Page 352 of Bad for Me

Facing the world outside was always daunting after the transformation from Friday to Saturday. It was never the same vibe twice, but still, the drastic alteration of my personality never got old. Flinging from one extreme to the next was tiresome, a thing that left me drained emotionally as well as mentally. I hated the way it felt like I had to dump a bucket of ice on myself, like I had plunged into a freezing river in the middle of Siberian winter. Naked.

I hated it.

But I wouldn’t ever give up that one day of freedom for anything.

The phone rang again from the pocket of my purse, and I huffed in annoyance as I tugged it free of the damn thing, juggling the little frustrating electronic as I fumbled my keys and managed to drop them in a puddle beside the car. Careful not to drop it in the water alongside my poor keychain, I nestled it in the crook of my shoulder, answering the call without checking to see who it even was.

“Hello?” My fingers stirred up mud as I waited momentarily, hearing nothing but the shallow breathing and electronic whirr on the other end of the line that told me someone was there, but not talking. “Hello?”

A click, then–

“Hello there! I’m trying to reach Miss Harper Mason.”

My fingers closed around my keys at the exact second I heard a name I thought I had left far in my past uttered from the caller’s mouth. The whole world ceased to exist around me, closing in like someone turned the lights off on all my senses and left me with only my hearing. Shallow breathing echoed around me as the hand holding my keys trembled, and I belatedly realized the man who’d called me was patiently waiting for an answer. My lips opened and closed, but no sound came out.

Fuck.

Snap out of it, Scarlett. You can handle this. It’s probably just somebody who got the wrong number, that’s all. Maybe Mom put your number down for something debt-related before she died, and they’re calling to collect.

“Um, can I ask who’s calling, and what the context of the call is?”

“Ah, well, you see, that’s confidential information, unless you are the person we’re trying to reach.” A pause. “Are you?”

“N-no,” I eked out, “I’m not h-her. But I might be able to get you some updated contact information if you’d like.”

“Ah, no, thank you,” the man replied, his voice disinterested and slightly suspicious. “If you happen to hear from her, perhaps you could let her know a man named Theo Mason is trying to reach her. I think we might be related.”

“That’s impossible,” I scoffed, not realizing he’d given me an out, and I jumped back in with both feet on my own. “She doesn’t have any siblings, and neither did her parents. All her relatives are dead.”

“So you know Miss Mason pretty well, then?”

“I–” Shit. I walked right into that one. “I used to, a long time ago.”

“Well, thank you anyway, Miss–I didn’t get your name.”

The vision was slowly returning to me, as well as mental cognition and my standard filter of caution. “I didn’t give it. Have a nice day, Mr. Mason.”

I hung up the phone and slid the car key in the handle, yanking the door open so I could throw myself inside and slam it behind me. I tossed the phone on the passenger seat like it was a snake that might lunge and bite me at any moment. Then, I put my head on the wheel and took a deep breath, praying for the strength to get ahold of myself.

“Don’t let them suspect anything.”

“Please, help me stay hidden.”

“I haven’t done enough to atone for what I’ve done.”

“This can’t be the end.”

“What the fuck did he mean, a relative of Harper Mason? How?”

With each sentence, with each thought, I banged my head against the wheel, hoping that I was wrong. Surely this was a fluke. I’d been so careful, so thorough. Every move I made was calculated and thoroughly planned. There was no room for error. I’d taken everything into account.

I started the car, all the energy leeched from my body with a simple phone call. Hopefully, it would be the end of the difficulties I had to deal with today. I didn’t have it in me to take anything else.

Pulling out of the drive was uneventful. No other cars to watch out for on the road, no random joggers or kids out for a pleasant weekend stroll. The road I lived on was quiet and calm, almost eerily so. It was part of the reason I opted into the little bungalow I found for rent on the community bulletin board. I’d lived here for several years now, with no problems, and was a model citizen. I paid my bills on time, I helped those less fortunate. Just likeshewould have done.

Everything I did, I did for her.

Too bad she’d never see any of it.

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