Hate Me Love Me

39| I Lied 🤥

֍҉֍҉♥҉֍҉֍

"Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same." --- The Fray.

֍҉֍҉♥҉֍҉֍

'Darn it, you stupid thing!' I groan in disappointment, slumping back in my chair.

My laptop isn't even old. I've only had this one for half a year, and yet, it's glitching.

A few people around me look up from their books and devices and give me odd looks. A feeling of sonder overcomes me as I wonder about the lives of all these people. Fate led us all to the library today, one week after Christmas.

And today's also the day that Alaric's coming back. He should be here in about 2 - 3 hours.

He left on Christmas morning for New York. His grandparents live there. Both from his dad's side. But he told me that he's not close with either of them.

We spoke over the phone for hours every day. I always spoke the most, telling him all about my day, even when it wasn't that eventful. I asked him to tell me about his days, his family, what he ate.

He did.

He told me he never speaks to anybody as much he does to me.

He always gives in to me.

Suddenly, my laptops' screen turns black, and horror rises inside me.

All my research about human rights in Sudan is gone! All the data I gathered! Hours and hours of work! And I forgot to turn on autosave!

I did not wake up early, bake cookies, and come to the library just to get my work deleted.

Furious, I stab the on switch multiple times, and then the screen turns purple.

And then four words pop up.

Go Home Right Now.

My eyes widen. Am I getting hacked? Stalked?

I keep my laptop open as I place it on the passenger's seat and drive home as fast as I can. My dad's taken Megan for a check-up, and Jo decided to tag along with Dylan. My uncle's already back at work.

I pass the enormous, 4 meter by 4 meter by 4 meter chocolate box - a legitimate huge box - of chocolates that Alaric sent over for Christmas with every flavour in the world.

I run upstairs and slam the door of my room shut as I set my laptop up on my desk.

The screen changes. It's light blue now.

Three dots in the centre of the screen tell me that something's loading, but just at that moment, my door bursts open and I see Jayden standing there, a huge smile lighting up his face.

He didn't even knock.

'Hey. How're you doing?' he asks, leaning against the doorframe.

'I'm good. You?'

'Good. Good. Well, we're heading off,' he points his thumb behind him, and I see a blur of red hair similar to mine. 'So, yeah. Just thought you should know. Your boyfriend's coming, isn't he?'

He's teasing.

'Yeah, yeah he is. I'm uh, kind of busy right now, so uh...'

He gets the hint, laughs, says 'See you later,' and closes my door behind him.

And when I look back at my screen, a video has started to play.

It looks like a camera recording. At the end of a street. It's not too dark, but I can see around seven men.