A/N Chapter song: "The hide and seek song" by Lizz Robinett
...This song just creeps the heck out of me. x,x
I'm not kidding when I say I don't have internet at the moment. Really, I don't. I'm hijacking an internet hotspot on my phone for $15 for every one gigabyte. Updates will be slow until I move. :[
___________________________________
Throughout the rest of the weekend, Emily couldn't help but feel the owner of the black sedan was Declan. She had immediately told her mother about the incident, but small investigating proved there had been a number of drunk teenagers in the ER after an accident an hour earlier. Any member of them could've gotten back into their cars and thought a rousing game of chicken against Emily was necessary.
Emily was having a hard time believing that. She knew what she saw both that night and the night of the art class. It was the same tinted windowed black sedan.
The driver of the car at the hospital was not intoxicated, either. They revved the engine specifically when Emily tried moving. It was as though the driver knew their mark.
She remembered the night Peter drew the figure in the window. Emily had seen a black sedan pulling out when she was getting into her truck. Was that Declan? He'd been curious as to where Emily was going that night - did he follow her along with nearly hitting her at the hospital?
Emily had planned to come clean to her mother while explaining everything that was going on, but later that night Madison received a phone call stating mother - Nana Tessa - suffered a stroke. Emily's father had only gotten home before he immediately flew to New York to spend time with her. Emily and her mother couldn't go for she had too many obligations at the hospital this week.
So, Madison was spending her time mostly alternating between talking to relatives on the phone or skyping for hours at a time with nana.
By the time Sunday afternoon came, Emily found she should've told her mother about Declan when they had spent the day together on Saturday. Now, her mother was far too occupied with family problems.
As Sunday night rolled around, Emily was grateful her mother finally took a much needed nap before dinner. With how many shifts she had taken on lately, Madison looked as though she barely slept. Emily tried to focus on the calculus pages in from of her, determined not to let any further thoughts of Declan plague her. He sent her a FaceSpace message saying he's sent multiple texts and phone calls, but Emily hadn't cared to turn her phone on all weekend. Not seeing her phone ping up with Declan's name was a comfort.
It was as Emily started scribbling down the equation for a problem did a face on TV catch her eye. Emily's pencil dropped from her hand, gently rolling off the table before falling onto the ground. MSNBC was playing the news story of a missing girl's who's body had been found.
What had Emily staring at the screen with surprise was seeing a very strange resemblance between herself and the woman on TV. They had the same mouse-brown hair, and the same large green eyes. The girl in the picture was sporting glasses that even looked remarkably similar to Emily's as well. Strangely enough, the woman could easily pass as Emily's long-lost twin or stunt double. The resemblance was that uncanny.
Turning the volume up, Emily stared at the TV screen as the volume started to flutter through the speakers.
"San Antonio police can now clarify that the body found Saturday morning is that of missing Tyler woman, Amy Peeks. The victim was last seen Friday night after a late night out with friends. Authorities are remaining silent with details at this time stating that this is an ongoing investigation. A press conference is due noon on Monday providing more information. Back to you, Jim."
Emily barely paid attention to news anchor Jim talking about a new story while she reached for her laptop she left sitting nearby. Flipping it open, Emily started internet searching the name of the now-dead girl.
Amy Peeks was twenty-seven, and last seen at a bar with friends. Those same friends claimed she went home with a man, but wasn't heard from the following day. There was limited information Emily could find as she searched for the woman. Her body was just found yesterday - there wouldn't be any new information for awhile. Still, Emily felt weirded out that she and the girl looked remarkably similar.
Emily was about to halt her search before an interesting tidbit caught her eye onscreen.
Dr. Alan O'Hare claims multiple Texas deaths are related.
Under the link provided Amy Peeks' name. Alan O'Hare was the name of the FBI criminal psychologist that was going to be guest speaking at her school for career day tomorrow. According to other students Emily's spoken to, each year John Addams holds a special guest speaker for career day based on the school being elite for its multiple programs dedicated to college preparation. Last year, the guest speaker was someone from NASA who had once travelled to the moon. Clicking on the link, Emily's eyes widened upon what she read on the blogger's page.
According to controversial former FBI agent Dr. Alan O'Hare, he claims to have been in contact with multiple individuals from Texas police departments to confidently say he holds the believe the five deaths of murdered women around the state are related, including the recently-missing Amy Peeks along with the highly spoken of murder of Heather Mackerson. Dr. O'Hare holds the belief that the so-far unconnected and unsolved murders of multiple young women around the state can be connected by something relatively simple. A dating website. Dr. O'Hare and other small members of law enforcement claim all five women held the same trait of at some point being connected to the dating website, PerfectMatch.com. If true, that would mean to say that not only does the state of Texas have a new serial killer on their hands, they also have one that preys on an online dating site.
Emily leaned forward, her eyes glued to the screen. That was the same site she was signed on.
The problem with Dr. O'Hare's theory, is that not one of the young women share a certain death in common. All were murdered in different ways, and three of the young women already have individual suspects behind bars for their individual deaths. If Dr. O'Hare and the few other officer's idea is to be true, it would go against the firm belief of organized serial killers versus disorganized. Dr. O'Hare has had a controversial record with the mental-health committee for being adamant in stating that children who display sociopathic tendencies not be reintroduced to society upon a crime at a young age. This comes from the doctor's own experience of a childhood friend of his brutally murdering Dr. O'Hare's young son after stalking the doctor for the better course of a year beforehand.
Emily clicked off the link, feeling strongly that the blogger was starting to drift off from his article on the murders. He was focusing too much on the doctor instead of paying attention to the crux of the matter. The former FBI agent felt strongly there was a serial killer in Texas who prayed upon young women.
Feeling positively mortified, Emily hurriedly went to PerfectMatch.com to login. She was going to delete the site. To her surprise and disgust, she found at least thirty unread messages from Declan.
SoccerCarter118
Is there a reason you're not answering your phone??
SoccerCarter118
When you're dating someone, you shouldn't be on a dating website.
SoccerCarter118
Why are you still signed up on the site?
SoccerCarter118
I don't like being ignored.
SoccerCarter118
Are you ignoring me??
A strong amount of messages contained the exact same questions. What Emily found truly alarming was these messages were dated back to before the breakup. Declan was sending these strange and possessive messages back when she was still dating him!
It was a pity she hadn't logged on the site to see them - Emily realized she could've avoided a rather unnecessary time of dating the creep.
Emily soon winced, knowing she couldn't delete her account now. If Declan was actually behind the black sedan and the brick incident, these messages would be perfect proof to show he was creepy and possessive.
Creaking floorboards from down the hall brought Emily back to the land of un-paranoid thoughts. She had to remember their was pasta and garlic bread to make. "Mom?" Emily called, stifling a yawn as she logged off her computer.
No response as given. Getting off the couch, Emily made her way into the kitchen to place the uncooked noodles into the pot before pouring a small bit of olive oil over them. She next got out a cookie sheet to set on the counter for garlic bread. Her hardest task was trying to figure out where her father placed the garlic salt after the last time he made dinner. The advancement of her mother coming into the kitchen continued. "Ma, do you know where dad put the garlic salt? I'm pretty sure we have at least half the container left...Oh, found it!" Emily answered herself, finding the salt placed next to the glasses in the cupboard, strangely enough.
Hearing the approaching steps stop, Emily turned her back on the kitchen entryway to start pre-heating the oven for the bread. "How's nana doing? Are we going to be going to New York anytime soon..." Emily trailed off, turning back around to find she's alone in the kitchen. Her mother wasn't behind her like she thought. She could've sworn she heard her mother walking and then stopping in the kitchen.
Figuring maybe she went back to the family room to watch a taped show, Emily made her way down the dark hallway before coming to the family room on the left. Frowning, Emily found her mother was fast asleep under a blanket, snoring softly as she slept. Rusty sat curled in a ball on Madison's stomach, lost in just as deep of a sleep as she was.
It didn't look as though Madison was just awake and walking down the hallway.
Emily went back the direction she came from to find the alarm was set already. Biting her inner cheek, she suddenly felt all the drama surrounding her lately was starting to cause her severe paranoia. She could've sworn she heard someone advancing down the hallway. Ignoring her paranoid thoughts, Emily returned to the kitchen to stir the pasta before it stuck to the pan.
The sauce had been simmering on low for a few hours, but she stirred that too. Emily next went to grab the garlic bread pan from the counter to move next to the bread she buttered and salted, only to find the sliced bread was already on the cookie sheet, ready to go inside the oven. Emily stared at the bread on the pan, trying hard to remember the action of setting the bread on top of it. She couldn't.
Emily clearly remembered removing the sheet from the cupboard, and setting it on the counter. Earlier she had gone through the actions of slicing the bread and buttering it, but she placed the sliced bread on a plate, not on a sheet. Or did she...
Emily removed her glasses to rub her eyes wearily. She had to have forgotten she completed this simple action already. What was the alternative? Someone broke inside the house, avoided stealing anything, and thought she needed help making dinner? That was absurd at best. Besides that, the person wouldn't have managed to make it inside the house with the house alarm on.
Rolling her eyes at her own paranoia, Emily went along making dinner, before a sudden creaking noise put her on edge once again.
She knew she heard a noise this time. Slowly, Emily made to grab the frying pan hanging above the stovetop. She readied it like she would hold a baseball bat as she slowly made her way down the hall. Emily's eyes widened spotting the door leading to the basement was slightly ajar. She gripped her trusty frying pan tighter as she took careful steps towards the door.
Suddenly, the door whipped open as a fast yet small orange blur ran up the stairs and through the door past Emily. Rusty hissed as he ran up the stairs in a fearful manner.
"Geese!" Emily yelped, not expecting the kitten to have been down there. That explained all the noises - the little cat couldn't help himself by getting into trouble every opportunity he had. Emily shut the basement door closed completely.
It was near four in the morning and Emily felt positively sleep drunk. Rusty had gotten her to wake up at least three separate times to clean something that he made a mess of. His toys, her backpack, and finally, a random plastic bag he seemed to acquire.
It seemed as though the tiny cat would never cease making noise for night. She needed to get some sleep. She was up until one in the morning finishing her calculus worksheet. It wasn't the darn problems that took so long - it was writing them down in the manner her teacher wanted them.
Emily heard her closet door open gently, knowing full well that the kitten was once again causing some sort of mischief.
She was barely conscious given her sleep deprived state, so Emily realized she should just ignore the kitten altogether. He wasn't going to stop the shenanigans. Rusty suddenly gave a small hiss, the noise sounding rough and scratchy given he was so small and yet trying to sound so loud.
Emily didn't bother waking up to see what it was the kitten was doing. He'd only been acting up for nearly the last three hours now.
Soon enough, the kitten ran from the room at a blazing speed, allowing Emily to fall into a deeper slumber once again.
__________________________________
Emily felt the bed shift as someone took a seat on the bed. An automatic smile shifted across her lips as she realized Jake came in.
"I missed you" she admitted in a mumble, barely able to open her eyes as the words left her mouth. She kept her head against her pillow, sleep overwhelming her. Her sadness was evident in that one statement alone.
A soft, musical chuckle is heard. "I don't necessarily believe that, little one" a velvety voice disagreed in nearly a whisper.
"I sleep better when you're around me" Emily countered in her own hushed whisper, snuggling once more against her pillow.
"I highly doubt this. You don't know the nights I'm here" the voice countered quietly.
"They're the nights I sleep better" Emily argued, nearly smiling into her pillow. "...So, I do."
"Are you alright...?" The voice inquired curiously. "You seemed upset today."
Emily could barely move as sleep begged to pull her back into a deep slumber. She wanted to go back to sleep until four in the afternoon if possible. She was drowsy, and practically incoherent.
"I just missed you....And I think I look like dead girls..." she said dreamily, the random thoughts of Amy Peeks and PerfectMatch.com coming back to her memory.
"Dead girls?"
Emily yawned, squeezing her pillow tighter. "Long, long story....I think I'm being followed...longer story..." she muttered sleepily, shivering slightly.
"Come here..." the voice sighed, pulling Emily closer to him while wrapping her comforter up over her. "You're cold."
"You're cold..." Emily muttered, "you've been ignoring me."
The musical voice chuckled softly. "Not intentionally, darling. If anything, you've had me captivated since the very first day I saw you."
Emily felt a smile twitch at her lips. "Really?"
"I'm afraid so" the voice answered. "I find myself unable to get you out of my head, no matter what I try doing to get over you."
Emily felt terrified of that comment, because it's how she's felt ever since she first realized she held very strong feelings for Jake. Was this how it was, all this time, both of them have cared for each other but they've been too afraid to say anything about it? A slow rush of nerves built in Emily as she attempted to open her eyes wearily. It was dark. Too dark. She could barely make out her hand a few inches from her face. Whether that was due to the darkness or that she was in the dark without glasses or contacts, Emily couldn't be sure. Swallowing her nerves, Emily gently pulled herself off of the arm wrapped around her to lean up. She could barely make out anything in the dark. Emily brought her hand to Jake's chest, allowing her hand to travel up. Her hand slid past his collarbone, slowly making it's way to his neck. Emily leaned in closer, allowing the pad of her thumb to brush the gently stubble on his jaw. Without thinking, without even wondering if it was a good idea, Emily realized now was the perfect time to show him how she's felt about him.
Leaning in, Emily pressed her lips softly against Jake's, moving ever so slowly to savor this first kiss.
He slowly began to kiss her back, one hand moving to cup the back of her head while the other hand moved to her waist. Moving lips and gentle sucking moved this small first-kiss into the territory of a make-out session fairly quickly. As the kiss progressed to a stronger one where both she and Jake were putting in more effort behind the kissing, Emily allowed Jake to gently lie her on her back as the hand that was holding the back of her head tangled in her hair. He leaned his body down against hers, intoxicating Emily to how fast this was speeding up.
It was a strange kiss - it had a little more force than Emily was anticipating, causing it to feel familiar to Declan's dominating style. Maybe that was just how boys kissed, Emily couldn't really be sure.
"Ah..." he groaned lightly, pressing his forehead against yours. "I'm going to have to put the breaks on this..."
It wasn't until he said these words did Emily find her fingers had been slipping under his shirt to touch his warm skin. "No you don't..." she mumbled, thinking more with her hormones than common sense.
He laughed softly in that strange musical tone before kissing her once more on the lips. "Have you ever had relations, before?"
That was a strange way for Jake to phrase sex, but Emily didn't let it bother her as he held his forehead against her own. Gently, she shook her head to signal no. This,caused him to groan. "Then I don't feel stealing your virginity is the best thing I can do for you, darling."
"I take it you're not a virgin..." Emily trailed off, secretly realizing she probably already knew this. He had quite a few girlfriends before.
"You'd be accurate" he chuckled mildly.
"I wouldn't mind if you taught me something..." Emily trailed off, wincing as she realized how promiscuous that actually sounded.
This merely caused him to laugh lightly, careful not to release a louder volume that could wake her mother. "I feel it's our current position that's causing you to think that."
Glancing down, Emily found he was balancing himself on his elbows as he hovered over her body. He carefully removed himself completely, causing Emily to miss his presence already. Soon, his head was hovering near her earlobe as he placed a final kiss against her cheek.
"I don't want you to go" Emily admitted in quiet disappointment.
A soft chuckled escaped him. "Don't worry, darling. I'll come back for you."
_________________________________________
Emily's alarm blared at its usual time, causing her to groan underneath her covers. She was exhausted. Completely and utterly exhausted to the point that she didn't even want to get out of bed. Rusty kept playing with anything and everything he could get his paws on, and then Jake came over...
Emily's eyes widened as last night came back to her. The kisses....The conversation....She finally kissed Jake!?! She and Jake? They kissed??
Emily covered her forehead, trapped in trying to decipher if it was all a dream. It was normally hard do such a thing, but Emily could remember the entire conversation and kiss as if it had actually happened. Did it?
Excitedly, Emily half jumped half tripped out of bed to reach her phone. She kept it off to avoid Declan. Bouncing from foot to foot, Emily waited for it to come back to life so she could call Jake.
She didn't need to. Ignoring the couple texts from Declan, there were a couple voicemails from Jake, the first, was from Saturday night.
M&M, I hate this. I miss you, I miss being friends. I'm sorry I was such a prick, please, can you call me back? Your phone's kinda been off all weekend, and I wont be able to see you until Monday. Pweeeeese call me back. Oh, and this is Jake. Incase you didn't recognize my voice or M&M....Yeah, I'm rambling. Bye.
BEEP.
Emily stared at her phone before clicking on the next message from Jake, this one coming just last night around one in the morning.
Okay, so as crazy as this is, I've decided I can't accept you knowing you can do better than me in the friend department. That being said, I really wish I could see you right now. I'm currently stuck playing designated driver for grandma in Tyler, otherwise I'd come over and beg for forgiveness. It looks like I'll have to wait to grovel until I see you tomorrow at school. By the way, did you know a sixty-five year old woman and her friends still do massive tequila shots to celebrate ladies night? Amazing. I mean, one of her friends is wearing a diaper and yet she's going crazier than a frat dude at a party drinking shots! Miss you, bye...
A third message came in, this one of Jake at three in the morning nagging how his grandma stayed out with her friends at the bar until two-thirty in the morning.
Emily stared at her phone after she exited her voice mailbox, trying to piece this puzzle together. Jake often spent time with his grandma in Tyler. That was a couple hours away. Jake couldn't have gotten from his grandma's house to Emily's just last night since he was still in Tyler at three in the morning. Emily's eyes widened as she looked at the phone in her hands and then back to her bed.
If last night was real and not just a dream, who the heck was in her room last night?