Beneath the Surface

Lexie

I step out of the shower and reach for my towel I always hang on the rod to my left only to feel air. I freeze, where did the towel go? Was it there when I got in? I can’t remember. I must have forgotten to hang it up. Yeah that’s what it is. But as I look to my bathroom sink I see my tooth brush isn’t in its holder. Oh my god! This is exactly how it started last time. Little things just moved around. Just enough to make me wonder was I going crazy or was someone messing with my things inside my home.

One thing out of place means nothing, but two in the same day and I can already feel the panic taking hold. I run into my room and throw on a pair of sweats and a hoody before running downstairs to see if anything else isn’t in its place. Please god let me be wrong! There’s no way that he found me! How could he find me? I even changed my name, and stopped working as a nurse. Even with the name change, I only pay for things in cash. Shawn sends me cash out of my accounts when I start getting low. I peek into the boy’s room to see they are still asleep and head downstairs.

Nothing seems out of place in the living room. So I head into the kitchen, and start opening cabinets. I take a deep breath as I see the coffee in the wrong cabinet. No big deal someone could have put it in the wrong cabinet. It’s not a big deal. Until I turn around and see my coffee pot has been unplugged and moved to a different counter and plugged back in. I start to cry. The mother fucker has found me and was inside my house. He wants me to know he’s here. I sit down on the floor and cry for a few minutes.

After I get it out of my system I wipe my face and pull myself up. I grab my phone and punch in a number I hoped I wouldn’t need. “Hello?” It’s obvious from his voice that I woke him up. I look at the clock to see it’s still only 4:52.

“Hey Carson it’s Lexie.” I hear my own voice shake so I know he hears it too. “I know your company provides private body guards and stuff, but do you also deal with security systems?”

“Yeah we deal with the best of the best. Why? What’s going on?”

“Is there any way you can please fit me in your schedule as soon as possible to get a system put in my house? Money isn’t an issue.”

I hear one of my sons scream from somewhere downstairs, and drop the phone and run. I find Justin in the foyer looking at the floor. I step around him and almost fall to my knees. On the foyer floor, right inside the front door lays a single red carnation. I’m not just being paranoid. I was right. He’s found me. I pull Justin to me only to realize Jason is sitting on the floor in the corner with his face to his knees crying quietly. They know as well as I do what that particular flower means. He was in our house while we slept. I sit on the floor next to Jason and pull Justin down on my other side putting an arm around each of them. I wish I could pick Jason up and carry him to the living room, but my ribs are still too sore to pick up a nine year old boy. Hell I’m not sure I even could pick him up without the broken ribs. Someone bangs on the door and we all jump, and Jason screams again. I look out the window and then open the door. Carson pushes past me, “What’s going on? I heard someone scream over the phone then you were gone.”

I close the door and wonder how much to tell him. Before I can decide, someone is banging on my door again. We all jump again, but this time Jason only makes a little squeal sound instead of screaming. Carson step in front of me to open the door still not knowing what’s wrong. Jax storms in. “What’s wrong?”

“Did you hear a scream again?”

He looks confused, “No, I saw Carson running across the yard to get to the door and knew something was wrong.”

Jason’s head jerks up when he hears Jax, and he jumps up and throws himself at him. We’re all shocked, but I don’t think any of us are as surprised as Jax himself. He seems unsure what to do at first, but after a few seconds he reaches down and picks Jason up. He wraps his arms around Jax’s neck and starts crying again.

I whisper to Justin, “You know what that’s about?”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

He nods, “He likes Jax ever since he helped him with the bully. Jason did what Jax told him to, and it worked. He made Bobby cry in front of all of his friends. Nobody messes with Jason anymore.”

I turn back to the guys, “Okay let go in the living room. It’s getting crowded in the foyer. Justin go get me the phone.”

As we all sit down in the living room, Jax next to me with Jason still wrapped around him, and Carson diagonal to us on the loveseat. Justin climbs onto my lap and I wrap an arm around him.

Jax looks at me, “What’s going on?”

I hear Jason whisper to him, “The bad man’s back.”

Carson starts to ask a question but I hold my hand up to stop him. I dial Shawn’s number and wait. He answers on the second ring.