Lurker

Kylenevers: We’ll still meet

MC9010025: You don’t understand, Kyle. I can’t.

Kylenevers: U don’t want 2 hurt him

MC9010025: No.

Kylenevers: But it’s ok 2 hurt me?

MC9010025: I don’t want to hurt you.

Kylenevers: What if I want 2 hurt u?

MC9010025: Don’t say that.

Kylenevers: Why not?

MC9010025: Because you’re just mad right now. You’re angry at me because of all of this, but it will pass. You hardly know me.

Kylenevers: That’s not true. I know ur smart

MC9010025: Thnx

Kylenevers: And funny

MC9010025: Kyle don’t. I feel awful

Kylenevers: And warm.

MC9010025: I don’t feel very warm right now.

Kylenevers: Sure u do. When I slice open your belly and stick my hands inside, I’m sure you’ll feel very warm. And then you’ll get cold, as cold as the night air. But I’ll keep cutting.

Mandy jerked away from the monitor as if the text tried to lunge out and grab her throat. A high squeal leaped behind her lips, and she struggled to keep from screaming. It was a joke. A sick joke. It had to be. She reached toward the keyboard with trembling fingers.

MC9010025: That’s not funny.

Kylenevers: Nicki didn’t think so either, but I think it’s hilarious.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha…

Now Mandy did scream. She shoved away from the desk, stumbling over the chair as she tried to put distance between herself and the monitor. Her mind raced. Her heart fluttered like a hummingbird’s wings against her ribs. No. No. No, she thought. It couldn’t be Kyle. The man that killed Nicki was old, stooped and grotesque. She saw him on the video. Everyone saw him. A man with a witch’s face. Kyle looked nothing like him, and the picture must have come from Kyle. He posed for her exactly as she asked, with the hairbrush, saluting. He was young and handsome and…the picture changed. No. Pictures don’t just change. No way.

“No,” she cried to the room.

A cold chill clung to her skin like an icy rash. She trembled violently beneath it. Call help, she thought. Figure this out later, but for now, call help. You’re alone in the house.

Mandy approached the desk as she might a hive of bees. Slow steps brought her shaking to the edge. She snatched the cell phone from the desk, then leaped back. She fumbled the device open and punched in 911, then hit send and put the phone to her ear.

“Still want to chat on the phone?” a high rasping voice asked. Then a piercing stutter erupted through the speaker. “Hahahahahahahahahahaha.”

She screamed and threw the phone across the room, repulsed by the laughter crawling through it. Her skin tightened and goose-pimpled. Mandy hugged herself against the sensation, but she felt dirty, as if she’d just squirmed out of the Witchman’s filthy embrace.

Mandy looked around the bedroom, uncertain what to do. She tried to get her heartbeat under control by taking deep, ragged breaths. Tears burned her eyes, blurred her vision. She wiped the hot tears away frantically so she could see.

Get out of the house, she told herself. Go to a neighbor’s, use their phone. If Kyle knows my cell number, he probably knows my home number and my address!

What if I want 2 hurt u?

Oh God, she thought. Mandy sprinted from the bedroom and into the hall. She hit the stairs running, flying blindly down them, her only thought to get someplace else, someplace safe. She slid on the tiles, slowing herself to unlock the front door. Her fingers slipped on the deadbolt handle. Slipped again. Finally, it turned and she grasped the knob, threw the door open, and raced forward, right into his arms.

“Mandy,” Dale said. “Mandy. Hey, come on. Calm down. It’s just me.”

Struggling blindly against the guy holding her, not yet able to see Dale where she’d seen Kyle only moments before, Mandy threw an arm out and hit her boyfriend’s shoulder as hard as she could.

“Hey!” Dale yelped, shaking her hard until she was really seeing him. “Hey,” he said, his voice quieter, soothing. “It’s me.”

Recognition settled over her. Relieved to be held by familiar and welcomed hands, Mandy stopped struggling. More than anything, she just wanted to fall into his arms and be held until the fear passed, but there was no time.

“Come on,” she said, pulling out of Dale’s grasp. She turned and closed the front door. “We have to go.”

Dale looked concerned, but he wasn’t ready to move just yet. His instinct to protect her had kicked in, and he looked ready for a fight. “Go where? What’s going on? Is someone in your house?”

“No, it’s just…”

Mandy took more deep breaths and shook her hands before her to break out the last of the panic. Dale was here. She wasn’t alone, and that was something. He had his cell phone. Kyle wouldn’t have that number; there would be no way for him to have it. She never mentioned Dale by name in their chats. They could call the police and wait together.

Inside, Mandy realized that Dale might be hurt if she told him the truth. She had, after all, chatted with Kyle for weeks. Dale would take that as cheating, but she couldn’t worry about that right now. If he hadn’t been doing the same thing, Mandy never would have replied to Kyle.

“I have to tell you something,” Mandy said. “But I’m not sure I know how.”

Still, she found a way. A moment later, the story of how she met Kyle and why she replied to him in the first place came pouring out of her mouth. When she saw a cloud of anger fall over Dale’s face, she talked faster, explaining that she and the boy never met, never even spoke on the phone. “Now that we’re back together, I told him I couldn’t chat with him anymore.”

Dale nodded his head, still looking hurt and angry. “So, what did he say?”

“Come on,” Mandy said. “I’ll show you.”

She led him up the stairs. “At first, he was really cool, we just chatted about what was happening, you know, ever since Nicki was killed. He was always a little weird, but I felt bad for him, because he told me his parents were really strict and a bunch of other stuff.” As they walked into her bedroom, Mandy paused and turned to Dale. “And I was upset because we weren’t together, you know?”

Dale nodded his head, let Mandy kiss him. His eyes were cold. He understood, but that didn’t mean he had to be happy about it.

“Then tonight,” Mandy said, taking Dale’s hand and leading him to the monitor, “He wrote…”

They stared at a blank screen. At first, Mandy thought her screen saver was on. She tapped the return key. Hit it harder.

“No,” she said. “I didn’t shut this down.”

“Are you sure?” Dale asked. “You were pretty upset.”

“I’m sure,” she said, seeing her reflection in the dark panel. She really jabbed at the return key, giving it a solid click. Nothing. “How?”

Without the instant message from Kyle, she had no proof. It was her word against his. No wait, she thought. The cell phone call. Mandy pulled away from Dale and skirted her bed, rushing to the far corner where her cell phone lay closed. Mandy picked up the device, opened it, and searched her log for the last incoming call.

The last call logged to her cell phone came from Laurel that morning. No other incoming calls, or outgoing calls—not even her 911 call was listed.

“This isn’t possible,” Mandy said. She turned to Dale, who stood by the desk. “When I tried to call the police,