Obsession

Secret: Chapter 24

To celebrate the Stallions' win against the Blue Badgers, Gabriel had spent the afternoon of the day before in the company of his father, Julian and Rebecca, and their parents. A lunch was cooked, and an afternoon of light-hearted chatter and family games ensued.

By eight o'clock in the evening, Rebecca had returned home with her parents, and Julian remained behind to spend some quality time with Gabriel. As per usual, the bedroom door was left open, and they chatted, and concluded the evening by watching the first two episodes of the first season of The Witcher. It was well after midnight when Julian had left the Hastings residence and returned to his own home and despite how well Saturday evening had gone by, leaving everyone in a peaceful and light-hearted mood, no one knew the trouble that was about to head their way.

Shaw was a small town. Nothing really exciting happened too often, and the slightest upset in the casual, and normal routines of the townsfolk could be considered an anomaly.

It was ten o'clock on a Sunday morning when Gabriel was brought downstairs to the living room of his home by his father's calls. He had thought nothing of it and simply thought that maybe Jeremiah needed help with something, or maybe he was calling him down to alert him that he was heading out or something of the sort.

Gabriel could not have guessed that the reason was because of him, or because in his father's hands with a few other letter envelopes was an orange envelope with his name stencilled over one side. There was a stamp, and the envelope had his address and name, but no indication as to whom or where it came.

But Gabriel needed no return address to know who the sender was since a single glance at the eerily familiar stencilled letters – so carefully and intricately done – roused a mild panic in him. Gabriel's jaw clenched, and his hands balled to fists.

It was getting out of hand, and S.A. was proving more and more, little by little, how much of a threat they could be. First, S.A. somehow managed to get a hold of Gabriel's personal cell number, and then they knew exactly where Julian and he had gone for their one-month anniversary dinner. And now, S.A. was sending things to his home.

Chris had been perfectly correct. S.A. was no Secret Admirer. They were a stalker.

"This came in the mail for you," Jeremiah informed, holding out the envelope to his son. "It doesn't say who it's from, though."

Gabriel had no desire to accept that thing. What he wanted to do was to take it, dump it in the trash, and set it on fire. Then take a video of it burning and send it to S.A., warning them to stay the hell away from his home, and his family. S.A. had crossed a line, and he could only guess as to what the contents of that envelope was. He had no real desire to find out, but he knew – like some form of invisible compulsion – he needed to know.

"Want me to check it out for you?" Jeremiah asked, though there was a teasing lilt to his tone, and a slight grin on his face. Jeremiah simply thought that in light of the Stallions' win the day before, he'd chalked it up to something sent from a fan since Gabriel's reputation as the local high school soccer star had earned him admiration from many over the years. Jeremiah hadn't thought – in that moment – it was a bizarre thing to happen since those who admired Gabriel had never sent letters or gifts to his house.

"No, it's alright. I'll take care of it," he replied, accepting the 'package', and quickly retreating to his bedroom.

Trepidation arose and Gabriel sought to find control over it as he set down the envelope on his desk. He took deep breaths to steady and steel his nerves, cracking his knuckles, and tilting his head side-to-side to further alleviate the sudden tension. He shook his hands out, and with one more puff of air to expel the remnants of apprehension, he snatched up the envelope and gave it a light shake. It was very light, and there seemed be nothing more than papers inside it, so he opened it and emptied out all the contents.