Followed

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

I get up from my seat and quietly run to the bathroom. My watch sits on the sink where I left it when I took my shower. I walk back to the den, staring at the watch. A look of curiosity fades away, leaving me with a hateful expression.

Every time I see my watch, hideous memories flood my thoughts.

The man, his disturbing story. My recked car, stolen phone, near death in the forest. I never thought I'd ever be barely alive.

I flip the watch over on my sweaty palm, and the folded photograph stares up at me.

Digging past my useless memories, I focus on trying to remember what the note read.

Something about the past. I've been trying so hard to push these frightening thoughts out of my mind, and right when I am about to forget them, they're needed again.

Placing my watch on the desk in front of me, I delicately peel the note off and reread it in my head, trying not to wake anyone.

"We still remember. You should know that we will never forget."

Reading this causes a chill to run up my spine, and my hairs to stand on end.

He must be referring to what my grandparents did in the past.

Is that it? Could there be something else?

My eyes are locked on the handwritten words, and hope slowly diminishes. I take a deep breath and do the only thing that comes to mind. I stand up from my comfortable chair and walk towards the room's light switch on the wall in front of me. With a click, the den that I stand in is filled with a soft yellow glow. Raising my arms, I hold the note up to the ceiling light. I've seen this done in movies before. I doubt it will work, but I might as well give it a try. At first glance, nothing seems to look different, besides the creases in the paper. The photo is on thicker paper, but it becomes more translucent when a light shines through it. I shift it slightly and a jagged line appears down the middle of the paper. I blink to make sure it's not just my imagination. It's not. There's clearly a line running straight through the photo. I can't believe that this light trick worked!

Lowering the paper closer to my face, I examine both sides. The note has a faint scent of processed plastic; an odd scent coming from a slip of paper. Ignoring the smell, I continue my search.

The photo side has no line to be found. I get distracted by the picture. It depicts me from a distance, walking out of Tim Hortons, keys in hand, headed over to my car. I had just finished my work shift, three days ago. I can almost feel myself walking out of the front door, leaving behind the wonderful smell of coffee and donuts until next week. I felt so safe, so secure, so sure that my life would be the same the next week as it was this week or the week before. But that was before I knew that I was being followed. I take a deep breath and carry on with what I was doing. Flipping the paper over, the intimidating words jump out at me. I try to ignore the frightening message and just focus. The fine jagged line is visible in the midst of all the writing. Looking closer, it seems to be the edge of a ripped piece of paper, rather than a line. I use my stubby nails to pry apart the sticky, overlapping pieces. Once I'm done, a small thin scrap of paper is sitting in the palm of my hand, having come apart from the note. It was slightly glued to the photo so now it lies rolled up and curly. I flatten the scrap and hold it in my fingertips, trembling. I force myself to keep still, eventually they stop shaking. On the front side of the paper, the handwriting I first saw used with the original message, is continued. On the reverse side, tiny handwriting was used to write another message. I squint to make out what it says.

"She died at 19

and so will you.

Tick tock."

She. He's talking about Beth. She must have died when she was 19.

That's why he hasn't killed me yet. I just turned 19 a month ago. He attempted to kill me in the forest but he couldn't. He's going to kill me soon. Before I turn 20, thats for sure.

Tick tock is right.

At any minute he could burst through our door and have me killed along with my whole family.

I freeze. My body temperature drops, and I can sense my face goes

a few shades whiter.

I completely forgot that this man has my house key. What was I thinking!

We need to leave.

Now.