Sarah's Tragedies

"See you tuesday!",Sarah Hayes yelled to her her best friend Robin Morgan. Sarah had just began her college classes and it was the first stable thing she had had in her life since the move to New York 2 months ago. She had never had it easy, growing up in a low-income neighborhood just outside of Atlanta where crime was at an all-time high. Her father, who she only knew by pictures,had ran away shortly after her birth after being accused of murder. After Sarah's father ran away, her mother took up drugs quit her job leaving Sarah with no one to look up to. When she entered high school she skipped school every other day and hung out with the stoners and slackers. After her mother was killed by a drunk driver when she was 18, Sarah decided it was time to turn her life around before she ended up like her mother so she moved to New York with the life insurance she collected and took on art classes at a small NY college.
Sarah strolled across the parking lot to her small purple neon and was unlocking her doors when she noticed a small piece of paper attached to her windshield. "Oh no, not a parking ticket, I can't pay for that now!", she thought. Unfolding the parchment she noticed it wasn't a ticket but a message.

MY DEAREST SARAH,
I HAVE WATCHED YOU FROM AFAR, NOT HAVING THE COURAGE TO SPEAK WITH YOU FACE TO FACE SO I DECIDED TO WRITE TO YOU. YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL AND YOUR ART IS WONDERFUL COMING FROM SUCH A YOUNG WOMAN. I LONG FOR THE DAY WHEN WE CAN SPEAK IN PERSON, BUT FOR NOW THIS WILL HAVE TO DO. DO NOT FEAR ME I MEAN YOU NO HARM, I WILL TALK TO YOU SOON. LOVE,
R.

Sarah gasped her hands trembling now. What kind of creep would leave this on her windshield. She quickly looked behind her and got into her car locking the doors. She drove home in silence, trying to block the letter from her mind. Should she tell the police or keep it to herself. "No", she told herself," I have to report this, If I don't there's no telling what this guy could do." Arriving home she noticed something sticking out of her mailbox on the porch. She ran up the steps and took it out finding a long stemmed rose.Attached was a simple note:
HOPE YOU LIKE THEM-R.
"Oh my god, not him again!" she thought frantically. Running inside she locked the door behind her and called the police.

"Ma'am there's nothing we can do to help you at this point, he hasn't threatened you and it's no crime to leave a message or a flower." the officer said. "So your not going to do anything?!" Sarah screamed. "What if he tries to break in?" She brushed away the tears streaming down her face. "I'm sorry ma'am I can't do anything right now, but I'll tell you what' I will leave an officer to watch your house over night and you can call us if anything else happens" the dark haired cop said handing her a card. "Well thanks Officer...." she looked at the card "Williams, I'll call if I need you"

The next day she woke up to see that the office outside her house was gone and was relieved that nothing had happened. Deciding to go for a morning jog, she drank some coffee and ran out the door. Crossing the street she noticed a white Cadillac moving slowly down the street. "I wonder if they are having car troubles" she thought. She started jogging and had gone for about 2 minutes when she noticed that the car was still moving slowly and was now following her. Picking up speed she ran across a yard and onto a sidestreet but the car still followed. Sarah, not knowing what to do, ran as hard as she could to the nearest house and began pounding on the door. "My I help you?" an elderly woman asked answering the door. "PLEASE HELP ME I'M BEING FOLLOWED!!" Sarah yelled out. "Dear,there aren't cars on this street, are you sure you weren't imaginning it?" Sarah looked up and down the street and turned back to the old woman. "Maybe I was, I'm sorry I bothered you" and with that she began back to her house. "Wow I really let my mind run away with me that time" she thought.

When tuesday finally arrived she met her friend Robin at the door of the college and began explaining everything that happened. "Man that sounds terrible!" Robin exclaimed. "It was, but nothing has happened since that day, so everything is going pretty well now." Sarah explained as they entered the class.

Later that night Sarah decided to run to the store and pick up some things for dinner."It's such a nice night that I think I will walk" she thought to herself cutting through a yard and into an alleyway. Shortly after entering the alley, she began to hear footsteps behind her. Heart pounding she looked behind her to see the prowler but couldn't see a thing in the darkness. Picking up her pace she half ran, half walked,into the grocery store and then returned home quickly with her items.When she got home she noticed the door slightly ajar. "Oh man, I must have left the door open!" she said aloud to herself. Hesitantly she walked in and set her things on the table and noticed another note sitting on top.

SARAH,
WHY DID YOU RUN FROM ME THAT DAY WHEN YOU WERE OUT JOGGING?AND THEN AGAIN IN THE ALLEY. I TOLD YOU I WOULDN'T HURT YOU, BUT STILL YOU RUN!! I WANTED TO WAIT TO MEET YOU FACE TO FACE BUT I GUESS I HAVE NO CHOICE SINCE YOU CONTINUE TO RUN.I LOST YOU ONCE BUT I WON'T LOSE YOU AGAIN.
R.
Feeling dizzy, she set down the letter and sat down. " How could I leave my door unlocked!" she scolded herself "And why won't this guy leave me alone..He must be crazy!" Calling the police officer on the card, she got the same response, saying nothing could be done at this time. "What good are cops if they won't help you?" she muttered. Locking all her doors she then grabbed a bat for protection and crawled into bed. In the middle of the night she heard a knocking on her door and she shot out of bed. "Who could be at my house at midnight" she thought. She went up to the door gripping the bat and called out "Who's there?" Silence and then "Sarah! It's me!!Let me in, it's time for us to meet!" Sarah screamed and ran back upstairs and called the police who arrived shortly after and made sure no one was there. "I swear to you there it was him!" she screamed. " Miss just calm down and go back to sleep whoever it was, IF there was someone her, is gone now" Not assured, she grabbed the bat and decided to stay up the rest of the night but fell asleep shortly before 3 A.M

The next night she decided to pay her friend a visit and tell her everything that was happening. Walking down the street she began humming a song to herself and glancing behind her from time to time. Halfway to Robin's house she noticed footsteps behind her again. Without even looking behind her she knew who it was." Oh god not now" " Please not now." she thought quickening her speed. All of a sudden the footsteps behind her broke out into a run and Sarah broke into a full sprint and ran into another alley trying to lose hime. "Leave me alone!" she screamed out tears running down her face. " Please Sarah stop!We need to talk." the voice pleaded. He chased her to the edge of the street where it ran into the woods. Looking quickly around her Sarah picked up a heavy branch and ran behind a tree. "It's now or never, I'll hit him with the branch and end this nightmare." she thought. When the stranger came near to her tree she stepped out and swung the branch as hard as she could and hit the man in his shoulder knocking him down. "Ooof!" the man fell to the ground in pain.

Sarah had started to run again but stopped. It was to dark to see the man but she wanted desperately to see the face of her stalker..of the man who had caused her weeks of torment. Picking up her little flashlight that had fallen from her pocket she turned it on and walked slowly to the fallen man, and turned it on. Shining it on his face, she gasped and looked away tears filling her eyes. She looked back at the man with tears running down her face and whispered "D..Dad??!!What are you doing here?"

.... 1 month later....

Sarah had never seen her father in real life, but instantly recognized him from the photos she had seen. After helping him up they had went back to her house to talk. Now almost a month later they acted like he had never been gone. He had explained to her that he had been caught by the police shortly after leaving but was released when the real killer had been caught. He had been looking for his "little girl" for the past 18 years and had almost given up hope until he saw her name in the newspaper after an art show at the college. He hadn't meant to scare her, but he didn't have the courage to talk with her face to face in the beginning for fear she would hate him for leaving. He didn't mean to sound threatening he just couldn't care the thought of losing her again after all the time searching for her. They had talked about it for hours it seemed and Sarah now loved her father more than anything else in the world. He found an apartment near her home and visited everyday.

One night as they were walking down the street a mugger jumped out of the shadows and demanded they give him all their money. After receiveing it, the mugger took out a small gun and shot Sarah's father in the chest and quickly made a get-away. Screaming she called 911 on her cell phone and waited for an ambulance to arrive. 2 hours later at the hospital, a doctor came in and sadly told her that he had just lost to much blood and died in surgery to remove the bullet from his chest. Sarah fainted and 5 minutes later when she awoke she began sobbing loudly for her dead father and for the once bright future she had planned for them that would now never come.

THE END