In the quaint cottage town of Red Grove, Daniella 'Rose' Elliott longs to escape her miserable life and pursue a brighter future. Yet, her dreams are thwarted not only by her family's financial struggles but also by an incident she buried away in th...
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Roses are red The past may need some concealing Atlas is unsure about his intentions And Dani's poker face is peeling
Atlas tapped his fingers on his desk as he twisted his body. He felt stressed and lost. He had no idea where to start with the next two people on the man's killing list.
The man texted him two names yesterday; two names of people he didn't know. There wasn't any more context, just the man's usual threats.
No witnesses
No witnesses
Make sure no one sees you
No one should see you
This made things significantly harder. With Charlotte, he received an extensive set of instructions detailing who she was and where she would be. He thought he would get a similar set with these new targets, but the man said he can't prove anymore. The names would be enough for someone who desperately needed to do this.
Atlas desperately needed to do this, but names weren't enough for him. He tried all the social media sites, but not a single person went by the names of Betty Herbert and Christopher Anderson. They must be some couple since the man gave their names together. It's either that or the man wanted to speed things up; kill two birds with one stone—or in Atlas' case, kill two people with the same knife.
The two sounded like an old school movie couple—something from an 80s horror movie. Atlas hoped the people weren't too old. Killing Charlotte made him absolutely sick to his stomach, and he couldn't walk straight in the morning. Who knows how his body would react to killing someone's grandparents.
He picked up his phone and scrolled through again. No new messages from the man and no emails from the Dani girl either. He knew he destroyed her phone, but he was sure she had a computer or a backup phone at home-- most kids in the town did.
He wondered if she got fired when he left... and how she reacted. Was she upset? Was she angry? Atlas also thought about the look on her face when she found the message. He hoped it wasn't too creepy. He wasn't always good with words or conversions. Maybe she didn't get the message, or maybe she ignored it? If she did, he'll just find a way to approach her at school. Getting Dani on board was looking like more of a benefit than a tremendous risk, especially now since he didn't know what to do. Maybe she knew the people or how to find them?
She knew Charlotte?
Plus, she killed someone before; she might have the guts to do it again.
The sound of slow knocks filled the air as Atlas lifted his head off his desk, "Emma, if you're asking me to cover for you while you sneak out to go see Josh again, don't even bother coming in. You had me do it yesterday and I need a break today." He groaned. The person behind the door didn't respond, instead they slowly pushed it open.
