Fear Games

6. The Graveyard Shift

The rest of the week went by without much craziness. I figured the killer was laying low due to killing someone in the school parking lot. Something I noticed was that this killer did things different. Ryan never would have killed Rachel and her friends in the parking lot. Not with other people around. This killer didn't seem to care who saw or how exposed they got. And that was the scariest part of all.

Matt came over a few times and we binge watched some things on Netflix. It was a good distraction for the moment, but any time he left, I was sucked back into the madness. I hadn't heard from Brandon over the last few days, and I figured he was still mourning the loss of his girlfriend. Eden and I texted a few times but didn't hang out.

Saturday arrived and Matt was trying to come over. Unfortunately, I just wasn't feeling up for it. It mid-afternoon and I just got done making my ham and cheese sandwich and my phone alerted me of an email. I didn't check it right away, and instead took my phone upstairs to my room.

Once I was on my computer, I saw the email notification in the bottom right hand side of the screen. The subject said "Urgent."

I opened the email and started to read.

Josh,

I need your help. It's important. Meet me at the graveyard in town tonight at 8 PM. I'll explain everything there.

There was no recipient listed, but I felt a sickness in the pit of my stomach. It sounded like Damien. Could he have found a way to reach out to me? If so, why didn't he reach out sooner? I started typing a response.

Is this Damien? What's going on? Where are you?

I waited a few minutes and nothing came. Minutes turned into hours and I realized what I had to do. I was going to go to the graveyard. Picking up my phone, I dialed Eden's number.

"Hey," she said. "Everything okay?"

"I think Damien emailed me."

"He what?" Eden said. "What's going on? Is he okay?"

I explained what the email said and told her I hadn't heard a response back to mine. When I finished, she sighed.

"Are you going?"

"Of course I'm going!" I said. "If it's Damien, I need to know what's happening. He likely has answers that we don't. Besides, if I can help him--"

"Then let me come with you."

I should have known she was going to make that request. It's not that I didn't want her to go--it was that I didn't think she should.

"Eden," I said, "I get why you want to go. Heck, I want you to. But Damien didn't reach out to you. He asked me. And if I bring someone else, there's a good chance he'll leave before even revealing himself to me."

"Doesn't that seem a little suspicious to you?" Eden asked. "Do you really think that going by yourself is a good idea? After what happened to Clary--"

"Exactly!" I said. "After what happened to her, we need answers, and Damien seems like he might have them."

"And how do you know it's really him?" Eden said. "I mean, there was no recipient. It was just there. It could be a trap."

"If it was a trap, don't you think they would have signed it with Damien's name? So I would think it was really him? He didn't put it because someone's out for him. He's likely just being safe."

Neither of us knew what to say next. Before things got any more awkward, I hung up the phone and called Brandon. When he didn't answer, I tried calling again.