CHAPTER SIX
(chapter title - Advice Column Here I Come)
I can't believe I'm actually doing this Sara thought to herself. She found herself after school the next day, standing in front of the door to the school newspaper. Lily Smith, a girl from Sara's fourth period gym class, came out and held the door open for Sara.
"Thanks." Sara thanked her and stepped inside. The room was bustling with people all buzzing around like bees in a swarm. Sara spotted Jennifer and walked up to her.
"Hey Sar. What's up?" Jennifer asked, getting a stack of papers off her desk and moving them to the advisor's Mrs. Penn's desk.
"You wanted to see me." Sara told her, pulling her hair into a ponytail.
"Um, now's probably not the best time." Jennifer said, thanking Mrs. Penn and walking to the Sports section of the paper.
"Billy, did you get the stats of last night's game?" Jennifer asked. Billy nodded and handed Jennifer his story - a good two and a half pages.
"Excellent work, Billy." Jennifer praised and walked over to the Advice section of the paper. Alice Wong, the writer of the Ask Alice column was reading a graphic novel and twisting a lock of hair around her finger. Once in a while, she would blow a large pink bubble.
"Ahem." Jennifer cleared her throat loudly, startling Alice. The giant bubble popped and there was a lot of crying and swearing in Korean. Sara decided that this would not be the best time to ask Jennifer about their mall date on Saturday, so Sara just exited the room and closed the door behind her, nearly running into Peter.
"Peter! Hi!" Sara greeted him.
"Hey Sara. You look absolutely stunning." Peter praised. Sara blushed and looked down at what she was wearing - a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt and a pink, white and red striped pullover dress. Her blond hair was pulled back with a pink, white and red striped hair scrunchie.
"Thanks. You don't look to bad yourself." Sara told him. Today, he was wearing a plain dark blue T-shirt and dark blue jeans. On his feet were white tennis shoes.
"Say, what are you doing this weekend?" Peter asked.
"Saturday Jennifer and I are going to the mall and on Sunday, my Dad and I are spending some time together." Sara told him. She could see a frown crawl across his face.
"I'm so sorry Peter. Maybe next weekend." Sara said, placing an hand on his arm. Peter shrugged his shoulders and ran a hand through his dark brown hair.
"Next weekend I have relatives coming from out of town. They'll be here for about four weeks." Peter told her, looking down at the floor. Sara sighed and adjusted her messenger bag on her shoulder.
"Come with me." Sara told him, taking his hand in hers. Peter looked up and followed Sara to a bench outside. Together, they talked about everything and nothing. Sara was careful not to tell Peter that she had HIV, fearing what that would do to their relationship.
"Sara! Let's go!" Mark called, motioning for Sara to come to the car.
"That's my Daddy. I gotta go." Sara told Peter, swinging her messenger bag over her shoulder and got in the front seat. Peter watched the two of them disappear out of the parking lot and out of sight.
"PETER! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!" Peter's older sister, Paulette, called. Peter got in the front seat and closed the door behind him. Paulette didn't ask him about his day at school. All she wanted to talk about is different things their parents said and what her day was like. Peter didn't really care what Paulette was talking about - all he cared about was Sara.
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Sara was in her room, getting ready to put the finishing touches on her painting when the phone rang. Sighing, she put her paintbrush down and answered the phone.
"Hello?" Sara said into the receiver.
"Hey beautiful." Sara blushed - it was Peter.
"Hi, Peter." Sara greeted him.
"What's up?" Peter wanted to know.
"Not much, just getting ready to put the finishing touches on my painting. You?"
"Just got home and I'm in my room. I was just about to get online. Why don't you join me?"
"I would love to, but I really gotta get this painting done before my Dad gets home. It's his and my birthdays next month and I want my family to see my portrait before I-" there was a beep - call coming in.
"Peter, I gotta go. I'll be online later tonight. I promise." Sara told him and without another word, answered the other call.
"Hello?" Sara said into the receiver.
"Is Sara Davis there?" an unfamiliar male voice asked.
"This is she."
"I just want you to know that I'm gonna fucking kill you."
"Why? What did I do?" Sara asked. She was starting to get scared.
"I'm gonna fucking kill you you little bitch." The person told her and with that they hung up. Sara got down on her knees and cried. She was so scared.
"Sara? Who was that?" Mark inquired, walking up the stairs to Sara's room. He heard her sobbing and ran to her, gathering her up in his arms.
"What's wrong?" Mark asked.
"A-A b-b-boy s-s-s-said h-h-he w-w-was g-g-g-go-going t-t-to f-f-f-fucking k-k-kill m-m-me." Sara managed to choke out in between sobs. Mark just held her close, too afraid to let her go.
"You know that Dad and I won't let anybody or anything hurt you." Mark told her, rubbing her back and stroking her hair.
"Hello? Anybody home?" Roger called, walking into the house.
"Up here, babe." Mark called, still holding Sara close to him. He was so happy to hear Roger's footsteps on the stairs.
"How was your- what's wrong?" Roger asked, seeing Sara crying in Mark's arms.
"What's wrong?" Roger repeated, walking over to Sara and Mark and squatted down next to them. He gently placed a hand on Sara's shoulder, causing her to look up. Tears were streaming down her face, which was upsetting to Roger.
"Sar, did something happen?" Roger asked, sitting down next to her and Mark. Sara nodded and hiccoughed. Mark rubbed her back in a circular motion, letting her know that everything would be okay.
"I'll tell him, okay?" Mark told Sara. She nodded and continued to cry.
"She told me that she got a call from an anonymous caller that said that they wanted to fucking kill her." Mark explained. He saw tears come to Roger's green eyes and his face turn deathly pale.
"I need to call Joanne." Roger said after a while.
"Rog, this could be someone playing a joke. You know kids these days." Mark told him, carefully picking Sara up in his arms and tucked her into bed. Noticing her painting, he placed the piece of tarp over it and turned off the overhead light.
"I-I w-w-want D-D-Daddy t-t-to st-stay w-w-with m-m-me." Sara sobbed.
"Okay sweetie. I will." Mark told her, turning around and sat in a chair next to Sara's bed.
"Do you need anything Sara?" Roger asked.
"N-n-no." Sara sobbed. Roger nodded and walked out the room.
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He couldn't believe that anyone would threaten Sara. What sort of idiot would do that? Sara was the most kindest, sweetest, prettiest girl Roger knew and he also knew that she would never do anything to hurt anyone.
Sighing, Roger sat down on the couch in the living room and watched a little bit of TV.
The phone rang a few times, but Sara didn't feel like talking to anyone. She was too afraid that the anonymous caller would threaten her again. Roger didn't know how he would ever live with himself if something happened to his little girl.
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Roger decided to check on Mark and Sara, just to see how they were doing. Carefully climbing the stairs, he reached the second floor and pressed his ear to the door. There were the sounds of Mark's snoring and Sara's sobbing, but other than that, the room was silent. He listened for a little bit longer then went to work on a song.
As he worked on the song, tears came to his eyes and blurred soon blurred his vision. He put his notebook down and put his head in his hands and cried his eyes out. He knew why he was crying - he was afraid for Sara, afraid for their family. Afraid of what would happen to Sara if the anonymous caller kept his word and actually did kill Sara. Roger didn't let that thought enter his mind.
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Sara woke up and wiped the tears and sleep from her eyes. She got out of bed and carefully made her way over to her computer in the corner of her room. She turned it on and waited for her blue screen with the cute teddy bear to appear. As soon as all her icons popped up, she double clicked on the Word Perfect icon and let her fingers do the typing.
Ten minutes later, she looked at the document in front of her:
Dear Ask Alice,
I am writing to you because of an anonymous call I received earlier today - the caller wouldn't reveal his identity to me, but I know it was a male calling - around fourteen years of age, from the sound of his voice.
Anyway, this caller - let's call him "Andy" threatened to fucking kill me - his exact words. He didn't say when or how, but I am so scared.
What should I do to protect myself and my family from Andy?
Sincerely,
Scared out of my Wits.
Sara read and re-read the words in front of her, the glow of the screen reflecting off the walls around her. She sent it to the Ask Alice column of the newspaper and waited for an answer.
