Fever Dream by Annabel Joseph Read Free Book Online Page B

language—it painted a picture of two close friends, even though in reality they mostly avoided each other. He’d put her into the company car and ducked into a taxi, because he got followed by female fans. All the lurkers outside the theater doors queued up to see him, not her, and she definitely preferred it that way.
    Petra headed down to the lobby and asked at the front desk for her package. It was from New York, somewhat large but very light. She received a lot of promotional materials, free shoes and bags and leotards, although they usually came to the theater. She went upstairs and opened the box, pushing aside the packing peanuts. Underneath, she uncovered two fuzzy ears of a gold-colored stuffed bear. Her confusion gave way to goose bumps as she pulled it out.
    It was a mess. The eyes were gouged out, threads hanging shorn and bare. The middle was also torn open, with bits of stuffing visible, along with a note. Her first reaction was to drop the thing on the table. It couldn’t be meant for her. She poked inside the stuffing and pulled out the crumpled pieces of paper. The first was a printed-out photo of her and Rubio, the very one of them sharing a laugh at the stage door. The second was a note, written neatly in black pen on lined paper.
    Why are you doing this? You’re tearing me apart.
    Ugh. Why did freaky, stalky people have to exist in the world? Who in their right mind would send a ripped-up bear like this to another person? Scary Gary, that’s who. The man had developed some weird obsession with her, and with this “gift” he’d shown her that moving an ocean away wasn’t quite far enough.
    *** *** ***
     
    One week later, Petra sat in an office at the local precinct. Not an office, actually, but a cubicle, which was the first sign that she was going to get absolutely no help. The second sign was the age of her assigned officer, who appeared to be just out of high school.
    “I don’t know what to say, Ms. Hewitt. Gary Paulsen has no criminal record, no known mental illness. Is he behaving badly? Yes, of course he is. Can I do anything to help you stop him?”
    His expression said everything. No.
    “So what do I do?” she asked, trying not to sound like a whiner. “He’s writing me, bothering me, sending me packages. He’s been doing it for months now. I feel...endangered.”
    He gave her a patronizing smile. “I don’t think you’re endangered. He’s not even in this country.”
    “How can you be sure?”
    “The IP address of his emails, for one.”
    “Can’t those be manipulated?”
    She could tell his patience was wearing thin. “Aren’t there laws against harassment here?” she asked.
    “There are laws against harassment, but they require a degree of menace. Your guy isn’t making overt threats. He’s not in a position to confront you or attack you. You can change your phone number and email and refuse anything he sends through the post. It’s an annoyance, of course, but his actions aren’t significant enough to merit international legal action. Not at this point.”
    “So if I was in the US, you could do something. But since he’s an ocean away he can harass me all he wants?”
    “Until he presents a credible threat, yes.”
    Petra sighed, looking around the shabby police station. Coffee rings stained a pile of reports on the young officer’s desk. His girlfriend, or perhaps his wife, grinned at her from behind a crooked frame.
    “So I wait, then,” she said. “Until he says something threatening or scary.”
    “There’s always the possibility he’ll move on to some other obsession. Have you considered...” He shuffled his feet under the desk. “Would it be possible to take a break from the stage? Temporarily retire, so to speak?”
    “Temporarily retire? Now? At the height of my career?”
    “I know it’s not ideal, but if it’s the dancer he’s attracted to—”
    She stared at him. “I am the dancer. Ballet is my whole life. I can’t stop, I can’t