Sarah Miller was a petit girl, she was a member of the band and due to her cute demeanor, she was ostracized by the rest of the girls, who were jealously convinced of her natural success with the boys. However unfair was such an assumption, Sarah remained dignifiedly alone, and although evidence suggested that the boys were as much interested in her as they were in the other girls, her predicament remained the same. And although she was surrounded by many people when in band practice, most of the time she spent either alone or silently sitting along with some people that would agree to have her around without protests.
Such characteristics did not escape the trained eyes of Jonathan, and he had barely set his eyes on her when her situation became evident and he became completely sure that she was perfect. Without even noticing that he was now a subject of study to others, he began his ritual by writing down every single detail that proved important to the perpetration of his acts. And although he would indeed need more than just superficial information of her daily conundrums at school, for now, it sufficed.
Karen and Jordan were the ones to which the task of finding a way of talking to the girl without Jonathan's knowledge, fell upon. And after some days of wondering and conjecturing, they decided to do something stupid and follow the girl. Karen and Jordan both had concluded that the absolute fail-proof way of meeting her without Jonathan's knowledge would be outside of the school, and although he hadn't noticed that they were watching him, something told them that if they began to watch his prey, he would definitely become aware of it. Which left them with the only and stupid option of following the girl.
Soon they realized that she had the habit of frequenting a certain cafe after classes, and at all times she was alone, barely anyone noticed her, and the barista was so used to her presence, that she did not need to make an order, a few minutes after she was inside and huddled against the corner table, hiding behind a big drawing pad, a cup of coffee would appear between her eyes, a few words and smiles were exchanged and they proceeded to go on with their separate lives. As far as Jordan could see she was a loner and was either very used to it or liked it very much, and in his mind, he believed that Jonathan thought about it as a pro, as something that would make it all easier to do. He promptly told Karen to write that down, they now had a notebook especially to note down important info on Jonathan, but she disagreed with his idea since Deborah was a cheerleader and was never alone.
"Yet, she might be lonely."
"She's always surrounded by people, she just doesn't fit it all."
"Still... I'd bet you a hundred bucks that she is lonely and has no real friends."
Karen sighed after a bit of thinking and admitted that that was a real possibility and that that could explain how she had managed to trust Jonathan so much that she got deceived by his silver tongue. If someone felt that no one could understand them, the possibility that a bit of understanding coming from any source at all would make that person blind to the dangers around was very real, the thirst for connection would transform a healthy brain into a desperate fish looking for water in the middle of a desert. While Karen nibbled on the tip of the pen, Jordan kept his eyes on Sarah and he began to wonder if she would even give them the time of day, she seemed amicable enough and the barista was indeed able to interact with her without any problems, but they certainly had met a long while ago and time always added to intimacy.
He reclined against the car seat and started the slow process of imagining every possible outcome he could, weighing the pros and cons of going to talk to her at that moment and of waiting a bit longer. Waiting for too long might be dangerous if they waited too long, Jonathan could discover this little cafe and then they would never be able to contact the girl, but going in too soon could scare the girl out and all their efforts would be wasted and they would just be delivering another victim into Jonathan's vicious hands. Jordan sighed and scratched his head, he thought to himself that maybe waiting for a few more days, just until Jonathan actually made his move would be better, and keeping a few steps ahead of him could be a good contingency plan. As long as nothing got out of their control the girl would indeed be kept safe.
At least he hoped so.
"So..." Said Karen, her inquisitive eyes sparkling at him. "Do we go in, or...?"
Jordan closed his eyes, sighed, and pressed his lips together tightly.
" I think we should let Jonathan do something first, I mean, if we just go in and dump all of that on her the possibility that she'll get freaked out is real."
"Yes... but we can't wait too much, he'll definitely discover this place quickly."
"Yep. But if we let them talk for a couple of days... by then I guess he will have already worked some of his magic, which will work in our favor when we expose him. I mean, she might doubt us, but she won't forget it the next time he tries to woo her."
"I agree. Let's just keep on watching her for now then, once Jonathan comes we'll be prepared."
Jordan nodded, they had both agreed that that was the best possible course of action, and yet, he remained anxious. To be fair, the feeling of another's life depending on you was scary, and at that moment Jordan remembered his little trip to the hospital with Laura, he remembered the doctors and nurses and how they managed to keep their heads cool even though several different lives depended on them, so he took a deep breath and with a new found calmness he decided to look at this just like he imagined those doctors and nurses did.
He would do his best, and he would hope for the best, and if something bad happened then he would deal with it if and when it happened.