by Jack Parker
Murder. He despised the word, but what else could he call it? That was what it was. A murder. Brutal, mindless and despicable. The coroner had determined the time of the murder had been around lunchtime and that the weapon used had been a kitchen knife. A knife that was missing from the Stiles kitchen. Not only that, but there was not one scrap pf evidence any other person but the Stiles family had been in the house.
CHAPTER 3
"I'm takin' off!" Chad called, his skateboard in one hand, his helmet in the other as he headed to the front door.
"To school, I hope!" Brandon called back, coming out of the kitchen and hurrying after him.
Chad stopped at the door, sighed and turned to his uncle to reply, "Yes."
"Liar," Brandon blurted. "You don't have your backpack."
"Oh, I need money," Chad remembered, ignoring the man's observation.
"What for?" Brandon chirped, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I'm gonna buy something for Nicky, and I need lunch money," the teen shrugged. "Preferably a hundred back would be good."
"In your dreams, boy," Brandon scoffed, pulling his wallet from his pocket and opening it to thumb through it. "I'll give you…fifty."
"Damn, spoil her, why don't you?!" Chad chuckled, reaching for the money but Brandon quickly pulled it away with a raised brow of amusement.
"I could give you twenty and let you starve for the day," he taunted and Chad gave a blank stare to his uncle.
"Like her present is gonna be more than ten bucks," the teen retorted.
"It will if it's shiny," Brandon assured him, handing him the money. "Try to stretch it, ok? I don't get my next check till next week."
"Ah, the setbacks of an out-of-work artist," Chad sighed, turning to the door again as he pocketed the money.
"I'm not out of work, boy," Brandon snapped as he glared at Chad.
"Right, right," he replied, heading out the door. "See ya, old man!"
Brandon watched from the doorway as the teen started skating down the sidewalk, putting on his helmet as he did. He occupied his mind with figuring out what to get for Nicky. It was the least he could do for her since she was ditching school on the day of the Exit Exams. Something…sparkly, he decided. She wasn't that much of a sparkly girl, but he felt she deserved it.
He pulled his phone from his pocket and looked up her number, still skating down the street.
"Chadworth," she greeted, and he heard the smile in her voice.
"Nicole," he replied. "You ready to go?"
"Yeah," she sighed. "Mom and dad went to work early today. I'll be waiting outside."
"Gotta make a stop," he smirked. "I'll be a little late."
"Oh, fine," she retorted. "See you when you get here, then."
"Yeah," he nodded. "Be there in a bit."
He hung up, still smiling and skating down the street. His phone started ringing and he frowned at it before looking at the caller ID. It was a restricted number. Taking a chance, he answered it and pressed it to his ear, stopping at the corner at the end of the block.
"Hello?" he answered, cautiously.
Silence followed, but sensed someone on the other side of the phone.
"Hello?" he called again.
A heavy breath followed this time, making him frown again. The breath turned into an eerie chuckle that sent a chill flying up Chad's spine.
"Who the hell is this and how did you get this number?!" Chad snapped, masking his fear with anger.
"How about you just call me Mr. Nemo?" a man's deep voice finally responded. "It's Latin for—"
"No name," Chad finished. "I know. What do you want?"
"You're a smart boy, Chad," Mr. Nemo commended. "I imagine you're quite the trivia nut, aren't you?"
Chad felt his blood run cold and when he didn't say anything, the man on the other end of the phone gave another eerie chuckle.
"H-How'd you know my name?" he breathed above a whisper, his heart thudding in his chest, a cold sweat starting on his face. His hands started shaking, almost losing his grip on his phone, but it was soon in a death grip again.
"I know a lot about you, Chad," Mr. Nemo replied in a dark tone. "You're not going to school like you should, and you're making your poor friend, Nicky suffer with you by making her ditch with you. What will your parents say?"
There was a pause as Chad felt his heart clench in sorrow, but the man continued, "Oh, that's right. Your parents are dead."
Anger soon took over his senses. Chad could hear it in this mystery man's tone that he was making him. To hell if he was going to let this creep stalk and mock him.
"Who the hell are you?" he growled into the phone.
"Temper, temper," Mr. Nemo warned, tauntingly. "Can't have the police using that against you."
"What do you want?" Chad ground out, glancing around to see if any police were around.
"I wanted to talk to ya, kid," Mr. Nemo replied. "Tell me, you and Nicky seem really close. Are you two dating?"
"That's none of your damn business," Chad snarled. "You talk about Nicky or my family again and I'll—!"
"Hang up?" Mr. Nemo taunted. "That's about all you can do. I'm so scared."
"You call this number again, I'm calling the police!" Chad threatened.
He hung up the phone, shoved it into his pocket and started down the sidewalk again. His phone went off again and he growled as he pulled his phone from his pocket only to find that a restricted number had sent him a text.
"Damn jerk can't leave me alone!" he growled, stopping at a crosswalk and pressing a button on his phone to open the text.
If I were you, I don't think I'd go to the people who suspect me of killing my own parents. I know you didn't do it.
"Big deal," Chad muttered. "Just sayin' that to get me to talk to him. Creepy old bastard."
Another text came in and he opened it with a sigh.
I know you didn't do it, because I did.
Chad opened his eyes to see a frantic, worried face with wide emerald eyes and chocolate brown hair that fell around his head. Her lips were moving, but she sounded so far away.
"Chad!" she was calling, shaking him as her voice became clearer. "Chad! Are you alright?! Chadworth Michael Stiles, you answer me right now!"
"That's not my name, Nicky," he finally groaned, sitting up and placing a hand over his eyes to guard them from the blinding sun.
"Thank God you're alright!" Nicky breathed, throwing her arms around his neck, making him grunt when she slammed against his chest. "When I didn't see you I headed to your uncle's place. I found you on the ground! What the hell happened?!"
Chad suddenly remembered what he'd looked at before he'd fainted and shot his gaze around him on the ground.
"What?" Nicky frowned, trying to catch his gaze. "What's wrong? What're you looking for?"
Chad didn't respond as he still looked around on the ground. His eyes landed n his phone, still open and laying on the cement. He grabbed it and stared wide eyes at the screen as Nicky frowned at him and sat next to him to look at the phone as well.
"Who sent you that?" she wondered. "Who did what that you didn't do? Who is this?"
"Mr. Nemo," Chad breathed, still staring at the phone.
He suddenly shot his gaze up and looked around as Nicky asked, "Who the hell is that?"
"No time," he snapped, closing his phone and shoving it into his pocket as he stood, grabbing Nicky's hand to drag her to her feet with him, "We gotta go."
"Go where?" Nicky demanded as he let her hand go and found his skateboard to mount. "What happened, Chad? You're kinda freaking me out."
"I'll lead," he assured her, turning on his board to face her and patting her helmet, a serious look in his eyes. "Just follow me, ok?"
He turned and shot down the street, Nicky shooting after him, hastily. His phone went off again but he didn't answer it. Nicky frowned at him as they glided down the sidewalk then pushed herself farther down the cement to drift next to him.
"Yo
u gonna answer your phone?" she wondered, but he just shook his head.
"I know who it is," he murmured, darkly. "I don't wanna talk to him."
"Who's this Nemo guy?" Nicky asked.
"I'll tell you when we get there," he replied.
"Where?"
"Somewhere safe," Shad looked at her as they stepped at another corner and smiled reassuringly as he said, "I promise I'll buy you something sparkly later."
CHAPTER 4
"Chad, what's going on?" Nicky asked.
They sat in a tunnel under the abandoned train tracks running over a bridge across town. They sat across from each other, leaning on opposite walls of the tunnel as Chad didn't respond. He sighed through his nose as he wrung his fingers, his wrists propped on his knees. Nicky mirrored his position.
"This guy called me," he finally replied after a moment of silence. "He knew who I was and who Brandon was and who you were. He knew about my parents, too and that the police suspect me for killing them."
Realization hit Nicky instantly and she stared at him with wide eyes as she breathed, "That was what the text was, wasn't it?"
Chad only nodded and Nicky shifted to shuffle toward him and sit next to him.
"You said his name was Nemo?" she recalled.
"That what we're calling him for now," he corrected.
"What are you gonna do?" she wondered, breathlessly.
Chad sighed again, leaning his head back against the wall as he murmured, "I have no idea."
"You should tell Brandon," she advised. "Tell the police, too."
"Oh, right," Chad retorted. "Go straight to the people who think I did it. The minute I tell the cops about this, they'll say, 'Nice try kid.' It's way too out there to be true. They'll laugh in my face, Nicky!"
"But they'll have to listen to you!" she argued. "And even if they didn't believe you, they could bug your phone in an attempt to prove you wrong or crazy, and when the guy calls again, they'll hear it!"
"They'll thank I set it up," Chad muttered. "They're so hung up on the fact that only my DNA was all over the place that they won't leave their little box of evidence."
"If not the cops then tell Brandon," she insisted. "He'll believe you, and if he goes to the cops they'll have to believe him!"
"Or they'll suspect him as my accomplice and say he's trying to throw them off the scent," Chad shot back. "He's my uncle, which makes him biased, is what they'll say."
Nicky sighed and sat back next to him, realizing he wasn't going to budge from his decision. They both jumped when his phone went off and Chad pulled it from his pocket to look at the caller ID, Nicky as wide-eyed and panicked as he was staring at it. Chad knew who the restricted number belonged to now, and as the phone still rang in his hand, he felt like he was going to faint again.
"Is that him?" Nicky breathed and he nodded, neither one of them taking their wide-eyed gazes from the phone. She reached for it and murmured, "I'll answer it."
Chad yanked the phone away and stared his wide, gray eyes at her as he ground out, "Are you kidding me?! I'm not letting you talk to this creep!"
"Fine, then put it on speaker," Nicky replied, reaching for the phone again and this time she grabbed it, answered it and quickly put it on speaker before saying, "Hello?"
Chad shot her an enraged look as she held the phone between them, ignoring her friend's anger.
"Why hello, Nicky," Nemo replied in his ominous voice, "Is Chas there by any chance?"
Nicky glanced at Chad who stared at the phone as he swallowed. She could see the terror and confusion in his eyes and wanted to help him. If she could talk to this guy long enough for Chad to collect his thoughts, she would.
"How do you know my name?" she demanded, fearlessly.
"I know a lot about you, Nicole Liza Verona," Nemo replied, eerily as ever as Chad shot to his feet to pace in front of her.
"Obviously, but my question is how do you know me?" Nicky shot back, watching Chad pace and seemingly panic. His hands were clenching into fists every few seconds as they hung at his sides and he was muttering softly to himself.
"You are a feisty one, aren't you?" Nemo crooned and Nicky had to resist a shiver of fear from running up her spine.
"I don't like it when people play mind games with me," she retorted, seriously.
"Then why don't you just ask Chad what his middle initial stands for instead of trying to guess for the rest of your life?" the man wondered and Nicky stared wide, emerald eyes at Chad as he stopped dead in front of her and faced her. "Or is Chad the only one allowed to mess with your head because you like him so much?"
Nicky felt her cheeks burst into flames as Chad marched toward her and snatched the phone away.
"You listen to me you sick son of a bitch," Chad ground out. "I'm gonna say this just once: I don't know who you are or what your game is but you had better leave my friends and my family alone, you got it? You don't need to talk to any of them because I'm coming for you. I'm gonna find you and I'm gonna make you pay for killing my parents, you hear me? You're gonna die slow and in agonizing pain just like they did, and I'm gonna enjoy watching you flop around in your own blood, and when you finally die, I hope you go to Hell and roast like a good damned chicken! What do you say to that Mr. No Name?!"
Chad breathed roughly, shaking in rage as Nicky stared at him with wide eyed, filled with terror. She'd never seen him so angry before, and his words and demeanor frightened her so badly that she couldn't move. They sat in silence as Chad gritted his teeth, the only sound filling the space was his labored breathing and both of them heard their own heartbeats in their ears. Finally, they heard a very soft, very frighteningly devious chuckle come from the phone and both shot their gazes to it.
"I say, I'm looking forward to it, Chad."
The two teens shot their wide-eyed gazes at each other when they heard the click of his phone hanging up and Chad's shock turned to rage again as he turned to the far wall with a roar and threw his phone against it, shattering it in two and making Nicky jump. His breathing was labored and exhaled through gritted teeth, his vision red. Neither one of them said anything as he finally came to his senses and turned to Nicky. She cringed back slightly when he turned but didn't move when he hurried toward her and knelt down next to her.
"He might call you," he explained, taking her hands into his. "If he does, and you're alone, don't answer it. He'll probably call when you and I are together. I'll go to the store tomorrow and get a prepaid phone, but until he gets that number, he'll have to go through you to talk to me. When we're together and he calls, you let me answer it. He doesn't need to talk to you anymore, and don't get smart and talk to him on your own, ok? This isn't something you can get away with messing around with me, alright?"
Nicky only nodded mutely and Chad sighed in guilt. Letting go of her hands he pulled her toward him to wrap his arms around her, hugging her close and burying his face into her shoulder. Her eyes shot wide at the action, and she lifted her hands to hug him in return but they only hung in the air hesitantly as her heart thumped in her chest, her face flaring up again.
"I'm sorry you got caught up in this," he whispered. "I don't want you to get hurt. I promise, tomorrow you'll be out of this mess."
Nicky frowned as she placed her hands on his shoulders to gently push him away and look him in the eye. She stared at him in worry and confusion as he frowned back at her.
"Chad, what are you gonna do?" she breathed, afraid of the answer.
"You heard me tell him, Nicky," he replied. "I'm gonna go after him and kill him. I'm gonna leave tomorrow morning."
"I thought you were bluffing!" Nicky snapped, her fingers slowly curling to fist his red and blue checkered jacket. "You're seriously gonna go after a murderer?! He'll kill you! Are you out of your damn mind?!"
"I'm not gonna let my parents' killer get away with it, Nicky!" he snapped back. "If they wanna lock me up for killing this guy, fine! But he isn't getting away with what he did and pinning it on me! I won't
be the kid that killed his parents!"
"What if he kills you?!" Nicky screamed. "He'll just get away with that too! What the hell will your own death accomplish?! You can't die, Chad because I still haven't figured out what your middle name is yet! You promised to by me something when I did!"
"No I didn't," Chad replied, calmly as she started pulling on his jacket.
"Well, I think you should, because I've gone through all the Ms I can think of!" she retorted, starting to sob as she slowly shook him. "I deserve a reward for it, and you have to be around for that because you're the only one who knows what I like!"
"You want me to tell you what it is?" he asked, gently.
"No!" she shouted, clapping her hands over her ears and shutting her eyes. "If it's the only way to keep you from leaving then keep your mouth shut!"
Chad sighed and took her wrists gently in his hands to pull them from her ears as she looked up at him with wide, watery eyes.
"The cops are keeping tabs on me, right?" he murmured, making her frown in wonder but she nodded anyway. "They'll follow me when I go after him and I'll lead them right to him."
"But you wanna kill him, don't you?" she whispered. "You said you would."
"Yeah, I want to," admitted. "Who knows, maybe he'll come at me and it'll be self defense if I kill him. That'd be ok with you, right?"
"Not if you enjoy it like you said you would," she muttered.
"That part, I was bluffing," he lied, unconvincingly and Nicky looked as though she was going to throw up as she swallowed the lump in her throat, her stomach turning. "Nicky, I don't even know what'll happen tomorrow, let alone when I find him."
"If you find him, Chad," she corrected. "Seems to me like this guy's a ghost. The only thing we have on him is a blocked number."
"Yeah," Chad sighed, then glanced around in thought as Nicky sighed as well, leaning her head back on the wall she was leaning on. He suddenly looked to her with a smirk, making her frown at him as he murmured, "Jared."
"What about him?" she wondered, her frown deepening.
"He can tell us where this creep made the call," Chad smirked, standing. "He should be at school, right?"
