"Why do I feel like we've never been apart, seeing you still doing the same as usual, Abe?"
Hearing that voice from behind, the room's owner slowly turned his head until he saw a familiar young woman with her ginger hair, hands on her hips, standing behind his door which had been wide open for who knows how long. Forgetting about the game he was playing, he immediately stood up from his chair, hug her with one arm and then celebrated with a fist-bump.
"The heck, Mel! Why didn't you say anything? I thought you abandoned us!"
Melanie smiled widely while stretching her arms out to the side, "Surprise!"
Abe scoff, placing his hands on his hips as he stared at his grinning friend. Suddenly, he turned around and slammed his desk. His sharp eyes glanced at Melanie while clicking his tongue with annoyed, "You made me lose! Treat me something so I can forgive you, you little dimwit!"
The Middle Eastern restaurant at the intersection road became their destination. While enjoying their food, they combined it with stories and reports of their activities over the past year since they had been apart. Occasionally, they laughed out loud, shaking their heads, and even lowering their voices as if discussing a big conspiracy until they didn't realize it had gotten dark and the streetlights around them had started to light on.
"Dang, the world's spinning so fast recently," Abe said while stretching his limbs. "Let's go buy some ice cream on the way back."
On their way to the convenience store not far from their homes, Melanie suddenly felt a vibration from her pocket. Reflexively, she sighed as if she knew who was making her phone vibrate. But when the screen lit up and she saw a several photos coming in from the group chat with her best friends, Melanie suddenly realized that there was a little error in her head.
"Whoah! He's become so tanned I barely recognize this as Theodore Maxwell I knew!"
Melanie nodded, confirming Abe's exclamation beside her, "The scorching sun treats him well, I see."
"He's getting farther and farther away from us. No clue about when he'll come back," Abe muttered while opening the freezer and choosing one of the ice creams in sight. "Susan came last month and predicted he won't be back for many years. Somehow, that makes me feel lonely, like you guys dumped me, you know?"
"Oh," Melanie stopped her movement and immediately turned to Abe who was chuckling. "I should tell Susan and Theo if Abe ever felt lonely without us even though he has an entire gaming world at his disposal."
They laughed heartily, causing the convenience store clerk at the register look at them with a frown of confusion. After paying for their purchases, they walked home and parted ways at the intersection.
"Welcome back, Thanes!" Abe said, standing in front of Melanie's house. "Enjoy your holiday and feel at home! Nighty night!"
Melanie waved back at Abe who was starting to walk toward his own house across the street from hers. She chuckled, glancing at his back one last time before stepping inside her home.
~𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘳, 8.26 𝘱𝘮~
Holding her phone high above her head, Melanie stared at it which had unusually become so quiet. Not that she wanted her peace to be disturbed though. It was just that having had constant disturbances for some time recently, she somehow had gotten used to it.
She thought the person who had been watching her from behind her camera phone would only silently observe and would appear as soon as she questioned him directly. However, after mumbling to her phone several times like a madwoman, there was no sign at all from the stalker. Rolling onto her side on her bed, Melanie placed her phone on the nightstand beside the bed.
"Mel, I'm done bathing."
Melanie glanced toward the brunette-haired woman with super short haircut who had just entered the room with a small towel dangled around her shoulders. Realizing that a pair of eyes were staring intently at her, she raised her eyebrows.
"Prissy, do you ever have a secret admirer?" Melanie asked while changing her position to sit cross-legged on the bed.
"How could I know if they do that in secrecy?" replied Priscilla, shrugging her shoulders as if to imply that the question was not important to her. However, she suddenly fell silent in her position, then quickly turned her head toward the bed. "You have one? How could you know?"
Melanie shrug, then reach her phone from the nightstand, shaking its dark screen toward Priscilla. "He told me."
Seeing the strange look on her sister's face, Melanie continued, "Yup, I know. He can't exactly be categorized as a merely secret admirer though. Hurry, look at this."
Priscilla took a seat beside Melanie who had extended her phone to show a text message from an unregistered number. The messages itself were quite numerous and that was enough to make the expression on Priscilla's flat face change instantly.
"What are you waiting for? Call the police, you dummy!" Priscilla exclaimed, which was immediately met with a shake of Melanie's head. Seeing that response, Priscilla became even more confused. "Are you happy with what this psycho doing to you? Are you aware this is his way to lure you into his trap?"
"I know. I'm not that foolish," Melanie mumbled, reaching her hand down to grab the backpack she had brought from the dorm. "But I think, he is more accomplished than I thought and it makes me think twice about reporting him or even telling my friends. I'm only telling this to you anyway."
Melanie pulls out a newspaper page she had gotten from her workplace. It was an article about a car accident that had submerged into a lake due to suspected brake failure. In the article, Melanie remembered that it was the car that had hit her some time ago. And for some reason, the tragic event that the hit-and-run driver experienced made her immediately connect it to her stalker. One thing that made her certain of this thought was when the stalker confidently stated that the driver had hit another people long before he hit Melanie. She thought, how could he know that information ... unless he had access to all of it. And someone who had an access into that matter can't easily be categorized as an ordinary citizen. Is that what Melanie had thought.
Priscilla sigh, then stared intently into Melanie. "I never expected you'd encounter that kinda guy. But why is he suddenly dead silent now? Is he already bored with you?"
Melanie shrug. It was a question that could only be answered by the person himself, who unfortunately was unreachable at the moment.
"Then, why you tell this to me?" Priscilla asks, still busy examining Melanie's phone while the owner had already gotten up from the bed to go to the wardrobe. "You know I can't give any advice since I've never been interested in this kinda thing."
"Dunno. Maybe ... I wish for a little backup," Melanie said that while staring blankly at the neatly stored clothes of hers and her sister. She then turned around and looked at Priscilla. "As an assurance, you know? I don't wanna make a big ruckus, so I chose to tell the person who can think straight and fast, in case I can't manage it anymore on my own."
There was no response, and that made their room suddenly fall silently awkward. Melanie cleared her throat, draping the towel over one arm and starting to step out. But before she left the room, Priscilla opened her mouth and said, "Just don't die. I still have a record of your unpaid debts."
Melanie scoff before leaving Priscilla alone in their room. She placed Melanie's phone from her hand onto the nightstand, intending to go to the kitchen to get a drink. However, just as she stood up, the vibration from the nightstand halted all of her intentions and steps immediately, especially when she saw who was causing her sister's phone to vibrate.
Unknown: "Please cooperate. Melanie trusted you so much that makes me not have a choice but to trust you too. I indeed do not have the best personality to begin with, but I assure you that I think about this a lot to protect Melanie from an unseen bad luck trying to approach her."
Priscilla flatly stared at the device in her hand for a few moments, trying to weigh all the possibilities in her head. Then in a lowered voice, she brought Melanie's phone closer to her mouth.
"If that unseen threat you mentioned starts to attempt direct harm towards her, I'll search for you until the end of the world since I have a friend who can hack and crack like you too."
Unknown: "Sure. I will always do my best to keep her safe. Thank you. No need to tell Melanie about our conversation."
After reading it, those message and the previous one suddenly vanished without a trace from Melanie's phone. Priscilla did not react much, only staring at the screen which was slowly darkening. She then returning it to the home menu and placing the phone back on the nightstand.