Until We Meet Again

Part 5

My body was covered in goosebumps again. I felt like I was being followed. I turned my car to the left. Getting ready to exit my car, I studied my environment. My house was a large, two story, blue house enclosed by a white picket fence. Nothing looked peculiar today. The atmosphere was soothing. The birds sang their beautiful melodies. Still, my instincts kept alerting me to stay vigilant.

The leaves rustled as my black converse stomped on them. The materials in my backpack rattled. I could feel the need to itch myself for some odd reason. I quickly fetched my key from under the mat, poor choice I had realized, I inhaled and exhaled multiple times to get my breathing to calm down. Once inside, I went to the kitchen to prepare myself dinner. I rocked my hip side to side, an upbeat song kept replaying itself in my head.

After plopping the spaghetti in the pot I heard the door open. Not caring that I was making a ruckus or not, I opened up the utensils cupboard and grabbed a knife. I directed myself towards the door. I was waiting for the right moment to jump out.

"Tess-"

Alex's body jumped back when my arm swung at him. His face looked agitated. His hand was at his chest, clutching it tightly.

"Don't do that!" I hissed at him.

Alex hissed back at me. "What the heck? You just tried to kill me! Are you demented?"

"Alex, come look." I grabbed his hand tight. He followed me to the living room. I grabbed the note from the closet and handed it to him.

"Who do you think it is?" He asked.

I shrugged at his question. "I honestly have no clue. I'm the most anti-social person you know. I think you mother's accident. The psycho probably did something to her vehicle!"

"Did you contact the police?" Alex questioned.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, because they're useful." The police in my town were all extremely useless. They had little training and poor equipment. They were all lucky that barely anything happened in our small New Jersey town. If something this happen, it always went unnoticed.

"Tess, this isn't our job to handle. You need to contact the authorities. For all we know it could be your father."

"That sounds like something the psycho would say. You're trying to draw attention from yourself. You drove me here yesterday. You're the only person that knows about where I live."

Alex furrowed his brows, hurt evident in his expression. "Are you really saying that it was me? We've known each other since kindergarten. If I wanted you dead, which I don't. I would've seized the opportunity a long time ago. I'm severely hurt by your notion.

"I don't know who to trust anymore. How did you get inside?"

"You left the door open. You're kind of asking to be killed!" Anger was evident in his deep tone.

"How do I know if I can trust you?"

   He looked at me with an evident hurt expression. "Tessa—"

           "Don't call me that" I cut him off.

          "You're the best thing to have ever happened to me, why on earth would I try to destroy that?" He moved up closer to me but I shied away. "I would never try to ruin our friendship."

I sighed, he had a good point. "Okay, I trust you."

Almost in an instant his eyes lit up and his lips smiled. "Okay!" He whipped out his phone, "you won't like this, but..." I heard three beeps, and that's when I knew.

       While we waited for the police to arrive we sat down on the couch dining on the pasta I made.

         "You're positive you don't know who did it?"

       I shook my head. "I have no idea.."

   ✉️✉️✉️

About twenty minutes later a man and a younger boy, the same boy with the lip piercing from earlier, stood before me. I handed the man the letter with a bit of hesitation. I didn't trust him, nor his son.

"Do you know who wrote it?" was the first thing he asked.

If I knew you wouldn't be here. I shook my head. "I wish I knew."

           "I can look around if you'd like?"

    Alex spoke before I could. "We would appreciate it."

Before walking off, the cop whispered random numbers into his walkie-talkie.

   The boy didn't follow his father, instead he tried to enter the house without permission. "Who are you and what is your problem?" Alex tried to stand his ground.

"I should ask you that." The boy looked at me. I swear I froze on the spot. I was captured and intimidated by his crystal eyes, there was no way they were real. "No wonder you seemed so uptight. You already have a significant other."

"Alex and I aren't even dating." I rolled my eyes.

The boy's eyebrows shot up. "Then I'll assume that you're available?"

Alex got over protective. "Is this what you do? Try to enter houses and harass people even though it's obvious they have no signs of interest in you?"

             "I don't hear her saying anything against me flirting, only you. It's not my fault she put you in the friend zone."

I stared him down. "Get out. Alex is right. First you tried to force your way in, then you tried harassing me, now you're insulting my best friend!"

He looked at Alex, who shied away from his look, then back at me. "Alright," he shrugged before slamming the front door.

"You don't like that guy, do you?" Alex blushed. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Arrogance is incredibly attractive," I responded with thick sarcasm.