The Haunting

Chapter 15

Amber executed a perfect somersault underwater and kept swimming. Her flip turns were always accurate and straight, but today, something was off. Way off.

Maybe it was because some mysterious stranger... someone out there.. knew her secret.

Maybe it was because that someone could have been one of her best friends.

Or maybe because it was the disturbing fact that the one friend who could have betrayed her died all of a sudden.

Thoughts of Meredith flooded through her mind and tears became loose in the underwater stillness. They clouded Amber's peripheral vision and collected within the empty spaces of her goggles.

But now was no time for crying.

The swim meet against Clancy was in less than a month.

And right now she had to focus on her 400 relay. No distractions. She neared the end of her last lap and heard Kayla's motivating yells from above the surface.

"Pick it up, Amber!"

Amber pushed harder and let her fingers fall onto the underwater touch pad. She popped her head out of the water and gasped, and from the corner of her eye, saw Kayla dive in to anchor the relay and finish it up for good.

Amber hoisted herself out of the water and sat onto the bench beside her swim bag. That girl she liked, Angie, stood over near her relay lane. Amber always thought Angie was pretty and she enjoyed the way her short straight brown hair kind of reminded her of...

She forced herself not to tear up when Meredith's face popped into her mind again.

At least now that Meredith was gone... she wouldn't get those harassing messages again. Who else would M be?

Amber saw Dean by the side of the pool stretching with the other Haven boys. He saw her staring and walked over to her.

"Hey, Am, what's up?"

"I just finished my leg for my relay."

"Oh."

Dean sat next to her. Amber shifted in her seat and nervously watched Angie walk into the locker rooms.

"Where's your friend?" he asked.

"Kayla? She just finished the relay. She had to anchor."

"Anchor? Wow, I hate being last in the order for a relay."

Amber bit her lip. She wanted Dean to leave her alone so she could talk to Angie. The French-Armenian girl with the perfect face. The girl who would rake her shoulder-length brown hair whenever Amber made her laugh.

Wanting Dean to leave her alone so badly, she turned to look at him and said quickly,

"Kayla has a boyfriend."

At first he was silent. Then,

"What?"

Amber looked down onto the wet floor.

"She has a boyfriend," she repeated silently.

To her strange surprise, he started chuckling.

"That makes me want her even more," he said, and his tone had a sharp edge to it.

Amber sighed impatiently.

"Then why don't you go bother her instead of me? Now excuse me!"

She got up and pushed passed him.

Amber entered the locker room and smiled.

There she was. Angie was applying lotion over by her locker.

No one would message her and no one would know about her being a lesbian anymore.

She walked over to her and placed her bag next to her feet.

"Hi," Amber greeted.

"Hey," Angie smiled.

Suddenly, her phone buzzed. Amber went to open up the message, but when she did, she gasped and nearly dropped it onto the slippery wet tiles.

Oh Amber. You're so cute. You actually thought it was all gonna end. Well let me tell you something, sweety. This will NEVER end. And you being a lesbian will never end, either. So do us all a favor and stop the charades, girly. Oh, and you know I'll always be here waiting. Watch your step. Because I'm already watching them for you.

-M ;)

"What is it?"

It was Angie, and she looked at her with worried eyes.

Amber's heart leaped out of her chest.

"It's nothing," she stuttered. "I... I gotta go."

And she ran, unfortunately knowing that wherever she went... wherever she'd go and whatever she did.. that M was always watching.