Bad Boy: Daniel Hart

fourteen

*Unedited*

              The house was empty by the time I was home from school, music passed by with ease as I continued to work on my project. I had the melody down but the lyrics are much harder to find, I had no inspiration and it was beginning to irritate me.

              Not letting it bother me anymore, I went up to my room and placed my bag at the end of my bed before making my way into the bathroom where I was finally greeted with my appearance.

              Nothing was hidden, the darkness that encircled my eyes was on full display with the marks looking as though I had two bruises on my face. My complexion was ghostly as the person who stares back at me was unfamiliar, this isn't what my brothers last image of me was. This girl was lifeless.

              The vibration in my pocket distracted me, I took my attention away from the mirror and reached for the phone in my back pocket. Assuming it was Rylee, I opened the message but I wasn't prepared for what I had received.

              On my screen was a picture from earlier today, when me and Daniel were outside of the girls bathroom. His arm hung loosely around my back as we walked down the corridor together. Captioned; what would your brother think?

              I threw my phone on the bed in shock, fingers trembling as my bottom lip quivered in fear. They're still watching me.

              What did this have to do with my brother? It then occurred to me that this was taken just before he ran away, is this what he saw? Someone taking our picture, spying on us so they could send me more deranged messages.

              Maybe it was some kind of practical joke, something Daniel had come up with to get under my skin but the more I think that scenario to be true, the more unlikely I see it being. A strange feeling appears in the pit of my stomach but I push it to one side, it's probably nausea from the idea that someone is watching my every move.

              And then there is the question, why did the stalker mention my brother? Did he have a part in this? Or was it just something they knew would get under my skin? The questions didn't stop coming and the answers were no where to be found.

              Fumbling around with my laptop case, I carefully lifted the laptop out before placing it in the space on my desk where it usually made itself home. I opened up the lid and opened Facebook, I hesitated before typing Daniel's name into the search bar but not for long as the realisation kicked in, knowing that this would be the smartest decision. He needed to know.

              I hovered over the message icon before clicking it, Daniel's profile picture popped in the chat head as I began to type in my message. It wasn't anything we hadn't seen before, his standard all black attire in 'mirror selfie' form. He looked good.

              I quickly typed an hello, seeing where that would take me.

              Daniel: Can't get enough of me I see ;)

              I rolled my eyes at his response, cheeky and to the point. Daniel all over.

              Sadie: Calm down, I'm messaging strictly on business terms.

              Daniel: Is that what you kids call it now days?

               I scrunched up my nose, ew.

              Sadie: Get your mind out of the gutter, try the creepy stalker has my number and are sending me messages.

              I sat waiting for his response for what felt like hours, those three little dots constantly moving as though he didn't know what to put. After a few minutes, the notification sound rang through the air.