But there was no man standing there.
Instead, there was a very young girl.
I later learned she was only nineteen.
She was wearing a thin jacket, carrying a small bag, and her eyes kept darting nervously toward the staircase.
“Are you Monica?” she asked quietly.
Before I could answer, a man’s voice came from downstairs.
“Emma!”
The girl flinched so hard that her whole body seemed to freeze.
“Please,” she whispered. “Let me inside.”
I don’t know why, but I didn’t ask another question.
pulled her inside and locked the door.
A few seconds later, heavy footsteps came up the stairs.
They stopped directly outside my apartment.
Three hard knocks.
“Open the door.”
I looked at the girl.
Her face had gone completely pale.
“Who is he?” I whispered.
She only shook her head.
The man knocked again.
“Monica, this has nothing to do with you. Send the girl out.”
That was when I truly froze.
The man outside knew my name.
“There’s no girl here,” I replied.
For several seconds, there was silence.
Then the man calmly said,
“Think carefully. You don’t need trouble either.”
His footsteps slowly disappeared down the stairs.
I closed the curtains and turned toward the girl.
“Now tell me everything.”
She said her name was Emma.
Two weeks earlier, she had found a job advertisement.
