Laura's mother tries to question me as I sob on her living room couch. My tears lay on top of the dark leather, refusing to soak into the fabric. She had invited me in after I freaked out at her front door about her daughter being missing.

As I continue to mutter incoherent sentences, my stalker's (as Laura called him) voice echoes in my head like little atomic bombs ready to explode. I fear that he has already killed her, or at least harmed her beyond repair, but I cannot tell Laura's mother that. She probably wouldn't believe me even if I did.

I don't even know what I can say instead to Laura's mother. I can't exactly say that Laura's disappearance is my fault, even though it is. That would lead to further questioning and I'm afraid that if Laura isn't dead yet, she will be if I tell her mother about what has been going on. I can tell that he doesn't want anyone else knowing about him, especially the police or our parents. He basically stated it in the phone call.

"Melanie, I'm going to ask you one more time," Laura's mother says sternly from the other couch across from the one I'm in. "What is going on?"

I wipe the tears away that are gathering in my eyelashes and convince myself to calm down, at least a bit. If he's watching, I'm just giving him more power than he already has over me.

My gaze locks with hers. Her brown irises reflect curiosity and worry. I run my tongue over my lips to soak up the salty tears that mingle there.

"I--" As I try to speak, my words are cut off when the house phone begins to ring. I freeze and pray to god it isn't the police, or worse. I hold my breath as she answers it, eyeing her face for any sign of something being wrong.

"Hello?"

Laura's mother grows pale and motions for me to come closer with her hand. My breath catches in my throat as I stand, walking over to stand beside her. As soon as I ask her who it is, Laura's mother puts the phone on speaker with shaky fingers. When I hear the voice, I look to her in horror. It's him.

It's my stalker.

"Hello, Melanie," his voice taunts through the speaker.

My eyes shut tightly as tears threaten to escape my eyes. They cling to my eyelashes as I answer. "Where is she?"

"Who?"

I clench my fists by my sides, no longer caring about the fact that Laura's mother is right there, I say, "Laura, you sick son of a bitch!"

He chuckles loudly, causing me to scream, "Where is she?"

"I can't say, it would ruin the fun," he reasons. From his tone of voice, I can tell he's smirking on the other side of the phone. I can see only red. He thinks this is all a game; a sick game that he's controlling. I feel like a puppet on strings, and each time he makes a move, me or my family get tossed around in the process.

"You better tell me where she is or I swear I will kill you!"

"We both know that you wouldn't be able to kill me," he says, his tone menacing. "You're too weak."

My lower lip quivers as I try to regain my composure. He's right. I can't even slap someone without feeling incredibly bad about it afterward.

Then he begins to speak, and I'm thrown back into reality. "But, I will give you a hint."

I wait with bated breath, ignoring the fact that Laura's mother is looking at me like I have two heads. Finally, he speaks.

"What street does your mother work on, Melanie?"

The line clicks and he's gone. The truth comes crashing down on me like a ton of bricks as I think about what he had said. The restaurant my mom works at is on Eighth Street, but where exactly would Laura be? Eighth Street is the most popular area of town. She could be anywhere.

"Melanie, who was that?" Laura's mother says, snapping me out of my thoughts. Her pupils are dilated in fear as she looks up at my horror-struck face, waiting for an answer.

I try to compose myself again, but it's hard when I get a phone call like the one we had just gotten. I take a deep breath and nod slowly, as if reassuring myself that everything is okay, even though it isn't.

"I'll explain later," I begin, swallowing slowly. "We have to go down to Eighth Street."

I grab my coat from the sofa and slip it over my shoulders. I hope that I'm wrong about what he is sending me after. If I'm right, I have just lost my best friend.

"Melanie, wait!" Laura's mother asks, grabbing my arm to stop me from heading out the door to her car. "I'm not letting you go off god only knows where without an explanation! This man seems to know where Laura is, and you're not telling me why? What is going on?"

I shake my head slowly. "I'll tell you later. Are you coming or staying?"

She bites her lip as she grabs her coat. "I don't know what this is about, but whatever it is; I'm not letting you go alone."

I find it hard to believe that her mother is just accepting all of this so easily, but I guess when a person is in shock, they accept things easier than a clear-minded person. I know that from experience.

A few minutes later, after climbing into her small car, we pull out of the driveway and rip down the street with my heart pounding hard against my chest.

•••

I almost throw myself out of the car when we park in front of the rundown restaurant where my mom works. It's one of the only ones in our town, aside from McDonalds and A&W, but let's face the fact that fast food franchises don't really count.

Laura's mother trails behind me as I look for anything that might hint to where Laura is. The street is relatively quiet, with only a couple people walking about on the sidewalk. It's the perfect place for someone to do something horrific or sadistic as he is suggesting.

I stop when I notice an alley behind the restaurant. My heartbeat speeds up. This could be the perfect place to hide someone. I begin to walk down the dark alleyway; glancing back first to make sure that Laura's mother is still behind me. I'm scared at what I may find if I go in too far. I don't want to know what the sick bastard has done.

I'm pushed to keep going when thinking about how Laura needs my help. Her piercing scream fills my mind again and I let out a choked sob. If anything has happened to her, it will be my fault.

"Melanie, I don't think we should be down here," Laura's mother calls from behind me. Her voice is brittle with grief. "It doesn't look safe."

"I know," I say firmly. "But Laura needs our help, and something tells me she may be down here."

Laura's mother comes up from behind me and shakes her head. "Melanie, what is this about? All of the sudden, I'm getting creepy phone calls from a random guy and now you're telling me that my daughter is missing!"

Her voice elevates the more she speaks. I sniffle and turn around, my calm demeanor fading away. If she wants to know so badly, then I'll tell her. "Fine, I've been being stalked for the past couple weeks and Laura just helped me tell the police about it today. When I got home, he called from Laura's phone and said that he had her. Alright? Are you happy now?" I snap my gaze level with hers.

Laura's mother looks stunned. "What?"

I shake my head and turn around, drying a few stray tears with my fingers. "Never mind, you stay here. I'm going to go in a bit further."

She doesn't reply, even though deep down I really want her to come with me. I always feel stronger when I'm with someone.

I walk slowly down the alley, looking for any signs of Laura. My heart begins to pound in my throat. What if I do find Laura down here and she's dead?

A crash echoes from the spot in front of me. I jump and spin around to the source. My fists clench at my sides as I try to slow my breathing. I'm just scaring myself now. There's nobody here except for Laura's mother and I.

I turn a corner and walk a bit further down before I freeze. A dark shape is lying on the ground, but I can't tell if it's a body because of how dark the alley is. I shakily pull out my phone and click the sleep button. When I move the light from the screen towards the shape, I let out a blood-curdling scream that should definitely draw attention to the spot behind the restaurant.

Thick blood covers the body and the ground around it. The throat is slit and the chest has deep scratches made by a knife. I can actually see some of the body's rib cage. When my eyes, along with the light emitting from my phone, wander up to the face, I scream loudly, "NO!"

I hear footsteps behind me, but I don't turn around. I'm too busy screaming and crying as I tuck her crimson-speckled blonde hair behind her ear. I cannot believe this and I won't. He killed her.

He killed her.

Laura's normal and cheerful brown eyes are wide open and staring up at the sky with a terrified gaze, frozen at the moment when he had ended her life.

When my eyes move down to her chest, I scream again before I can stop myself. The deep scratches in her chest aren't random just to make her feel pain and to cause me grief. They create a single word that makes my throat constrict in fear.

'Mel'.

"LAURA!" I hear Laura's mother shriek behind me. She drops down beside my hunched body and begins to sob. "No...Laura!"

Our cries fill the air and a few moments later, sirens echo down the alley, causing me to sob even harder. My best friend is dead, and it's my fault.

Her death is my fault.

________________________________________________________________________

I am SO sorry for not updating earlier...I got caught up in life...

NO LAURA, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE US! (Mwhahahaha!!)

Chapter 7 is now where the real story begins. Wednesday's update will be full of tears, so I caution you sensitive fans out there.

Also, 3K READS ALREADY? Man, I'm so lucky to have such great fans like you guys! Thank you so much!

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