Lost Horizons

Chapter Twenty Five

Paranoia was part of her mental problem but things were becoming too obvious to think otherwise.

The alarming sound of the late bell jolted her mind back to reality. Tristan didn't move though. He seemed to note the change in her behavior.

"H-how did you know I didn't show up to my last class?" she question, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I- what do you mean? What does that even matter? Just lay low okay? Stop calling attention to yourself. Do you want us to get caught?" he whispered the last part.

"Just answer the question Tristan," she said more forcefully now. Her world was on the edge of being turned upside down once again. She had planned to tell him about her stalker so that they could work together to find a solution and now there was a big chance that he was her tormentor.

"I just know okay? I may not have friends but I do have ears. Your friends were talking about you." The way he said friends made it sound like a bad word.

"Okay but then how did you know I stayed behind in the shower?" she said, voice cold and unfriendly.

He sighed and rolled his eyes as if this exchange was ridiculous.

"I wanted to surprise you with lunch since I know how much you hate waiting in line but I needed your lunch card. So I went back to the locker rooms and grabbed it from you bag. End of story."

"You snuck in to the girl's locker room while I was in there showering?! Do you know how crazy that is? You could've gotten in serious trouble for that. You already have a record." Sienna stated in disbelief. Now she didn't know what to think. He had just admitted to sneaking in to the showers and opening her bag. The evidence was there. Now all she had to figure out was if he was as innocent as he sounded or if yesterday's events had been another attack from the stalker.

"Yeah I know. It was a stupid idea. Let's just forget about it, okay?" he told her with a shrug. "Oh and here's your card back," he said as he handed it to her.

There wasn't much else to be said so without further words they parted ways and headed to their respective classrooms. Sienna hadn't felt this down in a long time. She had been looking forward to sharing her fears and burdens with Tristan and now there was a possibility that he was the one causing her the fear. They had plans to leave the school together and now she wasn't even sure if she could trust him with some information. How could she go through with a plan that required so much trust and cooperation from one another?

Sienna was torn. His story made sense. He sounded quite sincere as he explained his reasons and yet there was a persistent nagging feeling that kept reminding her she couldn't trust anyone. Everyone was a suspect and anyone could be responsible. She couldn't really think of a reason for Tristan to want to stalk and torment her but then again if he was crazy then what other reason did he need?

As much as it pained her, she would have to keep her fears and problems to herself from now on. She couldn't afford to risk her trust again, not until she found the stalker.

Tristan was back in his room lounging on the bed when he remembered something. The note...

He quickly got up from the bed and grabbed his backpack. He rummaged around to no avail. Where had it gone? He was sure he had placed it inside his backpack the day before. Maybe it fell out, Tristan thought to himself. Just as he was about to give up he decided to empty out the contents of his backpack on his bed. To his surprise, the last thing to slip out was a single white sheet of paper. He quickly grabbed and unfolded the curious note. The first thing he did was try to identify the handwriting of the author. When he couldn't place it he simply began reading.