VisionsNot Confirmed

by EvaGreene

Ava wishes to be normal, like her friends. Unfortunately, for her, normal is nowhere to be found on her agenda. Her visions tell her about murder and death. Can she find out who's behind it? Or will she die along with the others in the process?

One

They're happening again. The visions that I have tried so hard to block out for forever now. This time it's about someone I know. My mom thought that putting me in a boarding school would help solve everything. The thing is this one was just recently built five years ago. I started going here my sophomore year last year.

I was hugging one of my very good friends, Charlie. He just got back from Cape Cod with his aunt and uncle. They got to pull him out of school for two weeks just to vacation at a cottage near a beach. I hated him so much when he said the news.

The pictures going on in my head about him were not very pretty right now. He was running in the woods. Sweat and blood dripping down his face, branches throwing his balance askew. He panted very hard, trying to get away from whatever is chasing him. It's dark and there's little light from the moon. The woods seem oddly quiet in the vision. Usually you can hear the grasshoppers chirping and the owls hooting. It's so still, it feels disturbing, even though it annoys the crap outta me at night. I could hear the leaves crunching under his feet and the footsteps following behind him. They sounded like sneakers, snapping twigs and knocking over ant hills.

I could hear a voice whispering in my ear, "You betrayed me!" The voice was definitely female. The air is chilly and the night just keeps growing colder. I see something ahead. It looks like a small shed. Charlie races to it, the tears stinging his eyes. Because of the murderer or the cold, I couldn't tell. His blond hair has been cut up. Instead of its usual wavy-ness, it's been shaved into a buzz cut. He's lost his wire-rimmed glasses, because he has to catch himself. I hear him call out my name again and again in small gasps. "Ava! You have to help me!" I can't tell if he's made it into the shed or not, because right then, I appear in my vision. I'm in the middle of the woods. One of my sneakers is missing and I'm hobbling toward where I think Charlie is.

I follow his pleas for help, my foot stinging when it touches the forest floor. I trip and hit my head on something hard, like a rock. I cry out in pain when I can't get up without swaying and falling back again. My vision had started to become limited. I could see these black spots everywhere. I tried running again, but his screams became fainter and fainter until I couldn't hear them anymore. The pain in my head would not subside. It stung and burned and begged for ice. Good thing the weather was not warm at all.

I tried to keep my balance by holding onto branches and having them lead the way. The night was becoming darker by the second. "I know you're alone, Ava." I hear a voice whisper in my ear. I could feel the hot, moist breath on my neck. This time it's a male voice. It sounds so deep and rough, but I don't recognize it at all. I can't with the spinning my head is doing. Like the tea cup rides at Disneyland. I feel like throwing up some terrible bile. I clench my stomach and try my best to move forward, but as I take my step, I trip and get pinned to the ground.

It's too dark to tell who it is. "It's too late…" He whispers. I can feel myself slipping into a mini coma. It can't be too late. I have to save him. I have to. I try getting up, but the pressure in my head has kept me on the ground. The forest starts to fade and I feel like a ton of buckets of water have been placed on my chest. I try to breath, but I can't even open my mouth. I can feel the blood coming out of the back of my head. My cheek rests against the cold ground as I see the blood pool beneath my head. I try screaming, but all that comes out is a sputtering noise.

The last thing I see before closing my eyes for good is the full moon up in the sky. The canopy of leaves open up for me to see my beloved moon. I smile slightly and wish that Charlie is safe and someone finds him. My last wish before I slip into a vegetable state.

My eyes open and I'm still in Charlie's arms. He's saying how much he has missed me and everyone else. We stand outside of the girls' dorm building.

That's the thing with my visions. When I have one, the world around me stops and I'm transported into them. That happens so that when I come back, everything is the same. No time had passed. I sigh and break our embrace. I shouldn't tell him. Ruin his happiness is the last thing I want. I could figure this out on my own. I could, of course, never forgive myself for what happened to Peter. He was Charlie's best friend. I had a vision about him last year, and neglected to think of it as that. Because of my stupidity, he's gone. Everyone keeps telling me that it wasn't my fault, I had no idea that I was psychic and could tell when people were about to die.

I still feel it's my entire fault. But I have learned to forgive myself. I have learned to move on. Even though I did have a tiny crush on him when I first got here. His blue eyes mesmerized me. Tears almost sprung to my eyes thinking about him and his dazzling smile.

I jump back into reality and see Charlie still standing in front of me, a huge smile planted on his face. When I stepped out this morning to check the mail and saw he was back, I ran into his arms and gave him this huge bear hug and he almost fell back.

I smile back at him and we go inside to meet Nicky and Amber, my roommates and best friends. We're on the first floor so it doesn't take much time to get to our room. I tell Charlie to stay in the hall, while I get them ready. I step inside the room and all of the pink and feathery boas hit me. Literally. Nicky has this thing for tacky stuff. She jumps out and yells, "Gotcha!" I furrow my eyebrows and she frowns at my expression. Her light brown hair has been made into high pigtails with black and orange highlights and she's wearing a leopard print skirt, black tights, and a black, v-neck sweater. She's wearing my yellow converses and chewing bubble gum.

I hear the stereo playing Muse's cover for The Smiths' Please, please, please Let Me Get What I Want. I smile at her and she takes a Diet Coke out of our mini fridge. She takes a big gulp and I look around the room. "Where's Amber?" I ask. She takes another swig before answering. "IDK. Maybe getting her mocha fix from the Starbucks on campus." I shake my head and try not to comment on Amber's constant coffee intake. "Well, Charlie's back!" She jumps up and down and opens the door to our room. "And behind door number one is a hunky, dorky, friendly, multiple personalitized Charlie!" She hugs him and him and I laugh at how crazy Nicky is.

"When'd you get back my huggable teddy bear?"

"Late last night. Had to meet you first thing when I woke up." He grins sweetly at us and grabs my sketch pad. I try to snatch it back, but he's already flipping through the pictures of fields and woods and lilies that I drew while he was gone. His mouth turns down at the corners. "What's up with the flowers? Why draw flowers that mean nothing but death?" He asks me. I look down and let my hair cover my face. "I just like the bell shape." That was a lame excuse, but whatever. At least he believes it. He nods his head and continues flipping until he comes across one of my scarier drawings. My therapist says that drawing what I see in my visions is a good thing. S0metimes drawing what I sense or feel is a good way to take matters seriously. That way I never take my visions as stupid, meaningless sightings. The drawing he's stuck on is of eyes. I only drew that part of the face of Peter's killer. He has green eyes. The police are still trying to search for him. I only drew the eyes. They look out at you, as if blaming me for everything. I drew the bridge of his nose and then his eyebrows and part of his forehead. I didn't see much, except for that.

The police check up on me every now and then to see if I have any information about the killer. I tell them everything that I can: He has green eyes, a black crescent on his forehead, white skin, long eyelashes, spends most of his time downtown at the Peabody Hotel, loves to play pool, and smokes like a chimney. Anything I can to help them find out who it is. So far they have no leads, yet.

Charlie frowns and puts the pad down. We all sit in a line on my bed and Charlie pitches us things he did at the cottage. He says there were a lot of hot girls and so much sand and sun. "There was something off when we got there. We stayed next door to this writer. I saw one of his papers once and they had all types of perverted things written about the girls on there. It grossed me out. We turned him in for stalker-ish attitude. It was kind of cool." I chuckle and then the door opens.

It's Amber with the mail in one hand and coffee in the other. Her strawberry blond hair is in waves and I feel so jealous of her amazingly good looks. I swear it feels like every guy in the school is into her.

She drops the mail and sets her coffee down. Charlie stands up and she jumps into his arms. You see, they're kind of together. They have been for the past six months. They kiss each other and he sets her back on the ground. I smile and Nicky and I get up. I grab the bundle of mail and look through it for anything with my name on it. I put all of the magazine subscriptions on Amber and Nicky's beds. I finally get to one with my name on it. It doesn't have a return address in the corner. It just says my name in the middle, not even my address. I flip it over and open it. I unfold the blank copy paper and read what it says:

I know what you are…

I freak out and drop the paper on my bed. Everyone's heads turn to me, confused expressions on their faces. "What's wrong?" Amber asks. I shake my head and sit on the paper. I don't want them to see it and get freaked out again. I don't want this burden to be on their shoulders. They shrug their shoulders and I sigh.

"Hey, do you want to go and get some pizza. Its lunch time and I need some food." Nicky announces. I agree a little too quickly and we all leave to go to CiCi's Pizza. Nicky loves the buffet line over there. She just can't get enough of it. Charlie runs off to go invite our other friends, Jack and Andrew. Jack is a little cookoo in the head. Kind of like Nicky. I swear they could be perfect for each other if they just stopped fighting for two measly seconds. Nicky told me that they kissed that one time we were the only kids on campus during spring break last year. It was in a broom closet, I think. We spot them running toward us and get in the car.

They get inside and Jack starts talking immediately. "Hello, my lovelies! How you doin'?" He points to Nicky and does a terrible impression of Joey Tribiani from Friends. I roll my eyes and pull out of the parking lot. Amber and Charlie are sitting in the way back of the car and staring into each others' eyes and it makes me want to puke. They should've taken their own car if they're going to do that. Nicky looks at my disgusted face and pretends to stick her finger down her throat. I chuckle quietly and look at Andrew and Jack from my rearview mirror.

Jack's playing with the gum in his mouth and Andrew sits there brooding. He barely ever talks since his brother died in Iraq. I honestly feel sorry for him. I have no idea how he feels. My brother, Embry, is still alive and healthy. God forbid anything happens to him, I would sit in my room forever and just mope around. No one would want to be my roommate. Not even Nicky and Amber.

I think that Andrew is very brave. He gets out, he makes friends, and he does anything. He tries hard not to show his sorrow and I applaud him for that.

He catches me looking at him and smiles. A real, meaningful smile. Not one of the ones he puts on for show. I look away and concentrate on the road. "Okay, leather skirt, leather jacket, and dark blue cotton shirt." Nicky blurts out of nowhere. I look at her with that look in my eyes. You know the one you give people when you think they're weird. She smirks and turns back around in her seat.

We reach CiCi's and Nicky and Jack are the first ones out of the car. We try catching up to them, but their already in the buffet line. They stuff their plates with different types of pizza, cheese sticks, cinnamon rolls, chocolate sticks with powdered sugar, and pasta. I wonder how Nicky can eat so much and not gain a single pound.

My phone starts to vibrate in my back pocket and I jump a mile in the air. Amber puts her hand on my shoulder to calm me a bit. My mother is calling. That's weird. She never calls. Why all of a sudden?

I answer and look around the room until I find Andrew staring at me intently. His eyebrows furrowed and a very worried expression on his face appears. I excuse myself from my group of friends and talk to my mom outside.

"Hey, Mom. How are you?" She sounds hysterical when she answers.

"Oh, sweetie! You're brother got into a horrible accident. He broke his collar bone and cracked a few ribs. He won't even wake up!" She cries real hard on the other end of the line and my heart squeezes inside my chest. Embry's been in an accident. He's injured very severely and can't even stir. I take deep breaths and talk to her for the next few minutes and try very persistently to get her to calm down. I reassured her that everything would be fine. She just has to do everything the doctor says to make sure nothing bad happens to Embry.

She thanks me for my help and hangs up. I sigh and lean against the wall. Why do I have to be the strong one in my family? Why do I have to know all of the answers? I hate this. I hate being the brave one. I hate being the one to always fix things. I just want to be normal. I don't want to have these visions and I don't want to see my own death either. Why can't I be like Amber? Beautiful, smart, get all the guys? Why not Nicky? She's carefree and doesn't give a damn about what other people think.

I slide down the brick wall and pull my legs to my chest. I bury my head in my hands and hide my face from anyone going in or coming out of the pizza place. The door opens again and I hear a deep, smooth voice. Andrew. What the hell is he doing out here? I look up at him and he smirks. I grimace and look down again.

"Are you coming or not? Because Nicky and Jack are annoying us. Amber and Charlie told them to wait for you until they start eating and I think that Jack's about to eat someone's arm off." I chuckle. He smiles at his triumph and I stand up. "Just so anyone doesn't get hurt." I say. He holds the door open for me and I walk in. I immediately see Nicky and Jack's scowls on their faces. Andrew and I walk back to the table and sit down. "Finally!" Jack squeals. He launches into eating his pizza. I shake my head and get up to get my own. Andrew and Amber follow. I grab two slices of cheese pizza and so does Amber. Andrew offers to get our drinks for us since he does not want to eat anything. I wonder why all of a sudden he's happy and smiley.

Happy suits him. His jade green eyes lighten up and there's bliss all around us. His aura is a pale yellow color which means he's got a lot of hope. But hope for what? Hm. I looked harder at the colors surrounding his silhouette. There's some purple in the pale yellow. Intuition. Psychic or able to see ahead of the present. Holy shit! He's psychic! Just like me!

Two

I stared at his aura the entire time we were eating and just couldn't believe what I was seeing. How could he be psychic? I had never seen him having a vision. Wait, time stops when you have a vision so it's impossible to know when someone is having a vision. When I saw the silver color, I knew that he was new at this thing, which would mean that I have to teach him now. Ugh! I hate this part of my life. Aside from the fact that I have never had a boyfriend and I haven't seen anyone in my family for a year now. It truly sucks. I mean, I spent summer vacation with Amber and her family. It was so embarrassing when they talked about past vacations and stuff. I was so shy and quiet and never said a word. I was so happy to get back to school, weirdly enough.

I don't even know who my dad was. All I remember about him is that I saw him die. In my visions and in my dreams. He had a terrible car accident in which he lost his life. His memories are growing farther and farther apart. I can barely remember what he looked like. What haunts me the most is that I can only remember my mom's face when she found out. She was torn for months. Embry and I took care of her. I was only twelve at the time and he was fifteen. He did everything he could for me while Mom was in a comatose state for two months. He got a job and paid for everything I needed. Clothes, field trip money, food, and even unnecessary things. We were so close back then.

If anything happens to him, I don't know what I would do. He's everything to me. I should probably go visit him in the hospital tomorrow after class. Maybe. I don't know if I'll be able to, what with all of the new problems on hand; visions about Charlie's death, Andrew's newly discovered powers, and my Calculus test to study for. Life is exhausting. All I need right now is a good night's sleep.

Amber, Nicky and I are in the lounge area of our dorm. We just finished watching Knowing. Such a scary movie about the end of the world and humanity. Nicky and I are heading back to our room while Amber is leaving to meet Charlie for dinner and a movie.

"Why don't you take a nap. You look pooped. We can make up the yoga class, or I can go and you can make it up." I try to hold my legs up and answer Nicky. It's a good thing our dorm is on the ground floor. We don't have to walk up the stairs. My eyes barley open, but I still answer Nicky with a nod and she heads off to class. I groggily head off to our room to catch up on my sleep. My knees become weaker as I get closer to my bed. I plop down on it with all of my clothes still on.

I have to go to class tomorrow. I have to take my Calculus test tomorrow. Maybe I could ask for a make-up test. Maybe they would understand after everything that happened last year. They thought that I was still blaming myself. They think right. The anniversary of his death is coming soon and maybe, just maybe, they would understand. Yeah, I'll try that.

I slowly drift off to sleep but am soon woken up by a quick rap on the door. I slug out of bed and open the door to see Charlie.

"Charlie, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be out with Amber?" He nods and then takes my hand. "We're meeting in half an hour. Come with me, I want to show you something." He pulls me out of the room and drags me down the hall to the door that leads to the basement. He pushes the door open and runs down the stairs. I try to keep up with him, but he's fading from my vision now. I stand there in the long, dark hallway. There are five doors on each side of me and behind one of them has got to be Charlie.

I slowly open door number one and find a girl crying in the corner of the room. She could be pretty if it weren't for the bruises all over her. Her short, black bob cut hair, covers her eyes and her tan skin is stained with cuts and scars, now turning pink. There are also fresh ones still oozing blood.

I want to help her, but I have to find Charlie. I close the door and move on to the next one. Behind it is a little boy about six or seven years old. He's naked and you can see rope burns on his chest and scabs on his arms. He's been beaten to a bloody pulp. "Help me…" He whispers softly. His long blond hair sways a little and then covers his sea green eyes. I want to help him too, but I can hear Charlie's voice calling out my name. He sounds urgent and in pain almost. I try to decipher where the sound is coming from and end up opening the last door on the left. Charlie is there. His shirt is torn from where the blade cut him and his wire-rimmed glasses have been broken into pieces on the ground and on the wall behind him, written in his blood, it says: You will never know . It's in the same handwriting as the one that was on my letter that I got earlier this morning. Charlie falls to his knees and calls out my name over and over again. "Ava, help me. Ava, Ava, please." His sobs cut through me and I know that I will help everyone in here. Everyone who has been hurt.

I crouch down to help Charlie up, but I soon feel an intense, sharp pain in my back. I'm aware of a liquid running down my backside. I try screaming, but nothing except for air comes out. Charlie is still beside me, screaming out in pain. I lean over and fall face-first on the hard, cold, gray basement ground. I try yelling out for help, but again only air comes out.

The door to the room opens and someone walks in, but I don't know who. She's tall and very lean, but it's too dark to explain any distinct features. My vision blurs as she comes closer to Charlie. There's a sharp object in her hand getting ready to stab Charlie in his spinal cord, which will kill him instantly. I'm finally able to scream and when I do, it's a bloodcurdling, skin crawling, toe curling scream.

I jerk upright in my bed. The sweat is pouring down my face and my skin feels prickly. I jump off of the bed and race to the mirror in our room. My dark brown, corkscrew hair is matted on one side and when I reach up to move it out of my face, I see blood on my hands. The smell is fresh and I have no idea where it came from. I twist my torso around and search for any blood marks. There is a huge blood stain on the back of my shirt. I look back at the sheets of my bed and the blood leaves a tiny splotch on the top.

I try to spot a sharp object with which I could bleed. I move my hand around on the bed and find a letter opener. How did this get here? We don't even own a letter opener. The blade is very sharp and it has a curly elegant handle. I pick it up and examine my blood. The dark red liquid drops onto my hands and pillow. How could I have bled this much? I find a Ziploc bag and put the letter opener in it. I might have to use this sometime to find out who's after Charlie and apparently me too.

I try to sneak out so I can clean myself up, without anyone noticing. Amber and Nicky were still out and it wasn't even curfew yet. I tried to cover myself as best as I could and ran for the showers. I brought extra clothes to change into and the blade to clean.

I was just a foot away from the door when Amber and Charlie found me. It was weird seeing him like this now, when I know that he is about to die soon. My mind keeps going back to the image of him covered in scars in my nightmare. He is going to die; from a woman's hand. I just wonder who he could have upset so badly that they would need to kill him.

They run up to me and say hi. I wave shyly and try backing to the door. Amber notices that my hands are behind my back and she starts to get nosy. She grabs my shoulders and turns me around. They both gasp at the sight of my blood. I wince as Amber runs a hand over it. She lifts my shirt just enough to see the damage done to my back.

She pries the blade from my fingers and examines it. "Ava, have you been cutting yourself?" The sadness in her voice suggests that she is worried. I grunt and turn toward her. "Now, just because I am carrying a letter opener with my blood on it and it happens to be what I got hurt with it, it doesn't mean I am a cutter. Maybe I should stop talking." Charlie looks me up and down and stops at my cut. He fingers it slightly and gets some blood on his finger.

"Then what happened?" He asked. I sigh and decide that I should tell half of the truth. They deserve that at least. "I don't know how, but I fell asleep on it. I was so tired that I didn't even know where I was going. I'm surprised I even found our room. I fell asleep on top of the covers and when I woke up, I was bleeding excessively from my back. There. That's the whole story." Amber still didn't seem to believe me.

"I don't even own a letter opener. I have no clue who does, except for the administration. And you know how much I hate them." She nods in agreement and gives me back the blade and my clothes. "Well, be careful next time and watch what you sleep on. Don't forget to clean that up. I'll see you later." She waves at me and waits for Charlie. "So how did your date go?" I ask. He chuckles slightly and whispers in my ear, "You'll never know." These three words stun me into place. Nail my feet to the ground.

My heart beats heavily and I think I start to bleed again. He waves and they leave. I make a beeline for the bathroom and make it right before Jack can say hi to me. He's always here. He thinks it's an easier way to meet girls.

No one is in the bathroom and I feel terribly alone and unsafe. The bloods is still dripping onto my hand and I feel it is necessary that I write the phrase on the mirror the same way it was written in the nightmare I had. I dunk my finger into the puddle of blood in my palm and start writing. I try to make it look exactly the same and it worked.

It looked the same and I feared that. I sigh and wipe it all up. I clean the wound and then hit the showers. The water stings my cut and the fire doesn't extinguish until I wrap myself in a towel and change into my PJs. The soft, cotton comforts me as I throw away the dirty clothes and bandage up my wound. I breathe in a relieved breath and head out. I might as well go talk to Andrew about the visions. He actually might be able to help me with mine. I walk out of the building and find Andrew immediately.

He sits alone on a bench and stares up at the moon. I make my way toward him.

Three

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure?" He asks as soon as I stand next to him. I sigh and sit down. I would have to get this over with. I take a deep breath and say, "I know. You don't have to hide it anymore." He doesn't look away from the moon. He nods slowly and speaks again. "I know. When I saw the recognition in your aura, I knew you knew about my visions." He pauses and looks at me. "I had one about your brother. He got into a car accident, right?" I breathe in and look him straight in the eye. "Yes."

"I'm sorry."

"For what? It isn't your fault."

"I know, but I should have told you. You have them too and I could have trusted you."

"No worries. These visions have helped me learn to respect death and not be so hung over on it. But, the doctors said everything would be alright. He just has a minor concussion and a broken rib. He'll be fine."

"Good. Well I better get going. Don't want to be late for curfew. Is there anything else you might want to tell me?" He stands up and glares at me for a few moments until I answer his question. "Er, I don't think there's anything else. Why? Are you expecting me to say something?" He shakes his head and we both bid our goodbyes and leave.

I get back to my dorm and see Amber leaning over my bedspread. Examining it, I should say. Nicky enters after me, carrying her yoga mat. Her eyebrows go up as she sees what Amber is doing.

"Amber, can I please get my sheets? I have to go put them in the laundry." I ask. She gets startled when she hears my voice. Her hand is on her chest, as if that would slow down her heart. "Oh, sorry. Here, I already changed the sheets and the dirty ones are on the floor." She points down at the pile of fabric by her feet. Instead of taking the sheets to the laundry, I would have to throw them away. They have blood on them and that is not healthy. These blood stains are not very little so I have no other choice.

"I think I'll throw them away." I pick them up and toss them in a big, black garbage bag. She nods and sits on her bed. She opens up her laptop and gets on Facebook. Ugh. That is the first thing she does when she gets on her laptop. She always wants to see what other people are doing.

Nicky is still standing in the doorway, confused about what's going on with the bed sheets and the blood stains. She rushes up to me and spins me around to face her. What is the big deal with having blood spilled on your bed? "Okay, who stabbed you?"

I sigh and shake my head as Amber explains to Nicky what happened. She told her exactly what happened in the hallway and then asked me to show her the letter opener. I go over to my nightstand where I kept it when I came back in the room and get out the blade. Nicky scrutinizes it carefully and spots something that I had missed. "Ava, I think you should have a look at this." She calls me over and shows me the engraving on the handle. It has the initials PS on it. The letters are surrounded by very intricately made snakes. This could be a huge clue to who this person is. The person that wants to kill Charlie and maybe even me.

That's it! I have to tell them. I can't do this alone. I need their help and maybe even Andrew's. If I do this alone, I might be able to save Charlie's ass, but I won't be able to save mine. I take Amber and Nicky by the arms and sit them down on the edge of my bed. They look bewildered. I have no idea what this would do to Amber. I just don't want her to deal with something like this. But she would want to help. She would want to keep Charlie from dying.

"Okay, Ava, what's going on?" Amber asks. I look down in my lap so I don't have to see their faces when I tell them. "Well, don't freak, but, I had another vision." I say it slowly for them to process all of this. I sit down next to Amber, because I know her only too well. She's really sensitive and any type of bad news for her isn't good. When her mom and dad got divorced, she was such a wreck. But she did get over it and decided to live with her dad. We were there to comfort her forever, and now, she's as happy as ever. I don't want to ruin that, but I have to.

"Really? What was it about? I mean, who was in it?" Nicky jumps in. I shake my head and try to spit the words out. I have to think about the consequences. If I do tell them, I can catch the culprits and him and she can go to jail. If I don't, then either me or Charlie will die, or maybe even both of us. I'll tell them. "Please be calm. I had a vision about Charlie." I continue telling them what happened in my vision from when he came back earlier today and the dream I had about him being trapped in the basement with a bunch of other troubled teenagers and kids. As I explained this, I realized that Peter's body had never been found. He was just assumed dead. His family never gave him a funeral because they never got a body. This is weird. How come he was just assumed dead when no one found his body? Would this mean that the other doors I neglected to open might have been hiding Peter? I start getting this feeling that maybe that's it. Peter is still alive! He could just be trapped. Left behind a door to be beaten for someone else's pleasure. Maybe even drugged.

No one has gone down into the basement ever. Even during tornado warnings, we just go to the bomb shelter that some kids had dug up during the first year the school was open. There are four or five in this entire school. It was built during the cold war. We could tell by the muskets we found in them. There were also extra blankets, pillows, old jugs of water and beds.

I just couldn't believe this theory was coming to me now after a year of Peter's disappearance. I need to find all this out. I have to know who Peter's taker is. I have to have more visions about him.

I take the letter opener and look at the initials again. PS. Peter's initials are the same. His entire name is Peter Summers. He's escaped. But, maybe this isn't his letter opener. I look up at Amber. She knows Peter really well. He's best friends with Charlie. I would have to ask her then.

"Hey, Amber? Did Peter Summers ever have a letter opener like this one?" One of her eyebrows go up. She takes the knife away from me and takes a look at it. I see a tear drop from the corner of her eye. She nods her head slowly and wipes away the tear. I hand her a napkin and smile to myself. Nicky puts her hand on my shoulder and whispers to me, "Maybe you shouldn't appear so happy about Peter's death. He was her best friend too, you know." I shake her hand off my shoulder and yell out to them, "Peter's not dead! He's alive!" They both exchange perplexed looks. They look at me like I'm crazy and need some help.

"Just look at the facts. They never found his body and they just proclaim him dead. The police know something that they don't want anyone else to know. This letter opener shows up in my bed and I can feel it in my dream. Peter has to be behind one of those doors in the basement. Why the basement? Because no one ever goes there. We use the bomb shelters instead. The storage rooms are in the boiler rooms. Since no one ever goes in the basement—a lot of people don't even know about the basement—that's the perfect hiding spot.

"I saw things that are unexplainable. Peter is sending me a sign. He knows that I'm the only one who can figure this out. But I need your help. I think he's escaped and trying to stay away from his captor." I stand up and pace as I explain the rest of my theory. "I sleep right next to the window. While I was on my side, he probably planted the blade there. As soon as I roll over, I feel it in my dreams. There's also one more detail about my dream that I didn't tell you about.

"Charlie kept calling out to me. At least I thought it was Charlie. The voice sounded a little huskier. I think that it might have been Peter." They sit wide-eyed and shocked on my bed. Amber's hand trembles and Nicky has her hand to her heart. I smile triumphantly and look for my cell phone. I find it under my pillow and dial Peter's number. Hopefully, his parents haven't cut it off. It starts ringing and I am brought straight to the voice mail. It's Peter's voice. Upon hearing it, I imagine how he looked when I last saw him. His black hair, tousled and his bright blue eyes in fear. His breath, caught in his throat after I told him about the visions. The tears were streaming down his face, telling me that I had to help him. My hand touched his cheek to calm him down. To assure him that I would save him. I remember the way he held me in his arms and kissed me feverishly.

As the memories come back, the tears start to show. I will get him back. I will find him. Nothing will stop me. Not even my own death. Now, I will have to save Peter and Charlie. Possibly even myself.

Four

I twist and turn in my bed, trying to fall back asleep. I just can't stop dreaming about the basement. It's the same one, shown to me over and over again. The girl with scars and bruises and the little boy with rope burns and then Charlie getting a knife plunged into his spinal cord and then me waking up with my back bleeding. Every time I have these nightmares, the blood starts to drip from the wound. Damn Peter for leaving this on my bed and making me bleed.

"Sorry." I hear a male voice coming from the window. I freak out and sit up. I listen closely and hear leaves rustling. I slowly get out of bed and grab the baseball bat I keep hidden under my bed. Don't ask. There's a light tap on my window. I approach it and open it just a crack. Someone's whispering my name and I can only guess who it is.

"What are you doing here Charlie?" I ask him as soon as he appears before me. He chuckles and holds up one finger. Right behind him is Jack. Oh, how I've missed these nightly visits. When I was first given Amber and Nicky as roommates, I had no idea that every night at 3 A.M. I would have these owls visiting them.

"You know what we want. Get that for us, or the window gets it." Jack makes another one of his amusing remarks. I roll my eyes and go to wake up Amber and Nicky. They always go to hang out in one of the bomb shelters. I think they have beer stashed in there or something. They always invite me to go along, but it's always the same answer. I never go. They call me weird, but I like to catch up on my sleep. Especially today. I haven't had one ounce of sleep yet and I want to have a different dream in which I discover Peter trapped behind a door in the basement. That way I know for sure that he's still alive.

"Amber, Nicky wake up. Charlie and Jack are here." They jolt up and are already dressed in jeans and t-shirts. They're usually back by 5 or 6. Just in time to get ready for class. They crawl out the window and brush themselves off. "Are you sure you don't want to come? It'll be fun…" Amber asks.

"No, I'm sure I don't want to come." She frowns and I close the window. I lay down on my bed and try to fall back asleep. A few moments later, as soon as I start to nod off, there's another tap on my window. I grunt and get up. I open it up and whisper to Amber and everyone else, "I told you I don't want to—" I made a mistake. It's not Amber and everyone else. It's Andrew.

"I knew you'd be here." He whispers. I move away from the window and he crawls inside. I am utterly shocked. I've known him for over two years and have never seen him sneak out during curfew. As soon as he's inside, he closes the window securely and sits on one of our bean bags. I stand there like a fool, watching him claim the area like it's his own. I quickly snap out of it and kneel down beside him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I whisper. He chuckles softly and grabs my waist then pulls me down into his lap. He whispers in my ear, "I'm here to rape you." I slap his hand away from my face and he laughs. "This is the best I have felt in a long time." He mumbles.

"Okay, really. What's the problem?" He sighs and has that frown back on his face. "We have to go down in the basement. To see if you're right or not." My eyes open up wide and I can't process the fact that he knows about my dreams when the only people I've told are my roommates. "How do you know about the basement?" He puts both arms around my waist, as if to keep me from running away.

"I had the same dream. That's why I'm here. We have to go check it out. If we ever want to see Peter again. And I know that you want to see him the most."

"You're crazy if you think I'm going to go down to that basement with you. Why do you want to go down there immediately anyway and why did you wait until my roommates were gone to take me down there? How do I know that you're not the killer? You and the murderer have green eyes and a very similar build." I point out the evidence. Of course he wasn't as tall. The killer is four inches over six feet and Andrew is six feet two inches, which is a really nice height for him.

"Paranoid much? I know what the killer looks like and he does not look anything like me. I don't have an idea of where he lives, but I do know that he checks on the hostages at midnight for a couple hours and then leaves. Its 4 right now. He left a couple hours ago." I stare at him to make sure he's not lying. There are no signs of a murky pink so he's clean.

"You can check all you want, but you're not going to find anything that says I'm the killer. Remember, there is also a woman trying to kill Charlie, but the man is trying to kill you and Peter."

"Oh God, I totally forgot about that part. I know who's after me and Peter, but I have no clue whatsoever of who's after Charlie. How could I miss this?" I shake my head and put my palm to my forehead. He pats my back and whispers, remembering that the girls' dorm advisor is just down the hall, "You were just so caught up on trying to find a murderer that you just assumed that the woman was just a figment of your imagination. Don't worry, we'll find her and him. I won't let anything happen to you."

"What about Charlie and Peter?"

"You leave that to me. Now, let's go search the basement for anything worthy of a clue."

I start to get up from his lap, but before I can, the window opens and Amber and Nicky climb through. They spot us and pause in their tracks. A mischievous smile creeps across both of their faces. I roll my eyes and get up from his lap.

"So, this is why you didn't want to come?" Nicky comments. I sigh and grab my coat from my side of the closet. Andrew stands up and dusts himself off. He goes to the window and announces to the room, "We're off to travel through the basement." The window's already open so he climbs out and waits in the bushes for me. Amber grabs my arm before I can even put my leg out of the window. "You're seriously going down the basement now? Do you know how dangerous that is?" I pull away from her grip and answer, "Yes, I do know and I am willing to risk it all to save Charlie and Peter. Anyway, I have Andrew with me."

"Can you really trust him?" She crosses her arms across her chest, waiting for my response.

"Yes, yes I can trust him."

"How do you know he's not trapping you?"

"I just know Amber! Now don't try and follow us because if anything happens to anyone of you, I will blame myself for everything."

She finally stops talking and I step outside and feel the cold November night air hit my visible skin. It feels as though something is biting my cheeks. I look through the bushes until I find Andrew on his knees writing something in the dirt. "What are you doing?" I ask. He looks up from what he's drawn on the ground. I take a closer look and see two lines, they swirl many times around each other and create an image that looks like two snakes that are entangled in one another. Like they're in a knot. Like the snakes I saw on Peter's letter opener. "Where did you see this?" I ask. He stands up and we start walking toward the back of the building. "I'll explain when we don't have to be on the lookout for security." He grabs my hand and pulls me down on the ground behind a shrub.

I see a flashlight in the distance. "That was close," I whisper. He nods and we begin to crawl to the back of the building instead. After a couple scratches on my knee, since I decided to go out in my pj's—boxer shorts and a light blue T—we finally reach the small window that looks down into the basement. It's big enough to fit both of us down there to I volunteer to go first. He lowers me until my feet can feel the cold concrete floor of the basement. He starts to slide through and joins me a few seconds later.

The hallway looks just like in my dream. The same concrete ground, the same tattered doors. I feel like running away from here. The horror in the eyes of the detainees was coming back to me. I could feel their terror seeping through my skin and into my bones. I shiver and turn away from the hallway. I bump into Andrew's hard chest and look up. One of his eyebrows raise up and he asks, "Where do you think you're going?" He puts his hands on my shoulders and looks straight down in my dark brown eyes. I look away from his intimidating gaze and as soon as my palm lands on his arm, I feel it coming on. The dizzying feeling and the gasp that followed along with it. The picture appears before my eyes and this time I was the one who was watching and in the vision. Usually when I have a vision, I see myself in it, but this time I was seeing through my eyes what's going to happen. I'm standing in the same place as I am while having the vision and Andrew is still with me. I hear a voice calling out something. "Hey! You there!" I twirl around and see that same feminine figure.

I immediately stop and try looking for her face through the darkness and the shadows. She raises her arm and the faint light glistens off of the metal on the gun she holds. Andrew steps in front of me and starts walking backwards, toward the door at the top of the steps. I finally realize that he's trying to hide us in the shadows as well. He whispers back to me, "Run up the stairs and stay outside of the door until I come up." I stupidly follow his direction and quietly walk up the stairs. I'm almost to the top and when I step on this step, it creaks, really loud. I hear the woman's footsteps coming this way and Andrew yells to me, "Run!" I unintentionally follow his instructions and go out the door. I hear gunshots being fired and I wince as the thought of Andrew being shot overwhelms me. I hesitate at first, but I open up the door after the gunshots have quieted down.

My hand turns the knob and I go inside. I see the pool of blood immediately. I drop to the floor beside his lifeless body. What comes over me is too hard to explain. I left him here alone and let him die. Who else is going to perish because of me? I can't take this anymore.

I stand up and feel that same pain in my back again. The screams rise up in my throat and beg to be let out. I hold them in for fear of being caught and killed. I drop down on the floor once again and writhe in agony. My hand covers my mouth in hopes that it will keep me quiet. The darkness pushes me deeper and deeper. I'm being crushed. I slowly count the seconds it takes for the entire room to be consumed in darkness.

I'm gasping for air. Andrew stands in front of me. His hand is on the place where I had been wounded by the blade. I remove it from there and take his hand. His eyebrows crinkle in confusion, but he doesn't argue when I lead him back to the window.

"We have to leave now. They're here." He understands instantaneously and pushes me up and out the window. He follows shortly after. We make our way back to the dorm buildings.

"Okay, what happened back there?" He asks.

"Nothing you need to be concerned about. It's too dangerous to go now. We have to lure them to us…We can't let them lure us to them. Next thing you know, we're drowning in our own blood." Once again he doesn't argue. We both go our separate ways. When I get back to my dorm, Amber and Nicky are fast asleep. I take off my shoes and my jacket. I trudge to my bed and see something. It's a letter. My hand shakes as I pick it up. On the front, in red letters, it has my name. It's written on school stationary. That's odd. I open it up and hesitantly look inside. In the same red letters it says:

Getting killed is only half the fun…

I drop the paper immediately. I look out the window to see if the person who left this is still out there. The fear builds up as I move closer to the window to get a good look. No one's out there, but I can sense that something is off. I suddenly spot the pay phone. The phone is hanging down on the cord. I tried to imagine someone standing there, tried to get a sense of the voice that spoke into it and the cold hands that touched it. I tried to get a vision about who it could possibly be.

I pull the curtains over the window and lay down on my bed. While thinking about who the potential murderer could be, I fell asleep.

Five

The pounding was getting on my nerves. I swear I needed three Advils not two. It felt like someone was knocking around in my brain trying to get some private embarrassing memory out of it. Due to that my brain set off sirens as loud as a banshee's scream. I know I need to get out of bed, but I'm holding back for some odd reason. I can hear my name being called over and over again by familiar voices. They swirl in my mind like cotton candy. I could feel the heat on my eyelids signaling that it is indeed morning time.

"Ava! Wake up! You've been dead to the world for hours now. You missed school and the teachers have showered you with homework as a get well soon present." I could tell it was Nicky immediately. She is the only one who would make fun of me being asleep for hours. She's really the only one who can make being dead funny. Or getting murdered. Oh shit! I come around in about a couple seconds and shake myself to make sure I hadn't been dreaming about Andrew and me in the basement last night. I had to make sure that the man outside my window was actually there.

I made an effort to stand up and get out of bed. My head churned with vertigo. I took in a lungful of air and it got a little better. Arising had not made my headache abate. I plummeted down toward the ground, but landed on a pile of feathers, plucked from Nicky's boas. I guess I had lost all feeling in my legs, because I could not move them one bit. I had a slight feeling that today had not started off correctly.

Nicky grunted and helped me up. "Look at you! You're covered in dirt and leaves! What were you and Andrew doing last night anyway, besides getting it on?" She smirks and I hit her on the back of her head. "We did not get it on. We went to investigate the unsolved murders of children who have been proclaimed dead without evidence of any sort." The smirk turns into a grimace as she lets the words sink in. I sigh deeply and grab my stuff to take a shower. I rush out of the room and run straight into Charlie. "Holy shit!" I shout. I guess I'm still jumpy. He chuckles and waves.

"So… I heard about you and Andrew. Amber told me everything." I groan and smack his chest. "Do you believe everything you hear? I mean, where has all of the truth gone these days? If a friend helps a friend, it does not mean they like each other! I help you all the time. Have we every fallen in love? No, right?" He nods slightly and raises one eyebrow. "What has gotten into you Ava Lennox?"

"Sorry, I just haven't had any sleep and my head is hammering. I have to go." I rush past him without saying another word. I make a beeline for the girls' bathroom. I enter and strangely no showers have been started. That weird. The showers are always on after school. People who take sport—not me—take showers after practice. I look under the stalls in case I missed someone just getting out now. Nope. No one but me. I keep walking toward my favorite shower stall with the most pressure. The second the last one on the first row. While walking en route for the booth I hear something behind me. It sounds like shoes on the tiled floor. I turn around to see nothing at all. Just more stalls and eerily enough, steam. I thought that none of the showers were on? I walk through the haze and try to find where it's coming from. I can still hear the footsteps on the ground. I spin around every two seconds to make sure no one's here, that maybe it's just water dripping from one of the many faucets.

My heart beats faster and faster as I get closer and closer. The mist builds and I start sweating along with the condensation forming on the mirrors. My heart is so close to detonating out of my chest I can feel it beating against my sternum. Every step builds the tension in my calves and I start walking slower and skulk toward the stall all the way in the back. I can feel the sweat sliding down my neck and into my shirt. I'm almost crawling now. I'm almost there; I can feel it on the tips of my fingers. As soon as I reach the handle one of the bulbs above me crack and the glass case that envelopes it comes crashing down to the floor and landing at my feet. I cover my head and scream bloody murder. I almost get that feeling in my arms that you get when someone scratches the chalkboard.

The sweat droplets have turned to tears in my eyes and I instantaneously run out of the bathroom. My footwork has been impaired by glass and I'm not able to get out. I scream again and then I see it on the mirror in my blood. I recognize it by last night. I wrote the exact thing.

You will never know… My breathing gets heavier and heavier and I decide to limp.

It's no use. The shard of glass has been plunged too deep and it's almost impossible to make any movement. The bathroom steams up completely until I am unable to see ahead of me. I cry out in pain as I start to crawl. When I finally get to the door, I look back one last time to make sure no one's there and yet another light bursts. I decide to open the door and get out immediately. I can feel the fresh air on my face as I try to crawl my way back to my dorm. The pressure on my foot is unsustainable. My pulse quickens and I give up. I lean my back against a wall and look at my tattered foot. The glass shard juts out, threatening to go in deeper if I move again.

I try to take the dangerous weapon out but am unsuccessful. I sigh in defeat and get out my cell phone. I dial the number I always call in emergencies. Amber. You can always call her for anything. She doesn't care if you're far away and lost; she'll still give you a ride home. Even if you're halfway to Nevada.

I listen to the tune her phone plays—instead of ringing—and wait for her to answer. She picks up after a few seconds. "Hey Ava!" She cheers. I'm thinking she can hear me sobbing on the other end of the line because before I can get another word out she asks, "What's wrong, sweetie?" I weep louder and explain to her everything that happened in the bathroom. She listened intently until I finished with a huge intake of breath.

The tears stream down my face quickly and I try to wipe them away. Wait. What am I doing? Crying? What happened to the girl who wouldn't shed a tear no matter what the situation? What happened to the girl who was brave enough to face anything life throws at her? No, I wouldn't let her disappear. I have to have at least that much courage to save my friends. Yes, that would mean I have to risk my life for them. I don't give a fuck.

I stop crying at once and hang up the phone. Amber would have to find me in our room as I plucked the sharp object from the middle of my foot. I leisurely make it to my destination. By then, I have probably already bled a gallon. That didn't really help with my wooziness. I had to keep my wound covered with my towel that I usually use for the shower. As I peel it off my foot I notice something odd. I turn my head and see the letter there. This time not in an envelope. I just noticed that Nicky and Charlie were not here anymore.

Crap! Not again. Even though I had gotten two letters before this one my heart still beat as if it were the first time. It pulsated so hard that I think it was trying to escape from my rib cage. My palms sweat with anxiety. In truth I really, really didn't want to open it, but I had to if I wanted to find out what clue is now being given to me.

My headache get worse as my heart pounded faster and harder. I swear, when this things leaps out of my chest, it will be sweet relief that I didn't have to die at the hand of a psychotic killer. I got dizzier as I started to pant. I think I'm about to have a panic attack. I grab the note and open it up:

Ava! Charlie and I went to the library if you need us. Amber will be home in an hour or so!

Bye my psychic friend!

I breathe and sit down on my bed. I look back at my foot andopt toat long last take the glass out. I pull it out as tenderly as I can, but the pain still springs up my legs and the blood still spills onto my towel. I try my hardest to bandage it up properly, but I fail. I wished I'd pain attention to the nurse when she patched me up last year. Her handiwork lasted well. Luckily enough, Amber and Nicky had watched and Amber is now on her way back here. The blood has stopped, but I still keep it wrapped up in the towel.

As I wait, there's a light rap on the window beside my bed. I see Jack standing there like an idiot, shivering. Had it already gotten so cold over night? That's weird; it usually doesn't get shivering cold until November. Hm. I open the window and he crawls in. He sighs as the warmer air in our room soothes his skin. "What's wrong with the front door, Jack?" I ask, curious to why he came in this way. He trembles one last time and then answers, "Well, your dorm advisor, Ms. Kunkle, doesn't like me very much and if I come in from the front, I'll never be able to see daylight again."

He pats my head slightly and sits down next to my leg. "Okay! Amber sent me here to wrap you up. Unfortunately she didn't say in my arms." I raise one eyebrow, wonderingly. He sees my expression and elucidated in a whisper, "I actually paid attention in class that day." I gasp. "Jack Borough actually paid attention? Something is definitely wrong in this world!" He nods solemnly and continues to take the towel off. "Man! You have the ugliest gash I have ever seen! What'd you do, kick a mirror because you saw your reflection?" I punch him hard in his shoulder and then smooth back my long, curly dark brown hair. The sun glinted off of it and revealed my natural dark auburn highlights. His green eyes meet my brown eyes and he whispers, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that." I dismiss his apology and he continues with his work.

"You know, I could show you the woods behind the school. From what you explained to Amber and Nicky, it sounds familiar." What I told Amber and Nicky? I try to keep my calm façade but I slip up. He chuckles. "Andrew told me. He asked if I could show them to you so that when—or if—the vision comes true, you know where you're going. I consider his offer. Maybe I should go. But what about Andrew? Doesn't he want to see what goes on?

"Uh, maybe not today. I have to go to the hospital."

"You're cut is not that bad!" He yells. I snigger and thump his shoulder. "Thank you, but I have to go see Embry. He had gotten into a car wreck and I planned on seeing him today." He finished taping me up. He frowns and asks if he can come too. He and Jack have always gotten along. They're great friends. I invite him along and he becomes the happy, positive Jack I know and love. He helps me hobble over to his car when I'm done getting ready. I dress casually in sweats since it is cold outside.

Jack is definitely changing. His parents' divorce really ruined him. He's been quieter and he seems less joking. I wish I could have said something to make him feel better. When this happened to Amber, he joked around to make her feel better, now… Instead I limp over to him and he looks down at me. I smile and kiss his cheek. "Thank you." I say amiably. He smiles and hugs me for a few moments. When our little moment is finished we get in the car and drive off.

He puts on some happy music to lighten the mood a little bit. "Listen, Ava, I'm here if you need any help. Plus, I think you're making a huge mistake by not telling Charlie about this. He deserves the truth too you know." I look at him with a piercing gaze. He glances back for a moment and then looks back at the road. "I don't want to upset him." I mumble. He guffaws and then says, "Don't you think it will upset him enough when he finds out he's dead? Ava, he needs to look out for himself too. It's a good thing Andrew told me or else I wouldn't have been able to fight off the bastards that want to kill my friends." I scowl and tell him to stay out of it.

"I'll let him know when I know whoever is out there is a danger for sure." He frowns and we pull into the hospital parking lot. When we get to the reception area, I ask for Embry Lennox's room number and she gives it to me. We walk down the long corridors, scented with antiseptic, until we reach room 206. We knock and then enter. I see my mother, her blonde curls in a mess and her green eyes red. The tears stream down her face, but I immediately see that there is no harm done that bad to Embry. He's up in bed with only a cast around his shoulder. I bet they taped up his ribs nice and tight. He smiles with full energy when Jack and I enter the room.

I smile and saunter toward him. He's grinning like an idiot until I smack him on his head. "Ow! What was that for?" He bellows. "For being ludicrous! You're nineteen years old, you should be more careful by now. Look what you've done to your mother. Look at her." He turns his head slightly and peeps at our mom. He puts his hand on her face to calm her down. She holds it against her cheek and I feel that pang of jealousy again. She has always treated him like her only child. She has always ignored me and done everything possible to make Embry happy. He got to go to normal school last year while I'm still in boarding school. I wish she had paid attention to me at least once. Worried about me when I risked my life to save Peter's life last year.

She hadn't even come to visit me when I had been comatose for over a week. I had nothing against Embry, just her. I try not to show the emotion on my face, but I think Jack sees it before I can remove it. He pats me on the shoulder and then goes over to Embry. They talk for a bit and then I join in again. "So, biker, what's up with the girlfriend. You dump her yet?" Jack asks. I chuckle as Embry answers. "Why would I dump her? I love her. It's an emotion you two will never feel before you thirty."

"Are you serious? I wanted her all to myself. Spare one for a friend." Embry cuffs him on the back of his head hard enough that Jack decides to move away from him. I sit on the edge of his bed. "I'll be back in a bit." My mom whispers. We nod and she exits the room. "She's doing it again." I mutter. He grabs me and hugs me. He whispers in my ear, "I wish I could tell her how much I hate being treated like a nine year old. You know I detest the way she treats you like a rat. If I could, you know I would." I bob my head and pull away.

I turn my head toward the door to see if mom was on her way back. Instead I spotted something I had never thought of before. I could tell he saw me too, because he runs away instantaneously. I quickly jump off the bed and follow him. I run down the long hallways and try not to lose him. Try not to forget his face. The way his blue eyes stared straight into mine. The way his hair's still messy. The same mysterious gaze that got me stuck on him. The only things that threw him off, were the cuts on his face. From what little glimpse I got, they look deep. I run faster and faster. I'm still the same distance away. I don't hesitate to follow him outside of the hospital.

I run past my red-eyed mother. She calls out to me, but I put all of my concentration on Peter. I guess he had gotten all of his clothes back, because he was dressed in his favorite leather jacket, the black denim jeans, those black Vanns, his gray t-shirt. I remember seeing him in this on the day before he disappeared. The day he asked for my help, the day he professed that he liked me. The tears sting in my eyes and he gets farther away from my reach. I sprint toward the entrance to the hospital. He seems different. He's thinner definitely and he's hugging his left arm to his chest so it doesn't flail around. Had he broken it? I hadn't paid attention to the actual questions really. Had he followed me here? Has he been following me every day? Is this just a hallucination or is he really there?

I blink my eyes a couple times, but he's still running in front of me. We run past pedestrians on the sidewalk and I try not to hurt anyone, but he's creating destruction in his path. People with briefcases lose their balance when he glides by and paper goes everywhere. I ignore them and keep running, even though they're shouting obscenities at us. I'm about losing breath when he suddenly stops. So that he doesn't hear me, I take off my shoes quickly and collapse on top of him. "Peter!" I yell, ecstatic to see him again. I turn him over and he smiles up at me.

I frown down at the strange man. It's not Peter. Disappointed, I stand up and walk away. I guess I was hallucinating. I keep walking, until a feel a light tap on my shoulder. I turn around. It's the guy I pounced just a few seconds ago. "Sorry, I may not be a Peter, but I am available. Would you like to have dinner sometime?" I shake my head and walk away again. I can sense that he's still following me. I pick up my feet and move faster. His footsteps are still audible behind me. I turn around quickly and throw him off course. He becomes surprised and stops in his tracks.

"What the hell is your problem? I said that I didn't want to go out with you right? So stay away from me." He taps his chin with his index finger. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a piece of paper. "You're Ava, right?" he asks. I slowly nod. He smiles and hands me the paper. "I was told to give this to you." Before opening up the letter, I know exactly what it is. He spins around, getting ready to leave, but I grab his arm and bend it up behind his back. He cries out in pain. "Hell! You're stronger than you look, kid." He's hurting and I'm satisfied. I ask venomously, "Who gave this to you?" He winces and I push harder. He screams. "I-I don't know. I just got the email…" He's leaving something out and I know it. I loosen my grip up, but as soon as he sighs, I tighten it up again. He falls over on his knees and begs for me to let go. I can see the headlines now:

Grown Man Gets Beaten By Psychic Teen

Wouldn't that make his girlfriend happy?

"I have no idea who it is! I swear! I got the email and you picture and some money. I was told to give it to you or I would disappear! That's it! There's nothing else!"

"Do you remember the email address?" He nods and I let go. He rubs his shoulder and turn to me. He takes out a pen and writes it down on my hand. That's weird. It was made on the school's website. The revelation scares me. I thank the man and apologize. He accepts it and walks away. I stumble my way back to my brother's hospital room. He sits up and so does my mom. She looks even more tortured than ever.

I spot Jack and pull him out of the room. He's confused, but comes along. "You're bruising me…" I'm still angry about what I was given. I haven't read it yet, but I will with Jack. I hate reading these alone. It's one thing to follow me yourself, but to blackmail some creepy guy to track me down is just plain erroneous. I drag him far enough down the hall that neither Embry nor my mom can hear. "Jack! It's getting worse."

"What is?"

"The killer thing is getting worse."

"What happened when you ran out?"

"I thought it was Peter. I think I'm hallucinating."

"What happened when you found out it wasn't him?"

"He was sent by the killer to give me this." I pull out the note and hand it to Jack.

"It was sent by email. Where's the address?" I show him my hand.

"That's our school website! I can track him down so easily. Where his computer is and who he is and where he lives. I can save us all!"

"If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have known anything. So shut up and let's get back in the room. Don't seem suspicious at all. We have to leave, now." He clamps his mouth shut and we make our way back to the room. They're both confused. Jack announces that something important has come up and we have to leave. My mom seems okay with it, but Embry's sad. I give him one last hug before Jack and I leave.

Six

"How long?" I was becoming irritated. We were in his and Charlie's room. Jack's on his laptop trying to figure out who this killer guy is. We've been here for forty-five minutes and there's still no progress on the name or whereabouts of him or his emailing device. I groan and continue pacing. "Sit down. You're giving me a headache." I stare at him and stomp louder. He rubs his temples and continues with the work. "This would be easier if I had some water…" I grab the bottle from the crate in the corner and throw it to him.

Why is it taking so long? I've seen him do this before and it takes less than five minutes. I pace faster and louder until he finally says he's done. "Okay, so who is it?" He flinches as if I've slapped him. I sit down beside him on the edge of his unmade bed and look at the screen of his laptop. It's a form to sign up for an account. I look at the first box which asks for a name and see why Jack was so panicked and frustrated. The name was Anonymous and so was the last name. The email was so phony and everything else on there was forged. I think I start to hyperventilate. Jack pats my back until I begin to show signs of calming down.

"This guy is good. I should be taking notes if I want to become a killer one day." I slap the back of his head harder then I meant to and he hits me back, but not as hard. I get up and start pacing again. I find it hard to believe that someone so smart could actually be a student here. I don't mean to insult myself, but most of us don't have the best grades. But maybe the two people combined could create more than you would have bargained for. I pull out the note I had gotten from the strange man that looked like Peter. I hadn't read it yet, but I think I should. I open it up slowly and Jack hovers over me to read it also.

Hope you enjoyed the little surprise. You won't find any clues by searching me up. Clues are just figments of your imaginations, when the truth is, you know nothing at all. You have no leads and you're DOOMED! Enjoy, sweetheart!

My breathing quickens and I feel the panic attack coming on again. Jack snatches it from my hand and rips it to shreds. He opens a drawer and pulls out a lighter. He lights it up and burns the paper until all that's left are ashes. After that's been done, he doesn't put the lighter away. He goes back to the same drawer and brings out a pack of cigarettes. He slides one in his mouth and lights the end. He takes a long drag and we're soon engulfed in a cloud of nicotine. He sighs in relief. I grab the cigarette from his hand and put it out. "You're smoking again." It wasn't a question, but an accusation. He still answered, though. "Yes. I am. This stress. How do you deal with it, Ava? I can't. I want to help, I really do, but how can I when I know that my friends are going to die? If I can't cheer myself up, how do you expect me to make this load on your shoulders better and more bearable?

I feel bad immediately. I knew I would be taking my friends down with me, but I had no idea that it would hit them this hard. Jack had started to smoke again; he was killing himself over this. I try to stay brave for them, but only I know hoe scared I am. They have no idea how worried and confused I really am. This show that I put on is to make them feel better. Jack's arms are open wide and they're inviting me in. I run into them and he embraces me like a true friend. He strokes my hair softly. I hadn't realized I had begun to cry until I felt that the front of his shirt was wet. I hear the door creak open behind me and footsteps on the carpet. I know it's Charlie, because it suddenly starts to smell like Hollister.

He stops and I think he just stares for a moment. Then I hear his voice booming in the quiet of the room. "Why are you two crying? And why does it smell like you just lit a cigarette?" Jack and I pull apart and wipe our tears away. I turn around and look at Charlie. Again that pang of guilt runs through my veins. I feel like curling up into a ball and just blocking everything out. He's smiling at us as if he knows what's going on. Jack and I know that his accusation is going to be wrong.

"And I though you and Andrew…And Jack, you and Nikki…I have been looking at this entire thing the wrong way." He looks at us back and forth and I just stand there with this idiotic look on my face. Jack and I shake our heads. He's wrong. Again. "Why don't you mind your own business and not worry about who Ava is doing?" Charlie's eyes widen when Jack speaks to him in an irritated way. "Dude, you okay?" Charlie narrows his eyes at Jack and he shakes his head, no. Jack rushes out of the room and leaves me and Charlie alone. "Okay, everyone has been acting really weird since yesterday. What's going on?"

The pressure kicks in after he asks the question. I think I actually start sweating on my forehead. "I'll tell you later. I have to get back to the dorms before curfew. Curfew wasn't until 11:00 and right now it is only 8:00. Still, he didn't argue and I scuttle past him. I never lie to my friends, but I had to if I wanted to save him. I continue down the hall until I spot Andrew. I stumble over to him and tap his shoulder. He turns around swiftly and looks down at me. "I need to talk to you." He obliges and follows me to a deserted hallway. This is the hallway in which they keep the study rooms, so it's always empty. "So any news from the kidnapper? Jack told me about the note and the stranger pounces. Why are you going after strange people? Who knows, maybe one of them is the eradicator."

I step back from him and he raises one of his eyebrows. "Andrew, I…Why am I here again?" I ask. Something's coming over me. I feel as if I've been dragged here, when really, I was heading in a different direction. "How would I know? You came to me." I keep stepping back until I feel the corner that turns back to the main hallway. "I—I have to go…" I turn away quickly and speed-walk back to my dorm. On the way, I get a couple of "heys" and "what's ups." What happened back there? Why had I gotten the sudden urge to get away from the boys' dorms? I start running now and I finally reach my room. I open the door and see Nikki and another guy making out on my bed. My bed! "Nikki? What are you doing? Wait. Who are you doing?" She grimaces and stands up. So does the guy, which I now realize is Chuck Waters from my English class. He fixes his dirty blond hair and his blue polo. His brown eyes look crazed and dazed at the same time. His lips look fuller than usual. Wow… Nikki sure has some sucking power.

"Ava! What are you doing back so early? I thought you went to go visit your brother in the hospital?" She stretches every word as if she is trying to get rid of an accent, which she doesn't have. "I came back early when I pounced a stranger whom I thought was Peter and then got a note from him that's actually from the killer and it reminded me that I have no clue whatsoever to who the hell he is. Just the normal everyday thing. Nothing unusual about it at all." She gapes at me. Chuck rises from his seat and stealthily walks out of the room. Nikki, oblivious as she is, doesn't notice a thing.

"You have got to be kidding me? Again?" I nod solemnly. She groans and goes back on her bed just realizing that Chuck is gone. She lays back and grabs her stomach. "What? Preggers already?" Her eyes narrow at me and I step back from her. "No, Ava, I've got really bad cramps. Hand me the bottle of Midol from the window seat." I walk over to the purple window seat decorated with red pillows. I see the bottle and grab some water for her from the refrigerator along with a bar of chocolate. She takes the pills and eats the entire bar of chocolate in what seems to be one bite. She sighs in relief and thanks me. "No problem, darling."

"We have to get you out of here. Tomorrow, after school, we'll all go to the mall and buy some stuff. It's all 50% off tomorrow. Even if you don't want to go, we'll drag you." I nod my head and she squeals in joy that I have agreed to go shopping. There's a knock on the door and I answer it. Charlie stands there, with a towel around his waist and his hair and body wet. I laugh when I see the non-joking look on his face. "Okay…what happened…to you?" I couldn't stop laughing and Nikki joined me.

"Ha ha ha. Laugh all you want, but this is a serious matter. David and Chandler took my clothes and I need to grab the ones I leave under Amber's bed just in case." He walks across the room and goes straight to Amber's bed. I catch about a dozen pairs of eyes peeking in our room. I close the door behind me and Charlie comes up with a pair of jeans and a yellow and white, striped, long-sleeved shirt. Nikki and I turn around as he changes. He's also got a pair of white briefs hidden under there. He really does plan everything well. We turn back around when he's done.

His glasses are covered in water droplets and the fabric of his shirt isn't cleaning it well. I grab the lens cleaner that I use for my glasses and hand it to him. I only wear glasses at night when I tire of my contacts. He wipes the lenses clean and hands it back to me. "Why didn't you just go to your dorm, idiot?" Nikki questions. He picks up the towel from the ground and mops his face spotless. He groans and says, "They locked it from the inside and I didn't have the key. It was in the pocket of my jeans." I shake my head and grab a book from my bedside table and my iPod. I say goodbye to them as Amber enters the room. She waves to me and I leave to go read a little. Haven't done this in a while. I walk over to the lounge and sit. A couple girls who recognize me say hi and I wave back.

I think back through everything that happened today. I think back to my mother when I entered the hospital room after I chased that guy down. The way her eyes said that she knew something. Something valuable to me. Something that I really need to know. Maybe Nikki's right. I do need a break. A break from all of this crime. I need to get away from it all, now.

I wish I could trust my mother, but I don't know if I can. She wouldn't understand. Maybe my father would, but too bad he's dead. I wish he were here now. He would know exactly what to do. Why when I need him the most is he gone? I close my eyes and try really hard to remember. Remember how it felt to be near him, how it felt to know a father's love. It's coming on again now. Another vision. The way my stomach churns and the blow in my abdominal tells me that it is indeed a vision. But the weird thing is, it's not about the future. It's of the past. Of my dad. I can see him now. I can remember.

We're outside, in my backyard. I'm about five years old and Embry's eight. I'm running around and my father's behind me. Chasing me. His brown hair is much like mine and so are his brown eyes. He's tall and his jaw is a little square. When he squints you can see the crinkles form in his skin beside his eyes. His smile is so bright and warm, like a hot summer day. I'm smiling and squealing. I'm wearing my pink dress with a bunch of beads and my hair is in two braids tied up with ribbons. I look the happiest I've ever been. My mother's is hiding in the shade, staring out at us with a sad expression. But weirdly enough it's the same expression I wear when I get a vision. Her face is knowing and mad. Furious even. She stares out at my father with tears forming in her eyes. She looks from him to me. Her tears grow more prominent when she lays her eyes on me. Embry is trying to calm her down. My father turns around and sees her and stops playing with me and runs to help her. Embry steps away and my dad takes her in the kitchen. Embry and I look through the window. She's yelling something at him, but I can't make it out. He starts tearing up with her after she explains everything.

He looks out the window at me. Why do they cry more at the sight of me? Is something going to happen to me? Am I about to die? But that couldn't have been it. I'm still here; healthy and alive. Too bad the vision stops right there. My father's grieving face fades out and I'm back in the lounge. The people around me are cheering and laughing and chatting about random things. I want to start crying, too. But I know that would look weird if I just start crying out of nowhere. I try to hold it in and rush back to my room.

Charlie, Amber, and Nikki are still there. Talking. Laughing. Being happy. I feel so jealous of their normal lives. The way they don't get glimpses into the future. The way they don't know anything dangerous. The way they live life without caring about what will happen next. But now that I have become their friend, their normal lives have changed. Their lives have become endangered. By me. Everything keeps coming back to me. Everything seems to be my fault.

I swallow back my sobs and start chatting with them about things that don't matter. About the way Stacey Dunham set her hair today. About how Jason Summers, Peter's brother, got an F on his History term paper. About when the art teacher's dog peed on Dr. Craft, the chemistry professor. Stuff like this made me happy. Being with my friends made me happy. We spent the night like this, talking and laughing and joking around.

When I fell asleep, I had a dreamless night. No visions, so nightmares, no dreams. I was content with everything at this point. I couldn't wait until tomorrow when we would hang out, all of us, without any news of the killer or any deaths. I hope…

Seven

The next two weeks went by too fast. No news from the murder department, but there was definitely news from the gossip department. Nikki had made it official with Chuck even though I had freaked him out the other day. Jack seemed extremely jealous. Amber and Charlie had been fighting quite a bit and Andrew and I had become closer as friends. I snuck out sometimes to go meet him and we would talk until the sun came up and it was time for class. It felt normal being with him. He didn't pressure me into going on with the murder thing. If there was no news and no one else had been kidnapped, then we could put it to rest for a while. I remember the one really deep conversation we had after the party at the boys' lounge.

"How can you eat like that?" I ask him in astonishment. He chuckles and shakes his head. "I'm a guy remember? I have an x and a y chromosome, so I can eat how much I want and not gain a single fucking pound." I narrow my eyes at him and we situate ourselves under a tree.

His phone starts ringing and he answers it. "It's my dad, I'll be right back." He stands up and walks a few feet away from me. He looks kind of pissed. His arms move with everything he says. I guess he's a visual learner. He finally hangs up and sits back down next to me. "Sorry, you know how dads are. They always want you to do everything the right way."

"I think they do, I wouldn't really know, though." I pluck the grass from the ground and ignore my vibrating phone in my pocket. "Why? He doesn't call much?" I look up at him. He's known me for two years yet he doesn't know I only have a parent. "No he never calls. It's hard to get reception from the afterworld you know." It finally seems to click in his mind and then he shuts up. "What? I'm over it. He died when I was twelve and I can't grieve forever you know." He nods. He knows how it feels to lose someone you love. His brother must have been a good guy.

"Yeah, grieving is for old and alone people. But sometimes at night when I'm sure my roommates are asleep, I let out a few tears for him. Every now and then." I look over at his sorrowful face. I reach over and touch his hand slightly. "It's okay to do that you know. It helps a whole bunch to cry. I sometimes find it helpful to write or listen to sad songs. I know they're goofy ways, but they really help." He chuckles and takes his hand away and sets it back in his lap. "You, Ava, are one big loser. Come on bitch, live a little." I raise one eyebrow. "Who are you calling a bitch, asshole?" I smack his arm and he laughs. "So, how are the drawings going?" He asks. I nod and say, "They're going well, but I'm not very inspired anymore. I'm tired of drawing nightmarish images. I want to draw something pretty." He raises his head high and pretends to be contemplating something. The moonlight catches on his face and his eyes seem to glow. The light highlights his features well and you can see the now pink scar above his eyebrow from getting attacked by a rabid squirrel.

"Well, if you want to draw something pretty, draw me!" I punch his arm once again. "Cocky much?" He bobs his head in confidence and we break out in guffaws. This right here makes me happy once again. I lay down on my back and look up at the star-filled night sky. The moon is bright and full. A few clouds cover the edges of it though and it reminds me of werewolves for some reason. I find the Big Dipper, like always, and point it out to Andrew. He traces it with his fingers. No, He takes my hand with one finger still pointing and traces it with my hand. That one moment of heat led him to do what he did next.

His head was already so close to mine and all he had to do was inch just a couple centimeters closer. Our foreheads touched. I could feel his hot breath on my lips. His eyes seemed to swirl with emotion. Dread, passion, embarrassment, nervousness, and fear. There's that fear again. What is he so afraid of? Is he afraid of kissing me? Or is he afraid of my reaction? All I could think about at that moment was about his lips touching mine. I found myself rolling onto my side and resting out intertwined hands on the ground visible between us.

He finally closed the distance. His eyes shut and his lips molded to mine. My veins burned and I kissed him back. I couldn't believe what I was doing. All kinds of sirens were going off in my head. Telling me to stay away. Telling me to stop this right now. But I didn't want to. I don't see the harm in kissing Andrew. I don't see the harm in being with him. Yes, I do love Peter, but what if he really isn't alive? What if I had been wrong about my visions and I was looking at them the wrong way? I can't sit here and wait for him forever. I need to move on and Andrew seems to be the best decision. I put one hand behind his neck and the other on his shoulder. He sets one hand in my hair and the other hand on the small of my back. He draws me in, closer.

I let myself go. I just became jelly in his arms. This rush of feeling left me senseless and I couldn't tell what was going on in my head anymore. All I knew was that Andrew was kissing me. Andrew liked me. But then I heard it.

The rustling of leaves and feet on the soft ground, walking toward us. At first I thought it must have been the wind but then I heard an ahem directed toward Andrew and me. We hesitantly pull away from each other and look in the direction of the sound. Charlie, Jack, and Amber are hovering over us. Just watching. I blush deep red and hide my face in my jacket. Andrew lets go of me and sits up. He pulls me up with him. My nose is dripping in the cold and I sniff a lot when they start to talk. "Well, this is a shocker. I thought you didn't like PDA?" Charlie asks Andrew. It's a good thing our faces are already so red from the cold and no one can tell if we're blushing or not. I hold onto his arm and shiver, almost convulsing. My teeth chatter as if I'm trying to spell something out in Morse Code. Andrew reaches over and slams my mouth shut.

"Can't she have some privacy once in a while? God, leave us alone!" They take a step back. They've never actually heard Andrew say anything like that before. I try to smile but his hand is still holding my mouth shut. "Well, congrats! I am so glad that you two are finally together! This will be so great! We can all go on dates together…Except for Jack. Sorry…" Amber's face tightens after she realizes what she said. His face turns into a furious grimace and he thinks of Nikki. Wow, he really likes her. I feel so sorry and sometimes I do think that Nikki would be better with Jack. Now she barely hangs out with us since she's got Chuck. Amber shuts her mouth and Andrew and I get up from the ground.

Charlie looks at Andrew weirdly, as if pondering on whether or not he's good. I don't get it. He's known Andrew for 2 years and he thinks he's not a good person.