The Mandala Girl (COMPLETED)

Chapter 7

It wasn't long after I got off the phone with TJ did he show up at my front door. Just like that; no car, no bicycle. He just shows up on foot. If my suspicions about him didn't already exist, they certainly do now.

The doorbell rings a moment later and I rush to the door before anyone else. "I'll get it!" TJ is standing on the tattered welcome mat with a goofy grin on his face when I open it. "What are you smiling about?" I say.

"I knew you'd call." There's a confident tone in his voice. "They always call."

"Oh, whatever. Just get in here already." I yank him inside the house, then slam the front door shut. "Follow me." I'm halfway to my bedroom when mom calls from the living room.

"Riley, who was at the door?"

"Just a friend, mom." I continue walking.

TJ tilts his head to the side. "It would be rude of me to not say hello to your folks, don't you think?" He then moves toward the living room.

"No. Don't!" He ignores my command and proceeds into the room. Reluctantly, I follow him. Mom is sitting on the couch with her laptop propped up on her knee, and dad is standing on a chair in the center of the room changing a burnt out light bulb in the ceiling fan.

TJ gives them both a polite nod. "Hello, Mrs. Mom, Mr. Dad. Don't worry, I am not a serial killer." Their faces display absolute horror.

I laugh nervously. "He's kidding. He's a kidder. That's what he is." I then shove him towards my bedroom. "We'll just be, uh—painting. Bye!" Well, that couldn't have gone worse.

Time to get down to business. I need to pin down TJ, ask him who he is, who he's working for, if he's an alien from another planet. Okay. That may be a bit much, but he's hiding something. The question is—what?

TJ casts a glance around my bedroom. "Nice digs. It's very . . ." A pause, "Boho-chic. I feel like I've been teleported to Bollywood." He chuckles. "So what was it you wanted to talk about? It sounded urgent over the phone."

I'm not interested in making casual conversation, and if he thinks that's why I called him over here, then he's in for a rude awakening.

I always keep my brother's baseball bat in my closet just in case an intruder breaks into my bedroom in the middle of the night. It looks like now is a good time to use it. I retrieve the bat from the closet and aim it at TJ's head.

"Whoa! Hey, hey! What are you doing?" He holds up both hands in front of him.

"Who are you? I mean, really. Who? Tell me! Who sent you? Who hired you or—whatever?" I swing the bat around. It makes a whoosh sound as it cuts through the air. I try to act intimidating, but I don't know if it's working. "I know you're connecting to that wooden chest somehow. And the paintbrush. And those voices. Why won't they leave me alone? Why!"

"I-I-I don't know what you're talking about." He backs away from me until his back hits the wall. Now he looks genuinely frightened; he's got nowhere to run.

"Don't make me beat it out of you." I tap the bat against my palm, inching closer to him.

"Alright, alright! Yeesh! Just don't smash my skull to pieces, okay?" He takes a deep breath. "Five days ago a letter sealed in an unmarked envelope appeared in my mailbox—no stamp, no return address—with a note saying that if I found the Mandala Girl, then I would receive a $1,000 reward. I thought it was some kind of sting operation or something at first, but whoever wrote it sent a $100 bill along with the note. I can only assume that was an attempt to capture my attention. I'm ashamed to say it worked. I could have walked away with the hundred bucks in hand, and that was my initial plan, but my curiosity got the best of me. So for the last five days, I've been searching for a girl who draws mandalas. I didn't even know what a mandala was at first. I had to Google the dumb thing just to find out. Then, I searched everywhere: alleyways, street art competitions; I even searched local colleges but came up empty-handed. I was about to give up entirely when I bumped into you at that art class. The note informed me that once I had located the Mandala Girl, I would then bring her to the town's art festival. That's all I know. I swear!" He reaches inside his jacket and pulls out a piece of paper. "Here. See for yourself."