Chapter Thirty-one

You’re Caught on Tape

Richard Grayson was on his way to the parking lot. There were only few cars left parking. The parking lot looked deserted and very creepy; the light was flickering and the ambience seemed to be getting creepier.

His eyes were caught when he saw guy wearing black jacket with a hood and black pants, like a burglar, doing something unusual on a black Mitsubishi.

He remembered what Louis Lockwood’s description of the killer. It exactly matched. It was E.

E was trying to open the car door using a crowbar. E was sort of struggling in breaking in.

Richard thought in mind that E was not just a stalker and a murderer, but a ‘carnapper’ as well.

He stooped so that E won’t sense him. He tiptoed his way to his SUV and hides to see what E was doing. He could not automatically open his van with his remote because it will make an alarming sound that might catch E’s attention. So he carefully and silently used his car keys. It was really hard: the more silent and careful he managed; the more it created a sound.

  Luckily, E was not hearing something moving from behind because he was too busy.

Finally, Richard opened his door. He plugged in his car keys but did not switch it yet. He was still stooping, though. Then, he slid out from the driver’s seat to check E. He could barely see what E was doing because a white Chevrolet in front of his car was blocking the view. Richard touched his iPhone in his bag and quickly grabbed it. He tapped Video Recorder and started videoing E.

“You’re caught on tape, bastard.” He triumphantly whispered.

Suddenly, E dropped his crowbar and it clings. It panicked E because of the sound the crowbar made. E grabbed the tool and fled.

Richard ended the record and quickly slid inside his car. He already has the footage.

Out from nowhere, E suddenly showed-up in front of his van. E slammed his hands on the mouth of the van which startled Richard.

E was wearing a ski mask to hide its identity. E seemed to be really mad. The breathing was so obvious for the way his shoulders and chest move.

“You’re not gonna get me, bitch!” Richard ignited his engine. However, the engine suddenly shut down. “Damn it!” He switched it again and the engine started grumbling.

Then, E slowly approached Richard’s car door and tried to open it. It scared the whole out of Richard.

Richard quickly locked all the doors. He started panicking. “Leave me alone!”

E was still trying to open the door calmly making him much eerier. Pissed of not opening the door, he flung his hands and banged the glass window.

“Hey!” Richard got startled with the sickening thud. He restarted the engine cried. “I just fixed this!”

E was so pissed, he kicked the doors.

“Hah!” Richard insulted E more. “You will never open this door!”

Luckily, his engine started working. Richard let out a triumphant laugh.

E held on the door as Richard stepped on the gas and speeded up which made E get pulled by the van. E let go as the momentum threw him on the road.

Richard speeded up his car to lose the guy and he was successful in doing that. His heart was really pounding.

As he reached his house, he immediately called the guys and asked them to quickly come over.

Travis Becker finally arrived at Richard’s. He was standing on the front porch of the house still waiting after he pressed the doorbell.

While waiting for the door to open, his HTC started buzzing. Oh no. He thought that it might be E. For the past few days, the majority of his text messages were from E. Then, he opened his inbox. Luckily, the screen read ‘Brent’. He was so relieved to see his boyfriend’s text message asking him why he did not show up. Travis replied on Brent’s text. As he sent the text, Richard flung his door open.

“Are the two here yet?” Travis stepped on the foyer.

“Yeah,” Richard answered looking around to see if E was there spying on them.

Travis made a glance behind. “What are you looking at?”

“Making sure that E did not follow us,” Richard replied. Then, he closed the door and locked it.

Richard’s parents were out. His dad, along with his mom, was in Idaho as they were filming a movie. His dad designed the whole set and they will be there overnight.

Travis and Richard headed to his bedroom.

Louis and Ismail were on Richard’s window couch stargazing. Then, Richard and Travis emerged and they all gathered on Richard’s bed.

“E attacked me,” Richard started.

“Really?” Louis asked as he crossed his legs.

Richard nodded in reply.

  “E attacked us too! Travis, Jade and I,” Ismail added pointing him and Travis. “Not really attacked, you know. But he locked us in the gym.”

Richard told the story about spotting E in the parking lot trying to break-in on one of the cars as he took footage of it. Ismail and Travis also told there experience. As they were done telling their story, Richard showed the footage to them.

Travis recognized the vehicle. “No way, that’s Brent’s!” then, the clip ended. “Did he manage to open the car?”

“I don’t think so,” Richard replied. “I ran away when he dropped his tool.”

“He’s still in school,” Travis said. He was so worried, he called him. Brent was not picking up instead; his voicemail was the one picking up. “He’s not picking up!” Travis started pacing back-and-forth.

“Hello,” said Brent’s voicemail, “I’m busy. Just leave a message.” Beeeeeeep.

“Brent, it’s me. Um... Are you alright?” Travis said on the voicemail, “Please, call me back when you get this.” Then, the call time ended. Travis was so worried.

“Don’t worry,” Louis said, “he will be fine. We will catch E!”

Ismail’s left eyebrow rose. “How on earth are we gonna do that?”

Louis suggested that if they could trick E by texting him that they have footage of him breaking in to someone’s car and another diary – fake diary – that contained his identity.

Richard was curious about the idea of the fake diary. Then, they reluctantly agreed on the plan.

“When are we going to surrender it, then?” Ismail threw another question.

“I think we should text E now,” Louis suggested, “and scared him about it.”

“How would you know if E’s a he or a she?” Travis asked.

Richard shrugged. Louis and Ismail exchanged looks.

“Maybe we could have a face-to-face encounter with E and feel if he has boobs,” Ismail suggested. “Then, we could assume that it is a chick!”

“This is serious,” Louis said.

“I’m serious,” Ismail defended

Richard offered that he’ll text E right away. He grabbed his phone and typed:

Dumbass, I have your footage a while ago and we also have another Edward’s diary containing who you are. It’s okay to expose us because we will expose you first and you’re worse than us! Beat that!

“Good one, bro!” Ismail complemented the text.

Richard clicked Send and waited for E’s reply.

While waiting on E’s response, Travis’s phone suddenly rang. It was from Brent calling him. Travis quickly answered his phone. “Brent!”

“Hey, Travis?” Brent answered from the other end, “Where are you? I’m fine. Why?”

Travis stammered. “Um...” Then, he looked at the guys. They all signalled to tell him to proceed in talking. He understood his friends. “I just thought of asking! I miss you!”

“I miss you too,” Brent sincerely said. “You always seemed to be like that? Why?”

 Suddenly, Richard’s phone beeped. It’s from E.

“I gotta go,” Travis stammered again, “my... Mom, um.. Is calling me! Goodbye, I love you!” Then, he hung up and jumped on the bed to see the message.

Richard read the message.

Give that to me or someone pays.

They exchanged looks.

Richard handed the phone to them. “I don’t know what to say!”

Louis bravely grabbed Richard’s iPhone and typed:

I will give it to you in one condition: we surrender, you show your identity, stop the mayhem.

Then, he tapped Send. “There!”

Louis let out a huge sigh.

“Do you think it’ll work?” Travis asked.

Then, Richard’s iPhone beeped again. All of them were psyched.

E responded:

Meet me, Friday, 5PM at Janitor’s locker room. BRING NOBODY.

“I know E has back-up plans and will not give up easily,” Richard said. “We should---need to have those too!”

“Right,” Louis agreed.

“Why does he want it to be Friday when there is Thursday?” Ismail curiously asked.

“I don’t know, man. Why don’t you ask E?” Richard sarcastically replied.

Ismail glared at Richard. But he knows that Richard was just thinking as well and he did not take it seriously.

Then, they paused and exchanged looks. Ismail has a point with his question, though.

Suddenly, Richard remembered that Friday will be their game and by the time given by E, the game was already starting for the game starts at four which will make E and one of them faced one-on-one.

“That’s right,” Ismail snapped, “he wanted that because everyone will be on the game.”

“And it will be him and one of us,” Travis added.

“So, who will be the bait?” Richard asked.

“I think you should,” Travis pointed at Richard, “since you were the one who took that video. And you were the one whose number appeared on his.”

“I can’t!” Richard declined, “I’m on the game, remember? I can’t just leave and let the rest do it. Coach will kill me!”

“I want to do it,” Ismail offered, “but I can’t as well. I will be cheering on the event.”

“Eh-hem?” Travis purposely cleared his throat pertaining that he was a member of the squad as well.

“Oh yeah,” Ismail remembered. “We will be cheering.”

Then, all of them stared to Louis. Louis was left with nothing to do on the event than to watch and support.

“That leaves us to you, bro,” Richard said.

“Fine,” Louis agreed gently. “But I need back-ups!”

“Of course,” Richard said, “we promised that we will make a plan and not leave you alone.”

Louis thought of some possibilities. “What if, he does not show up? What if, before you came, I’m already dead?”

“Doubt it,” Richard snapped.

Travis pursed his lips and shrugged.

“Snap out of it,” Ismail cried, “negative Brit!”

“It’s good to think of the possibilities,” Louis responded as if he’s gonna die early.

“Wait,” Travis butted-in, “Another thing, Rich. E would be surprised in seeing Louis instead of you ‘cause you were the one who took the clip?”

“He knows that we’re in this together,” Richard said. He tapped Bluetooth on his phone to send the clip to Louis. “Turn on your Bluetooth.”

“You should create a fake diary as well,” Travis suggested.

“I will,” Louis nodded, “there are extra notebooks in the house.” His phone tinkled upon receiving the video. “Got it, Rich!”

“If it’s already five,” Ismail butted-in regarding of their plan, “neither of us, Travis, or maybe both of us would try to back you up secretly.” He pointed at Richard. “You will sure be stuck on your game. But we have lots of breaks so I think we could pull this through.”

“Brilliant!” Richard applauded, “we will catch this son-of-a-bitch once and for all!”

Then, they all stag their hands-up.