Chapter 5

Boredom. Seth was beyond bored at this point in time. He had been home from the hospital for two days and no one would let him do anything. He was allowed to get up and go to the bathroom. That was it. Lillian, since she shares a room with him, would wait hand and foot on him even though he had repeatedly told her not to. She was stubborn though. She was worse than a mule.

"Hey Seth, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine Lillian. You need to stop fussing so much. I'm not going to suddenly break if you leave for two seconds."

"I'm sorry Seth, I'm just worried about you." Lillian said without even the slightest bit of notion that she was actually sorry.

"You're not sorry."

"So." There was something else. Seth could sense it.

"What is it?"

"How could you tell?"

"You're like an open book Lillian. Spill."

"Seth, do you really think that this was a random mugging?" She hit the spot, Seth had been thinking along the same lines recently.

"No."

"I think that we should tell Shane or someone about the Lion."

"And what exactly are we going to tell them Lillian? We have no proof that this was anything more than some random act. I don't want to worry Mom and Shane about nothing, because it is probably just a coincidence."

"Do you really think that?" Seth looked down at his feet and did not respond. He didn't believe a single word of what he had just told Lillian. "I didn't think so."

"Look, Lillian, we are probably worrying about nothing, so please, don't tell anyone about this. Not yet at least. Okay?"

"Alright," Lillian said hesitatingly. She wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do. "But you'll tell me if anything else happens, right?"

"Right, now leave. Go out with some friends or something. You don't have to spend every second that you have to spare with me."

"Alright, I'm leaving. See you later."

As Lillian left the room, Seth pulled out the piece of paper that had been haunting him ever since the night he had returned home. That first night that he had returned home had not been as peaceful as he would have hoped. He had woken up from a nightmare that night and had felt so sure that there had been eyes just starring at him. He woken up expecting someone to be watching him, but no one was there. Lillian was still sound asleep, but there had been something strange about the room. The window. The window was open. Seth was positive that Lillian had closed it before they had gone to bed. Had she opened it sometime during the night? Seth soon realized that this conclusion was wrong for there was a note next to his bed. The note was signed by the Lion. Seth had read the note a million times and could now recite it from heart. It went something like this.

I'm sorry Seth, you're my best friend, but you had to be punished. I can't have my best friend disobey me like that, now can I? You should have known better Seth. I couldn't let you get away with it. I own you now, you belong to me and nobody else. I told you I would win; I told you that I would conquer. Nobody believed me. Do you believe me now? You can't escape me. We are going to be best friends forever and no one will ruin this friendship, not even you or your pesky sister. I care about you Seth.

P.S. If you tell your sister anything else about me and continue to have her look into this, I will just have to punish you again, but this time it will be your sister that ends up in the hospital.

Love, your best friend in the whole wide world:

The Lion

This letter freaked Seth out more than the others had. He knew the kid was serious and if provoked, he would carry out on his promise. He would just have to be more careful in the future. If the kid could get into his house unnoticed, who knew what else he was capable of.