Haunted by the Past (Original)

Chapter 32

"Seriously!?" Eli exclaimed. "Rule number one! Trust no links!"

"It's from Vic!" I waved him off, turning to the side with a leg straddling either side of the rest area bench.

"So? She could have had her number spoofed!" he emphasized heavily.

Ignoring him, I looked at the news page that loaded on my screen, "Oh it's a news report."

Eli got up and sat down in front of me on the bench. I tilted my phone so that it was horizontal, giving him unfettered visibility, albeit upside down.

<<Now for a startling update regarding the international fugitives wanted for the homicide of Kew Gardens resident Gabriel Martinez. The ALDI employee, Jorge Molina, who reported seeing the fugitives in his store during his shift Saturday, went to social media this afternoon with terrifying news,>> the news anchor introduced.

The video cut to an amateur video recording of the ALDI cashier in casual clothes standing in a hallway. <<Yo, check this out! Yesterday I went to the police and the news about them and today they threatened me! They threatened me!>>

Jorge stepped aside to reveal his apartment door – apartment 47, painted with the red '666' in all of its glory.

My blood ran cold, and my body froze. Nothing, nothing made sense anymore. The world around started to spin and distort. My hand must've started to shake as Eli put his hand over mine to steady the phone. This guy had next to no connection to us other than the fact that we had visited the very store he worked at. It could have been any other day, at any other time, and he wouldn't have been there. It could have been another employee on the register and this Jorge would have lived his life as normal. Hell, the other employee may not have ever reported us. We may never have had to run. But no, Jorge served us and he reported us to the police. He was just trying to be an upstanding citizen. He didn't know we were actually innocent. He didn't know he was attracting the attention of a serial killer. And now because he crossed paths with us and tried to do the right thing, he was being punished for it by Triple-6.

It made me feel sick to my stomach. This was the game we were now playing? Targeting the people who had the misfortune of crossing our paths?

<<Ha ha! I must've really scared them if they're trying to keep me quiet!>>

"Fuck," was all Eli could manage to say.

"He's back in Jersey!" I thought out loud. "We'll never get there in time!"

"The police will send someone to keep an eye on him," Eli assured me.

"How can you say that!?" I snapped. "Aren't you the least bit concerned what happens to him?"

<<We have Jorge in the studio with us now. Tell us, how scared are you?>> The news anchor continued.

Sure enough, the news station had brought Jorge Molina in for a live, exclusive interview. He was really milking his fifteen minutes of fame now while completely oblivious that he had a psychopath stalking him. <<Let's be real, the guy was scrawny, you know? He don't scare me. And I got my boys with me so I say, 'bring it on!'>>

"Scrawny? I'm not scrawny," Eli pouted.

"Eli!" I hissed.

"Of course I want to help him," he said unconvincingly. "But the fact is even if we were close by, we wouldn't be able to get near him. The police will be watching him like a hawk now in the hopes of catching us."

<<They say he's an international fugitive, wanted for several murders in the US alone. Are you not at all concerned?>>

"So what, we do nothing!?" I stressed.