Page 18 of Little Stolen Memories

“Why? What’s changed?”

“I still haven’t told you everything. The bullying … it was just part of it.”

The bullying was part of it.

I braced for what was to come.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Xander used to call us on the phone.”

“I’m sorry, I’m not following.”

Cora snapped the yearbook closed and said, “He used to call a few of us girls. When we’d answer, he’d breathe this awful, heavy breathing like he was out of breath, and then he’d whisper our names over and over again.”

“Did anyone tell the police about the phone calls?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t.”

“Did the caller say anything else, other than your name?”

“No.”

“When did the calls begin?” I asked.

“Around the middle of our senior year.”

“If he didn’t say anything, how did you know Xander was responsible for making the calls?”

“For months, we didn’t know who was doing it. We assumed it was Xander, but we didn’t know for sure. We figured it out after a call he made to Aubree.”

“What happened?”

“She confronted him.”

“In what way?” I asked.

“During the call, Aubree challenged him to reveal himself, to tell her who he was and why he was calling. She said if he didn’t, she’d never take another one of his calls again, and she’d make sure none of the other girls would either.”

“How did Xander respond?”

“He didn’t say a word at first, and then he asked her if she wanted to play a word game. She said yes. He told her he would give her a clue.”

“What was the clue?”

“He said he was near the exit. Or at least, that’s what she thought he’d said. After they hung up, she called me. She told me about it, and I stewed on it for a while. Then I realized if you take the letters in Xander’s name and scramble them you get the word ‘near.’”

“What about the exit?”

“I don’t think he was saying ‘the exit.’ I think he was saying DX. Scramble NEAR and D and X, and you get Xander. Once we put it all together, we were sure he was the one making the calls. Aubree told Jackson. He told Aidan and …”

Cora hung her head, going quiet.

“And what?” I asked. “What did they do?”

She slapped a hand against her mouth, speaking through her fingers. “It wasn’t good. I didn’t know. I didn’t know it was going to go that far.”

The guilt I’ve carried.

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