6. Myles #2
The only thing I’ve never been able to find is anything related to me or Jacob Fisher. The only information I found is that he was hired last summer to be part of the house maintenance crew. Everything else I’ve learned came from digging around and following breadcrumbs outside of the school.
Even with the info I was able to suss out, I still can’t make sense of what’s going on. On paper, Jacob was a regular guy who got a job at a fancy school and ended up dead, but the story changes the deeper I dig because Jacob Fisher didn’t even exist until a year ago.
I’ve done everything I can think of to figure out who he really is, but I keep coming up empty-handed.
The other man involved in blackmailing me definitely existed, but I can’t find any connection between him and Jacob, or him and the Kings. His connection to the student I was forced to try to help him kill is as obvious as why he did it, but that’s where all of this stops making sense.
Another prickle of unease moves through me, and a shiver dances up my spine. That feeling of being watched is getting stronger, but is that because someone is actually watching me or because I’m so paranoid about everything else going on that it just feels like someone is?
I haven’t seen even a trace of my hooded friend since he saved me, and a part of me is legit worried that he isn’t watching me anymore. That whatever happened a few nights ago was enough for him to be like, Yeah, I’m out , and I’ll have to deal with whatever the fuck is going on alone.
The fact that I’m even thinking like this at all is fucked up. I’m upset that my maybe stalker might not be stalking me anymore and won’t be there to potentially save me again if something else happens.
How sad is it that the only person in the world I feel even remotely safe around right now is someone who is an objectively dangerous person?
Why the hell am I hoping my stalker is real and that he’ll protect me like some sort of antihero instead of being freaked out by the fact that I might have a stalker in the first place?
A green light on my screen catches my attention, and I reflexively set my status to offline. Guilt churns in my gut as a message from Echo pops up in our chat window.
Echo : Did I miss you? Are you still around?
Echo : I just need proof of life
She adds some praying hands to her message.
Echo : you only go dark like this when you have shit going on and I’m worried about you
The line of hearts she adds to her message makes my heart ache.
Echo is a few years older than me, and she’s always acted like a big sister to both me and Cipher, even though he’s actually about a year older than her.
Back when we first met, Echo was always the first to step in and put other players in their place for the shit they said and how they talked to me when I was a literal child, even though she wasn’t much older and had to deal with twice as much abuse for being a girl gamer.
I’ve done my best to stand up for her the way she always did for me, but taking on my cyberbullies is only one of the many ways she’s always been there for me, whether I needed a protector or advice or even just someone to listen to me vent.
She deserves better than to be shut out like this, and I mark myself as online.
Phoenix : ugh, of course you come online just as I have to go do exam prep
Echo : he lives!
Echo : are you sure everything is okay? I’m worried about you
Phoenix : Everything is fine. Just trying to get through exams
Echo : I don’t miss those days, I swear exams were half the reason I dropped out of college
Phoenix : yeah, they’re the worst. Especially here
Echo : okay, I won’t keep you if you have to go
Echo : but don’t be a stranger. It freaks me out when I don’t hear from you for more than a day
Phoenix : I’ll try to do better. Once exams are done things will calm down and then you won’t be able to get rid of me and you’ll be begging me to go offline and leave you alone
Echo : lmao promise?
Phoenix : promise
Phoenix : ttyl
Echo : ttyl
I set my status back to offline and start another scan for the elusive file I’ve been searching for. It’s still early, but I might as well go to the dining hall and get something to eat.
That feeling of being watched hits again as I stand, but instead of making me uneasy, some of my nerves and mental turmoil over lying to one of my best friends actually settle.
“Christ on a bike,” I mutter to myself, cutting across the room to my dresser. “You need therapy. A lot of therapy,” I tell myself and pull open the drawer to dig around for a fresh shirt.
It takes way more effort than I’d ever admit to, but I manage to change shirts without looking out the window and scanning the trees for any sign that someone may be out there.
I don’t know if I actually have a stalker or if I’m losing my marbles and trying to manifest one, but I’ll only drive myself crazy if I’m constantly looking over my shoulder or searching out shadows in the trees.
The only thing I can do is live my life and try to get through the next ten days. If someone is out there and watching me, then whatever. It’s not like I can do anything to stop him.
And maybe he likes what he sees.