My Deadly Secret Admirer..

The thud of a dropped apple echoed in the silent kitchen, stark against the memory of Aaron’s teasing words: "no wonder you don't have a boyfriend, little sis'." Boyfriend. The word still stung, a raw wound in the year since Chris Turneer’s brutal death.

Now, a new email from Sami, her best friend, beckoned to a party, a chance to see Clark Galen, her new, hesitant hope. Sami’s playful insistence, her sneaky delivery of a dress, all spoke of a world Nikki desperately wanted to re-enter. A world of crushes and normal teenage fun.

But as she hurried to get ready, a chilling anomaly caught her eye. Her laptop, which she was certain she’d turned off and tucked away, was open. Sami’s email, still on screen. A flicker of unease, easily dismissed as a lapse in memory, or perhaps, Aaron’s mischief. Yet, the air felt heavy, a subtle shift in the familiar comfort of her room, a quiet prelude to the terror that lay just beneath the surface of her new beginning.