Before Scene:
This is the opening scene of the story, where Lily, upon finding the AirTag under her license plate, finds herself longing for the safety and comfort of the small town she grew up in.
“Can you think of anyone who might want to hurt you,” the officer asked, but Lily’s mind was elsewhere. Staring at the flashing blue light that flooded through the window from the cop cars outside, Lily found herself thinking of her childhood. Growing up in Willow Creek, a small, sleepy town in northern Maine, Lily couldn’t remember a time in her childhood when she was afraid. Willow Creek was the kind of community where people used to leave their doors unlocked back in the day. Some of the older members of the community probably still did. It was the kind of town where generations of the same family lived next door to each other, and everyone knew everyone’s name. Children walked home from school alone and stayed out late with their friends without their parents worrying about kidnappers or worse. Lily used to walk the two miles to her house every day after school. Out of all her friends, she lived the furthest from the school, so after she’d passed all their houses, she’d walk alone. This never bothered her. When you know everyone in your town, you’re never really alone. She hadn’t been taught to fear strangers because, in Willow Creek, there were no strangers to fear.
“Miss Jenkins,” the cop said, snapping her back to reality, “If we’re going to help you, you need to answer our questions.”
“I… I’m sorry, what was the question?“ Lily responded.
“Can you think of anyone who would want to hurt you,“ the cop repeated.
“Umm, no. I’ve only been here for one semester. I still don’t really know many people on campus,“ Lily responded, unsure what to make of the cop’s question. Why would someone want to hurt her? That seemed absurd to her. She’d always gotten along well with everyone. Even now that she was at college and surrounded by so many new people, she hadn’t met anyone who seemed to dislike her. How could she have made an enemy in her first three months at college?
The cop continued questioning, “What about someone who’s obsessed with you or has feelings for you? Do you have any exes who might not be over you? Any relationships that ended badly?“ All his questions were of that manner, but Lily couldn’t think of any reason someone would want to track her. The cops were running out of questions, and the reason behind the AirTag Lily found shoved under the license plate was only becoming less clear. When the cops first arrived, Lily felt a sense of relief. She thought they’d swoop in, figure out who did it and why, and her life would return to being safe and uneventful. But now the reality of the situation was setting in.
“Unfortunately, without any names or other leads to go off, there’s not much we can do. We can take the AirTag and try to find out who it belongs to from Apple, but that will take at least a month. Here’s my card. If you can think of any other information that might help us, give me a call,“ the officer said, handing Lily a business card. Lily reached out, taking the card from the officer’s hand. She thanked him and walked him to the door of her apartment.
As the blue lights disappeared, Lily stood motionless by the front door, staring at the simple card. Her mind raced. She didn’t know how to feel. At first, she was scared. She’d never experienced anything like this before. She had so many questions. Who was stalking her? Why were they stalking her? Where were they right now? The cops had searched the property of her apartment when they arrived, but for all she knew, that person could be outside watching her through the windows of her apartment. As she thought about this, the anger set in. Just hours ago, her life had been perfectly normal. And then she got that damn notification on her phone, that one little notification that turned everything upside down. She had never even heard of people using AirTags to track people, nor did she have any reason to think someone would want to follow her. But now, someone knew everything: where she lived, worked, and went to school. They probably even knew where her friends lived and maybe even her parents.
When Lily got her acceptance letter from Maplewood College, they acted excitedly for her, but she knew they were also disappointed. They had hoped Lily would attend the local college that was only a town over from where she grew up. But Lily had to get away. She felt trapped in that small town. Maplewood College, named for the town it was in, was only an hour’s drive from home. It wasn’t like she was going out of state. Now, though, Lily felt a tinge of regret. Maybe she wouldn’t be in this situation if she had gone to the local college. Right then and there, Lily decided not to tell her parents what was happening. If they knew that their little girl had a stalker, they would freak out. They might even force her to transfer schools. Besides, there was no reason to worry them if this was nothing. Lily was hopeful this would be nothing, that the AirTag would be all the cops needed to catch her stalker, and that this would all quickly resolve itself.
After Scene:
After discovering that one of her old classmates from grade school goes to the same college as her, Lily begins to put together the pieces. Lily finally placed the face of the man she encountered at the party: It was him, Nathan Balcom. But at the party, he had given her a different name. From there, everything snapped into place on its own. His face now stood out in countless memories from the past few months. Her mysterious stalker was no stranger after all, but someone from her home town that she once thought of as a safe haven.