I finally started to relax a week later. There were no more break-ins, no more gifts, and all was back to normal. I checked my PO box, my mailbox at the apartment, and there was nothing. I was starting to convince myself that Mrs. Lamb lost interest in me when they saw me with David.

I did cut it off with David after spending the night with him over the weekend, so maybe they were leaving me alone as long as I wasn't spending my time with anybody else. It wasn't fair, but I felt happy just to be left alone.

As more time went by, I felt safe spending time in my apartment again and stopped staying with Lina and her smelly roommate. I stopped holding my breath around every corner and feeling suspicious of every new face.

By the time my Thursday show at Jack's came around, I was almost feeling back to normal. I still felt a little bit skittish when I went into the mail room, and I triple checked my locks when I left the apartment, but I felt good. I was able to spend the entire week working endlessly in the recording studio, which was also a really good distraction for me. I was always surrounded by people and really only went home to sleep because I was busy the rest of the time.

I decided to wear something more casual to my show that night, only wearing a cropped striped shirt and highwaisted jeans with a thick gray cardigan and black boots. It was a cozy fall look perfect for late October.

I was in a good mood when I entered the bar and took my guitar up to the stage to set up.

"Hey," I was interrupted as I started tuning my guitar by Sev joining me on the stage, holding a box in front of him.

"Hi," I glanced down at the box and then up to his face.

"This came in for you," he handed me the box and my heart sank. Just as I was getting into a normal rhythm again, I already had a gut feeling that I knew who sent me that box.

"Do you know what it is?" I asked him, my voice quivering a little bit because I already felt like I knew. I'd never received a package at the bar before, and I couldn't think of any reason that I would get a package sent here other than the obvious.

"No, I just found it in the back earlier," he said with a shrug, still stretching it out toward me despite the fact that I hadn't reached out to take it. "Maybe it's from a fan or something."

Hesitantly, I took the box from him and read the shipping label. I wasn't surprised that there was no return address. I didn't want to open it; just holding the box in my hand made me start to shake. I wanted to throw it across the room so hard that it vaporized against the wall. I wanted it to shatter into a million pieces.

"Everything okay?" Sev asked me cautiously.

"Yes," I said quickly, tearing the tape off of the box until I could pull the lid open and inside, there laid a stuffed lamb with a note underneath of it.

Dear Maren,

I forgive you for sleeping with that man with the beard. It took me some time because you hurt me, but all is forgiven now. I hope that you can understand, I had to take the bracelet back because I felt like you don't deserve it yet. I'll send it back once I can trust you again, I really think it'll look great on you. Please be good, I didn't like being angry with you.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Lamb

I was trembling after I finished reading the letter. I shoved it all back into the box and pushed it toward Sev.

"Can you throw this away please?" I asked him in a quiet, choked voice. I felt like my life was starting to become controlled by this person that I didn't even know. They clearly had a screw lose, or five, and it wasn't fair that they could do this to me and make me feel like this.

"Is it from an ex or something?"

"No," I said with an embarrassing sniffle as I could feel tears starting to swell in my eyes. "Please just throw it away."

"Okay, sure," he seemed taken by surprise at how upset I clearly was, and took the package away from me. The second the box wasn't in my hand, I was walking away in a blur to compose myself in the bathroom.

I felt so helpless and scared, knowing that there was somebody that felt like they owned me, and were going to great measures to make it a reality. I felt like there was nothing that I could do to stop them from doing this to me. I was starting to feel like I was in danger since they clearly were willing to lash out if I did something that made them unhappy.

I stayed in the bathroom until it was time to start my set and I had to work on calming myself down, wiping away my tears, and getting my mind off of the package that Sev handed me earlier. I had to get it together for my show though, and I could hear the crowd of people in the bar.

Once my face didn't look totally destroyed, I reappeared in the bar and went straight to the stage. I didn't have time for my mojito and would just have to deal with a dry throat during my set. That is, until I saw Sev approaching the stage again, this time with a tall glass in his hand, filled with clear liquid and crushed mint.

"Henri made it, I'm just the delivery boy," he assured me.

"Thank you," I took the drink from him and turned away, feeling absolutely embarrassed about how I handled the situation earlier. I wondered if he read the note, but hoped that he didn't. I barely knew Sev and didn't want him in my business but after my dramatic reaction, I wouldn't be surprised if he took a peak.

"Everything okay?" he asked me tentatively.

"Yes," I said quickly. "I'm fine."

"Okay. Well, break a leg."

Although I was in a terrible mood, I was excited to be able to play my music in front of an excited crowd because I knew that playing my music was the best way to relieve all of the stress in my body. Even if it was just for about an hour, it was a good way to distract me for a little bit.

As I strummed my guitar and sang into the microphone, my entire body relaxed. It felt like nothing else mattered, and the only thing that existed in the universe was this stage. Just me and my guitar, and nothing else.

But the second I put my guitar down after the show, it all came flooding back to me. I quickly said thank you and goodbye to the audience before I zipped up my guitar case and returned the mojito glass to the bar. There was still a little bit left, but I didn't want to stay to finish it, so I just left it on the bar and started to escape the crowded bar to get back home and lock the doors to stay in there forever.

"Maren," I heard Sev call my name from behind me, and I really did consider just walking out and pretending like I couldn't hear him. However, my manners got the best of me and I turned around, walking back to the bar where he was serving somebody a beer.

"Yeah?" I responded.

"I have a favor to ask you," he said, standing across from me at the counter. "I feel bad, because I know you're not in the best mood tonight, but I'm desperate."

"Okay," I said slowly, just wanting him to spit it out so I could leave.

"Henri mentioned that you're playing at Dante's Halloween Bash. First of all, congratulations," he started off and then continued, "Anyway, I got a last minute date for Halloween weekend, but everything is sold out. I was wondering if maybe you had some extra tickets? I could buy them off of you."

"Um, yeah I have two tickets you can have," I confirmed with a nod. "They don't have will call though, so you'll have to pick them up sometime before Saturday night."

"That's great, I can pick them up tomorrow. What's your address?"

"No," I said quickly and then I realized how abrupt and crazy that sounded, so I started to explain further. "I'm kind of weird about giving out my address."

Not only did I want to minimize the amount of people that had my address, but I also didn't want Mrs. Lamb to see him going into my apartment, make wrong assumptions, and then start slashing tires again. I had no idea where they were, when and if they were watching. I didn't want to take the chance.

"I can drop them off here tomorrow, are you working?"

"Yeah, but I don't want you to go out of your way," he told me.

"It's fine, I'll see you tomorrow," I said before I started walking away.

I only got a few feet away before Sev added, "This is my first date in a while."

I turned back around and gave him a confused look because I wasn't exactly sure why he would tell me that.

"I just wanted to make it clear that I don't date every girl I smile pretty at," he continued to explain. I didn't know why he felt the need to justify his dating preferences to me, but this was the second time he did this. I didn't care how many girls he flirted with or took out on dates and I couldn't figure out why he thought I might.

"Okay," I said, because I didn't know how to respond. It felt rude to flat out tell him that I don't care, so I left it at that and awkwardly started to walk away again.

As I walked down the cold night street, I wrapped my fingers around the taser I'd bought last week and held it inside of my sweater pocket. It felt like a safety blanket in my hand, making me feel safe as I walked down the sidewalk to my car. Once inside, I took a deep breath.

I hated feeling so afraid without knowing how to make it go away. I felt so sure that it was all over after they left me alone for almost a week, but all of the fear that I'd worked all week to get rid of all came rushing back.

I didn't let go of the taser until my apartment door locked behind me and I didn't go to sleep until I tied two cans to a string and hung it on the door knob as a way to wake me up in case somebody tried to open my door while I was asleep.

The fact that somebody would even try to enter my apartment while I slept made me feel sick, but that was the world I was living in and for the time being, I just had to deal with it.