Focus (Asa Butterfield)

21

We got to know Connor pretty well-for us being there 3 days. He asked us where we were going and we just said we were taking a road trip around Northern California. For a college kid, he could really cook-he made us breakfast, Asa made lunch, and I made dinner or we ordered takeout. I tried convincing Asa to stay for a couple of more days, but he wasn't very fond of the idea.

"I had fun here. Connor is so cool! We should get his number don't you think?" Asa looked a little worried. I turned to him. "Hello?" "Yeah, he's great. He enjoys your company a lot. I don't know about him honestly. He looks at you weird- like he knows you from somewhere or something." He sounded irritated.

"What ? You're crazy! Connor lives in San Jose! How would he know who I am? If it makes you feel better, I'll ask him. Alright?" I laughed. 

"Do what you want." He went downstairs. I beat him to the living room.

 "Connor? Can you come here?" He came from his room.

"What's up Maya?" 

"You look very familiar and I've been trying to figure out where I know you from but I can't make out where." I had never seen Connor before in my life- I just didn't know how to bring up the topic.

Connor laughed. "You know, I was thinking the same thing. You just reminded me, I've been a little worried about one of my friends. He hasn't answered any of my calls, and we just had started talking again after a long hiatus." 

I was puzzled. "Maybe he's busy? Whats his name?" 

"Could be, but his phone's off. Nothing goes through. His name is Jake."

Jake. His name is Jake. 

I completely froze. A cold chill went up my body, my skin turning pale. Connor asked if I was okay and Asa quickly budged in and told Connor that my blood pressure went low sometimes.

"I-I'm i'm okay. I just need to sit down." I headed back upstairs, Asa following me.

"We need to get the fuck out of here right now." I started packing as fast as I could. 

"Maya if we leave tonight, Connor will get suspicious. We have to wait." 

"What if Jake told him about me? Why else would me being familiar suddenly remind him of that scumbag?" My fucking luck. 

"Look, we will just leave in the morning, just like we had planned before." 

I ran back downstairs and tried interrogating him. 

"When was the last time you talked to Jake?"

"I don't know, last week. He said he was headed towards Santa Monica and Venice. After that, I didn't hear from him. I'll give it another week. After that I might report him missing or something. I asked some of our other friends and none of them have heard from him." Connor seemed really concerned, while I was terrified and trying to keep a straight face. 

I killed your friend, Connor.  I wanted to say.

"Wow, I hope you hear from him. I'm sure he's okay." I lied.

He's dead. And you're never going to hear from him again.