I follow Laura down the road, being extremely cautious of my surroundings. Her long strides tell me that she is still extremely angry, as does her pulled back shoulders. I bite my lip as I think about the conversation with the officer. He didn't seem the least bit concerned about this whole thing, which rubs me the wrong way.

But, I can see that he's probably thinking the same thing I was before about this just being a cruel prank. Laura is the only one who doesn't seem to think so.

"Laura, wait up!" I call for around the fifth time. Only this time she stops and impatiently waits for me, tapping her foot against the cracked pavement.

I run up to where she's standing, my chest heaving for breath. She doesn't say anything, barely even acknowledges that I'm even beside her. Laura starts to speed-walk again, and I can barely keep up with her. I guess her being on the track team makes it easy for her, as opposed to me, the girl who sits in a library all morning and who couldn't care less for sports.

After a few minutes of walking, Laura finally breaks the deafening silence that I so desperately wanted to escape from. "I'm going to figure out who's doing this Mel. I don't care if the police aren't going to do anything."

I bite my lip, suddenly worrying for her safety. Who knows what the man could do if she is trying to figure out who he is. "Are you sure you should be doing that?" I ask uncertainly.

Laura's eyebrows furrow. "Why not? The police aren't going to do anything to help and you really don't deserve this kind of stress."

I don't know how exactly to respond. She'll think I'm being paranoid if I say what I really think about the situation. Instead of arguing, I stay silent. If she wants to investigate then there will be no stopping her. Laura's kind of annoying like that.

"Hey," Laura's face softens when she notices that I'm not paying attention. "It's going to be alright, okay?"

"Yeah," I say, more for the sake of her to stop bugging me about it. "Just be careful; don't do anything stupid, okay?"

"When have I ever done something stupid?" Our faces break out into smiles at Laura's comment. I can think of a million things to answer her question, but I leave it alone. She'll be fine. I know she will. Laura can get out of almost anything if she gets in over her head. I've learned that about her.

The one time, she wormed out of getting detention from not finishing homework by saying her dad accidentally threw her paper away. I found it incredibly idiotic that they would believe her, considering the story, in my opinion, sounded made-up (which it was). The teachers all love her anyway, so I guess they decided to let it slide.

I see the old three-foot high fence that surrounds my home a little ways down the road and I stop in my tracks. I don't want to leave Laura alone, considering that I disobeyed what the man said earlier today, but I know that I will have to leave her sometime. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

She nods, smiling, "Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow."

We embrace for a few moments. I notice that Laura's hands are shaky, but I don't say anything. There's no need to bring it to attention when I know exactly what's wrong. When I pull away, she gives another small smile before starting back down the sidewalk, leaving me alone in front of my small run down house.

I open the gate and step inside the property, glancing around the street one more time before heading up the creaky steps to the front door. Grabbing my set of keys to the house from my pocket, I unlock the door and step inside.

The house is dark, which tells me that Mom hasn't returned from work yet. She'll probably be at work until at least five, and its four-thirty now. Flicking on the light, I throw my keys on the table and grab a quick snack from the cupboard. While I munch on the granola bar, I think about the day's events. Never in a million years did I think I would ever go to the cops to report something as foreign as this. In my opinion, this doesn't even seem that serious yet. I've seen someone around for two weeks and have gotten one text and one phone call. What can I say though; Laura likes to overreact a lot.

A few moments later, I throw the wrapper in the trash bin and head upstairs to my room. After throwing my bag on my bed, I head to my desk and sit down on the comfortable seat, looking down at the story I had scribbled down the night before. I shake my head as I read through it.

It's funny how just last night, I could think that stalking, abducting, and murdering was intriguing. Now I just want everything to go away, to not have someone taunting me. Right now, I'm just waiting for him to call or text me, telling me what he's going to do since I went to the police after he told me not to.

I bite my lip, tempted to just throw the story in the trash and start with something that's less dark and more lighthearted, like little fluffy bunnies wandering a forest or something.

Who am I kidding? My brain's not hardwired for that kind of thing. It never really was.

Just as I'm about to pull out my homework for the day, my phone, which had been in my pocket for most of the day, vibrates. My heart lurches as I take it out from my pocket. Only, as I check the caller ID, my shoulders slump and I sigh in relief. It's not him, thankfully. On the fourth ring, I answer the call and put the phone up to my ear.

"Hey, Laura, I was just thinking of calling you."

The same heavy breathing as the time the man called me fills the line. The grin quickly drops off of my face and is replaced with absolute terror. I take the phone away from my ear to double check the caller ID, to maybe see if I was mistaken about who called, but I wasn't. It's Laura's number. He's calling from Laura's cell!

"H--Hello?" I say, putting the phone back to my ear. My hands tremble with fear as I wait for him to answer.

"Why do you have my friend's phone?" I say more boldly when he doesn't reply.

It seems I wait for ten minutes before he finally speaks. His voice, rough and bone-chilling, fills the receiver. It makes me tremble even harder than before. "Hello, Melanie."

I shut my eyes, my fingers gripping the phone tightly. I repeat, "Why do you have my friend's phone? Where is Laura?"

He lets out a crazed laugh and I have to pinch my arm to calm my shaky hands. "I'm afraid that dear Laura is preoccupied at the moment, but don't worry, Melanie. You won't have to deal with her for very much longer."

I freeze, taking in what he has just said. Is he trying to tell me that he is going to kill Laura?

I can barely find the words to speak. "N--No! Leave her alone! Please, leave her alone!" I say weakly, "she has nothing to do with this!"

"That is where you are wrong, Melanie," he replies. I can actually hear the smile in his voice as he continues to speak. "You see, she is meddling in business that isn't hers to meddle with, and I told you that there would be a punishment if you went to the police. Now, I must go. Laura requires my very special attention at the moment."

A girl's scream rips through the receiver; Laura's. Before I can yell for him to stop, the line clicks. He is gone, just like the last time he called at my school.

"No!" I yell, redialing Laura's number. I wait with nerves bubbling in my stomach. When he doesn't answer, I spring into action.

Dropping my phone on the table, which probably isn't a very good idea considering the fact that I'm not sure if he will call me back, I race downstairs and barge through the front door without my shoes on. I proceed to run as fast as my legs can carry me, ignoring the pebbles sticking to my socks, down the street, heading over to Laura's house. Judging by her scream, Laura may not have a lot of time left.

When I reach her house, I pound my fists against the door screaming, "Please! Open up, Laura!"

I don't care if it looks like I'm mentally challenged to her neighbors. I have to see if she's still here. I have to know if she is okay.

Much to my dismay, it isn't Laura who answers the door. It's her mother. Her chocolate-brown eyes widen with alarm as she notices how distraught I am. "Melanie? What's wrong?"

"Where's Laura?" I ask urgently, trying to catch my breath from running so far.

Laura's mother looks alarmed at the mention of her daughter. I begin to panic when she speaks, "Laura hasn't come home yet. I thought she was still with you!"

The remaining blood drains from my face, leaving me extremely pale. "She hasn't returned home?"

Her mom shakes her head. I turn away from the house and look into the vacant street, my heart in my throat. He has her.

He has her.

"LAURA!" I scream.

___________________________________________________________________

Ohhh stuff is going down now! And yes, I know very well the last half of the chapter is the prologue :p

So I revamped the prologue up to chapter 4, and there are significant changes that I made, plot changes.

I'd suggest you skim through the story again to get the full gist of it :)

A new update comes Friday!

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