The Ones We Lost

Chapter 3 - Stalking 101

[Lance narrates]

It's Tuesday. I just woke up, I put my usual black hoodie and cargo pants on. I walked down the stairs and came to the kitchen. My mom had had to go on an early flight for a business trip and my Dad left for the office early on Tuesdays.

I walked over to the pantry and grabbed some Lucky Charms, I then got some milk from the fridge and made myself some cereal. I quickly ate it and checked my watch. It was 7:49 I had to get to school. I pulled on my backpack and grabbed some lunch money from a small bowl near the door. I closed and locked the door behind me and hid the key in the fake stone next to the doorstep.

I took off and started running through the drab philly streets, as I turned a corner and I crashed into someone. We both stumbled backwards, I tripped on a stick and fell into the wet dirty street. He looked over at me and mumbled, "Sorry". I looked at him. It was Peter. He spoke up again, "Lance, I have something important to tell you." "Umm...okay," I replied. "What's Maddie's last name?" he said quickly. "I think it's 'Grant', Why?" I asked, confused. "I knew it,'' he replied. "Knew what?" I replied, slightly exasperated now.

"Well, yesterday, I was walking over to a tech shop to make a computer exchange and I was trying to stay unseen, cause people can be really mean there and as I was passing through Evenstine Pass, I saw this angry man on the phone and he mentioned...the last name, 'Grant' and also something about eliminating. I think it may have something to do with the murder."

I pondered his statement for a bit, it was farther than the police had gotten, so it may be worth looking into. I repeated my thoughts to him, he agreed with me. "Should we tell the police?" he asked. "Hmm...ya think," I said sarcastically. "I know! Let's alert a large amount of police to wait in some ally. Then the murders will come along and give themselves up!" I said sarcastically. "Yah, you have a point," Peter agreed, "also the police are total jerks to you."

"A few kids would look a lot less suspicious then lots of police...", He trailed off. "A few kids?" I asked, confused. "Well, we better tell Maddie," he said," after all, it was her last name that was mentioned." he said. "Are you gonna tell her, cause I'm not!" I said. "We can just leave a note in her backpack", he said. "Okay...," I agreed as we arrived at our lame middle school.

Tuesday, had the same schedule as Monday, so it was basically a repeat of Monday, just a lot more boring. Again, there was history, need I say more,??? then we went to english and did something about Shakespeare. Then, there were some more classes all of them too bland to describe. And then finally there was a 15 minute break.

I went to the computer lab and found Peter, looking through some spare parts. I quickly asked, "Umm, so what are we going to do tonight?," He looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "We'll probably meet somewhere and go to the alley, and probably take it from there." I didn't have any better ideas so I quickly agreed with Peter. We talked a bit more and Peter told me everything about the conversation he had overheard.

I was about to leave, so I turned around and saw Maddie standing behind us, her arms crossed. "Why were you talking about me?", She asked with a dangerous look on her face. "Ummm...we were...uhh just...umm...thinking about..uhh...the poem you said yesterday." I quickly mumbled out. She just looked at us with a suspicious and slightly startled expression. Thankfully the bell saved us, Maddie turned on her heel and briskly walked out of the room.

[Maddie narrates]

I didn' think that things could get much worse, but spoiler alert, it could. Yesterday, after making a fool of myself in front of the whole class, I had decided that I would ask my mom if she knew anything about the news that Victoria was telling me about. I mean, nothing surrounding Josh's murder made sense.