A couple days later, Max was out walking around when he came across Veronica, who was out exercising. ‘Hey Vee, whatcha doing?’ he asked. She replied, ‘Just been out running, trying to train for a marathon in the next couple weeks.’ Max thought to himself, ‘I forgot that Fairlake has a marathon.’ In any case, he let her get back to her marathon training, and he kept walking around town. He went past the church, getting flashbacks of the messages sent to the group after both Em and Melisa’s funerals. The messages had haunted him since the revelation of the secret that Felicity, Willa’s mother, had hid from all of them for nearly 20 years. After he passed the church, he walked past the new daycare and the elementary school. Finally, he got to the coffee shop where Jennifer and Willa were sitting around chatting.

            ‘Look at who the cat dragged in. Hey Max!’ said an exuberant Jennifer, now physically feeling better despite having a bruised nose from when a hoodied figure punched her days earlier. ‘Hey, what’s going on here?’ he said. Willa replied, ‘Not much, just chatting over coffee on her day off. Wanna join?’ He agreed to join the duo as they began chatting over the note left in Jonah’s trashed apartment.

            ‘I mean, who would trash his apartment? He’d only do that if he was completely out of his mind and angry,’ said Willa. ‘I have no idea, but I keep forgetting that Carston’s been spending time there when he’s not hanging out at home or with Veronica,’ replied Jennifer. Max responded, ‘I still feel uncomfortable with both of them around. Veronica’s pretty much getting stalker-y watching you both, and Carston is just being Carston.’ The group pondered that statement, to which Willa then asked the other two, ‘Could Carston be Z, or working with Z? He’s been acting really weird lately.’ The question lingered in everyone’s minds after Willa asked it. Then, without hesitation, Max answered, ‘I’m not entirely sure. I still think we need to continue with trying to figure out other suspects in the investigation of “Who is Z”, and that’s taking longer than expected.’ Jennifer replied, ‘I think Anna should still be on our radar. Besides, she’s been awfully reclusive from us since Melisa’s funeral.’ Willa then said, ‘I was wondering why she’s been so awkward around us since everything happened when Dom’s parents and Noemi’s family all died.’

            As the trio were asking themselves these questions, Dominic and Jonah were on the other side of downtown Fairlake trying to clean up the latter’s apartment, which had been trashed just a few nights earlier. As the boyfriends cleaned up the apartment, they bonded closer than they had in prior weeks and months. ‘Babe?’ asked Dominic, adding, ‘Do you wonder if something bad would happen to me?’ ‘Of course I do. You and I have been together for so long that I don’t know what I’d do without you,’ replied Jonah. He added, ‘Despite all the shit we’ve been through, I’d rather spend my life with you in it than without.’ Dominic blushed, and said, ‘I’d risk my life for you if something happens to you. For all I know, you and the person who trashed your apartment could’ve gotten into a fist fight.’ ‘Or a gun fight,’ added Jonah. The couple chuckled, hugged, and then kept cleaning.

            A few hours later, Noemi was on her way to campus to drop something off for the university’s admissions office, as she was planning on going back to school for her Bachelor’s Degree in Education. As she dropped it off, her phone beeped. She picked it up, and it was a text from Max asking, ‘Wanna get dinner tonight? Just you, me, and your brother?’ She replied, ‘Of course! I’d like that.’ The duo began asking each other their preferred type of food, when they landed on Italian food. Agreeing, they would go to the italian restaurant in town, with Noemi’s brother Troy in tow. The three would order the least expensive dishes they had in mind, given their budgets were tighter than usual. As the trio finished eating their food, Troy asked Noemi, ‘Why did you stay home when we went on the trip?’ Noemi replied, ‘I’m an adult and can make my own decisions. I decided that after going on the trip all these years, I wanted to start making my own traditions at home. I’m still at a loss for words at losing our family, but at least I still have you. You’ve always been my buddy, ever since you were little.’ The siblings teared up and were holding hands across the table, when Max asked them, ‘Anything I can do to help you guys out? You know, since Carston’s been AWOL the past couple days.’ The siblings agreed to have Max stay with them and help them with chores as Carston was now out of town for an uncertain amount of time.

            Meanwhile on the other side of downtown Fairlake, Jennifer and Willa were still at the coffee shop when Anna came in the door. ‘Hey you two. Hope you’re doing okay,’ said Anna. Jennifer replied, ‘We’re still dealing with weird stalker shit.’ Willa added, ‘And Jen got clocked in the nose the other morning coming into work.’ ‘Geez. No wonder why your face is all bruised,’ replied Anna. ‘Have you figured out who the stalker is?’ she asked the two girlfriends. Both of them shook their heads. The trio began talking about relationships. ‘Anna, do you have any guys in your life trying to swoon you over?’ asked Willa. Anna said, ‘No, I don’t. I’m still trying to find the one, you know.’ Jennifer added, ‘Then you’ve probably figured things out between Willa and I? We’re girlfriends!’ Anna was happily gobsmacked. ‘Oh my god. Congratulations! You two make such a good couple despite the age diff.’ said Anna. Willa then said, ‘Veronica thinks otherwise. She’d rather be dating Jen than having me date her.’ ‘Vee dating Jennifer? Ew.’ Anna objected to the idea.

            The three friends continued talking, as outside, Willa’s other childhood friend Felix was outside, waiting for the right time to intrude on the conversation. He walked in a few minutes later, surprising the three. ‘Hey Wilzy!’ he said. ‘Felix! I haven’t seen you in ages!’ said Willa. She introduced Felix to both Anna and Jennifer, who were both happy to have Willa’s friend to talk with until the coffee shop closed for the night.

            Felix asked, ‘What’s new with Wilzy? Given that we haven’t seen each other in like 2 years.’ Willa replied, ‘Crazy stalker using texts, a new girlfriend, and school.’ ‘Crazy stalker? When’d that happen?’ he asked further. Jennifer replied, ‘It happened like a month and a half ago, yet we’re still getting messages.’ ‘Yeesh. I’d rather lock my phone away than to deal with those,’ he said. The now foursome continued their conversation, as the evening turned to night, and the coffee shop was about to close.

            As they left the shop for the night, Anna and Felix each went their separate ways, as did Jennifer and Willa. As the girlfriends were walking back to the house, Willa’s phone chimed. As she opened her phone, a feeling of dread came upon her. She opened the notification that read ONE NEW EMAIL. The email was one that only her and Jen could’ve dreaded further. Willa unlocked her phone, and went to her email to see the new message which had the subject (UNTITLED), and the duo read it aloud together.

Birds of a feather flock together. Bitches who flock together end up dead together.

Love, Z.

The girlfriends shuddered as the read the message, and immediately went back to the house to finish their nighttime routine and get to bed before Willa went to class the following morning. Upon getting back to Willa’s house, the duo went straight upstairs, bypassing Felicity, who was sleeping on the sofa in the living room. They sat on the bed, and Willa opened up her laptop and forwarded the message via text to Dominic, Jonah, Max, and Noemi. With bated breath, they waited for a response from the others. Dominic and Jonah walked in the patio doors and were both confused. ‘Wilzy, what’s wrong?’ asked Jonah. Willa responded, ‘Jen and I got this email on our way home from the coffee shop with Anna and my friend Felix.’ Willa showed them the email, to which Dominic was internally raging, yet showed very little emotion on the outside.

The foursome conversed about the email message sent to Willa before Jennifer left and the other three went to bed. As they did so, a hoodied figure with green eyes was watching from outside off in the distance, they silently giggled to themselves, and walked away back into the darkness.

In the morning, Willa woke up, still haunted by the message that was sent to her email the previous evening. Jennifer had already left for the coffee shop for her shift by the time Willa had woken up. Jennifer was also uncomfortable with the message left behind.

Once she was fully awake, she headed to Dominic’s room to wake up the boys for class. Lucky for her, both Dominic and Jonah were awake and ready to go. They were both puzzled by the note left for Jennifer and Willa, and were still trying to rack their brains as to who wrote the message. On their way to campus, Willa asked them, ‘I mean, who writes this sort of note? It’s like they’re asking to turn this game deadly again.’ Jonah said, ‘I’m not sure Wilzy, but it’s something that I think we should have Macy look at when the time comes.’ Dominic added, ‘He’s right. Officer Hale should look at the note, plus the ones that Jennifer’s got from the day she got clocked in the face by Z.’ For the trio, they went to campus and found themselves in a firestorm of confusion as Carston was nowhere to be found. ‘Where’s Carston? He should be here by now,’ asked Dominic. ‘Yeah, you’re right. He normally meets us here by the dining hall,’ added Willa. Unbeknownst to the trio, Carston was busy in a cabin deep in the woods nearby watching the campus security cameras and plotting a move, calling out of school saying he was sick with the flu. Carston knew what he was doing, and he loved every moment of it. He thought of working with Z as a privelige. He knew what his next move would be, and it would involve the cabin. He grinned at the computer monitors, knowing Z would be very happy with his devious design and behavior.

Dominic went off to class, as did Jonah and Willa. The next thing he knew, his class was canceled for the day. He sat around in the lounge with fellow classmates for the next two hours waiting for their next class. In the process of waiting, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled his phone out and it was a message from Jonah, who had taken a picture of himself and Willa in class together. Her long, curly blonde hair and green eyes, and his short brown hair and brown eyes; both friends smiling in the selfie. Dominic was happy to see such a positive moment, dreading the next move that Z would make to help turn his day into a nightmare.

While in class, Jonah and Willa were at the back of the classroom and kept passing each other notes, trying to keep each other entertained during the two hour lecture. In the midst of the silly notes, Jonah had his computer open with the class notes. He received an email from an unknown sender, with an ominous message, which he showed Willa, who mouthed the message silently as they read it.

A cabin in the woods is so horror, I just have to remake a movie.

Come and find me. Fun from Z.

The duo were frightened, and the baby hairs on the back of Jonah’s neck were now standing up. The duo kept silent about the note throughout the rest of class, and then went to go find Dominic when the lecture for their class ended.