Paper Heart Goodbyes

Ch. 30

"Alright, let's go. Our Uber is 2 minutes out."

They left the bedroom and Tess ran over to Lena's room and knocked on the partially opened door. "Lena?"

"Yeah?"

She could see Lena inside her room packing a duffel bag.

"I'm about to head out. Please be careful. I mean it. If I'm right, Becky is really dangerous. I know we don't know each other well and you don't have any reason to believe me when I say that Becky could be a killer, but please just take my word for it."

Lena locked eyes with Tess and said, "I believe you."

Lena grabbed everything she would need for the foreseeable future and called a friend to ask if she could crash at her place. Tess and Brian grabbed all her things and they were all heading to the apartment door at the same time when Tess double backed. "Oh! I forgot my notebook! I put it down when I was packing my stuff and left it behind."

Lena turned back to listen to what Tess was saying. "You go on ahead Lena. Stay safe. Please call or text me - anything to let me know you're okay and what the police say after they investigate.' Tess felt weird saying that, but she was genuinely concerned. She wanted to make sure Lena was safe after previously thinking she was such a strange person and possibly the serial killer.

"I will. Thank you for looking out for me. I might've stayed a lot longer and not know she's the Paper Heart Killer. You probably just saved my life." A quiver was evident in her voice, a crack in that frosty exterior that Tess had observed earlier in her trip. Now she knew that Lena was only acting standoffish before because she didn't want to get close to Becky.

Tess gave her a brief hug. A little awkward, but it felt like the right thing to do at the moment. They said their goodbyes and Tess and Chris went back inside the apartment. Tess ran to the bedroom and picked up her notebook she left behind. As she was about to leave the room a glint of silver caught her eye. She stopped in her tracks and saw one of her earrings laying on the floor right by the bed. She must've dropped it in her hasty packing. She bent down to pick it up when she saw something underneath the bed.

Laying innocently under the bed was a simple, lone, paper heart. She hesitated to pull it out from under the bed. Afraid to touch it. She mustered up the courage to grab it. There was nothing on it. No blood, no writing. Just a simple origami heart, yet her blood ran cold envisioning what could possibly be in store for her. Had Becky dropped it one day long ago and it found its way under the bed and stayed there? Had Becky made it specifically for Tess almost like a voodoo doll?

She didn't have time to think about it further. She tucked it into her pocket and got up to go.

Chris was nowhere to be seen when she came out into the living room, she looked around wildly, afraid to call his name. Even though they were alone in the apartment something inside her told her to be as quiet and cautious as possible.

She was about to whisper his name for the second time when she heard the toilet flush. She breathed a sigh of relief. She heard the sound of the water in the sink and then he opened the door. "Ready?"

"Yeah, let's go." They went over to the entry table where Tess had haphazardly threw her purse when she came back in to get her notebook. Above the black table was a decorative mirror in the shape of a sunburst. Tess had made note of how much she liked it when she first saw it 2 weeks ago. Chris was standing next to her with the extended handle of her suitcase in his good hand. In the few seconds she was looking in the mirror she caught a glimpse of blonde.

"Look out!" Tess screamed and grabbed onto Chris' arm to push or to pull him, she wasn't sure, she just wanted him to move. Everything inside her was screaming that Becky was behind them and about to attack.