Page 37 of Stolen Dreams

“You’re up,” Lucy says as if me walking out of her father’s bedroom is normal.“We made pancakes.”

“I can see.”I walk over to the counter, still not looking at Emmett.“They smell delicious.”

“Mine had chocolate chips in them,” she proceeds to tell me as she picks up her last piece and makes sure to tip the plate, getting the rest of the syrup.

“Do you want coffee?”Emmett finally speaks, and I turn to him, shaking my head.His eyes turn as soon as mine stare into his.Great,my head screams.“I’m going to get going.”I point over my shoulder.“Get out of your hair.”

“Already?”Lucy asks.

“I have lots of things to get caught up on for school.”I try to avoid how my stomach feels like it’s going to sink to my feet.I also avoid the burning that follows it and the need to yack.“Thank you for letting me sleep in.”I walk over to my bag on the couch.“It’s been a while since I’ve slept so good.”I finally look back at him and see him picking up his coffee cup, holding on to it so tight that his knuckles are white.“I’ll see myself out.”I start to turn and then stop.“Shit, my truck.”

“Outside,” Emmett says, “went to get it this morning.Keys are still in your truck.”

I smile at him.“Thanks.”I hold up my hand.“I guess I’ll see you around.”I rush out of the house.“Or never again would be good.”

Only when I’m in the safety of my truck and driving away from his house do I let go of the big breath I was holding.“Smooth.”I nod to my reflection in the rearview mirror before finally covering my face with my hands.I don’t have much time before someone honks their horn at me, and I have to drive ahead.

I’m driving to my apartment, trying to convince myself that packing up my things and moving is not an option just because of what happened last night.I also try not to make myself feel even worse because he didn’t even look at me this morning.I’m parking my truck when I look up and see a hooded figure walking down the steps from where my apartment is.He is wearing black jeans, a black sweater with a hood pulled over his head, and black boots.His hands are tucked into the pockets of the sweater, head down as they rush away from the stairs.The hair on the back of my neck goes up as I see him rushing to the back of the building and out of my view.Getting out of my truck, I make my way up the steps I just saw the man walking down.I look over my shoulder while I walk up the stairs, wondering if he will come back.I’m so focused on what is behind me that I don’t see one of my neighbors coming down the steps until I crash into him.I scream as my phone and keys fall to the ground.

“Jesus, Lilah,” my downstairs neighbor, Lester, says, “you are going to give me a heart attack.”He puts his hands to his chest.

“I’m so sorry,” I apologize to him as I bend to collect my things.“I wasn’t watching where I was going.Are you okay?”

“I’m better than you are.”He laughs.“Have a good day.”He walks around me, probably trying to get as far as he can from my crazy.

I shake my head and walk to my apartment door, slipping my key into the lock and unlocking it.I’m still shaking my head when I step inside and stop in my tracks.The window is open yet again, but I know I closed it this time.I have been making sure I double-check it each time.I take a couple more steps into the apartment and see that some of my pictures look like they’ve been moved.Pictures of my parents and me on graduation, another picture of me and my horse.I can’t stop the hammering of my heart as I walk to my bedroom and see my drawers have all been pulled out.I walk over and see nothing has been touched, just looks like it’s been pushed around.

I don’t touch anything until I walk into the bathroom and see the mirror to the medicine cabinet half open.I pull my phone out of my pocket and call the one person I think of off the top of my head.The phone rings three times before he answers it.“Hey,” he says, his voice chipper, and I hear Billy whining in the background, with other voices also.

“Charlie,” I say, trying not to freak out, but my voice quivers.

“Lilah,” he says, and I hear the frantic way he says it, “what’s the matter?”

“I don’t know, maybe it’s nothing.”I look around, second-guessing myself.“I got home, and I saw someone strange walking down the steps.”I try to calm the way my hand starts to shake like a leaf.“But then I came into my apartment, and things look all out of sorts.”

“Get out of the apartment now,” he instructs, and I can hear him running.“Don’t touch anything.”I move as fast as I can toward the door.“I’m on my way.”

“Should I call the sheriff?”I ask and then look down at my phone, seeing he’s already disconnected.I walk out of the apartment and sit down on the landing before my legs give out from under me.

I close my eyes and rest my head against the side of the apartment building, right next to the door.I’m just getting my hands to stop shaking when I hear the sound of two doors slamming.I’m almost to my feet when I look down the staircase and see Emmett racing up, two steps at a time, before I see Charlie following him.

“Are you in-fucking-sane?”Charlie hisses at his back.“I didn’t even have the truck stopped, and you jumped out.”Both of them reach the landing seconds apart.Emmett’s eyes fly to me, and I don’t even feel the tears running down my face.

“What happened?”He takes two steps to me as I get to my feet.His eyes roam my face, and he looks over my shoulder at my apartment door.

“I don’t know.”I shake my head.“It might be nothing.Maybe I’m overreacting.”I put my hand on my stomach.

“Why don’t you start at the beginning?”Charlie urges, looking around.

“Last week, I got home, and my kitchen window was open, which I found strange since I don’t normally open it, but I thought I forgot or something.Then, a couple of days ago, I got home and my bedside drawer looked like it was opened and not closed.It was just little things like that.Today when I got home, I saw a guy walking down the steps.I didn’t see his face; he was turning by the time I spotted him.”

“Pull up your Ring cam,” Emmett says, and I look over at him, my eyebrows pinched together.

“What Ring cam?”I ask.“Why would I have a Ring cam?”

“So you can see if anyone is lurking around your house,” he growls, his teeth clenched together.

Charlie puts his hand on Emmett’s shoulder.“Why don’t you relax a little bit,” Charlie tells him, then looks at me.“What about today?”he asks, and I tell him about everything I noticed with the apartment.“Let’s go inside.”

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