Never Again

Chapter 4

Katie's - POV

Sunday.

The last day of the weekend before I had to head to school again.

I couldn't go out with anyone today as I knew I had to work hard in school or I wouldn't be able to go where I wanted.

I knew Jill and High wanted to go travelling around the world for a year or two before going to university and so they lived their lives by taking risks and having a lot of fun. But the thought of travelling around the world for that length of time, even with a friend to go along with, was scary, so I had never even considered it. Especially since I was so adamant about going to university.

Jessica was very focused on school, like me, even if it didn't seem like it sometimes. She just didn't have to study as much cause of her great memory, which allowed her to do more during the day that is focused on the things she enjoyed - like shopping.

As opposed to me who struggled to remember my own name some of the time.

I hadn't put too much thought on what I wanted to do with myself when I grew up past going to a university, but I definitely knew I wanted to go to one of the top ones in the country, which is why I put so much emphasis on studying, even if I was already up to date in all my classes. I wanted to be ahead of everyone and be ready for university as I knew that learning to work in your own time is a massively underappreciated skill that a lot of people don't take time to learn.

I never really found any subject extremely hard. In fact, I found quite a few pretty easy and had already started looking into advanced courses online.

A Sunday without any friends or Mum around to hang out with usually consisted of studying and watching TV. Today, the show I was into was called You, and I definitely understood why it was so popular. Great acting, writing and camera work.

Throughout the day I would constantly get distracted by the note I received.

Who put it there? How did it get there and why did they do it?

These were all questions I was mulling over as I finally finished all the studying I had planned for that day.

I quickly got bored and decided to walked to the library just to look around and see if they had any new books that I would like to read

I got ready and then put my shoes on before stepping outside to begin the walk.

                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once I arrived I decided to walk to the fiction section, only to see if they had changed it up since I had last come in.

I couldn't be bothered to look around so I decided to ask one of the employees where it was.

I walked up to a girl that kind of looked familiar before quickly dismissing that thought and smiling her.

"Excuse me, can you please tell me where the fiction section is please?" I said.

The young raven-haired woman turned and smiled at me as she answered, "Sure, follow me."

Following her, we went up the stairs to the second floor and stopped at the back where there was a small sign which mentioned that this was indeed the fiction section.

I thanked her and as she walked away I racked my brain for possibilities as to why she seemed quite familiar to me, but ultimately I could come up with nothing and so decided to get The newest book in the BodyGuard Series by Chris Bradford as I had read all the previous ones and was interested in what this one had to offer.

Taking the book off of the shelf I walked down the stairs to the counter to find the same girl manning the counter. This time I decided to get curiosity off of my mind and asked her if I knew her.

"Sorry intrude, but I feel like I know you from somewhere?"

"You might have seen me at school as I only graduated last year," she said. Looking me over she reconsidered. "Or you might have heard of my brother."

"Who is your brother?" I enquired, very interested in the answer.

"Blake Hardridge is my brother," she smiled wryly at my shocked face before handing me my book, "Enjoy. I've heard this one is good."

I walked back home still semi surprised that Blake has a sister, and that she seemed like the complete opposite of him. Not just in terms of personality but also life-style.

When I got back home it was dinner time but I didn't have enough food in the house so I just ordered take away.

As I was eating I decided to text Jessica to ask if she wanted to stay over. Her reaction was an enthusiastic "sure" before she hung up on me so she could leave.

Around half an hour later she arrived with 3 bags of snacks.

"You brought all of those for tonight?" I asked, gesturing at the bags she was carrying.

She gave me a look and said, "You know we can eat the whole lot tonight. Don't even play with me."

I laughed and agreed, picking up one of the chocolate bars and stuffing it in my mouth.

~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up later, the TV still on but the volume was turned down.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

I slowly got up and gingerly made my way over to the door which was ajar.

My heart sped up as I shut the door with caution. I slowly tiptoed back to the couch to check if Jessica was still sleeping or if it was her that had opened the door.

Unfortunately she was still on the couch fast asleep, with her head lolled to the side, in what looked like an uncomfortable position.

I decided to check the rest of the house to make sure nothing else was awry and so I set out on my mission.

Silently, I crept around the house, checking that all the windows were locked and shut and that none of the other doors were open that shouldn't have been.

I was starting to calm down when I heard the sound of a floorboard creek behind me. My heart stopped before I turned around to see a tired-looking Jessica.

"Jesus Christ," I said, releasing the breath I hadn't realised I had been holding. "You scared the fuck out of me."

"Sorry," She mumbled sleepily, "I thought you had come up to go to bed in your room."

Jessica walked past me as I sighed in relief.

I realised I had left my phone downstairs so I went to get it. On the way, I looked out the back door window and saw shoe prints. A little bit of mud was tracked into the house.

I suddenly felt a sense of dread wash over me as I realised someone had been in the house.