Amelia

I'd known my friend Amelia for many years, since early childhood. Our parents were friends, we were similar ages, so we'd seen each other on numerous occasions, and eventually, willingly or unwillingly, we too had become close. Our relationship had waned somewhat since we started university and moved to different cities. She stayed on the coast, while I moved to the central part of the country. However, we had no reason to believe our friendship was over, and we still trusted each other enough to talk about anything we wanted. So I wasn't particularly surprised when Amelia wrote to me one day asking for help. The surprising thing didn't begin until later.

My friend confessed to me that she felt persecuted. I'd never noticed her tendency toward such dramatics before, so I immediately became concerned and began asking her for more details. She explained that for some time now, whenever she went outside, especially for walks with her dog outside the estate, she had the feeling that someone was watching her. She also said that at first she tried to ignore it—after all, it was just a silly feeling—but then it became unbearable. She started covering the windows in her apartment, even though she lived on the third floor; whenever she went outside, she always had her phone ready with 112 already dialed, having already informed anyone where she was going. For a while, she stopped leaving the apartment in the evening and after dark. She became deeply paranoid, if I may say so, and had no idea what to do about it.

My first suggestion, of course, was to see a psychologist, but we all know how our healthcare system works. She made an appointment, but there was no way to skip the waiting period, and her condition seemed to be deteriorating day by day. So I suggested something else. I wanted her to start recording her outings, hoping that if nothing showed up on the recording (and I assumed I could rest assured about that), she would notice that she was getting unnecessarily worked up.

Let me emphasize again: I didn't think Amelia was right and that someone was actually watching her, following her. I was absolutely convinced that these were just her unfounded impressions and that recording what was happening would prove helpful to her.

It even seems I wasn't wrong – at least not at the very beginning of this... "experiment." Amelia watched the videos and sent them to me, and I could see for myself that there was absolutely nothing suspicious in them. My friend became calmer each day, and then... she stopped talking. I texted her constantly because I was starting to worry again, at first only on Facebook, then I called. Contact ceased completely for about a week.

When she called me, I could immediately tell she was completely distraught. Her words made no sense; she just kept repeating that "she was right" and "he's there." Only after a long phone conversation did I manage to get some sensible information out of her. Amelia told me that someone had started dropping letters in her mailbox. The letters were unwrapped cards, so whoever had brought them had done so personally. At my request, after the call, she sent me photos of them. None of them were particularly elaborate, consisting of single sentences: "I see you," "Come with me," "I have nothing to do." However, if the person had just left the letters in the mailbox, she wouldn't have panicked so much and wouldn't have called me crying.

Earlier in the day we had this conversation, when she returned home from her morning classes, an identical note was lying in the hallway of her apartment. The front door was locked, with no signs of forced entry, and no valuables were missing.

It was too much for me, too. Even if someone had been stalking Amelia before, it could have been dismissed as a silly prank, but if they knew how to get into her apartment, they could have easily posed a threat. I advised her to call the police, and she agreed, but I don't think she ever did, as she didn't say anything about it. Perhaps she was too afraid. I wish I'd thought of it then; maybe I would have done it myself. I also asked her to be careful and avoid going out alone.

Neither of us had any idea why anyone would be following her. Amelia was a normal girl, like any other girl, she had her group of friends, but I don't know anything about her dating anyone. She didn't say anything about her fight with anyone, and I don't think she was trying to hide it from me. I couldn't think of anyone who would want to scare her like that.

A few days passed without any significant events, and Amelia slowly began to believe that everything was returning to normal and that this nightmare, whatever had started it, would soon end. But this peace didn't last either. Soon, she sent me a text message saying, "He was at my house." When I called, she didn't answer. She said she didn't want to talk like this and that she didn't want to touch her phone at all. She claimed that in the morning, she found a recording of herself sleeping on it, around 4:20 a.m. She lives alone. The person who filmed it didn't identify themselves.

It was absolutely clear to me that Amelia couldn't stay in that house any longer. I told her to move for a few days to a friend, to her family, or to me if she wanted, somewhere that this person, whoever they were, wouldn't have access to. At the same time, I asked her again to call the police. She agreed and decided to leave the next day. Also at my urging, she wanted to change the locks on the doors or look for another apartment.

That evening, she texted that she still had to walk the dog. She promised to go with her neighbor and not go too far from the building. I don't know if it's relevant, but she claimed her dog had seemed restless all day. We chalked it up to anxiety about the imminent move. Amelia was supposed to call when she got back from her walk; I wanted to make sure she was okay.

She never did.

Even though I called, the phone remained unanswered. She didn't respond to messages or display the ones I sent her on Facebook. She didn't show up. A few days later, her parents contacted me, also concerned about the lack of any signs of life from her. I didn't tell them the whole truth; I'm not even sure why. I went to their place to explain as much as I could, but I also wanted to visit her apartment, look for anything that might give me a clue as to where Amelia had gone.

It was locked, but my friend seemed to have anticipated this scenario, as she gave the neighbor a spare set of keys. I also learned that the man hadn't gone for a walk with her that day—he wasn't home at the time. He did admit, however, that she seemed scared and anxious lately, though she refused to discuss it with him. He didn't mention the letters or the recordings.

Everything in Amelia's apartment seemed perfectly normal. No mess, no signs of forced entry, nothing. I searched every room, not a soul in sight. In the bedroom, I found two bags, packed and ready to leave. Nothing caught my eye. She'd left her phone, but by then the battery had died. I took it with me, hoping it might hold some clues if I managed to turn it on.

When I charged it at home, I found a few recordings I was familiar with—videos of Amelia's walks I'd had her record when all this started, and photos of the letters I'd asked her for. She didn't seem to delete anything, except for one thing. The recording from the night before was missing, the one taken while she was sleeping. I don't know if she lied to me or if she'd already deleted it. I don't even know if I'll ever get the chance to ask her about it.

But that's not all. I also found a video from the same evening our contact ended. It's similar to the initial ones; Amelia is walking the same path, but she seems panicked, looking around. I have the impression she's trying to escape something. It ends abruptly, with no clear ending. No one else is visible in the video, but my friend was definitely afraid of someone and believed they were nearby. There were also two photos in the camera folder. Their quality was noticeably lower than the others, as if the camera had been damaged, although subsequent photos I tried to take with it came out perfectly. The photos showed an entrance to a forest I'd never seen before. I don't think it was near Amelia's apartment. The date of the photo indicates it was taken two days after her disappearance.

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I don't know where the photos came from or who took them. It was likely the same person who entered my friend's apartment and left her letters, but I'm no closer to discovering her identity. I don't know where Amelia is. Neither do her family or the police. She is currently listed as missing.

Worse still, I don't know what the phone was doing in her apartment. I don't know who retrieved it, and I don't know if I made the right decision getting involved. My friend's paranoia has started to rub off on me, and I'm praying I won't be the next one.