Page 59 of Mortala
“I’m fine, man. I’ve just been stressed, but I’ll be fine, alright? You don’t need to worry about me.” I force myself to meet his eyes, because if I don’t, he’ll know.
He studies me for a long moment, and I wonder if he’s about to call my bluff. Instead he sighs, reaching into his hoodie pocket and extends his hand.
Hidden in his palm is the familiar plastic baggie, and relief washes through me before I can stop it. I should probably be afraid of that feeling but all I can focus on is grabbing the baggie.
I clap his hand, pulling him into a quick hug while slipping the folded cash into his palm. “Thanks, man.”
He pockets the money but doesn’t smile. “Text me if you need anything, alright?”
I nod, “Yeah, alright. Thanks, man.”
“Seriously.”
If only he knew what I actually needed.
I unlockthe door to my apartment and step inside, tossing my keys into the bowl on the entry table like I always do. The metallic clink echoes through the apartment, and I freeze.
A folded piece of paper sits in the bowl beneath my keys. My stomach sinks, there’s no way that motherfucker came back.
Every muscle in my body locks as I stare at the note. My apartment is dead silent, but suddenly every corner feels darker and every room feels violated all over again.
He was here, walking through my fucking house again, touching all my shit. I snatch the note from the bowl and unfold it, my fingers shaky with unspent anger.
Kiss your memories of her goodbye. She won’t forgive you now. She’s mine.
“FUCK!”The roar tears from my chest as I crush the paper into a tight ball and launch it across the apartment.
It bounces off the wall before rolling beneath the couch. I fist both hands in my hair and begin pacing the living room, tryingto think of how this piece of shit keeps getting into my damn apartment. I run my hands along my face when it hits me.
“Jesus Christ!”
The fucking cameras. I’ve been so wrapped up in Maddie, I’d completely forgotten I’d installed them. I practically sprint to my computer, nearly knocking the chair over as I yank it back and wake up my computer.
Come on! Faster you useless piece of junk!
The security software finally loads and I rewind through hours of footage until a figure steps into frame.
“There you are, you fuck.”
My heart rate quickens when I see him. A tall looking man with wide shoulders walks up to my door. The hidden peephole camera is so small it's impossible to notice unless you know it's there, but somehow…
The son of a bitch looks directly into it and I pause the footage. He’s wearing a black hoodie with black jeans and black leather gloves, and he has a skull mask on so I can’t see his face. The only part of him you can see are his bright blue eyes.
I watch him kneel in front of the door to pick the lock like he’d done it a hundred times, and walk right in.
“Sothat’show you’ve been getting in.”
I scroll through the rest of the footage. There’s really nothing here other than him walking around and looking through my shit—opening drawers, looking through cabinets, touching things that belong to me.
Eventually, he walks over to the entry table and places the folded note in the bowl on my table and walks out, locking the door behind him so I wouldn’t know he was here until after I found his note.
Wow, how polite of him.
I need to show this to Maddie. I call her, and once again, she doesn’t pick up.
Damn it.
I text her again, hoping maybe she’ll answer me this time. She turned her read receipts off the night she kicked me out of her dorm, so I never know for sure if she’s seeing my messages or deleting them the second they come through. I know she hasn’t blocked my number because the texts are going through, she’s just ignoring them.
