Out of the Blue

Stalker's last warning

Lea’s POV

My wet hair was again tied in a ponytail. I never liked using a hairdryer to dry my hair. It would make it dry but it would make it hot which I don’t like on my hair. Also – it’s a bit unhealthy. My scalp would hurt whenever I would use hairdryer but I only modeled for two years - at my junior year and my senior.

Anyways – I grabbed the mail from the mailbox and found an envelope with no stamp, no return address or the name of the one who sent it to me.

“Lea – get inside. It’s really dangerous especially for someone with a stalker in their hand”

Nathan went outside and held my hand.

“Are you okay? Is this another threat from the stalker?”

He took it from my hand and opened the envelope.

“Okay this is a threat. Listen to this – I’m almost there: walking close to you. I will kill you Eleanor Collins”

I stroked my wet hair with my hands and grabbed the letter from him.

“At least that idiot knows where to put a letter properly”

*   *   *

Nareesha sat down beside Siva and joined in the conversation about the stalker. Her hair was pulled back in a braid. Paige was in her room with her doors locked. I think she needs privacy.

“Maybe your stalker’s just an enemy. Or boys just playing around sending you letter for fun”

“If they are boys they’ve been playing that much. Why would they target me three times in three days? Every morning I would find threats in the mailbox or on the newspaper”

Nathan gave me a concern look and put his phone down on the coffee table.

“You should buy some self-protection items. This might be his last threat but its dangerous walking around defenseless”

“Nathan’s right, Lea – I might have been your brother, once. I protected you before but today, it’s not enough. Even if your dad is here the stalker will still be after you”

I buried my face in my hands and looked back at them.

“Fine – I’ll buy some self-defense items. But where will I buy those kinds of things here and what will I buy?”

“A taser, pepper spray, anything – a hockey stick, even. If you have been watching an anime”

I grabbed my purse and brushed my hair lightly.

“Caylah, can you come with me?”

Caylah stood up from Max’s lap and approached me.

“I heard there’s a shop that sells self-defense near the railway”

We walked out the house silently leaving the boys making noises in the house. I tucked my hands in my pocket. Caylah still had a smile on her face. Her earphones were plugged in and her hood was up. I put on my hoodie and put the hood up as well. I plugged in my earphones listening to ‘Oath’ by Cher Lloyd.

There was worry walking all over me. It filled up everything. Sure – who wouldn’t be worried when they’re being followed by a stalker that wants to kill you?

Max’s POV

I crashed on the couch bored to death. A phone rang alive on the coffee table – it was impossible to be ours. The ringtone was ‘Runaways’. I picked up the phone on the coffee table and saw who the incoming call was from. Jacque. Speaking of Jacque – she’s right outside. I walked out the door and approached her.

“Hey Jacque”

She turned to me and smiled.

“Max. Hi – is Lea here?”

“No. Why?”

She made a pause for a couple of minutes and again answered my question.

“You might have heard about the stalker”

My eyes widen. I was shocked. How did she know that?

“His name is Darren Edmunds. I know a little bit about him. But this is the important part – I heard he hurt somebody with a knife back in high school. It’s dangerous to get involved with him”

I looked behind her and saw a guy watching us behind a wall.

“That’s him, isn’t it?”

I ran over the guy thinking of what he was doing here. I heard Jacque scream ‘No’ before I ran after him. He ran away as soon as I grabbed his arm. I let go of his arm and scanned what he looked like.

“You’re Darren Edmunds, aren’t you? How dare you go after her while she’s here in Abbeydale?”

He stood up and looked at me.

“How’d you know my name?”

“Don’t ask me that question. What are you doing here? Why do you keep following Lea?”

“I followed her just to confess how I feel about her. She might have called me a stalker to stop me from confessing”

“Cut the excuses. I heard you stabbed somebody with a knife back in high school”

He stopped for a minute until the sky started to darken.

“Nonsense - Did Jacque tell you that? It was her that did that. She confessed to me at graduation”

Darren knows her. But how could Jacque tell a lie about that?

“How do you know Jacque?”

“We actually dated for a while. It was her that stabbed a student back then. I broke up with her cause I fell out of love. I fell in love with a new, popular student. When I tried to break up with her, she cried and yelled and wouldn’t listen”

Okay – I’m freaking out just now. This also means – oh my God. I ran away from Darren and started running as fast as I can to catch up with Caylah and Lea. The rain started pouring down as I did my best to run without losing track to where I was.

Lea’s POV

I looked around for the self-defense-shop Nathan was talking about. Sounds of footsteps were ringing behind me. I turned around and saw Jacque standing there.

“What a coincidence. Hi Jacque”

“Yeah it is – having a great time with your sister? I got dumped because of you. Since you were my friend I decided to keep it unknown from you. But now it’s over – the game is up. You left me with nothing”

She walked closer to me making me feel a bit worried.

“Nothing else – Nothing”

I saw a knife go out of her bag. She brought pressure on it and brought it close to me. Caylah pushed in front of me making her the one to be stabbed. I looked at the blood that was on the knife. The rain started pouring on us. Blood was being washed on the road. Pain wasn’t really my forte. It would also kill me if someone was hurt – especially when it was someone I loved.