Page 104 of Stay Scared

“Twice.”

“What happened?”

“He chose crowds, buildings with multiple exits, and places where losing him could look accidental.”

The next photograph shows a parking structure.

Rook stands on the upper level while my car waits below.

The timestamp places it six months before Crimson Night invited me.

“He knew you were following him.”

“He knew.”

Owen opens a short recording.

Rook stands outside Halden Coffee while Owen films from inside a parked car. The hooded head stays angled toward my table, then turns directly toward Owen’s lens.

The recording ends.

“That was when he found you.”

Owen’s fingers rest on the keyboard. “That was when he chose to let me know.”

“And you kept watching.”

“I kept watching.”

“Even when he disappeared.”

Owen waits before answering.

I reach past him and scroll.

Days become weeks, then months. Rook stops appearing regularly.

The photographs keep coming.

I find one of myself pressing two fingers against my temple while an untouched pastry sits beside my laptop.

“What happened that day?”

“You received a sponsor rejection.”

My hand stops on the mouse. “You couldn’t know that from where you were sitting.”

“The email reflected in the window.”

“There was no Rook in that picture.”

“There wasn’t.”

“Then why take it?”

Owen looks at the photograph. “Because I wanted the photograph.”

The server fans fill the silence.