Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 75720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
I waved back, happy to see my neighbor. We weren’t the best of friends, but it was nice seeing a smiling face after that needless scare. “Hey, what’s up?”
Robby climbed up the steps, stopping just a couple down from me. “I was just going for a walk and spotted you. I wanted to see how everything was going?”
“Oh, it’s going,” I said, giving the universal answer to that question. “Just getting ready for my book club’s Blue Ridge retreat. How about you?”
“I’ve been busy applying to new jobs.”
“Did something happen at your old one?” Robby was a nurse at a local hospital and had always complained about his job, but it seemed like something pushed him into finally looking for a new position.
“Just the usual drama and lack of support from the higher-ups. It’s frustrating when I’m trying to take care of fifteen patients and told I can’t even have a snack break. I’m thinking of going to another hospital or maybe private practice.” He shrugged, and I could see the exhaustion cracking through the otherwise bright expression. “But enough about my boring life. How’s everything been with the—well, you know.”
“The horror-movie-type threats? Things have been pretty quiet, actually. I’m hoping I can put it all behind me now.”
“And you deserve to. Especially now that you’ve got someone to spend your time with. Why spend that time worried and looking over your shoulder?”
“Exactly,” I said enthusiastically. I didn’t tell Robby explicitly about my new relationship with Jake, but I figured it wasn’t hard to put two and two together when Jake was coming over to my house almost every other day. “How’s your dating life going?” I asked, wanting to get off myself as the topic.
“It’s as messy as any other single guy’s dating life in Atlanta. I’ve kind of put it all on hold. I deleted the apps and stopped meeting random guys. I don’t know, I feel like my perfect match is right in front of me; I just need to open my eyes a little wider.” He rubbed at the back of his neck. A thin gold necklace hung down into his black-and-gray striped polo shirt. “Maybe I’ll date Mason from down the street. He seems interested in me.”
I cocked my head at that. “Mason? I didn’t realize you two were close.”
“Mhmm,” Robby replied. “So what if he’s a little creepy and smells like burnt steak all the time. Maybe he’ll give me what I need. I saw him on Grindr before I deleted it, so at least I know he swings for our team.”
“Robby, you don’t have to settle for anyone,” I said, and I meant it.
“Thanks, Noah, but I think I peaked after you.” He put an arm on my shoulder and smiled, a sadness reflected in his eyes as he looked at mine.
“I don’t believe that.” I wanted to be supportive, but I was also a little taken aback by Robby’s comment.
“All I’m saying is that Jake is a lucky guy.” He put his hands up in the air and smiled. I was about to respond with some kind of self-deprecating joke to lighten the mood, but a buzz in my shorts distracted me. I decided to use that as a way of shifting gears, grabbing my phone and quickly checking the message. I thought it was going to be Jake telling me he was on his way back to my place, or maybe it was another politician talking about their dire need for donations and framing it as if I was the only one who could save the world by sending over ten dollars.
It was none of that. I had to read the message twice—no, three times—for it to make sense.
And that was when fear clamped its jagged teeth directly into my heart.
NOAH. This message is for YOU. Break up with Jake or you both WILL regret the day you two met, along with the day you DIE.
I nearly dropped my phone. My hands started to shake, my vision tunneling in so that all I could see were those terrifying words, typed out and sent from a number I didn’t recognize, from the person who had become obsessed with me and was now making impossible demands of me. It was like I had opened my eyes to wake from a dream only to step into a nightmare.
My phone buzzed again. Another message. This time, it was a picture, and it took up the majority of my screen.
It was a photo of needles on a table, all of them filled with some kind of clear liquid.
I couldn’t keep my grip tight enough on my phone. It slipped from my hand, falling in a spiral down onto the concrete, landing facedown between a shocked Robby and a paralyzed me.
“What’s going on? What happened?” he asked, bending down and grabbing my phone, looking at the screen and letting out a surprised “holy shit.” He looked at me, the sadness in his gaze from before being replaced by the same terror that currently threatened to stop my heart. He wrapped me up in a tight hug, which helped ground some of my more out-of-control thoughts, and guided me back into my house, helping me realize that my feet still worked.