Page 4 of Hide From Me

I’m sure that my teenage crush was nothing more than that and I’d built him up in my mind, but I had always wanted to tell him thank you for freeing me of my chains.

I absently started to catalogue everything around me, going back to the paper folded up in my pocket. I still hadn’t had the guts to open it up. I thought coming back here would bring me peace, but instead, every night brought me nightmares.

I could still feel Detective Fuller’s eyes on me, and it made my skin itch. I knew this feeling all too well though. I’d felt watched the moment I went to college on the outskirts of the city. I should have been freaked out and reported it, but after a while, whatever this feeling of being watched was, I almost thought it made it seem like I wasn’t alone anymore. I even talked to the shadow that I knew was there, even if I could never catch it. This though? Detective Fuller watching me? It wasn’t the same.

“What, Fuller? I appreciate you requesting me because god knows I need the money, but if you’re going to judge my work, this won’t work.”

He cleared his throat again, and I sighed before looking over my shoulder.

“What? Just say it.”

His demeanor was different now. Not at all the way he’d been moments ago, all business and stick up his ass like.

“Maybe sometime we go get coffee.”

I’d never walked into a crime scene and been surprised, but this?

“I… I don’t really do coffee.”

His hands were in his jean pockets.

“Alright. Well, let me know when you figure out what you do. I’ll see you around, Klein.”

I nodded and watched as he walked away.

“Sure, detective. See you at the next dead body.”

He paused at that.

“Eric. Call me Eric.”

I nodded, but I was certain the hard line of my lips told him exactly how much I had no idea why I would call him Eric.

“Sure. Whatever you say, Eric.”

He nodded and kept walking, and I didn’t bother giving him another thought. I didn’t have time for that. I would do my work, take my keep-me-normal pill, and watch my Tamagotchi pet grow up. All while dreaming about a boy that I hadn’t seen in twelve years and had been a part of my life for all of a few months. Still. I wanted to thank him. Without him, I wouldn’t be here today. I wouldn’t be anywhere. I’d probably be a memory in a folder just like Mr. Williams was about to be.

The little peep in my pocket reminded me I probably needed to feed my only friend or something. At least I’d made one right choice in my life with this little electronic creature. She was a constant reminder of why I didn’t have a real pet or even a real person in my life.

I was a mess. Twelve years of therapy couldn’t erase years of trauma. I shifted and the small poke of metal hanging around a chain between my breasts reminded me of the one thing that had erased the pain.

Cas.

TWO

cas

Sparks cascadedlike a rainbow from hell as I ground down a sharp edge of my latest work. My bloody clothes were burning out back, the knife cleaned and ground down and now part of this week’s sculpture, or what I liked to call art therapy.

“The boys are already going through the books at the auto shop. Should bring in some quick coin and it’s a fucking brilliant cover for us to move into that area,” said Xander, or X as I liked to call one of my best friends and my right-hand guy. In this world, there weren’t many you could trust, and my circle was smaller and tighter than a virgin in church on a Sunday.

I nodded and pulled away the grinder as I admired my work. Amazing how something I’d just naturally been good at was becoming more and more helpful with my control of the Spectors. I wiped away sweat that had collected over my brow as I addressed my best friend.

“The Spectors needed a bigger presence. This sends a solid message to the Ravens and the Vipers about who is the greatest threat.”

I’d taken over years ago, and I’d been fighting an uphill battle ever since. We needed money to bribe cops. We needed money to expand operations. We needed money to buy out the blockson our side of the city. It all came down to we needed money. Money controlled everything.

I’d earned my place at the head of the Spectors by biding my time and amassing my fortune slowly and meticulously. I’d done what I needed to fill my pockets and those that would matter within the gang. No one needed to know that I’d done what I needed to in order to prove to myself that I wasn’t some little shit from the wrong side of the fucking city. No one needed to know I’d done it for her. I quickly wiped that from my mind, looking over at X.