OLIVIA

"Hey, Olivia," Blake called to her when Elijah brought her back from math tutoring. He had been splayed out on the couch, lazily watching TV, but he jumped up to come greet her before she could go upstairs to her room. "How was school?"

"Fine." Milo's friends had been overbearing in their attempts to make her 'feel better.' Emily was the only one who minded her own business; Bridget repeatedly asked if she was okay, and Jake wouldn't stop trying to split his lunch in half with her. Olivia knew they were trying to be nice, but she eventually escaped to the bathroom to rid herself of their presence.

She didn't need to feel better. She was fine just as she was.

"Fine?" Blake repeated. He turned his head a little so she was having to look at him full on in the face. She felt uncomfortably exposed and had to sidestep a bit, making it seem as if she was just adjusting her backpack. 

"Did something happen?" he continued. 

"No."

"O-okay." He didn't ask anything else, but he kept staring at her.

She had to make him think about something else. She couldn't have him actually caring about her. She was letting this get too far.

She said the first thing that came to mind. "Can I borrow your laptop? I have to print something."

"Yeah, just take it from my desk. You remember the password, right?"

"Yes."

Blake gave Oliva instructions on how to print out her homework for English. When she was done, she opened her email.

She had a new one. This time, it was from a different email address.

From: [email protected]

Subject line: i see you

Hadn't whoever was behind this had enough already? Hadn't they kept her awake enough nights on end? Why wouldn't they leave her alone? 

Olivia pressed her fingers to her throbbing temples. She squeezed her eyes shut as if that would somehow make the screen vanish.

She wanted to tell Elijah. She wanted to tell Blake. She wanted someone to know that this person was after her.

Stop being overdramatic. Just open the damn email.

It's just like ripping off a Band-aid.

She didn't want to see it.

You have to see it. Otherwise, you won't know how close they're getting.

Olivia clicked on the email. Like the previous one, it had a large picture in it with some text at the top.

Found you. You tried to move out of state, but we've got eyes everywhere. We know where you live.

Underneath the few lines of words, there was an enlarged picture of her. At school.

It was from that same day.

She was still wearing the same clothes as she was in the picture.

Olivia's fingers felt numb. Close it, close it, close it, she told herself, but she couldn't get anything to move. It was like her nerves weren't attached to her brain anymore.

Goddammit.

It's fine. You don't need to close it. Just close your eyes. Just breathe.

Eventually, Olivia calmed herself down enough to click out of her email.

We know where you live.

Something awful was growing in her stomach. They knew where she lived. They were going to find her. They were going to take Elijah and Blake and hurt them.

She didn't want anyone else to get hurt.

Why had she agreed for Elijah to adopt her?

She put her head down on the desk and clasped her hands behind her neck and fought the onslaught of tears threatening to spill over. She wouldn't be able to bear it if one more person was taken away from her. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she had to identify another dead family member. 

"Olivia? Are you alright?"

Why were they always asking her if she was okay? Didn't they have their own lives to take care of? She didn't need them hovering around her all the time. If they were always around, she was going to be lulled into saying something she was supposed to keep secret. 

She lifted her head to placate him, but she didn't turn to face the door. "I'm fine, Elijah."

"Sure?"

"Yes," she gritted out.

"Well..." Elijah stopped what he was saying. "If you want anything to eat, let Blake know. I think he's baking mozzarella sticks for himself."

Olivia had been starving five minutes ago. She hadn't eaten her lunch. But now, she couldn't stomach the mere thought of eating anything.

We know where you live.

"I'll come if I get hungry," she told him, and he mercifully left her alone.

*****

Wednesday, after math tutoring, Olivia walked with Melanie to cheerleading practice. Melanie was telling her some long winded story about a party someone had told her about during which the next door neighbor called the cops, only to discover his own son was there.

"Melanie," Olivia said as she took a breath in between one story and the next.

Melanie looked slightly startled. She stopped walking. "Yeah? What's up?"

"You know - you said your dad works homicide, right?"

She looked entirely confused, but she replied. "Yeah, that's right."

"Did he ever - I mean, does he know someone named Jared?"

"Jared?" Melanie shrugged. "I don't know. I know about the guys named Hernandez and Grant, but if he knows a Jared, he's never talked about him."

Hernandez and Grant. They were on opposite sides of the paper. This wasn't helping.

"Why do you ask?"

"Oh, you know." Olivia shrugged too, tried to make it as nonchalant as Melanie's shrug. "One of my friend's dad from my last school worked with a guy named Jared. Then he transferred, so I'm just wondering if he came here."

"About the dad or the friend of the dad?"

"Um...." What had she said? She couldn't remember.

"Oh!" Melanie's eyes brightened and she nodded. "You mean the friend of the dad of your friend. Right?"

Olivia swallowed her grimace. "Yes...."

"Cool! I can ask my dad if he knows-"

"Oh, no, it's fine," Olivia blurted. "I was just - I was going to get back in touch with the friend anyways. I'll just ask her today."

"I could ask my dad anyways-"

"No, no, no," Olivia repeated, a bit more forcefully than was necessary. "I promise, it's fine."

Melanie pursed her lips. "Well. If you say so." She remained silent a moment before she waved a hand down the hall, motioning towards the gym locker rooms. "You want to come watch practice for a while?"

Olivia shook her head. "My brother's waiting for me. I can't."

Melanie's eyebrows shot up her forehead. "You've got a brother? You never told me. I thought you were an only child. That is so cool! Is he older than you?"

Oh no.

She had said brothers.

When had she started considering them her brothers?

She said, "He's way older. He's never at home. It's just - today he's in town."

"That old, huh? Well, if you can't watch me now, will you come to the game Friday? You could watch Jackson play and me cheer. And Ingrid will be there, too."

"I don't think I can-"

"Come on!" Melanie took Olivia's hands in hers and looked her in the face. Her clear blue eyes sparkled as she grinned. "It'll be fun. You don't even have to stay the whole time if you don't want to. You know, because it's a home game."

No, no, no. Say no.

But Melanie's smile was so brilliant and genuine that she found herself saying, "I'll see if I'm free."

When Olivia finally escaped Melanie and got in Elijah's car, he gave her a look. "Olivia, I texted you three times."

Olivia slid down in her seat. She had messed up. Again. 

"I was talking to someone."

"A friend?"

"A girl from my class."

He hesitated, then asked, "Is someone bothering you?"

Where had he got that idea? "No. She's my math peer tutor. The one Blake said was nice."

"Nice people can be mean," he murmured. "But why do you look so stressed out, if she wasn't bothering you?"

You've got a brother? You never told me.

Olivia dragged a hand through her curls and then pulled them in front of her face. Was it that clear on her face? Could he see it written on her forehead?

She wanted to tell him so badly. She wanted him to put his hand on her back and tell her everything was going to be okay like he had when she broke down crying for her mom. She just wanted someone to know. 

"Elijah-" Her breath hitched in her throat right in time to stop her from spilling out her guts to him.

"Yeah, hon?"

Olivia looked out the window, away from his piercing stare, and forced everything down into a pit in her stomach. She hadn't spilled anything before, and she wouldn't do it now either. 

"Just don't call me hon."

So I thought I deleted everything because I couldn't see my story on my account anywhere and I actually re-put everything back up only to discover it back to normal the next day. I have no idea what happened.

Also, I have a few more chapters written ahead, but I'm not sure how fast I should update them. Any opinions, thoughts, preferences?

As always, remember to vote and comment!

For next time: Cody will be at it again. And someone will be taking more pictures.