Ending The Game

hide and seek

Recap:

He then smiled and walked out the door. I jumped off the couch and made sure he locked the door on the way out. I opened the first text.

Six feet under.

Then the second.

You wouldn't be pretty covered in dirt, maybe ash suits you better.

Beep. Beep.

I almost dropped my phone when I got a new message.

Glad to see you made the right choice. Wouldn't want anything to happen to happen to daddy dearest tonight. Now go to bed, we have things to do bright and early tomorrow.

Okay, folks. We're dying sooner than we hoped. See you soon Sophia. Then I turned off all of the house lights, walked down the hallway to my room, then got in bed and turned off my lamp next to my bed.

"Sweet freaking dreams."

~~~~~

I woke up to continuous beeping. Thinking it was the alarm on my phone, I aimlessly reached out for where my phone would be. After pressing where the "turn off" button would be, I realized this wasn't an alarm. These were notifications. 

Beep. Beep.

I squinted my eyes open and looked at the clock in the middle of the screen. 

4:29 am.

I don't even have any friends who would be up at this ungodly hour. I swiped down on my crappy Samsung S5 to see my notifications. Eight new messages. 

Two new messages from Dad.

Hey sweetheart, i'm a little drunk so i am going to jack's.

bee home l8er.

Does he even know a Jack?

Three new messages from Unknown Number. 

Great. 

It's time to get up Sarah.

Come to this address at 5 am sharp. One Attachment.

Don't be late, or else.

I clicked on the attachment and saw it was an aerial view of Westbrooke. One place was circled in red, and I am assuming they want me to go there, but why would I? They threatened to kill me. But they also threatened to kill my dad. I guess I'm going. 

Three new messages from Westbrooke New Now (WNN).

Police are still investigating the suicide of Sophia Marie Barnes. 

Breaking News: New teen found dead in a cornfield in Lansing, thirty miles from Westbrooke. If anyone has any information on this teen, call Westbrooke Police at (605) 475-6968. 

Breaking: "Game over" etched into left side of her waist. Blonde hair and blue eyed teen. No missing persons reports filed on this girl. if you have seen this girl before, please contact the Police Station immediately. 

~~~~~

My cheeks were a vibrant pink, my eyes watering from the wind nipping at them, and my lips a chapped mess as I walked to the address. What I expected was an old run down place, maybe even abandoned, or condemned. But no. 

This was a beautiful little house, no, this was a home. This was a cozy home. With a white exterior and black shutters, this place looked well kept. The lawn wasn't overgrown, the leaves were raked away, and there were flowers in the flower bed right in front of the place. That just leaves me to wonder why I was lead here. I checked the time. 4:54 am. The sun hasn't even risen yet, and here I am. 

I left my dad a note saying that I was going out with some friends to go to the new mall a couple of towns over and that I had my phone if he needed me. He'd probably wake up with a hangover at around noon though, so I should be home by then, I hope. 

I texted the unknown number. 

What am I doing here, mysterious people?

My phone vibrated in my hand. I turned the ringer off because I was sick of hearing a beeping noise everytime these people texted me. They leave a lot of texts. 

Go inside. 

Are they nuts? This is somebody's home. Somebody has lived here recently. I am not going in there. 

No way. Somebody lives here. 

If you go in, you'll understand. 

So I did what any sane person would do.

I walked up the porch steps and walked in. 

I was greeted with a bad smell and a beige wall with a mahogany table to hold keys and such. There was a newspaper dating back a  month ago. The headline read "Chain of Murders Sweeps Through Westbrooke."  Why is this so old? I looked up from that and was met with a family photo of a mom, dad, and a daughter. 

The mother and daughter were very similar. Both with beautiful blonde locks cascading past their ribs and bright blue eyes. The dad, on the other hand, had short brown hair and piercing green eyes. They looked well put together. I kept walking and looking at all of the pictures on the wall. I ended up coming across a news article cut-out in a frame. 

"Emily Sanchez, daughter of Evan Sanchez and Mallory Sanchez, is believed to be next CEO of Sanchez Enterprises, the Nation's largest bank firm. Pretty impressive, huh?" said a voice from behind me. I screamed and turned around. It was the guy from the family portrait. His green eyes bored into mine. Then it went dark. 

~~~ 

So I planned on cutting it short and leaving a cliffhanger for you guys but decided I do that enough so here you go. I'm trying to work on an upload schedule, but I am a student so it's hard. Anyway, hope you're enjoying so far. 

Your Author Who Is Trying Her Best,

-Lexi Izyk