TURN AROUND.

Seraphina stared at the note for so long that the words stopped looking real to her. She still waited for Stephanie but she was taking a long time.

‘Turn around.”

Her fingers trembled violently around the paper as she read it again and again, hoping somehow the sentence would change itself if she looked hard enough but it didn't. Her heartbeat pounded against her ribs so loudly she could barely hear anything else and just like that, the room felt smaller while the darkness felt heavier.

‘Turn around.’

The stalker had been watching her. Not yesterday, not through a camera…not from outside the property but Inside…inside her bedroom.

The realization settled into her stomach like weight she couldn't carry.

"No..." she whispered weakly and it barely sounded like her.

The flower lay forgotten on the floor beside her bed while her eyes remained locked on those words. She didn't want to turn around. Every horror movie she had ever watched suddenly felt very educational because whatever was behind her couldn't possibly be good.

Yet somehow not knowing felt worse. Then she turned... slowly and carefully but to,

Nothing.

The bedroom stood exactly as it had before and the cream-colored curtains moved softly beneath the air conditioning. Everything looked perfectly normal...too normal.

Her eyes darted frantically around the room to the closet, bathroom…balcony doors.

Still nothing and nobody.

The room was empty but that somehow scared her more. Her breathing became uneven as she took several steps backward until her legs hit the edge of the bed.

"No... no, no, no..." The note slipped from her fingers and a second later she screamed again.

"STEPHANIE!"

The sound ripped through the house so violently that even Seraphina startled herself…it was like she went back to bed after the first scream.

Footsteps immediately thundered from upstairs, doors slammed open and the house exploded into noise.

"Seraphina! I'm sorry I fell back as–"

Stephanie burst into the room, still wearing an oversized T-shirt and looking half asleep but the moment she saw her sister's face, every trace of sleep disappeared.

"What happened?"

Seraphina couldn't speak immediately, she simply pointed at the flower then at the notes and at the nightstand.

Stephanie followed her shaking finger and froze. For several seconds neither woman spoke, then Stephanie slowly picked up the rose.

"...What the hell?" Tears instantly filled Seraphina's eyes, because she was exhausted... she hadn't slept properly in days and she was beginning to wonder whether she would ever feel safe inside her own home again.

"I locked the door," she whispered. "Stephanie, I locked it." Her voice cracked badly on every word.

"I know."

"The cameras—"

"I know."

"The alarms—"

"I know baby." Stephanie picked up her phone and screamed in it then the security company arrived less than forty minutes later.

Seraphina hated every second of it.

Men walked through her house with flashlights while she sat downstairs wrapped in a blanket. Stephanie remained beside her, occasionally squeezing her hand whenever she noticed Seraphina starting to spiral again.

Every room was searched, every window inspected and every lock checked.

The attic, the basement…the roof but still nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

By sunrise, one of the security supervisors finally approached them.

"There are no signs of forced entry." And Stephanie immediately stood up.

"No signs of—"

"Ma'am—"

"A man walked into her bedroom while she was sleeping!"

"We cannot confirm that." Stephanie looked seconds away from committing a felony.

"The flower confirms that." The supervisor sighed.

"Perhaps the flower was already inside the property." Stephanie laughed as she moved closer to the man. It was the kind that warned everyone nearby to start running.

"Are you playing stupid?" She paused, “or just plain stupid?”

"Stephanie," Seraphina murmured weakly.

"No. No. I'm serious. Are you stupid?"

The supervisor wisely stopped talking after that and the house gradually emptied as morning settled over the city. The golden sunlight pouring through the windows should have felt comforting.

Instead it only made Seraphina feel tired…it had finally settled deep inside the bones.

She barely listened while Stephanie continued arguing with security downstairs. Their voices became distant noise somewhere in the background as she sat quietly at the dining table staring at the flower.

Something about it bothered her then she noticed it…the stem. It was fresh and recently cut…not hours ago, not even yesterday…but recently.

Her stomach dropped because whoever left it had been inside the house only minutes before she woke up.

A cold shiver ran down her spine and at the exact same moment, one of the technicians suddenly called out from the living room.

"Wait." The entire room went silent and the man stared at the security footage on the tablet. His expression slowly changed. Stephanie immediately walked over

"What?" and the technician swallowed then turned the screen toward them.

"All the cameras went offline.".Stephanie frowned.

"For how long?" The man zoomed in and his face looked pale now.

"Thirty-one seconds." And suddenly, the room fell silent. Just thirty-one seconds…not thirty minutes and not ten minutes. Just enough time, just enough time for somebody to enter and just enough time for somebody to leave…just enough time to stand beside Seraphina's bed and place a flower on her nightstand.

Nobody spoke for several seconds. Then Stephanie slowly sat down and for the first time since this nightmare started...

She looked scared too.

Hours later, after everyone finally left, Seraphina dragged herself upstairs. Her head hurt, her eyes burned and she felt hollow.

The bedroom door creaked softly as she pushed it open and the room looked exactly the same. There was nothing out of place, nothing unusual…just the same. She walked toward her vanity and reached for a makeup wipe.

Then froze. Her entire body stopped moving. The lipstick tube she had left on the vanity was uncapped.

Her breathing halted. Then Slowly...

Very slowly...Her eyes lifted toward the mirror and red letters stared back at her, written across the glass in elegant handwriting she knew far too well.

A handwriting that looked almost identical to Adrian's. Just four simple words.

‘YOU LOOKED BEHIND YOU.’ and beneath it...still wet as if it had only just been written.