He's Always Watching

Chapter Five

I had intense writer's block at the beginning, but then towards the end it just started to flow...so hopefully the difference isn't too pronounced...(: Enjoy, my lovlies.

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      Afternoon light spilled into my bedroom through the window as I studied three slips of paper in front of me. They all had two things in common: the handwriting, and the blood red ink they were written in. Other than that, I couldn’t find a pattern in the messages. The second one I’d received didn’t even seem threatening, just creepy. The only clear thing was the fact that someone was out to get me. I wasn’t sure the motivation, but I did have a couple theories.

    The first theory was that the whole stalking thing was for revenge. The culprit could’ve been someone my dad arrested in the past, or even the guy that killed Toby. They never caught him, and I had a feeling he wouldn’t be satisfied until he had the other twin. Me. Of course, I was hoping for the second theory. Maybe the whole thing was just a big case of someone having an unhealthy infatuation with me. It could happen, right? It didn’t seem as likely, seeing as how revenge always seemed to be the reason behind these things, but it sounded a whole lot better than the first theory to me. At least the second option left the possibility that someone wouldn’t try to murder and/or kidnap me.

     I gave up on deciphering the notes any further and rolled onto my back. The patterns on the ceiling kept me entertained for a few minutes as I tried to figure out what I was going to do for the day. Jenny and Colby were probably still sleeping off my birthday party at their houses. I probably should’ve still been asleep too, but I woke up bright and early despite falling into bed at four a.m. I guess I was feeling anxious after the picture incident. I couldn’t even bring myself to look at it; I had it in an old shoe box under my bed along with the black rose.

     That’s another thing that I couldn’t make sense of. What was the black rose supposed to mean? Or did it mean anything at all? I’d been over-analyzing the whole situation since I found out that it wasn’t Colby trying to prank me. Even before I slipped into a restless sleep the night before, I was trying to make everything fit together like a puzzle piece. Maybe if the guy was following some sort of pattern or working with a certain scheme, it’d be easier to guess his next move and catch him.

      “Why me?” I wondered out loud. Out of all the teenage girls in South Preston, I was the ‘lucky’ one with a stalker.

      A knock on the door pulled me from my self-pitying.

      “Cassie, lunch is ready!” Mom called.

       “Coming,” I yelled back. I forced myself off the bed and downstairs to the kitchen. It was hard to act normal in front of my parents, but I had to. They couldn’t see how freaked I really was, or they’d find out about the whole stalker ordeal. How embarrassing would it be for my dad to track the person down and it end up being nothing, no big deal at all? For all I knew, this person was harmless, and I had been getting myself all worked up for nothing. There were just so many unknowns about the whole thing. And it’d only been going on for a little over two weeks.

     “I’m a little surprised that you’re already awake,” Mom commented as she laid a meatball sub down in front of me. “I figured you’d be sleeping all day.”

     I shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep in.”

     She slid into the spot across from me at the table. “Did you have a good time?”

     An involuntary smile spread across my face. “It was great, Mom. Thank you.”

     “You’re welcome, sweetie. Your dad will be happy to hear you had fun. It might put him in a little bit of a better mood for the clean up…” She trailed off, biting her bottom lip as she assessed the damage. It wasn’t too bad, considering the two hundred teenagers we harbored for a few hours. But there was still a lot of trash to clean up around the house and out back. We were even still eating off the vintage tablecloth and trying to avoid the candelabra as we spoke.