Soul Breaker

Chapter 13

We all sat around the lunch table staring at the open letter. The red paint screamed out at us as we read it over, trying to make sense of the words.

I’M WARNING YOU…stay away from her. She belongs to me. You can search all you want, but I don’t think those flimsy cards will tell you much. Oh, and Michael, I know old habits die hard but if you don’t stop, you’re going to lose more than just the girl. You could lose her for life.

“So he doesn’t go to our school,” Riley said while inspecting the letter.

“Seems like it, but who did Dee reject outside of school?” Rae asked, chewing on her cupcake.

“I’ve only rejected those who go to school with us. No one else asked me besides Jayson, but I already said yes to him so he couldn’t be the guy.” I sighed with defeat and looked to Michael. He seemed deep in thought and stayed that way throughout the whole discussion.

“Maybe it’s a trick to get us off his back. I mean, we’re nipping him at the heels with the whole matching-the-writing thing. He’s probably trying to throw us,” Riley tried to convince us, but it didn’t have much effect on me.

“We’ve checked and rechecked all the cards but none of them match. Whoever this person is, I don’t think he’ll stop with just letters. His messages are getting pretty violent. He’s even threatening.” I stared down at the letter. “He’s trying to give us clues. It’s clear that he isn’t from this school because of his vocabulary. I mean, what person in this generation would use ‘flimsy’ in a letter.”

“We all know no one in this school would. They’d probably think it’s like some oldies slang,” Rae said.

“Maybe it’s an old geezer,” Riley joked.

“Old people aren’t the only ones who use it. I’ve heard some people around our age say it in passing,” I tried to clarify.

“Maybe it’s Jayson.” All heads turned to Michael. He was staring blankly at the table but when he finally looked up, we met with cold, unseeing eyes.

“Michael, Jayson has nothing to do with this. It couldn’t possibly be him,” I said.

“And why not?”

“Because I said ‘yes’ to Jayson. The person who wrote this letter said I rejected him.”

“Dee, think about it. Jayson is from England where they use those kinds of words. He’s a guy that asked you out and doesn’t attend Mirth. Who else do we know fits this profile?”

“I don’t know Michael, but I do know that Jayson isn’t the stalker. He wouldn’t have any reason to be.” Michael frowned and spoke through clenched teeth.

“Quit defending him.” Michael got up.

“Wait! Where are you going?” He stopped and looked over his shoulder.

“I’ll come back when you listen to reason.” And he walked away. Rae and Riley gave me sympathetic looks and continued eating.

“Oh,” Rae said, “Here.” She handed me a small white box. “You really need one.” I opened it to find a green cellular phone tucked inside.

“How’d you get this?” I asked while inspecting the phone. “And where’d you get the money?”

“You ask too many questions. Just take it and love it.”

“Of course I love it, Rae. Thank you. You’ve done so much for me.” I unlocked the phone and saw that Riley’s and Rae’s numbers were already in my contacts.

“You’re going to have to get Michael’s on your own.” I smiled at her and got up to go to my locker. I already had Michael’s cell number, I think. Or was it his home number? Geez, I hate high school drama…