As Evil As Murder

03 | Texts and Handcuffs

"Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil."
-Plato
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I was walking in between cars, making sure Lucas was still in my line of sight. This was hard to do as I was not keen on being run over by other vehicles.

"Watch where you are going!" A driver yelled as I almost fell on top of his car's hood. I replied a strained apology and straightened up, and looked around to where Lucas ran now.

"Damn it!" I said to myself when I saw him twenty feet away. I can't run all the way because of the cars in front of me and even if I did, he would notice me and start running again. Not to mention my feet were paining like hell. Pro tip - While superheroes can do this, don't ever run in heels. Ever.

I saw a bus bay to my left and my legs involuntarily walked towards the bench in front of the sign. I sat down and let out a sigh of content. It felt nice to be relaxing. I don't know the last time I ever just sat down for a minute to catch up with life. And now I was doing just that, and I didn't feel like getting up ever again.

I could see Lucas from the corner of my eye on the other side of the road, but I ignored him. This cat and mouse chase were going nowhere. And why did I have to catch him anyways? It's not my job. I could just tell Rex that I needed my scarf back.

Beep!

I thought it might be Rex, CJ, or even Gloria. But it wasn't any of them. I groaned when I read the message, the familiar chill passing down my spine for no reason.

-Let's play a game. You lose, you die.

I blinked rapidly and cursed under my breath. It was the same blocked ID who has been messaging me for the last two weeks with riddles and games. When the texts first started appearing, I was wary. But now after god-knows-how-many riddles I had ignored, I'm still alive so I know these were just empty threats. Basically just someone pranking on me because they had nothing better to do.

But I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious about the upcoming question. No, I don't reply, but they were always weird and strange. Like this one day they just sent me one word. "Bonafide." And another peculiar text was the time they sent me a script from the Bible. But something was interesting in these weird messages. The crime writer in me likes the riddles because I know there are answers to every single one of them. I just haven't found them yet. Even if it's just a kid playing a prank on me, I almost look forward to their texts, just because of its oddness.

It felt exhilarating each day to get a new puzzle, even though it came with death threats. To me, the eccentric riddles looked so intriguing that the threat part hardly scared me anymore.

I stared at the screen blankly for a few seconds waiting for the sender to give me today's riddle, but none came. I sighed and closed my eyes, and rested my head on my knees. I can't remember the last time I had a proper night's sleep.

"Excuse me miss, is this seat taken?" A familiar voice asked me. A voice so familiar I knew that if I raise my head to look at him, he will start running again. I mentally screamed with joy about the irony in the situation.

"Sure you can, Whitmore," I said, looking up. He saw my face and gasped.

"Oh good heavens!" He said under his breath and stood up, obviously to start running again. The scarf fell down and I quickly grabbed it with a smile.