Page 38 of Framed

Whatever he was doing couldn’t be good. Shawn and I never got along, that was never a secret but I never expected him to do this. To react in such a way. He and Naomi weren’t even close.

I swallowed the unease that crept into my throat as I pushed my way through to close the remaining distance.

A gasp left my lips as I read the words written in all caps on my locker:Murderer. My vision blurred with tears as I stumbled back and locked eyes with a set of familiar light-brown orbs.

Xavier.

I tried to step forward but stopped in my tracks when I caught his emotionless gaze. His whole demeanor dripped with indifference. It was too controlled, too blank, so much so that he appeared bored by the display.

It wasn’t the Xavier I knew. The Xavier I loved.

His full symmetrical lips were set in a tight line and his gaze shifted to his cousin and my locker. His lips twitched: it was fast, fleeting, almost imperceptible. But I caught it as if he was about to say something but he had to stop himself.

Then he did the last thing I would have expected him to do. His lips lifted into a smirk and he turned away. He didn’t spare me another glance as he walked away, taking my heart with him once again.

Similar to the past two days, I replayed the last time I saw him. It was like watching a movie for the fifth time. It didn’t matter that you knew all of the lines, all of the jump scares and plot twists, you just couldn’t help but re-watch because it brought you comfort. For me? It brought me home. To a place I could say I wasn’t sure I could return to. Why was he here? Now of all times?

To my knowledge—which wasn’t much—everyone assumed that I was still in prison. Complete radio silence. I shouldn’t feel bothered that no one tried to reach out or see me, it’s not like anyone had tried over the past few years. Still, it hurt. I was free and I thought at least Dad would have missed me, but it just seemed as if life went on for him. That my absence meant nothing, because now he had his perfect new family.

One that didn’t include a murderer.

My eyes focused on the darkness and shadows that danced along my wall from the light that peeked underneath the bottom of my bathroom door. The light in there was always on. I didn’t know why I felt safer like that. It’s not like whoever could possibly target me would be deterred by a little brightness, but having it on brought me a sense of solace. Especially in times like this.

I was having a hard time falling asleep. The raging storm outside put me in a state of unease. The nagging feeling of something bad happening weighed on me heavily.

A soft knock sounded on my door before it opened. I knew it was Winter. I didn’t know why she even bothered to knock anymore; she had a habit of entering before I even got the chance to tell her to come in.

A blue and black tub stuck through my door before Winter. This was why I never minded the intrusion. “I come bearing gifts,” she said as she entered, a pint of Oreo’s Cookies and Cream ice cream with two spoons in tow. Her red hair was up in a ponytail and she was wearing a black silk camisole set.

Despite the nerves attacking my already fragile mind, I forced myself to relax as Winter plopped down onto my couch, picking up the remote to the TV that was mysteriously mounted when I got back from class yesterday. I hadn’t touched it and if it wasn’t mounted, I would’ve set it outside as an offer to the world. But I doubted anyone here needed it.

Iseriouslyneeded to get a lock for my door.

Winter and I fell into a routine over the past few days and I learned a decent amount about the redhead. Dr. Masters was her aunt on her mom’s side and they were close. Which explained why she referred to her as Raven. She was also a junior and was majoring in Business Administration with a minor in Cybersecurity. That also made sense because she was smart as hell. I walked into her room one day to ask to borrow toothpaste and she was in the middle of correcting the code for the school’s website. While my Dad mainly focused on operations and the business side of things now, he was once in school for the same exact thing as Winter. And according to the countless stories Dad told me, coding was no easy feat. She had to be really good if the school asked her to correct the problem and not someone on staff.

And she was… well, different. I felt myself grow closer and more relaxed around her. I also found out that we had a lot in common. She read the same books as me and we often gave each other suggestions and discussed them after we finished reading. She was into detective shows as I once was and suggested I watch something called Hawaii Five-O. I had to admit, it was pretty awkward to tell her I didn’t have a TV or a smartphone that allowed me to watch the show on Netflix. It was even more awkward to tell her I didn’t have Netflix or any streaming sites for that matter. She didn’t judge me though, just said I could watch it in her room whenever I wanted to. I suspected that’s where the TV came from.

I also suspected her family was loaded. She never outright said it, but I didn’t know any normal college student who had a personal shopper and an assistant who organized her schedule. Yes, an assistant. But I guess I couldn’t be all that surprised; it was on par with most of the students here. I’d noticed that many of them also had personal assistants or “people” to handle things.

We might or might not be walking on eggshells around each other. She hadn’t brought up the encounter with Xavier from a week ago but from the permanent glint in her eyes whenever she saw me, I could tell she was dying to know. I hadn’t asked about the pills she needed to take at precise times of the day, down to the minute, but I knew she knew I was also dying to know.

I didn’t think either one of us wanted to break the bubble of this budding friendship with the hardships of real life, but I knew it would eventually need to be discussed. No matter how much I would rather not.

I didn’t miss the way her eyes took in my face, which I was sure looked as bad as I felt. I hadn’t been able to sleep without picturing him or Naomi. Flashbacks to the time before her death, when we were the inseparable trio, played in my brain like a movie and I hadn’t been able to turn it off. Hadn’t been able to press pause. It was all I had left of the two people I used to know but that had a negative effect on my already shit sleeping habits.

So I’d been running on coffee and fumes.

“Ow.” Winter shot up from the couch, grabbing what looked to be a small box with my name written in cursive on the side. “You still haven’t opened this? I set this in your room hours ago.”

All the blood in my body drained as I stared at the small box. I didn’t think to look at my couch when I got home from class but I knew that handwriting. I hadn’t touched the notes hidden in my closet since that night I saw Xavier, but the precise scripture was something I would never forget.

“Scarlett?”

“Did you see who left it?” I struggled to keep my tone neutral, unaffected, but my voice was thick, laced with trepidation. The saliva in my mouth dried up and I could feel the moment my heartbeat quickened, thumping rapidly inside of my chest. How the fuck did that get here?

It had to be a sick joke. No one knew about the notes. I was sure of it. But…my brain recounted Xavier’s message.Did Briggs do this? No, he wouldn’t. Right? He warned me to not let the notes out of my sight, so why would he send me something like this? Was this some fucked up game for him?

No. My gut was telling me that it wasn’t him. He went through too much trouble to help and get me here only for him to start messing with me. It wouldn’t make any sense for it to be him.

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