Chapter2
1272 Words
The first time I think I’m being watch, I tell myself it’s paranoia. The second time, I stop calling it paranoia because paranoia doesn’t leave evidence and I’m staring at mine.
The paper is still on my desk, the exact way I left it except I didn’t leave it like that.
I remember sitting down and reading it until the words blurred but I definitely didn’t remember putting it back where u could see it the second I woke up.
My fingers hover over it without touching because I’m scared it might bite.
“Love, Your Future Ex.”
The phrase doesn’t feel like a threat anymore but more like ownership.
I sit up and immediately notice that the room is wrong in a way I can’t explain, like someone arranged it while I was asleep
I checked the door and window and it was locked which made it worse because whoever was here didn’t need to take anything, they just needed to me know they were here.
A knock hits the door and I flinch so hard that I hate myself for it but I open it and Aisha is the one there, holding two coffees like she’s already decided how today is going to go.
“You look like you lost a fight with your sleep schedule.” She says looking at me intensely.
It might be uncomfortable but I chose not to show it. “I won.” Barely
She steps inside the room without waiting for permission eyes already scanning my room.
I hide the letter behind my back on instinct, but she notices it anyways.
“You’re doing that thing again.” she says
“What thing?” I asked her
“The thing where you lie with your entire body.” She says again.
I don’t answer because before I can, the speakers in the hallway crackle to life and Aisha freezes with me.
Then the principal‘s voice fills the corridor.” All students are required to attend the Memorial assembly for Lily Hart at 9 o’clock. Attendance is Mondatory.”
Silence follows not out of relief or sadness but inevitability and Aisha exhales. “Well, that escalated into a full school inconvenience.”
And I should laugh but I don’t.
——
The Auditorium is already full when we arrive.
In fact, not just full but compressed like the entire class has been folded into one space and pressed too hard.
A giant photograph of Lily hangs behind the podium and she looks soft in the way that feels offensive now because I just keep thinking about the letter I saw yesterday.
I sit down and Aisha leans towards me immediately, “Someone cries dramatically, I’m leaving.”
“You won’t.” I reply.
“I absolutely will,”she responds.
But neither of us moves because the room shifts not dramatically but softly like gravity changing its mind and I didn’t need to look to know why I already knew.
My eyes find him where he is standing three rows ahead and the crazy thing is that he didn’t do anything that should draw attention but the problem is that people like him didn’t need to.
The principal starts speaking about things like loss, community memory and I was listening for maybe a minute before I realised I’m not all because Adrian is not either.
He’s watching someone, not me, a teacher in history department.
He looks like he’s trying to disappear without moving because his hands keep flexing at both sides and his eyes keep scanning the doors like he’s waiting for permission to leave his own life.
Adrian doesn’t blink because it’s not like a casual attention, it is more like recognition, like he’s waiting for Mr Bennet the history teacher to make a mistake and that makes something settle in my chest because this is the first time I feel like Adrian feels less like a must about me and more like a mystery with its own direction.
Immediately assembly ends, people stand so quickly like they have finally been released and Benett leaves first and too fast.
Adrian notices immediately.
Of course he does and I don’t even realize I stood until I am already moving and I hear my name from behind me.
“Zara?” Aisha calls behind me.
“I’ll be back.” I say without looking back
“That’s not reassuring!” She tried again.
I don’t answer because I’m already following the teacher not because I’m brave but because I can’t stop myself anymore.
____
The hallway outside the auditorium is older and quieter. Mr Bennet turns a corner and I slow down because voices reach me before I see them.
It was the voice of two men arguing and that stops me completely because one voice belongs to Mr Bennet and it was strained
“You shouldn’t have come here.” Mr Bennett said
There was a pause then a second voice which was lower and colder than Mr Bennet's own. “Neither should Lily.” The voice said.
My stomach drops so hard I feel it in my knees and I move closer without thinking.
“This wasn’t part of the agreement.” Mr Bennet said.
A soft laugh answers him, it was dangerous then footsteps approaching, I pressed myself against the wall but it was too late because they turned the corner but Mr Bennet sees me instantly.
We all freeze and for a second nobody decides what this moment means and then the second man turns away fast and I don’t see his face, only his shoulder and movement.
Mr Bennet recovers first. “What are you doing here?”
My brain scrambles for something normal. “Lost.” And it sounds stupid the moment it leaves my mouth.
He hears that and his jaw tightens but he doesn’t push. He looks at me like I’ve interrupted something that wasn’t meant to be seen then he leaves or runs. I on the other hand stay where I am.
One sentence is stuck in my head. “Neither should Lily.” And I don’t know what scares me more…. That I heard it or that part of me feels like I was supposed to
——
I turn around and nearly collide with someone.
That someone is Adrian and he was standing but not surprised to see me there like he has been waiting. His eyes flick past me for half a second towards the empty corridor behind then back to me.
“You shouldn’t be here.” He said like a confirmation and that makes my pulse jumps.
“How did you know about the envelope?” I ask without hesitation
His expression shifts slightly, like I’ve finally said the correct version of a question but instead of answering, he says something worse.
“Lily got one too.”
The world doesn’t just stop, it narrows and everything else fails.
“What?” I ask.
His gaze holds mine and for the first time, I’m not sure if I’m looking at someone protecting me or someone counting me but he steps back already leaving but not before adding quietly; “You’re not the first she chose.” And then he is gone.
Later that night, I find another envelope with the same handwriting as lilys note except halfway through, it changes as usual as if the writer finally stopped pretending.
One line catches my hair.
“DONT LET ADRIAN GO TO THE PARTY.”
Which party? I didn’t know.
And it ended with the usual
LOVE,
YOUR FUTURE EX
- Writer
