The rain was coming down hard. Sarah sat in her small apartment, looking out the window. The streetlights were blurry through the rain. She was alone. It was a Tuesday night, and she was reading a book.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Sarah jumped. She rarely got phone calls on her landline anymore. She picked up the phone. “Hello?” she said.

There was silence on the other end. Then, a low voice spoke. “I’m watching you,” the voice said.

Sarah’s heart started to beat fast. “Who is this?” she asked, her voice shaking.

The voice didn’t answer. It just repeated, “I’m watching you.” Then the line went dead.

Sarah put the phone down slowly. She felt scared. She looked out the window again, but she couldn’t see anyone. The street was empty.

She locked her door and all the windows. She checked them twice. She tried to calm down. Maybe it was a joke, she thought. But the voice sounded serious.

Sarah decided to call her friend, David. He was a police officer. He would know what to do. She dialled his number.

“Hello, David?” she said when he answered. “It’s Sarah. I just got a strange phone call…”

She told him about the voice. David listened carefully. “Don’t worry, Sarah,” he said. “I’ll come over right away.”

Ten minutes later, David arrived. He looked around the apartment. “Did you see anyone outside?” he asked.

“No,” Sarah said. “It was raining so hard. I couldn’t see much.”

David checked the windows and the door again. “It’s probably nothing,” he said. “But be careful. Don’t open the door to anyone you don’t know.”

David stayed with Sarah for a while. They talked and drank tea. Sarah felt a little better. When David left, he promised to call her in the morning.

Sarah tried to sleep, but she couldn’t. She kept thinking about the phone call. She kept looking out the window. Every shadow looked like a person.

The next morning, the phone rang again. Sarah was terrified to answer it. She took a deep breath and picked up the phone.

“Hello?” she said.

“Sarah?” It was David’s voice. “It’s me. I have some news.”

“What is it?” Sarah asked, her voice trembling.

“We traced the phone call,” David said. “It came from inside your building.”

Sarah gasped. “Inside my building?”

“Yes,” David said. “We’re coming over right now. Stay inside and don’t open the door to anyone.”

Sarah waited, her heart pounding. She heard sirens outside. Then there was a knock on her door. It was David and two other police officers.

They searched the building. They found a man hiding in the basement. He had a mobile phone with him. It was the phone that had made the call.

The man was arrested. David told Sarah that the man had been watching her for weeks. He had been planning to break into her apartment.

Sarah was shocked and scared, but she was also relieved. The nightmare was over. Thanks to David and the police, she was safe. She learned a very important lesson: always be careful, even in your own home.

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Vocabulary Notes

Blurry (adjective)
Meaning: Not clear; difficult to see.
Example: “The streetlights were blurry through the rain.” This means the rain made it difficult to see the streetlights clearly.
Similar words: Fuzzy, hazy, indistinct, unclear.

Suddenly (adverb)
Meaning: Quickly and unexpectedly.
Example: “Suddenly, the phone rang.” This means the phone ringing was unexpected.
Similar words: Abruptly, unexpectedly, all of a sudden.

Rarely (adverb)
Meaning: Not often; almost never.
Example: “She rarely got phone calls on her landline anymore.” This means she almost never received calls on her landline.
Similar words: Seldom, infrequently, hardly ever.

Silence (noun)
Meaning: A complete absence of sound.
Example: “There was silence on the other end.” This means there was no sound coming from the person on the other end of the phone.
Similar words: Quiet, stillness, hush.

Repeated (verb – past tense)
Meaning: Said or did something again.
Example: “It just repeated, ‘I’m watching you.’” This means the voice said the same words again.
Similar words: Reiterated, duplicated, echoed.

Shaking (verb – present participle)
Meaning: Trembling or vibrating slightly.
Example: “Her voice shaking.” This means her voice was trembling because she was scared.
Similar words: Trembling, quivering, shuddering.

Terrified (adjective)
Meaning: Extremely frightened.
Example: “Sarah was terrified to answer it.” This means she was very scared to answer the phone.
Similar words: Scared, frightened, petrified, alarmed.

Traced (verb – past tense)
Meaning: Found something by following clues or evidence. In this case, finding the origin of the phone call.
Example: “We traced the phone call.” This means the police found out where the call came from.
Similar words: Located, tracked down, discovered.

Basement (noun)
Meaning: A room or rooms partly or entirely below the ground floor of a building.
Example: “They found a man hiding in the basement.”
Similar words: Cellar, underground room.

Relieved (adjective)
Meaning: Feeling happy because something unpleasant has stopped or has not happened.
Example: “Sarah was shocked and scared, but she was also relieved.” This means she felt better because the scary situation was over.
Similar words: Comforted, reassured, eased.

Story written by Google Gemini 2.0 AI

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