Page 119 of The Space Between
Unknown
You think you’re safe because I can’t see you.
But I don’t need to SEE you to OWN you.
You’ll ALWAYS be mine, Blakelyn.
See you soon, sweetheart.
I drop the phone right there on the floor in the middle of the hallway. My fingers are trembling. My throat tightens until I can’t breathe. The fluorescent lights above feel too bright, the linoleum under my feet is too slippery.
Tyler.
It’shim.
After all this time. After all this silence.
He’s coming back.
I don’t know how. I don’tknow?—
“Blakelyn?” a voice cuts through the noise screaming inside of my head.
The secretary, is walking toward me, frowning. “You okay, hon? Are you feeling okay?”
I bend, snatching the phone off the ground. I’m numb but I try to quell the shaking. “I—I’m fine. Sorry. Dropped my phone.” I plaster on a fake smile.
She nods though she says, “There’s a bug going around. I hope you haven’t caught it. If you feel worse, you come on in to the office and let me know. You can head home. We can get a sub.” I nod automatically and she walks away.
I stand there, my heart in my throat, my breath caught in my chest, andeverythinginside of me unravels.
Tyler is coming back.
I don’t go homeright after school. I drive in circles afraid to pull up at my cabin.
He knows where I am. He already showed up once.
But he left… Gruene defended me, and Reece called the sheriff.
He left.
I should have known better than to think he’d stay gone though.
I take the long way back, past the feed store and the old post office. Parking behind the church, I sit in silence and stare at that message.
One single message can undo everything I’ve rebuilt. The life I’ve let myself believe I was creating.
Gruene…
Tyler doesn’t let go.
He never has.
He warned me that if I ever left he’d find me and he’d hurt me.
He said he would kill me.
He will. I know this isn’t just a threat.
