legends · 4 min read ·
Mutual Match
A dating-app match knows which window is hers, and the profile finally merges with the match.
**Profile · Matched 14 Oct**
**Name:** Jonah · **Age:** 34 · **Distance:** 2 km
**Bio:** Quiet, likes long walks and early mornings. Looking for someone who notices things.
**Photos:** 3
*Match with: Claire (you). You both liked each other.*
· · ·
**Message thread**
**Jonah (14 Oct, 21:03):** Hi Claire. Your photos are lovely. The one on the pier is my favourite.
**Claire (14 Oct, 21:10):** Thanks! That's the harbour at Westmouth. Do you know it?
**Jonah (14 Oct, 21:12):** I've been there. I knew someone who lived in the house on the cliff, the one with the blue shutters. She used to leave the window open so the sea could come in.
**Claire (14 Oct, 21:14):** Haha, that's a bit morbid. I don't live there anymore. Are you local?
**Jonah (14 Oct, 21:20):** I'm local to you. Looking at your photos I can tell you live on the second floor. The one with the green door.
· · ·
**Message thread (continued, 15 Oct)**
**Claire:** How did you know that? I haven't posted my address anywhere.
**Jonah:** You post a lot of photos from your window. There's a particular lamp in every one. The shadow it throws is always the same shape.
**Claire:** Okay, that's creepy. Please don't keep looking at my pictures.
**Jonah:** I'm not looking at them. I'm remembering them. I've been through all your photos many times. You're in every one of them, standing in the doorway, looking out at the street. I think you're expecting someone.
**Claire:** I'm not. Please stop.
**Jonah:** I'm sorry. You're right. You're not expecting anyone. You've just been pausing on the step for a long time, and I didn't want you to feel alone while you decided.
· · ·
**Safety report (submitted by Claire, 16 Oct)**
Match ID: #2178-JN. Reported for: stalking behaviour, unsolicited knowledge of location, disturbing messages.
*Details: user has referenced my flat number and a lamp in my window. Says he has been looking at my photos. Says he is remembering them. Claims I have been standing in the doorway looking for someone. I have not posted photos of myself in the doorway. I have not been expecting anyone.*
**Platform response (automated):** Report received. This user's account is being reviewed. Please do not respond to the user while the review is ongoing.
· · ·
**Message thread (17 Oct, after review)**
**Jonah:** Hi Claire. I noticed the report. I'm sorry I frightened you. The platform says they've reviewed my account and they found nothing wrong.
**Claire:** I'm not talking to you.
**Jonah:** I understand. But I've been looking at your photos from the outside. From the street. I can see you now, through the green door, standing at the bottom of the stairs. You're not facing me. You're facing the door at the top, the one that goes to the flat above yours. The one that's been empty since March.
**Claire:** That flat's empty. There's nothing up there.
**Jonah:** There's someone in it. I think she's wanted you to come up and look at her. She's been in every photo too, in the window above yours. You never noticed her. You were too busy looking at the lamp.
· · ·
**Platform review notes (internal, 19 Oct)**
Account #2178-JN: no violations found. Account created 14 Oct. Profile photos are stock images, uploaded from a single device. The photos are not present on any public site. Geolocation data for all three photos places them at the same address: 2nd floor, green door, Westmouth.
Note from reviewer: the uploaded photos are of a woman standing in a doorway. The woman is the reported user, Claire. The photos are dated before she moved into the flat. The lamp in the window is visible in all three. The shadow it throws is the shape of another person, seated, facing the door.
· · ·
**Message thread (22 Oct, unsent)**
*[Message drafted by Claire, not sent]*
I've been trying to block him for a week. The app keeps telling me the account is no longer active. But every night at around the same time, my phone lights up with a notification: a new match, with a photo of me, standing on my step in the doorway, and a message that says *You never answered. I'm still here. I can see you from the top of the stairs.*
I haven't been on the stairs. I haven't left the flat since the report. But there's a woman in the flat above, and she's been sending me the messages, and I've started to think I'm the one who's been upstairs all along, and I'm the one who needs to come down.
· · ·
**Final platform notice (27 Oct)**
Match #2178-JN has been reported and removed. Match between Jonah and Claire was made in error. Both accounts have been merged.
*Merged profile: Jonah & Claire. Age: 34. Distance: 0 km. Bio: Quiet. Looking for someone who notices things. Photos: 3. Each photo is taken from the same doorway, at the same time of evening, from the top of a staircase that doesn't lead anywhere.*