Haunted by the Past (Original)

Chapter 19

<<(Group Chat) Vic: Hey guys? Can we talk please? Cause I'm kind of freaking out here.>>

I stared at the notifications on my screen wide-eyed. I mean, sure, I never left our group chat, but I don't think anyone even touched it since the day of Brodie's death. The timing of it suddenly come to life again, after all these years, like it was risen from the dead, was unnerving. My thumb lingered over the notification, unsure whether I should open the application or not, but my curiosity got the better of me. I was thankful for my decision years ago to set my status to offline because I sure as hell didn't want anyone to see me online now.

Wayne: Hey

Wayne: What's up?

Vic: Cool I wasn't sure if people still received notifications from this thing but I thought it might be the easiest way to reach out to everyone at once

Wayne: Never had a reason to get rid of it

Vic: So uh, did you hear the news?

Wayne: What news?

Dylan: Wow this is...

Wayne: Strange?

Dylan: Yeah definitely weird

Dylan: Seeing the last comments made in this chat was like a hit to the stomach

Dylan: I can't believe it's been six years

Wayne: Yeah I'm trying not to scroll up

Vic: Hey Dylan

Vic: I know I'm kind of bringing back painful memories but with the news today I feel like this is the best place to talk about it

What news? My news? Or was there something else? Please don't let it be more Triple-6 news.

Vic: Oh Meredith's not in this chat. Hmm maybe it's best to leave her out. She's probably having a hard enough time right now.

Wayne: Tell her what?

Dylan: Is this about Eli? I wish I could say I am surprised but I'm not. The feds are always coming by asking us if we've seen or heard from him.

Dylan: It seems like they only visit when he's killed someone

Dylan: Allegedly

Ok Eli admitted he'd killed before, but I thought it was just like once or twice? Dylan's making it sound like it was more than that. I wished I could ask him or Meredith what the FBI have been saying about Eli. Wrong or not, I wanted to know why the FBI thought he was so dangerous that they would use snipers. Or was Eli embellishing that part? Snipers still felt too extreme. Maybe Eli was overexaggerating. Maybe he was just being paranoid. He lived in an abandoned building, stealing electricity and internet from the neighboring warehouse. It did scream 'conspiracy nutjob', I had to admit, but it was off the grid and that's what I needed so I chose to overlook it, but what did I really know about Eli and his past six years? He certainly wasn't going to tell me so I had to look elsewhere to get the answers I wanted.

Assuming I wanted the answers.

No, knowing the truth was still better than being left in the dark.

Wayne: That creep again?

Was Eli reading the chat as well? If he hadn't noticed the activity yet, was there a way I convince him to not read it? He didn't need to see Wayne badmouthing him again. He used to pretend like it didn't bother him, but it definitely bothered him.

Vic: Not just Eli though...

Vic: Dani too

Ah, so it was about me. Although I knew they were aware that I could read the chat log at any time, I was still curious to see what they would say about me while I wasn't around. Did they hate me for ghosting them? I decided to keep lurking in the chat a little longer.