The Diary of Holly Campbell

Diary, 13/08/2024

They texted me again today. 'Good girl for opening the letter, Holly.' My God. How the hell do they know I opened it?

I got that message during the night, but I didn't check it until I was on my way to school this morning. I was debating talking to Annie and Chloe about it, but I thought I shouldn't, because this started a few days ago now, and I'm not sure if I should tell them so late.

The entire day, I could not focus. My GPA is definitely going to drop this term. But I can't get this off my mind. I've been sitting in the back of all my classes today, drafting potential responses to Alice and Peter's message on my laptop. I'm still not sure if I actually should respond though. This is eating me alive. I don't know what to do. There's no one I can talk to. And if I'm being honest, I'm so glad I didn't tell Mum and Dad when the second letter came. Because what if we'd read it together, and we'd seen the thing about them being kidnappers? If they are, would they have done something to me?

Words can't describe how much I want everything to go back to normal. I mean, I'm pretty sure this has barely begun, and there's a lot more to come, but I already can't deal with this. I've barely slept because I've been worrying about something happening to me, to the people I love. But then again, what could possibly happen? If Alice and Peter are my real parents, all they want is me back, right? They wouldn't try to hurt anyone, would they?

You know what? I'm going to respond. Right now.

'Hi Alice and Peter, it's Holly. How do you know who I am, and how do you know my every move?'

Yeah, that was a really lousy response. But I can't take it back now, because they've seen it. And they're typing back.

Them: 'We know who you are because you are our daughter.'

Me: 'How do you know everything I do?'

Them: (This message took a bit for them to respond) 'Parents intuition.'

Me: 'Bullshit. How much of that letter you sent is true?'

Them: 'All of it. Your parents are kidnappers. We're your parents.'

Me: 'I don't believe you.'

Them: 'We're telling the truth, darling. How about you meet with us? Friday afternoon, after school. You have a birthday party then, and maybe amidst all the commotion you can sneak out and meet us outside the house. We will explain it all to you properly.'

I'm staring at this message now, and I don't know how to respond. Should I say yes? Even if I do, I can always skip it. But judging by how they said they would be outside the house, they definitely know where I'm going to be on Friday night. And I could end up getting hurt. I think I should say yes. Yeah, I'm going to say yes.

'Um, sure. But only for a few minutes. What time?'

Them: '5.45 would be good.'

Ok. Ok, no going back now. I'm not going to respond to that, I'll just leave it be.

Ok, I think I'm going to cry myself to sleep.

Bye.