Let Me In

Part 3: Let Me In. 

For those of you who have not read Locked Away and Hidden From View, you do need to read them first in the listed order to understand what happens next. Apologies for the delay in replying, there wasn't any revelation or comment that jogged my memory for this section, i was simply consulting with my family as to whether i should be divulging this all to strangers on the internet, especially this particular part. But they supported my decision to tell you all, it will strengthen my resolve and it's good to hear feedback on what 
happened.

The police were brought in at the behest of the College, but after taking statements, they simply said there's not much they can do without a remote idea of who this was and that until they actually made a physical threat, they couldn't give me any kind of protection. Simply put: "Persistent prank calls from a blocked number is not enough to waste police resources on." But, they told us if anything occurred again to call them immediately. 

A year went by and nothing happened, we all forgot about the incident and moved on. I went to college, completed my first year and earned my first diploma. I even learned to drive, got a nice little car and moved onto the main 2 year national diploma course. It was October of 2008, my family had gone away on holiday for the first time without me and at 17 years old, I certainly wasn't complaining. I had the bungalow to myself for 2 glorious weeks and despite a busy filming schedule, i could still enjoy having my music as loud as i wanted and having friends/girls over. All manner of things a teenager craves when still living with family.

It was late one night in the week, i'd just gotten back from London having been on set all day shooting for an end of year project. I got in, put some food in the microwave and settled down for the night, knowing i'd have an early start the following day. I fell asleep in my chair watching a film, when i was rudely awoken by my home phone. I didn't even bother checking the time, but it was undoubtedly late. 

"Maybe Mums calling from abroad..." I sleepily thought to myself.

"Yeah hello?"

Silence on the end except for a heavy breathing.

"C'mon whoever this is answer up, I gotta be up early tomorrow and i don-"

"Do you remember me?" an angry, female voice snarled.

"What? No, who is this?"

"You'll remember me after tonight."

There was a long pause, then she giggled.

"We've been here before."

Tap, tap, tap.

My heart stopped. I slowly turned around.

They were outside the front door. Three shapes, on the other side of the door.

My entire childhood nightmare was slowly coming alive right before my f*****g eyes.

"What the hell do you want with me?" I croaked, my body shaking, unable to even blink, staring at the shapes at my door.

"Let us in." She said maliciously.

Bang, Bang, Bang A pair of hands aggressively hammering against my front door.

"You're crazy, you're f*****g crazy!" I shouted. I could even hear myself echoing through the other side of the door.
"Did you remember to lock the back gate?"

I hadn't.

I ran like a bat out of hell to my back door, i'm glad the blinds were down, i didn't want to see what the f**k they were, human or not. I twisted the lock and immediately started hearing banging. But it was accompanied by something else...it was the sound of groaning. An awful, aggressive groaning.

I couldn't keep the phone to my ear anymore, she was now shrieking to be let in. I could hear her through the door. I didn't even think to call the police at this point, i knew if I wasted time, i'd be dead. I raced back to my room and climbed out the window, i'm fortunate my car is parked right on the front lawn by my bedroom window. I jumped in and drove off without even putting my front lights on, i was lucky i didn't get caught for speeding, cars were honking their horns, flashing their lights and animatedly pointing at me as i drove past. But in that moment, all i could think was getting away, i was genuinely afraid for my life, nobody else mattered.

I drove for about an hour before finally calming down enough to pull over at a nearby gas station. It was around 4 in the morning and nobody was around except the cashier, i knew my parents would be asleep, so i decided after filling up, i'd stay in a hotel for the night and call my best friend.

As i walked up to the booth to pay the cashier (in the early hours of the morning, the garage is shut to lower the chances of thievery), his face turned pale. I'd handed him my money already and was confused as to what the issue was.

"It's number 12, mate." thinking he hadn't heard me the first time. I had my hood up and thought that maybe he saw me as a thug or something.

"Don't turn around, calmly walk into the store and browse."

"What? But I-"

"Shut up and do it, now."

I complied and calmly walked into the store, as soon as i was out of view of the entrance, i asked without looking up:
"What's going on? What do you want?"

"I'm sorry for scaring you, but i needed to be sure, you drove up here alone, didn't you?"

"...yes, why?"

He picked up the phone on the desk and began to phone someone. I was nervous, but didn't dare come back into view or seem distressed. A million thoughts were swirling round my head, all of them coming to the same inevitable conclusion that i was trying to ignore.

WHOOSH

I jumped out of my skin, my iPhone was alerting me to tell me i'd received an email. The connection was sub-par, so i let it refresh my mail screen while i recomposed myself and nervously spoke to the cashier.

"What did you see?"

He put his hand over the phone as he turned to me, the sense of terror i felt in that moment was the same as when i was in the house, but magnified ten fold. I cannot remember a time before then i'd ever been that truly terrified.

"As you walked up to me, your car started moving...someone had been in the trunk, shifted the seats and laid down on the backseats. They'd been in there before you stopped."

WHOOSH

My mail had loaded, a message with no subject from a cryptic email address.

"Three hungry beasts, three hungry beasts,
See how they feed, see how they feed.
They always capture their prey, someday,
Be it today, April or far away.
Just when you think you've escaped and are free,
You forgot, not two, but three hungry beasts are we."

I was rooted to the spot, how could i overlook something like that? I heard two of them banging on the front and back door, I didn't even think about the third. My survival instinct had kicked in and I just got out of there...just like they wanted.

I didn't even move until the police arrived on the scene. I remember someone putting a blanket over me and gently sitting me down somewhere. They tried to put me in the back of the ambulance, but i started screaming. I couldn't be in a confined space, not then. The thought of being anywhere boxed in was too much.

I sat there for some time, my eyes stuck on my car, the images of all the f*****g horrible things they could've done to me running through my head over and over. After a while, a detective came over to me and went to put a reassuring hand on my shoulder, but seeing how shaken up i was, probably thought better of it. He pulled up a chair and sat next to me.

"I know you've just been through a lot here, but i need to ask you some questions if that's okay?"

I nodded, not taking my eyes off of the car, convinced something would still be lurking in it.

"We found out where you live and we'd had a call from a concerned neighbour, saying they were hearing shrieking and banging. They thought someone was trying to burgle your home. Can you tell me anything about that?"

I was reluctant at first, considering the polices stellar response before, but things had changed now and i would do anything for protection. So i slowly explained everything.

He simply sat there quietly taking notes and nodding. After i was done, he sighed and held something out to me.

"I need you to take a look at this and tell me if it means anything to you, it was found on the backseat...among some other things."

I finally took my eyes off the car and looked at what the officer was holding.

It was a note, with just two sentences.

"We've been here before. And we will have you."