Dasey Nation

[derekncasey4EVAH]

[Lady Azura]

[stephluvvsyou]

Aw you guys are so awesome!!! Love this feedback and discussion. Obviously I can't tell you who the stalker is...but I can say that all of these theories have been awesome!
_________________

[Bloodtoast]

Ohmigosh, please update your story soon! It's.... like... suffocating me! I don't know how to explain it -- your story is.... just... *breathless*.

I'm so totally confused about who the stalker is. I've reviwed on FF.net explaining who my suspects are, but I'm just CONFUSED!!! Is it Derek? Edwin? Noel? Max?

I CAN'T TAKE THE SUSPENCE!!!!

Lmao

[stephluvvsyou]

AN : Finally after a long wait, the update has arrived!

Stalking Casey
part 11 – When In Doubt, Look Up.


The walk home from school was turning out to be awkward. Casey found herself barely able to say anything to Derek, who, himself, was too busy thinking about the day's events to talk to her either.

The police had taken Emily home after they'd investigated Section 6, only to find nothing. Which plagued not only herself, but Derek, Sam, and Ralph as well. Emily had been labeled as overtired and delusional (as Emily had heard them whispering), and ordered to go home, and stay home for the weekend.

Casey couldn't help but feel remorse for Emily, but at least she'd be out of danger over the weekend, or so she hoped. She knew Emily hadn't made up what she'd seen. So maybe they hadn't found Kendra in Section 6. But they all knew without a doubt, that she was gone.

Now with the police involved, Casey almost wished they hadn't been at all. All the reasons now, of why Derek hadn't wanted them involved in the first place were quickly making sense. If the police couldn't find anything on this psycho, they wouldn't believe what they were saying. Better not knowing anything, than still not knowing with the added bonus of being called mental.

And now it was almost as if this whack job was untouchable. Untraceable. Free and dangerous. Something had to be done. Of course, she'd known that at the start of the week, but things were getting worse day by day. They were losing friends left and right, and it was going to continue to happen.

Casey felt more out of control than ever. She sighed heavily, the sun beating down on them as they crossed the street. Derek was still mumbling under his breath, a stern look on his face as his thoughts plagued him.

He however, had noticed the heaviness in Casey's sigh. He felt completely horrible after such a day. Of course, another piece of his heart was gone. The piece that belonged to Kendra. The piece that had now joined Sally's piece.

It still didn't seem real. And it had never once been right. Why take innocent lives? Why do this to someone? This freak was obsessed with Casey and was obviously clearing out everyone around her so he'd have no problems getting to her. But honestly? Derek would have never guessed a week ago, that someone in the school had such a strong stomach. Someone he went to school with had the guts to take someone’s life, and still be able to sleep at night.

He glanced over at Casey, who was walking beside him silently, a look of exhaughstion and petrification on her face. She was still in shock also.

Truth was, yes, Casey was in shock over the same things as Derek, however, there was one more thing she had to be shocked about. The text message she'd received earlier that day. Not only had it confirmed the death of Paul, her guidance counselor, but it had also mentioned him as 'shrink'.

There was only one person who ever called Paul her shrink. Derek.

Even though Derek had told Casey more than once that he wasn't the one behind all of this, and Casey had a hard time of believing that he was, it still bothered her. Paul...poor Paul. Like Kendra, Sally, and Max, he hadn't done anything wrong to cost him his life. People who did a lot of wrong didn't deserve to die. And they had lost 4 people, completely innocent, all because someone was freakishly interested in her. Not to mention what had happened to Sheldon, and now Emily would have to live forever with the visions of seeing Kendra being dragged away by this nut job. She felt her eyes begin to burn. Her eyes became watery.

What about all of their families? Loved ones? They had lost someone by murder. And still didn't even know where they were. The look on Max's mothers face had killed her that evening. Max had been missing for a few days now. And she still didn't even know where he was. Kendra, who'd been dragged off into Section 6 of the school and never seen after that. Paul...who had probably never seen it coming. Sally, who had been injured severely before being launched out of her bedroom window. Sheldon, who may never speak again. It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair, it wasn't fair.

As she did her best to keep her sobs minimal, she felt a hand slip into hers. Glancing over, Derek's gaze met hers.

Derek wanted to hurl. This mushy, mumbo jumbo just wasn't for him. Holding hands with Casey? Ridiculous. Even under the circumstances he found the gesture completely ignorant of himself. However, he knew she needed it, and he knew that while he may not like it, it wouldn't kill him.
She was facing forward again, and he glanced down at their hands, grasped together - hers a little more tightly around his, than his around hers. He almost gagged. It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair.
Still, as much as he wanted to wrench his hand out of hers as quickly as he'd put it there, he wouldn't do it.

"Paul's gone too, Derek."

He sighed, "Casey, the guy called in sick, that doesn't mean that he's-"

"I got a text message."

Derek ripped his hand from hers, and glared at her, "When was this?" He was automatically furious with her. She'd been keeping things from him again when she knew damn well that they needed to stick together right now.

Casey knew that tone of voice. She had miffed him again. But it's not like she'd meant to. She just hadn't wanted to discuss it with him. Mainly because she had actually questioned whether or not it was him that had sent it to her. She took her phone from her purse and flipped it open to the text, before reaching over and shoving it into his hand, "When we were in the hall today with Sam and Ralph after...you know."

Derek narrowed his eyes at her again before gazing down at the message. After scanning it over he looked at her again. Her arms were now folded over her chest and he knew why she hadn't told him yet, and why she hadn't been speaking to him much. He knew what she was thinking, and he needed first and foremost to kill those suspicions yet again.

"Casey, you know I didn't send this to you, don't you?"

Casey glanced over at him, "Well I don't know who sent it, it's from a blocked number."

"You know what I meant."

"......."

"Do you think I sent it?"

"Well...I don't think you sent...but..."

"But...?"

"......."

Derek sighed. Great. They were going to be going around this mountain yet again. He didn’t feel the need to press her about it this time. For some reason, he knew she didn’t blame him for what that message said. He knew she didn’t accuse him because of what that message said. The girl was confused. And he sure couldn’t blame her for that. The rest of the walk home was spent with heavy sighing, and an occasional sob from Casey. They had finally made it home, and were looking forward to some much needed sleep – and hoping they could both get some.

They went straight upstairs, muttering ‘see you in a bit’ to each other. Derek had closed the door to his bedroom behind him, he just wanted to shut the entire world out for a few hours, and that included shutting Casey out as well.

Casey sat down at her computer and shut it down completely. She didn’t want anything to do right now with the world of messenger. Especially when psycho’s had a tendancy of finding you there. She sighed, before lying down on her bed, her mind spinning with thoughts. Still, it didn’t take long before she crashed. And she crashed hard.

A few hours later, a thud from the hallway startled her awake. She held her breath and glanced over at her clock. It was after 9. She’d been asleep for nearly 6 hours. Not that she hadn’t needed it, but now she couldn’t even salvage a fraction of her Friday evening because she’d slept it away. Another thud erupted from the hallway, causing her to jump slightly. The sound of faint footsteps going into the bathroom followed the thud, and it made her stomach sink in nervousness.

She waited a minute, frozen where she was, sitting up in the bed, her comforter grasped in her hands in fear. What should she do? She couldn’t very well scream for Derek because, well, she didn’t feel as if she could scream at all. She waited a few more minutes, listening to the scuffling going on in the bathroom, before she heard the footsteps again. They got louder, before stopping right outside her door. The hallway light was on, and she could see a shadow through the crack of the bottom of it. She couldn’t believe how completely frozen in fear she was.

At least now she knew she would never survive. Even if the stalker was staring her straight in the face she’d just be killed. Because she’d be too scared to even run or scream. ‘Pathetic.’ She mentally told herself. She waited as she watched the shadow shifting around slightly, before, a soft knocking came to her door.

Heart pounding, she still didn’t move. That is, until she heard, “Casey? You awake? It’s me, Edwin.”

Relief hit her like a ton of bricks as she shuffled from her bed and walked over to open the door.

“Hey.” Edwin greeted, “It’s so quiet in here, are you and Derek okay? I expected the house would be in shambles with how you two normally are when you’re by yourselves here.”

Casey glanced towards Derek’s door. He was still sleeping. Must have been hard too, to not hear Edwin shuffling through the hall the way he was. Though, Derek was a light sleeper, Casey was a much lighter one than he was.

“Luckily Derek was too tired after school to ruin my evening.” Casey finally answered, and Edwin nodded in response.

“Counting your blessings. Good thing.” Edwin told, before his gaze moved down to a bag in his left hand.

“Going somewhere?” Casey questioned, as she folded her arms over her chest.

“Yeah, to a friend’s for the night. I had to come get clothes, and let you guys know where I’d be.” Edwin said, before turning to walk off, “Gotta get walking. Hope you guys have a pleasant night.”

Casey immediately felt panicked. “You’re going to walk there?”

Edwin stopped and glanced back at her, nodding.

“Alone?? In the dark??”

He nodded again, shooting her a strange expression.

Casey glanced at Derek’s door again before glancing back at Edwin. There was no way in hell.

5 minutes later, Edwin was waiting downstairs in the living room for Casey, who had decided she was going to accompany him. She had slipped on her shoes, grabbed a jacket, and was heading back down the hallway towards the living room.

She had stopped and paused to glance at Derek’s door again. It had been a struggle, to decide on leaving without him, but she wanted to let him sleep. He’d done enough for her lately. Surely she could handle walking home alone. She just hoped Edwin’s friend didn’t live far.

As she headed down the stairs, she grabbed the house key from the table at the end of them, and they both were off.

The air outside was crisp and cool, and very still. The neighborhood was quiet and peaceful. But to Casey it was freakishly quiet, and growing scarier by the second. Edwin had informed her that his friend was about a 20 minute walk away. Surely nothing would happen. Not now, not tonight. Even stalker’s had to sleep sometime, didn’t they?

Edwin cleared his throat from beside her, and she glanced over at him.

“Are you alright?” he questioned, “You and Derek have seemed really…strange lately. Well I mean, I expect even Derek to be a little out of it lately, with you know…Sally. And I’m sure you’re still upset about your breakup with Max?”

How was Casey to respond to this? She couldn’t very well get Edwin involved with what was going on, besides, involving others was only bringing about more trouble for everyone. She managed to muster a smile for him. “It’s just been a crazy week for both of us.” Ha. Crazy was an understatement.

“I’d say.” Edwin replied, glancing ahead again, scuffing the ground as he walked. “Has Derek seemed better today?”

“Well…of course he’s not okay.” Casey began, “But he’s dealing with it the best he can I think.”

Edwin nodded. “He’s very un accepting when it comes to tragedy. Wouldn’t shed a tear for anyone in this world. I don’t know, sometimes, I think it’s a front. But it’s hard to tell because Derek has always been this way.”

Casey stopped to think about this for a moment. What Edwin said she had no doubt was the complete truth. Derek really didn’t show much emotion towards anyone, or for anything. Lately, she’d seen more emotion from him than anyone else probably ever had. He’d been sensitive at times and almost…sweet, in his own Derek way. Was it really all that normal though for someone to have so much happen, that they really didn’t allow themselves to be fazed by it? He had quite the inner strength. And it was surprising for even someone like Derek to have been able to handle this load without having a breakdown by now. She looked over at Edwin, who seemed to be off in his own thoughts by this time.

Casey had to keep the conversation going with him somehow though. She couldn’t stand the silence and the stillness of the outside. She didn’t know how she would ever manage the walk back home.

“So uh, Edwin?” she decided to bring up something that she was sure they’d stay on the topic of for the remainder of the walk, “About this girl…you mentioned to me the other day. Any luck with that?”

Edwin shook his head, keeping his gaze towards the ground.

“No?” Casey asked again, “Well what’s the matter?”

She watched as he threw his free hand into the air, almost stressfully.

“So many things.” He answered. “I just don’t know how to get her attention.”

“Oh, so you have tried though?”

“Well…yes remember I keep trying to compliment her, without it seeming completely obvious. But this girl doesn’t take compliments well. It’s like she just brushes them off. Or pretends she didn’t hear what I said.” He paused, “I thought about giving her a flower.” He then scrunched his face into a confused expression, “But somehow I don’t think she’d really appreciate something like that. She’s a bit of a tomboy.”

Casey’s mind searched for any advice she could give to Edwin that would help with his dilemma. “Does she play any sports?”

“Yeah…” Edwin replied almost reluctantly.

“Well maybe you could go to one of her games sometime.” Casey suggested.

“I’ve been to a couple.” Edwin answered, “But I don’t think that would be something that would stand out to her.”

Well, this sure was a strange case he had on his hands.

“I’ve got it.” Casey finally said, facing him with a smile, “Write her a letter.”

Edwin almost coughed, “A letter?” Seriously. Him? Write?

“Well sure I mean, you could tell her your feelings, she can’t really ignore them if they’re in writing.” Casey replied, set on the fact that he should in fact, do this.

Edwin contemplated this for a moment, “Well…yeah true.” He paused, before adding, “But I’ve no idea how to write a letter.”

“Oh Edwin. You really do take too much after your brother.” Casey sighed, almost in annoyance at the thought. Derek would never write a letter. Not only would he probably claim to not know how, but he’d be way too lazy. “Writing a letter is so easy. You just take the pen, and put your feelings for this girl on paper. Write down how much you admire her, how cute she is, how you’d love to take her to a movie sometime. Pretty much everything you think about her, every thought you have.”

Edwin raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. He supposed maybe he could manage a task like that, “What about signing it? Should I put my name at the end of it, or keep it a secret-“

“Never, never, keep it a secret.” Casey answered quickly. “All that does is cause trouble. Keeping yourself hidden. Before you know it, you’d be in a huge mess. You could even end up hurting this girl because you’d take it too far. Sneaking around just to watch her every move. Affecting not only her but her friends in the process. Completely unnecessary.”

Edwin was glancing at Casey as if she was off her rocker. Seriously what was she even talking about?

She noticed that Edwin was giving her a confused look, before saying, “Just don’t do it. Tell her who you are. She deserves to know. Anyone would deserve the right to know. Playing around like that does hurt. You might end up pushing her away.”

Edwin nodded, “Okay so, letter, true feelings, definitely sign name.” he went down the list, “Got it. Thanks Casey.”

“Glad to help.” Casey replied, somehow wishing now that her situation seemed as simple as Edwin’s. “Say, Edwin?”

“Yo.” Edwin replied loudly.

Casey rolled her eyes. Clearly once again, more of Derek’s bad habits had rubbed off on him. “Is this why you came home early? Because you wanted to get back in school to see this girl? And ask my advice?”

Edwin looked like a deer caught in headlights. “Um, I got sent home because I kept getting into tro-“

“Edwin come on. I know mom and George wouldn’t have sent you home by yourself like that.” Casey interrupted, wanting to finally confront him on the matter.

Edwin looked as if he was having a mental war with himself. Opening his mouth to say something, then pulling it shut again as if he felt the explanation he was about to give to Casey wasn’t good enough. She’d caught him off guard, with this confrontation, obviously.

“I’m sorry I lied.” Edwin then admitted, glancing towards the ground shamefully. “It’s been so weird for me lately. I really like this girl. I wanted to come home so I could get your advice on this. Dad and Nora would have never let me if I’d told them the truth.”

Casey folded her arms, “Maybe not, but you know Edwin, my mom is excellent about giving advice like this. You could have always asked her. Or even Lizzie.”

Edwin stumbled over his own feet, causing Casey to shoot him a confused glance. How did he manage that? He cleared his throat, “Well you know I, I thought of that…you know, talking to Lizzie but, I was…I couldn’t.”

Casey raised an eyebrow. The two families had been living together a while now, but come to think of it, it was true that Edwin had never seemed too completely comfortable with Nora. Lizzie though? Lizzie was his best friend.

“Well this is my stop. You’re sure you can make it back alone alright?” Edwin asked, as they stopped in front of a two story brick home. He was glad they’d made it to their destination. The conversation had been getting uncomfortable and a little dangerous, if you ask him.

Casey wanted to tell him no. That she was scared to her wit’s end over the fact that she would be walking for 20 minutes alone back to their house. “Yes Edwin I’ll be fine, have fun.”

“Good night Casey.” Edwin waved her off, as he vacated up the front stairs of the house, where his friend greeted him at the doorway to let him in before he could even knock.

Casey turned to stare at the dimly lit street, before taking a deep breath, and walking back the way she’d come. “I’m so stupid!” she told herself, “I can’t believe I did this to myself.” Though, the thought of Edwin walking all this way by himself had certainly been more unsettling than this.

She needed to do something. Something to keep her mind off the quiet, night that was blanketing the neighborhood. She was always thinking way too much, and now she couldn’t think enough. It was ridiculous, really.

She’d left her cell phone at home, another stupid move on her behalf, so she couldn’t call anyone to keep her company. Not that she really had anyone to call.

Think Casey, think! Something good, something that won’t freak you out even more than you already are. She wondered what her mom and sister were doing right now. Her mom was most definitely sleeping, she was sure of it. Lizzie? Probably watching reality tv. She smiled. Only two more days and she’d get to see her mom and sister again. She couldn’t wait. She wanted to hear all about their trip, and she was sure they’d want to hear all about her week and a half with Derek.

And then she would tell them…what?

She sighed, pulling her hoody tighter around her as she walked at a decently quick pace. Living in this kind of fear was something she still wasn’t used to. Something she didn’t want to have to experience so long that she would be used to it.

She shivered a bit. Even though the wind wasn’t blowing, she could be cold if it was 1 degree below 80. As she kept up the pace, occupying whatever thought she could, her eyes landed on something, that wasn’t right. She stopped, frozen in place, and narrowed her eyes to about a block ahead.

Sitting at the four way stop of the dark neighborhood intersection, was a car. But not just any car.

It was Max’s car.

She knew she probably shouldn’t have done it, but she couldn’t stop herself from walking faster towards the car. As she grew closer, she noticed no one was in it. Nervousness welled up in her gut. She immediately regretted now more than ever, that she had ever left the house.

When she reached the car, which was turned on, lights glowing, she stopped for a moment, glancing around. Neighborhood was still dark, still quiet. How could this car be here? It had been on complete fire in the photos. Maybe they hadn’t been real. Maybe Max wasn’t dead. A small spurt of hope rushed through her, and she dashed around the the driver’s side door, which was standing open. Someone had obviously driven it there. Maybe it was Max, maybe he was trying to surprise her.

As much as she wanted to believe that Max had driven the car to that spot, and that he had wanted to surprise her, she knew it couldn’t be true. Could it?

She leaned into the car. It was his alright. The picture of her and him together was still sitting in his dash. She glanced around the car, looking for nothing in particular, when the radio blasted static out of its speakers, startling her so bad, she jumped and smacked the back of her head on the roof of the vehicle. She mumbled an ow, rubbing the back of her head, before reaching out to turn the radio off.

Before her hand could reach out for the knob, the static cut off, and a strange, old-sounding song began to play. It was children’s voices. Casey’s eyes widened in fear.

‘Whose afraid of the big bad wolf? The big bad wolf, the big bad wolf. Whose afraid of the big bad wolf-‘

The song cut out, and then there were gasping sounds, from a male, he screamed in sheer pain. It was Max. Casey’s hands flew to her mouth, covering it in terror, as Max’s voice cut out, then the screams of a girl radiated out of the speakers.

‘Saaaaallllllllyyyyy.’

‘Whose there?’

‘Sally are you scared?’

The sounds of her screaming and glass breaking followed, before the radio switched back to another male voice.

‘Who are you? What are you?’

Tears were streaming down Casey’s face. It was Paul. She heard what sounded like him panting as he ran, before his screams then filtered through the speakers. There was the sound of objects hitting the floor. He must have been at home. This psycho had gone to his house to kill him.

‘No! Do-‘

A cry from a female had been cut short, and it had been followed by a coughing and sputtering sound.

‘I’m going to get help! I’ll be right back I promise!’

Casey couldn’t listen to any more of it. She jerked out of the car, slammed the door shut, and ran as fast as she could, in tears, back towards home. She didn’t understand why this person was doing this. Why was this person continuing this game or torture? She had to stop it. It all had to stop. She couldn’t stand it anymore.

She crashed through the front door of the house, crying in hysterics, almost screaming in frustration. Derek was at her side a split second later, trying to calm her, but she kept breaking away from him, almost angrily.

Derek had never seen her this wound before. Sure, she could get emotional. But she was literally having a break down. And he had no idea what to do. He was usually always in control of her, but something was telling him not to mess with this. She’d finally broken.

“I can’t do this anymore Derek I can’t do this!” she screamed, as her eyes landed on him.

Derek flinched as the screeching of her words penetrated him. Then, not 5 seconds later, Casey had sunken down to the floor, beating it with her fist, crying harder than ever.

“Casey.” Derek walked over and knelt down beside her, pulling her into his arms as she cried uncontrollably. “Shh, it’s alright.” He ran a hand through her hair.

What was going on? What had caused her to breakdown like this all of a sudden? Last thing he’d known, they’d been sleeping. Had she had another nightmare? Had she woken up early and had a run in with the freak on messenger? So many questions flooded through his head as he held the shaking, crying girl in his arms.

“People are dying and suffering and I’ve tried not to believe it’s my fault!” she shouted into his shoulder, “I’ve tried!”

Derek rubbed her back with his hand. He really didn’t feel like doing such a thing. He wanted to know what had gotten into her all of a sudden. Roughly 10 minutes later, when her hysterical crying finally minimized to sobs, she pulled her face out of Derek’s shoulder.

Derek grimaced slightly. His shirt was soaked in tears. He was going to have to change now.

“Derek, I-“

Casey had began to say something to him, but she was cut short, as Derek’s cell phone began to ring from inside his pocket. He rolled his eyes, but wanting to quickly get rid of whatever annoyance it could be, he took it from his pocket. The caller ID read Ralph, and he flipped the phone open and put it to his ear, “Now’s not a good time man.”

“Dude.” Ralph said in an almost panicked tone. “I’m really sorry, but have you heard from Sam?”

“No.” Derek answered, in a mono tone, “Should I have?”

“I’m sorry man, I just can’t get ahold of him. Won’t pick up my calls. His mom said she hasn’t seen him since this morning before he left for school.” Ralph’s voice was shaky, “And with what’s been going on lately I’m just freaking out dude I don’t know it’s probably nothing I just don’t know wh-“

“Ralph calm down, why don’t you come over and we’ll see if we can get a hold of him together.” Derek told, immediately noting out of the corner of his eye, that the look on Casey’s face had become panicked yet again. “I really have to go for now, but head on over.”

Derek folded the phone shut and his attention was immediately turned back towards Casey, who he knew, was about to unleash a barrage of questions at him.

“Derek what’s wrong with Ralph? Is he okay?” Casey asked quickly, gripping his arm in her hands, “What’s going on? Tell me!”

“Casey!” Derek snapped, causing her to fall silent. Finally, the control was back. “I need you to calm down, Ralph is fine, he can’t get a hold of Sam right now, nothing serious, he’s coming over.”

He watched the look on Casey’s face go from panicked, to semi-calm, but he kept his firm tone of voice. “I need you to calm down and tell me what’s wrong.”

Casey’s eyes burned as tears began forming again, “I…I found Max’s car.”

Derek raised an eyebrow. Say what?

Casey noticed that his look was complete confusion, so she sighed, realizing what kind of panic she must have caused him, “I’m sorry for the way I acted just now Derek. I just…I’m just so upset all the time lately, and I know that bothers you.”

“Casey, what happened?” Derek asked again. Really, he wanted to be able to help her through whatever this was before Ralph showed up and took some of that attention he could give to her away.

“I…I walked Edwin to a friend’s house, and on the way home I found Max’s car. Or…rather it was sitting at a 4 way stop, and-“

“Wait, wait, wait.” Derek stopped her for a moment. And she knew exactly why. “You mean to tell me, that you left the house at night? To walk Edwin to a friend’s house?”

“I…” she stuttered slightly, “I was just thinking of him. I didn’t want him to walk alone. Not with what’s been happening lately.”

“So you didn’t stop to think maybe that, I should have gone along too?” Derek glared at her, hard, and she looked extremely uncomfortable at this. Good. He hoped she did feel like shit. “Do you have any idea what could have happened to you?!”

“I know it was stupid, and trust me I felt bad for it the entire time!” Casey snapped, “Would you just listen to what I have to say?”

Derek rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Fine, go on.”

“Anyways!” Casey, glaring, shifted, and cleared her throat to continue, “I told you I found Max’s car, and…and no one was in it, so I walked over to it to make sure it was his, and that I wasn’t just assuming at anything. And when I walked over there, the radio came on, and it…it was horrible Derek. I heard…I heard them. All of them…dying…”

Derek’s gaze didn’t soften for her, though he did feel bad for what had happened, she should have never left the house without him. Never. All he could do was sigh, and he placed his hand on her shoulder, “Casey that’s horrible and all, but I can’t feel bad for what happened.”

Casey glanced up at him, wondering what he could have meant by that.

“And I’m beyond pissed off at you for just taking off like that and not waking me.” He continued, “But I thank God, that nothing happened to you while you were out. Because now, knowing, that you were gone, and with that sicko following you around, you may have never made it back? That’s not cool.” He paused. “I mean, do you not understand that your safety and well being is all I can think of anymore? You continue to put yourself in danger. You don’t listen to me at all. I’ve really tried to care. But I’m tired. I don’t know how else to explain it to you anymore.”

He sighed, and picked himself up off of the floor, leaving her there, feeling regretful that she’d ever even woken up from her sleep earlier.

About an hour later, Ralph had called again, announcing that he was finally on his way over. Derek was doing his best to avoid Casey for now. He was tired of dealing with her, and her stubbornness. She never understood, never would get the picture. Maybe it was best he stopped trying so hard. He wasn’t mad at her by any means. He just felt like he needed to widthdrawel. Maybe it would help. Maybe not. One thing was for sure, he’d find out.

It was going to be nice to be around Ralph for a change, and they’d decided over the phone that they were going to watch one of Derek’s favorites, A Nightmare On Elm Street. Casey of course, refused to watch it, and decided she’d try to turn in early for the night.

The movie was barely watched anyhow, seeing as Ralph was still upset over the fact that Sam wasn’t answering his phone, and Derek was still preoccupied with Casey. It didn’t last long. Ralph ended up going home, and Derek found himself standing outside of Casey’s bedroom door.

He contemplated for a moment whether or not he should go in, but then decided he was going to, whether he felt like talking to her or not. He might not have wanted to see Casey, but he needed to. He opened the door without knocking, and watched as she jumped, slightly startled by him coming in when she hadn’t expected to see him for the rest of the night.

“Hi?” she greeted with an annoying tone. Though, she should have been used to him just walking into her room without knocking by now. But those thoughts were quickly pushed away as another question came to mind, “What are you doing? Where’s Ralph?”

“He went home.” Derek replied, walking over and pulling her computer chair out to sit in, “Thought you were going to sleep?”

“Yeah well.” Casey sighed, “It wasn’t as easy as I thought it’d be.”

Derek nodded, and there was a moment of awkward silence before anyone spoke again. “Casey, about earlier. If I made you feel bad, I really didn’t mean to.”

Casey was taken aback. Seriously? All this coming from Derek, it was almost as if he wanted to-

“I’m sorry.”

And at that moment of 11:19pm on Friday night, hell had officially frozen over.

“You’re what?” Casey asked, hoping he’d repeat it. After all, something like Derek apologizing, would only happen once in a lifetime.

“Forget it. I’m not saying it again.” Derek huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at her. “And this stays between us. Because I have-“

“A rep to uphold?” Casey finished for him, shooting him an all-knowing smile.

He couldn’t help it. He felt it tugging at the corner of his mouth. Yeah, he was smirking. “Precisely. And you’ve done well to remember it.”

“Well, as much as I enjoyed hearing that once in a lifetime statement from you, you should really know that you didn’t need to apologize. I’m the one that made that stupid choice, and I learned my lesson from it.” She sighed, “I’m so used to being independent. So used to doing everything by myself. So used to not having anyone to…to do…what you’ve been doing for me. And…” she glanced up at him, he was listening intently, “…and I need to just accept the fact that we’re in this together.”

He gave her a slight nod, before abruptly clearing his throat, “Just don’t get used to it. When this is all over, I’ve got about 100 pranks lined up in a row.”

Casey shot him a glare. She didn’t doubt it. As horrible as this situation was, she almost didn’t want it to be over – simply for the fact that she’d loved seeing this side of Derek. Loved seeing him care. Loved feeling that he cared about her. Guess it was too good to be completely true. She was only kidding herself anyway. Derek was always going to be…Derek.

“But just so you know.” He leaned closer to her and whispered into her ear, in that voice that sent chills down her spine. The good kind of chills, “I’ve rather enjoyed the ride.”

Those words echoed in Casey’s mind long into the night. She laid in the quiet of her room, in her bed, like her heart had been set on fire. That simple statement, the way he said it. It was all she could think about. Of course it was all too sweet to last, but she had to enjoy these moments while she could. She glanced at her clock. It was after 1 in the morning now. And Derek had talked with her a while, before retreating to his room to try and get some sleep. Things were okay between them, and they had come to an agreement that they didn’t exactly know what their feelings for each other were at the time. They just were. No more trying to figure them out. No more trying to fight them. They would work themselves out.

As Casey’s heart fluttered full of butterflies for what must have been the thousandth time that night already, she heard her messenger sound off. She would have immediately been terrified, but this time, it was the sound of Emily’s messenger (as she had specialized the noise for when Emily IMed her.) She shot up out of her bed, ready to talk to her best friend and tell her how she was feeling, how Derek had made her feel.

Soon2BeMrsSchlepper : Casey, you awake?
ButterflyDancer : Yeah Em, how are you? I was thinking about you this evening.
Soon2BeMrsSchlepper : I’m doing better. Mom and Dad took me to eat, we talked about vacation plans. Kept my mind off things. How are you and Derek?
ButterflyDancer : We’re alright too. Took a long nap after school. He said some sweet things to me tonight.
Soon2BeMrsSchlepper : Oh yeah? Like what?
ButterflyDancer : Hard to explain. I feel like my heart is doing continual cartwheels.
Soon2BeMrsSchlepper : And you say it’s not love. Please.
ButterflyDancer : How is Sheldon doing?
Soon2BeMrsSchlepper : He’s better. My parents also took me by to see him. Did I tell you they’re going to be able to fix his tongue? Well…or at least give him another one. And before you say gross, don’t worry, it’s prostethic.
ButterflyDancer : Really Em? That’s great!
AllTheLadiesLoveMe : Shouldn’t you girls be in bed?
ButterflyDancer : Where did you come from?
AllTheLadiesLoveMe : I have the internet too, Case.
ButterflyDancer : Whatever. Did you hear the good news?
AllTheLadiesLoveMe : Yeah, that’s great Em. At least you won’t be kissing a tongue less boyfriend. I mean I’ve been wondering how you were ever going to make that work again.
ButterflyDancer : De-rek!!!
AllTheLadiesLoveMe : Bloody hell. You even know how to type that. Anyway, Emily knows I’m happy for her.
Soon2BeMrsSchlepper : Yes. Thanks Derek. Sorry to bring it up, but have you heard any details on Sally’s funeral?
AllTheLadiesLoveMe : There won’t be one. Her mom is still too upset to do anything of the sort right now.
Soon2BeMrsSchlepper : Understandable. If she changes her mind, let me know? I know I didn’t know her well, but she was nice. I’d like to go.
AllTheLadiesLoveMe : Sure thing Em. I’m sure Sally would’ve wanted you to be there.
Soon2BeMrsSchlepper : What are you guys going to tell your parents when they get home?
ButterflyDancer : Neither of us know yet. We can’t very well lie, but…it’s just all too much to think of right now.
AllTheLadiesLoveMe : Not to mention they’ll be raging pissed at us both for not telling them sooner.
Soon2BeMrsSchlepper : It’s unreal still. All of it. I can’t even imagine how you guys are handling this like you are.
AllTheLadiesLoveMe : We haven’t witnessed anything of the sort like you did today Em. You’re the real hero here.
ButterflyDancer : Yeah.
Soon2BeMrsSchlepper : I’m just glad to have friends that believe me. I mean, really, how can police stand by and not do anything? Sure they investigated but just because they didn’t find anything, doesn’t mean they should brush it off like that, right? I wouldn’t make that up out of nowhere.
AllTheLadiesLoveMe : Cops…are stupid. Just wait until Sheldon gets his tongue back and sick him after the psycho. I’m sure he’d surrender real fast.
Soon2BeMrsSchlepper : What?????
AllTheLadiesLoveMe : I mean…did I really just type that? Oh wow.
Soon2BeMrsSchlepper : Derek that was completely!....

A smile came to Casey’s face. It was good to see the two of them carrying on. As she sat and continued to watch them arguing over the messenger, laughing to herself, another IM popped up on her screen.

‘It’s 1:30 in the morning. Do you know where Sam is?’

It was him. Casey swallowed hard, before her fingers hit the keys.

‘Leave me alone.’

She Xed out of the box before returning to the shared IM with Derek and Emily.

AllTheLadiesLoveMe : Now you’re crazy talking. Sheldon wouldn’t know the difference if it slapped him right square in the face.
ButterflyDancer : Have any of you heard from Sam?
Soon2BeMrsSchlepper : I haven’t, why?
AllTheLadiesLoveMe : He’s probably out at his grandma’s for the weekend. They go out there all the time.
ButterflyDancer : Are you sure?
AllTheLadiesLoveMe : Well, not completely, but …why? What’s wrong?
ButterflyDancer : Nothing, I was just wondering if Ralph had maybe gotten a hold of him yet.
AllTheLadiesLoveMe : As far as I know, he hadn’t. But I’m sure it’s fine. Sam barely gets reception out there. Ralph’s just flipping out.
Soon2BeMrsSchlepper : Oh yeah, I remember once Sam called me about something on an assignment we were doing together while he was out there. And I could barely understand him the static was so bad.

The IM popped up again.

‘Try checking your local trees.’

Casey stumbled up from her chair, tipping it over in the process. Nervousness overwhelmed her, and she shot into Derek’s room in an instant flash, “Something’s happened to Sam!”

Derek glanced at her over his shoulder, noting that something had shaken her pretty badly. He immediately stood up from his chair and walked over to her, grasping her hand in his protectively as he walked into her room. After reading the IM, fear struck him horribly in his gut. No. Not Sam. Not after he’d already lost Sally, and Kendra. Not Sam.

He wasn’t a stupid boy, he knew what the IM implied. In an outrage he jerked her chair from the desk and slammed his fingers onto the keyboard.

‘Listen here you sick son of a bitch, if you do anything to Sam, I’ll kill you!’

‘Oh, hello Derek.’

‘Don’t play with me, asshole. Stay away from Sam, and everyone else! Especially Casey! She doesn’t belong to you! She never will! Disappear! Or I promise that I will kill you. You haven’t seen psycho yet. And you’ll wish you’d never been born if I ever get my hands on you.’

There was no reply back. The sound of Emily’s IM was alarming like crazy, as she wondered where the two of them had disappeared to.

A cold chill shot down both Derek and Casey’s spines as they heard the creaking of the branches on the tree outside. It had never stood out to them before like it was now.

‘Well are you going to just let him hang there all night?’

“Fuck.” Derek swore, as he read the last IM sent. He glanced behind him at Casey, her hands covering her mouth in terror. And they both knew at that moment, the reason why their tree branches were creaking so much. Especially the large one that used to have the tire swing hanging from it. George had removed it a couple months ago because it had become too heavy for the old tree. The creaking had been so annoying that in order to get the kids and even Nora to stop complaining, he’d taken it down. It only creaked now when the wind was blowing hard.

It was a calm, silent night tonight. No wind whatsoever had blown.

Derek took Casey by the shoulders, “Casey…you’ve got to call the police.”

Casey nodded without hesitation, and ran to grab the phone.

Derek couldn’t believe he’d instructed Casey to do such a thing. But there was no way in hell he was going to be able to handle walking outside, and seeing Sam hanging there.
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[EarthToMe]

Holy Moly. SAAAAAM?! I'm like tearing up when I read your story. UPDATE PULEASE.
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[Lady Azura]

Oh noez! Sam!
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Lizwin: My Anti-Drug

[PinkJelly]

OMG!
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"... I know that love is unconditional. But I also know that it can be unpredictable, unexpected, uncontrollable, unbearable and strangely easy to mistake for loathing."

[Bloodtoast]

Not Sam!!!!!!!!!!!

[Salchichonio815]

NOOOOOO!!!! poor Sam!! although it was matter of time, we're in a horror story and main character's best friends usually don't stand a chance to survive in those, so someone have to die, but still... WHY SAM!?
Anyway great chapter, you really are a great writer. Just keep doing your magic 'cause it's getting better and better with every chapter.

[ericaxelectric]

Not SAM! I'm getting really scared to see what's gonna happen next! Hopefully no one else dies. I still think I know who it is, but i'll just wait to find out if i'm right. So PMS <3
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Myspace. Youtube.

[mchun]

read ths chapter while at school and started freaking out because of sam and me friends i was with thought i was crazy but anyway it great it keeps getting better your a genius
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[RM_Dasey]

I love this fic! So suspenseful! And I usually dont read fanfics but I've been following this one since you wrote it so, thats saying something You're a fantastic writer steph! Keep it coming!!!

[stephluvvsyou]

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone!! I'm glad everyone still likes it!!
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[mchun]

still liking it im aboluslty loving never been so hooked on a fanfic before may i add love the new pictures
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