Chapter Eleven

I wake up to the sound of a phone ringing. It's not mine though because there is no way I would have a Nicki Minaj song as my ringtone. I'm so sleepy, I don't want to get up. The ringing stops. Thank God now I can go back to sleep.

"Hello."

I hear a voice. It's Kim's voice. It was Kim's voice ringing. I'm currently sleeping on Kim's couch again. I had so much fun last night. We called Luke and he agreed to come to our sleepover. We binge-watched the entire Fast and Furious franchise. From the first one to the last. We probably only slept at around 44 am Now imagine my frustration when Kim's phone rang and ruined my sleep. I pull the covers over my head and try to drift back to sleep, but I can still hear Kim's conversation.

"Yes, this is Kim speaking."

I hear her say.

"Oh, do you have them?"

She says in a small whisper. She is walking around her room. I know this because I hear her almost trip over something.

"Great. I can be there in half an hour... No, I'm coming alone... I know. I know but there is probably nothing to worry about... No one else can find out... Okay, I will see you soon."

She ends her conversation. I wonder who she is talking to. It sounded serious. I'm wide awake now. All traces of sleep are gone. I hear some shuffling and some keys jiggling. I pull my head out of the covers and look at Kim. She has put on a pair of black denim jeans and a cardigan on top of her pajamas.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?"

I ask her. She has a deer caught in headlights look on her face. She is surprised that I'm awake.

"Umm. We are out of milk and I know how much you love Cheerios."

I know she is lying through her teeth. Kim is bad when it comes to telling lies. I stare at her for a second debating on whether I should say something or not.

"Kim is everything okay?"

I give her a chance to tell me the truth.

"Yeah.. yeah I'm fine. Just need milk that's all."

She says and then grabs her phone and car keys. She gives me a small wave and rushes out of the room. I wonder who she is meeting up with. I feel like I should have asked her. I should have made her tell me the truth, but I feel guilty. I don't want to be a hypocrite. I'm lying to her so why should she be obliged to tell me the truth. This thought fills me with so much sadness. Our once-tight friendship is now based on nothing but lies. I get up from the couch. I check the time and see that it was almost noon. Luke is nowhere to be found so he must have left already. I grab my stuff and prepare to leave her place.

I don't even bother taking a shower. I will shower at my place. I open the fridge to get some water when I see something that bothers me even more. In Kim's fridge are two unopened bottles of milk. If I had any doubts that Kim is lying to me. There is none left. I shake my head in disgust and grab my keys. I don't even bother leaving a note telling Kim I'm gone.

I'm surprised to see that my roommate Lisa is at home when I get there. She is sitting in the living room watching TV.

"Hey."

I great her. She just nods in my direction as a sign of recognition before going back to whatever she was watching. I need a shower but first I need to feed. So I head straight to my kitchen. I'm gonna cook some instant noodles. I'm so hungry I just want to eat as soon as possible. As I wait for the microwave I take out my phone and call Luke.

"Hey, bitch!"

He answers. I giggle at his greeting.

"You left without saying goodbye."

I whine.

"Yeah sorry. I was meeting a friend for breakfast. Didn't want to wake you. You looked so peaceful sleeping on that couch. You had drool and everything."

He says laughing.

"Shut up! I don't freaking drool."

I yell at him playfully.

"If that's what you want to believe.

Hey, there is a beach party tonight. Wanna go?"

He says. I hesitate for a while. I haven't been to a party since the one I went to the night Matt died. Luke must have sensed my hesitation because he said.

"Listen Ria it's time you start moving on with your life. I'm sure Matt would want you to go out and have fun. So let's go have a fucking good time tonight. Give me one good reason why you can't come with me tonight."

I debate his little speech in my mind. Does he want a reason?

I could give him plenty of good reasons why. The biggest is the fact that there is a possible killer out there who might be stalking me, but I don't tell him this. Instead, I say.

"Sure pick me up at eight."

I hear him scream with excitement before he says goodbye. I hope I don't regret going out tonight.

"Oh yeah someone called looking for you."

I let out a loud mouse-like scream. I turned around to see Lisa standing behind me. I put a hand to my chest hoping it will slow my racing heart.

"You startled me."

"Sorry. I was just telling you that someone called the landline."

I frown at her statement because almost no one uses the house landline since we all have cell phones.

"Who was it?"

I ask her while taking out my noodles from the microwave.

"The person didn't say. He asked for you and when I told him you are not here he replied saying he knows. I asked if he wants to leave a message but he had already dropped the call. It was so weird."

Could it be the stalker calling my landline? Why would he when he has my cell phone number?

"What did this person sound like?"

"Funny you should ask that. He sounded like he has a cold or something. Do you know who it is?"

Oh gosh. It is the stalker.

"No, I have no idea who it could be."

I tell Lisa and even though I really don't know who it is I still feel like I'm lying. Suddenly I don't feel that hungry anymore. I suddenly feel filthy. I really need that shower. I need to get rid of all this filth. So much filth.