Danielle decided to see me off so we were both standing in front of her house as we waited for my car to come pick me up so I could go home.
We spent time talking about so many things that we didn’t realize it had gotten so late until Justin called and said he was on his way to pick me up since it had gotten so late and Atticus was already home waiting for me.
I was so shocked that I pulled my phone from my ears to take a good look at the time and sure enough it was quarter past ten. We were hurdled up in Danielle's room so we didn’t know it had gotten so dark outside.
I scrambled from the bed in shock and began to curse at how I lost track of time while Danielle just sat there laughing at me as I hurriedly packed my shit and fixed my hair and face.
“It was so good to see you. I promise I will find some time to come see you once my schedule is free and we can have a redo of today” She promised when we saw my car heading towards us.
I gave her another hug “I hope it’s soon. I hate that you are so busy all the time” I told her once we pulled apart from the hug “but I understand. It’s just that I am so bored all the time and I haven’t made any friends yet”
“Me too. I miss spending so much time with you too. But don’t worry I will be free soon and we can spend all our days together” She mused “Now start going home before your husband storms my house looking for you”
We said our final goodbyes and I was on my way back home. I got a text message from Atticus asking me if I was already on my way back home so I decided to call him back instead of texting him a reply. The phone rang about five times before he picked up the call.
“Hello” he spoke gruffly into the phone speakers and it made my stomach tingle with how deep and hoarse his voice was.
“Did you fall asleep already?” I was already disappointed that he wasn’t waiting up for me just like I would have done. Plus, it wasn’t very late so it was a bit surprising that he was sleeping this early.
“I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I was sitting on the couch waiting for you so I must have slept off by mistake.” He explained and he sounded really tired over the phone. He must have been crowded with a lot of work today.
“You sound very tired. Are you okay? You should go and sleep in the room if you are. Don’t wait for me. I’ll be home soon” I told him because I was very concerned and I didn’t want him to fall sick.
“No, I’m okay. How far are you? Did you just leave Danielle’s?” I heard rustling on the other side of the phone, maybe he considered my advice.
“Yes, we are just driving out of the compound so I know I won’t be arriving in the next ten minutes. You have to take my advice and go to sleep. I know you have work tomorrow so if you fall sick because you didn’t get enough sleep, I wouldn’t be able not to blame myself”
“You forget that I have worked in far worse conditions. Staying awake for one hour more won’t do anything to me. Did you have a nice time over there?”
“Yes I did, I didn’t realize how much I missed her until I saw her today, we had so much to catch up on”
A car’s light suddenly reflected in my eyes and I looked out the window to see it was from a black car behind us. The light was affecting my eyes so I moved to the middle of my seat.
“That’s good. I’ll be waiting for you when you arrive, okay? Be safe” He ended the call and I was left smiling like an idiot.
I leaned against my seat and closed my eyes to rest a little so I could rest before we got home. My place was a little far from where Danielle was at the moment. They had to move to a new place and it was a little bit far but way better than the old house.
“Please drive faster, we have to get home fast,” I told the driver before closing my eyes
“Yes ma’am. We’ll get home in no time” the driver told me with a smile.
My eyes caught sight of the car again, closer than before, but I decided to ignore it. There were so many cars on the road, so it was likely we were going in the same direction for now.
“I think the car behind us is following us” The driver whispered to Justin but I heard it loud and clear, “I noticed it when we left the Hudson’s place but I thought it could just be a random car but now I am not so sure” He added and I felt my heartbeat spike up.
“I think so too. I also noticed it but I was going to watch it for about ten more minutes before saying something but now that you also noticed it, there is no way we could both be mistaken. Try to lose the car and see if it follows'' Justin ordered and the car sped up and began moving fast down the road.
“What’s wrong Justin? Who is following us? Are we in trouble?” there was no mistaking the panic that was in my voice and I kept glancing from the driver to the car that had matched our speed and was chasing us down.
“Answer me, Justin, do I need to call Atticus? Oh my God, who would even want to follow me around? I am nobody interesting’ I wailed when Justin ignored me once again.
“It’s nothing, we would try to lose him then I’ll get somebody to find out who they are. I promise that you will get home safe and nothing will happen to you”
“You don’t even look so sure of yourself and you think that would be enough to convince me. I’m calling my husband” I grabbed my phone that I had already dropped in my bag but it was snatched from me rudely by Justin.
“Don’t call him just yet. You’ll make him worry for nothing. Just sit still and let us do our job.” I wanted to protest “Trust me please” he whispered at the end when he noticed I was going to protest.
I sat with my heart in my chest as the car raced through the road and the other car was so relentless in following us. We had to take a different route which I thought was not necessary because I believed that the person would already know where we lived if they had been following us for quite a while.
“He is still following us, don’t you think we should call help” I asked Justin but he was too busy keeping his eyes on the road and giving the driver instructions to even be listening to me.
“I think we finally lost them,” the driver said at the same time my phone started ringing. It was my husband. I checked the time and saw it was almost nine-thirty, which meant I was supposed to be home thirty minutes ago.
“Hello” I picked up the call before Justin could tell me otherwise and he wasn’t happy but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to let him tell me what to do anymore.
“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you at home already? Where is Justin? Did you encounter any difficulties on the way” Instead of answering him, I was smiling like a fool.
“Are you there? Hazel? Are you okay?” he asked again. This was the first time he had addressed me by my name. I suddenly loved my name more because of the way it rolled off his tongue. It was so smooth and sounded richer and more beautiful than I knew it was.
“Yes, I am here. We were being followed so we had to lose them which we just did so we will be home really soon”
“What do you mean you were being followed? By who”
“I don’t know Atty. the most important thing is that we were able to escape the person so we would be able to find that out later.”
“How are you? I hope you didn’t get hurt?”
“No one got hurt. I am fine. A little scared but that’s all and I would be fine once I get home”
“Okay. I’ll have people look into it now. Pass the phone to Justin, I need to talk with him” I passed the phone to Justin and tuned out their conversation.
My mind was filled with thoughts, trying to connect the invisible dots and connection I knew existed between the car and the man I saw the other day across the street.
There was something between those two and I was sure of it. I was certain they were related and was probably sent by the same person but if I raised it they would not believe me since they already said there was no stalker so I wouldn’t say a thing yet.
I would try my best to figure out what was really happening so that when I told Atticus what I knew, he would not have any reason to doubt me. But the real question is where do I even start the investigation when I had zero idea of where to start and whom to start with?
I don’t even know if I had enemies and who didn’t like me enough to send someone after me, but there was also another question.
What if the person was after Atticus and not me? I have seen so many situations when the loved ones were used to trap someone so this could also be a similar case.
I could already feel a headache coming from thinking about it but I was going to leave it for another day before the headache kills me. I just hope my husband and I will be safe.