My heart is pounding and for a moment I feel like it's going to escape out of my ribs. My shaking hands couldn't take hold of my phone, properly.
I rush into my bedroom and fall on the ground. I'm panting but I'm trying to concentrate. I'm trying to figure out anything. I cover my face and talk, a technique she learned from a therapist before, I am Ashley Cooper. Sasha is murdered. Jessie is my friend. She sent me a message. Sasha's parents received an anonymous message. 'How to send an anonymous message' was on my 'latest searches' . The killer!! I suddenly raise my head and stand up.
I walk back and forth in my room in front of the bed ,where my hat and my phone lie , and say what I figure out loudly: The killer used my phone, left me a paper and I felt nothing!
He can get to me easily. I'm not safe!! Why did he choose me? I'm not her friend, anyway. Why does he want me to find him? Is it a trap? If it is a trap then why did he kill Sasha if he wants to get me ?He should've killed someone I loved .
I take my hat, my back bag and my phone and get out immediately. I wander along the road aimlessly and I have no plans. My intention to go to the old garage with Jessie is fading .
He's around, anyway. I sit on the pavement watching people come and go: Two girls laughing out loud, holding 3 issues of 'J-14' magazine and I can spot "J Lo" on the cover of one of them.
I envy the girls as they get out of my view because they can't feel what I'm experiencing right now, a group of boys gathering around their friend , who is playing the guitar , "Cool, buddy. Annie must be deaf " I hear one of them shouting.
I look to my right and find a woman , wearing too much make up and irresistible perfume that I can smell 10 feet away, talking on the phone with a serious tone to someone who can be her boss or something.
As she approaches I hear her voice "I received the papers last night and they informed me that I should finish the project before next Tuesday. This is madness and I'm... " her voice gradually fades as well as the sound of her heels hitting the road.
Then I notice a girl walking by herself with her headphones on. She's wearing sports clothes.
It's not boring to watch people on the street but it's the first time for me to do so even though it's not strange for me to be alone.
In fact, I'm alone most of the time. I never socialize which annoys dad even more than mum. "Better for her than dealing with other people. Socializing will make her more aware of greed , cupidity and cruelty around her " she told dad, once.
Maybe she's right. If mom were here she would have seen people differently .
If I replay what I've seen considering mom's presence then she would have said that it's completely useless for two girls to read magazines that only benefits in making them hoping for dumb things as perfect make up , body, hair and stuff , she would have said the boy must play the guitar indoors because he's disturbing others , she would have advised the girl no to walk with her headphones on and maybe she would have said that the woman wasn't doing good in her job.
Only mom can see the worst of everything. Only mom can see that we are not at all doing the right thing .
As I keep watching I notice a man stealing from a shop , if I shout he'd be long gone, if I tell the cops they will be too busy to listen to a 17-year-old girl telling them about a man stealing from a shop so I do nothing.
If mom was here she would have judged that man harshly and said that no matter what, stealing isn't the right thing to do but I still have a feeling that maybe he has got hungry children.
It's getting dark and I have to go home before it's too late. I don't move, though. I want to be here ,on the pavement, and ask for help , I want to tell anyone passing "Hey !! I'm followed by a murderer and there's nothing we can do so can you help me ,please?" .
Everybody is ready to help : mom, dad, Jessie and even Josh but what can they do? Nothing.
I see him again. His dark eyes staring everywhere around him, moving like crazy and he was still scooping the cans of food.
It was him, the man who stole from the shop. I can't show sympathy anymore.
When our eyes met, he ran into a poor slum, I followed him quickly but I am out of breath and he vanished like a phantom.
I lost my hat and I can't see anything. Everything went dark for a few seconds but things went back to normal. I went home directly because I am too busy to think about a man stealing from a shop.
"Where have you been?" Asks my currently-red-faced dad. "You are never that late, Ash. Do you know what we were thinking?! one minute and I was about to call the cops" he continued holding his glasses in his hands and raising his finger in front of me.
I wanted to tell him that whatever they were thinking is definitely better than what's really happening .
On the sofa behind him, I can see Lux. Damn!! she was crying, it seems that they were dead worried.
She came hugging me tightly. "I thought somebody kidnapped you Ash. I saw it in the movie" tears filled her innocent eyes.
"Don't worry, Luxie .I'm okay " I say hugging her, too.
"Leave her alone, Arthur. Ash is feeling a bit under the weather" mom says to dad ,who seemed like he was about to talk to me again, and she gives me an understanding nod.
I go to my bedroom. As I lay in the bed, I stretch out my arms but my legs hit something. I look and at it carefully, rub my eyes and finally face the music that I'm not imagining .
This is really it
I hope you guys guess what Ash found on the bed . Don't forget to vote and leave your comment :)
YOU ARE READING
Hidden Investigations (#Wattys2015)
Mystery / Thriller"Do what's right" my mother always said... A normal girl goes to high school ready for her usual classes until it's announced that another student was murdered in a mysteriously. That's when her life is turned upside down
