The Unexpected

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Emma and I sat in Freezie's, the best and only ice cream place at the Spring Hill Mall food court. Emma had reminded me of my promise to accompany her to the mall and wasn't going to let me rain check. After spending about half of my weekly allowance on one measly bowl of ice cream we sat down. Emma slurped loudly on her flavor of the day and after a while I relaxed. Apparently she didn't remember the 'Zachary' incident.

Unfortunately I was wrong.

"So..." Emma dragged out. "What's up with you and lover boy today?"

I snorted. "Nothing."

She took a long sip of her malt. "Uh huh, of course. You were acting weird. Not like the Ricki I've known for thirteenth years."

"Oh, so now me acting like a klutz and making a complete fool of myself is new to you? I still have the scar from when you made me walk around with books balanced on my head."

"And you fell down the stairs, I recall." She stole a spoonful of ice cream out of my bowl. "But I'm not talking about your lack of walking skills. You actually looked at a boy like he was, well, a boy!" I smacked her hand away from my spoon and she continued. "Is it just me, or is Ricki Young crushing on Zachary Freeman?" I considered the idea for a total of two milliseconds.

"Hmm, lemme think. No."

"Sure you aren't."

I stuffed my mouth full of chocolatey goodness in an attempt to forgo Emma's constant string of questions. We discarded our trash and made our way to my favorite store, Maurice's, and headed inside.

That's when I first noticed him.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a man in a dark hoodie. I couldn't see his face on account of the shadows concealing his features, but the chill running down my spine told me he was watching us. Emma babbled on ignorantly, saying something about how cool it would be if we got matching outfits and wore them to school just to weird everyone out. The man, or should I say boy, looked to be around my age. I was going to point him out to Emma-maybe we knew him from school-but when I looked back he had disappeared. I shrugged it off and rushed to catch up with Emm, barely noticing the minute flash of light at my right.

A couple of hours later, as we were heaving our bags to Emma's car, I saw the man again. Even in the bright sunlight his face was shadowed. He had kept up with Emma and I through the front doors and across the parking lot but managed to keep far enough away that, to a random passersby, it wouldn't seem like he was following us. He passed us and climbed into a blue Ford, seemingly about to leave. 'See, Ricki?' I thought. 'He's totally not a stalker or kidnapper. Hopefully.' I was really jumpy today. Maybe I should lay off CSI for a while.

I noticed Emma had stopped talking, something she had neglected to do the whole trip. I turned away from the man to look at her. She was staring at the front of the car with her bags spilled around her feet.

"Emma? What's wrong-" I followed her gaze to the windshield and gasped. A web of cracks ran along the glass, originating from a small circular hole. It looked as if someone had thrown a baseball at it, or even clobbered it with a bat.

"Aw, Emm. We can get it fixed. It's probably a bunch of idiots who don't have anything better to do." I added the last part loudly just in case the perp was still around.

Emma looked like she was going to cry. This car was her pride and joy, and even though I couldn't understand it I knew she was devastated. She bent to scoop up her bags while I opened the door to grab something to sweep the fallen glass away. I found something different. On the seat was a close-up photo of a young girl. Her strawberry hair whipped around her head like she was turning and it was struggling to keep up. She was walking into a store and had a confused look on her face. My heart dropped into my stomach. I recognized the girl.

It was me.

I recalled the light in the corner of my eye. A flash. From a camera. I flipped the picture over and was greeted with a message, written in dark red ink.

IT'S TIME

-X

My blood ran cold in my veins. I shivered. This was beyond creepy

Whoever had knocked a hole in the window apparently slipped the photo into the Cadillac. I shoved the picture in my pocket right when Emma stood back up. She was worried enough. She had composed herself and now looked mad. Really mad. As in I'm-ticked-enough-to-beat-the-crap-out-of-whoever-did-this-with-a-club mad. It was a little scary.

Emma was in the process of calling her parents when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I glanced behind me. The man was there, partially hidden behind his trucks tinted windows. Why was he still here? He had gotten in his car nearly ten minutes ago and should have been on the highway by now, far away. Maybe he was waiting for someone to meet him. My eyes widened. Or something to happen. The picture felt hot where it rested on my leg. But there was no way the stranger could've planted the photo in time; he walked behind us the whole way out here.

I needed to look at the picture again; at the angle it was taken, the crude handwriting on the back, even if anyone was in the background. But I doubted I would see the stranger in the hoodie in the background or find anything proving it was a coincidence he happened to be where I was when it was taken. But when I looked back towards the truck, I know I wouldn't have. How, you ask?

Because at that moment he was tapping his watch. Staring. Watching. Waiting.

Time's up.

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Yuck. This chapter is awful. Sorry you guys had to read that. =/