“Sometimes we lie to the closest people to us so they won't worry about us.”

╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

ꪩThe eerie manܝ ܝ

I was traumatized by his phrase, what did he mean? Our eye contact continued through the extended silence. I leaned closer to him without breaking gazes, my brow as arched, and arms crossed over my chest. 

"Who are you?" I finally spoke.

"Take a seat first," he suggested. He returned to his bonded leather executive office chair and took a seat while I just flumped into the chair above the bureau. 

"Tell me." I was determined about how he knew about me, and what he meant by waiting for me. 

"I'm an old family friend, and I know you are Sienna's daughter. In your point of view, the murderer." He started to unravel his earlier phrase. 

"Isn't she?" I squinted at him.

"Shouldn't you be the one answering that?" He gave me a half-smile, his gaze was tracking mine.

"Are you saying she didn't do it?" My brows knitted together, his way of speaking was creepy. He just made you ruminate by his questions, as he didn't give an actual answer.

"I don't know, but the Sienna I knew, wouldn't kill anyone. At least, not without a reason." He spoke as if he knew my mom well, which made an odd feeling form in my stomach. I had never been curious about my parents, but the more he talked, the more I pondered about them.

"How well you know my mom? What about my dad? Why does everyone keep telling me about her but not him?" I exploded at him while my hand squeezed into a fist.

"Are you ready to hear about him?" Again, he responded with a dippy question. 

"You love asking questions, Mr. Graham" I pressed my lips together and I bit my tongue gently.

"Peter, I’d prefer it if you called me Peter. And no, I absolutely don't." 

"Then why you keep answering my questions with other questions?"

"Simply, you know all the answers and not me. I know only the past which is different, and I ain't planning to tell you it at the moment. I want you to remember, Daisy." He was well-versed in making me confused.

"I don't want to." I was disinterested in reminiscing about what had happened. I knew it would affect me lousily, I was still seventeen. 

I rose from the chair and headed to the door, he was following me without saying anything.

"Alright, good luck with your nightmares," he spoke again. "I hope your trauma-affected your dreams only, some people in your condition have it worse. Some become a psychopath murderer. Especially if they had a relative that was one," he mumbled it loudly for me to hear.

My glare traveled with unnerving thoroughness, whilst he was smirking confidently. "I'm not a murderer." I groaned.

"Who will believe you when you look just like her?” He was examining my temperament.

Shockingly, he knew me well. Without any struggle, he had managed to turn myself against me, using my own temper to pull at my loose threads. It was still spine-chilling. However, what was spooky was that he seemed to have knowledge about me, more than I had myself. 

I pressed my fingernails into my palms, tears burning my eyes. I shut them quickly before the salty tears start to run down my cheek. I wished I could act dead in front of him, but I couldn’t cover up the invisible scars. Nevertheless, I kept demanding on putting out that impassive Daisy to everyone.

My hazel eyes were opening steadily, everything was blurry for a second. I kept blinking owlishly until my vision returned to normal, but when it did, my eyes made their way to Peter who hurried to my side in a panic. 

“Daisy, are you okay?” He questioned with his forehead puckered. I nodded while in my mind, thoughts were running wild with lots of questions.

Who was he for real? Did he really want to help me? Shall I have faith in him? He may be a stalker too…

I ambled outside of the room, still unable to analyze what was going on and surmising about Peter. “Are you okay?” Liam’s voice calmed my surmising about Peter and developed to that blonde charismatic young man. I shot him a disgusted glance while my lips pursed like I’ve been chewing a lemon rind. He exhaled a sigh while edging closer to me. I didn’t know why I was frozen in my place. I didn’t want to leave the house, almost as if there was someone whispering in my ears to stay.

I didn’t face him though, I couldn’t bear to look at his face. He used me for his father’s intentions. I was boneheaded for thinking he had feelings for me or that he was ever eager about me. 

In the spur of the moment, he grabbed my unbroken arm and unfolded my hand. I shrieked from the sudden pain and looked my hand that had become slick with dark reddish blood. I slammed my eyes shut as I noticed, I couldn’t bear to look at it for even second. I didn’t sense any pain earlier, but I felt it now and it sure did its job of distracting me.

He sighed and grabbed my wrist for me to follow him since I couldn’t open my eyes. He walked me to the living room and made me take a seat on the couch. Everything was dark for me, as my typical personality, but I still felt every touch between him and me.

He was wiping away the blood gently; I felt how he aimed to not cause me pain. The silence filled the room, as Peter hadn’t left his office yet. He seemed like he loved it there, or maybe he didn’t want to interrupt us? To be honest, it was unyielding to guess, especially when it comes to Peter Graham.

“True our first meeting wasn’t a coincidence at all, we actually moved here because of you.” He decided to say while bandaging up my wound. I opened up my eyes and they were immediately held by the ocean eyes of his. 

“All I know about you is that you are the daughter of one of my dad’s old friends, and you mean much to him, in a way he would do anything to help you.” He continued.

I squinted at him, I was still not able to see it that way, he barely knew me so how could I be such a meaningful person to him? I asked Liam that question, I couldn’t erase it from my mind.

“I don’t know, he doesn’t tell me much about you. All he did was tell me that if I didn’t help you now, then it will be harder for you to heal. But Daisy, I didn’t play with you. I really do like you, and meeting you at school was a coincidence or maybe it was fate.”

He was baffling my mind, I needed time to ponder. I liberated myself from his hold before heading out of the house. I didn’t know what to do.

I stood in front of my house, just staring at it because I didn’t want to face Henry. Unfortunately, I had to. I took a deep breath as if it was going to be my last, but the last wasn’t this one. I opened the door and walked inside. The house was so quiet that I thought no one was there until Henry appeared in front of me.

My eyes widened when I saw his face, it was pale, like the blood drained from his skin. Sweat beaded on his forehead and dripped down to his chin. I could tell he wasn’t fine.

“Daisy, you’re finally back,” he sounded winded. He was forcing himself to talk when he was out of breath.

“What’s wrong with you?” My eyes were wet when I saw him in such a condition, he was slowly leaning more and more on the wall next to him as if his legs weren’t able to hold him anymore.

“I’m fine, don’t worry.” He groaned.

I noticed his hands on his torso, he seemed like he was covering something above his black hoodie. I edged closer and tried to move his hand. Luckily, he wasn’t strong enough to resist.

I lifted the black hoodie up.

My jaw dropped when I spotted the bandage that was colored a dark red. The second I spotted it, was the same second he fell to the floor with his eyes closed. My eyes swam with tears and I covered my mouth with my hands.

I didn't know what to do all alone. I was sobbing and trying to think about what to do until I realized that Liam and Peter were just across the street. I rushed to them and told them what happened. Before long, the sound of sirens met my ears and strangers were rushing into the house.

.  .  .

Henry was in the surgery room and we were all out waiting for it to end. The Blake family arrived shortly after we called and informed them about Henry’s condition. They were waiting with us and chancing a stray glance at Peter from time to time. They knew him, Peter was an old friend to Mr. Blake and Mrs. Blake and to my parents too. However, none of them had the time to talk or recall old memories, their son was in surgery. All we knew about Henry was that he was stabbed with a knife, but we didn't know who did it, how, or why.

My tears had dried, but I was on the edge of doing something to myself. The only thing that calmed me was having him at my side. I didn't have any reason to live except that I wanted to see Henry. I wanted to see his smile that comforted me during my nasty days, the way he gazed at me with his sparkling green eyes, and the way he touched me that made me disregard what I was going through. 

I yearned for him to live, I would do anything possible for him to be with me. Without him, life means nothing to me. My intentions were all about reprisal that day, I didn't even comprehend how someone could hurt an angel like him.

However, my thoughts evaporated when I heard the sound of someone running toward us. I glanced over and saw who it was, Delilah Casper. Her eyes were filled with tears that ran down her soaked cheeks, the tip of her nose was red, and her lips were trembling. I narrowed my eyes toward her, aghast by her reaction.

She barely knew him, sleeping with each other didn't mean falling for each other that quick. She didn't seem to be the person who fell in love at first sight, there was something odd about her.

“Is he okay?” She sniffed while asking. Dumb question from a dense Shakespearian girl. How could someone who was stabbed in the abdomen and was now in the surgery room be okay? I rolled my eyes at her question.

Liam’s shoulders were lifted up in a shrug, while I was standing silently. I didn't say anything when we came which made Peter mostly tense about me. I still didn't know the reason why he was that concerned about me.

“Didn’t the doctor say anything?” She questioned again.

“Someone stabbed him,” I replied emotionless. Her lips set in a grim line. Her eyes drifted from our eyes to the floor. Her shoulders were shaking. 

“I am the one who did it.” She sobbed while revealing to us.

“She did it instead of you.” The voice echoed again in my head. I covered my ears to stop hearing it, my body was shaking from fear.

[A/N]: I sincerely hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks for reading please do not forget to vote and comment your thoughts!

As I said in the last chapter, I would give a shoutout for the best theories, however, the two did really interest and it was kinds hard to pick up one, but since kaylabeans13 was more specific and I really enjoyed her theory. Also, check out her book she is a great author and her book one of my favorites. It's named ‘Before us’.

Q.O.C: What’s your opinion about Peter Graham? And why did you think Delilah stabbed Henry?