Fear Games

6. N is for Nefarious

Freshman Year

"YOU REALLY PROMISE?" Noah asked me that day in the library. "I haven't told anyone else, but I feel like I can trust you."

"You can trust me with anything," I said, although nervousness couldn't help but make its way through my body. I was scared of what he was going to say, but I needed to trust him, just like I wanted him to trust me.

Noah sighed. "Well, you know how I told you I didn't have a last period of the day?"

"Uh huh..." I said, code for "go on."

"I lied," he said quietly. "The truth is, I'm in a special education class."

Relief washed over me. It wasn't anything that serious. He was okay. I was okay. We were alright. "Noah, why didn't you tell me?" I asked with a little laugh. "Did you think I wouldn't want to be your girlfriend anymore?"

He shrugged. "Look, it's probably not for what you're thinking."

I grabbed Noah's hand and smiled at him. "It's okay, Noah. I don't need to know. I'm just glad that you told me. If you want to wait, you can tell me some other time, okay?"

Noah nodded and leaned in for a kiss. When our lips touched, it was electric. I felt on fire. He was everything I'd always wanted and I was never going to let him go.

***

Noah was the killer. I knew he had to be. The letters weren't random whatsoever, and I was chilled to my core. It made sense why he'd want to hurt me and my friends. We deserved it.

"Rachel..." Isaiah said softly, grabbing hold of my hand the way I did to Noah that day in the library. "Rachel, Noah can't hurt us."

I wanted to believe he was right, but something deep inside me was telling me he was wrong. Noah could hurt us. There was no mistaking this.

"Isaiah's right," Elijah said comfortingly. "Noah couldn't do this to us. Noah's dead."

I shook my head. I knew it was true--knew that he supposedly died--but it wasn't that easy. "Did we ever see a body?" I asked.

None of them responded. They knew I was right.

"Who's Noah?" Ryan asked, trying to help me get back upright. "Why would this Noah guy be trying to kill us? And how can he kill us if he's dead?"

"It's a...really long story," Elijah said.

"One you don't have a right to tell," I spat.

"Maybe I don't, but you know that this can't be true," Elijah replied. He came closer to me, standing right by the couch. My old best friend put his hand on my shoulder and said, "It just can't be."

He didn't understand just how wrong he was. None of them did, I swiped his hand away, then tried to wipe a tear from my eye that I knew was coming. All of them stared at me as if I was crazy. Maybe I was going crazy, but there was no denying what the letters spelled.

"Maybe..." Esme started. "Maybe Rachel's right."

Elijah looked at her, shocked. "You can't be serious."

"I mean, it'd make some sense, right? Noah's name being spelled with those letters is no coincidence." Esme walked over to the couch, squeezing her way between Ryan and me. "And Rachel's right, we never saw a body. We never went to his funeral."

"That's because we weren't allowed," Isaiah said. "But that doesn't change anything. We watched his family mourn him, you guys. His parents were a mess."