The Forum by Marie Reyes (short books for teens .txt) 📕

"Well, the other leads are wrong." Kristen was on the verge of shouting.

Piper stepped up to her, giving her an impromptu and stiff hug. "I know this is personal for you. We can still find this guy ourselves." The body contact only seemed to make Kristen more upset, and she sniffed.

"You know this is dangerous, right? This person knows all about us. The things he's done. It was just fun and games for you. Why are you even here? This is just crazy." A single tear had worked its way down one cheek despite her best efforts to hold it back. Close to hyperventilation, she sucked in short rapid breaths, and couldn't speak.

Aadesh came in closer, narrowly avoiding a group hug situation. "Look. I'm thirty years old, just split up with my girlfriend, clinging onto a career that doesn't want me. If I can just do this, help you, help the missing girl, help catch this psycho, then I will have at least done something with my life."

Kristen's breathing had leveled out, and she cracked a smile. "Okay, if you put it that way."

Although it felt cheesy, Martin couldn't help but say his piece. "When my dad died, I did not take it well. Actually, that's kind of an understatement. I was broken, and I tried to fix myself. Rest, volunteering, walked almost 1000km. I know, cliche right. I feel like, if I can stop this person from killing anyone else, that I would feel more in control somehow. Everyone important to me had gone, but there's still people out there, there's still a chance for me."

Piper watched the over-share unfold like some weird support group. She hated support groups with a passion. The one she went to was held in a musty old church. The must was a familiar smell that triggered a feeling, but the memory behind that feeling was just out of reach. Opening up made her skin crawl. When she was forced to speak to the group, her self-pitying words sounded ridiculous in her head and she wondered if the others could see her cringe as she said them.

She did it alone. Gave up the medication she was dependent on, and alcohol. She was better off doing things alone, yet she was here, and they were looking at her. They were stood around wanting her to pour her heart out for some reason. What the hell was this? Losers anonymous? "If this person works for Best Choice Insurance, we should just go to the office. It's not even far from here. If they work there, then we might see them, if we go at closing time."

"What if he's not working that day?" Kristen asked.

"Then we go another day."

"And how are we supposed to know if we see him?"

"Sometimes you just know. Maybe we will get a gut feeling. I don't know. It's worth a try, isn't it?" Piper wondered if she was losing her mind. "If we watch the videos enough, get a real feel for this person. Height, weight, how they move—"

"I can't," Kristen blurted in fear.

"Of course. Don't you worry about that. Just leave that to us."

~~~

Kristen could tell her eyes were puffy before she even had a chance to look in the mirror. The tears and lack of sleep had taken its toll, and she knew she wasn't ready for what they were going to do, but there was no time to wait until she finally got it together. The splash of cold water on her face did little to help, but it was a start.

Even though she went to bed early, she couldn't sleep and could swear she heard the sounds from the video drifting up through the floorboards. Muffled screams of terror echoed in her ears all night, forcing their way into her dreams. And then she could see his face. The face of the man she had seen since the day she was born. That face was gone now, despite seeing it so much, for years and years, all she could see now, was how he looked when she had found him. Not even staring at his photograph over and over again could push that image away and she was terrified that was the only way she was going to remember him, not even looking like a person anymore.

As she patted her swollen eyes, it hit her. She needed this to fuel her. This sick person had not only taken her father from her but destroyed her memories of him as well. She was terrified of what he may have done to make a complete stranger write, 'you deserved it,' in blood. Then came the guilt. There is no way he could have done anything, and the thought that she would even entertain that idea for even a moment made her feel like shit. The anger was rising like an unstoppable tidal wave, engulfing her until she couldn't breathe.

A pressure built until she couldn't contain it and before she realized what was happening her fist collided with the mirror and it was only after the sound of glass shattering that she could hear her own screams. By the time Aadesh burst into the room, she was on the bathroom floor. "What the fuck?" He ran over to her.

"I'm fine," she lied. "I just needed to let off a little steam."

"You're bleeding."

She looked down at her knuckles and it was only when she saw the blood, that she felt the warmth of it as it dripped onto the bathroom tiles. "Oh."

"Don't worry. Can I use this towel for the bleeding?"

She couldn't bring herself to answer, and Aadesh took her silence as a yes and wrapped the towel around her hand. It didn't take long for the deep red to seep through to the other side. "You'll need to keep