As soon as Molly was done, I went back to the house and found my mother was on the phone.
"Here she is now," my mom said and handed me the phone. "It's Sheriff Dawson. Tell him about Blaine."
"Mom," I said and frowned, taking the phone and covering the receiver. "What did you do? You called the police?"
"Yes, I did. Blaine's stalking you and they need to know. Tell Sheriff Dawson what's going on."
I spent the next half hour on the phone talking to the Sheriff, who was a friend of my dad. I told him about Blaine and how I'd noticed him following me since we broke up.
"Has he said anything threatening to you? Has he actually touched you at any time?"
"No," I said, for he hadn't come within fifteen feet of me in the past month since we broke up.
"Has he contacted you on social media? Has he sent you any threatening emails or texts? Made any threatening posts on your Facebook?"
"No, he hasn't. He's just following me around. He stays far enough away, but it's scaring me."
"It's a small town, Alexa. You two are going to run into each other now and then. Are you sure it's stalking and not just accidental?"
"I'm pretty sure," I said, chewing a fingernail and feeling stupid all of a sudden.
"Pretty sure isn't good enough. I can't arrest him unless he's threatened you or touched you. There's nothing we can do except get a temporary restraining order against him, force him to stay a certain distance away. Do you want to do that?"
"I don't know," I said and turned to my mother. "He wants to know if we want to get a restraining order against Blaine."
"Yes," she said and took the phone from me, putting it on the speakerphone. "He's got to get over this and leave her alone. He's got to move on with his life. Maybe if he has a restraining order on him, he'll think twice."
We talked about the process for getting a restraining order and I promised to follow through the next day. When I hung up, I felt more unnerved because that might make him even more angry at me.
Things had gone way too far if I had to get a restraining order against Blaine.
"I'm scared," I said to my mom. "He's going to get really mad now."
She put her arms around me and squeezed me.
"I know you're scared," she said, kissing my forehead. "So am I. This is necessary to protect you. When your dad gets back from Phoenix, we'll talk about getting a better security system. You'll be going back to school soon, and he'll be as well. Maybe he'll get over this obsession with you."
I sighed and held onto my mom, hoping that would be the case, but there was a part of me that felt an increasing sense of threat from Blaine.
I hoped I was just imagining things…
I hadn't been.
Blaine found out that I talked to the Sheriff about getting a restraining order. Someone close to his family who worked at the Sheriff's office squealed and told them what we were doing.
The next day, he found me. I was afraid he'd kill me if someone hadn't come along and found us.
I'd been in the back yard, sun tanning, trying to catch a few rays before school started and I'd be back inside all day.
He showed up, coming in through the rear gate off the alley. I had my eyes closed and my earphones in when I felt the sun blocked. I opened my eyes and before I could say anything, he had his hands around my neck, his face an inch from mine.
"What the fuck were you thinking, Alexa? Getting a restraining order against me?" he hissed.
I tried to fight back, grabbing his hands, which were definitely too tight around my throat.
"Stop!" I cried out, trying to wrestle away from him. "You’re hurting me!"
"You're lucky I don't really hurt you," he said and finally let go. He grabbed my hand and pulled me with him towards the back gate. “I can’t believe you even considered getting a restraining order."