“A Peeping Tom, Ma’am?” The dispatcher asks, sounding annoyed.
“Yes, a Peeping Tom! I only saw their eyes, but I saw someone.” I bite my nails nervously as I hear the dispatcher over the phone typing.
“Okay, Ma’am. We are sending an officer out to you now. They should be there in twenty minutes. Do you need me to stay on the phone while you wait?” The dispatcher asks.
“What if they break in? Do I call back?” My heart’s racing, and the thought of being alone, even if the only comfort I have is a person on the phone, makes me want to cry.
“I can stay with you on the phone. Just sit down in a room away from the windows. Lock your door, and when the police arrive, I'll disconnect the call. Is that okay?” The dispatcher's tone of voice softens when they hear my panic.
“Yes, thank you,” I say in a shaky voice as I lock my bedroom door and sit on my bed, waiting for the cops to show up.
The cops come and go quicker than they arrived. They search my apartment and the fire escape outside my bedroom window for a whole whopping ten seconds and find no evidence of a peeping Tom. The cops that came say my saving grace is that the window couldn’t be opened, and when the personrealized they couldn’t get in, they probably just took off. The officer who came out gave me his number in case the Peeping Tom came back tonight, but it gave me little comfort as I sat alone with Binx in my bedroom.
Come on, Luna. Put on your big-girl pants and do one last check before you sleep. Put your mind at ease.
I open my bedroom door slightly, peeking out to see my empty living room.
I’m leaving all the lights on in my apartment becausefuck thatif you think I’m not.
I open my door fully and tiptoe over to my bathroom. The room is dark, and my candles burned themselves out, thankfully, instead of my apartment when I left it in haste.
I start to shut the door when a shadow catches my eye outside my window. It’s quick; I almost second-guessed myself, but I can’t get that image of the person's eye staring at me. I shut the bathroom door, grab one of my chairs from my dining table, and shove it under the doorknob. I grab another chair and return to my bedroom, barricading myself inside.
My apartment is set up so that my bedroom faces the street. I have four windows in my room: one leads to my fire escape, and the other three face the street. The one leading to my fire escape has two industrial safety bars that lock the window down.
I had it installed after I moved here for this exact reason. I’m a woman who lives alone, not an idiot.
I close the curtains and curl up with Binx, leaving my rose quartz lamp on to ease my rapid heartbeat and help me sleep.
I’m safe. Totally safe.
Completely safe.
The pitter-patter of rain hitting my windows and Binx’s purring help ease my anxiety. I stare at my ceiling, hoping that what I saw in the bathroom was just my mind playing tricks on me.
But someonewaswatching me. I know that. Isawthem. Well, their eye. I saw an eye that is attached to a person, most likely.
I’m alsoveryconfused about why it doesn’t scare me as much as it should. Sure, I was scared in the moment, but as I lie here now replaying everything in my head, I have this underlying feeling in the pit of my stomach that I kind of—like it. I mean, I write dark romance for a living, really fucked up dark romance, the kind that makes people question things about themselves—and here I am, questioning myself.
I tuck myself further into my bed, burying my head under my blanket.
My conscience screams at me that I’m sick and twisted to be even remotely turned on by this—but there is a voice way in the back of my mind that’s louder, and it reassures me.
The police searched your apartment. This is a safe space. What’s the harm in indulging in a fantasy? You may never get this opportunity again. Use it as research.
I give in to the voice rather quickly, and my hands start to wander. One grabs my breast, giving my nipple a pinch, and the other slips beneath my pajamas and slides over my already-soaked pussy. I circle my clit, thinking about the eye staring at me,watching me, and if I hadn’t run screaming out of the bathroom. If I had stayed put and continued doing what I'm doing now. “Fuck,” I moan, breathlessly. I throw my covers off, the air suddenly too hot to handle. The cool air of my room hits me as I slip a finger into my pussy, moaning and bucking against my bed. I pump my fingers in and out of my pussy, circling back to my clit, and I’m already so close to coming.
I continue with my fantasy, and suddenly, the person outside is now in my bathroom, watching me. I can’t see their face, but that’s how I like it. A skull-like mask covers their face, and on the right side, the eye socket is fractured, with a glowing green iris behind it. They look like my favorite MaskTok crush, Wolfy. His videos live rent-free in my head, and now that I have a real-life fantasy to play with, I want him to be the star of the show.
I want him to watch, and I want him to know that I only come this hard forhim.
I come so hard around my fingers I scream into my blanket, biting down on the fabric, and soaking my pajamas with my orgasm. My eyes fly open to see my dimly lit room, and not Wolfy. I sigh, catching my breath, taking my hand out of my pants, and then getting up to changemy pajamas, when what sounds like fingers sliding across glass makes me freeze in fear.
The noise sounds like it came from the window near the fire escape, but I’m now once again too afraid to check. I quickly change and slip back into my bed.
What was I thinking! He could be a real stalker, and you just gave him the green fucking flag to continue because who the fuck would finger themselves thinking about someone who just may or may not want to break in and do bad things to you! Luna, you idiot!
I chastise myself until my eyes grow heavy, and only then do I let my mind wander back to the person in the skull mask.
