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Did little Charlie cut herself?
The possibility wasn’t one I would’ve thought of on my own. She didn’t seem like the type. Which, okay, might be assuming a lot based on her appearance, but besides the sad look in her eyes, she’d seemed normal.
But then again, to the untrained eye, so did I. It’s how I’d blended in for so long, how I’d gotten away with everything I had. When you seemed normal, no one ever expected the worst from you, no one thought you could be capable of atrocities that would keep any sane person lying awake at night.
I thought back to Charlie. I’d seen her in short sleeves, and I was pretty sure her wrists were scar-free. I would’ve noticed scars on her wrists and been unable to keep my curiosity to myself. I would’ve asked her about them. But, since I hadn’t, I was almost one hundred percent sure she had no visible scars.
Which, really, meant this blade was in her desk so it could remain near because she thought of doing it often, or it meant her scars were in a place no one else would ever see. Her thighs? She’d worn shorts that first night, but they weren’t particularly short shorts—though on her small figure, everything seemed extra long and baggy.
I admit, this blade made me a bit more curious about her. Out of all the things I could’ve found in her boring room, this was among one of the last items I would’ve imagined finding.
Why did she have it? Had she used it already? And if so, why? What made her want to cut herself? Breaking up with that Zak guy? Hmm. I wanted to ask her about it, but I had the feeling she’d freak out if she knew I’d found her dirty little secret, so maybe I’d let it be.
For now.
I returned the blade where I found it, careful not to cut myself again.
There was a difference between cutting to make yourself hurt and cutting to kill yourself. I’d say Charlie, if she had used the blade before, was the former, but I couldn’t be too certain of that. She might’ve saved my life and demanded I use my deadly skills to take care of her stalker, but I didn’t know much else about her besides what I could glean from social media.
There was more to Charlie than I’d thought. Instead of finding answers in her room, I’d only found more questions. I was curious about this girl now.
That probably wasn’t a good thing for either of us.
Chapter Nine – Charlie
Classes went by without a hitch, and I was walking to my car when my phone rang. I picked it up without looking at the name on the screen, assuming it was Brett. “Hello?”
Silence on the other line. No one spoke, and when that silence lasted for more than five seconds, my feet skidded to a stop right in the middle of the sidewalk, causing everyone else to walk around me.
Between classes on campus, the sidewalks were jam-packed full of other students coming and going. The only time campus was dead was in between classes or on the weekends. I had to come to the library a few times last semester to work on a paper, and the difference had been night and day.
“Hello?” I said again. I usually never answered my phone, ever, unless it was my parents or my sister calling. Phone calls were always scams these days anyways, and besides that, who the hell wanted to talk on the phone? Not me. I’d rather message back and forth on my own time.
But, of course, I never did that now, anyway. I’d lost most of my friends after graduation, and the ones who’d gone here with me, well… things had blown up there.
“Hello Charlie.” The voice that spoke on the other line sounded as though it was garbled, jumbled, twisted by some kind of app or voice-masking device. “Did you like your present?”
I pulled my phone away from my ear, finding that the number was restricted, and therefore I couldn’t block it. I could block every single creepy profile on any social media site, but this… I couldn’t block this. The only thing I could do was not answer my phone, and it was too late for that this time.
I walked off the sidewalk, into the small grassy area. I was right in the middle of two large buildings, and the concrete was busy with other students lost in their own lives. “Who is this?” I could barely get the question out. Not that I thought he’d tell me, but I had to try. I was sick of these games.
My mistake for letting it go on this long. My stupid mistake for thinking that he’d get the hint and move on. No, I couldn’t be that lucky.
“Don’t play dumb. You know who this is.” Even though the voice was unrecognizable and barely human-sounding, it still sent a chill down my spine. “You look worried, Charlie. Are you worried that I got into your room so easily without waking you up? Or maybe you’re worried about what I’ll do next.”
Ilookedworried.
That meant he was nearby, watching.
My eyes darted around, and I spun a full circle, trying to find someone who looked out of place, someone on their phone. But on a college campus, it was damn near impossible to find someone whowasn’ton their phone. It was impossible to find anyone out of place. Everyone blended in with each other.
“How did you get in my room? How’d you get in my house?” I asked, suddenly feeling claustrophobic, like the crowd was going to choke me. Take up all the air and leave me with nothing. My throat itched.
“Charlie,” the creepy voice whispered my name. “You know I can’t tell you that. I only came because I had to see you. You kept blocking me online, so it was the only way I could.”
What he’d said, the words themselves threw me back in time, to a memory that wasn’t so good.
“Honey,” my mom spoke, poking her head into my room, “Zak’s here to see you.” When I looked up from my desk and gave her a wide-eyed look, she added, “Don’t worry, we didn’t let him in, but he says he won’t go away until you talk to him. Do you want us to call the cops?”
