p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"They are dead. Nothing will change that. Not some stupid tribute to them. Not even a deal with the devil. I want them back. /p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Amber-Lee, I know what you are going through must be difficult. If you ever need anything, just let me know," my English/creative writing teacher, Mr. Eric Michelson came up behind me. I was kneeling in front of the tribute to my boyfriend, Ethan DeSimone, and my best friends, Cleo Martin and Camryn Jacobs. It is hard to believe that just last week we were talking about our senior prom and graduation. Now they are dead. One after another. One a day. Gone. Mr. Michelson is the only person I have left. My family is dead. My mother died when I was six months. My sister died when she was sixteen and I was eleven. My father died a year ago on my sixteenth birthday. Now, Ethan died the day before my birthday, Cleo, the day of, and Cam, the day after. I think that danger and death follow me everywhere. Maybe because it kind of does./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Thanks," I sniffled, not bothering to wipe the tears that fell from my light brown eyes. "People are so frustrating and agitating! Over half of the notes and prayers left at this tribute to my dead friends, the people who left them did not even know Ethan, Cleo, or Camryn!...Why...Why me? Why does everything bad happen to me?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Amber...I...I don't know...I'm sorry," Eric pulls me into his arms. Mr. Michelson is like a father to me, now he is my legal guardian since the accident. Eric stroked my long, wavy, dark brown hair to calm me down. "What happened is not your fault."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""You don't know that. There are things...things that...that...wow, I'm going to sound like such a loon, it's not even funny!"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I won't judge," his light blue eyes looked deep into mine./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Well, do you believe in demons and ghosts?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I honestly don't know,"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""The yellow-eyed demon, the one I write about, he follows me everywhere. He killed my mom, my sister, and my three friends,"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Why does he follow you?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I don't know..." the tears ran faster down my tannish face faster than before, "I know I sound crazy, but I swear, I'm not!"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Okay, okay. Look, I think you should take the day off from your classes. I'll tell the office, just go back to your dorm, okay?" He stood me up off of the ground./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Okay," I wiped my eyes and headed back to my room. When I got in, I quickly locked the door behind me, closed all of the blinds in my room, and turned the overhead light/fan on. I threw open the doors to my walk-in closet, searched for the secret compartment that's on the floor, and opened the latch when I found it. I gazed at all of the guns and weapons. I pulled one of the shelves out and took the book that was hidden behind it. I flipped through the pages until I found a section labeled emyellow-eyed demon/em. I reached over to my night stand and grabbed the pencil I got from RIFAC (Rhode Island Fencing Academy and Club), the place where I got taught how to fence. I jotted down the time, date, and names of my friends' deaths. For the first time this week, I went over to Camryn's side of the dorm. I felt the blood stained sheets that were still on her bed from the night she died. I pulled out the mirror I hid underneath her bed and glanced at the message written in blood: emMercy Brown/em. emSo I'm either dealing with the alleged vampire or the alleged vampire's spirit. Great!/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Okay, Mercy, why are you back? Why Warwick? Why not, West Warwick?" I asked the mirror. A knock at the door startled me. "One second!"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I rushed to close my closet, tossed the book on my bed, and opened the door. A pair of twenty-something year old boys stood there. The taller, older, cuter one had nice green eyes, short, dirty blonde hair, and some stubble along his lower cheek, chin, and lip. The shorter, younger one stood beside him with longish brown hair and gray-brown eyes. "May I help you?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Yeah, I'm detective Joseph Halter and this is my partner detective Justin Halter. We were wondering if we could ask you some questions and look around to investigate." The older one said, scratching the back of his neck./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Sure. Come in," I smiled at him. I would get the truth out eventually, "would you like to investigate first? I'll go out and get some coffees for you,"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Uh, okay. Thanks," 'Justin' said. I got their coffee orders and think about Mercy Brown while I order. I walked back to my room after five minutes. I walked in on the guys looking at the mirror./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Mercy Brown? We're dealing with a vampire?" 'Joseph' asked./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Actually, it's a ghost. Either a vengeful or violent spirit of the alleged vamp."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The younger one pointed his gun at me, "Who are you?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Oh, just a hunter, like you!" I smirked, "Nice to finally meet you. Wow, Sam and Dean Winchester in the flesh!"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Who are you?" Dean, the older of the two, /br /p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""My name is Amber-Lee Hunter Williams," I hold out my hand to them./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Amber-Lee, I know what you are going through must be difficult. If you ever need anything, just let me know," my English/creative writing teacher, Mr. Eric Michelson came up behind me. I was kneeling in front of the tribute to my boyfriend, Ethan DeSimone, and my best friends, Cleo Martin and Camryn Jacobs. It is hard to believe that just last week we were talking about our senior prom and graduation. Now they are dead. One after another. One a day. Gone. Mr. Michelson is the only person I have left. My family is dead. My mother died when I was six months. My sister died when she was sixteen and I was eleven. My father died a year ago on my sixteenth birthday. Now, Ethan died the day before my birthday, Cleo, the day of, and Cam, the day after. I think that danger and death follow me everywhere. Maybe because it kind of does./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Thanks," I sniffled, not bothering to wipe the tears that fell from my light brown eyes. "People are so frustrating and agitating! Over half of the notes and prayers left at this tribute to my dead friends, the people who left them did not even know Ethan, Cleo, or Camryn!...Why...Why me? Why does everything bad happen to me?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Amber...I...I don't know...I'm sorry," Eric pulls me into his arms. Mr. Michelson is like a father to me, now he is my legal guardian since the accident. Eric stroked my long, wavy, dark brown hair to calm me down. "What happened is not your fault."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""You don't know that. There are things...things that...that...wow, I'm going to sound like such a loon, it's not even funny!"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I won't judge," his light blue eyes looked deep into mine./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Well, do you believe in demons and ghosts?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I honestly don't know,"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""The yellow-eyed demon, the one I write about, he follows me everywhere. He killed my mom, my sister, and my three friends,"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Why does he follow you?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I don't know..." the tears ran faster down my tannish face faster than before, "I know I sound crazy, but I swear, I'm not!"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Okay, okay. Look, I think you should take the day off from your classes. I'll tell the office, just go back to your dorm, okay?" He stood me up off of the ground./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Okay," I wiped my eyes and headed back to my room. When I got in, I quickly locked the door behind me, closed all of the blinds in my room, and turned the overhead light/fan on. I threw open the doors to my walk-in closet, searched for the secret compartment that's on the floor, and opened the latch when I found it. I gazed at all of the guns and weapons. I pulled one of the shelves out and took the book that was hidden behind it. I flipped through the pages until I found a section labeled emyellow-eyed demon/em. I reached over to my night stand and grabbed the pencil I got from RIFAC (Rhode Island Fencing Academy and Club), the place where I got taught how to fence. I jotted down the time, date, and names of my friends' deaths. For the first time this week, I went over to Camryn's side of the dorm. I felt the blood stained sheets that were still on her bed from the night she died. I pulled out the mirror I hid underneath her bed and glanced at the message written in blood: emMercy Brown/em. emSo I'm either dealing with the alleged vampire or the alleged vampire's spirit. Great!/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Okay, Mercy, why are you back? Why Warwick? Why not, West Warwick?" I asked the mirror. A knock at the door startled me. "One second!"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"I rushed to close my closet, tossed the book on my bed, and opened the door. A pair of twenty-something year old boys stood there. The taller, older, cuter one had nice green eyes, short, dirty blonde hair, and some stubble along his lower cheek, chin, and lip. The shorter, younger one stood beside him with longish brown hair and gray-brown eyes. "May I help you?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Yeah, I'm detective Joseph Halter and this is my partner detective Justin Halter. We were wondering if we could ask you some questions and look around to investigate." The older one said, scratching the back of his neck./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Sure. Come in," I smiled at him. I would get the truth out eventually, "would you like to investigate first? I'll go out and get some coffees for you,"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Uh, okay. Thanks," 'Justin' said. I got their coffee orders and think about Mercy Brown while I order. I walked back to my room after five minutes. I walked in on the guys looking at the mirror./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Mercy Brown? We're dealing with a vampire?" 'Joseph' asked./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Actually, it's a ghost. Either a vengeful or violent spirit of the alleged vamp."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The younger one pointed his gun at me, "Who are you?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Oh, just a hunter, like you!" I smirked, "Nice to finally meet you. Wow, Sam and Dean Winchester in the flesh!"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Who are you?" Dean, the older of the two, /br /p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""My name is Amber-Lee Hunter Williams," I hold out my hand to them./p