Monsters Are Forever

4. Not Again

After Mia found Rudi following her, she didn't know what to do. Of course, that night there had been nothing to do but go home. She went out again the next night, and the night after that. But each time, Rudi was there.

And the longer this went on, the more worried Mia became. She didn't know what she was supposed to do; she'd never been stalked like this before. Even in her hometown, no one had ever trailed her. They'd suspected her, sure. But no one ever successfully managed to follow her. And now, it had been five days since she'd had fresh blood, and it was starting to show.

She thought she'd been holding it together pretty well. She managed to get through her first three classes without a problem. Sure, it was a little hard to concentrate, but no one seemed to notice. She just kept her head down and stared at her desk. She was feeling a little giddy, but she figured she could hide it if she just didn't talk to anyone. Her only real concern was going to be lunch. Then she was going to have to hold actual conversations with her friends.

The bell rang and Mia slowly pried herself out of her chair, not in any particular hurry. If she was a little late, it would just mean less time for her friends to figure out something was wrong.

She got to the table about ten minutes late. At least that meant she only had forty minutes to kill. She figured maybe she'd try to copy someone's English homework while she was here. She had no idea what Mr. Glasco was talking about anyway, and it would give her an excuse not to talk to anyone. Carmine gave Mia her book, and Mia absentmindedly spent the rest of the time copying the answers down into her own notebook.

She managed to get through the whole period without anyone commenting about how she seemed to be fidgeting a little more than usual, or about how she wasn't exactly following their conversations. Anna had looked at her a little closely, but she didn't say anything. Mia was glad about that – she didn't want to make a big deal out of this if she could help it. Especially since she didn't really want to let her boyfriend know she was having these problems because she hadn't attacked anyone recently enough. She thought she was in the clear, until Anna pulled her aside in chemistry.

"Are you ok?" she asked, looking quietly at Mia.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Mia told her. But she could tell Anna didn't believe her.

"What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Mia shifted uncomfortably.

"I thought you were going out last night." Anna said quietly.

Mia tried not to look nervous, but Rudi was in this class with them. And what would Rudi think if she heard Anna saying things like that? She might start to think she was right about Mia after all. Mia glanced quickly over at Rudi, trying not to panic – she just hoped Rudi hadn't heard anything. Fortunately, she was talking to Tala Farkas about something. When Mia didn't respond right away, Anna continued.

"I see that look on your face – I've been doing this for a long time. And I know what it looks like when it's been more than a few days. Why would you put something like that off?"

"I did go out." Mia told her; she didn't like the implication that she was being careless. But when Anna gave her a look, Mia decided to fix that sentence. "Well, I mean I tried to."

"What do you mean you tried to? What happened?"

"Rudi was there."

"She was? So...?" Anna looked confused. "Why didn't you just go somewhere else then?"

"She was following me." Mia confessed finally, her voice barely above a whisper.

She hadn't wanted to say anything; she wanted to think she could handle her own problems. But if it was obvious enough that Anna felt the need to pull her aside in the middle of class, maybe she really should ask for help with this.

"Why would she follow you?"

"I don't know – I didn't ask. But I went for three blocks, and she was right behind me the whole time. I had to go home before I even got a chance to find anyone."

"Maybe it was just a coincidence." Anna said hopefully. But Mia shook her head.

"She was there the last time too. And the time before. It's been five days, and she's always there."

"Do you think she suspects you?"

"I'm not sure."

Rudi hadn't actually said anything to Mia yet. And even though she was still eyeing Mia suspiciously every time she saw her, she didn't have that look of fear that Mia knew so well. She didn't stare at Mia in that way that said she knew there was something wrong with her. It wasn't much, but at least it meant she was somewhat safe – for now.

"Come out with me tonight." Anna said decisively. "We'll do something – distract her maybe."

Mia just nodded. She wasn't quite sure that Rudi would fall for any distractions, but what did she have to lose? Going out on her own wasn't working, and maybe having a friend there would keep Rudi from seeing the whole thing as quite so suspicious. Or maybe...could that actually it make it even worse?

"She already suspects me of something." Mia told Anna slowly. "Do you think she'd start to suspect you too?"

"We won't let her get that far." Anna said. There was a look of determination on her face that Mia rarely saw.