Behind a shady mask

Chapter 3: Combination

              “Angela...! Angela…!! Angela…!!! ” Mrs. Patterson calls out to Angela but to no avail.
Angela was in her room trying unlock her father’s hard drive with every combination she could possibly think of.
    Ever since Christine killed herself, Angela always tried to get into that hard drive to see what was in it. Day in, day out she’d try out new combinations, starting from her father’s birthday, to her mum’s, to Christine’s and even her own. She had become obsessed with knowing what was in the hard drive, she gave it more time and attention than any other thing.

“Why have you been doing this…? I have told you severally, only your sister knows…knew how to unlock that thing! Go get an ethical hacker or something and don’t stress yourself anymore.” Mrs. Patterson complained.
 
For some reasons, Angela didn’t want anyone to have access to the hard drive, and that kept Mrs. Patterson baffled always. She acted like there was something very important in it that no one else should have access to but her.

    “I will be on my way to school now" Angela replied, totally ignoring her mum as she stands up and puts the hard drive in her bag.

Meanwhile, Carter was not even planning on going to school that day. He was feeling a little traumatized from the dream he had the previous week, so he decided to stay home and cool off.

       “Carter!!! You should be on your way to school by now. You don’t want to be running late, do you?” His mum called out to him.
            She always puts a check on Carter when it came to school issues, because she knew very well how much interest he had in school and always made sure it didn’t affect him. His father on the other hand didn’t really care, or was too busy to keep an eye on him.

     “Okay mum, I will be on my way soon.” he said in deception, just to make sure she leaves without further disturbances.

“Hey you!!!!...wait up!!” Angela called out running up to Smith on his way to the cafeteria.

“I have a name you know?!” Smith replied looking disgusted.

“What do you want now...? I am not Carter in case you can’t see properly.”, Smith spoke with a rather unpleasant tone in his voice.

“One… I don’t give the slightest fuck about your name. And secondly, because I am always quiet doesn’t mean I don’t have a bad mouth. So mind the way you talk to me, okay?!!!” Angela threatened just before she walked away, leaving Smith a little perplexed.

“This sensation. It reminds me of… hmm", Smith soliloquized

“uh… wait up.” Smith stretches his hands out and holds Angela by her right shoulder, but she turns and slaps his hand away.

“Don’t touch me” she said, furiously looking at him in the eyes, but noticed his gaze was at her neck.

“uhhh… I uhh… just want to say sorry.” Smith apologized, then he turned and walked away.

“Nice tattoo by the way…” he said again while leaving.

Angela felt a little ashamed and covered her tattoo with her hair as she watched him walk away.

“Hello Carter, what’s wrong? Why aren’t you in school? And you don’t want to pick my calls either. I don’t know what’s wrong. Please call me", Angela sends a voice note to carter hoping he would call back.

The whole day had almost gone and still no word from Carter. Angela was getting a little worried so she called him again. This time he picked the call.

“Hello Angela, how are you?” Carter asked.

“What’s wrong? You aren’t in school and I have been calling you all day but you didn’t pick either, hope everything is fine…” she complained out of concern.