Tragedy ✔️

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen: Stalker
Sophia Crawford

My arms were crossed with my hands clenching my upper arms tightly as we made our way to River’s house on foot. The air was quite chilly around us seeing that it was nearing seven pm already, but at least River’s house wasn’t that far of a walk—only fifteen minutes from my house if you drove, and about a half an hour if you walked.

It didn’t help either that the clouds were gathering in the sky, quite fast too.

I look at Ana who had a determined look on her face. “I’m starting to regret the decision of coming to his house, Ana.” I tell her, biting my lip nervously when River’s house comes into view.

I stop in my tracks and start to backpedal, not wanting to walk any further.

Ana catches my hand and hooks her arm into mine, preventing me from running away like the nervous wreck I was.

She looks at me, her beautiful brown eyes laced with determination; she wanted to find the ring Daniel gave me as much as I did because she knew how much not having it by me upset me. She didn’t even have to ask why I was upset when I opened the door to let her inside; she already knew something was off. Sometimes she read me better than my grandmother did.

“You can just ask River if he saw your ring, Sophia. You’re not asking him to marry you.” She says, chuckling lightly. “It is an innocent question; one that simply requires a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.”

Ana was right about the question being simple and that it only required a yes or a no answer, but this was River we were talking about. We aren’t exactly the best of friends, so this is going to be one awkward encounter if he sees me standing in front of his house to ask him if he saw my engagement ring. And the ‘simple’ question would turn into more and more questions once he finds out what the ring truly meant to me, and that the guy he saw in the photograph the other day might have been my fiancé.

My eyebrows draw closer to each other, my face tightening with doubt.

I shake my head frantically. “I can’t do this. This was a bad idea. I’ll just check at home again—” I try to get out of her firm grip but she kept my arm tightly hooked between hers.

“We walked all the way here.” She says, tucking a curl of her hair behind her ear when a gush of wind flew past us, sending her hair flying across her face. “Do you really want to give up just because you’re scared of what he would say if you simply just asked him about the ring?”

I swallow hard. “Yes!”

“Sophia…” Ana sighs. “He might be an asshole, yes, but it’s just River.”