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Red Flash

Chapter One: Betrayal

By Laura AndersonPublished 6 years ago 4 min read
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She believed in me in a way no one else ever has and no one else ever will, and I betrayed her. The worst part is she doesn't know. She still thinks I went missing, someone kidnapped me. That's not the case, though.

You see, someone had been stalking me for months, maybe years. I first noticed it the first day of summer. Freshman year had just ended, and my friends and I were excited to go out and party all night. We were leaving a restaurant called The Bird, which was a cute little restaurant that had birds on literally everything and served lots of chicken! Anyway, that's when I first noticed it. Someone (or something) in all red, from head-to-toe watching me and my friends. Once I noticed it, it was almost like it was gone in a flash. A red flash. It was such a strange thing to see someone dressed like that and to see something like that red flash. You see, I lived in a small town called Fortburg. Nothing exciting ever happened there. There was never any crime, nothing. There was one high school that had only about 300 students, one small middle school, and an elementary school. It was always so quiet and nothing to ever really do. I mean, we didn't even have a mall. There was only one place everyone ever hung out, and that was The Bird.

The whole night I was out with my friends, all I could think about was the red flash I had seen. I hadn't told anyone about it, because I didn't want anyone to think I was crazy. I tried to just push it to the back of my mind, so I could focus on my friends. Speaking of friends, let me just introduce them to you. First, we have my best friend, Stephanie. We've been best friends for more than five years. We met the first day of fourth grade. It's kind of a funny story, actually. I had just moved to Fortburg from San Francisco and she had just moved from New York. We were both from pretty big cities, so moving to what seemed like the smallest town in the world was a pretty big transition for both of us. Anyway, long story short, fate just happened to bring us together. We were in the same fourth grade class, Mrs. Jamison's class. I noticed her right away. She had long, beautiful, red hair, which was curled so perfectly. I also noticed her right away, because she was wearing the exact same dress as me! She immediately noticed me too, and all of a sudden, she was walking right over to me. She said two simple words, "Nice dress!" And ever since that, we've been the best of friends. Moving on, we have Evelyn and Adelaide. I met them on the first day of seventh grade. Stephanie and I were sitting at our lunch table and, all of a sudden, Evelyn and Adelaide sat down at our table. We all immediately became friends and have been ever since.

Now, back to the story. After that night, I kept seeing strange red flashes everywhere I went. After the flash, I would see it plain as day, someone watching me. I always just tried to brush it off like it was nothing, but something just didn't feel right. Soon, I noticed I had stopped seeing the red flashes and I was relieved. Little did I know, it wasn't over yet.

A few months later, I started to notice the flash again. And then, I started to receive emails and notes. There were all kinds of things written; personal things about me, my family, my friends, quotes, rhymes, and riddles. Pretty soon all those things turned into threats. It started getting to the point that I couldn't even sleep anymore because I was so scared. Soon, this "person" then started threatening my friends, and that's when I knew I had to do something...So, I disappeared, ran away, whatever you'd like to call it.

Once I disappeared, though, the threats stopped. Everything stopped. I figured that if I ever returned, they would start again, so I've stayed hidden. It's been two years exactly and still, no one knows where I am or if I'm even still alive. I wish I could just contact my friends, but I can't...or at least I don't think I can. I'm too scared to find out what would happen if I went back or contacted anyone.

So, you all might still be wondering how I betrayed her? It's simple, I left. I never said goodbye, I just left. And who's this "she?" My mom...

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