And that was where I found her clothes upturned on the floor next to the pile of her notebooks. No bag.
Her bag was gone. I flew back out to the living room, trying to make that information make sense.
My eyes landed on the coffee table to find her coffee cup there from earlier, the contents spilled slightly over. Like she had put it down in a rush.
Her laptop was gone.
Her bag and her laptop were gone.
My gun lowered, the feeling of dread replacing the urgent rush of fear and worry.
Then I glanced back over to the table, finding my laptop there, a notebook piece of paper folded on top with my name scrawled across it.
It was then I knew.
For sure knew.
All the pieces fell into place and the puzzle got glued together.
She was gone.
But she wasn't taken.
No.
She left me.
“Fuck!” I yelled, throwing the gun down on the couch and reaching for the note. A part of me didn't want to read it. Didn't want to know what it said. What could it say that would make it alright that she waited for me to leave her for the first time so she could slip out? Was that the plan all along? Was she just fuckin' using me? Letting me use her body so I didn't get suspicious? So I didn't know she was going to run off all along?
Mother fuckin' stupid of me.
I knew better.
I flipped open the note on a growl.Breaker,First. I'm sorry for the heart attack. I know coming back and finding the place empty must have sucked. But it couldn't be helped. I swear. This is for the best. You can't protect me and Shoot at the same time. It's not possible. You were always going to have to choose. You know that. No way was Lex going to let you have both of us. That's not how he works. You need to choose Shoot.
So I am making that an easy choice for you.
I got word back from the post. Someone else is taking over. Maybe it will even be done before you have to worry about Lex being back. I don't know. I wasn't privy to the plan. All I know is that it is being handled and I was told I needed to get gone.
This wasn't some master plan I had been plotting.
This was what I was told to do.
But even you have to see it was the only way.
I didn't want to leave.
And I know you only said it because I was upset about Glenn and crying all over you- but you saying you cared about me meant something to me. I care about you too. You showed me a little bit of what life could be like when I finally let go of my mom and Lex and Glenn. You made me believe that I might have something to live for after all. So that is what I am trying to do- making sure that we all go on living through this.
I'll be okay.
Save Shoot.
Get gone too.
Thank you for everything.AlexSomeone else was in on it. I flew at my laptop, waking it up, and opening up the dark net Alex had left open. The post came up and I refreshed it, scrolling down until I found the comment.
Jstorm.
Whoever the new player was, they were sticking their fucking nose where it didn't belong. It wasn't their place to tell her to leave me. I could protect her. Now she was out there somewhere on her own.
She was smart. She was tech savvy.
But she didn't know shit about disappearing. About being off the grid.
And she damn sure didn't know what the fuck to do if she ever thought someone was onto her.
Maybe this Jstorm person would help her. Get her on her feet somewhere safe before he stuck his nose into everything and pissed off Lex.
But there was an equally good chance of that not happening. Of Alex being all on her own. And all it would take would be one misstep for Lex to find her.
I had to fuckin' find her first.
I grabbed my gun, tucking it into my jeans, then went back outside, ignoring the grocery bags as I looked around.
I saw her foot prints in the moist dirt on the side of the house, leading all the way down the drive. Yet more proof of how unprepared she was. Why run on the dirt and leave prints when you could run on the gravel and be a ghost?
God damn it.
I followed them down the road, seeing them taper off so I crossed the pavement to the other side next to a downed stop sign and saw them pick up again, heading into the woods. The woods weren't an altogether bad idea. If you knew where you were going. If you knew what the fuck to do if you came across a bear.
Both things that I was sure Alex knew nothing about. Her prints got deep beside a tree stump, like she stopped there. So I did too. Seeing a white garbage bag stuck under the tree. Something was there. Wrapped up in the bag. Something Alex took with her. Something this Jstorm person must have put there for her. Meaning Jstorm knew where she was living temporarily. They knew they could talk her into leaving. They gave her something.
What?
Supplies.
Money?
Survival gear?
Either was good. Either meant she had a better chance of getting gone.
I wondered how long she had been on her feet. If there was some other plan. If she was supposed to get her supplies and meet a cab or bus or train somewhere? Was she still in the woods?
There were too many leads and not enough time to follow any of them down before she was gone for good.
I got back onto my feet, following the footprints until they disappeared into the dead-leaf underbrush.
Fuck.
I made my way back to the house, going straight to my computer and bringing up the post, addressing the stupid fuck Jstorm.Hope you're happy, fucker. You just signed her death certificate.