Can you stop caring about my well-being? It’s confusing.
Dexter
No.
I tuck my feet up underneath me and try to ignore how my heart squeezes. All the energy leaves me in a rush, and I give up on my search.
Hazel
Will you turn the cameras off again?
Hazel
Please.
I chew on my lip as the three dots appear.
Dexter
They’re off. Now eat some food, Hazel.
I let out a breath. Maybe I’m being naïve but for the sake of my own sanity I choose to believe my new stalker has done as I asked. My stomach rumbles then and I decide to hate Flynn a little more.
I slide off the couch onto the floor like jelly then drag myself up and walk through the arch into the kitchen. I don’t actually think I have any food, so I don’t know whether to cry or have a heart attack when I open the refrigerator.
It’s fully stocked. The drawers packed full of fresh fruit and veg, half a dozen microwave meals stacked on the shelves. I stand there, bathed in the refrigerator light, my brain glitching. Then I pick up my phone.
Hazel
You bought me food?
Dexter
Yes.
I stare at his answer. One word Flynn confuses me. It’s like in his mind the answer is really that simple. I needed food, so he got me groceries.
Hazel
I’m not saying thank you.
Dexter
What do you call a person who only eats tinned food?
Dexter
… A can-nibal.
I laugh a little, then scowl and put my phone face down on the old wooden dining table. It feels like I maybe shouldn’t trust the guy who broke into my house to not have tampered with thefood, so I pick the pre-packaged mac and cheese and check the seals.
I put it in the oven because I saw on some cooking show that they’re better that way and then I head back to my room.
Teddy Bundy smiles up at me.
I debate going to stay the night at Wright’s but it’s dark out now and I can just imagine how me turning up on her doorstep would go.
Hey, so you know that serial killer who escaped from Drayford? Well he climbed in through my bedroom window last night. Long story short, I threatened him with my vibrator, we bonded over hot chocolate andFriends, but now he’s put cameras all over my house, so mind if I crash at yours tonight?
