Chapter 8 - Teaser

I laid in bed awake nearly that entire night. I simply couldn’t stop thinking about Anna. My phone was in my hand, her name already in place for the next text. I wanted to text her now so badly, but I knew she’d be sleeping and wouldn’t get to her until morning anyway. I started tapping out a text for her to wake up to, now sitting up in bed.1

Good morning. Work was fun yesterday, I can’t wait until tonight.2

My mind started to wander only a few minutes after I started creating the text. I was shaken out of my half sleep as my heart raced from the unexpected sound of the garage door opening. Peering over at the clock on my phone, which was still in hand, but limp against the bed, the numbers registered at almost two in the morning.3

“What the fuck?” I whispered into the quiet air of my bedroom.4

My eyes peered outside the window and sure enough my mother’s SUV was creeping up the driveway, tires crackling against the stones. I forced my eyes to refocus, peering at the alarm clock at my bedside, double-checking the time. The lime green numerals confirmed the time that my phone suggested.5

No lights were on in my room so I delved beneath my covers just before my mom opened my door to check if I were sleeping. My eyes strained against the lights of the hallway and I noticed a second silhouette beside my mom. The man was just a bit taller than her, but no features were available to my eyes. I squinted to try to see more, but she shut the door when she turned to him. I could hear in her giggle that she had been drinking.6

I pulled my hands out of the covers and deleted the message I had started sending to Anna and then typed out a new one:7

My mom just came home with some guy. No clue who. It’s 2 in the morning!8

I read it over to make sure I spelled everything correctly as I was still getting used to using a tiny keypad for the entire alphabet plus punctuation. I decided to just send it right away.9

Placing the phone beside my alarm clock, I rolled over and brought my sheets tightly around me, contemplating what just happened. I closed my eyes and opened them just to make sure that I hadn’t dreamt the last five minutes. Who can it be?10

When I shut my eyes, a terrible interference occurred between my cell phone and alarm clock. The phone started vibrating against the night table, falling off the edge as it was already close when I had set it down. I quickly caught it just as gravity took over and rolled back over as I heard the knob on my door moving.11

“Dani, honey?” I heard her voice coo, the two words almost slurring into one.12

I didn’t respond, thinking she had probably just heard the interference. I hid the light from my phone beneath my sheets and waited for her to shut the door and leave again. After I knew she was away from my door, I let out a heavy breath, afraid that the shock from the phone had upset my breathing.13

Bringing the phone out from under the covers, I flipped it open and read the line that was becoming increasingly familiar: 1 New Message.