The Hard Knock Life

Part 17

It was ten at night when I was walking around with Jessica from night school.
I'd been trying to get some exercise, but was too lazy. Today I forced myself and had been working out all day. I started by going to the gym and walking on the treadmill, and then some stretching. I tried to complete an at-home workout and it worked...until I got hungry. It ended with me sitting on the couch and wand watching the instructors work out on the television.
But anyways, so class was over and I figured I would do one more thing before quitting for the day. We had been walking down the street, the lights shimmering on the pavement. It was really relaxing- my kind of weather, the moment after it had just finished raining; embracing the beautiful petrichor. I've always enjoyed walking in puddles; I would purposely put on a pair of dirty shoes, if I had any at that time, so the water would wash them. That night, it had been my combat boots. I observed my brown and grey shoes turn into a solid chocolate-y brown as we talked.
Jessica was in the middle of a story when I snapped out of my day dream.
"But like, I couldn't understand what he was talking about because, you know, he had his scarf over his face. To this day, I have no idea why he had a scarf over his face when it was the middle of spring."

I chuckled at that.

"So then I decided, maybe it's time for a break and I said that to him, but then, no lie," she stopped walking and I stopped with her as she grabbed my arm. "He was holding me harder than I am holding your arm right now, but because I'm stronger than you obviously are," she let go of my arm and we proceeded walking, "I could take it; didn't flinch one bit. I just glared at him. I told him to let me go. He didn't let me go..."

My phone beeped and I recognized it was my text tone.
You should be at home taking care of the little bundle. Getting big since the last time I saw you ;)

My head shot up and I began looking around the street frantically as if I lost something. Who was watching me and how did they know where I was?

"And honestly, I thank God for that little old woman because if she didn't come when she did....did you lose something?"

I realized after a couple seconds she was asking me a question.
"No, I'm looking for someone." I said, giving up and disappointed.
I sighed and put my hands in my jacket pockets.

"For who? It's ten o'clock at night."

"There's this person- I don't know who -but they've been texting me for the past two days, sending me these texts about how they can see me and and telling me where I should be right now-"

"You have a stalker?"

"And I keep asking 'who are you, who are you?' But he...or she never answers. I think it's a he."

"Could it be Asia?"

"No, Asia would start off a text with criticism; it's not her."

There was silence for a while. We walked a couple blocks and I could see my house in the distance.

"Look up his number! You can track it." Jessica said in excitement.

"How do you do that?" I said.

"Easy! Here, give it to me."

We stopped walking and I got lost in my thoughts again as she fiddled with my phone. I thought about Asia. A name I haven't heard in months because it was a name that was never discussed at home anymore. I realized it was only best to verbally forget about her because it brings out a bad look on August's face. It's almost as if he would get mad all over again because of what happened with Eli and now another sibling was gone. I couldn't imagine what would happen to him if something were to happen to me. I guess family meant more to him than I expected.

"I found it." She said. "But I also found another number after snooping through your texts. It seems as though, from the two messages he sent, that he was using two different phones, though it could also be the same because one was traced to California, but the other one- the most recent one -was blocked. He or she has gotten smarter. I wouldn't expect to receive anymore numbers from the unblocked number." She said, giving my phone back to me.

"I used to live in California." I said. I could feel the wheels in my head turning.

"So narrow it down. Who could possibly have your number in California?"

"Well...there's Graeme, but I don't know how he could've gotten my number, but even still, he doesn't know about anything I'm going through right now. There's Lea, but she wouldn't act that way towards me. She wouldn't even care if I was in the arctic, let alone outside at ten at night. There's Aiden and Perry, but they wouldn't know either. There's no one in California that knows anything about all of this," I gestured to my stomach, "or where exactly I am. I could be in China for all they know, how would they know how late it is in the day time when its morning over there and it's night over here?"

"They could have traced your phone." She said.

That's a good point, I thought.

We started walking again and the closer I got to my house, the more I let it go.

"I don't know, but I'm not going to let it go forever." I said.

"I'll do some further research another time. You should get some rest for the presentation tomorrow."

"Yea, I know. Thanks for the help. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight."
She left me at the entrance of my complex and continued on her way home.

All night, all I could think about was who in the world was following me.