“Hey, you have been staring at your phone for quite some time, Chris.”

I turned off my phone and looked towards Michael. “I... am fine. But…” I pause, taking in a breath. Someone saw us and they know me. Though I am surprised that someone actually even knows me, aside from that, it’s an unwanted attention. They said I had company, did they see our group? I have told Michael and others about it, whatever their intention is, it does not sound great.

But it could be a scam, but then the events that have unfolded so far in the last month do not have any proper explanation yet, and the address the person on the phone asked me to come was somewhere near the lake. I don’t remember, but that guy had not shared any address with me. But those eyes watching us back then in from depths of forest, they were real, that’s what I think, because Michael had not seen anything, or else he would have something about it, or maybe he did see something but chose not to disclose it to me to not scare me..?

“But?” asked Michael leaning closer to me.

I decided to speak out, maybe it was a scam, but we will decide on that later. Hopefully it is a scam and I feel guilty for troubling Michael about it. I showed him the message I had received recently and gave him an insight into what all happened, leaving out the part where that night my ears were about to burst from the noise that came from the phone call.

“How are you sure that the person who called you that night could have a connection with it? The text is quite vague so it can fit into any circumstance conveniently.” I was about to breathe a sigh of relief but Michael continued, “But the whole part of the red eyes is quite strange, I think what’s holding us back from believing it could be a scam is those red eyes, which you saw before like three now.”

I slump back in my seat. “Yes. But was there anything weird you saw back in the forest?”

He chuckled. “The whole part of seeing the abandoned building whose painting in its best condition is back in my home is coincidental, which makes it weird. I only know one thing about that painting that it’s an heirloom.”

“You never asked more about it to your grandfather?”, I asked.

He turned his head towards the glass window, displaying the trees running behind as our bus moved forward. “I did not ask much, I did not care much about it.” His voice weighed some guilt of his own.

I put my hand on his shoulder. “It’s alright, there is nothing to worry over it.”

His head turned toward me in an instant. His eyebrows furrowed. “Nothing to worry over it?? Chris that guy or guys are possibly stalking you. It’s serious, you told the cops about it, but I don’t think they made any progress over it.”

I retrace my hand. “Well, I am." I pull my lips into a thin line. He raises his eyebrows. His eyes as if telling me not to utter the‘s’ word. The chatting of our friends who were sitting in front of us mixed into the background electro music playing in the bus.

He presses his lips together. He shook his head. “I will ask Grandpa more about it and I did not want to sound rude before,” he sighs. “I am just worried for you.”

The word phrasing sounds simple, yet it felt heavy on my mind. I have heard about this before from the people back at the foster care and from Mason,they all gave different feelings which I could comprehend. But this time it registered in my heart but yet I could not grasp it. These feelings are something I do not want to explore. “Okay…” I almost bit my tongue before saying, “You don’t have to worry about me, though.”

“I can worry over you, you’re my friend.” He said he was pulling me closer to himself. A tingling sensation ran across my body from my shoulder where his hand was placed to my brain, it must be the release of oxytocin. But being in closer vicinity to him gave me a feeling of sparks being ignited in my soul. Was it wrong of me to feel like this? The serious face with which Steph looked at me back then, her posture intimating back then, her few spoken words clearly indicating interrogation directed at me. The question was echoing in my mind. 

What are your feelings towards him?

This question was not going to let me sleep for the next few nights before I could get over it. But part of me wanted it to stay in it, I wanted to explore those feelings, but what would Michael think of it? What if he hates it? The friendship which I could have barely imagined some months ago, was now between us, won’t this bond be jeopardized too? I froze. I did not want that.

“Chris, you here?” asked Michael Altman, the person who had almost occupied every corner of my mind and was popping up repetitively for the last few days. Why? It was an unanswered question but part of me resonated that it knew what it was and I was ignoring it.

“Yes, thank you for your concern though.”, I said while silently appreciating his warmth from one side. “I will talk about this unknown number message with Adam too.”, I said while trying my best to keep my eyes open. I took a small nap before too but now I am feeling drowsy again. I shooked my head but felt barely any change in my alertness after that.

“No need to thank m- wait Chris, are you asleep?”, he asked while trying to get a look at my face. My head leaned against his shoulder.

I hate to bother him. “I feel tired. Can I lean on your shoulder for a while?”

“Yeah, that’s fine,"  he said while carrying a tone of amusement in his voice. That was odd. But it was helpful of him to lend his shoulder again for a short nap, very helpful for me in a genuine way.