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Dedication: ShaunaOconnell5 for commenting last chapter to tell me she stopped reading another book to read the new chapter update for this one. That brought a big smile to my face so thank you! <3

Recap:

"You fucking whore," the voice growled in my ear. "How dare you betray me like that."

I couldn't even beg him to stop. The cord/rope closed around my throat. I felt my eyes bulge. I tugged at the rope with my fingers, trying to get it to loosen. I began gasping, trying to inhale some of the oxygen around me.

I felt my body turn weak as I battled with the person strangling me. Black dots began to appear in my vision and suddenly, everything around me turned black.

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I struggled to open my eyes as I felt the pressure of the rope constrict around my neck.

With one final attempt to save myself, I stomped down on the person's foot as hard as I could, using my adrenaline to dig my heel in.

"Fuck!" the person groaned, relieving me for a moment.

I jerked out of his hold, falling at the same time, my weight pulling me from his grip. I fell to the ground, but was quick to recover.

The person who has been harassing me is here. I need to find out who it is.

"Oh, look who has learnt to fight back," the guy grunted, his voice deliberately deep, making it hard to distinguish who's voice it belongs to.

"Who are you?" I spat, getting to my feet, my entire body trembling.

My head felt light but I focused on the guy in front of me. He was dressed in all black, with balaclava over his face and dark glasses on. Not one bit of skin was showing. I am unable to decipher who he is and his clothes are baggy. All I know is that he is tall, but so is Owen, Isaac and Casey.

"You know who it is, whore," he snapped. "This isn't over. I'll never be done with you."

With that, he took off from me. With my vision blurry and my head spinning, I ran after him. I stumbled down the stairs, falling to my knees painfully.

The front door was flung open and suddenly, my mum was there, holding bags of groceries. She was pushed over, the loud thuds of the groceries hitting the floor bounded around in my head, as I got to my feet once more, trying to catch him.

My mum screamed as the guy leapt over her, tearing down the porch.

By the time I got around mum, he was gone.

"Fuck!" I cried, turning and sending my fist into the door, my knees burning from the contact with the wooden floor.

"Sadie!" my mum exclaimed, shakily getting to her feet. "What the hell! Who was that?"

"That," I growled, tearing my eyes from her, to where he ran. "Is a good question. He has been harassing me relentlessly, ever since we moved here."

"What do you mean?" she asked slowly, looking pale. "Oh my God, what happened to your neck!?"

"He tried to strangle me," I replied through gritted teeth.

This was the first time, I felt strong and like I could fight back. I don't know if it's because of my time with Josh, if it's because I finally got some sleep, or whether I'm just fed up being the victim, but I'm ready to take this guy on, even if it kills me.

After helping her inside with the groceries and checking she was okay, I sat across from her on the dining room table and let out a deep sigh.

"I'm going to explain some things to you and you're going to be confused and find it hard to believe. I just need you to listen."

She gave me a perplexed look as I interlaced my fingers together, my stomach feeling knotted.

"So, it all started when..."

***

I should have told mum a long time ago. When it first started, really. But I was so consumed in self-pity and my own depression, that I had excluded myself off to a place where I thought no one cared and even if they did, they couldn't help me.

I'm done feeling like that.

After having mum sob against me for over half an hour, she insisted we go to the police. Which, is where we are now.

"So you've been receiving messages from Casey?" the man asked me, sitting across from me.

"Either from him or someone claiming to be him, I guess?" I replied.

"And why did you take so long to tell someone about it?"

"Well, at first I thought I was just going crazy. After it kept happening, I told my best friend about it and I actually told my counsellor, as well."

"Your counsellor didn't feel the need to report it?" he questioned, looking bored with this situation.

"We tried to figure out who was sending it but we couldn't. He told me to ignore the messages and to tell him if they got worse, but I haven't had any messages for a little while now."

"Until someone broke into your home today?"

"And strangled me, yeah," I said, meeting his eyes, emphasising the fact that I have been attacked. "This isn't the first time. Someone held me down once in my room and when my friend stayed over, she said she saw someone holding a pillow over her face."

My mum gasped in horror. I guess I didn't mention that part throughout my story.

"Jesus Christ," I heard him mutter. "You should have reported it!"

"That's what I'm doing now, aren't I?" I snapped, meeting his gaze challengingly.

He dragged his eyes from me and began to write something down.

"Can you give me a list of people you think could be suspects?" he asked. "Can be anyone."

"Umm..." I trailed off, trying to think. "Casey, if he's alive, Isaac, Owen, Josh..."

If it is Josh and I just slept with him, I am never going to forgive myself. I feel nauseous at the thought.

"Who is Josh and who is Owen?" he asked. "Isaac is the brother of Casey, yes?"

"That's right." I agreed. "Josh is a guy at my school. We had a bit of a thing a while ago and it's started back up again. Owen..." I can already feel my story about Owen is going to make him look pretty guilty.

Now that I think about it, he was obsessed with me and did try to force himself on me. Not even Isaac, who seems to have major mood swings, has done that.

"Sadie?" he pressed.

"I think..." I whispered, my eyes widening. "I think it could be Owen."

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I'm sorry this is so short but I really wanted to end the chapter there. I will have the next update out as soon as I can.

So, what are your thoughts? Do you think it could be Owen that is messing with her?