NEVER TAP OUT

~28~

Emerson POV
Wednesday
"Are you okay?" Annie's concerned voice asked. I smiled and nodded my head. "Are you sure?" She placed a hand on top of mine.

"Yes Annie, I'm fine" she shook her head in disappointment. "What?" I stared at her curiously.

"I should be here for you more often" her voice was low. "I'm a horrible friend" she looked me in the eyes.

"You're not my friend, you're my family" I laughed. She joined in but immediately ending it with a stare. I turned around to see what she was looking at, but I couldn't see anything. "What are you looking at?" My eyebrows furrowed towards her.

"Oh it's nothing, I thought I saw something" I nodded my head shrugging my shoulders. "Are we still on for tonight?" She said shutting her locker.

"Of course" my voice cracked. I shut my locker saying my goodbye's to Annie, before going to class. I sat down at my desk, feeling a vibration in my pocket, I quickly pulled out my phone.

Unknown-*Have you figured me out yet?*
E-*Just leave me alone*
Unknown-*Not till you pay*

I ignored the text and put my phone back in my pocket. During class I was a bit curious as to what the text meant, but decided to leave it alone.

(After school)
"Did you copy the science notes?" Annie said pulling out a sheet of paper. I grabbed my notes from my back pack and handed them to her. "Thanks" she grinned.

"What happened to that Roman guy?" I said remembering the guy Annie likes. She rolled her eyes, sighing at the mention of his name.

"He turned out to be a jerk" she said angrily. I shook my head reaching for my pencil.

We sat in silence mostly, unless one of us needed help understanding something. About an hour later my stomach growled. "I'm hungry" Annie agreed. "I'll be right back" I said leaving the room. "Mom, dad?" I yelled running downstairs.

I never got a response. I figured we might have leftovers in the fridge. The back porch door seemed to be cracked. I walked over to it feeling a gust of wind hit me in the face. "Is everything okay?" Annie yelled from the top of the stairs.

"Yeah, be right there" I shut the door and locked it back. I grabbed the left over cold pizza from the fridge and ran up the stairs. "Did you go out the back door?" My curiosity got the best of me.

"No, I've been here the whole time" her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why?" She ripped off a slice of pizza.

"My dad must have left it open" a nervous laugh escaped my mouth. My phone buzzed behind me on my night stand.

Unknown-*you have a nice house*

My heart sank to my stomach. I immediately stood up and ran over to the door. "What's wrong?" I locked my bedroom door.

"We need to call Archer" I found Archers number in my contacts; wasting no time to call him. "Archer I need your help" I said worried out of my mind.

"What's going on?" He sounded as scared as I was. I walked over to my window to see if anyone was there.

"The person is in my house" I said quietly. Annie's eyes widened with a scared look on her face.

"Okay, do you remember what you did last night?" I hummed into the phone. "Do it again" I grabbed Annie's hand and pulled her back over to the bed. "Are you home alone?" There was a noice downstairs.

"No Annie is with me" another noice was made. "Archer hurry there downstairs" my heart was beating so fast.

"Em call the police, I'm on my way" I hung up on Arch. I dialed 9-1-1 as fast as I could.