Chapter 7 – The Stranger’s Warning
484 Words
The town square was quieter than usual, the air heavy with the promise of another storm. Luna clutched her shawl tighter around her shoulders as she walked, glad to be away from the suffocating silence of Hayes House.
She didn’t tell Rick she was going out. She couldn’t.
The bakery bell chimed softly when she pushed open the door. Ethan looked up from behind the counter, surprise brightening his features.
“Back again,” he said with a grin. “I was starting to think you only existed in my imagination.”
Luna smiled faintly. “I guess I needed a reason to escape the house.”
“Trouble at home?” he asked gently.
Her throat tightened. She hesitated, then shook her head. “It’s just… quiet. Too quiet.”
Ethan leaned closer, lowering his voice. “If you ever need someone to talk to, I’m around. You don’t have to be alone.”
The kindness in his words warmed her, but it also sparked fear. Because in the corner of the bakery, she caught a glimpse of something—or rather, someone.
A man she didn’t recognize, sitting alone with a cup of coffee. He wasn’t watching Ethan. He was watching her.
When their eyes met, he looked away quickly, but not before slipping a folded scrap of paper beneath his saucer.
Luna’s heart pounded.
She waited until Ethan turned to help another customer, then passed by the man’s table. Her fingers brushed the saucer, sliding the note into her palm.
She didn’t read it until she was outside, tucked in the shadow of the alley.
The words were scrawled in a hurried hand:
He isn’t what you think. Be careful.
Her stomach knotted. The handwriting wasn’t the same as the library note—but the message was.
Don’t trust him.
Her hands shook. Whoever left this… they knew something.
But how?
---
When she returned to Hayes House, Rick was waiting by the porch. Again.
His eyes swept over her, sharp and searching. “Where were you?”
Luna forced her voice steady. “The bakery. I just needed air.”
Rick stepped closer, his presence pressing down on her. “You’ve been spending a lot of time there.”
Her pulse quickened. “It’s just a bakery, Rick.”
His jaw tightened, and for a long moment, he said nothing. Then he reached out, brushing his thumb across her cheek as though she belonged to him.
“You don’t need anyone else,” he murmured. “Not him. Not anyone.”
The words chilled her more than the wind ever could.
---
That night, as Luna lay in bed, she unfolded both notes—the one from the library and the one from the stranger.
Two voices. Two warnings.
And one truth pressing heavier on her chest with every passing hour:
Rick was watching her.
But someone else was, too.
- Writer
