Stalker

 I was looking forward to the weekend.

All week I had a weird feeling that someone was watching me.

My friend Jill was having her first dinner party and I had promised I would come. I needed some down time.

Every time I had left the house to shop or go to work the last few weeks, the hair on the back of my head bristled. On the way home, I stopped to buy Jill flowers and out of the corner of my eye I saw a heavyset man walk past, when he saw me looking he hurried away.

I was surprised when I arrived at the party because I recognized the man who I had seen at the flower shop. He introduced himself as Jerry. Right away, he started to talk about himself, I had the feeling he was going to occupy my night with his nonsensical chatter. I moved away and slowly started to mix in with a group talking animatedly about politics. I began to have excessively too much fun. The time had flown by and it was getting very late.   

Jill suggested one for the road, she then would volunteer Jerry to give me a ride home.  Jerry gave me shivers up my spine, not the good kind. Jill looked so happy her party was a success.

I told her I wanted to walk in the warm night, to clear my head on the way. I slipped away without notice. The stars were bright and sparkled, the moon was full and danced off the lake and I was looking forward to a leisurely walk along the lake trail to enjoy the glitter of the water. A light breeze was starting.

I passed two lovers who giggled as they went on their way. An old man walking his dog stopped and said hello with a full grin and remarked about this beautiful night. I gave him a warm smile, patting his dog and continued along the path towards my place.

My senses felt someone behind me, turning my head quickly but saw nothing.  Must have been the trees twisting in the slight breeze. I neared home. I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see Jerry from the party coming at a fast pace his bulky body heaving with the exercise. His first comment was did I not enjoy his company? I had embarrassed him by not letting him drive me home. His face looked angry and distorted, his eyes closed to slits.

To cover my nervousness, I laughed and told him it had nothing to do with him, I wanted to enjoy my meandering alone on this glorious peaceful evening. He said he was not in the habit of being ignored and he knew all about me as he had watched me for weeks. Now I was scared as his demeanor changed and he became more hostile and aggressive towards me, saying goodnight I turned to leave.

He grabbed me and threw me down to the ground. He started to pull at my skirt, I was in total shock, I was going to be raped by this crazy person. He dragged me behind a large tree pinning me against it banging my head. Trying to pull away as he hit me hard on the face No sound came from my scream. He proceeded to yank at my clothing.

He was trying to get on top of me, when I raised my knees into his groin; he rolled off bending over in pain. I had surprised him, in the time it took him to recover I was up and running. He started after me just as the old man came towards us. He looked at my clothes and asked what was going on. The dog started to growl as Jerry moved closer to me, the dog sensed something was wrong and showing his teeth continued barking, straining at his lead.

I awoke in a sweat from his barking.