All Our Lives ✔

17|

"To know how they lived, and loved...their worst fears—"

"I don't wish to experience our suffering over and over. Your obsession is your own!"

∞

"So...you know how sometimes I take pictures of you?"

Sebri and I glanced at each other.

Lucy had stopped us in the middle of the hallway as we'd been walking to the cafeteria.

"Yeah..." I said.

"What is it?" Sebri asked, narrowing her eyes.

The sophomore was wringing her hands. "Well—don't be mad, please don't be mad—but I sort of...post them. Online."

"You what!" Sebri and I yelled.

"Yeah, and the account I made, it kind of...exploded?"

"What account!" Sebri had gone white.

Flinching, Lucy showed us.

"But why?" I said, baffled by the numbers. Why would anyone care?

And then I saw the latest photo, one of my girlfriend with the sun behind her, looking like a work of art...

Oh, right.

Now she was breaking down before my eyes. Sweat beaded her forehead, like whenever she was caught in a nightmare. "Have you said...where we live?"

"No, no, of course not—"

"How long?" Sebri demanded.

"What?"

"When did you start? Lucy, think!"

"When school started! But it took off pretty early..." Lucy stared at her sneakers. "The thing is, I got this really weird message—"

Sebri's gaze darkened. "What message?"

"It was some guy claiming he's—that he was married to one of you. I don't know which because he used a different girl's name? I guess he thought he was talking to you directly. I think he confused you for someone else. He said...he said to wait for him. And that he'd come to you soon. It freaked me out, so I thought I should warn you..."

Sebri bolted. Cursing, I went after her.

She stopped when we were outside the school and turned to me, grabbing my shoulders.

"Do you trust me?" she said urgently.

Of course I did. Hadn't I proven that? "With everything."

"Then let's just...let's run. We can still get away. There's time..."

At the mention of time, I glanced at my phone and noticed—

"Mom called. Weird of her to call when I'm at school, she never does that...what?"

Sebri made her own call, her expression becoming one of pure fear. "Can you pick us up, right now? It's an emergency." She hung up and started running through the parking lot, toward the street.

I was shocked when Oscar pulled up not ten minutes later. Sebri was crawling out of her skin by then. As we got in, she spat out my home address and couldn't form a response to any of my questions. The second the car pulled up to the house, she was running.

I was left to thank a concerned Oscar, but as I reached the front door that had been left open, I heard her.

"Mom!" Sebri cried in a choked voice.