"Yes."
"Why did you break up with him?"
I put my palm over my face in humiliation. "If you must know, he"s such a sports fanatic that he didn"t have a whole lot of time for me. I was like number five on his list of things he was interested in. If not number six."
The officer laughed. "Okay, it"s not Brendan. Sorry to embarra.s.s you. We just have to figure out who would stalk you. I don"t think it"s an adult, unless it"s a teacher or someone else who works at the school."
"I agree," I said.
"Has any teacher or school employee ever made you uncomfortable or asked you to meet them anywhere off campus?"
I was affronted. "No, I trust my teachers. Completely. And if anything seemed off about a teacher, I would tell my parents."
"Sounds like you have thought this through."
I nodded. "It"s a student, sir. Someone I have cla.s.ses with, probably."
"Do you have any idea who might be behind this, any idea at all?"
"No, sir. I don"t. I"m stumped."
"Has anyone ever bullied you at school?"
"No. I"m in honors cla.s.ses, mostly. Everyone is too busy studying to be mean to anyone else."
"Does my family need to worry?" my father asked the officer.
"Well, your daughter needs more security if someone is watching her every move that easily. Do you have a dog at home?" the officer asked.
"No," my dad said.
"I would get a dog," the officer said. "A big dog with a big bark."
"Really?" my dad asked. "A dog will solve this?"
"Yes, and put him in the back yard at night," the officer said.
I was kind of excited to get a dog, my parents had always said they were too much trouble.
"What kind of a dog?" Dad asked.
"I would get a German shepherd from the German Shepherd Rescue. You can"t lose. You get a family pet and you could save a life," the officer said. "Stalkers hate watch dogs."
"So, don"t get a puppy?" Mom asked.
"No. A grown dog."
"We will talk about it," my dad said, looking at Mom for her approval.
"I highly recommend it," the officer said. "Here"s the thing. The dog will bond with your family and be very loyal. A dog is on the job 24 hours a day. You cannot sneak past a German shepherd, I have one. They are the best burglar alarms in the entire world and you"ll have a friend for life."
The officer and the photographer left after that. My mom told me to get my stuff because I was going to school. I was glad school was almost over for the year, I couldn"t take much more of this, I was a nervous wreck.
When I got to school, I told Chanda all about the footprint in the mud by my window, she looked scared. I also told her we might get a dog, she was excited about that, her parents also felt dogs were too much trouble.
After my mother picked me up from school, we went on the internet to see about German shepherd rescue organizations. There were so many dogs to choose from. They were all beautiful and smart looking. I couldn"t choose one and neither could my mom. On the website it said that the German shepherd rescue organization was going to be at a pet store near our house on Sat.u.r.day.
"Mom, do you think we can go?" I asked her. "Just to see them?"
"I think that would be a good idea. I will talk it over with your father and we will probably go. I think seeing the dogs up close is better than looking at pictures," she said.
I went into the living room and told the boys, they were excited to get a dog. We started arguing about names they wanted to get a boy dog and call it "Killer," but, I wanted a girl dog. I didn"t know what to call her but "Killer" seemed a little extreme.
We ate dinner and waited for my dad to come home. When he did, we all ran to him and told him about the new dog and he seemed excited about the idea.
"Let"s plan on all of us going on Sat.u.r.day. I have done some reading on German shepherds at work and they are very protective of the family they live with. I think Whitney is right and we should get a girl dog. When they have a pack, which would be us, they are very protective," my father said.
"Yay," I said, gloating over my dad taking my side.
"You boys are younger and you have never had a dog, so I just need to tell you that you must be gentle with a dog and not ever tease it or be rough with it."
"We know that, Dad! We"re not babies," Jacob said. I smiled. The boys pouted a little but they couldn"t stay mad, we were getting a dog!
Sat.u.r.day couldn"t come soon enough. My stalker left me alone, thank goodness, and my family was bonding while looking at the local German shepherd rescue website and trying to decide which dog we wanted. We decided to look at three dogs; their names were Hilda, Miracle, and Gloria. All of them were big, beautiful, and scary-looking. I was hoping one of them would fit with our family.
We got up and ate breakfast on Sat.u.r.day morning. We were excited about getting the German shepherd. We all got in our car and went to "The Fish Bowl," which was the pet store that had the dogs available for adoption.
When we drove up, there were dogs everywhere. There was one person holding the leash of one dog and people were already looking at them. My dad stopped the car and the boys and I ran over to where the dogs were. The handlers were happy to see us and they showed us a dog immediately. Her name was Gretchen and she was beautiful. She let us pet her and she even let my dad walk her when he came up.
We didn"t know where the three dogs were that we had picked on the website, but there were so many to choose from. We all got to walk a dog and we had so much fun petting them.
We knew from the website that we couldn"t take one home that day because we had to fill out an application and have a home inspection. My dad filled out the application and we made plans to have an inspection the following week. The dogs would be at a different pet store that was a little further away, but we didn"t care.
We looked at dogs all morning and we all had a favorite. I loved the one named Gretchen. She weighed about ninety pounds and she looked strong. She let me hug her and she seemed really happy that I was touching her her tail was really wagging and she licked my face.
None of the dogs seemed mean, I knew they had had rough lives because I read about it on the website. If I remembered correctly, Gretchen"s family had moved away and left her in the back yard with no food she had bulked up in weight at her foster home so I knew she was getting good care now.
My mom finally said we needed to go home and have lunch. We told the people who were in charge of the dogs that we would see them the following week.
When we got to the car, my mom made us all use hand sanitizer. She said she didn"t know where the dogs had been and they were probably filthy.
I told her they all looked well cared for and she didn"t argue with me.
The next week seemed to go by slowly. I got three text messages from my stalker. The first one said that he liked what I had on that day. The second one said he thought I was beautiful. The third one scared me because he said he was watching me and my friends at lunch and that I shouldn"t wear such short skirts. I was wearing a skirt that day and changed into jeans. I showed each text to my dad and he said he wished I could take our new dog to school with me. I did, too.
The inspector from the German Shepherd Rescue came out to the house and gave us her okay. She said we had a nice fence around our back yard and she didn"t see any way a dog could get out. She said she wished we had a fence in the front yard too, but the back one was okay.
I was so happy that nothing was going to stand in our way of adopting a dog. They were expensive. We were going to have to pay three hundred dollars for the dog. We also went and bought a large water and food bowl. We also needed to get a large collar and a large leash. By the time we were finished buying toys and treats, our bill was one hundred dollars.
"A four-hundred-dollar dog." My dad grimaced.
"A puppy would be a lot more money," I said. "But Gretchen is already housebroken and trained and spayed. The puppies wouldn"t be trained." I knew this because I had been all over the internet looking at dogs and puppies.
Sat.u.r.day came and we went to the pet store that was a little further away. This one was called "A Pet"s Life," and it was huge. When we arrived, I immediately looked for Gretchen. I saw her and I got out of the car and ran over to her.
My parents watched me with her and they also walked around with her. She was so loving and sweet and she didn"t even mind when my brothers walked her.
My dad said he had already decided to get Gretchen if she was still with the German Shepherd Rescue. I hugged him and told him thank you.
He paid for Gretchen and we walked her to our car. She seemed to understand she was coming home with us. She hopped right up in our car. It was a little cramped with me and the boys and her in the back. When we petted her and said we loved her, she would lick our hands.
When we got to our house, my dad said we should let her in the back yard so she could do her thing and also get acclimated. It was weird. The first thing she did was sniff over where the footprint was. I was hoping she was going to make a great watchdog.
We had her bowl of food and water by the side of the house. She went over and ate a little bit and drank some. I think she was just being polite.
After Gretchen did her business, we went inside. She sniffed everywhere, she was really funny.
I wanted so badly to take her in my room but she was a family dog and I knew I couldn"t hog her to myself.
We had lunch and she didn"t beg at all. We all said what a good dog she was to be so controlled.
After lunch, the boys lost interest in Gretchen. After all, she didn"t carry a bomb or get blown up and they went to their video games.
I called her and she knew her name she came to me. I went in my room and she followed me. My mom had already said that she couldn"t sleep on our beds but we got her a big dog bed. I had already sneaked it in my room because I wanted her to sleep in my room so I would feel safe, and because I already loved her. She immediately walked onto her new dog bed and wagged her tail.
I felt bad that her family had left her when they moved and I laid down beside her and petted her. I took a nap and so did Gretchen. My phone woke me up. I got a text. All it said was, "Nice dog."
I got up and showed my dad the text.
"This is terrible. He"s watching our house? Who is this guy?"
"I don"t know, but I am so glad we have Gretchen."
Dad said he hoped Gretchen would keep this guy away from our house and I said I hoped so, too.
Gretchen had gone out of my room and was laying between the boys, it was so cute that I had to have a picture, I got my camera and took a few shots.
That night, Gretchen slept on her dog bed in my room she snored a little and it was comforting. We had decided she would be an inside dog. That way, she could protect the household and bond with all of us. We might eventually put her out at night, but I didn"t want to I loved her already and I wanted her near me. I moved her bed next to my bed so I could pet her by dangling my hand off the bed and it gave me confidence to know she was right there.
The next day, Gretchen woke me by rubbing against the bed and putting her face in mine. Her cold, wet nose on my cheek woke me instantly. I looked at the clock it was too early we were going to go to church but five o" clock was so early for me to get up. I got up and let her in the back yard to do her business. I waited until she was finished and let her back in. I then went back to bed and fell back to sleep.
When my mom woke me, I was still tired, but I got up and got dressed. The boys had their Royal Ranger uniforms on. They were going to do some sort of presentation at church.
We put Gretchen outside while we were gone and then we went to church. I hoped she wouldn"t be scared without us.
The boys" presentation was cute. They did a Bible sword drill where their teacher would yell out a Bible verse and then the troop would look it up very fast in the Bible and whoever found it would stand up and start reading. Sometimes, two people found it at the same time and would read it. That was funny.
After church, we went for our usual pizza lunch. I was really tired, so I didn"t eat much. I don"t know what it is about church, but I always get so sleepy afterward.
When we got home, Chanda came running over. She said that Gretchen kept barking at something while we were gone. She couldn"t see what it was but she wanted us to investigate.
All of the family and Chanda went into the backyard. When we got there, we were shocked to see a bone beside Gretchen"s dishes. It looked thrown because it wasn"t straight.
"We didn"t give her that. I hope that Gretchen didn"t touch the bone because I am taking it to the police station. Hopefully, it will show some sort of fingerprints," my father said.
He went into the house and got a big baggie and slipped the bone in without touching it.
We all went in the house and I petted Gretchen, I was so nervous, I kept feeling like someone was watching us.
The next evening before he came home, my father took the bone to the police station. He said they would run a fingerprint test on it and I was glad.
That night, my parents were going to a meeting so my brothers could sign up for Little League. It was quite serious. My mom asked me to watch the boys so they wouldn"t be a distraction at the parents and coaches meeting and I said okay.
I got the first call on our landline at 8:00 p.m. All the caller said was, "Your parents aren"t home."
I hung up on them and looked at the caller I.D., which showed that the number was unavailable and out of area. The second call came at 8:30 p.m. and they said the same thing. It went on all night, with me not answering and the phone just ringing and then hanging up when the call went to the answering machine.
The boys came out of their room where they were looking at baseball cards and asked why the phone kept ringing.
I said it was the creeper and we all got scared.
I needed to take a shower, but I wasn"t about to do that until my parents came home. I went around the house, making sure all the windows were shut tight and the curtains closed. I made sure all the doors were locked, too.
When my parents came home, they saw three very scared kids waiting for them, with a big dog guarding us with her tongue hanging out and a wagging tail.
My father, who was so happy after the meeting, got angry at the caller, really angry. He slammed his fist on the table and said he was sick of the whole thing.
That night, I slept next to Gretchen on my floor. I was glad we had given her a bath; she smelled nice. Her fur was soft and warm and I could hear her breathing softly, sleeping, but always ready to defend me. It was the only place where I felt safe.
CHAPTER FIVE.
During the night, I noticed that the back of my neck kind of hurt. I rubbed it and I was shocked to feel a large b.u.mp. It was under the skin and about the size of a nickel. I didn"t remember feeling anything like this before on my neck. I started worrying about the lump. I was afraid it might be cancer.
I was glad I had Gretchen to lie near. I listened to her soft snore and fell back to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up with a nervous stomach. I have been having them since this stalker guy had been bothering me.
This one was worse, I tried to remember what was wrong and I remembered my neck, I felt my neck in the back and felt the lump. I jumped off the floor and threw my blankets on my bed. I ran into the kitchen where my mom was making scrambled eggs.
"Mom, I have a lump on my neck," I almost shouted at her.
My mom laid down the spoon she was using to stir the eggs.