Keep me afraid

C H A P T E R - N I N E

K I L L E R ' S  M E S S A G E 

It didn't take long until the police arrived but it felt like an eternity, sitting there in the sand, looking at Mason.

After they arrived and took care of Mason's body, they started to ask us some simple questions like "How did you find him?" and so on.

We were all taken to the police station to do a proper questioning, since we were all witnesses and they had to make sure that we had nothing to do with his murder.

I just got out of the room where a was loaded with tons of questions. It was hard to talk about it and relive the moments when I first saw Mason.

I still couldn't believe that he was actually dead.

I walked through the halls of the police station until I arrived at the waiting room where Cara and Jules were already sitting.

They both already got questioned but we had to wait until the police would pronounce us as innocent and check our alibis.

At that moment Amber and Cooper were questioned in another room, of course in a separate room to see if we would all say the same thing.

I sat down next to Jules who was crumbled up in her seat, not saying a word to any of us.

Cara, who was sitting on the opposite side of me was nervously biting her nails but looked up when I joined them.

"Who did it go?" Cara asked me after a while.

"Okay, I guess. I just answered all their questions they wanted to know." I answered.

"They asked me about Amber," Jules started and finally looked up.

"They wanted to know if I think she's telling the truth about her being late or if she had to do something with... Mason." she explained.

"They asked me that too," Cara admitted.

"Me too," I said last.

"What did you say?" Cara looked at Jules, her eyes filled with curiosity.

I think at this moment everyone was suspecting Amber at least a little bit.

"I said that I believe her," she mumbled.

"Do you really think she is telling the truth?" Cara asked again which made us all rethink our decision.

"I mean I also said that I believe her, but honestly I think it could be her," Cara said and then looked at me, expecting me to say something too.

"I hate to say it, but I also have a weird feeling about her." Jules blurted out before I could say anything.

"What if the confrontation and suspicion against you was just a trick for her to not look suspicious." Jules said, directing this to Cara.

Slowly it all started to make sense. It could be Amber, there were a few good reasons for it and I was pretty sure that it was her.

But there was also another little voice in my head, saying that it could be someone else, trying to make Amber look like the killer.

"I think we should trust Amber any longer." I finally said.

Both of them gave me agreeing looks.

Then we all got quiet again, Jules went back to her crumbled position, burying her head in her knees which were drawn to her chest.

I took my phone out, so did Cara. I finally decided to text my parents of what happened, they were probably still thinking I was at Cara's house, helping her with homework.

It didn't take long until they responded, of course they were shocked at first when they heard about what happened to Mason.

Text's like "why didn't you tell us earlier?, where are you?" blew my phone up.

After I explained everything in a phone call - for which I left my friends for a few moments to talk in silence. - they offered to pick me up from the station after I was allowed to go.

When I walked back to the waiting room, Cara was just about to go somewhere.

"I'll get us something to eat from the vending machine. Do you want something?" She asked.

I wasn't hungry at all, the gruesome image of Mason's body was still haunting my mind, so instead I asked for water.

Cara vanished in the hallways and I sat back into my original seat.

"I can't believe that Mason is actually gone," Jules quietly sobbed but there were no tears left for her to come out.

"Me neither," I said and swung my arm around her to show her some comfort.

I only knew Mason for a month but still considered him as one of my bestest friends I've ever had and I couldn't imagine how much it must've hurt for Jules to lose someone she knew for years.

Jules put her head onto my shoulder but stayed quiet.

But before I could also close my eyes, to get some rest. My phone beeped again, I expected it to be my parents again, worrying about me. But instead it was an anonymous number.

It's your fault that he's dead.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing on my screen and read this sentence a bunch of times to make sure I was seeing right.

It must've been the same person who wrote the note that I received a few days ago, trying to make me feel guilty but I wouldn't let it get to me, or at least that's what I tried.

I sat straight up, making Jules' head drop.

"Is everything okay?" She was surprised when she saw my worried face.

I didn't know what to tell her. To tell her that I got another message from the possible killer sounded a bit too shocking.

I didn't look at her, my eyes were still focused on the screen. When I tried to look up the number, there wasn't one. It got blacked out, so did the name.

So it was impossible to find out who texted me.

"Gracie?" she asked again but at that moment Cara came back. Holding two bags of chips, a smaller bag with her favorite candy and the Water I asked for.

She noticed that something was off, since Jules was still desperately trying to get a word out of me.

"What's up?" She asked and the smile on her face turned into worry.

"I got another text from the killer."