I wake up with my head in Daniel's lap. He's asleep and breathing softly. I push my home button and my screen lights up. It's 11:03.
I have a few unread messages from Unknown.
'Unknown: this is a beautiful house'
'Unknown: i hope you like what I did'
'Unknown: bitch.'
I slowly reach for the door knob and twist it. It's dead silent and I can hear the springs and gears clicking together inside.
I push the door open and peek my head out.
The front door is wide open and the wind is blowing leaves in from outside.
As I crawl out, I don't see anything wrong. I stand up and shut the closet door.
My palms are sweaty and I'm shaking. I'm almost afraid to move because it's pitch black and I'm scared.
After what feels like forever, I finally inch toward the front door. I peer out and no one is around. Everything seems normal.
Suddenly, I hear what sounds like leaves crunching and jump to slam the door shut as fast as I can.
My heart is racing, but I manage to look out the peep hole. I see an armadillo waddling along through the grass and breathe a sigh of relief.
"Jada-"
"Shit!" I jump out of my skin.
I whirl around and Daniel is standing behind me.
I clutch my chest. "Daniel, oh my God."
His eyes are a bit wide. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."
I calm down just a bit and walk over to where he's standing. I lean on to his shoulder and just breathe.
"I just woke up a couple minutes ago. I got messages from that... person again and the freakin' door was wide open," I say, trying not to cry. "I'm scared."
Daniel puts his arms around me for a minute while small tears fall on his sleeve.
"Just calm down, don't cry," he says softly. "Let's just figure out what happened."
I raise up and nod. "Okay."
Daniel turns around to head into the darkened house, then fumbles around in the closet for a second to get a flashlight.
"Check out my lightsaber." He gets into some type of ninja position and flashes the light at me.
"We don't have time for this Yoda! Can we please just look around before I have a heart attack?" I snap at him.
"Okay. God, you're mean sometimes." He shakes his head and we walk into the dark together.
I'm so freaked out. I have no idea what has happened and what's worse is that someone could still be inside this damn house.
We're both dead silent as Daniel uses the flashlight to find the light switch in the kitchen. He flips it on and we both look around.
Everything is in its place.
Then I see it.
There's writing on the glass door in huge, drippy red letters.
'STAY AWAY DUMB BITCH' is scrawled across the glass.
I'm speechless as I look at Daniel and he just stares at the window. "We have to get this clean before my mom sees. She'll kill me, Jada!"
I turn to face him again. "What do you mean? Are you not the slightest bit concerned about this psycho that broke in?!" I exclaim, raising my voice.
"Jada, stop," Daniel grabs my shoulders. "You need to chill. This has to be some type of prank. This isn't Pretty Little Liars."
I can feel my face getting hot.
"Daniel, no. This is serious. This is real!" I say loudly. "There is literally writing on your window threatening me!"
Daniel is quiet for a moment. He looks down at the floor before looking back up at me.
"I'm gonna start cleaning this. He states as he begins to gather up cleaning supplies from the hall closet.
"So that's it? You're just going to clean it and act like nothing is wrong?" I stare after him, but he doesn't acknowledge me.
"Fine. I'm going upstairs. Don't expect any help from me!" I huff.
"Jada, wait-"
I ignore Daniel's plea to stay as he follows after me. I continue to stomp upstairs and flick on the lights for the hallway. Daniel's door is closed, even though I swear it was open earlier.
Cautiously, I turn the doorknob and push open the door.
It's super dark.
I run my hand over the wall several times before running it across the light switch.
There are photos scattered all across the bed.
I immediately go to investigate, and what I see causes my blood to run cold.
Photos upon photos of me, Daniel, and Carson stare back at me. There are some from when we were walking, when the boys were up in the trees, when we were on the trampoline...
I look closer and I see that my eyes are stabbed out in every single photo.
As my heart pounds, I look back at Daniel.
"Now do you believe me?"
•••
