Chapter1…Jenny

She looked at him, the way the tears rolled over his cheeks, the way his clothes were stained red with blood, and finally they look in his dark eyes as she leaned in to give him one last kiss.

"I love you" is all she said before she brought the knife down and killed him.

Jenny work up in a panic, it was not the first time she had seen this dream. The dark room with no light at all; she knew that the girl looked exactly like her and was her in every way, but she would never do something like that. She opened her dark curtain, desperate to let in the morning sun, trying to escape the dream, as soon as the sun hit her she instantly she felt better. Today was the first day of school and Jenny was dreading it. She didn't really have that many friends except for Keenan but sometimes even he couldn't make her feel any better. Ever since she turned fifteen and her parents had decided to move to Tolm, a dead little town surrounded by forest and highways, she had been feeling like someone was watching her everywhere she went. Except when she was around Keenan, that the reason she became such good friends with him. Keenan was the type of boy all guys hated and all girls wanted to be with but Jenny had never seen him around anyone except her. She knew all this because she heard all the girls talking at school and saw the way the guys looked at him when he walked past, he was perfect and she sometimes felt like they had been friends forever, even when she didn't know him. Jenny slowly dressed in her plain blue top and short pleated skirt that she had altered herself, it wasn't a great uniform but it wasn't the worst either, her old school colours were brown and grey. She slowly walked up the narrow hall, trying to drag it out so her mother wouldn't make her go to school but even though she took over half an hour to put her wildly curly hair into a messy looking bun and ten minutes to brush her teeth, she still wasn't late and her mother was waiting in the car when she came out side.

"Good to see your on time Jenifer." Her mother said,

"Anything for you mother." Jenny replied coolly.

That was about all they spoke to each other as Jenny's mother drove Jenny to school and herself to the council office, she had worked with the council for ten years that Jenny could remember and when they moved to Tolm, she had started working for them almost straight away.

"It's a boring job," her mother had said when she first started work, "but someone has to do it."

Her mother was a short, chubby, old looking lady but Jenny had seen pictures of when she was younger and she was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. Her father was a different story; he hadn't worked a day in his life and relied to his family for an income. Jenny hated him and couldn't understand what her mother had seen in him, they were nothing alike and only spoke if it was absolutely necessary. They were an awful couple and she didn't look anything like either of them, her dad's blonde hair, turned grey, and dark blue eyes, her mum's long silky blonde hair and grey eyes; Jenny was completely different, she had wild, curly dark brown hair and green eyes, her tanned, freckly skin compared to their pale complexion, her wild, bubbly personality compared to their dull boring outlook on life, Jenny was completely different from her parents. When she got out of her mother's car she instantly felt her skin prickle and the hair on the back of her neck stand up, someone was watching her, but it had never felt like this before. Jenny looked calm and hurried towards the front gate of the school but she was in a complete panic on the inside, she turned the corner around the sports building and almost ran straight onto someone.

"Sorry!" he yelped and bent down to help Jenny collect her books,

"It's my fault; I wasn't watching where I was going." Jenny replied

"You looked like you were in a hurry," said the boy, "is everything ok?"

Jenny looked up for the first time and stared at him; he was about her age and had light sandy hair and a nice looking face, he had an intelligent look his dark eyes, Jenny was instantly attracted to him but didn't hold his steady gaze for more than a few seconds.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." She said and started to walk away,

"Umm, where are you going? I can walk with you, if you want." Jenny turned to face the boy,

"It's fine. Really, thank you." Jenny said as she started to walk away again but the boy joined her anyway.

"I'm Finn, what's your name?"

"Jenny."

"Well it's nice to meet you Jenny, I just moved here from the city, do u think you could show me around?" he asked with a smirk

"Umm, ok whatever." Jenny sighed and Finn laughed

"So Jenny, how long have you lived her?"

"A year and a half." Jenny replied

"That's cool. Hey, where are we going?"

"To find my friend."

Finn looked momentarily terrified but he quickly pulled it together and said "It's ok I'm just going home anyway, I'll see you around Jenny."

This left her confused but she said goodbye and continued on her way. When she spotted Keenan she was dazed a little by his striking looks and instantly felt self-conscious about how she looked. Jenny knew she was pretty but she wasn't the prettiest girl in school, that title belonged to Kayla Stope.

"Hey Jen," Keenan said lazily, "how's it going?"

He had changed since she saw him last year, his hair was longer, his skin darker, and if possible, his looks better; she knew he spent the holidays with his mother at the beach. His parents had split up after his older sister Pam had died from cancer a few years ago, he didn't talk about her much but when he did he ended up either sad and depressed or angry at his parents so Jenny avoided the subject as much as possible.

"It's ok, how were your holidays?"

"Crap, mum was never home and dad kept calling to see if, and when I was coming back."

"Would you ever leave?"

"Na, I wouldn't leave you here alone." He said with a small smile, "You're a bit later than usual?"

"Yeah I met this guy," Keenan's jaw clenched a little like it was physically painful for her to say that she met a guy, "but he was a little strange and went home."

"Oh, okay then." Jenny didn't know what to think about that; did he want to be with her? Is that why he looked at her strangely when she said she met someone?

"Finn is a no one, I only just met him." She thought to herself.

"I had another dream last night." she told him tentatively,

Jenny and Keenan told each other everything, but whenever she spoke of her dreams, she felt like he was keeping something from her, although she didn't tell him about some things like her feeling of being watched. They sat in silence for about a minute, but for Jenny it felt like a life time.

"We should run away together." He said suddenly, Jenny was shocked, she didn't know what to say.

"We would get away from this town, you could escape your dreams, I could escape my dad; everything would work out perfectly." He continued; jenny stared at him in silence.

"I don't know we don't have and money or any idea of where we would go." She said in a small voice, she didn't want Keenan to know how much she wanted to run away with him, how that's all she had wanted since they had become friends. Jenny only felt like she belonged when she was around him, but she had never told him this.

"I've had it all planned for years, how I was going to run away, I just thought you might like to go with me, I mean, I know how much you hate it here." that was true Jenny couldn't stand the small town with nowhere to go and no one to see.

"If you think your plan will work, I don't see any reason not to try."

"Really? You'll go with me?" he said with a smile on his face,

"Yes, Keenan I will run away with you." She answered reflecting his smile.

The rest of the day went by in a blur; all Jenny could think about was running away with Keenan. After school she collected her books and started her long walk home. Her mother worked late and could only drop her off at school in the mornings, and her father, he was probably lying on the couch watching football. So Jenny walked home alone. The feeling of being watched didn't usually happen in the afternoons, only during the day, any day, all day unless Keenan was there. He used to walk her home after school but his dad got worried about him and started picking him up in the afternoons but they live on the other side of town so Jenny didn't usually bother them. She knew he was there even before he called out for her, Keenan.

"Hey Jenny, wait up!"

"You don't normally walk with me anymore."

"Well I told dad I had to get some stuff at the store."

The Tolm store should barely be called a store at all, there was your basic food and drinks but they didn't even sell and sweets; if you wanted them you had to go half way around the town to Mr J's shop but even then your choice was limited.

"So, what are you really doing then?" she asked

"Just thought I would be a gentleman and walk you home." He said in a teasing voice

"Alright then." She said happily

They walked along the path for a while then Jenny suddenly stopped,

"Can you feel that?" she asked Keenan,

"No, what's wrong?"

"It just feels like someone is watching us, but it doesn't normally happen when you're here."

"Why haven't you ever told me?"

"It's ok now don't worry about it." She avoided his question. They walked along in silence after that but he never took his eyes off her. When they reached Jenny's house, her mother's car wasn't there, as she suspected. Keenan knew that she worked late but he asked anyway if there was anyone home.

"Dad's normally here in the afternoons." She told him

"I think I should come in just to check anyway."

"Okay." Jenny didn't object to this but she was suspicious, he didn't normally stay any longer than he had to, her dad and Keenan had issues. They both thought that she deserved better, no matter how many time she told her father there was nothing going on between them, he just kept criticizing Keenan. She opened the door with the spare key under the mat and walked in,

"Dad!" she called out, he was normally at the table or on the couch when Jenny got home. "He mustn't be home." She said a little alarmed, he had been there every day since she started school in Tolm.

"Wait here," said Keenan, he went upstairs and checked all the rooms then came back down in a run.

"We have to go!" he said in a hoarse whisper,

"What's wrong? Where's dad?" she asked quiet, scared voice

"It doesn't matter; we just have to go, now!"

Jenny followed him as he pulled her out the door hurriedly. They ran for 3 blocks, Jenny trusted Keenan with her life but she wanted to know what he had seen in her house that made him want to leave so quickly.

"Keenan!" she yelled, "What's going on?"

"I'll explain everything at my place, but right now we have to run, okay?"

"No, tell me what wrong; where is my father?"

"Something has happened and we have to go now before the catch you. My house is the only safe place we can go right now."

"Who's going to catch me?"

"Let's go!" he yelled and grabbed her hand just as a blue van pulled around the corner. Jenny was terrified now but it was a struggle to keep running with Keenan. She lost sight of him for a second; the van was getting closer with every second. She could feel her heart beating so fast that it felt like it was going to jump right out of her chest. She felt someone's hands go around her waist as she turned the next corner, Jenny screamed.

"Jenny! It's just me, its ok." Keenan assured her with a soothing voice.

After the van drove by they waited for half an hour silence until Keenan was sure it wasn't coming back, then they crept out. It was almost dark now, Jenny had never been out on the streets after dark in this town, the thought of it and the van scared her half to death now. When they reached Keenan's house, he went straight in through the back door without hesitation.

"Dad they came for Jenny!" he yelled to get his half deaf father's attention, instantly his father's head whipped around so fast Jenny wondered how it didn't hurt him.

"What did you say?" he asked

"We went to Jenny's house, her father was missing and they were waiting upstairs for her, we ran straight here but a van followed us…"

"Did it see you come in?" his father interrupted.

"No, we lost it a few blocks away."

"Okay, we need to get her out..."

"But how? She doesn't even know about her parents."

"Guys…" Jenny said quietly,

"Why didn't you tell her before now?"

"I didn't know when they would come!" Keenan argued with his father,

"Guys!" Jenny said louder this time, they both turned to look at her, "Tell me what's going on here! Why are these people after me? And what happened to my parents?"

"Jenny, there not your real parents," said Keenan's dad, "you were given to them when your real mother died and your father killed himself." This shocked Jenny more than the van and her house. "What do you mean?" she asked,

"They're not you real parents Jenny." Said Keenan, a shot rang out and he dived for Jenny. They fell to the floor and he lay on top of her, shielding her from the window where the shot came from. There was screeching from a tyre, a loud revving and several minutes of silence before Keenan lifted off Jenny.

"Stay down, they might come back." He whispered

Jenny heard a moan and remembered Keenan's dad, he had been standing in front of the window when the shot rang out.

"Keenan," she whispered, "Keenan, I think they got your dad."

"I know, there's nothing we can do for him." Jenny was shocked by how Keenan didn't seem to care about his father.

"We have to help him Keenan, he got shot." She stood up and walked to Keenan's dad,

"There's too much blood. Keenan help me!" she yelled in frustration,

"Listen Jenny we have to leave now. My father knew this day would come and he would want you to be safe, we have to go now!" he started pulling her away towards the back door and all Jenny could do was try not to cry. They reached Keenan's old car in the shed, he helped her into the passenger seat and jumped over the bonnet, like he had no time for walking. He started the car and they drove away. Jenny didn't know where they were going but right then she didn't really care, as long as she was with Keenan, everything would be okay.