Chapter3
1316 Words
IF ADRIAN COLE GOES TO THE PARTY TONIGHT, HE WON’T MAKE IT HOME.
Reading this makes my stomach knot and I sit upright so fast that the blanket slides to the floor but the words don’t become less disturbing with distance instead it became worse because unlike every other message, this one isn’t aimed at me rather it was aimed at Adrian meaning the writer knows him and knows where he’ll be and apparently also knows something that’s going to happen tonight.
I grab the page from my desk and read it again then a third time, looking for signs of a joke but I find nothing. The typed words remain cold and certain as though the future has already happened and I’m the last person to hear about it but a knock interrupts my thoughts.
I don’t need to check who it is because only one person knocks like she’s trying to arrest me.
I open the door and Aisha is holding coffee again.
“I’m starting to think caffeine is your entire personality.” I say, eyeing her.
“I’m starting to think caffeine is your entire personality.” She snaps back
She takes one look at my face and her smile fades. “Okay.” She says
“What?” I ask
“You have the look people get right before they make a terrible decision.” She says
I force a laugh but it’s already too late because she knows something is wrong and as usual she steps inside and waits for me to respond but she's annoyingly good at waiting so I know I can’t even escape it and I break first.
“Do you know anything about a party tonight?” I ask
Her eyebrows rise. “That’s what you’re stressed about?”
“Answer the question.” I said again.
Aisha studies me then shrugs. “Everyone knows about it.”
“I don’t.” I state.
“That’s because you spend your free time reading criminally depressing novels.”
I throw a pillow at her but she dodges it grinning.
“It’s the Hawthorne house party.” She says, “the rich kids territory.”
That tells me everything. Still, I wait.
Aisha sighs. “It’s invite- only. Huge and it happens every year.”
“And?”, I ask.
“And people spend months trying to get invited.” She says but that’s not what I’m looking for.
“Why?” I ask
“Because Blackthorne students are weird like that.” She says
“Fair.”
She continues. “The partys kind of legendary.”
“Legendary how?” I asked
Aisha hesitates long enough for me to notice then she says;
“Lily was supposed to go before she died and everyone knows that.”
Her expression shifts from amusement to concern. “You’re never interested in this type of thing so why ask suddenly?”
I look away which is answer enough.
—-
I begin to notice that everyone is talking about the party and the fact that Lily was supposed to come and I realize that this is because I’m paying attention now and when I wasn’t hearing things that’s because I was not paying attention.
People were talking about who got invited,who didn't, who was bringing who but I did not care atleast that’s what I keep telling myself then I hear Adrian’s name and suddenly I care very much.
“Of course he is going.”
“He never misses it.”
“He will probably leave with half of the school in love with him.”
Laughter follows, and I keep walking but the words stay with me because this means that he plans to go tonight, which means the warnings matter and I hate the fact that it matters
I also hate the fact that I’ve spent the entire morning thinking about him and most importantly, I hate the fact that fear is stalking somewhere beneath my ribs and not fear for myself but for Adrian, a boy I barely know who knows things he shouldn’t and somehow has become my problem.
I find him after school not because I’m looking, but because apparently the universe has decided that subtlety is overrated. He’s standing alone near the athletic field and I walk straight towards him before I can change my mind and remember that confronting suspicious boys is usually a terrible life choice.
Adrian notices me immediately and something unreadable flickers across his expression then disappears. “What are you doing here?” he asks.
No hello or surprise, just the question and it stops me in my feet few feet away but close enough to notice how tired he looks.
I pulled the folded paper from my pocket and his gaze dropped to it and sharpened instantly.
“Read it,”I say.
The change is immediate, not dramatic but worse because the second he sees the words every trace of ease disappears from his face, his jaw tightens and his shoulders lock and for the first time since meeting him, Adrian Cole looks genuinely angry.
He folded the paper handed back to me and asked where did you get this? The question sent you to me because he didn’t ask what it meant or who sent it.
He asked where I got it which means he knows who rotates and I immediately pointed that out.
“You know who wrote it.” I said matter of fact.
His eyes meet mine but neither of us speaks and somehow that feels like an answer.
Finally, he says; “This changes nothing.”
My disbelief must show because a humorless smile touches his mouth. “They want me away from that party.”
“They?” I asked
“You think there's only one person involved?” He asked.
The words hit harder than they should but because I can respond, he continues, “If someone wants me gone tonight, then that’s exactly where I’m going.”
I stare at him. “Are you insane?”
“Probably.” He said
At least he is honest.
“Adrian….”
“No.” He interrupts.
The single word cuts through mine and his expression hardens and whatever fear I expected to find isn’t there, only determination and something darker and personal but he steps closer not enough to touch but enough to make my pulse misbehave.
“You need to stay away from this.” Adrian says.
My laugh escapes before I can stop it. “That’s funny coming from you.”
His eyes narrow slightly. “Why?”
Because everytime I try, another letter shows up and the air shifts immediately and for a moment neither of us looks away from each other.
Suddenly,I understand something, that this isn’t just happening to me, it’s happening to him too and the realization is terrifying because Adrian looks like someone preparing for war nobody else can see.
——
By nine o’clock that night, Blackthorne is buzzing and students leave campus in groups but I sit on my bed, staring at my phone waiting for God knows what.
I almost convinced myself the warning was meaningless then my phone rings but it was an unknown number.
My stomach drops instantly and the screen glows in the darkness.
I answer. “Hello?”
For a second I hear nothing then a male, unfamiliar and professional. “Am I speaking to Zara Vale?”
Every nerve in my body goes rigid. “Yes.”
There was a pause then
“Are you related to Adrian Cole?”
My heart stops. “What happened?”
Silence then…
“There’s been an accident.”
The phone slips from my hand because for the first time since the letters began I wasn’t afraid of the writer, I was afraid they were telling the truth.
- Writer
