Let me give you some background information about me, my life, my boyfriend, and our relationship. Whoever is reading this please keep this information confidential or both of our lives could possibly be in danger. My name is Maurice Craft. I am 23 years old and a highly ranked, top secret spy for the A1 District. No one knows that last part except me and the people I work with. Not my family. Not my boyfriend. Yeah it’s crazy how in the world my boyfriend hasn’t found out yet. Well, funny story. I actually have to live a semi-normal life so people won’t suspect anything. That might sum up why I have had a boyfriend for two years and how I’m still iffy whether I want to marry him or not.

       A boyfriend is a normal thing in a girl’s normal life. So of course I needed to get me one. I went for a simple, shy, quiet guy who wouldn’t nosy around too much. I never even thought about the fact of catching real feelings for this guy. But once you are around someone for so long, then eventually you might become slightly connected. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty acceptable guys at A1 who I wouldn’t mind dating. Like what's hotter than a man that's good looking plus a spy? Absolutely nothing. Other than the fact that he’s unavailable to any female spy at the district. We have a policy where we don’t mix work with pleasure. At A1, spies aren't aloud to date other spies. It could complicate things and get us distracted from our work. It really sucks for some of us too.

         I decide right in that moment to take this note seriously. I freshened up and walked back out into the dining area calm and collected. With a sad smile I told Alex, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have led you on for this long. I simply cannot marry you. I’m so so sorry.”

        Alex replied back with a look that had a mix of sadness and anger saying, “I should have known. I don't know why I try these things. I should have simply left our relationship as pleasure rather than think you could handle something so serious.”

        “I didn't mean to hurt you. This proposal from you made me realize that I don’t want to be in anything serious right now. I hope we can still be friends,” I said dignitantly.

       “Let’s not bother. I’m gonna head to your house to pick up my things.” After staring at the table for a bit he finally looked up at me with a trace of sadness, “Bye, Maurice.” Then he was gone.

       I can’t believe I really just did that. But I needed to do it for me. Plus I know that normal people end their relationships too, so I’m still fitting in. I decided to go hang out in headquarters. Even though our job was pretty serious, us recruits try to have fun. We’re like each others family. I checked to make sure no one was paying attention to me then started on my way. I made sure to take a few random turns to ensure  I wasn’t being followed.

Finally arriving at the headquarters I see my spy partner Jeff. He seems to stay there more than any of us. I think it’s because he doesn’t have anywhere else to go and no one that really cares where he ends up. He’s a nice guy tho, and not that bad looking at all. The blond hair and blue eyes type of guy. And he also seems to want to hang out will me ALOT. But I don’t mind. It’s not like I have anything better to do. Not anymore.

   I walk in not as gloomy as I was just 15 minutes ago at the restaurant. “Sup Jeff.”

   “Maurice! Whats up?” Jeff says, obviously happy to see me.

   Sarcastically I say, “Oh nothing much. Yanno just breaking hearts like usual.”

   Jeff looked happily confused and said, “I can’t tell if your being for real or just being sarcastic haha.”

   “Hmm lets see. Well Alex proposed to me and I turned him down and broke up with him completely, and had him running out the door crying. OKay maybe that part about him running out the door crying was kind of sarcastic, but other than that it’s pretty for real, “I answered snidely.

     He looked stricken. “Woah there buddy. I didn’t know what was going on so bring your 10 to a 2, okay? But back to more important matters, WHY IN THE WORLD DID YOU SAY NO!”

    He was kind of starting to get on my nerves. Was I really gonna have to go through the sob story I practiced so many times in my head on the drive over here again? All this drama was making my head hurt. “I’m sorry, but now it’s your turn to chill out a bit. I don’t understand what you’re getting so worked up about. You didn’t even like the guy.”

    “Yeah, but I didn't know the guy personally either. But it isn’t the fact that I don’t like him, it’s the fact that you do. Or at least I thought so,” he said.

   “Uh, well something else may have happened, but I don’t want you to freak out. So, right before he proposed a waiter came to bring us some sparkling juice. He dropped a note in my lap and it was kind of creepy. I left it in my car, but it said something like ‘Get out while you still can’ or something and told me ‘not to do it’. I’m not sure if it was referring to the proposal or something else, but it just made my decision that much easier,” I sighed.  

    A look of seriousness fell on his face. “This could be something serious. We need to figure out who did this ASAP!”

   “Well nah duh. I just don’t know what steps to take first.” I said.

  Jeff thought about this and said, “Let’s go home and get some rest and start on this tomorrow, okay? It’ll give us a refreshing.”

  “Alright goodnight Jeff. Meet here tomorrow around noon?” I replied.

    He gave a brief nod and was gone. I really hoped we were gonna be able to crack this case. I didn’t want or need this drama in my life right now. I grabbed my things and made my way to my car. I kept wondering where Jeff went. As far as I knew he didn’t have a car, and that happened to be one of the reasons why he didn’t leave the headquarters much. “Oh well,” I thought, “No need to worry about it. He’s probably out partying or something. I mean, it is Friday night.” I drove home, jumped in bed, cleared my mind, and drifted off to sleep.

     I see darkness all around me. There’s a vague outline of a sidewalk in front of me. I’m running very fast. Someone’s chasing me? Yes, someone’s chasing me. I hear the footsteps loudly behind me trying to keep up. I gotta get away. I have to. I feel something bad is going to happen. Hurry, before it’s too late. Get out of there. Run. Faster

I sit up quickly in my bed. Sweat  is pouring down my face. Does this mean something? I’ve never had a nightmare to this degree. I suddenly remember my meeting with Jeff. I look at my alarm clock to see that it’s 11:30 a.m. Oh no. There’s no way I can get ready in time for our meeting. I text jeff, “Running late. Have to get ready and swing by Micky D’s to grab some lunch. Text when on way..”

    He replied almost immediately: “That's fine, but don't worry about getting food. I have some breakfast left and surely we can scrape up something here. I’m ready for #casesolving. See you soon!”

   Hmm I guess that’s fine with me. I replied a thumbs up and went to take a quick shower and get ready. Hopefully we could crack this case, and I may get a little bit of a better sleep.

    I walked into headquarters to see Jeff with all of our equipment set up such as the marker board, computer, etc. It was nice to see how serious he was taking this.

   Jeff smiled brightly as he caught sight of me walking in the door. “Ready for some myyysssttteerrryyy?!” He said stretching out the word mystery.

    I replied with a serious, but happy face, “If it helps me get some decent sleep, then YES I am so ready for some mystery!”

     “Bad sleep? Man that sucks….well let’s get started and try to fix that,” he said.

     Over the next two hours we analyzed the note and did as many tests as possible. We got absolutely nowhere. I started to think about it and I came to a conclusion.

       I called Jeff’s name to get his attention. “Hey, Jeff. I have an idea. Until we solve this case I feel like we should work on our own and meet for like 30 minutes each day until it's solved? I feel like we could do more work separate and then bring what we found out to each other.”

      Jeff looked kind of disappointed. “Uh yeah. Sure. We can do that if you want. You just text me when you finish your investigating and i’ll let you know when i’m finished then we can get together and discuss. It’s getting late. We better go. I’ll see you tomorrow Maurice, goodnight!”

      He laid down on the couch and put his hands over his eyes. I took that as my cue to go. “Night,” I said. Then I was gone.

     Darkness again. Not pitch black. Maybe dawn. I’m running. Fast. Really fast. I hear panting behind me and the loud thump of the running person behind me. I whip my head around quickly. It’s a he? I see what seems to be a male figure. And a black coat. With black gloves. A wisp of blonde. Blonde hair? I’m getting tired . I can’t keep this up much longer. He’s slowly getting closer. I want to give up.

      This time I woke up screaming. He was about to get me. What was my brain trying to tell me? Because I’m a spy I have been through so much and I’ve learned to be able to recognize things. So why am I not now? Is the person in my dream the one who left me the note? I couldn’t take this anymore. I was going to find out who did this and I was going to find out now.

I decided to do a little downtown walking and shopping. I wanted to watch for followers. Lure them in. What’s a better way then walking around all by yourself right? I started walking and even bought a few items. About an hour had passed, but I noticed something. In each vicinity I was in there was a guy with a newspaper. Covering his face. And he was wearing a black hood. At first, I thought it was normal, but eventually realized that he kept moving to the same parts of town I was. I turned down and ally then made another turn and stayed on that wall. I waited and right when he started turning the corner I pinned him on the wall and ripped off his hood. It was Jeff.

      “What the crap are you doing here Jeff?!” I just about screamed.

      Jeff looked kind of nervous. He answered me saying, “Uh I was just in the area and saw you and wanted to make sure you were safe walking around by yourself, I wouldn’t want anyone to hurt you.”

      This answer sounded a little reasonable. “Well, okay. But I’m fine. Separate work, remember? Now, go do something that could help this case please,” I responded coolly. Then I walked away.

    We had our meeting later that night, but no new information arised, so we called it a night.

Over the next few days we tried everything we could, but couldn’t come up with anything. It had been three days since the note incident happened and we’ve gotten absolutely nowhere. It made my head hurt. Jeff had texted me about an hour ago, around 9, and said I could come by whenever for our meeting. I took a short nap then went. When I got there, no Jeff was present, but there was a note laying on the desk. It said: “Emergency came up. Left this note just in case you showed up. Phone was dead. Should be back b4 11. Don’t have too much fun without me :).” This kind of annoyed me. I decided to stick around and try to do some work on my own.

    I decided to go look in Jeff’s private office. He’s been at A1 for awhile so he has a bigger office than most other people who work there. I thought maybe he could’ve made some progress and it was in here. I realized I had his note clutched in one hand and the anonymous note clutched in the other. I lifted them up and looked at them. “Hmm,” I thought, “These look similar. Especially the curl on the letters.” Maybe it was a coincidence? I hoped it was.

     I started walking while still looking at the notes, and tripped over a box on the floor. I came crashing into a tarp that was hung up. It came falling down, and when I stood up I was completely awe-struck. I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were pictures of me, everywhere. Pictures of me walking in the park, in the headquarters, of me sleeping! It was like this huge concept map. Each thing linking to another. It was Jeff! This whole time it has been Jeff. I trusted him. No wonder we weren’t getting anywhere with finding the suspect. He was covering his tracks. By this time I had tears streaming down my face. Why would he do something like this?

     I ran back out into the main part, and saw Jeff walking in the door. He saw my face and he grew serious and freaked out.

    He started bombarding me with questions. “What?1 What’s the matter? Are you ok? Are you hurt? Did you find out who did it?”

    I stared at him with anger and disbelief. “How could you? I trusted you. Have you been stalking me?! Yeah, I saw your little stalker board.” I needed a tissue.

     “Please! Please stop! I can explain. I have my reasons for doing this,” He said washed anew with panic.

      “WHAT REASON COULD YOU POSSIBLY HAVE FOR THIS!!!?” I screamed.

     He grew angry. “Isn’t it obvious?! I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU MAURICE!”

    I didn’t even think that would be possible response. Jeff LOVED me? What?! I never suspected that at all. I thought we were just really good friends. Urg my mind can’t process this. “If loved me then why in the world would you do something so creepy?!”

      Jeff made a face like it should’ve been obvious. “I couldn’t let you marry that guy Maurice. I’ve loved you since the very beginning, and if you couldn’t be with me then I’m not letting you be with anyone.”

        “This is ABSURD! I’m reporting your craziness to A1 president. I won’t let you do this anymore!” I yelled.

       “No you’re not. I won’t let that happen. I have to keep a watch on you to ensure you don’t fall in love with anyone else. Your not going anywhere.”

      Determined I yelled, “WATCH ME!”

       As I started walking out the door I felt a grab at my arm and was flung back. Jeff had a hold on me and wasn’t letting me go anywhere. I decided it was time to bring the big dogs in. I always had a pager attached to my jean pocket that all agents carried for whenever they were in trouble. I hit the button and waited for the agents to show up, armed and ready.

       I decided to try to soothe him with a calm voice while I waited. “Jeff it’s ok.I won’t date anyone else. I’m all yours.”

      “You’re lying!” He screamed as he brought a knife up to my throat. “If I can’t have you, which you know I can’t, we’ll just both go somewhere where no one can have us, but we’ll have each other. Forever.”

      This set me off. Was he really going to try to kill me?! That’s just psycho. “You are pure crazy!” I said as agents began to storm in. They saw him with the knife to my throat and went into battle mode. Within seconds Jeff was on the ground with his hands pinned behind him.

       I said one last thing to him before they took him away, “I hope you rot in prison you sicko.” Then I strutted away with my dignity still in tact.

For the next few days I was still trying to recover from almost being killed, but I made a decision. I decided that I needed to leave this problem in my past, and to do that I had to go see Jeff one last time, and let my feelings be clear.

      I walked quitely into the prison, and got prepared for my visit. The cell smelled gross. My hands were shaking, and I started to think this was a mistake. Maybe I should just go home, I thought. Right as I was about to stand up, the door buzzed and Jeff was led through with his hands and feet in shackled. He had a look so evil on his face, it gave me goosebumps.

       I went straight into it. “Jeff. I’m not coming here to keep you company and I’m for sure not coming here to keep you company. I just wanted to let you know that I hate you and I always will. What you have put me through has had me scared too death the past few days and I’m glad your going to rot in here for a long time. This will ever be the last time you ever see or hear from me again. There is nothing more you can do to me.”

      As I was talking Jeff stared deep at the table. He finally looked up when I finished. He got up and knocked on the door to be let out. His eyes bored into me, with his face wearing a smug smile and that same evil look as he replied, “Watch me,” and was gone.