Hunted - The past that kills [COMPLETE]

3 - A Letter and a Funeral

An hour after her fairly appropriate breakdown in front of her closest male friend, Clara was now lying underneath her warm bed covers, her eyes following the patterns of glow-in-the-dark shapes and designs that adorned her ceiling. She sighed loudly, her mind slowly working back to recount the indescribably creepy moment that happened after the news broadcast.

If Clara had any doubts in her mind that her nightmare and the jailbreak that occurred were simply a coincidence, that letter tore those doubts to pieces.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ms. Evans' voice rang out from the kitchen, unable to hear the heaving cries from her daughter as Nathan had turned the program up to obscure the noise. Clara didn't want her mother stressing out about her too, she had enough to handle as it was.

"Clara! There's a letter for..." she paused mid-sentence "For your father..." her reply was almost inaudible over the TV. Clara shuttered and looked up at the door quickly, wiping at her eyes with her sleeve. She pulled away gently from Nate's embrace to get up and retrieve the letter.

She ducked into the kitchen and grabbed the letter, saying a quick 'No problem Mum!' as to not look suspicious, before coming back to the couch. Nate lowered the TV volume again and turned on a nearby lamp and Clara squinted while reading.

"It doesn't have a return address" she frowned, carefully tearing open the envelope seal.

Nate peered over her shoulder as she unfolded the piece of paper, both frowning as they noticed the letters were cut out from magazine and newspaper pages. Clara read through the ominous looking page, her eyes widened the more she read.

'Sean,

You know who I am.

You're the one who put me in prison in the first place.

But did you think I would be locked behind bars forever? Haha, you were always a fool!

And guess what? I'm coming to get my sweet, sweet revenge.

If you tell anyone, people will die. If you leave town, people will die.
If you tell the cops, people will be slaughtered, starting with your wife and kid.

I'm coming Sean, you know you can't escape me...

Signed, Your Worst Nightmare'

Clara dropped the letter, her hands shaking too much to hold it steady much longer. One hand flew over her mouth as she muffled a small sob. Nate squeezed her shoulders gently, rubbing them while trying to find the right words to comfort her with.

"That's impossible, my dad died in a car crash 6 months ago..." she whispered, her eyes focused on nothing and her voice still muffled.

Nate frowned, not quite hearing what she said: "I'm sorry?" He asked, trying to understand the situation.

They sat there for a minute of silence, only the sound of pots clattering and food cooking could be heard. Clara suddenly sat bolt upright, shrugging Nate's hands away and standing. She cleared her throat and sniffed.

"You don't need to be sorry. It's probably just a prank. That's it, a prank, probably pulled by some bully at school" she said, pulling him up as well "Well, thanks for coming over".

"Wait! Why am I leaving?" Nate asked as he was pushed in the direction of the door, completely confused as to what he'd done wrong.

"Nate, it's late and your girlfriend has probably messaged you, like, 100 times by now. Don't keep her waiting" she replied, not meeting his gaze. She strode to the front door and swung it open wide, gesturing for him to leave.