“I can’t meet you anymore. Johnny came over.” Elyse could hear Amber’s laugh through the cellphone. She pulled it from her ear to muffle the annoying sound – something she’d never tell Amber. She knew better than anyone that people had their secrets. Amber continued, “We should reschedule though because I really want to see you.” Snap. Elyse heard that familiar cracking sound. The imaginary twig in her mind snapped again. It alarmed her every time someone lied. It haunted her every day.
“Ugh,” Elyse groaned.
“What?” Amber asked, “I actually do.” Snap. “I didn’t expect him to come over.” Snap.
“So we’ll do lunch tomorrow?” Elyse said.
“That’d be great.” Snap.
Elyse kept her voice even, “Bye.” She didn’t wait for a reply before she hung up her cellphone and set it on the café table, next to her steaming cup. Elyse looked out the window on her right to see that it was completely dark outside the coffee shop. She let herself smile when she thought about the warmth of June she’d feel on her arms when she walked home. She pulled her bun apart to let her messy black waves fall down to her shoulders and decided to stay. She slid her hand across the table, opened up her favourite Jane Austen novel and began to read.
“Well hello there.” A deep voice said in front of her. She raised her head to look at a boy with bright green eyes and short brown hair at her table.
“I was reading,” she said.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” He got up to leave and she didn’t try to stop him. But, she did notice he turned to have a silent conversation with a friend at a nearby booth. He reluctantly sat back down.
“I want to read alone,” she said. “So, unless I can help you with something, why don’t you just go away?”
“Wow. That sure didn’t take long.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Uh...well, this didn’t go as planned. I was going to come over here and say some cool pickup lines. And then smile at you. At that point you’d either reject me or you’d think I was cute.”
She let out a small smile and quickly hid it away. “What made you think that was a good idea?” She released a laugh and was surprised to hear it didn’t sound condescending. She was also surprised to see that he was laughing as well.
“I don’t know. Lance told me it worked every time.” The boy looked back at his friend and the muscled guy gave him an encouraging thumbs-up.
“He doesn’t look like the type of guy I would be taking advice from.” The boy gave a small frown at her comment. “Sorry, I...”
“It’s okay. We’re really different, but he’s a good friend.” She didn’t hear a snap. He wasn’t lying. “And, he’s smart, a math genius actually.” He reduced his voice done to a whisper. “But don’t tell anybody.”
“My lips are sealed.”
“But, in this case, I was right. I told him his tricks might work on some girls, but that you were different.”
“Tell the girl she’s weird. That’ll work.”
“I mean,” the boy continued, “you’re a mystery. Speaking of which, what’s your name?”
“Elyse”
“I’m Ben. Do you want to know what else I told him?”
“Well, I do appreciate honesty.”
“I said that I had a feeling you’re the type of girl who needed to be told directly what I thought of her. No gimmicks or exaggerations.”
“Okay.”
“I sat over there for an hour and I couldn’t keep my eyes off you. I really wanted to talk to you.” He chuckled lightly and leaned in closer to whisper. “You didn’t disappoint by the way.” She held her breath waiting for the inevitable sound to come. But the snap didn’t arrive. And, she blushed at the thought
“Well, I think that any girl would appreciate the truth.”
“Ha-ha, tell Lance that. So do you go to high school in the city, because I know you don’t go to my school?”
“I’m a senior at...” But, Elyse was interrupted.
The café’s door flew open and a girl with bright blonde hair fell to the ground with a scream. “Help me! Somebody help me!” She pleaded again, “Please!” She threw herself at Lance begging for protection. “He’s chasing me! He’s going to kill me!”
“Who is? Ben, can I get a little help over here!” Lance called. Elyse and Ben quickly came over to the sobbing girl. Ben led her to sit down and she looked back at the door with fear.
Ben kneeled down and stared at her. “You’re safe here. So, who’s chasing you?”
“I don’t know his name. But, he wants to kill me.”
“What do you mean?” Ben asked.
She began to whisper, “He killed my friend last week. Not even the police believed me because they had no record of her existing. He followed me on my way home tonight. He wants to kill me because I’m the only one who knows!”
“This girl is crazy!” Lance said.
Ben looked at Lance. “I have a feeling she isn’t. I think this actually happened.’
“Stop talking about your feelings! That’s not a logical reason to believe something!”
“You’re not helping Lance,” Ben said as the girl began to cry louder.
“She’s telling the truth,” Elyse said confidently to the boys. She took the girl’s hand, “I believe you.”
“I do to,” Ben added. Lance groaned and rolled his eyes. “And, I’m already too invested in this, so you can’t get rid of me now. What’s your name?
“It’s Alice,” she sniffled, “But, what do I do?”
With truth backing her up, Elyse stated her plan, “We find him.”
