Alive - Zalfie (BOOK 2)

13. Comforting talks

Chapter 13 - Comforting talks

"Zoe?" A male voice asked me concerned. I fluttered my eye lids open. I had to held a hand in front of my eyes because of the strong sunlight that shone on me from the window. My vision was blurry for a while until I saw the familiar face of Thomas. "Are you alright?"

"I guess," I whispered. I was lying down on the sofa downstairs. How I got here was a mystery. The last thing I remembered were my guinea pigs... Their little heads. I was going to be sick. I could just hold in a gag which had already alarmed Thomas to get a bucket from the kitchen.

The image of all the blood on the sink and mirror made me feel another wave of nausea. Since I was little I had always had a fear op vomit. I didn't want to be sick. I couldn't be sick. But I couldn't hold it in any longer. Thank goodness that Thomas had already given me a bucket to spit everything in. He held my hair out of my face while I was puking and rubbed my back gently. He then handed me a tissue to wipe my mouth with. He did his best to comfort me but I felt horrible, disgusting and miserable..

"I'm so sorry," I sobbed.

"Don't be," he said. He looked at me with an expression I didn't understand. "What's going on? Tell me the truth."

"I... I can't," I whispered silently, staring at my hands.

"Why not?"

"They wouldn't-" I cut myself of quickly.

"Who's they?" Thomas asked eager to know the truth.

I sighed deeply. There was no way I could lie myself out of this situation. I had to tell him the truth although he wouldn't let me go anywhere alone.

"I don't know," I said honestly. "Since the day you came out of the simulation I've received several threatening messages."

"What kind of messages?" he asked in disbelief. I told him about every note I had received, including the rock that had almost crushed a window of his house and the picture they've sent me this morning. "That certainly explains a lot. Have you told that to the police?"

I shook my head. He didn't ask me why, but tried to convince me to tell them anyway. But I refused, scared that the person who did all this would do even worse things. So I changed the subject to Alfie. I told him what had happened between us. He didn't say anything to this.

"What do you want to do now?" Thomas asked me curiously.

"I honestly have no idea. I would stay at Tanya and Jim's but I feel like I'm bothering them," I confessed.

"I'm sure you're not," he told me.

"But I don't want to stay here either," I said quickly.

"No, of course not," Thomas agreed. He seemed to be picking the right words, when he continued, "I don't want to sound too pushy but you could stay with me?"

"I don't know," I admitted. Living with him after I just broke up with Alfie didn't seem like a good idea, but now that he knew what was going on it felt comforting as well.

"You know what, I'll clean everything upstairs. You just stay here and think about it," he told me. He stood up and gave me a warm smile before heading upstairs with the bucket I had vomited in.

The whole time he was up there I was just staring in front of me. Thinking of Pippin and Percy. Why would somebody ever do that? Who was this cold hearted to murder two little animals? It must have been the stalker. They were going to break me by taking away everything I had. I sighed loudly, still shaking from all the emotions.

Suddenly my phone went off and I saw I got a message from an anonymous number.

"Telling him was a mistake."

How could they possibly know this already? I could only think of a few possible explanations. One: the person was now watching me. Two: the person had placed something in the house so that they could hear everything that's going on. Three, and I could barely even think this: the person was Thomas.

Just as I was thinking about the possibility that Thomas was the one who wanted me dead, he jumped down the stairs with a bag in his hands.

"Just going to throw this away," he announced and he disappeared again.

You'd be surprised how many murders are committed by close friends or family members, Kevin Marin's words ringed in my ears. No, this couldn't be true. I was just getting paranoid. But it was funny that whenever something had happened, he was around.

No, Zoe, stop there. He tried to convince you that you had to tell the police, I thought. If he really was the culprit then he wouldn't do that, right? And, an even bigger argument: he was in love with me.

"So," Thomas voice sounded from the kitchen which made me jump. "Have you decided what to do?"

"I'm coming with you," I decided right on the spot. If he was the one causing all this then it would be good to keep an eye on him. Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer, right?

"Awesome," he exclaimed. "Do you need anything else?"

"My make-up..." But they were in the bathroom. There was no way that I would go up there again.

"I'll get some stuff for you," Thomas told me when he saw my anxious face. "Although I don't know that much about make-up."

"Don't worry, I'll buy some new stuff if you got the wrong things," I smiled at him weakly.