Page 33 of Oliver

“Oren?”

“Yeah?”

“Did she know about the Hunter’s Club?”

He blanches, his face pale as he slowly nods. What the actual fuck, Dixie?

“I’ve read through some of her shit, but it doesn’t make sense. It’s like she was communicating somewhere else.”

Oren’s right eye twitches and I point at his face. “How?”

After interrogating Oren, I race home. He agreed to send me what he had from group chats and to see if he can hack into Dixie’s account.

For now, I’ll take what I can get and hope for the rest. Who knew Dixie’s goth friend was a techie genius?

Score one for me, although not so much Dixie. Fuck.

Once I’m in, I start sifting through the group chats. Here, I find a treasure trove of shit, but it could take me weeks to weed through it and sitting back, I stare in awe at the sheer amount of information slowly loading on my page.

There must be thousands of pages of messages. Fuck me.

Although discouraged, I switch over and read the messages under my account before tapping out a response while I wait.

Except, this is excruciating, and I glance at my knees, bobbing up and down before I head downstairs. I can’t afford to lose myself to this, at least not to the point where it’s unhealthy.

Okay…unhealthier…

My stomach rumbles and I nibble on a piece of bread, ignoring the way it rolls at the small meal while I tap the counter with my fingers, and mutter, “You have to eat, Penny.”

It’s not like I’m starving myself. I’m just not fucking hungry. Still, I’ll create a bigger mess if I don’t make it a damn priority.

With that in mind, I sit down and eat another piece of bread while sipping from a glass of water. All the while, I tap my toes against the floor and once I’m done, rush back upstairs.

The little message icon lights up and my heart skips a beat as I click into the message under my account.

Manny_the_Eater:You shouldn’t be asking about this. I’m sorry about your sister but I can’t help you.

My spirits sink and with a groan, I respond, biting back the bitter sting of tears.

Sweetie:Please, she didn’t deserve what happened to her.

Manny_the_Eater:Neither do you. Whatever she ran into was clearly trouble. Don’t make the same mistake…

Sweetie:I promise not to tell anyone…

“Fucker,” I mutter under my breath. I wonder how they would like it if I just turned everything over to the police?

As it stands, eventually they’re going to catch up anyway. Why not tell me now?

The old messages are still loading but I can’t wait to start reviewing them and click into a thread between Charming Charlie, Dixie and who I presume to be Oren dating a year ago.

Dixie:He’s no fun anymore.

Charming Charlie:Maybe it’s you. Maybe you’re not exciting enough.

Dixie:Thanks…

Ghost_Files:Don’t worry, there’s someone out there for you.

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