I Have an Invisible Stalker (Guardians #1)

Chapter 3

Olivia's POV

I stab the last piece of roasted chicken with my fork, while Mom slides her chair away from the four-person table and takes her already empty plate to the sink. Instead of immediately starting to wash the dishes, she moves to the row of white cupboards across the room. She grabs a dark green notebook and brings it over to the table, while I lower the fork with the untouched piece of chicken back onto my plate.

"Finish your chicken," she tells me and then opens the notebook on the last used page.

The moment she pulls out her phone, I know what she's going to use it for. The notebook is, after all, her old-fashioned way of keeping track of our finances.

Before she can scribble down the first number, I slide my chair away from the table and grab the crutches resting against the back of the chair beside me. I wordlessly hop toward the door leading into the single hallway.

"You told me you were starving enough to lick the plate clean. So, what is this?" Mom calls after me, but I'm already hopping down the narrow hallway.

At the last door to the left, right before the front entrance, I enter my square bedroom. The sunlight coming from the single window casts the almost empty desk and the chair hidden underneath my clothes in warm light, but I barely pay them attention. Instead, I head straight for the unmade bed perched against the wall across the room. I stop at the foot of the bed and rest the crutches on the ground. With a deep inhale I lift the edge of the mattress, which causes the heap that is a soft blue blanket to roll to the opposite edge of the bed.

Under the mattress lies a single brown envelope that I grab without a moment of hesitation. I let go of the mattress which causes a swirl of dust to explode into my face. The small particles shine like tiny pieces of gold, but I swat them away before they can get anywhere near my eyes.

Then I grab the crutches, spin around and hop back into the much brighter kitchen. Mom doesn't even glance up when I sit onto the chair across from her. Not until I throw the brown envelope on top of her notebook.

"What's this?" She lifts her eyes and wrinkles her manicured eyebrows. "Are you trying to bribe me into not having to eat the last piece of chicken?"

"It's to cover the hospital fees." I grab my fork again and lift the last piece of chicken to my mouth.

Slowly Mom opens the envelope but then drops it the moment she sees what's inside. "Where did you get this kind of money? You know what, don't answer that. I want the freedom to claim that I don't know anything when you get arrested for stealing."

"It's the money from last year when I worked in the café next to the hair salon," I say while chewing. "And I'm not a child anymore. I know how much a hospital stay costs and that a single mother working as a hairdresser can't afford it on her own."

"You want me to believe—"

I drop my fork, which causes it to clatter against the ceramic plate. "I didn't steal it, Mom. Now, take the money or I'll tell Dad that we need his help to cover my hospital fee."

The simplest mention of my father has her lips sewing shut. What matters though, is that she accepts the envelope.

Once I'm sure she's not going to protest any further I grab the crutches and move toward the back door right behind her.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to look for the stalker from the hospital." I open the door. "I still have some questions he needs to answer."

"You really think you're interesting enough for someone to bother to stalk you? If anyone were stalking either of us, then—"

Her words are cut off as I close the door behind me. I wobble down the side of the house until I reach the front-drive. There I finally stop and take a moment to figure out what to do next. Especially because the paramedics informed me that my phone had been smashed during the accident, which means I can't call anyone for back-up.