Emma looked with disbelieving eyes at the pink diary given by her grandfather. The hazel color of her eyes was mixed with curiosity and skepticism as the soft rosy hue of the cover seemed to mock her nature. "Why do I need this? I'm not that girly," she said with a slight edge in her voice.
Grandpa William chuckled merrily; his eyes glinted with years of wisdom earned. The lines around his eyes deepened as he smiled, testament to a life well lived with much laughter and love. "I didn't give this to you because you're a girl, Emma," he explained in a soft voice. "I gave you this so you can jot things down. You children are like sponges when you're eleven. You are just soaking up new experiences and new emotions. It's good to have a place to put them in."
Emma's fingers ran over the sensitive lock on the diary, catching the golden sheen in the afternoon light. Despite her resistance, the charm beckoned. The lock promised secrecy, a safe haven for her thoughts away from prying eyes. Still, the thought of Jake and MC discovering it and teasing her mercilessly made her hesitate. "Sure, Grandpa. I'll write in it," she conceded, her voice a mix of resignation and hidden excitement.
Her grandfather's gnarled hand patted her back reassuringly. "Thank you, sweetie. Oh, I think MC is coming over," he said, looking out the window.
Her heart skipped a beat at the mention of MC's name, and she followed her grandfather's gaze in the direction of their entrance gate to find MC striding up their driveway in his bright, fiery red basketball top, with grey shorts on, with eyes as deep and enchanting as the blue ocean, his eyes twinkling even from a distance. A color rose high in Emma's cheeks, and it was like she had been running a marathon, for her heart was galloping wildly.
She quickly shook herself out of her reverie. Get a grip, Emma, she told herself. He's just here for Jake. Nothing more. But even while telling herself so, a glimmer of hope fluttered in her chest.
"I gotta go, Grandpa!" she exclaimed, an octave higher than her normal voice. Clutching the diary to her chest, she made a dash for the front door, her sock-clad feet sliding on the polished wooden floor.
Emma flung the door open, almost losing her balance in the process. MC stood there, taken aback for a second by her sudden appearance. His eyes, wide with shock, softened immediately as he recognized her. "Oh, hi Emma. Is Jake home?" he asked, his voice making Emma's stomach do somersaults.
Before she could muster a response, Jake appeared behind her, gently nudging her aside. "Hey MC, ready to play some basketball?" he asked, excitement evident in his voice.
"You bet!" MC replied enthusiastically, fist-bumping Jake. His gaze, however, drifted to the pink diary Emma was still clutching. "What's that?" he inquired, curiosity piqued.
Emma's face flared hot as she quickly hid the diary behind her back. "It's nothing," she mumbled, wishing she could sink into the floorboards.
"Nuh-uh," MC said, unmistakable glint in his eye as he raised an eyebrow. "I saw a diary. I already knew you were girly, but I guess you want to show that to everyone now."
"No!" Emma exclaimed, the redness in her face beating that of MC's basketball shirt. "Grandpa William gave it to me!" she suddenly heard herself saying. She could have kicked herself for uttering a word.
MC snorted to himself-an irritatingly cute scene for Emma. "Whatever you say, Em," he teased, his 'Em' stabbed into her heart every time.
"Dude, cut it-stop teasing my sis," Jake chimed in, pulling MC by his arm. "Let's go!"
As the boys moved off down towards the local basketball court, Emma stood in the doorway, her gaze fixed on MC's disappearing form. The weight of the diary in her grasp was a tactile reminder of sentiments she could not voice aloud. "Stupid diary," she snarled, but somehow her hold on it hardened.
Her gaze follows MC well out of sight as a swell of longing and frustration washes over her. She wishes MC would cease treating her like she's just Jake's little sister, to see that she grows up, too. As his figure recedes into the distance, Emma heaves a deep sigh; a silent, unsaid, secret crush floats in the silence, an unwritten diary entry.
She closed the door behind her, gazing down at the pink diary. Perhaps, she mused, this little book might be something more than an ultra-feminine accessory; maybe it would turn out to be a friend-a friend to share all her secret hopes and dreams. She felt determined now, went up to her room, and sat down to write about that boy with ocean-blue eyes who could speed up her heart in an instant.
…
"She had feelings for you?" Maximus asked, looking up from the first few pages of the diary. His eyes were wide with surprise, a tinge of redness upon his features, part embarrassment, it seemed, on proxy. "Damn, how could you not tell? It's like in neon writing here."
MC sat in stunned silence, his mind reeling in surprise from this unexpected revelation. Emma liked him? It was a feeling so foreign, it almost verged on being out-and-out ridiculous. He'd always thought of her as Jake's little sister, an extension of his best friend's family-not as. well, a girl with feelings. He just thought she wanted to be included with the big kids in all of their adventures and jokes. How had he not picked up on something so obvious?
As the reality of Emma's feelings set in, a wave of memories washed over MC. Little moments, ones that he had written off as nothing at all, suddenly took on new significance: her lighting up when he came over, laughing a little too hard at his jokes, the times she'd try to join in on their games despite being younger. It was all there, clear as daylight now that he knew what to look for.
Was it as she'd written-that he never saw her as a person, only as Jake's little sister? The notion made him ill in his stomach. Was he truly that blind, that insensitive?
This realization only doubled his overwhelming feelings of guilt concerning her death. He never felt worse, and this added another layer to his already heavy load of shame, which he carried for years. Not only had he failed at protecting her, but he also didn't even know how she felt, probably hurting her with things he never intended.
"Can you skip all that and just go through the most recent chapters?" MC asked strained. He couldn't bear to hear more about Emma's crush on him. It felt like a violation of her privacy, even though she was gone. "So we can see if someone she knew might have. taken her life?"
Maximus bit back the teasing that naturally leapt to his lips. Usually, he'd rib MC mercilessly for being such an oblivious dickhead. Joking about some poor dead girl having had a crush, though, just seemed too mean, even for him. He still had questions, mind: how was MC not getting it then? Why is he so in a rush now, just wanting to avoid dealing with this aspect of it? Why deny what's basically written in black and white?
"But how will we know what's going on if we skip everything?" Maximus ventured cautiously. He knew they were treading on dangerous emotional ground here, but he felt that understanding the full context might be crucial to solving the mystery of Emma's death.
MC groaned, running a hand through his hair in frustration because he knew Maximus had a point, but it was just too much to bear-hearing every detail about Emma with her ghost haunting him and their impending return to White Rock looming over them. He'd have to be out there, sitting and listening to her innermost thoughts and feelings, knowing how it all ended. too much.
"Just skip to August or something," MC suggested, a note of desperation in his voice. "She got the journal in May, so unless you want to read three months' worth, go ahead. But I don't want to get murdered in the middle of the night while everyone's clueless."
The words hung in the air, a stark reminder of the danger they possibly faced. Maximus nodded slowly, catching the urgency in his brother's tone. He said nothing as he flipped through the diary, pink pages rustling under his fingers. His eyes scanned the loopy handwriting, searching for anything that might stand out as important.
Something finally caught his attention. Maximus's breath caught, and his finger abruptly stopped on a page. "I think I found it!" he exclaimed, in his voice trembling between excitement and trepidation.
"Then what are you waiting for?" MC leaned forward, his tension outlined in every line of his body. The air in the room seemed to grow thick with expectation and dread. "Go ahead and read it."
The brothers held their collective breath as for a moment; they knew that they were right at the cusp of unraveling the mystery that led to Emma's sad demise. Anything written on that page might just change it all and solve the mystery of years. Now, with Maximus ready to read, MC steeled himself-realizing that whatever was to be learned now would change life as they had known it.
…
Emma munched her way through lunch, but her gaze stayed on MC, sitting a few tables away. He was with Jake and some classmates, and the laughter was just carrying across the cafeteria. She watched him, her heart racing with each sight. How could one person be that beautiful? The sparkle of his ocean-blue eyes seemed to shine bright with mirth, freckles on his nose like constellations, and his tousled black hair seeming to fight against gravity. To Emma, he was perfect, a living, breathing work of art. Too bad he wasn't interested in her.
"You still crushing on Michael Conner?" her best friend Eliana whispered, a knowing smirk playing on her lips.
Emma almost fell off her seat, her face flushing a deep crimson. "What.! No! I wasn't!" she sputtered, an octave higher than her voice.
Her friends hooted with laughter as she knew her crush on her brother's friend was nothing new. Emma's crush on MC was an everyday fact as normal as homework and gossip.
"Stop laughing at me," she pouted, with a protruded lower lip. "You should be comforting me instead. This is a serious crisis!"
"Okay, we're sorry, Em," Lisa apologized, though still working hard to stifle a giggle. "It's just that you're so cute when you're in love. You get this dreamy look in your eyes, like you're seeing stars instead of the mystery meat on your tray."
They all had mixed feelings about MC. On one hand, he was charming and good-looking. On the other hand, his obliviousness to Emma's feelings frustrated them. Still, they agreed it was entertaining to watch Emma's crush unfold like a real-life rom-com.
"Why are you so into this boy?" Rebecca asked, twirling a strand of her hair. "He doesn't even acknowledge your existence. It's like you're invisible when he's around."
The one failing MC had in Emma's eyes was that he had too much fun being young. To her, he was perfect-funny, kind, impossibly handsome-but to him, it was all about sports and hanging out with his friends. Her friends were annoyed by his obliviousness, and this shared frustration seemed to unite them.
"Oh, I just wanna hit him," Lisa fumed, her fist clenched. "Perhaps if I knock some sense into him, he will finally see you."
Emma laughed weakly, but she was genuinely concerned about the well-being of MC. "Guys, relax; let's talk about the sleepover tonight. We have better things to talk about than my sad love life.
It sounded like some sort of magic password because, in an instant, her friends quieted down. They plunged into excited chattering: snacks, painting nails, rom-coms, and talking and talking-a night to remember was in the making.
But even as Emma joined in the planning, she couldn't help stealing glances at MC. She loved him-or at least, she thought she did. But a smidgeon in her wondered if it wasn't one of those passing crushes, something she'd find hilarious years later. Her heart ached, really hoping these feelings weren't just a fantasy, that one day MC would look up and see her as more than just his best friend's little sister.
"Look at that creep," Eliana muttered, breaking Emma out of her reverie. A boy with a hood over his head was staring at their table, his eyes unblinkingly intense.
"He's in our class, isn't he?" Rebecca pointed out, furrowing her brow. "Why is he staring at us like that?"
"I bet he likes one of us," Lisa said, disgust and curiosity mingling in her voice. "Which one of us was he staring at?"
"I think he was staring at our lovely Em," Eliana answered, trying to hold the venom in her voice.
The girl glared at the boy and in one voice said, "A creep!" The girls' protective instincts flared up like a shield in defense of Emma.
But for Emma, the optimistic one, viewed him otherwise. "I don't think so. He's some sort of shy kid. Perhaps he's just curious about us."
"That's because you see the best in everyone," Lisa murmured, turning a blind eye. "Most likely, all because you took him out that one day."
Emma recalled how she once stood up for him against some harassing youngsters. "Could just be grateful, that's all? Not everyone is like some ulterior motive waiting around every corner."
"Like, he may fancy you," Rebecca gravely cautioned her friend. "Watch it, Em-not everyone's a teddy bear."
Emma surprised them by asking: "Do you think I'm like that around MC? All creepy and stare-y?"
Eliana was quick with her reassurance, "No way, you're lovesick, not creepy. There's a huge difference between having a crush and a stalker, big difference.
The lunch bell rang, and they started to head off to class. Their conversation again turned to the sleepover, with excited plans and girlish giggles. Emma had forgotten about the weird boy and her unreturned love for MC in the expectation of a fun night with her friends.
But as she came back to her desk for math class, reality crashed back. A folded note fell from her textbook as she opened it, and on the outside, there was a heart. Her heart skipped a beat- could it be from MC?
She unfolded the note with shaking fingers, expecting-hoping for-a confession from her crush. Instead, five words stared back at her, in jagged unfamiliar handwriting: YOU LOOK CUTE WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING.
She felt her blood run cold, with a chill up her spine. The innocent excitement of her crush on MC was nothing against this disturbing note. Emma sat down when the math teacher began her lesson, clutching the paper in her hand and trying to imagine who would have written something like this and what this message really meant regarding her safety.
…
"You're kidding, right?" Eliana muttered as they all bunched up, staring at the note. The pink color of the paper that was once a symbol of possible romance became sinister in Emma's shaking hands. "You have a stalker?"
Emma nodded tearfully, with her stomach twisting into knots. She had not even told her parents yet, knowing what it would cause. And what if they called the police and turned her life into a crime scene? Or worse, what if they moved, uprooting her from everything and everybody she knew and loved? Leaving her friends would make her stomach turn, but it was never seeing MC again that sent the biggest surge of terror. How could she explain that this silly crush on her brother's friend was holding her back from even wanting to ask for help?
"What is it I do?" she asked, her voice barely above a whispered breath. She looked at one then the next of her friends, hoping desperately that one of them at least knew. "I do not know what to do. This certainly is not covered in school."
Rebecca felt like the hundredth time, read the note over and furrowed her brow. The stalker had to be someone from their school-how else would the note have found its way into Emma's desk? But identifying this mysterious person seemed like an impossible task. It could be anyone-a classmate, an older student, even a teacher. The possibilities were as endless as they were terrifying.
"We should tell some trusted adults," Lisa said decisively, ever the voice of reason within their circle of friends. "I know you don't want to cause a huge scene that could separate you from us, but Emma, this is serious. I don't think we can solve this on our own. We're just kids after all."
They sat on their sleeping bags, the excitement of their sleepover long forgotten. The only dim lamp in the room cast eerie shadows of familiar objects, turning them into looming monsters. Emma's face was a mask of fear, not only due to the note but also the chilling realization that the stalker knew where she lived and had seen her sleeping. She looked at her open curtains, cursing herself for leaving them that way. How long had someone been watching her, violating her privacy?
"Fine," Emma said finally, her voice small and defeated. "Let's just hope my parents don't freak and drag me away to some witness protection program or something."
She could already see herself being swept away from Fallen Falls, watching her friends and MC disappear into the distance through the back window of her parents' car. The thought of MC looking sad as she disappeared, perhaps realizing too late that he cared for her, broke her heart. It was a bittersweet fantasy-to finally have his attention, but at such a cost.
Rebecca got up, her shoulders so set. "I'll be right there with you to help calm your mom down in case she overreacts. We're in this together, Em."
Emma raised an eyebrow. "Overreact" sounded like a gross understatement for what her mother might do. "Thanks, Rebecca. I may need you to physically restrain her from bubble-wrapping me."
Lisa and Eliana joined them in a solemn procession down the stairs in pajama-clad girls on a mission, so to say. Emma's parents were in the living room, watching some late-night reality show about people falling in love-something Emma usually found sappy even for her romantic tastes. The irony hit with the weight of what she was about to reveal.
"Mom, Dad." she started, her voice unusually serious. The words tasted heavy on her tongue and it was an effort to get them out, like lead weights. "I've got something to tell you."
Her parents looked up, their expressions showing the concern as they took in Emma and her friends, standing pale and worried.
"What is it, Emma?" her father asked and further lowered the volume of the TV. "You and your friends should be asleep. What's wrong?
"I know, it's just that I got this really weird note saying someone watches me while I sleep," Emma said, her eyes fixed on the carpet; she couldn't stand to see the fear and anger that was sure to cross her parents' faces. "I'm scared, and I don't know what to do. We thought. we thought you should know."
"Where's the note?" Her dad stood up, his voice tight with emotion barely contained. "I want to see it."
Lisa handed the note to Emma's dad with a shaking hand. He read it, his face changing from confusion to disbelief to rage in a matter of seconds. Veins bulged in his neck as his face turned an alarming shade of red. Emma's mom looked increasingly worried as she stood to check on her husband, her own fear evident in the way she wrung her hands.
"Is this some kind of joke?" her dad asked, his voice tight, like he was trying very hard not to yell. "Because if it is, it's not funny. At all."
Emma shrugged, suddenly embarrassed that she hadn't even thought about that angle. Was she overreacting? Was this some kind of sick joke? "I don't know," she admitted. "I didn't think. I mean, who would joke about something like this?"
Her mother looked between Emma, her friends, and her husband, confusion and concern warring on her face. "What's going on? Emma, honey, are you in some kind of trouble?"
Emma shook her head, overwhelmed by the weight of what she was carrying on her shoulders and the strong reactions of her parents. "I don't really know," she said in a very small voice. "But please, please don't act dramatic. I don't want this to turn into a big thing."
…
MC and Maximus sat there stunned as they concluded part of the journal entry. It was such an abomination that this stalker targeted an eleven-year-old girl, making it all so disgusting and petrifying at the same time. They felt so overwhelmed by how much danger lurked for Emma as well, because a place once perceived as completely safe can change instantly.
"I think it's the kid in the hood," Maximus said, closing the book but keeping his finger in place to mark the page. "I've read a lot of 'Survive or Dive!' and it's always someone close to them." His voice was laced with a mix of excitement and apprehension, the thrill of potentially solving a mystery tempered by the seriousness of the situation.
MC said nothing about the 'Survive or Dive!' reference, recognising that his own detective skills came from Johnny and Adam. Who was he to judge? It did often involve someone close to the victim. He found himself mentally cataloguing what he knew about stalking behaviours, remembering the SLII categories: Surveillance, Life invasion, Intimidation, and Interference.
Something inside was urging MC that this hooded kid was the best lead they had. He didn't like jumping to conclusions, but this seemed to be his best bet. The boy was in Emma's class, and Emma said she had helped him earlier. Maybe he fell for her but decided on this creepy approach rather than confessing. MC's mind was racing trying to think about possible motivations and actions by this mysterious figure.
"Maximus, read on," MC urged leaning forward with intensity. "We need to determine if we're thinking the same thing. Look for any mentions of surveillance or unexpected appearances."
Maximus nodded enthusiastically, to finally find clues about this mysterious hooded kid. His fingers shook slightly as he reached to turn the page, as by now the weight of their impromptu investigation rested on his young shoulders. But before he turned it, a question seared in his mind.
"MC, are you going to acknowledge Emma's feelings for you after we solve this?" Maximus asked, his voice softer now. "I feel like that might be something Emma wants you to do so she can move on. It's not just about the stalker, is it?"
MC went rigid, a kaleidoscope of emotions crossing his face. He couldn't deny the feelings of Emma as if they never existed, but felt overcome with guilt and shame. Emma would rather haunt him than her family because she wanted him to pay for what he had done, to make things right. He realized that he may have been oblivious to her feelings in life only to be faced with them in death.
"I'll try," MC said slowly, his voice barely above a whisper. "But for now, let's talk about Emma's past. There is much more to this."
Just then Maximus was unlocking the diary while they froze because there was the sudden creaking of footsteps just outside the door. Both had realized that once discovered, there would be really big trouble that could await their future. Solving this simple mystery solving game took a completely new high level now.
Maximus whipped out his new phone and snapped photos of the diary pages in seconds, fingers flying across the screen. Meanwhile, MC frantically started throwing things back in their positions with psychotic precision. They weren't about to get caught by Whitlock family members inside that sacred space.
After they had made a quick swap with the diary and turned the light off, they rushed out of that place, hardly missing Jake downstairs. The close brush filled them up with adrenaline.
Jake's eyes opened, surprised, only to narrow against MC in anger. "What do you want?" Suspicions flooded his voice while thinly veiled animosity echoed.
"Putting things away in the attic," MC replied, the half-truth tasting bitter on his tongue. He had to force his voice steady, knowing Jake could see right through him if he wasn't careful.
Jake wanted to argue but held back, his jaw clenching visibly. Why waste energy on someone without remorse? He'd likely never see MC again unless another tragedy struck. The thought hung between them, unspoken but palpable.
"Get out of my way," Jake muttered, shoving past them with barely contained anger.
As Jake went down the stairs, there was an interchange of a relieved glance between MC and Maximus, their hearts still racing with the close call. They had avoided the discovery in Emma's room but were reminded so starkly of the fragile situation they were in by the encounter with Jake.
MC pulled out his pocket to ask Maximus about the photos, thinking ahead to the next steps in their investigation. But instead of reaching for his phone, his fingers closed around something else: Emma's dead phone, the one he had stupidly pocketed.
"Oh no," he breathed, as if from a physical blow. And suddenly, what he had done really hit him, the implications of having taken evidence from the scene, even accidentally, looming large. As he stared at the phone in his hand, MC knew their amateur investigation just got a lot more complicated.