Chapter 5 On the watch 24 7

That night, Sylvia and Jamie went to the airport to see off Catherine. This was not the first time Catherine was going to Calistoga without Sylvia however, Sylvia was oddly sad this time and even took a promise from Catherine to be back soon.

After the flight took off, Jamie dropped Sylvia back at her apartment. "Will you be okay by yourself? I could stay with you if you need company?", Jamie said with a naughty smile on his face.

In those 6 years of being together, first as best friends and later as lovers, Sylvia had never allowed him to touch her that way. In short, Sylvia was still a virgin. But it seemed like Jamie wanted it now, more than anything else.

Yet, Sylvia still denied his request and told him she wanted to rest since it was a long tiring day for her. "I'll see you tomorrow in the class. Drive safe." And with this, she left the car.

That night, Sylvia could only dream of sensual touch, a hoarse manly voice asking her why she dressed for the men in the conference. She was in a dark room, a voice came from her behind when she turned... She woke up sweating. She was so scared that she broke the glass of water on her side table.

She got up to clean the mess. Once she was done, she called Lara.

After 15 seconds of ringing, Lara spoke in a sleepy voice.

"Can you please come over?" Sylvia quickly pleaded.

"It's midnight. Are you feeling lonely? Can we not meet in the morning? I'm really sleepy right now.." she yawned.

"Lara, it is urgent. I've something on my mind that I haven't even shared with Jamie. I can't sleep. It's haunting me in my dreams..", "Wait... What are you talking about? Lara interrupted her words.

"it's complicated. And scary."

"I'm on my way", Lara left as soon as she disconnected the call.

Meanwhile, Sylvia prepared coffee for herself to unwind from the dream she had just had. It was late November in San Francisco. The temperature had gone down to 9 degrees that night. Sylvia sat down on the sofa holding onto her cup of coffee and shrugged a warm blanket over her body to keep herself warm and cozy.

It was 30 minutes past midnight when the bell rang. Lara looked worried. "You look fairly okay to me. Was your call a stunt to not spent the night alone? Well, I think you should have taken the opportunity of having your boyfriend stay with you tonight", Lara said while adjusting herself on the sofa comfortably.

"Something happened after the conference today." Lara looked at her in complete shock.

"I was alone when the lights went off and..", Sylvia briefed the episode to Lara.

"Who do you think could do such a bizarre thing? Do you suspect anyone?".

"I have no idea. The situation is stuck in my mind, and I can't get over it. I dreamt about it. I heard the voice in my dream, it felt so real I couldn't move. As if he was right beside me."

Lara extended her hand to Sylvia to comfort her.

"Did you talk to Jamie about this?". "No!".

Suddenly her subconscious sneered at her loudly, "Do you think Jamie can be behind this?" she said in disbelief yet doubted.

"No way. Why would he do such a petty thing to scare you? Believe it or not Sylvia, I would have collapsed right there if it was for me", Lara muttered.

"I felt suffocated. If I ever get a chance to change something in my life, I will eliminate that moment from my life forever. I feel tacky to even think about it."

Sylvia had relieved her stress by speaking her heart out to Lara. Both the friends ended the discussion thinking it was a prank by someone and dozed off an hour later.

The next morning both the friends reached the university on time but could not find Jamie anywhere. Sylvia tried calling him, but his number was switched off. She was a bit skeptical since he never turned his phone off without informing her.

"He's so lazy. His phone might have died, and he must still be sleeping. I can bet on this", Lara tried to reason with Sylvia.

Sylvia rolled her eyes, "He never leaves his phone uncharged. The weird part is we didn't speak after he dropped me off at home. Do you think he is upset that I didn't let him stay?".

"Are you crazy? You guys have known each other for so long yet you never let him touch you. Surprisingly he never made a fuss out of it so why would he get upset now?"

Suddenly they heard a woman screaming outside of the dean's room. Sylvia quickly recognized her. It was Lauren, Jamie's mother.

Both the friends looked at each other dumbfounded.

So, they walked toward her. "Aunt Lauren, what is the matter?"

As soon as Mrs. Scarlet saw Sylvia, she grabbed her arm, "Sylvia, did Jamie contact you? he's lost. I haven't been able to get in touch with him since the last day. I'm scared something bad has happened to him. I can sense it."

Sylvia was shocked. "Aunt, he dropped me off last night but left soon after. Even I haven't talked to him after that though we've been trying him since morning, but his number is powered off."

"I called him last night, he told me he was at the university to meet the dean. He told me the dean had called him for an urgent event that needed to be discussed at the earliest."

Lauren continued, "I talked to the dean, and he says he never contacted Jamie."

Sylvia panicked at her words.

Little did Sylvia know that she was being watched ever since she stepped her foot outside of her house.