After a careful inspection of his car for any hidden tracking devices or cameras, Parker held my door open for me and made sure to shut it hard once I'd sat down in the passenger seat.
As soon as he was situated in the car, he asked for the first of three addresses given and I watched his face twist through a mess of emotions before his expression became unreadable altogether. It made the coldness in the pit of my stomach spread, as the look was making me question whether my stalker was right, that I shouldn't trust anyone.
He drove, though the entire ride was silent, there was a massive wedge between us. A thick tension that couldn't even be severed with the sharpest of knives. He would occasionally reach for the radio and touch the knob to turn it up a little, but every few minutes a song he didn't like would come on and he'd turn it off. It wasn't until he slowed the car into a spot about twenty minutes later that I recognized where we were.
Freshman year of high school Mom and Dad had introduced us to the local country club; we hated every second of it. But there had been one good thing to come out of it, a small little cabin at the end of a long dirt path behind the building. It was no bigger than the master bedroom back at home, but it had been big enough for Maya to host her kickbacks with her friends, and more times then not I'd been roped into tagging along. The intensity of the tension in the air between Parker and me was almost as unnerving as being back here. I had nothing but bad memories at this place.
"Did it say to go inside or what?" he asked quietly, avoiding eye contact.
I opened my phone to the text message, then shook my head. "Doesn't say anything. I'm going to assume that we're supposed to go to the cabin."
"At least it narrows down who could possibly be doing this to you. To us." Parker pointed out, unbuckling his seatbelt. "Not too many people knew about this place or the things we did here."
I didn't respond, as the statement made me even more wary and freaked out. He stepped out, and almost in unison, we both shuddered where we stood. Whether it was the brisk air touching at our warm skin or because of the past that we'd so securely locked away at this place having the ability to break the surface, I wasn't sure.
Parker kept a few paces ahead of me, not far enough to lose me, but enough where I had to pick up my speed to keep up with him. He ended up having to pull his phone from his pocket and use the flashlight as we approached the woods, knowing well that the sun finally setting wasn't going to do anything for us in regards to lighting. As soon as we were in the darkness of the gnarled, dead branches, he slowed so he was in step beside me, his head slightly tilted, as if he were listening for something.
I wanted to be relieved that we'd reached the small, rundown little building, but it only added to my anxiety. Because the creaky old door already sat ajar, as if someone had already entered the place-or had left it open because they were sure we'd come.
"Stay out here. I'll sweep the place and—"
"And they could be waiting out here for me. For you to leave me by myself. No thanks." I cut him off, following as he nudged the door open further with the toe of his Nike's. He kept one of his hands against my forearm, ready to push me behind him at any second, but it wasn't necessary, as the second we stepped in, the dark living area was illuminated by multiple candles and a lantern.
"This is creepy as fuck." Parker muttered, but he edged closer to grab the lantern, likely wanting to save the battery life on his phone. "Why the hell are we here? It's been vacant for a couple years."
As if our stalker had been listening for that very question, a click sounded and my dead sister's voice filled the room.
"I am not being dramatic, Park." Maya's voice was steadily rising. "Someone has been following me. I need to tell Mia. If they're after me, they might by after her and—"
"And maybe you should stop pissing people the fuck off! All you do is cause drama, May. Then you decide you don't want to be in it alone, so you drag poor Mia into all your bullshit. Leave her out of it."
There's silence, but a shuffling can be heard on the other side, before my sister says, "Funny coming from you. You literally just string my poor sister along knowing exactly how she feels about you."
"Shut up, Maya!" Parker's yell startles me so much that I jump away and turn to face him. He's long gone mentally, and is staring straight ahead at the wall as he listens intently to the recording. "Mia doesn't deserve to have to bail you out of every God Damn thing."
"If someone—"
"You're paranoid. Your sleep deprivation and paranoia is making you crazy, May. Sit down and—"
There was silence before the words filled the air and I lost all ability to breathe it in. "Yeah, maybe if it were just me I wouldn't give a shit. Everyone would be better off without me. But I have two kids growing inside of me that are relying on me to keep them alive, Park."
"Everyone would be better off without you, Maya. All you do is cause problems and don't listen to the advice we all try to offer you. You're going to end up dragging Mia down with you. Those kids too. They deserve better than you."
The sound of a door slamming on the recording shook me out of my momentary shock, and I looked to Parker as another click sounded and silence followed.
"Mia—" Parker started, extending his hand, but I dodged it immediately.
"You knew?" I gasped, finding it harder to breathe by the second. "You knew about the twins? Yet you acted surprised when you saw them. You pretended like Maya was just avoiding you because she was hiding the pregnancy."
He buried a hand in his mess of tousled blonde hair, then shook his head. "You need to let me explain."
"Explain what?" I demanded. "You knew about the kids, Parker! You knew someone was fucking with her and just blew it off. Gaslit her."
"I thought she was just hormonal and paranoid, Mia. I put that on everything." he held his free hand up in surrender. "She was notorious for being a Drama Queen, you know that. How was I supposed to know that this time she was telling the truth? That she wasn't exaggerating."
I turned my back to him, feeling tears starting to sting the back of my eyes. "Did you. . . did you kill her?"
The silence was so uncomfortable that I forced myself to turn and look at him again. He was staring at me with a deer-in-headlights expression; as if he were horrified the thought even passed through my mind.
"What?" he finally managed to choke.
"Did you kill my sister?" I repeated slower. "Did you kill Maya and leave her babies for dead?"
Parker opened his mouth, then quickly slammed it shut, his jaw tightening. "How could you even ask something like that?"
"You've been lying and pretending for over a month, Parker. God only knows what else you're lying about."
"Yeah? You act like there wasn't shit you're keeping from all of us too!" he spat, pointing his finger at me accusingly. "Like the fact that she was continuously calling and texting you the night before she died, but you were too busy fucking some Frat boy to answer her."
I wasn't sure if I should be angry or surprised he even knew about it, but he didn't even give me a chance to respond.
"You told your brother that you hadn't heard from her in days, but you had. You just didn't want to tell Darren that you'd been busy sleeping with his roommate." Parker snarled angrily. "You don't get to sit here and be pissed off at me for keeping the knowledge to myself."
"I don't know how you know that or why you think it's important, but you knowing about those kids and everything you just said to my sister on that tape is evidence enough for me to walk right into a police station so they can question you more about what you're hiding."
His eyes widened a fraction at the threat. "You ignoring her calls and texts is suspicious too, Mia. Why the hell, of all nights, did you decide not to answer her that night?"
"Because I was tired!" I finally snapped, my voice cracking. "I was tired of her always forcing me to bail her out. I was tired of trying to keep the friendship between you and her going without any suspicion. I was tired of you and your head games. I had the right to not want to talk to her that night, Parker. At least I didn't sit and gaslight her!"
He looked ready to lose his composure finally completely, but his eyes suddenly left me and went to the glass coffee table in front of the worn, old beige sofa. He crossed the room in two quick, graceful strides before picking up an 8x10 photo and bringing it to his face. Joining him, I snatched the picture and my stomach twisted and turned sour within seconds.
The photo had been from the night at the party last weekend. Though both Tanner and I were covered by the comforter, it was obvious we weren't clothed beneath it. There was a black X over Tanner's face.
Then in bold black letters across the bottom of the photo was;
TRUST NO ONE.