Disclaimer: I have no rights to the Charmed characters you see in this story, only the plot.

Author’s note and warning This story will contain some unsettling matters. So be afraid, be very afraid. Also, it takes place in 2001 however they are teens. There is no Cole, no magic, no powers [Yep, it’s one of them there reality stories]. The sisters are in their teens, there is no Grams but Patty and Victor are their parents and are alive. It is a heavy Rated R for violence and adult content.

Prue – 17
Piper – 15
Phoebe - 14

The fish on the screen saver glided slowly across the laptop screen. Phoebe Halliwell sat restlessly in her room trying to read a book for her summer reading program. The sound of other kids her age playing tag football down the street, made her want to cry. It made her want to be with them, but she couldn’t. She put the book down and walked to the window. She was grounded yet again. It was the first week of summer and she was on restriction for staying out too late one afternoon. Her parents, she thought, were the meanest people.

Her older sisters, Piper and Prue hadn’t been in trouble with her parents for a while. Prue was going to be a senior at the start of the year, Piper was going to be a sophomore and Phoebe, was going to be a freshman. She hated the idea. She hated that her sisters would boss her around at home and at school. Piper was always nice, Phoebe thought, but Prue was a different story altogether.

She turned away from the window and sat back down on her bed. Instead of lifting her book she picked up her laptop that her father had given her for Christmas and plugged it into the phone jack. She was going online.

She surfed through her favorite sites including a site with Fan Fiction about her favorite WB show, Enchanted, about three sisters with magical powers. She loved to read the Fan Fiction. However, her main interests were the chatrooms she had found since logging on at Christmas. She chatted online often, and her sisters and parents really had no idea how much. Logging on to a site where a lot of people her age chatted, Phoebe felt like she was part of the social world again. She knew that the summer wouldn’t be so bad after all.

**********************

His lips curled into a sick snarl as he watched his computer screen. There were just so many innocent little girls to chat with, so many naïve, innocent, vulnerable little girls. His dark green eyes widened with anticipation as the newest chat member logged on. PHalliwell_3 was the object of his attention, and quickly, she was becoming the object of his obsession.


Part 1 –

He had been watching her online since he first logged onto the teenage girls’ chatroom. He had very clear intentions. At least, his intentions were clear to himself. He was hunting her. She was the one, the perfect teenage girl that he would break. He was watching her every word jump onto the screen. Reading every morsel of her online profile. He couldn’t believe the amount of people that filled out every question on a profile. He had even managed to download a picture of her. He was more than ready for her, but he would wait. He would let the excitement build and he would wait.

******************************************


Phoebe listened to her parents arguing again. Victor and Patty Halliwell never realized when one of their daughters was listening. This time it was their youngest. She listened at the top of the stairs as Patty screamed at Victor about spending too much time at work. Victor retorted with several stinging comments of his own. Phoebe shut her door feeling more alone than she had when she realized that her only friends were those she chatted with online. She was lonely and she was scared that her parents would not be together much longer.

She felt depression coming on so she decided to turn once again to her laptop. She hated being grounded. At least when she wasn’t on restriction she could tag along with Prue and Piper wherever they went. She turned on the radio and listened to the DJ talking about the latest pop music. She loved all the boy bands. She decided to look them up on the Internet.

She found the first of thousands of sites. Deciding that she already knew too much about Lance Bass and Justin Timberlake she decided that she wanted to surf some of the more racy sites. Phoebe was 14 and naturally the subject of sex made her curious. She had never had sex and knew she wasn’t ready too either, but none-the-less she was curious. The first site she entered made her stomach turn. She had never seen pictures that were so revolting so she quickly clicked on the back button and went back to her safe world of Nsync and Backstreet Boys.

Phoebe heard a knock at her door. She quickly closed the laptop and opened her door. Piper stood at her door with a can of Coke and plate of fries. Phoebe looked at the fries hungrily. Piper handed her the plate.

“So how long have those two been at it?”

“I don’t know, Piper, maybe an hour, maybe my entire life.”

“Are you okay?”

Phoebe could feel her face flush bright red. She knew how close she had been to getting caught looking at stuff she shouldn’t be looking at.

“Do you have a fever?”

“No Piper, I’m fine. I was outside for a few minutes so maybe the sun got me.”

“That’s probably it. Are you sure?”

Phoebe nodded and Piper left her room. Phoebe shut her door and locked it returning to her laptop. She wanted to chat with some of her buddies. She went to the chatroom on MSN for teenagers and logged in. She read the list of screen names some were familiar, others new. She jumped in on the conversation about boys and dating. Phoebe always thought of herself as more mature when she was online. It was there that no one could see that she was awkward in her own skin. No one could see that she felt like an outsider in her own family.

The chatting eventually changed from dating to parents, a subject on which Phoebe felt well versed. Her parents seemed to argue constantly and Phoebe felt as though she was being lost in the shuffle. Piper had schoolwork to keep her busy. Prue had a hundred friends. Phoebe, however, was too young to drive, too old to hang out with her parents and too grounded to go anywhere. She voiced her situation online and was happy when she got a response from someone who called himself HeartMan. Phoebe quickly took note of how sympathetic and nice her new online friend was. She had been chatting with HeartMan for two hours, when she realized the time. She said goodbye and logged off when she heard Prue calling her to dinner. Phoebe was glad she made a new friend who understood her troubles at home. She hadn’t realized how much she had needed to talk to a friend. She wondered if HeartMan was as cute as he was reassuring. She figured he was her age since he was in the teenage chatroom. She was glad he lived in California. It made her seem that much closer to someone who cared.

***********************************************

He logged off satisfied at the first real contact he had made with her. He was happy that she had no idea who he was, or how close he was to her. He knew he had come across as a sympathetic teen, someone who had been there and done that. She was so sweet, he thought to himself. So sweet and I can taste her.

He looked at the pictures that were pinned to the wall behind his computer. Pictures of Phoebe Halliwell adorned a makeshift shrine. He touched his favorite picture. One he had taken two days earlier. She had been reading in her room, only in a tank top and her white cotton panties. She had no idea he had been watching. He had been taking pictures.

Again the snarl curled his lips. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was 7pm. He stood and stretched, walking away from the computer. He stepped into the bathroom of the one bedroom apartment and turned on the light. His eyes hurt as they adjusted. It was time for work. He looked in the mirror as he brushed his teeth and combed his thinning hair. Online he was 16, high schooler, HeartMan. In real time he was a 52-year-old janitor at the high school where his beautiful Phoebe would be attending.

He had began watching her online by reading her member profile. She had been careless, naïve to put so much information in her profile. He knew her name, her age, her city and state. He had first been attracted to her because of location. He lived in San Francisco, as did she. He had gotten her ISP and could follow her around the Net. Computers were his hobby and knowing the ins and outs of surfing was his passion. He had read through her online posts that she was having problems at home. He had decided to use that to lure her close to him.

He had seen the first picture of her on her school’s website. He had immediately known that he would never be able to get her out of his mind until she was his. The plan was perfect; she would never attend the high school. She would run away with him before her freshman year…that much he had planned. He stopped by the shrine on his way out of the apartment and again ran a crooked index finger along Phoebe’s picture. Bright shining eyes staring back. It was the picture he had taken from the last day of school. He had been watching her online since New Year’s. He had been watching her in the world for three months. He dropped his finger from the pictures on the wall and touched the knife that sat on the desk. He thought to himself, “If she doesn’t come willingly, it won’t matter, because she will still be mine.” With that he blew out the candle and left the apartment, happy with the thoughts of a future with Phoebe. His precious, precious Phoebe.

************************************************


The hours were waning as Phoebe sat in her bed and played on her laptop. She was sleepy from one too many hotdogs at dinner. Hot dogs were one of her favorites. The evening had been spent in an unusual family event of watching a movie together. Phoebe and Piper outvoted everyone and had chosen to watch Bring it On. It was on Phoebe’s top-ten list of favorite movies and she knew Prue wouldn’t mind since it involved cheerleading. They had only been interrupted once by the phone ringing. Piper had answered it and then handed the phone to Phoebe. When Phoebe said, “Hello” the caller hung up. She asked Piper who it was and Piper had shrugged and reported only that it was some guy. Phoebe hadn’t given it any more thought as Eliza Dushku turned into a topnotch cheerleader. The movie had ended and as always, everyone went to their separate caves to hibernate for the evening.

Phoebe glanced at the digital clock beside her bed and saw that the red numbers clarified the fact that it was late, or rather early in the morning. The red was blaring at her, 3:21am. She couldn’t believe she was up so late, but that was the beauty of summer. She had no place to be the next morning. Phoebe’s glasses slid down her nose and she pushed them back up. She hated wearing glasses but she loved the fact that she could read forever and her head didn’t hurt.

A strange sensation crawled across Phoebe’s neck. She swiped a hand at it thinking it was a fly or mosquito, but she felt nothing. She felt strange all over and her instinct told her to look toward the window. She did and saw nothing. She stood and closed her blinds, the eerie feeling taking over body. She sat back on the bed and opened her email account. She spotted a message from an unknown sender and opened it. As it opened a picture slowly formed across her screen. Phoebe waited patiently and then realized that the picture was of her. Her hands started shaking as she soon saw that the picture had been taken during the evening as she got ready for bed. There she stood in nothing but her underwear. She began to cry silently as three words in red font appeared across the bottom of the finished picture: “I’m Watching You.”

Phoebe left the laptop on her bed, turned on and open. She scrambled to put on her oversized bathrobe and snuck down the hallway to Prue’s room. She and Prue didn’t get along but at the scary moments, Prue was the only one she wanted to be around. She stood outside the door and thought about what she was doing. If she told Prue what had happened she was sure to get a lecture. She knew she should tell because it was apparent someone had been watching her. Someone that could still be watching her. She felt chills again as she quietly opened Prue’s bedroom door and slipped in. She climbed into her sister’s bed, robe and all and nestled her head on the pillow. She looked at the clock which had just turned to 3:31am. She closed her eyes and that’s when she realized the effect it had on her body. Her heart pounded in her chest, her hands trembled and her breathing was shallow and quick. She knew then what fear felt like.

Prue woke to find her baby sister in her bed with her. She noticed in the early morning light that Phoebe’s face was contorted in an expression of fright, of pain. She was about to wake her when Phoebe jolted upright. Her forehead immediately beaded with perspiration. She felt Prue’s hand on hers and she turned to face her oldest sister.

“Sweetie what was that about?”

Phoebe loved it when Prue treated her like she loved her. Should she tell her about the email? Phoebe got out of the covers and walked toward the door.

“Can you come to my room I have to show you something?”

Prue looked at Phoebe perplexed. She hesitantly rose from the bed and followed Phoebe to her room. Phoebe had beaten her there and she immediately noticed the disappointed look on Phoebe’s face.

“I don’t understand Prue, it was here. It was here last night.”

“What was there last night Phoebe?”

Phoebe thought twice before telling Prue the truth. She had decided to tell Prue about the email but before she could do so their mother appeared at the door. She loved her mother but when it came to trust she just didn’t want to trust any adults. So she let the email go untold.

“Why are you two up so early?”

“Morning mom. Pheebs is freaking out about something.”

“Really? What is it sweetheart?”

“Nothing, mom, really. I was just going to show Prue this story I was reading on the Internet but now I can’t find it.”

Phoebe swallowed the lump in her throat that accompanied the lie and she lie down on her bed. Prue rolled her eyes and left, as did their mother. Phoebe wanted to cry. She knew there had been an email the night before. She had seen it, but she hadn’t saved it. Was it possible that someone deleted it? She decided to ask Piper about it later in the day. For now, however, she wanted nothing more but sleep.


*******************************************


He had watched through the window when she had gotten scared. Her beautiful 14-year-old body had been visible in her pajamas. He relished the memory as he watched the local morning news. Buried in the headlines of presidential pardons and traffic laws was a story about a little girl’s body being found just south of San Francisco. HeartMan watched the news with great interest and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were reporting on his first kill. Caroline Michaels. A 13-year-old he had found the year before online. She was beautiful. Long, brown hair, dark eyes. She was no Phoebe Halliwell, but she was good enough to be his first victim. Phoebe was different, so much more innocent, so much more vulnerable. Phoebe was also a little more developed as a teenage girl. To him Phoebe’s 14-year-old body was sexy and alluring.

He laughed when the police were interviewed and said how stumped they were. The girl had been missing for a year and they had just found the body. He knew that there was no evidence of him to be found with the girl’s body. He had been sure of that. He smiled viciously when they displayed a picture of the girl on the television. He remembered her with great joy. The things that he had done to her. He couldn’t wait to show Phoebe Halliwell exactly how much he loved her.



*******************************************************


Victor Halliwell drove Phoebe to the library and dropped her off kissing hr on the cheek. He loved his youngest daughter heart and soul and the idea of any boy touching her drove him insane with protectiveness. He had gone through the same emotions with Piper and Prue. But Phoebe was different. She acted tough and independent, but was in actuality fragile and needful of love and attention. Sometimes, he thought, too much so. He watched Phoebe until she was safely at the doorway of the library where he waved to her goodbye.

Phoebe watched her father drive away and thought wistfully before she turned away from the library and headed down the street, six blocks away, toward her friend, Jenny’s house. She was grounded. The only way she knew to have fun was to sneak to Jenny while claiming to be at the library reading. Besides, Phoebe wanted to tell Jenny about the email she had gotten and about HeartMan the really nice boy she had chatted with.

She and Jenny were on the computer for hours chatting again with HeartMan. Phoebe felt completely connected to her online buddy and told him to send her an instant message later that night. She gave him her screen name, said goodbye to Jenny and returned to the library. She waited at the library door for her father. She began to have that uneasy feeling again. The feeling of being watched. A van, old with tinted windows, rolled slowly by. Phoebe didn’t pay much attention to it until it stopped on the street a few feet away from her. The sight of the van made her nervous although she couldn’t explain why. And she was more than relieved when Prue pulled up behind the van and got out.

“Hey, kid. Dad had to work late and told me to pick you up. Hope that’s okay.”

Phoebe let out a sigh of relief as she hurriedly jumped into her sister’s car. Once inside and buckled up Phoebe turned to Prue and asked her if she had ever felt like she was being watched. Phoebe felt as though her big sister looked at her like she was crazy and didn’t speak again until they were at home and she saw Piper. Piper was sitting on the front porch steps and was crying. Prue just shook her head and walked past Piper. Phoebe, apparently absent for something big, sat on the steps with Piper and asked her what was wrong.

“Phoebe it was horrible.”

“What was horrible Piper?”

“Phoebe, someone killed Rasputin.”

“What? Rasputin is…my dog is…”

“Oh Phoebe, I’m sorry. I found him this afternoon.”

Phoebe cried hard as she remembered the dog she had since she was 9. She wondered who would have killed her dog.

“How did he die Piper?”

“Phoebe you don’t want to know. It was horrible.”

Phoebe closed her eyes and leaned into Piper. She was sad that her dog was gone and she was scared about how the dog had died.. Her mind, young as it was, kept drifting to the image she had been sent the night before.

“Piper, I have to tell you something.”

“What is it Phoebe?”

Piper straightened up and wiped tears away as she turned all her attention to Phoebe. Phoebe was thankful that Piper cared so much about her. She described the email and the weird feeling of being watched to her sister, and the information was met by a very solemn, very worried face.

“Phoebe, maybe you should stay offline for a while.”

“It has to be someone I know right? I mean no one can find me on the Internet. It’s completely anonymous.”

Piper shrugged and sniffled. She was still upset about Rasputin. But she was more worried about Phoebe. Someone had apparently stood outside their house and had taken pictures of Phoebe in nothing more than her underwear. It scared Piper.

“Phoebe, you have to tell mom and dad.”

“No Piper, please don’t make me tell them. I’m sure it won’t happen again. Besides, you know dad would take my computer away from me. And I just made a new friend, speaking of which I need to go talk to him right now.”

Piper watched as her little sister ran into the house. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up straight as she surveyed the street. She saw nothing. Feeling overly exposed on the porch, she too went inside.

**********************************************

He watched as Phoebe’s sister walked into the house. The air conditioner on the van was on high. He moved the laptop from the passenger seat into his lap. The desktop wallpaper smiled back at him. It was Phoebe’s school picture. The first one he had ever seen. He connected to his wireless service and cruised to the MSN account he had created specifically to use as HeartMan. As he thought, Phoebe was online and waiting. He knew that getting her was going to be easy. Fun, but easy. He said hello and the conversation began. He could feel himself grow excited by the idea of having her to himself. As they chatted Phoebe told HeartMan that her parents were going away for the weekend, that her sisters were going to a spend the night party Friday night and that she would be alone in the house. HeartMan smiled widely in the van. His opportunity was knocking loud and clear. Phoebe had given him just the information he needed to make his plan become a reality.

PHalliwell_3: I can’t wait to have a night alone without the fighting and the sisters meddling in my things.

HeartMan: I can imagine. I know my brothers are a pain in the butt, too. We’re so much alike. I’m glad we have each other to talk to.

HeartMan watched the words scroll up and down the screen as he chatted with Phoebe vigorously for another hour or so. It was Thursday. He only had to wait 24 more hours until he would be in the same space as his Phoebe. Twenty-four more hours until Phoebe felt the reality of the big bad world.

Friday afternoon was warm and breezy. Phoebe sat in her room and watched as her parents drove away. Prue and Piper had left moments earlier for their overnight party. Phoebe ventured out of her room and down to the kitchen. Patty had rented a movie for her to watch and had bought cookies and chips for her to snack on. Phoebe wanted to call some of her friends and tell them to join her but she was still grounded and the idea of getting into further trouble wasn’t one that thrilled her. She looked at the clock: 4:32pm. She grabbed the chips from the counter and walked into the family room with them. She laid the video on top of the television and sat on the couch, choosing to first read some of an assigned summer novel.

The ringing of the telephone, loud and long, interrupted her reading. Phoebe’s heart beat quickly as she walked toward the phone. Before she could pick up the receiver the doorbell rang, making her jump again. She picked up the cordless phone, her hands shaking.

“Hello?”

“Phoebe honey, are you watching your movie yet?”

Phoebe’s heart felt pure relief as she heard her mother’s voice. She still looked pensively at the front door.

“Hey mom. No I was just catching up on some reading. What’s up?”

“Well, I didn’t want you to be by yourself, it worries me, and I know you think you’re old enough to stay alone but I think 14 is too young. So anyway I called a few of your friends’ parents before I left and your friends should be there by now.”

The doorbell rang again. Phoebe smiled as she approached the door. Sometimes she didn’t understand her mom, but most of the time she loved her anyway. She opened the door and saw the faces of her four best friends staring back at her, sleeping bags in hand. She was so glad they were there. Her heart filled with laughter immediately knowing that she was going to get to spend time with her friends. She waved them inside and then returned her attention to her mother.

“Thank you mom. I’m glad you called them. Does this mean…”

“No, Phoebe, you are not off of restriction. This is a one time thing.”

“Okay, fair enough. I love you mom.”

“I love you, too, sweetheart, now have fun and don’t destroy the house. You do have the number where your sisters are don’t you?”

“Yes ma’am. Piper gave it to me.”

“Okay. You girls have fun and be careful. There are strange people running the streets these days.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Phoebe thought as she said goodbye and returned the phone to its base. She walked into the family room where her friends, Jenny, Kirsten, Amanda and Natalie were waiting. Phoebe smiled and asked if anyone wanted cookies. The reply was unanimous and they followed one another into the kitchen.

At the kitchen table as they ate ice cream, cookies, chips and dip, and waited for the pizza to be delivered, Phoebe told them what she had been emailed. Jenny already knew and Phoebe could tell she was worried. They may have been only fourteen years old but they were still smart enough to be scared. Phoebe told them about the eerie feeling of being watched, of the phone call and of the picture she had been emailed. Her friend Kirsten was the first to ask a question.

“Did you say anything to your parents about it?”

“No way. I’m not sure if they’d believe me, but even if they did I know they’d get mad at me and I’d be grounded for life. My parents would kill me.”

“Phoebe you should say something. Tell one of your sisters so they can get the older guys to watch out for you.”

“I don’t know you guys. I mean it’s scary, but it’s probably just a one time thing right?”

“Hey Phoebe?”

Phoebe looked at Amanda’s very solemn, very serious, very frightened face as she asked, “Do you think whoever sent you the picture killed your dog?”

Phoebe’s heart sank as she thought about Rasputin. She had thought about that possibility. It made her shake inside.

“I doubt it, Amanda. Come on you guys. Let’s take this junk into the family room and watch the video my mom got for us.”

“Please don’t tell me it’s rated G.”

“No Jenny it isn’t. It just came out on video this week, Save the Last Dance.”

‘Ooh, that’s a good one.”

“Yeah, so come one let’s watch it.”

**********************************************************

He watched them closely from his van. His plan was going to have to wait. The anticipation was too much. He knew he’d have to have her soon. He would have some fun with them tonight. He knew that a group of girls wouldn’t be able to fight the temptation of the Internet. Especially if there was trouble involved. He would wait patiently. So, very patiently. He noticed a car pull in front of the house. The Pizza Hut logo screamed at him. Suddenly he knew how he’d make his first real face-to-face contact with Phoebe. Let the games, begin, he thought, let the games begin.

The doorbell rang and Phoebe jumped up to get it. She checked throught he window before opening it and saw a man carrying pizza. She yelled to her friends that the pizza had arrived and then she opened the door. She handed the man a $20 bill and a few ones. She smiled graciously before turning back into the house, pizza in hand.

****************************************************

He gave the pizza boy the money and an extra $50. He told him that discretion was necessary and the boy had driven away. He returned to his van and opened the laptop, staring at the picture of Phoebe on the desktop. He had done it. He had made contact with Phoebe. She had no idea, he thought, how close she had been to the man who’s going to make her happy. He replayed the moment over and over in his head. Her big brown eyes staring up at him and that beautiful, beautiful smile beaming. He had touched her too, when he had taken the money for it. Her 14-year-old skin was soft and inviting. He had used all his will power to not grab her at that very second and run with her. No. He would wait. His opportunity would come.

He picked up the binoculars and focused on the family room window. The day was getting darker as dusk reached into the sky for it’s turn of glory. He breathed in and realized he could still smell her. That fresh, young girl perfume she had been wearing. He wanted her, he needed her.

******************************************************

The movie was over and the girls had congregated in Phoebe’s room. The five of them sat on Phoebe’s bed and turned on the laptop, prepared for any creepy messages. Phoebe had no emails so they decided to log onto their usual chatroom that the five of them met in every night. Using Phoebe’s username they found several interesting topics being discussed and when one of the topics turned toward sex the girls giggled. Phoebe was a little taken aback when she saw that HeartMan was part of that discussion.

“Oh, Phoebe it’s your online boyfriend.” Kirsten teased.

“Yeah, what’s he doing on the sex chat?” Jenny asked.

“I don’t know why don’t we read and find out?” Phoebe responded.

After several minutes of visually eavesdropping on the chat, Phoebe and her friends read that HeartMan was protecting a girl’s right to wait.

“Phoebe he’s so sweet. I think you should meet up with him.”

“Wait, Natalie, the girl gets a email from a psycho and you’re telling her to meet up with a stranger.”

“Amanda, he’s not a stranger, I’ve been chatting with him a lot and he’s perfectly sincere.”

“Oh yeah, Phoebe, then what’s his name?”

Phoebe hesitated. She didn’t know his name. She didn’t know his voice or his face. She was relieved when Jenny defended her feelings.

“Oh back off Amanda, she knows what she’s doing.”

Phoebe used to know everything. She used to know when she was safe. Now she wasn’t so sure. She really wished that Piper and Prue were there as the feeling of being watched crept across the back of her neck. The feeling was becoming all too familiar.

“Hey Phoebe, HeartMan is IM-ing you!” Natalie was tapping Phoebe on the shoulder.

“What? Really?” She thought about what Amanda said, but she couldn’t live her life in fear, she decided. She responded to HeartMan and she chatted with him while her friends played music, danced, watched television and chatted online on the downstairs computer.

Time had ticked away and the night had grown into blackness. HeartMan said he had to go to a different chatroom but told Phoebe he’d be back. Phoebe watched her MSN Buddy list and saw that, HeartMan was still online. The house had grown quiet and he wondered what her friends were up to. She looked at her clock and saw that it was just after 1am. She left her room to check on her friends. Two of them were fast asleep in Piper’s bed. She crept down to Prue’s room and saw that Amanda was sleeping on the floor and Jenny had taken Prue’s bed.

Phoebe suddenly felt alone in the house full of people. Her mouth was dry and she traveled through the darkened house to the stairs, heading toward the kitchen for some water. The blue glow from the television left on in the family room made the shadows in the house jump around like spirits waiting to be freed. Phoebe turned on the kitchen light and poured herself some water. She looked at the mail on the counter and noticed that she had a letter. There was no return address on the envelope so she opened it, curiosity burning up her mind. The envelope was baby blue. The paper was stark white. She could smell cologne on it. It reminded her of an old man’s cologne.

She read the piece of paper and the shock of its contents caused her to let it fall to the floor. Her heart was racing. She now knew that whoever had sent the email to her also knew where she lived and what he wanted from her, what was so explicitly written in the letter, horrified Phoebe.

********************************************************

He was in the shadows of the family room watching her from behind. She was wearing a long sleeve t-shirt, white, and some red pajama bottoms. Her tiny, girl-on-the-verge, form was visible to his imagination only. He could hear her breath. He could see her sliding her finger under the flap of the envelope to open it. How wonderful, he thought, that she should get to open it now. He knew the time was right. He would take her tonight and with a house full of witnesses who would be none-the-wiser.

******************************************************

The hairs on the back of her neck warned her again. They terrified her further than she already was. She looked toward the kitchen window and saw the reflection behind her. Her heart stopped as she felt a hand, very rough hand slide across her mouth preventing her from screaming. As he dragged her out the front door, kicking, she could only think of one thing. Why hadn’t she told someone who could help? Why? She knew then as she was being pushed hard into the back of a van that she should have told someone what was going on. She should have risked sounding paranoid because then she might be safe in the arms of her mother, of her father, of her sisters. Why hadn’t she told anyone?

Dawn had barely risen. Piper’s back ached from the hard floor she had slept on. The phone ringing so early made the headache she carried heavier than it should gave been. She could hear her friend Susan, annoyed and upset, answering the phone. Piper was more than startled when she heard her name. She turned to see Susan holding the phone out to her. Piper couldn’t understand why her pulse was racing, why her breath had quicken as she reached slowly for the phone.

“Hello?”

“Piper, this is Phoebe’s friend Amanda. Listen, you need to come home now. Please.”

“Where’s Phoebe? Is she okay?”

“She’s not here.”

“What do you mean she’s not there?”

“Please just come to your house Piper, please.”

Piper hung up the phone and gathered her things. She ran up the stairs of her friend’s house to wake Prue who had hung out with Susan’s older sister. She found Prue asleep on the floor.

“Prue, Prue, wake up!”

“What is it Piper?”

“Prue I think something’s wrong with Phoebe.”

Prue sat up. She looked at Piper and could tell she was genuinely worried. She got up and packed her sleeping bag and together they drove home. When they arrived they were shocked to see that all of Phoebe’s friends were awake and standing on the front porch. Prue looked at the clock on the dashboard. 6:52am

Piper quickly got out of the car and ran to the house.

“What happened? Where is she?”

“We don’t know Piper,” Jenny answered.

“Yeah, we woke up this morning,” Natalie continued, “And the TV was still on, there was this letter on the floor and the front door was open.”

Prue who had joined the group took the letter from Natalie. She knew her sister was in trouble. Her hands were trembling as she handed Piper the letter and her heart sank as Piper began to cry.

“There’s more.” Kirsten’s voice shook with fear.

Prue shook her head in disbelief as the girls pointed to the concrete on the front porch. There wasn’t much of it to see, but Prue knew, and Piper knew that what was there was undeniably blood.

“We need to call the police.” Piper said heading into the house.

“She knew she was being watched.” Amanda’s voice was soft and whispered as she looked after the group of girls heading toward the kitchen.

Prue turned toward Amanda, her eyes clouded with tears, “What do you mean?”

“She told us last night that she had gotten an email. It was a picture of Phoebe with hardly any clothes on. It had been taken when she was getting ready for bed. That’s what she told us. And she said there was a message. It said, ‘I’m watching you.’”

Piper’s hand gripped tightly around the cordless as she dialed the number for the police. Then she called their parents. She was not reassured by the panic in her father’s voice, the anxiety in her mother’s questions. They would be home within the hour. The police were there within minutes, sirens blaring, lights flashing. Each girl gave their account of what Phoebe had told them, of what they had seen or heard. Prue and Piper told them how they’d been notified, who had touched what. When their parents arrived. They cried like babies. The police called in their special computer crimes division. Phoebe’s laptop was confiscated. Her history list and cookies folder would be studied and possibilities would be calculated. The only lead was a mystery surfer by the name of HeartMan. Prue and Piper sat on Phoebe’s bed and together they prayed for the safe return of their sister. The police were handling the facts, the possible outcomes. Prue and Piper could barely handle their fear.

**********************************************************

He watched her sleep. She still hadn’t come around from the knock on the head he had to give her. She was so beautiful and innocent lying on the old dirty mattress. He had saved this place for this moment. A place known to no one but his family, and since they were gone, known to no one but him. HeartMan’s hand trembled as he brushed her long brown hair from her face. He traced the frame of her face. The cut on her lip a little swollen made her even more real to him. He leaned toward her unmoving body and kissed her softly on the lips. Soon, he thought, very soon.

**********************************************************

Prue sat next to her father on the living room sofa and listened to what the police were reporting. Victor held her hand and squeezed it. Patty sat on the chair with Piper in her lap. Piper looked from face to face in the room. Should she mention her feeling, or was hindsight always 20/20? She laid her head on her mother’s shoulder, their hearts beating rapidly together. Piper looked to Prue who was biting her lip so hard it was swelling. She returned her attention to what the detective was saying.

“So what we’ve found by treading through Phoebe’s cookie files and history are numerous chat rooms she’s visited. What we’re doing now is setting up some cybercops to log on undercover and see who we can match from room to room. We’ve also recovered a deleted file on the laptop’s hard drive. It was the email that Phoebe had told her friends about. Now this is unsettling so if you don’t want to see it please know you don’t have to look.”

The detective turned the picture toward Patty and Victor, Prue and Piper. It was the picture of Phoebe in nothing but her underwear. The red font scrawled across the bottom. Piper noticed how quickly her father turned away. It must kill him, she thought, to know that someone was looking at Phoebe that way. No one should be looking at a 14 year old girl that way. Piper had some questions.

“Detective, is this what you would call a sex crime?”

The detective’s facial expressions spoke volumes as Piper waited with tears for his words.

“We can’t be sure of that. It could be a simple abduction…”

“But you read the letter, the things that he’s going to do to her…”

“Piper, stop this now!”

“No daddy, I need to know what to expect. Okay, I need to know what that monster is going to do to her. Is he going to kill her?”

*****************************************************

The detective met his partner by the car. His face was ashen as he sat down in the passenger seat.

“You okay, Williams?”

“Dara, how are we going to find the bastard?”

“I don’t know Howie, but we will.”

“I need more than just that, Dara, I need more. I have a 15-year-old girl in there who knows what pain her 14-year-old sister is heading for. I can’t have that. I can’t.”

“We’ll find him, we’ll find her.”

“Let’s get back to the office. I want to check on some things in the files of Caroline Michaels.”

“What for Williams?”

“I don’t know yet. But I have a hunch.”

********************************************************

Phoebe’s eyes fluttered open as she felt the stinging of alcohol on a wound. He was above her. He looked vaguely familiar. She tried to push him away but she was still groggy. HE was speaking to her. What did he say? Don’t panic? I don’t understand. The thoughts rushed through Phoebe as she tried to remember exactly what had happened. And then like lightening chasing an iron rod they caught up to her. One by one the images marched into her groggy existence pushing her back into the reality that had become hers in a matter of hours. She looked around. She refused to see him. She looked past him. Darkness. What was that smell? Darkness. She felt his hand on her face. Darkness. She could smell him, like old man’s cologne. Darkness. And then she focused on him. He had dark green eyes, graying, thinning hair. Phoebe felt something warm on her face. What was that? Her hand flew up to defend herself and all she caught were the tears that flooded her eyes. She could feel his hands on her arms, her chest. She felt sick. She could hear something. Was he talking? No, it was her voice. She was whispering. What was that? She didn’t realize she had been saying anything.

******************************************************

He watched her try to struggle, every ounce of resistance making him want her more. She was so beautiful. She hadn’t even realized yet that she was half naked. The power, he thought, it feels good. He kissed her tears. He was so happy she was crying. It made him happy to know he had some effect. He waited and she made eye contact with him. He peered into her big brown eyes as she stared into his green. She turned away, in discuss. He ran a hand over her tiny arms, across her chest. He heard her speak. She looked confused and yet the words that came out of her mouth frightened him tremendously. He backed off deciding to wait a little longer as he listened to her repeat it over and over again.

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”

Prue and Piper sat quietly on Phoebe’s bed waiting for any word about their abducted sister. It had been only 9 hours since Amanda had called Piper, but to the two oldest Halliwell girls, it was forever. The police had been through every drawer in Phoebe’s room and through her clothes and closet. They had looked under her bed, everywhere, searching for some clue as to who had taken her. Piper knew the clue was in the computer. It had to have been. But how long would it take the police to track down the information that they needed to get to her in time. Piper’s heart pounded with sadness as she thought about what could be happening to her sister.

Prue held Piper tightly as she got a chill down her back. Thoughts had been running through her head since early that morning on the porch. She tried not to think about it. But the questions came to her anyway. She wanted to know why Phoebe didn’t scream for help. She wanted to know if Phoebe was alive. She wanted to know why Phoebe hadn’t told them what was going on. If only she had told someone.

**************************************

Patty sat with Victor on the couch. The policewoman assigned to the phone recordings sat on the chair. Patty could no longer control her tears as she buried her head in her husband’s chest. His arms felt strong and safe as they wrapped around her. Safe, she thought, why wasn’t Phoebe at home and safe? She cried harder and blocked out the image that played over in her head of her youngest daughter standing half-nude in her bedroom. What monster could do something like that?

Victor was holding his wife as he thought about his baby girl. Just the afternoon before he had worried about some teenager with grubby hands. He never imagined he would have to worry about a psychopath touching his daughter. He kissed the top of his wife’s head. He thought about the problems he and Patty had been having. Was there a correlation? Was it possible that Phoebe was giving out so much information on line because she was alone and scared about them breaking up? Victor hated the man who took his daughter, but at that moment it was only himself he blamed.

**************************************


She thought about the prayer and how it had come involuntarily to her lips. She didn’t even recall ever really knowing the Lord’s Prayer. She and her family had rarely been to church. Phoebe stood at what she hoped was the door banging loudly hoping that someone would hear her. She had been unconscious when she had been driven away from her home and she had no idea how far he had taken her away from her family. The room was dark save a tiny sliver of light from a thin rectangular window near the ceiling. It was enough for her to know that her accommodations were filthy and scary. And she knew that the room contained a mattress and was rectangular with measurements about 5 feet in width and 9 feet in length.

She had been so glad when he had left her alone. She had apparently scared him with her prayer because he had taken his hands away from her body and left, angry and talking to himself. Phoebe knew she was dealing with someone very scary but she had no idea why it had been her he had chosen.

*************************************************

He parked his van in the middle of the field. His parents had owned the land and their parents before them. It was only a few years ago that he had decided to make use of it by making it his storage place for any treasures he found. He looked toward the center of the field and smiled at the wide rectangular hole. How clever he had been in erecting his playhouse.

He opened the back of the van and retrieved the red satin pillow he had bought at the local Wal-Mart. He then reached across the floor of the van and retrieved the special knife from its hiding place. Beaming with excitement he closed the van door and walked slowly and purposefully across the vacant land. He stood on the edge of the hole and looked down. Small railroad ties had been turned into stairs that led down about nine feet to a camouflage-painted door. A light switch was above the door and under a protective 6-inch awning, also disguised as nature. He was growing m ore excited by the second as he thought of his plans for his sweet Phoebe. He flipped the light switch.

************************************************

Detective Howie Williams had spent the entire day combing through the files of Caroline Michaels. There was something in common with Phoebe Halliwell’s case but he couldn’t quite match it. Howie knew that time was of the essence. It may already have been too late to save the young girl from a nightmare no one should suffer through but he felt in his heart that it wasn’t too late to save her from death.

Howie stretched and looked out the window. Day was becoming dusk and dark would soon arrive. He thought about Phoebe alone and hurt. His heart ached with that knowledge and his soul bled for her pain. He wanted nothing more than to stop this man.

There were connections in the two cases, Michaels and Halliwell. Both of the girls were members of the same chatrooms. They both had communications with HeartMan. But online, he thought, I can’t find anyone who doesn’t want to be found. So how does HeartMan do it, he asked himself.

He looked through the files regarding offline things. Schools employees at schools, people that the girls may or may not have in common. His eyes were becoming blurry and worn. His lids drooped with exhaustion. He had already been working on the Caroline Michaels case non-stop. He picked up the employee list again. He read down the long line of names on both Caroline’s school’s list and Phoebe’s. Nothing. Teachers and Principals were different. Kitchen staff was different. Then he noticed it. In the list of the custodial crew. Harold Thomas. He was on Caroline Michaels’ list and his name now blared at Howie from Phoebe Halliwell’s suspect list. Harold Thomas was Howie’s missing common factor. He was putting his jacket on when Dara Jackson came into their office.

“Hey, Howie. We got him.”

“Yeah, Harold Thomas. Me too.”

“He on both lists?”

“Yep, what did you get?”

“We got a trace on this HeartMan, we stalked him down the way he did Phoebe and we nailed him.”

“Harold Thomas?”

You bet.”

“Let’s go Dara. We’ll call the judge on the way to his address and get a warrant issued.”

Howie’s heart raced with the possibility that they could get to the Halliwell girl on time. He wanted nothing more than to save her from any pain.


*************************************************

Piper paced back and forth from the window to the phone. Prue sat with their parents on the couch. The policewoman chewed her nails. They were waiting for a possible ransom call, but Piper felt like the only call that would come would be bad news. She hated to be pessimistic but she could only think of that letter found on the kitchen floor. When I lay you down and make love to you. She knew her sister enough to know that she would be terrified.

The phone ring and a small scream emitted form the group. Twice it rang before Victor picked it up. His hands shook as he pulled the receiver to his mouth.

“Hello? Oh, hi Detective Williams. What? You found him? Have you found Phoebe? Okay, we’ll be here waiting. You want to talk to Piper? What for? Fine, hold on.”

Victor handed the receiver to Piper. She looked at it confused and took it cautiously.

“Hello? Yes sir. Can I? Yes. Okay, hold on. Ma’am, Detective Williams wants to talk to you.”

Piper handed the phone to the policewoman. She then turned to her parents and Prue.

“What did he want to talk to you about sweetie?”

“Mom he wants me to meet them when they find Phoebe. He says he thinks she’ll stay calm if I’m with her.”

“Well, I think she’d stay calmest around me.”

“Patty. I think Williams is right. If he’s done anything to Phoebe, she’s not going to want any adults holding onto her. She’s going to open up more quickly with Piper. It makes since.”

Patty looked at Victor and somehow knew that he was right. Their incessant fighting the previous months had driven their youngest daughter away from them. She wasn’t close to Prue either because Prue was in a world of her own. The only person who had been consistently there for Phoebe was Piper.

“Fine. But hurry Piper and bring your sister home.”

Piper looked at them warily and followed the policewoman to her car. They were going to meet the detectives at the man’s apartment. She noticed the look on Prue’s face through the living room window as they drove away. She knew that Prue hated herself for not being there for Phoebe. But she knew that none of them could blame themselves. The image faded as the sirens were turned on and the lights flashed in the darkness around them. They were on their way to Phoebe.

***************************************************


Phoebe’s eyes burned from the intense light overhead. It was then that she finally saw the extent of her holding cell. Pictures of her adorned the ceiling. Her heart stuttered when she realized that he was back. He had come back to finish what he started. She looked around frantically for something to use as defense but she found nothing. Candles lined a small bookshelf in the corner by the door but that was it. A mattress, a bookshelf, candles and pictures on the ceiling. Phoebe’s thoughts filled with despair.

She heard the key in a lock. The jingling of metal. The creaking of wood. Then he was there standing in front of her. He held a red satin pillow in one hand, a large knife in the other. Phoebe was more scared of the pillow than the knife. She knew what he wanted with her and she wasn’t sure if she could keep it from happening much longer. She began to pray again and watched him closely. She saw the anger rise in his face, in his eyes.

“STOP IT!!! You shut up now or I will kill you!! God can’t help you now!”

Phoebe’s voice lowered but the prayer continued. He dropped the pillow on the floor and grabbed Phoebe’s arm with his now free hand. The knife came to her throat and she winced. Her voice stopped completely although the prayer still filled her soul. She trembled from head to toe. He was strong and he was mean. Any 14-year-old could assess that much information. Phoebe found her voice again.

“Why did you take me?”

He let her go and watched her for a moment as he shut the door and padlocked it again this time from the inside. He smiled at her and she could see his teeth. They were crooked and stained. His face was greasy with sweat and tensed with anticipation. His hair grayish black was matted to his forehead and thin with age. She could smell him again and she had to stop herself from throwing up.

“Please, I want to know.”

Her voice was calm and close to polite, but he could tell she was still very afraid of him. It was that knowledge that made him not want to wait any further.

“I took you…”

Phoebe listened carefully as the man’s voice embedded into her memory.

“I took you because you belong with me. I saw you there in the room one day and I knew instantly how beautiful and innocent you were.”

“What room?”

“One of the chatrooms around Christmas time. Your words were so sweet and caring. I knew then that you and I would be so great together. Don’t you think?”

Phoebe couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He was so old. Why would he want someone her age? She didn’t fully understand.

“Please. I just want to go home.”

“Why? They don’t love you. If they did they’d known something was wrong. You would have been able to show them the picture I sent you. They would have asked by now about HeartMan. Your sisters, your parents, they can’t stand you. I’m all you have.”

Phoebe shook her head and then felt something on her back. She had walked backward into the wall. She hadn’t even realized she had been walking away from him. She now stood next to the mattress. Her blood ran cold as he looked from the mattress, to the pillow and then to Phoebe. She knew what came next. And she knew the tears weren’t going to help.

They stood outside his apartment. Their guns raised, vests on. Piper watched as Detectives Williams and Jackson knocked on the door. There was no answer. Piper saw Williams raise his foot and kick the door open. They were in the apartment for a few minutes when they emerged with the look of disappointment. They came to the car where Piper sat waiting for bad news.

“Piper, She’s not in there. But we have our people in there right now tearing the place apart looking for something to find them, okay?”

Piper simply nodded her head and then turned to face the front of the vehicle. She would not get her hopes again, she decided. She would merely wait until she saw her sister. Wherever and whenever that might be.

Williams and Jackson discussed the possibilities after shutting the door and walking back to Thomas’ apartment. As they crossed the threshold again they took the time to look around. The images of Phoebe above the computer screamed out at Williams and made Jackson shake. She knew the horrors that found innocent girls. She had seen the tragedy one too many times.

“You think he’s holding her somewhere else?”

“I’d stake my life on it, Howie. He’s obsessed with her. Look at all this. The planning, the meticulous planning. He’s going to take his sick time with her. He won’t kill her until he tires of her.”

“Wonder when that will be?”

Dara shrugged and looked again at the pictures on the wall. She slipped on rubber gloves and started the computer. Her time in the computer crimes division had trained her well. She opened the C drive and immediately began sifting through the files looking for anything.

“Hey Howie, what do you suggest we look for.”

“Real estate. Any place he might own or rent that’s not here.”

Again, Dara went to work on the files. She looked through his personal and business files and had almost exhausted her options when she stumbled upon one last unopened file. She opened it and soon found that the file contained outlines for building an underground storage shed. It also contained property information as well as a scanned copy of the deed. They had a new avenue to search.

Piper saw them running to the car. They got in and told her to buckle her seat belt. She felt her stomach flip as they squealed out of the apartment parking lot. She listened to Detective Jackson as she explained to her where they were going and the rules once they got there. Piper was to stay in the car until either Williams or Jackson said otherwise. Even if she saw Phoebe she wasn’t to approach her until they signaled for her.

“Believe me Piper. It’s for your own safety.”

Piper’s heart beat faster as she knew they were nearing their destination. She would soon know if her little sister were going to be okay.

********************************************

Patty, Victor and Prue waited by the phone. The silence hung in the air. The night was full-grown and the air was warm but the Halliwells knew nothing of it. Their eyes fixated on the one object that would bring them news that they needed to hear.

Prue felt as though her head would explode. Every unkind word she had ever used to hurt her baby sister flooded her every thought. Maybe, she realized, if I had paid her more attention. The idea that she could have possibly prevented Phoebe from going through any of the nightmare, shot through Prue’s heart like a razorblade. Little did she know that her entire family was blaming themselves for what happened to Phoebe, including Phoebe.

******************************************

She was curled into a ball on the mattress, in pain, bleeding. She had nothing to cover herself, nothing to hide in. The tears continued to fall although they were useless. Her throat itched from screaming for help, from screaming for him to stop. The candlelight danced ceremoniously around the room, making her tears sparkle like beacons for help. He still lay next to her. She knew he was still unclothed. Her body shook with fear that he would do it again, that she would die. Her breaths were shallow and barely audible. Her heart was missing. Her senses had disappeared. Her hope was gone, knowing that no one would ever find her, knowing that they would probably never look for her.

He watched her trembling in the waltzing lights. Her hands wrapped around her knees in fetal position. She was so tiny. He loved her, he thought, as he ran a hand along the curve of her spine.

She felt his hand on her back. The disgust rose in the back of her throat. She shivered in sickness. His hand wrapped forcefully around her upper arm as he jerked her toward him and forced her to roll onto her back. She cried a