Chapter 2
One of my history teacher's favorite things to do was make us read newspaper articles and review them. It wasn't too bad, really—in the two weeks since Jerry had moved in, the only exciting news I got was from the paper. I flipped through the paper for an interesting article, glancing at headlines without really seeing them. Somewhere in the middle was a story about a woman who'd escaped an attacker who had supposedly tried to bite her. Would anyone be crazy enough to believe that?
"Oh my God." I turned to see my friend Rachel, who sat behind me, staring appalled at the back page. I followed her gaze to a cluster of pictures beneath the headline, 'Twelve Missing in Two Weeks; Police Suspicious of Foul Play.' According to the report everyone missing lived in or around the Salt Lake County area. Most seemed to be couples or small families—different victims had lived together. Was there a serial killer? A vicious Mafia extermination? I was about to ask Rachel what she knew, but she spoke before I could: "I knew those three. They were the cutest family…" She trailed off, looking at me, and I saw something in her eyes I'd never seen before—fear. "I don't have any idea what's going on, but-" Her voice dropped to a whisper, "I'm scared."
I was really hoping I could kick back and relax when I got home. The whole serial killer scare had left the school in a frenzy, and I was craving escape. Unfortunately, the look on Mom's face when I saw her told this was not to be. "Hey, Mom." I was quick to give her a hug—anything to make her feel better than she was apparently feeling. "You look…upset. Is something wrong?"
" Not wrong, honey. Just…odd." She broke the hug, crossed her arms and pursed her lips. It was evident that whatever was bothering her had been doing so for some time. I folded my arms, too, and faced her, waiting calmly for an explanation. At last she conceded: "Stone Rogers has been calling all day. Our answering machine is full-"
"WHAT!" I couldn't keep myself from interrupting. Stone and I hadn't talked for over a year. We had been friends since childhood—good friends. As we grew older I'd started to like him as more than a friend, and I thought he liked me the same way…then out-of-the-blue he left me for someone else. Since then we'd pretty much completely lost contact, becoming estranged. I was still mad at him deep down.
"Why…what…what the hell does he want?" My mind was reeling.
"He said he needs to talk to you…"
"Wait—you answered the phone?" How could she? She knew how I felt about him!
"There was nothing else I could do! He would not stop calling. I was going to tell him to leave you alone, but…." Her brow furrowed as she gave me that 'caring, concerned mother' look. "He sounded…terrified. He was in a panic, and kept saying it was a matter of life and death." I leaned against the counter, still trying to process Stone's sudden strange behavior. Silence hung like a dark cloud between us for what felt like hours…But in reality it took me only a minute to reach a decision.
"There is no way I'm calling him back. I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him!" Mom didn't seem satisfied with that. She put her hands on my shoulders and looked me square in the eye. "I know you had a falling-out, honey. But of all the things Stone is, I've never known him to be false. He really cares about you, and this may be a crazy situation. But I don't think he made it up."
I gently shook free of her grip, then strode much less gently toward my room. Yet as much as I wanted to dismiss the incident, there was one question that niggled at me. I turned back reluctantly to voice it: "Life and death…what did he mean by that?"
Mom shrugged. "He said it was something about the new neighbor."
