"Story About the Message in the Bottle"

Chapter 3

When I got home from work, my aunt asked me how everything went. I told her that the actual job was good, as well as that I made a friend and got invited to a party. I was hesitant to tell her about Shane, but I ended up doing it.

She laughed. "Cate, you told him to go fuck himself?"

"Well he was being a jerk!"

"Sounds it. Look hopefully it'll go away after a while, he's probably just being a guy."

"Ugh I hope so. I honestly don't want any trouble."

"Well tell me this, is he cute?"

"What? Eww no!!" Why did everyone keep assuming that?

"Well I'm just saying that maybe he likes you."

"There is no way Shane likes me."

"Ok whatever you say then hopefully he leaves you alone."
"Hopefully."

He did not leave me alone.

I swear there was at least one incident in the next four days. Whether it was the middle finger gesture, or another bucket of water or something small, Shane was managing to get on my nerves.

"Honestly Cate, he'll stop after this week. And if it gets really bad, you can tell Mark." Brooke said in the store on Thursday.

"Like Mark would ever believe he's acting up. Wait a minute...he's not going to be at the party tomorrow, is he?"

"He'll be there, Shane practically owns the party scene around here. But don't worry, there will be so many people I doubt we'll even see him. There will be too many girls and too much beer for him to notice or care about us."

"Ok good."

That night when I left I decided to take a walk on the beach, since I had a later shift and it was quiet when I left. The beach was just a nice relief, as always. The view was beautiful and I'm still glad this was my home for the summer. As I was walking I noticed something in the sand by the waves. I walked up to it, and it was a little glass bottle. A bottle kind of like the one I had thrown in the ocean the other day. I picked it up and saw that it was slightly different from mine and I opened it. Maybe someone had the same idea as me.

But when I opened the note, I was shocked and confused. It had my name on it, it said:

Cate,

Help them. Please. For the love of god, help them and find them.

I was confused. Beyond confused. How did this person know my name? It was definitely my name too, no doubt about that. Nobody else spelled Cate with a C. And most importantly, what were they talking about? Why did they need help? The note was haunting, almost alarming. I decided to leave the beach right then and there.

On my way out though, I saw something gross. Someone throwing up in the dunes. Wait a minute, was that Shane?

He turned around to look at me. "What are you staring at?"

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"Why do you care?"

"Because I'm actually a nice person and you look like you need help."

"I'm fine, I don't need your help. Just too much to drink, that's all."

"Isn't it a little early for drinking?"

"Isn't it a little early for you to be getting in my business?"

"You know what? Shoot me for just trying to be the better person! You suck!" I said turning around.

"Wait, Cate I'm sorry. You're right, you were just trying to help, and I was being a jerk."

"Yes, yes you were."

"I shouldn't be this mean to you. It's just, girls tell me to fuck off all the time and then I just think it's kind of fun to torture you."

"Well it's not funny to me, it's annoying."

"And that's exactly why it's funny. So tell me Cate," He said as we started to walk back. "Where are you from?"

"You care because...?"

"I care a little bit. I'm heartless but not completely heartless."

"I'm from Stoneybrook, Connecticut."

"Do you like it there?"

"Sure. It's ok. So wait what exactly are we doing?"

"I'm walking you to your car."

"I'm impressed. You have actual manners."

"Not really I'm just going there anyway."

"You had me fooled for a minute there."

"Well you don't have me fooled." He said as we stopped in front of my car. "You put up a front, I can tell. You act all fine but there's more to you than meets the eye. I don't really care enough to figure it out though. That's just what I sense."

"So do you still hate me?"

"Yup. And I'll still keep annoying you, maybe just not as painfully. See you at the party tomorrow."

"How do you know I'm going?"

"Why wouldn't you be? Everyone is."

"I guess that's true."

"Well bye now, I guess."

"Bye."

Well that was weird, I thought as I got into my car. Shane was weird. But even weirder was this message in the bottle. I have to figure out who sent it and what it means.

Hey all! So kind of a bit of a filler chapter but we have some interesting stuff going on here between the message and the bottle as well as Shane. Once again thank you to everyone who has been consistently reading and commenting!!