~Eunhee~

I woke with a start, unsure of what the time was. My mind was still foggy from sleep and I peered around myself in the dark, unable to see anything, I listened carefully, imagining sounds that weren’t really there. I stiffened in fear, shrinking into my blankets as I peered into the gloom; my eyes squinted as I tried to check the time on my illuminated clock which sat on the other side of my room.

I groaned softly and rolled back over, irritated. It was 4am. Too early to be up. It was my day off and I had been hoping to sleep in. Obviously not. I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep now that I had woken. I continued to lie in bed for several minutes before sighing and pulling myself from bed, dragging myself into my dimly lit kitchen, flicking on the light and boiling a jug of water, making myself a cup of coffee and leaning against the kitchen bench, sighing to myself as I watched the steam rise slowly from my mug. I stayed that way for a while, breathing in the smell of the coffee, taking small sips and slowly waking up fully, my mind clearing of the last of my sleepiness.

I yawned and dropped my now empty mug into the sink, before walking down the narrow corridor which led to the front door. I wanted to grab my untouched book bag that I had left sitting by the door. I spotted it and half smiled. I still hadn’t taken my text book out of it from the time I had gone to the library and this was the perfect opportunity to study.

I leant down, rummaging through it, pulling out my small pencil case and the textbook, letting them drop besides me. I looked up briefly and paused, somewhat confused.

There was a white envelope sitting on the tiles of my entrance, and I realized someone must have slipped it underneath the door, which was odd seeing as I had my pigeon hole for any mail I received in the foyer. I straightened up slightly and carefully stepped down into the entrance, picking up the envelope and flipping it over.

It was blank, and I shrugged, placing it on top of my text book, carrying the lot back into the kitchen and placing it all onto the kitchen table where I was planning on studying.

I lifted the envelope again after a moment before grabbing a normal butter knife and slipping it under the flap, slicing the top of the envelope perfectly. I reached in and felt cool, smooth paper, like photos. I frowned in confusion- maybe someone had delivered them to me accidentally.  I pulled out a small stack of photos and looked down at the one on top, still confused, unable to register what I was looking at straight away.

It was me.

I felt my eyes widen in confusion, and then terror as I flipped through the stack of professionally taken photos, realizing that they were all of me. I could feel my heart hammering in my chest, terrified. Every single one of them was of me, smiling, frowning, pouting, yawning in tiredness. All of them, from the time at the library, as I walked home, even ones as I worked in the café. So many photos taken over different days at different places and times.

There were photos of me leaving my apartment, walking down footpaths as I walked home from work, my back facing the photographer, of me talking to people and smiling at customers as I took orders.

All of these photos of me, that I had no idea were being taken. I began to shake uncontrollably, my grip on the photos loosening, until, involuntarily they slipped from between my fingers and fell, splaying out in all different directions around me, scattered everywhere. I began to gasp for air, hyperventilating. Was this some kind of joke? A prank?

I stood that way for a long time, unable to understand what was going on before my muddled thoughts lead me to the phone. I picked it up and typed in the first phone number I saw, which just happened to be Mehi’s. I had pinned it up onto the corkboard above the phone, and I pulled it down so I could see it better as I dialled, my hands trembling as I typed the numbers.

“Hello?” I heard a sleepy voice answer from the other end, and almost cried in relief, my more selfish side blocking out the fact that it was still dark outside and I had just woken her.

“Mehi, it’s me, Eunhee”

“Oh, Eunhee. What’s wrong?” her voice cleared instantly, and she became alert.

I breathed in deeply, trying to stop my voice from trembling. “I just found- someone left photos, of me. Someone has been taking photos of me- they left them at my door, and-” I broke off, unable to continue, knowing that I was making hardly any sense.

“Whoa. What happened?” her voice was serious and clear, and I felt somewhat reassured.

“I woke up early and I decided that seeing as I was already up I may as well study, so I went to grab my textbook and stuff, I’d left them at the front door, and while I was there I saw an envelope, I didn’t think much of it at first, so I just picked it up and took it back into the kitchen, and I opened it and” My voice faltered for a moment, but I began again. “And it was filled with photos, and they’re all of me. Every single photo is of me, and I’m scared”

Mehi was silent for a moment before speaking again. “So you mean, someone has been taking photos of you and you had no idea?”

“Yes. They’ve been following me around and taking photos of me” I whispered.

Mehi was silent for a moment, and I began to grow paranoid that she would tell me that I was overreacting.

“Eunhee… I think you should come and stay with me for a while. I think someone must be targeting you or something” Mehi’s voice trembled at the end, and I felt fear flood into me.

“Targeting me?” I whispered, terrified.

“I don’t know. It’s just weird. You said you thought you were being followed, and now you find photos of you that you had no idea were being taken? It’s weird, and I’m worried for you”

I began to understand what she was saying, and I nodded to myself. “You’re probably right. I need to leave. I’ll go to a hotel or something” I began to mutter to myself, formulating a plan in my head.

“No, don’t run off alone! Like I said, just come to my place, you can stay with me” Mehi said firmly, drawing me from my train of thought. “I’ll come and pick you up. You live in that apartment complex a few blocks away from the café, right? The one next to the new fancy one that was opened a while back, correct?”

“Y-yeah” I stuttered.

“Alright. Pack a bag and I’ll be there in about twenty minutes” I heard Mehi say calmly from the other end.

“Okay. See you soon” I replied, already feeling nervous as I ended the call.

I stood in silence for a few moments, still in shock. Why was this happening to me? I shivered as I walked back into the kitchen, averting my eyes from the scattered photos that lay on the floor, stepping over them and weaving my way to the other side of the kitchen and into my bed room. I pulled out a suitcase that I had stored under my bed and pulled my drawers open, grabbing clothes and anything else I thought I’d need and piling it all into the suitcase. I was done packing in only a few minutes and I went around my apartment, turning off lights. I looked at the illuminated stove top light and sighed nervously. It was time to go and meet Mehi. I quickly got changed and half carried, half dragged my suitcase back out through the kitchen and down the corridor to my front door. I pulled on my shoes and pulled my keys from my pocket, pulling the suitcase along behind me before turning and closing the door and locking it before stuffing my keys back into my pocket.

I pulled the suitcase along behind me until I reached the end of the narrow corridor and entered the elevator, fiddling nervously with the hem of my shirt the whole way down. The elevator doors slid open in front of me and I walked out, my suitcase making a soft clacking sound behind me as I walked.

“Eunhee!” I heard someone call softly, and I looked around, startled.

“Oh my gosh, Mehi, you scared me” I gasped when I spotted her standing by the glass front doors, smiling slightly. “Have you been here long?”

She shook her head and smiled. “No, only a few minutes. I didn’t know which room is yours so I decided to wait instead of go looking for you”

I stared at her for a few moments, realizing just how inconsiderate I had been. “Thank you so much. I’m sorry to be troubling you like this, and it’s still so early. I feel bad.” I stuttered and trailed off, looking down in shame.

She laughed. “It’s fine, really. I’m sort of happy that you called me, and I’d feel bad if I didn’t do anything to help you out”

“I feel like I’m overreacting”

She frowned. “You’re not”

I smiled weakly at her, still feeling selfish. She smiled at my expression before grabbing a hold of my arm.

“Come on, stop feeling bad. We should get back to my place quickly and figure out what to do”

Regret.

I didn’t know it, but that’s all I’d feel from this decision.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry for the slow update~ I've been having a few family issues that have stopped me from updating like usual~ Sorry (T__T)

I don't really like this chapter~ I'm unsure about it... ergh.

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Until next time! ^^