I Can't Do It Alone

Tia walked up the stairs to her apartment, her eyes growing wide when she saw an envelope lying in front of her door. “Not again!” she heard Kris exclaim, and she picked it up, unlocking her door. Throwing her keys on the table, she turned the envelope over, ripping it open. Pulling the letter out, she began reading it.

Tia,

I see you got my present and letter I left you. I hope you enjoy the gift as much as I do. But, I didn’t see you come home last night. Where could you be? Don’t keep me waiting for too long for an answer!

I’ll be looking out for you. I love you!

“Okay, we need to go to the cops,” Kris said, taking the letter and envelope out of her hand. “This is ridiculous!”

“Kris, I really don’t think they’re going to be able to help me,” she told him. “I mean, what can they do when we don’t know who’s delivering these?” she questioned.

“I still think it’s a good idea to go to the cops,” Kris told her. “Do you still have the other letters and stuff?” he asked.

Tia nodded her head. “Yeah, I still have them,” she admitted. “Can I just get my stuff first, and then we can go to the cops? I’d prefer to just get everything now and get out of here as fast as possible. It’s creepy that he knows I didn’t come back here last night,” she told him.

“Yeah, let’s go get your clothes and other things,” Kris told her, ushering her back to her room. She started throwing her clothes into her suitcase, not paying attention to what she was grabbing, but just wanting to get out of her apartment. She suddenly stopped, falling back onto her bed.

“Tia?” Kris asked worriedly.

“Kris, I’m scared,” she whispered, not moving on the bed. Kris sat down next to her, lying back.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you, okay?” he promised. Tia nodded her head, and Kris sat up. “Why don’t we finish getting your things, and then we’ll drop it off at my place and then head over to the police station,” he suggested.

“Okay,” Tia said, slowly standing up and grabbing the rest of her things. “I think that’s good enough. I mean, I can always come back if I realize I forgot something really important,” she pointed out. “Let’s just get out of here.”

They dropped her bags off at Kris’s place before driving to the police station. Tia had brought all the letters and the box of photographs he had dropped off. Getting out of the car, she slowly made her way inside the police station. She walked up to the front desk, and the man sitting there looked up at her. “What can we help you with?” he asked her and Kris.

“Um,” Tia began, swallowing hard. “I’m being stalked,” she finally blurted out.

“Stalked?” the police officer with the name tag saying ‘Ted’ asked her.

“Yeah,” Tia told him. “I’ve been receiving letters for a few weeks now, and they’re getting more and more threatening,” she explained, handing him the stack of letters.

Ted flipped through them, quickly scanning them. “I’m sorry, but these just seem like love letters from a secret admirer. They’re far from threatening. And, they don’t seem to be from a stalker. It just looks like some guy likes you, but he’s too shy to actually talk to you,” Ted told them.

“But, he left me this last night,” she continued, handing him the box of pictures.

Once again, Ted opened the box, flipping through the photographs. He glanced back up at her, no emotion on his face. “Has he been in contact with you? Has he physically threatened you?” Ted questioned.

“Well, no, but…” Tia began.

“Do you know who’s delivering these to you?” Ted asked.

“No, all the letters are anonymous, and I can’t figure out who they’d be from.”

“We can’t do anything for you,” Ted told her, and Tia’s eyes went wide. What did he mean they couldn’t do anything for her? “If you actually knew who was doing this, you could ask for a restraining order, but with just some letters and pictures, there’s nothing you can do. He doesn’t seem to be any harm to you,” he said, looking down at the newspaper that was sitting on his desk.

“Excuse me, but he’s not any harm to me?” Tia questioned. “Did you not read the last few letters?”

“There is nowhere in any of these letters where he is threatening you. Like I said, it just appears to be from some shy guy. You don’t appear to be in any harm. We can’t do anything for you,” Ted repeated.

“I am scared to go back to my apartment because he said he knows I didn’t go back there last night. That means he’s following and stalking me. I’m scared to go anywhere by myself because I don’t know what to do. You read the letters, and you’re telling me he’s not dangerous to me?” Tia asked in disbelief, looking behind her at Kris to see if he had heard the same thing. Kris put a hand on her shoulder, letting her know that he was backing her up completely.

“We can’t do anything for you,” Ted said once again. “If you can figure out who this is, come back, and we’ll help you out. But until you know who is doing this, we can’t do anything for you,” he said firmly, opening up the newspaper and reading the sports section.

Tia let out a frustrated groan, turning on her heel and walking out the door of the station with Kris right behind her. As soon as the door shut behind them, Tia couldn’t keep her emotions in any longer, and she began to cry. She walked quickly to Kris’s car, got in, and turned to look out the window.

Kris climbed in and looked over at her. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

“It’s not your fault,” Tia said, her voice shaking a little bit. “Can we please just go back to your place now?” she asked, continuing to stare out the window.

“Yeah,” Kris told her, driving to his apartment.

Walking inside his apartment, Tia immediately threw herself onto the couch. “I just don’t understand why they think that he’s all innocent in this. Why couldn’t they just help me instead of telling me he’s no worry?” she rambled.

“I don’t know,” Kris said, sitting down in the chair opposite of her. “I have no answer, and I don’t know what to do.”

“Kris, why are you doing this?” she suddenly asked.

“Why am I doing what?” he asked.

“Why are you worrying about me and helping me?” she questioned. “I mean, we’ve only been dating for a few weeks, and honestly, you shouldn’t be worried about me right now. You should be focused on hockey and your season,” she told him.

“Tia, I already told you that I care about you,” Kris said, leaning forward in the chair. “And, nothing’s going to change that. And, I know that we’ve only been dating for a few weeks, but that doesn’t make me care about you any less. And, as far as hockey goes, I’m still focusing on it. I’m just concerned about you at the same time.”

“Thank you,” she smiled, leaning forward on the couch and kissing him.

“Oh, and speaking of the season, we need to talk about this upcoming road trip I have,” Kris began. “I was kind of thinking that you could stay with Brook and Jocelyn. It’s not that I don’t want you staying here, it’s just I don’t want you staying here by yourself,” Kris explained.

“I understand, and I’m sure they’ll be okay with that,” she told him. “I’ll call them tomorrow just to make sure, though. But, tonight, I just want to go to sleep.”

“Let’s go then,” he said, pulling her up off the couch and leading her back to his bedroom.