They Came With Secrets

27|A love letter

"So what you're telling me is there's a ghost named Ace Finnegan, residing in that mansion on Willow Lane and you're helping him find his killer alongside Levi."

I nod. "Yes."

She takes a sip of her coffee and places the mug on her nightstand. "Okay, I believe you."

Yes! "Wait, why do you believe me? You haven't even seen any evidence or..."

"Marie... I'll say this again... I live in Moorwood. I've seen a lot of things... this is just normal information." She leans on the headboard and stretches her arms out. "My question is, why were you keeping this from me?"

"Well he didn't exactly say I couldn't tell anyone... but I felt it would be wrong," I mutter.

"You're too much of goody two shoes."

My ringtone interrupts our conversation. To my dismay, it's my stalker again. But I'm happy I'm not alone this time. "Look." I show Gaia the screen. "It's the person I was telling you about."

She takes it from me and answers the call. "Gaia wai-"

"Shhhh," she silences me as she holds the phone to her ear. Just as I told her, the chilling exhales echo through the receiver.

"Hello?" she says.

As though this person didn't hear her, the sinister breaths continue, devoid of any discernible words. "Okay, can you like stop panting and speak? I can practically smell your stupid breath from here," she snaps.

I gasp. "Gaia-"

"You should at least let me know what you want— money, my head, but no, you're just breathing. Best believe we're on to you bitch and when we find you it's all over."

She hangs up and throws the phone at me. I catch it and glance at the screen. "What did you just do?" I panic.

"We have to let them know we're not scared."

"But I am scared. Maybe it's easy for you to say because you're not the one being stalked here."

"This person might not even be here, okay? Most likely this person's in Egypt or something and is just calling you to torment you."

"Well, I hope you're right." I glance at my phone again and see a message plastered on the screen. 'I can see you.' which was typed by my stalker.

I squeal and throw away my phone. "He said he can see us Gaia," I cry out. "You're too frigging gullible," she sighs and picks up the phone. "If he can see us then why doesn't he give us a sign."

Suddenly a loud thud breaks our conversation. Gaia furrows her brows and slides off the bed. "What was that?" she muses as she slinks to her window and parts the curtains aside. "Maybe it was just a blinded bird," she mutters.

"Yeah a bird, it was a bird," I agree, not wanting to look at any other theories.

Another loud thud against the window makes Gaia flinch and sends my heart beating into my throat. Immediately she shuts the curtains. "It was a rock," she concludes. "But I don't know where it came from."

"Meaning?" I ask.

"Meaning this person might not be in Egypt after all."

•••

Gaia and I decided to hit Starbucks right after Mae changed my bandages. Walking down the street, I spot Tristan approaching the building with Jack on his back. "What's up with these two," Gaia mutters.