Lost ✔️

Chapter 54

Flashback:

Stephanie and Nathan were running in the forest. They did not have a reason to do so nor were they playing any kind of a game. It was one of those days when you felt as free as any bird in the sky. When your heart pounds hard against your ribcage.

When your school ends and a series of holidays starts.

Nathan had somehow managed to pass into the next grade while Stephanie had done considerably well than what she'd do a few years later.

Yes, it was the good ol' days.

Stephanie's parents had promised the two, ice-creams of their choice so now they were found running blindly with the blowing wind.

The breeze of the summer afternoon tore through their hair and the scent of the bark stuck to their noses like some kind of an irritating disease.

The two kids stopped running after losing their breath and stamina. 

Nathan reeled over and coughed.

"No.... no more....run..run...ing!",Stephanie said between her gasps for breath.

Nathan's t-shirt hung low due to gravity giving Stephanie, who was standing, a perfect view of his body.

Apart from being unabashed, the old Stephanie had been quite straightforward.

"Your bending over towards the ground is revealing all of your nipples", she informed him.

Nathan immediately stood straight and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Then don't look! My nipples are not for the public eye!", he shouts embarrassed.

"Well I liked what I saw and I am not any public now, am I Nathan?", she hinted whilst shrugging.

Nathan's stomach started to feel weird. As if there was someone tickling his insides without his consent.

He ignored the feeling and sat down on the grass. So did Stephanie.

"Hey there was a scar just below your neck", she said curiously.

"Oh this?", he said.

Nathan pulled the neck of his shirt to reveal a long scar stretching from his collarbone to his armpit. It looked old but yet ugly to any person.

"A barbed wire. I tried to climb a barbed fence and one of the pokey wires got stuck at my clothes and when it got a pull it etched this long-lasting cut. It was painful", he explained wincing at the memory.

Stephanie nodded slowly thinking of how painful it must have been to bear that wound. Thinking of wounds made the scars hidden beneath her clothes burn up and terrible memories jabbed at her bubbly mood.

Nathan saw her in distress and thought it was because of his scar.

"Don't worry I keep it covered. I know it's gross", he said awkwardly and covered the scar quickly.

"No it's fine. If anything it looks manly", she comforted him quietly.

Then she got up and offered her hand to a dumbfounded Nathan.

"Come on! We have the ice-cream to eat now!", she reminded him impatiently.

Nathan brushed his lingering thoughts away and took her hand.

Together they ran back to Stephanie's house, the scars forgotten with the passing trees.

*

Chris and Stephanie arrived at the police station just as Marilene and Steve did. All of them looked shaken but no one looked as broken as Stephanie herself. She had cried the entire way until she had finally fallen asleep.

They entered the autopsy room where the body had been taken to as soon as the police had discovered it. 

Jake Walker stood solemnly at a corner. He had covered the face so that Stephanie didn't have to see the grotesqueness of the crime.

A man had found the body dumped in a drainage and had immediately called for the police. Jake had known that it was Nathan by just looking at him and gave a call to Chris, Marilene and Steve a while later.

Now they were here. In the middle of the night.

Stephanie felt numb inside. There was nothing else to say or do. How many people had she killed off?

Yet there was something inside that told her it was wrong. That the entire situation was not right.

Nathan was not an easy kill.

It might as well be a trap.

Stephanie left Chris' side and wandered around Nathan's body. She came upto his neck and pulled his t-shirt down.

The scar...............

Stephanie looked around. It was a message for her. To be aware.

Be aware Steph, her mother's voice echoed in her head.

She didn't want anyone else to die. She kept quiet and walked away. 

Two hours later all except the detective were gathered in Chris' apartment. Marilene sat beside Stephanie and hugged her warmly. 

"I'm so sorry. Nathan didn't de-"

"-Die", Stephanie completed.

"What?", all of them said in unison.

"That isn't even Nathan. He is still alive", she said with a dead look. She didn't have any energy left for emotions at that point. 

She slowly explained everything about the scar and about her weird intuition to everyone.

It was already early in the morning by the time she had completed her story. The rising sun showed dimly through the window. Suddenly Stephanie's phone buzzed in her hand. She opened it to find the message :

Open the door. I have a gift for you. You'll love it!

It was sent by the contact named 'Brandon'. She didn't feel excited or scared at what amazing gift  he had to give her.

Stephanie quickly rushed to the door while the others just stared at her, not knowing what had happened.

She opened the door but found nobody in front of her. That was until she realized it was beneath her that she had to look.

A piercing cry was sounded in the entire neighborhood that morning. 

Stephanie's voice echoed throughout the place as she sank to her knees out of pure shock.

"HOW COULD THIS BE?!", she wailed.

How could this be?

*****

Yes how could it be? Well I'll leave the guesses upto you then....

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