Little Stranger

Malachi purchases a gas mask costume that will obscure his identity and then returns home to spy on Olivia via secret cameras. He watches her interact with a pregnant friend, which makes him think of his lack of interest in children and the fear, during his first year of incarceration, that he had impregnated Olivia. He surveils her, annoyed when she leads him to “feel all warm and fuzzy” when he wants to think of her as “a snake” (129). She finds chocolates he left in her apartment, which seem to annoy more than terrify her. She drinks the drugged wine he left.

Malachi enters Olivia’s apartment after the drugs have taken effect and bathes her unconscious form. He rapes her while she is unconscious, thinking of her references to sexually desiring him as written in her journal; she calls out his name without waking. He puts her in her bed and cleans her apartment, praising himself for his utility to her. He finds a digital photo album that has many pictures of him, as well as clippings about his arrest and incarceration. During his trial, he reported on all his sexual exploits with Olivia but was “labelled as a madman” (136). Even though nobody believed him, he regrets sharing the details, as he believes “what [they] had was real” (136).

He reads Olivia’s journal, which discusses her interest in her mysterious neighbor, whom she does not know to be Malachi. She keeps all the letters he sent her from prison, though she did not respond to any of them. He regrets what he now sees as weakness in the pleading letters.

Malachi watches Olivia, who notices the changes in her house but does not detect signs of physical violation. He plans to continue assaulting her until she “realize[s she] still love[s him]” (140). He fantasizes that she can hear all his thoughts about her. He follows her to work, jealous of even minor interactions with others, such as when she smiles at strangers.

Olivia approaches him while he is on his motorcycle, though she cannot see his face through his helmet. He forces himself to speak so he will not reveal his true identity, introducing himself as “Kai.” He feels conflicted that Olivia flirted with him without knowing who he was. He agrees to attend the Halloween festival when she asks, though he privately feels they are “a little old” to attend such events (144).

Malachi texts Olivia as Kai while watching her on the hidden cameras. They flirt suggestively, and he spies on her as she masturbates in her apartment. He is both aroused and annoyed that she seeks sex with a stranger. He watches her over the cameras while she researches his whereabouts, crying, then gets ready for the Halloween festival. She adds a locket containing pictures of the two of them to her costume. He makes her wait an hour longer than “Kai’s” scheduled arrival time, enjoying how she nervously checks her phone.

Malachi sneaks up on Olivia and threatens her with a screwdriver, something she finds appealing when she recognizes him as Kai. He urges her to run and then chases her through a corn maze. She is fast, but he eventually catches her. She fights to get out of his grasp, but he subdues her and removes her underwear. He penetrates her orally and anally with the screwdriver handle, then has oral sex with her. They have rough vaginal penetrative sex, which both find physically satisfying, though Malachi is furious Olivia welcomed such attentions from a supposed stranger. He renders her unconscious with chloroform, then performs oral sex on her unconscious body before taking her to a remote farmhouse he purchased specifically to kidnap Olivia. He looks forward to her fear when she realizes who has abducted her.

Malachi grows frustrated with his efforts to pronounce Olivia’s name while he waits for her to wake. She is chained in his basement, and he admires the appearance of her shackled form. He keeps on the gas mask to hide his identity. When she wakes, he forces her to drink water and eat, ignoring her demands for information and freedom. He touches her genitals and finds signs of physical arousal, which he attributes to her fear. He removes her clothes and shallowly cuts her with a knife, something she indicates she finds arousing. She threatens that if “Kai” harms her, Malachi will seek revenge, something Malachi finds thrilling.

Olivia protests when Malachi threatens to break her locket. When asked, she says that “of course” she loves Malachi, citing their sibling relationship. He removes the gas mask, revealing a balaclava beneath. She bargains performing oral sex on him in exchange for the return of her locket; he agrees, though he fears his genital piercings will give away his identity. He chokes her with a collar and burns her pubic area with a cigarette; Olivia exhibits signs of physical arousal.

When she falls unconscious again, he uses chains between her legs to lift her off her feet. The pinching metal causes her to bleed, which they both find sexually arousing. He uses blood as lubricant before having anal sex with Olivia. They both find the act physically gratifying, though Malachi also derives emotional satisfaction from his certainty that, soon, “Olivia will swear herself to [him] forever” (166).

Malachi grows irate at Jennifer’s messages about planning Olivia’s wedding to Xander, a business associate Olivia has never met. He plays with his new pet spider, musing that he and Olivia both have conflicting feelings about one another. He lets the spider walk on an unconscious Olivia; when she wakes, she protests the spider, still terrified of them.

Malachi reflects on his longstanding obsession with Olivia; he became fixated on her as a child but was never interested in a sibling relationship with her. He regrets going on a date with Anna to make Olivia jealous, as her accusation of his supposed infidelity led him to “snap” and attack Jamieson. He has penetrative sex with Olivia while the spider crawls over her, despite recognizing that “this is a fear she may not get off on” (171). He taunts her with the lyrics to “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” during sex.

Olivia falls unconscious again, and Malachi bathes her. He undresses and removes his balaclava. While he lies with her in bed, he admires the cuts and burns he has left on her. He has penetrative sex with her; she wakes and recognizes him.

Malachi is surprised that Olivia doesn’t scream or push him away. Instead, she touches him gently and kisses him, amazed that he can speak. She clings to him, and they have sex. Afterward, he explains that he never had sex with Anna, something Olivia has long suspected. 

She patiently waits when he struggles to speak. She explains that she suspected his identity over the past several days, but “wanted [him] to punish [her]” (179), as she blames herself for his incarceration. She protests, however, his putting a spider on her and for taking “so long” to come find her. She dislikes it when he returns to sign language, though Malachi insists it is easier to express complex ideas. He lacks remorse for injuring Jamieson, though he misses Jennifer.

Malachi explains breaking into her apartment and admits to having sex with her while she was unconscious. Her objections to this are minor. She rejects his plans for them to live together in the farmhouse, as she doesn’t forgive him for injuring Jamieson and doesn’t love him. This angers him; he plays a voicemail from shortly after his arrest in which she admits to keeping their relationship secret only because she “was scared of the backlash” (181). In the voicemail, she confesses her love for him.

Olivia weeps as she listens to her past self but refuses to return his confession of love. When he insists that he “needs” her, she counters that she doesn’t feel the same. She still plans to get married. She uses his ASPD diagnosis as evidence that he doesn’t “even know how to love properly” (181). He worries that his “version of love isn’t enough for her” (182). She begins to leave; he doesn’t stop her, as he wants her to choose to be with him. She promises not to tell anyone she saw him but leaves even when he begs her to stay.