An email had been sent to me by Regan Vantse. I hesitated to click on it, for obvious reasons. I was in a cold sweat. I quickly glanced around at the others in the large room to see if anyone was looking at me. I put my head down in my hands, ran them through my hair, and contemplated what to do. Would I regret it? Would it help? I had no way of knowing. Jesus Christ. I stared at the screen more and finally decided to click. I watched the cursor as it drifted over the white screen, and finally placed itself upon the email. There was no preview, which was strange. I clicked. My blood became hot while I read:
Hello Vincent. I admit it, it's a stupid idea to be using my school email, but it's all I've got right now. As long as the administrators do not check through my computer, which is hidden, I'm safe.
He was smart. Too smart. I continued reading:
I will be reaching out via multiple devices soon. Keep yours out of anyone's access. Would hate to be talking to the wrong person, haha. Anyways. Below I have attached 2 things. One is an image. View this now. One is a 5-minute audio file, recorded from my computer. Download this to your flash drive and listen while alone. I'd advise you to download the image as well, but you can do whatever you want. Just know that if you come looking for me, or tell anyone anything about this, you will regret it. Goodbye.
-Regan
I wanted to punch the screen. I wanted to break the keyboard over my head. I wanted to kill Regan Vantse. My hands were balled and resting on my desk. I was mad. And my thoughts were becoming violent again. I grabbed the mouse again, with enough force to shatter a glass. It made a loud sound, which made Newman look up from his paper. I dipped my head again and waited until he looked down. I clicked on the image file. It started to download, which I quickly stopped. I took my flash drive out of my pocket and set it up on the computer. Now I redownloaded the same image on my device. I scanned through my many personal downloads until I found the file named RV.JPG, and clicked. It was a picture of the park. The exact spot where I had attacked Montgomery. In the photo was an arm, presumably Regan's, holding a phone. The date and time were on it. Today's date. And the time was just twenty minutes ago. The email had been sent ten ago. Regan was just there. I got mad again and returned to the email. I downloaded the audio file. I wanted to listen right there, but I had to wait until I was alone with something I could listen to it with.
"Regan," I whispered. I pressed my teeth together. I stared at the picture blankly for more time. There was no way I could get out of school yet. There were only two hours left, but he was probably already gone. I looked around the room again to see if anyone was paying attention to me. I slipped the drive away and pretended to work on my assignment, which had been completed early with five days to spare. I couldn't track the IP on the email, but I knew where the photo was taken. There was no way of knowing from where he sent the message, but I had some guesses. His house was close, but that would have been a stupid move on his end. Especially if they traced his history. So he had to have gone somewhere remote, and away from service areas. He could have gone to the overpass, or by the river. I thought of all the probable places while I sat. But the bell rang. Shit. There was no way I could focus on anything for the rest of today. I got up and said bye to a few people. I rushed down the hallway with the flow of everyone else and visited my locker one more time. The last period was free today, I just remembered. The school didn't like us leaving early, but it was an option. I put the drive straight in my bag and got my modern geometry book.
The period was slow but ended eventually. Same as all classes I got apologies, and greetings, but couldn't genuinely reply. All I was thinking about was one thing. I practically jumped out of my seat when the bell rang, rushed again to my locker, and got my bag. I would come back before the end of the day, for my two meetings. I ran out the doors, along with a few others who were eager to leave as well. I ran through the woods shortcut to get home and tossed my bag through my bedroom window onto my bed. I had no time to waste. I rushed to the park and arrived at the location. I checked everywhere to see if he left any trace of himself or anything for me to find. Nothing. I was paranoid about being there so soon after him but was also fearless of him. He was weak, he hid away from everyone. He was a coward. I looked at my surroundings also, checking for anyone watching me. Nothing. Then my phone started vibrating. I quickly got it out and checked the caller ID. Unknown. This was him. I instantly answered and waited to hear a voice. I heard a sound like something being set down on a table, but I had no way of knowing. Then he spoke.
"Vincent. This is my first call," Spoke the voice of Regan Vantse. "I see you've left school to be here right now." I violently turned around again. I walked in a circle, looking like a crazy person. No one was anywhere. But how could he know unless he was following me.
"Where are you, prick." I said.
"That's not important right now," He replied. "This is where I watched you attack our friend." He was lying. I made sure no one was around. But if he was hiding here again there was no way of knowing if he had done it in the past. I wasn't being careful enough.
"What do you want. I don't have a lot of time," I said. I heard him sigh. As if he had anything to sigh about. I waited for his answer.
"There's something I want you to do. This won't take long."