CHAPTER THREE
ERIC'S GAME

Nikki looked at her presents and smiled "I must have a secret admirer." she said blushing "i wonder who it could be"
Heather watched Nikki as she carefully peeled the flowered note off the small gift box. Nikki opened the note and
read out loud "to a very special lady on her birthday I will reveal myself to you soon."
Heather looked at her step daughter with concern as Nikki smiled and started to open up the first box
Nikki's eyes gleamed with delight as she took the bottle of perfume out of the box and sprayed it once on her neck
then her attention turned towards the slightly bigger box Nikki lifted the box cover and saw the single red rose and
the beautiful red dress she was looking at earlier along with the red high heeled pumps.

"Nikki honey these are beautiful gifts but you shouldn't accept them if you don't know who sent them."

Nikki looked at her stepmother "Heather this is from somebody who might really like me" nikki said smiling

"besides the guy didn't want to leave his name or an address so i can't give anything back."

Nikki said again holding up the sexy red dress.

Heather put her arm on her daughters thin shoulders

"I,m just worried that theses gifts could be from someone who might want to hurt you" Heather said brushing nikki's hair back
"I just don't want anyone to take advantage of such a beautiful young lady."

Nikki looked at her stepmother and smiled

"Don't worry Heather having a father as a police captain you learn about protecting yourself"

nikki said giving her stepmother a hug

Nikki put her dress back in the box and brought the gifts in her room and started trying on her dress
Heather still looked bothered by nikki's secret admire and thought about telling
her husband mike when he got home from work.

Heather started cooking dinner when the phone rang she turned down the volume on the kitchen tv and picked up the phone
"hello turner house Heather speaking" Heather said walking towards the stove with the phone in hand

"hi dear i,m on my way home now i will be there shortly." mike said shoving papers into his briefcase

"ok honey when you get home there's something we need to talk about it;s about Nikki"
Heather said still concerned about the gifts she had gotten

Mike sighted "alright honey i'll be there soon" mike turned his cellphone off and left his office

At first when Mike married Heather, Nikki was not overly pleased she often ran away to a friends house. her mother Ann was forced out of Nikki's life
After she and Mike got divorced Mike feared that Ann's drinking would turn Nikki into a drunk too.Mike often thought about letting Ann see Nikki but Ann was so messed up he thought it was for the best. and Nikki turned into a great young lady
Mike was thrilled that she just graduated from high school in the top of her class with a scholarship and he admired her love and desire
for helping the elder. he know that heather was overly protective and often worried about every little thing Nikki did often pushing Nikki
away without meaning it. but things were starting to get a little bit better with Nikki being in her twenties heather started giving her a little more
space.

Mike drove his gray mustang into his driveway and he saw Heather outside sitting on the porch swing sipping on lemonade. He got out of the car and walked towards the house
smiling as he reached his wife and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"So What's wrong with Nikki?" Mike asked sitting down
Heather looked into Mikes blue eyes "Honey i was just worried" Heather started saying "Nikki got some very expensive gifts from a secret admire and they just seem to
suggestive for a young man to be sending a young lady." Heather said again turning her eyes away from Mike

Mike looked at Heather and brushed a loose curl away from her face. " It's probably nothing just some young guy that has a little crush on nikki that's all"
Mike said smiling "you remember when i first started dating you i wrote you a letter without signing my name and gave you a bottle of perfume."
Mike said remembering the first time he meet Heather

Nikki came running down the stairs and into the kitchen"dad,heather can i go to a movie tonight with Jasmine i promise to be home by 10:00" Nikki said smiling holding the movie listing in her hand. Mike smiled and nodded at his daughter " Ok honey you can go just be careful and don't be to late" Mike said giving his daughter a kiss on the cheek
Nikki smiled and ran back home to call her friend. Jasmine came over a few minutes later and she lived three houses down from her and Nikki had been best friends since kindergarten.

"Hi Mr turner Mrs turner is Nikki ready yet?" Jasmine said walking up the stairs
"She should be out in a few minutes dear" heather said smiling
Just then Nikki came walking out her curly hair tied back wearing blue designer jeans and a white flowered top.
"bye daddy bye heather see you later" Nikki said smiling as she walked with Jasmine outside
Jasmine and Nikki walked down the driveway Nikki turned to her parents and waved at them and turned to continue walking down the street.

the sun was coming down now mike and Heather were starting to eat. Mike lite a candle on the outside patio table and waited for Heather to
join him. Heather came out her eyes beaming "what's all this, are you trying to be romantic?" Heather said smiling

Mike grabbed his wife's hand and gave her a kiss " 10 years ago tonight we first fell in love " Mike said, turning to a small music box beside him and turning it on.

"Care to dance my lady" Mike said again smiling
Heather looked and mike in his soft blue eyes and smiled. She wrapped her arms around him and they started dancing. The music seemed to last forever.

Nikki and Jasmine walked two blocks down main street to the Stone creek plaza the movie theater stood on the 2 floor. the first floor was filled with shops and
a food court. "Nikki, we have to see that movie. It's so scary. Everybody wants to see that movie" Jasmine said pointing to a poster on the theater wall
Nikki looked at the poster "Okay we'll see that it does look good' Nikki said laughing
they stood in line to purchase their tickets it seemed like an hour went by because the line moved so slowly
Jasmine nudged Nikki on the arm as they almost reached the ticket booth. "I'll be right back. I have to go to the bathroom." Jasmine said she reached into her
purse and handed Nikki her ticket money Jasmine walked away from the line down the hallway towards the public washrooms.
As soon as she turned the corner a young man grabbed her arm
Jasmine turned to see her friend Gavin Richards grinning at her
" Oh you scared me," she said laughing
"I'm sorry girl, can I speak to you for a minute? I have to asked you something" Gavin said giving Jasmine a hug
She looked around the corner and saw Nikki was still in the ticket line. "OK Gavin, but I can't talk long, Nikki is waiting for me at the theater" Jasmine said following Gavin towatds the stairwell

"Next in line please" a young girl from behind the counter said smiling
"I'll have two adult tickets for stalked at midnight" Nikki said as she handed the young girl her money
the teller grabbed the money and ripped two tickets from a side drawer" Here you go enjoy the movie" the girl said pushing the money inside the cash register
Nikki held the tickets firmly in her hands. she looked towards the restroom to see if Jasmine was comming but didn't see her. Nikki started to walk to the snack bar she peeked through the line of people to see if Jasmine was there. Nikki started to get concerned. There was no sign of jasmine anywhere
She started walking towards the washrooms which were down
the hall and to the left.
a young man dressed in a security uniform stood in the distance watching Nikki as she walked towards the washroom
a smile seemed to swept over his face he started walking towards Nikki

"excuse me are are looking for your friend?" the security guard said as he tapped Nikki's arm
Nikki turned around "I can't find my friend she told me she would be in here"
She said

"Your friend has black hair right? She was wearing a white esprit t -shirt?"
the Security guard said

Nikki's face turned white she looked at the security guard, " You know where my friend is?"
"is she alright?"

"your friend got very sick she told me you were waiting for her" the security guard said "I'll take you to her"
the security officer said again

Nikki looked at the security guard and started to follow him as he lead her to the elevators
"your friends in my security office on the second floor" the security officer said as they waited for the elevators
Nikki didn't say anything she was just happy Jasmine was ok and she had no reason not to trust this officer
He seemed nice, trustworthy.

The elevator doors opened Nikki almost hesitated to follow the officer as he started to walk inside the elevator
but then calmly followed. The elevator doors seemed to close slowly Nikki pushed herself into the corner
keeping an eye on the young officer the doors finally closed with a soft thud Nikki watched as the officer
Pressed the elevator button
"Hey i thought we were going up to the second floor" Nikki said raising her voice
the officer looked at Nikki a smile sweeped over his face he pushed the hold button and in one
single motion he grabbed Nikki's arm and slammed her into the elevator wall. he let her fall
to the ground blood seeped from an open wound on the side of her face. The officer kneeled down besides her
he took off his security hat and smiled "you know who i am?" the officer said he touched Nikki's check
"I'm Eric your secret admirer" the officer said again

the officer stared at Nikki for a few more minutes he loved the fact that she was already scared of him this was the
best part of Eric's games watching his victims living in fear of him.
Eric stood up and pressed the hold button again the elevator started to make a light humming sound Eric then pressed
the basement button. Nikki pressed her back up against the elevator wall
"please don't hurt me" Nikki said crying
Eric just looked at her the elevator came to a sudden stop the doors swung open Eric grabbed Nikki dragged her to her feet
and held his hand over her mouth Nikki struggled to get away but Eric grabbed her tighter he forced her out of the elevator
and started dragging her down the hall. The basement was cold and the lighting was very dim. Boxes of merchandise
filled the hallway. As Eric continued to drag nikki down the hallway she bit his hand hoping that she could yell
loud enough for someone for anyone to hear her. Eric shoved Nikki to the ground, holding his bitten hand Eric
gave Nikki a cold stare. She started yelling and her yells echoed down the empty hallway. Eric became enraged
he reached down and grabbed a fistful of her hair he dragged her to her feet he started yelling shaking Her
repeatedly he then took her head and slammed it against the wall. Eric released his grip and Nikki
fell to the ground she laid motionless on the ground. Eric stared at Nikki his rage seemed to disappear now
he bent down besides her. "It's all going to be over soon" Eric said
Eric picked Nikki up and put Nikki's limp body over his shoulder and proceeded to walk out of the mall with her.
Eric's car was parked besides the doorway entrance. It was the perfect escape nobody could see eric going in or out
of the mall the loading docks were nearly deserted. all the deliveries had been made earlier that morning and everybody
had gone home early. Eric opened the back door of his car and gently shoved nikki into the back seat he clicked her
seat belt into place and pulled out a white cloth from his back pocket. He gentle wiped away some blood that was
seeping from an open wound on her forehead. He looked at Nikki and smiled then quickly closed the door.
he got into the front seat and started to pull out of the loading zone. on the way out there was a security guard
doing his rounds he spotted Eric and waved at him to stop puzzled as to why he was driving in the loading area
Eric continued to drive away pretending he didn't see the guard. The guard watched as the car drove out of the loading dock
He took out his notepad and wrote down half of the Licence plate from Eric's car. The guard put the pad back in his pocket
started walking into the basement of the mall.
It was so easy Eric thought he was home free. He took Nikki right out of the mall and nobody noticed he did it. Nobody cared. They had no idea what he had done. Eric kept checking his mirror every few minutes watching nikki making sure she didn't start moving. He had hit her head hard enough that he hoped it would keep her out for a little while. Pretty soon Nikki's parents were going to start looking for her so that meant Eric was going to have to start playing more games to keep the police on their toes
This was going to be fun . Eric thought a smile sweeped over his face as he thought about the games he was going to play now. "Let the games begin," Eric said laughing to himself.


© All Rights Reserved