just received a phone call from the police. They said that they had gotten a call about someone being attacked in my apartment...do you know what's happening?”

Lydia felt as though all the oxygen in her lungs had evaporated, “S-Sarah?”

“Yes...it's me.”

“I called 911 because I saw you getting attacked...”

Sarah's sharp laughter caused Lydia to cringe, “What?! That's crazy, it must be those pills your taking for insomnia...anyways, I'm glad everything is okay, I've got to go now, bye.”

The line went dead before Lydia could say anything else, she hung up the phone, casting a glance at Officer Bell, she noticed he was studying her intensely. Her hands grew clammy as she waited for him to speak.

“I heard her mention insomnia pills, mind if I look in your bathroom?”

“I don't know what she's talking about, Officer, that couldn't have been her!” cried Lydia following him to her bathroom, “I have insomnia, yes, but I don't taking anything for it, I swear...you can call my family doctor in the morning to check.”

“I'll do that, don't worry.” assured Officer Bell as he opened the medicine cabinet, his eyes immediately found a medication bottle with Lydia's name on it.

A bomb seemed to detonate inside of her chest, her eyes recognized the name of the insomnia drug written on the label: Ambien®, Ambien® CR (zolpidem tartrate)

“That's not mine...”

“It has your name on it right?” questioned Officer Bell suspiciously, “Lydia Hartman?”

“Yes, that's my name but I was not prescribed that!” argued Lydia her eyes quickly welling up with tears, “Those are not mine...look I just got home from visiting family in Boston and I come home...everything is so messed up right now.”

“Look, I'm going to take these and have them tested...just in case they've been incorrectly labled and I'll look into your alibi,” explained Officer Bell he had a feeling that Lydia may be telling him the truth, “I'll take another look at the apartment when I get my answers...until then please stay here until I come to talk to you.”

“Thank you and yes I will stay here until I hear from you.” sighed Lydia walking back to the kitchen

After the officer left, Lydia double checked her locks before grabbing a thick blanket from her couch; she settled in the window seat. 'I need to know if he comes back...there is something going on and I will find out what it is!' Lydia thought as she watched darkened apartment.

The next day 12:00pm...

Lydia gasped with surprise as she fell off of the window seat, her heart pounded in her ears as her mind recalled the nightmare she had been having. The masked figure had broken into her apartment and had stabbed her with the same knife he'd used to kill Sarah...that was when she had woken up.

The sound of her phone caused her to jump, picking up quickly, “Hello?”

“Lydia, this is Officer Bell from last night,” spoke the deep voice, “I've just confirmed your alibi with your mother a half hour ago...”

Before Officer Bell could finish, Lydia gasp when she saw the curtain in Sarah's apartment flutter, as though someone had ran their fingers along the material.

“There's someone there...” whispered Lydia her voice shook as she spoke, “there's someone inside Sarah's apartment.”

“Lydia, what do you see?” demanded Officer Bell his voice tight with tension, “Lydia? Lydia, talk to me!”

“I can't let him get away this time!” stated Lydia backing away from the window and running out of her apartment, barely remembering to shut the door, her feet bare, “I'll call you when I get over there!”

“Lydia...” shouted Officer Bell as Lydia hung up the phone,

Lydia screeched to a stop when she made it outside, the sun immediately blinded her; using her hand to shield her eyes, Lydia continued to Sarah's apartment. Lydia snuck by the security guard at the front desk and slipped through the door that offered those living their the option of using stairs rather than the elevator.

Taking the stairs two at a time, she pushed herself to run faster until she made it to the seventh floor completely out of breath. Forcing herself to breath slowly, Lydia opened the door and peaked out into the hallway.

Once she had determined that the coast was clear, she silently stepped into the hallway and walked until she found Sarah's apartment. 'At least it was easy to find...' thought Lydia briefly studying Sarah's name printed on an envelope that was sticking out from underneath the door. Holding her breath, Lydia turned the doorknob, hoping that she would be able to get in.

She smiled at how easily the door opened, yet she couldn't stop the fear running rampantly through her veins. She looked down at her phone, to see that she had missed several missed calls from Officer Bell; Lydia dialed the number as her feet timidly carried her into the eerily quiet home. 'How is this possible? Nothing is out of place...' thought Lydia walking into the living room. Her eyes stared out of the window and into her own apartment, queasiness twisted her stomach so violently she thought she would upchuck right there.

“Lydia! Get out of the apartment!” screamed Officer Bell sounding as though he were running, 'Do you hear me? Get out!”

Feeling as though her worst fears were confirmed, the killer had come back to the apartment, Lydia turned around. A scream ripped free from her throat as the masked figure stood in front of her, a knife tightly gripped in his hand! Lydia could hear Officer Bell screaming her name but she knew that if she made any sudden movements, her death would be sooner rather than later.

The tall figure stepped towards her forcing her to move back a step; tears streamed down her ashen cheeks as she begged for mercy:

“Please, please don't kill me!” sobbed Lydia holding her hands out in front of her, “I don't understand...why are you doing this to me?”

The man remained silent and simply watched her back away from him. Footsteps came from the kitchen, Lydia's eyes shifted in that direction, her eyebrows flew downward in confusion as Sarah smirked at her. A moment later, Lydia's eyes widened with surprise and pain as the knife plunged deep into her abdomen! A strangled gasp slipped from her lips as the man gently lowered her body to the floor.

Her eyes stayed glued to Sarah as she gasped for air; her hands quickly found the wound and applied as much pressure as she could to stop the bleeding.

“Didn't my boyfriend do a good job?” asked Sarah in a singsong voice, kneeling beside Lydia, “I bet you're wondering what you did to deserve this, right? The answer is simple...you didn't do anything.”

“Why?” gasped Lydia grimacing in pain

“Well, when I moved in here and saw you staring out your window,” explained Sarah gently wiping a trickle of blood from Lydia's mouth, “I decided to see if I could make you believe that I was actually being murdered, how far you would go to save me.”

Sarah pulled the mask off her boyfriend as she spoke, Lydia stared up in to cruel blue eyes; she desperately hoped that Officer Bell would make it in time.

“You did a pretty good job of being the concerned friend, though beyond calling for help,” sighed Sarah as a cruel smile twisted her lips, “you disappointed me...I thought you would have charged over here to rescue me...not that, that would've saved you.”

“Officer...is coming...” gargled Lydia trying to force herself to stay awake, Sarah's boyfriend plunged the knife into her side with such force, she thought she'd die that instant.

“He's been detained by a locked door...I knew you'd come over today so I had to set something up.” laughed Sarah wickedly, “You didn't actually think you'd get out of this alive did you?”

Sarah studied Lydia's pain filled eyes for a moment, “That's okay...they all think they'll get saved before they die. Who knows maybe you'll be the lucky one...”

Sarah and her boyfriend stood up, casting one last look at their victim; they left as silently as they had come. Lydia struggled to breath, 'Officer Bell needs to know...' Lydia thought frantically as she took her blood soaked finger and shakily began to write the name of her attacker on the floor:

SARAH...exhausted, Lydia's eyes started to drift close. Somewhere in the background of her mind, she heard the door slam open and a man demanding an ambulance.

“Lydia! Stay with me!” yelled Officer Bell ripping off his jacket to apply pressure to her wounds, his eyes found the message she had left for him on the floor, “You're going to be okay, Lydia!”

Moments later, she felt her body being lifted and raced into the warm summer day; more doors slammed as her eyes opened a sliver. Lydia felt a warm hand squeeze hers.

“Lydia, we're on our way to the hospital,” informed Officer Bell quietly, “we're going to find them, okay...just stay with us!”

A sweet smile briefly touched her lips as she thought, 'Maybe I will be one of the lucky ones...'. Time seemed to pass slowly, as Officer Bell paced the waiting room in the hospital; thought bombarded his mind, 'If I had just believed her sooner...'

“Officer Bell...Lydia is going to be just fine,” informed the Doctor calmly, “she lost a lot of blood but I have every reason to believe that she'll pull through.”

“Thank you.” sighed Officer Bell walking into Lydia's room

He gazed down at her pale face, a breathing tube pushed oxygen into her body, he gently took her hand in his as he sat down. Relief coursed through his body as he saw her eye lids flutter, he sighed and whispered, “As soon as you're better, we are going to catch them...I'll get started but I'm going to need your help Lydia.” Though Lydia did not answer with words, Officer Bell swore that he saw her smile at his words.