The Answer Lies in the Truth

Chapter 2

"Jeremy, calm down man. I didn't catch any of that." Michael said trying to calm me down. I was confused and tired. After the dream I couldn't pull myself out of the rut I felt like I was stuck in for the whole weekend.

"I said the Squip turned on again. He said he'd been hacked, gave me a message and left." I said. I left out the nightmare part. No one needed to know that I still had dreams about it.

"What was the message?" Michael said sipping on his slushy. It was lunch time, and I'd been freaking the heck out all day. Michael just finally said something about it after an entire half-day of panic.

"It was a weird sort of love note...and the sender addressed herself as Red." I said trailing off.

"How do you know it's a she?" Michael asked looking around the cafeteria.

I went pale, "Who else could it be? Wait... are their any gay people even at this school, besides Rich and maybe Jake?" I asked and Michael just snorted a half-laugh half-chuckle.

"I don't know dude," he smiled, I think he was taunting me. Some best friend.

"Man I'm serious! What the heck?" I said, I was giving myself a migraine.

"Calm down dude. Maybe they'll send you another one tonight and things will work out fine." Michael said patting me on the back and collecting his lunch trash. The bell rang.

When I got home and logged on Rich was already there. "Hey, what's up?" I said killing a zombie.

He didn't answer. "Rich? You okay?" I asked again.

"I don'th know if I can do it."

Michaels voice came on. "It's going to be fine. I'm sure that nothing bad will come from asking. He's your best friend, I doubt that anything could happen that Jake couldn't understand."

"Besides, you guys have been through so much, and he still hangs out with you!" I said trying to physic him up.

"Okay, I'll do it..." He said still sounding unsure, but I could hear the ringing on the other end of the video chat we were all on.

"Hey! Richy G what up my man?" Jake laughed through the line.

"H-hey man..." Rich said. There was a pause on the other line.

There was a muffled, "hold on mom," and some more silence and a shut door before Jake responded. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing why would you think that?" Rich said nervously.

"Because your lisp is on full throttle and you only stutter when you are hiding something." Jake said through the line.

"I..uh..."

"Dude, whatever it is, you can tell me alright. I'm here for you. That's what friends are for right? You'll get no judgement from me-" he laughed obviously trying to ease the tension, "You know all the shit I've done."

Rich hummed softly in agreement and I found myself wondering just what Jake had done.

"W-well... I kinda...maybe...would you like to go on a date with m-me?"

There was a pause on the other line and the sound of shifting. Before a decided answer came through. "I- Yes."

"Yeth?" Rich repeated astonished.

"God Rich yes! Oh man, you're lisp is adorable." I could hear Rich's blush at Jakes comment. Jake laughed, and soon I could hear Rich laugh too.

Rich's laugh also sounded like he was crying. The audio shut off and it was just me and Michael. Rich had logged off.

"Well that was something." I said and Michael just grunted in response. He was killing zombies more than listening I think. We played until I had to log off.

I brushed my teeth when he came again. "Jeremy your dental hygiene is terrible. Scrub your tongue. That where most of the smell is." I signed.

"Just get it over with." I said ignoring the Squips advice.

"I missed you through the weekend. I can't stop thinking about you. I saw you at lunch today. You were adorable. Was all that panic just for me? I'll see you tomorrow.
Love, Red"

I sighed and looked in the mirror. Tomorrow I'll start my investigation. When I was in bed I checked my phone. There were five messages. One was from Brooke, which was odd, another one was from Chloe, and the other two were from Christine. All five were asking me to be in the school play. I sighed and texted back that I was still on the fence.

He more I laid there and thought about it though, it would be a good way to interrogate people. Maybe Red was one of these three girls? I sent the okay to Christine and she sent back several unicorn pictures and a big smily face.

I sighed and fell asleep.

It was dark. So very dark. Laughter and tears echoed through the stage I was on. "Jeremy" I turned to see Christine and Michael. Their voices clashed to make a robotic tone. Their eyes were blue. It looked unnatural on both of them. Christine's eyes were usually black and Michael's were a rich dark brown. They were smiling. "Come with us." They said. Christine stopped and hesitated as we walked along. Michael stopped to watch her.

She started to scream as steam evaporated off her skin. She fainted and Michael turned back and kept walking. "What just happened?"

"She resisted." Michael replayed and opened the door to a room. I stepped in and Michael followed. It was empty. "Wait here." He said in a cold tone.

I was left in the dark. It was so very dark. Then two people appeared down a hallway that wasn't there before. I walked closer to the light the hallway provided. Christine was smiling and rubbing Michael's hair. He was on his knees and steam was rolling off his body. It looked as if he was crying. "Oh Michael, no one cares about you. Your best friend thinks you are nothing, so why are you resisting..." Christine said, she sighed as the steam became more intense, and Michael's sobs wrecked his frame. I wanted to walk forward, to help, to tell Christine that it wasn't true. But I couldn't move, "you'll never stop resisting, will you?" Michael looked at her, his eyes were brown, and he looked over at me. Christine noticed, she smiled at me, pulled out a gun, pointed it at Michael's head, and darkness engulfed me as she pulled the trigger and a bang was heard.

I woke up sobbing.