Don't Text Back

Chapter 10

I woke up with my head spinning inside my skull. Almost unable to sit up, I looked at my door. It was open, and I heard the girls laughing downstairs. Grabbing my phone, I looked at the time.

5:34 am.

That wasn't right. It took me a second to realize that wasn't my phone that I was holding. It was some dark flip phone. I smiled when I remembered it had been the phone from last night. The one I had opened and sent the message from. The one I had thrown over the fence...

I sat up, making my head spin even more. Whipping the blanket off of my legs, I staggered my way out of the room and down the stairs. The girls were all down there, two in the kitchen and two in the living room reading or studying.

"Wow," Amanda smiled. "Someone partied hard."

I gave her my best smile then faced Rebecca. "Didn't I throw this over the fence last night?"

All of the girls stopped what they were doing and looked at me. "How would Rebecca know?" Ameira raised an eyebrow and walked over to us." She was home all night."

I chuckled. "No, she went to the party." Rebecca also looked at me as if she didn't know what I was talking about. "You were there, Rebecca. Don't you remember."

Rebecca arched her eyebrows down, rolling her fingers into her palm and balling them into a fist. She let them lose. "I was home. I don't go to parties. Next time, don't drink so much before you go around here accusing others of something that didn't happen."

Ameira shrugged. "She's right. Be careful with the drinks. It's not always safe like this. Too many make you go loco."

"But she was there," I said.

Dakota groaned. "It's okay. You were drunk, but Rebecca was here the whole time last night. Okay?" She dragged her words, obviously annoyed with me.

"But-"

"Okay?" Dakota waved her hands upstairs as if telling me to get out of the living room.

I went upstairs still clutching the phone in my hand. I knew that Rebecca had been at that party. I knew that she was with me when I grabbed the phone last night. And I knew that I wasn't drunk enough to forget. I sat back down on the bed then opened the phone and began going through the messages. I saw the message that I had sent and the message that came from the dad. There had been no text back. That was good. If I hadn't gotten rid of a phone last night, I was sure I was going to do it today.

As I got up to get ready to take a shower, the phone began to ring. I opened it. It was an incoming call from Dad. I left it alone, wanting to start my shower already. To my surprise, after I had come out of the shower I found 37 missed calls from Dad. I opened up the phone and also found two unread messages.


One read: You are in so much trouble. The second one read: Don't ya make me send Rodger after you. Text back soon.

Smiling, and out of fun, I returned a message. "Sure thing, dad." I sent.

After getting dressed, I called TJ and asked him to help me apply to that pet store. Even though I was still dizzy, I could still walk around. I had no desire to be with the girls, for they seemed upset with me anyways. I was beginning to dislike Rebecca, she really had some problems. Before TJ picked me up, I tossed the phone back inside the fence of the abandoned house. I looked at the house and it looked at me, so it seemed. Rolling my eyes, I walked away from it, not soon before I heard someone's dark, dry voice whisper in my ear.

"You better get back here, girl."

I whipped around and held my ear. It was still warm as if someone had actually been talking into my ear. However, no one was near me. My heart beat hard in my chest. I quickly jogged back towards the house where TJ awaited me. Letting go of my ear, I looked behind me one more time. No one was there.

"Hey," TJ hugged me. I hugged him back. "Okay, so I talked to the manager." We began walking.

"And?"

"Dude, you're hired!"

"Already?"

"After you fill out some paperwork," he said. "Applications. Kyndall works there too."

"That's awesome," I said. "I'll be happy to see her again. I could use some more friends."

He chuckled to himself. "Four girls living in your house too much for you?"

I laughed. "More than you can imagine. Remember that girl that was with us last night?"

He poked out his lip and began thinking. "Uh, yeah, Kyndall?"

"No," I said. "Rebecca."

"In the car?"

"Yes," I said.

"Yeah, you, me, and Kyndall."

I let out a sigh. "Stop joking. The girls already thought I made it up that she was there. Not you too. Give me a break."

"Seriously," he stopped in his tracks. "Last night it was you, me, and Kyndall. No one else was there, Alex." He then let out a laugh. "Man, you were wasted, huh?"

As we walked, I couldn't say another word. I was too angry and upset. I know she was there and that I didn't drink heavily that night. Why was everyone against my word all of a sudden? Rebecca was there.

Ignoring it, TJ and I walked into the store. He introduced me to the manager then Kyndall once again. Since TJ had to go, Kyndall guided me through my first application. I had my ID already changed over, I just needed to return for a drug test with my birth certificate and a few other things that proved I was an American citizen. I could bring all of that today.

Walking back towards the house, I decided to return back to the pet store with my information the same day. As I was walking home, this man in a large winter jacket and black hat tilted down his face and was walking his dog. He was a good distance away, but I just think that it's way too hot for what he was wearing. I ignored him then went into the house, but as soon as I closed the door, I heard something growling outside of the door. I looked through the peephole and found the same man that I had seen down the street walking past the house. My eyes widened, and I felt fear strike my heart. I jumped again when my phone began to ring. However, when I took my phone out of my pocket, I found a horrifying discovery.

It wasn't my phone.

I opened it and declined the incoming call from dad. As soon as I did, a message came up. Frustrated, I opened it.

"Rodger and I are out looking for you," it said.

I quickly slammed the phone onto the ground, kicking and stomping it over and over again. I then took the piece and put them in the trash. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.