Fate

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

It wasn't often I exercised and thought about going out for a run but then there was a first time for everything. With all that had been going on lately, I needed to blow off steam somehow. Running seemed to be one of the easiest ways to do that. I left a note for mom before grabbing my earbuds and exiting the house. I wasn't much of a runner either so this would be fun. My mind seemed to be in a million different places at once. Thankfully, Kenneth hadn't gotten violent with mom last night and I was grateful. He'd gone to sleep not long after eating and the house had been in a wonderful peace that I wished to have a lot more of. I especially wished mom could. At least she was sleeping peacefully today which is what I should've been doing.

I started my run and thoughts of my friends and of course, Zayn and Miles entered my mind. I never would have believed it if someone told me I'd be eating pizza with those two like we were old buddies. Nothing more, nothing less. My life had a weird habit of turning out to be extremely weird no matter what I said or did. So maybe this was exactly what I should expect, the unexpected.

I ran much more than I ever thought I would, deciding to attempt to forget all that I had just been thinking about. It would do me no good this morning. Resting the palms of my hands on my knees, I struggled to catch my breath. My feet were burning from the amount of running I'd just done and the sweat pulling at the edge of my forehead was proof I'd run quite aways. I straightened up, taking my earbuds out of my ears and allowing the silence of the early morning to calm me. The brisk morning air felt nice against my exposed skin and I wiped the sweat from my forehead as I closed my eyes, leaning my forehead back.

My thoughts were brought to an end as I felt my phone vibrated in my pocket. Pulling it out, I saw I had a new message. My brows furrowed as I noticed it was an unknown number. Against my better judgment, I opened it.

Unknown: Hello, Ariel. May I say you look quite beautiful in the morning with the early rays beaming against your delicate skin.

I gasped as I read the message and saw an attached photo of me in my jogging outfit with my hands on my knees as I had just a moment ago. I looked around frantically but saw no one.

Ariel: Who is this?

Unknown: That isn't important right now, but I can tell you what is. You, my dear, you are.

Okay, this was freaking me out and my stomach churned with nerves. Trying to calm myself, I decided to text back. It was probably some joke that I was overreacting about. So no reason to be alarmed, right?

Ariel: Listen, dude. I don't know who you are so why don't you just leave me alone?

Unknown: Now, what's the fun in that, my dear?

Who the heck is this, weirdo? I knew it wasn't Liam or Maggie, maybe it was Reggie? Nah, he knew better than to scare me like that. I knew for sure it wasn't Zayn. He wouldn't mess around like this. That only left a few people to choose from. It was either Miles, Melinda, or one of her followers. Then again, I could be wrong about that as well. I let out a breath of frustration. Surely they wouldn't text me like this. Looking around, I started to feel creeped out so I called Liam.

"Hello?" He answered, groggily.

"Liam, can you come to get me?"

"Sure. Where are you?" He questioned, now sounding more awake.

"Out on the street for a run. I'll head toward the bench, okay?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Just hurry, please. I'll tell you when you get here."