Fiery Trap

Chapter Eleven: Presentation

After minutes that felt like hours, Rachel removed her eyes from the creased newspaper. She rose and began to walk to and fro. The first people that came to her mind were Scott and Jay, the two intruders that invaded the Hausfalles' house years ago. She chuckled nervously at the possibility that either of them was the one that stalked her. She knew for certain Jay wasn't alive. There was a funeral and his body was clearly in the casket. Her hometown newspaper published the story. Scott couldn't possibly be the one either. He didn't survive his coma and was buried months after Jay's funereal. Rachel distinctly remembered the day the doctor pulled the plug; it was all over the local news.

"It could be their relatives," Rachel mouthed to herself. "They could be mad at me for my involvement with their death." She kept walking, thinking.

"Wait a minute," she muttered as an afterthought. From a news report years ago, she recalled Scott never had any siblings. He was an only child, but Jay had a younger brother who lived with his mother.

"Could he or his mother be involved with Caroline and Eugene's death?" Rachel wondered. "But they weren't the reason Jay was dead. Why would they hurt innocent people just to get to me?" Rachel couldn't see them doing such a thing. Although it was a possibility, she decided to analyze deeper just in case they weren't the one. If they weren't the one, who else could it be? Who else would stalk me, want to kill those I knew?

Who, Rachel, who? She thought harder than before. She decided to go into the realm of most unlikely individuals: Nathan Hausefalle, Mr. Hausefalle, Mrs. Hausefalle, Kristen (her high school best friend), Christopher (Alicia Hausefalle's high school boyfriend). Rachel stopped herself from going any further as she shook her head rapidly, not even considering those a possibility. It was utterly stupid to think any of them would want to cause harm to her or anyone else.

Maybe the killer is from school, Rachel thought. Maybe the killer is someone that discovered my past and wants to terrorize me for some unknown reason. Maybe this person has nothing to do with what happened at the Hausefalles' house. Maybe it has nothing to do with revenge at all.

"But who could it be?" Rachel whispered. Fisher? Leena? Marvin? My professors? Rachel chortled at the thought of any of her professors having time to interfere in a student's life in such a horrific way.

"Josie, Dominic?" Rachel said and then shook her head wildly. She knew she was going too far. She was now accusing her closest friends of such a horrific crime. She rejected these possibilities as well. Maybe it's those that I'm not close to or don't know very well, Rachel thought.

Could it be Alyssa? Or Maybe Marvin? Rachel didn't know Alyssa that well, while Marvin was just an acquaintance, someone she worked with. She never hung out with him and there wasn't any reason he would do such a malicious thing to her. They both were on very friendly terms. The more she thought about it, the more she thought this wasn't possible at all. Alyssa, however, had been a terrible partner to work with. But she didn't appear to be someone that might harm anyone. She apparently loved clubbing, so stalking didn't seem to be her thing, much less killing anyone. Again, the more Rachel thought of it, the less likely it seemed.

Rachel grew very frustrated thinking of the burlap wearer, the person that thrashed the stone at her. It was becoming quite the conundrum for her. Her head already hurt from preparing her presentation. The pain that ran through her body from falling off her bicycle hadn't completely worn off. With that in mind, Rachel went straight to the kitchenette, filled a glass with water, and took a bottle from her cabinet. She consumed two tablets and drank the water. Returning to the parlor, she felt deeply disappointed the police didn't arrest the right person.

It has to be someone else, Rachel thought. Maybe someone I least expect. Rachel shook her head again, not wanting to go over this. She shoved aside the newspaper, snatched the remote control from the table, and watched the television to take her mind away from things.