Page 119 of Distortion
‘Right. Okay. See you after class later then.’
‘See you.’
He leaves and I stare after him for a moment.
I need to get on his laptop. The one in his room.
I’m not amazing with computers, but that’s mostly because my time on the one and only PC we were allowed to use at The Heath was heavily monitored. The time I did spend on it, I had to rationalize down to the minute on a timesheet and woe betide me if there were discrepancies. Plus, besides extra for the online courses I took, I wasn’t permitted to play around or explore. I know they follow a logic though, and I have some experience from before The Heath. The way they work can’t have changed that much.
I get up and slink out of my room, across the hall, and into Blake’s. I glance around, looking for the cameras, but I don’t see them. They must be well-concealed.
His laptop is on his desk and it’s open. I guess there’snothing sensitive on it, or he’d be more careful. He doesn’t strike me as a fool.
I sit at his desk and move the cursor, frowning at the screen as I bring up the windows that are minimized.
Is this a trap? Did he think I’d come snooping?
I listen for returning footsteps but hear nothing. Though I suppose if I’m on camera, it won’t matter if he actually catches me, now. Committed, I look through everything I can see and I find that there are cameras all over the house, except for the other members’ rooms, and the bathrooms.
I watch them in every room, seeing the boys doing normal morning things. I try to memorize where the cameras are so that I can keep out of their view if I need to. Someone’s been watching me, and if they really are using the house cameras to do it, I need to stay out of them as much as possible.
But why would Blake have lied about turning them off?
I want it not to be him or one of the others. I was just beginning to trust them a little and now ... maybe they were just pretending to give up. Maybe they still don’t want me here, but they’re going about their plan in a different way.
I find nothing untoward on the laptop except for the cameras. There are only two in my room. One that shows me on the bed and the other that features the desk. I can’t really move the bed, but the desk can go on the other side of the room easily, and the camera won’t be able to see me there. I search Blake’s internet history but find nothing of note and no trace of the email address the last message came from.
Before I leave, I take a look at the video files from last night. There aren’t any in the room, just as Blake said, which confuses me even more. How did he or she know what had happened in here unless they saw it on the cameras?
I glance at the large window, trying to remember if the curtain was open last night. I go to it and move it to the side.There’s an unencumbered view down to the wooded area near the driveway. Someone could have been lurking. They might just be stalking me the old-fashioned way.
In which case, it probably isn’t one of the guys.
I go back to the laptop and I delete the files of me being in here, and then I reboot the system, so all of the cameras are off for a minute while I leave and go back to my room. I close my curtains and move my desk before I grab the laptop and put it in my bag for class.
I play with the idea of telling the guys what’s going on. The messages are more threatening. But what if I’m wrong? What if it is one of them, or all three? I don’t know what to think and I hate it.
I decide to ask Lu’s advice and come up with a plan. This person wants me to look into my mother’s death. So I will, I decide. Seriously. Maybe if they see me doing what they want, they’ll back off until I can figure out who is doing this.
The next fewdays are spent going to my classes and catching up with the work that I missed in the first month. Luckily, I don’t have any more problems with my fellow students. The nasty duo leave me alone, and I wonder if Mav or Blake did have a word with them after all. Now that I have a laptop and can come prepared, I keep my head down and do my work. It’s not difficult per se, there’s just a lot of it.
Between classes, homework, the lab, and my shifts at Grinder, the hours are long, and though I spend a little time with the guys, most of it is assisting in the lab. I try not to be around them on a personal level. I’m not sure how to relax with them because, in the back of my mind, I’m wondering if they’re secretly my enemies.
During the rare occasions that they ask me to hang out, and I can’t think of an excuse not to, they barely make anyefforts to touch me at all. I’m a little hurt when they don’t, but I know that’s stupid, so I try not to feel the sting of rejection.
More often than not, I make sure that I’m out of the house. I pick up as many shifts as I can, which helps me afford the textbooks I need. As we get closer to Halloween, the pledges put up decorations and chat nonstop about the party that’s coming up. It’s the end of their hazing on the same night, so ten new frat brothers are going to beinitiatedinto the brotherhood. It all sounds a little creepy and culty to me, but who am I to judge?
I research late into the nights, trying to piece together the final moments of my mom’s life the night she died, but information is sparse. And I know why. John. What I need are official police documents and the paperwork from the morgue. Lu says her cousin, who’s a receptionist at the town hall might be able to do something to help, but it’ll take a little time because she’s off work with a broken wrist and won’t be going back until November.
I don’t receive any more messages from the creeper though, so I assume they’re keeping tabs on me and must know that I’m doingsomething.
Just before the party, the guys get a bunch of pumpkins delivered and they have a carving contest. I want to join them. I haven’t done it since I was a kid. Even if The Heath had been big on the holiday, putting knives in our hands didn’t really align with their policies.
But I keep my distance no matter how much I’d like to do the opposite. I watch them laughing and joking with each other and it makes me realize that I miss them.
I don’t like it. It would be too easy to trust them and I can’t. I’m resolved not to go to their Halloween party at all. After last time, I’m a little wary anyway. I decide to tell them Ihave to study that weekend and can’t take the time, but Lu tells me this is one of the biggest parties of the year. With everyone drinking, I might find out some useful information as long as I don’t get wasted myself. I think she also just really wants to go to the party since she didn’t get to last time.
I think about it for a while, and then relent a couple of days before, deciding she’s right despite hershiftymotives. I’m at a standstill with my research into Mom until Lu’s cousin goes back to work and, even then, she might not even be able to help.
