I Can’t Believe I’m Saying This, But I’m Deathly Afraid Of Cakes After What’s Been Happening To Me

My eyes scanned the area quickly, but I couldn’t see Brad. Was he hiding in the back seat? I hadn’t heard footsteps, but I wasn’t really paying attention before. For a moment, I thought about hiding in the abandoned mall, but what if Brad was waiting inside to jump me? I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I backed away from my car, whimpering like a child, and called the cops. I waited for 10 whole minutes in the exposed lot, halfway between my vehicle and the building. If he was in the strip mall, then I would have time to flee to my car. If he was in my car, then I would have a head start when running away.

By the time the police arrived, I was feeling really lightheaded. I think I was tiptoeing on the verge of a full-blown panic attack. The officers let me sit in their squad car while they checked every nook and cranny of my automobile. I watched nervously, expecting Brad to jump out at them with a knife. Thankfully, the car was empty. Once they’d deemed the area secure, one of the officers took me aside while the other contacted the station to put an APB out on Brad. I was relieved to see them take the death threat so seriously. The officer listened as I told him about the breakup, the harassing cakes I’d been receiving since, and the break-in that morning. He retrieved the bakery’s business card from the cake, which, by that point, was melting on the hood of my car. He gave the number a call.

“Says it isn’t valid,” he told me.

“That’s not possible,” I replied.

I tried calling Just Desserts Bakery using my own phone. By then, I had their number on speed dial, since I called them more often than I called my mom. Sure enough, an operator told me the number was no longer in service. I became even more agitated. Brad had gone through an obscene amount of trouble to mess with me, it seemed.

After about 10 minutes, the second officer interrupted, “Ma’am,” he said, tilting his head.

Still shaking, I nodded.

“Y-yes?”

“You say you’re being stalked by Brad Clarkson, right?” he asked.

I nodded again.

“Yeah…”

Canadian Horror Author

Keep up with Manen on Twitter and Amazon

More From Thought Catalog