A/N As a nod to the upcoming October holiday here in the States I've decided to try my hand at writing a sort of psycho thriller. My plan is to release one chapter per week, with the final chapter to be released on Halloween night. Just a little fun for the season. Now mind you, this is my first attempt at a story of this type so if it sucks please be kind, BUT, if you like it please review and pass the word on. I'd love to see how many followers and reviews this story can get by Halloween. Trust me when I say, this story gets better with time. For now though, happy reading….

Watcher

Chapter 1

Carefree, that's how he feels as he walks along. It's a bright day for the middle of October. A few puffy clouds dot the blue sky. If it wasn't for the slight chill in the air the month could pass for early June. He strolls casually through the park on this Saturday because he knows that there's a good chance she will be here sooner or later, for this is her place of inspiration. A pair of high tech binoculars and a powerful camera hang from his neck along with a laminated guide from the Audubon Society, the kind that helps you to identify over 50 breeds of birds in the Pacific Northwest area. Bird watching. He thinks this a good cover, it explains the reason for walking through a park with binoculars and camera, because the last thing he needed was to be pegged a perv for watching little kids as they play. Plus, you can bird watch anywhere. That's the good thing about birds, they are everywhere. So this is why he doesn't mind being labeled "The Bird Kid", or "The Binocular Dude" by the city's inhabitants. Yep, the perfect cover.

She's later than normal and he wonders if she's even going to show. It's not every Saturday that she comes to the park, only on those occasions when inspiration is low. If she doesn't arrive by 1:00 then he knows she will not show and he'll have to go looking for her. Fidgeting with the dials on his camera he spots a blur of pink in the distance. It's her, she's smiling and running from something, or someone. His gaze moves slightly to his right and he sees him. HIM, the bane of his existence. Oh how he hated Arnold. Always at the forefront of her affections. Ever since they were kids she's held this infatuation for him. It wasn't so bad when they were younger, back in the old PS 118 days, because Arnold didn't return the affection. Nope, his mind was always on some other girl. He would have felt bad for Arnold, always getting shot down if it wasn't for the fact that this boy was the sole reason that she never even considered liking anyone else. The unrequited love between the two of them actually gave him hope that he could, in some way, win her heart.

But, as they grew, Arnold started to notice her more. As she filled out so did Arnold's observations of her. He noticed the boy taking an interest in her and it angered him, and when that fate full day in eighth grade came when they both discovered they had feelings for each other he knew things were not going to be easy. They've been practically inseparable ever since, making his job much harder.

So now he sits, four years later, on a park bench and watches as the two play chase like two school kids on a playground. Arnold is faster than her and catches her arm, stopping her momentum. Both laughing he pulls her in for a kiss. They stand embraced, oblivious to him and everyone else around them as his classmate's lips press into hers. The kiss is lingering and he wonders what they taste like. He wonders what it would be like to have his tongue be the one searching her mouth, his hands caressing her back.

They break the kiss now and stare into each other's eyes. The flush of her cheeks adds a beauty to her already perfect face. He takes the opportunity to capture this look. Raising his camera he zooms in, careful not to get too much of the Other's face in the picture. He pulls the image in so close he feels he can almost touch her. Her blue eyes sparkle as she looks adoringly into the face of that boy. An angelic smile forms serenely on her lips. He snaps the picture knowing that later he can perhaps photo shop his own image staring back at her.

Over time he's become very adept at all things electronic. Photo shop? A breeze. Wire taping? Heh, child's play. Voice manipulation? Piece of cake. They say that sometimes with insanity comes genius. In this case that was indeed true. You wouldn't think so to look at him though. His grades surely never reflected it. There was no challenge for him at school which in turn made him grow bored with it. He could have excelled if he'd wanted to. Tests were no big deal to him, could have aced every one of them but if he had then the topic of skipping grades would have come up and this would never do. He liked his spot, following right along with her as they advanced from grade to grade. He liked being among her peers, never a key player in the group but more a background player where he could observe unnoticed. Yep, just another member of the gang who just happens to harbor a secret longing.

After an hour of following the two around he realizes that he's probably gotten the best shots he's going to today so he heads towards the front entrance of the park leaving the two behind. He heads for home and awaits the night where darkness offers him the ability to move about the streets unseen.

Part 2

Under the cover of darkness he slips away from his house and makes his way down the street careful not to accidentally run into anyone that could pin point his whereabouts if the information should ever be needed. He wears a backpack containing his camera which is still fitted with the zoom lens from this afternoon. He slowly walks in the direction of the Sunset Arms boarding house. It's a Saturday night and from all his observations he knows that this is where the couple will eventually come to after whatever date they may have planned for the evening.

He stops at the building that sits opposite the alley way between it and the boarding house. The building sits one floor higher than the place Arnold calls home which makes it the tallest building on the block. There is a fire escape that mirrors the one that leads up to the roof top of Arnold's home. Parallel to the boarding house roof sits the top floor of this particular building. There are two corner windows, one that looks towards the street, and one that looks directly over the other building's roof. Sitting atop that other roof is a dome of glass that caps Arnold's bedroom and he has a perfect view inside said room.

The ground floor consists of various small businesses. One of which is Green Meats. One day he became curious about the top corner room and he asked Mr. Green about it. He was told that it was an apartment that, for reasons that were unknown to him, sat empty and unused. As far as Mr. Green could remember he didn't think anyone has occupied it for years. It just sits there, locked and unnoticed by most passersby.

Upon hearing this the boy took it upon himself to check the situation out so one night, under the usual cover of darkness, he climbed the fire escape and jimmied the window open. Upon entering the room he discovered it to indeed be a small, abandoned apartment. There wasn't much to it, a bathroom, a small kitchenette and a small bedroom. One feature that did catch his attention was a nice size walk-in closet in the bedroom. It had a door that shut tight with a built-in vanity. He tried turning on the closet light and was happy to see that the apartment still had electricity running to it.

Leaving the bedroom he looks at his surroundings. He notices an overstuffed chair and a small side table had been left behind. They were covered in the dust of many forgotten years but upon sitting in the chair he found it to still be quite comfortable. Moving to the kitchen he tried the old gas stove. It ignited but he doubted he'd ever use it lest he risk drawing attention to himself. He walks back to the living room and peers out the window which faces the boarding house roof. He is happy with his view into Arnold's bedroom and knows that he's found his lair.

Now, making sure no one is lurking about, he quietly climbs the fire escape to his little haven. He enters the bedroom closet, which is now his dark room. There are two sets of lights to that room and he's equipped one with a set of red lights to aid him during the developing process. He sets out the chemicals he will need for tonight's work then turns to look at the wall behind him. It is lined with pictures of the girl. Starting from around fifth grade advancing to present time. At first the pictures are just snapshots taken with disposable cameras and brought to the local drug store for developing. They are a rudimentary mix of group shots and single images of just her. To the normal person developing the pictures the roll would look like nothing more than some parent's collection of memories of their child and her friends. It was when he hit middle school where he developed his own talents as a photographer.

As his talent grew word spread around campus and he found himself offered the job as school photographer. He jumped at the chance because as the only one responsible for documenting the school year through pictures he had a built in excuse to always have his camera with him. He talked the principal into letting him use his own 35mm camera instead of the school's digital one saying that his pictures would come out much better and besides, he could always transfer the images to digital afterwards. It wasn't until he proved his point by showing the principal sample pictures that he'd developed on his own and comparing them to the digital ones, that he was given the okay to use his own stuff.

Right now, though, he waits and watches. The room is quiet. He doesn't like too much quiet, because it's in the quiet that he hears the voices, and it's the voices that urge him on. They have him convinced that if he's ever going to have his chance with the girl then something is going to have to be done about the Other. So in his waiting he plots. Always watching for the perfect opportunity to show itself. He hasn't figured out just yet what to do, but he can feel that the time is drawing near and that soon Arnold will no longer be a problem.