Page 40 of Only Forever

My hand grasped the letter so hard that it was half-crumpled. I grabbed the envelope and checked the postmark. Cold fear gripped me when I saw the zip code was the same as mine. That’s why the letter had gotten to me so quickly. That meant they were near. And they had to be watching me, if they knew I had put a camera up.

I shoved the letter back in the envelope, and put it in the drawer in the kitchen where I had put the previous letter. I sat at the kitchen table, my head in my hands. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t go to the police because how would I explain being called a murderer? Jason immediately came to my mind, but that wasn’t possible either. I would never tell him what had really happened with Keith.

I wracked my brain, trying to think of who could possibly be sending me the letters, but I came up empty. There was no way anyone could know what really happened with Keith. But apparently there was. And whoever it was wanted to scare me and wanted revenge. So it had to be someone with a connection to him. But who? He had no family except for a sister that he hadn’t talked to for over a decade due to a falling out. I had known of no friends of his while he was alive. He had spent all his time with my mother.

I had no leads. What would I do even if I did have one? There was nothing I could do without admitting my guilt. And I wasn’t ever planning on doing that. What I had done had haunted me for these past three years. But I didn’t regret what I had done. Yes, it was horrifying to kill a person. I felt guilt and shame for it, but I would do it again. The evil on Keith’s face, and his confidence that he would get away with murdering my mother, convinced me that I needed to make sure he didn’t get away with it. It made me wonder if maybe I was evil, too.

My phone started ringing, and I looked down to see that it was Jason. I badly wanted to answer the phone, to tell him everything that happened, and ask him to stay with me. But I knew that was stupid. If Jason ever found out what had happened, he would want nothing to do with me.

I let the call go to voicemail, and then listened to it after it was done recording.

Hi, Daphne. I was just calling to see if you were okay. You didn’t say much when I texted you the other day. Call me back.

I should have known my terse “Fine” to his text would arouse his worry. I needed to be more careful. I waited about fifteen minutes and texted him.

Sorry, missed your call because I was on a work call. I’m fine. Just swamped with work. Will reach out soon.

I reread the text several times before sending it to him. I wanted to make sure I sounded normal, and nothing would arouse suspicion.

I waited a few moments to see if he would text back, and when he didn’t, I put my phone away. Working was out of the question. There was no way I could concentrate. I was just lucky that the deadline for my latest project wasn’t for a while. I couldn’t even focus on knitting, so I just turned the TV on, letting the familiar voices keep me company while my mindraced on who could have sent the letters and what I should do about it.

I finally concluded there was nothing I could do. I just had to hope that whoever had sent the letters would soon tire of scaring me and leave me alone. And if they really intended to do something to me, there was nothing I could do to stop them.

I felt powerless, but the life I was currently living didn’t even seem worthwhile. I had gotten a peak of happiness with Jason’s arrival, but that was short-lived. And it only made the absence of him even more painful.

Chapter Twenty-One

I had somehow managed to fall asleep in front of the TV. When I jolted awake, night had fallen and the only illumination in the room was from the TV screen. I felt bleary-eyed and turned off the TV. Despite having napped, I still felt exhausted and figured I would wash up and just go to bed. I picked up my phone next to me and saw the battery had died. I sighed and stood up to stretch. It didn’t matter that my phone was dead. There were few people who ever contacted me.

I was about to make my way upstairs when I heard a noise outside. I froze, sudden fear slicing through me. My mind immediately went to the notes I had received. Was whoever sent them here to make good with their threats?

My heart was in my throat as I crept towards the front door. I was planning on peeking through the peephole when I heard footsteps outside the door. All thoughts of trying to see who was there fled my mind, and I ran to the kitchen as quickly and quietly as possible. I heard blood rushing through my ears as I opened a drawer, fumbling to find my biggest kitchen knife. It was pitch dark in the kitchen, but I didn’t want to turn on the light to alert whoever was outside.

I grasped the handle of my kitchen knife and held it tightly, holding it out in front of me. The sudden sound of the doorbell made me catch my breath. I was confused. If the writer of the letters was here to harm me, would they ring the doorbell and announce their presence? I bit my lip, unsure of what my next move should be. I took the phone out of my pocket that I had shoved it in earlier, and cursed my dead battery. What was the point of a doorbell camera if I couldn’t even use it?

The doorbell rang again, accompanied by knocking. I was frozen in place, unsure of what to do, when I heard Jason’s voice through the door.

“Daphne. Are you in there?”

I wanted to collapse onto the floor in relief. I had let paranoia get the better of me from someone simply being at the front door. I quickly put away the knife and almost ran to the front door. I threw it open and the sight of Jason made relief flood through me. I felt safe in his presence and I had to resist the urge to fling myself at him.

“Jason,” I said breathlessly. “What are you doing here?”

Jason smile faded when he saw me. His expression turned concerned. “Are you okay? You look pale, like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I’m okay,” I said, even though my pulse was still racing. “I’m just a little tired.”

Jason frowned. “Your phone was off when I tried to call you again. I was worried something had happened.”

“I’m sorry,” I replied. “My battery went dead.” I hesitated, and then stepped back. “Why don’t you come in?”

Jason wasted no time stepping inside, and I quickly turned on some lights since it was dark in the house. I turned around when we reached the living room, and then stumbled back a bit when I ran into Jason. I hadn’t expected him to be so close behind me. Jason immediately reached out, catching me with one arm before I fell back. The heat of his arm around me and the closeness of his face as he leaned towards me turned my insides to mush. I quickly straightened, breaking the circle of his arm, and took a step back.

“Sorry,” I said, laughing nervously. “Blame it on my clumsiness.”

Instead of laughing along with me, Jason studied my face for a few moments. His brow was furrowed and his expression was troubled.

“Daphne, what’s wrong?” he finally asked. He kept on talking before I could answer. “And don’t tell me nothing, or that you’re just tired. I know something’s wrong.”

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