Stalker

      Novels By Hazel Edwards

      Antarctica’s Frozen Chosen

      Fake ID

      F2m: the boy within

      Outback Ferals

      Stalker

      A YA Novel by Hazel Edwards

      Cover by Corrie Thompson

      What is Stalker about?

      Lily is being stalked. As 3BC FM’s midnight- to- dawn presenter, Lily attracts followers. But the Stalker is different. Obsessive. Possessive. And dangerous. Lily copes with hate-mail, a wreath, and even her temporary desire for celeb status with ‘ a personal stalker.’ But when the Stalker moves in closer, Lily needs help. Especially when she’s working alone in the studio on the graveyard shift. But who is obsessed, the stalker or the stalkee? Who is playing the fame game?

      Who is the author?

      Hazel Edwards is an Australian author of over 200 books published internationally. Best known for the classic picture book ‘There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake’ (Penguin) , she has written a number of YA (Young Adult) novels including ‘f2m;the boy within’, Antarctica’s Frozen Chosen’ and ‘Outback Ferals’. Recently she had a ‘virtual ‘ intern Corrie Thompson who helped with preparing this manuscript for digital reading. www.hazeledwards.com has reviews, articles and relevant links. Hazel is interested in experimenting with new media for her backlisted titles.

      This edition is based on the story originally print published by Lothian, in 2000 ISBN 0-7344-0103-5 and recorded by Bolinda Audio Books 2001 1-740305272

      Rights now reverted to Hazel Edwards

      Copyright © Hazel Edwards 2000

      First published 2000

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.

      National Library of Australia

      Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

      Edwards, Hazel, 1945- .

      Stalker.

      ASIN: B00YGFJGR8

      Cover photograph by Corrie Thompson

      Contents

       1 Friday 13 ^th

       2 Flashback: Stalkee

       3 Key Problems

       4 Car Troubles

       5 Taped

       6 New Wheels

       7 Cult Interview

       8 Gym

       9 Close Up

       10 Re-Act

       11 Bank On It

       12 Fame Game

       13 Operation Tiger Lily

      Finale.

      Foreword

      I am obsessive, electronically skilled and devious. Lily copes with hate-mail, a wreath containing lilies and tall poppies , and even her temporary desire for celeb status associated with ‘ a personal stalker.’ Being the target of a stalker can be a disconcerting or even terrifying experience. Many become victims.But some fight back. Lily fights back. I am the Stalker and I (almost) control Lily's life.

      1

      Friday 13th

      ‘The time is 12.24 on Radio 3BC, your all-nite rave. And this is Lily, bringing you music , hot goss. and requests ‘til dawn.’

      Lily knew her voice didn’t sound normal. How could it? She was freaking out. Shut in studio 4 with the stalker out there in the dark. Should she lower her voice to pretend she was in control?

      Yes.

      What else could she do?

      Not much now, until the program finished. Then she’d tackle him. It was time to fight back, instead of just accepting the fear he’d created around her.

      So Lily kept talking into the mike:

      ‘Tonight we’ll play The Catchers. And due to mega numbers of calls, we’ll repeat the interview with Y from the Cult.’

      Lily hit PLAY and let out her breath, silently. Only 4 hours 36 minutes to go.

      She said ‘we’, but it was really her alone in the studio tonight. Usually, Jamie did the panel on the graveyard shifts Friday and Saturday, but tonight he had exams. And only thirteen requests for the Cult, on the ring-in number. Average for a Friday night. Was it significant that tonight was Friday the 13th and things were going wrong?

      She wasn’t superstitious. Not much. She had to keep going. Anyway, it was past midnight and Saturday the 14th by now.

      She really missed Jamie tonight. Normally, he checked the voice levels, continuity, that sort of thing. A bit of support. Light bouncing off his shiny No1 haircut, pebble glasses and smiley eyes. A chat between music. Handled the ‘nutters’ on the phone. Reception was supposed to stop the weirdos, but unlike Reception, nutters didn’t keep office hours. And the graveyard shift attracted the odd ones. She’d had a few before she did THAT Cult interview. Like PETLOVER who kept sending her postcards saying ‘Night radio waves hurt animals’ ears.’ Or the Jesus the Carpenter needs joiners like you,’ guy who sent a toy saw. At least that was clever. And now the re-run would attract a second lot. But Management had ordered repeats. Keeping their costs down, she reckoned, but maybe this would be at her expense.

      She leaned across, and knocked her glass of water. ‘Shit!’ The water puddled on the table. Lily ripped out some tissues and then she noticed.

      Oh no! The microphone was still on. They would have heard that. She hoped they’d think it was background from the CD. She flipped the switch off and mopped madly with a tissue. She hoped that nothing electrical had fused.

      ‘No fireworks Lily,’ she muttered to herself. That was a bad sign, the muttering. Last stage mental problems! AAAHHHH. More panic waves, swamping her. She did a silent scream and felt slightly better. At least no-one could see her. What did they do on TV when things went wrong? Add to the Video Bleeper Industry probably.

      4 hours, 33 minutes to go!

      Until recently she’d been proud of her spot on public radio. She liked the ritual of walking down the brown corridor under the red ON AIR sign and feeling part of the media. The studios were like little pockets of sound and light, behind the glass walls. Now things were changing, and so was the way she felt about being alone in the studio late at night. Instead of pride at being independent, she felt fear, at being alone in an almost empty building. Growing