"I just really wish that they would stop pushing me," Jayme says as she looks up at the spring sky. It's spring break and for the first time the two teen girls have been able to enjoy the warm sunny rays in months. Jayme and her best friend Fiona were originally working on an English project that is due after the break, but when the sun broke from behind the clouds, the girls decided to try and absorb a little sun at their local park.

"Then tell them to leave you the fuck alone," says Fiona unabashed. Fiona has always had a problem with authority figures. After her father left them, her mother had done her best raise her daughters. However, she succumbed to the pressure of being a single mother and sent the twins to live with their grandmother. Fiona has always disregarded parents or anyone with any possible power over her; it's why she took shit from no one.

"I just don't have it in me to tell them off, but I promise I won't let them bully me into anything I don't want to do. We really need to get back to that assignment. Where did we leave off? Robert Frost, right?" Jayme says.

"Fuck this English assignment. I hate English," says Fiona. "I don't know why you can stand reading so much. You have to sit still and it's not all that interesting. I'd rather wait until they make a movie of it."

"The books are usually better. You know that right," replies Jayme.

"I bet I could name at least two where that isn't true" says Fiona. She thought she could stop Jayme from asking about the project if she distracted her with a competition.

Jayme busts into a smile. "Of course, but that doesn't stop us from working on the project. We need to get back to that soon."

"I don't want to, not while there is still sunshine to be had," whines Fiona. She spreads herself out on the park grass a little more as if to get more comfortable. Her hair falls around her like a glowing red halo. She closes her eyes and groans: "Wherever Mrs. Drover is fuck her and her poetry assignment."

"She's just trying to do her job like everyone else, Fee," Jayme explains. "I get where your coming from, I'd like to relax too, but when we get jobs people are still going to boss us around like this you know?"

"Never. I'm going to be a one woman company! And do things my own way," she smiles thinking of her future, "And if I hire anyone they are going to be friends who know what I need and want. That way it doesn't really feel like work."

"You mean the way I'm forcing you to work?" Jayme laughs.

"Without you I would have never made it through middle school," sighs Fiona. "And you don't force me to do anything. You tell me what we need to do and then proceed to bribe me with food. It's a relationship."

"You know Moira would hate to graduate without you," Jayme answers. Moira is Fiona's twin sister. They are fraternal twins, but even if they had been identical it would have been easy to tell them apart. Moira is much more mousey than her twin, but also more approachable.

"I know, I know. Thank you, Guilt Master," says Fiona as she suddenly springs up. "How about we stay outside until the sun disappears and then go in to do work, if I go and get us hot chocolate?"

Jayme can't resist hot chocolate, but she isn't silly enough to answer such a loaded question. She had read too many fables for that. "I thought I was the one who did the bribing. Anyway for all we know the sun could stay like this until it sets we need to put a time limit on it just in case."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" whines Fiona. Jayme gives her a solid stare through half-lidded eyes and allows the silence to permeate. "Fine! Fine! Stop looking at me like that! How about until dinner time?"

"It's only ten o'clock!" exclaims Jayme indignantly. "We only put in a half an hour on the project before we came out here. Try again…"

"How about when we go in for lunch around one?"

"Try twelve."

"Aw! Come on, Jay. Have a heart! This is the only sun we've had in weeks. What if I go to that one place you love a couple blocks down on Lincoln Street? I know you love their hot chocolate. Just give me until one o'clock, please!"

Jayme smiles and closes her green eyes as she stretches into the grass to get comfortable, much like how Fiona had a few moments prior. "Alright just until one or if the sun disappears before then."

"Fuck yeah!" yells Fiona as she takes off across the park to reach Jayme's favorite coffee shop and return before the sun disappears.

"You need to expand your vocabulary, Fee," mumbles Jayme before drifting off into slumber, her dirty blond hair tied behind her head in a loose ponytail. The warmth of the sun and gentle lull of the world around her, act as a lullaby and put her to sleep. Even the gentle breeze, with its icy touch, couldn't stir her from her rest. The rest of the world began to still so slowly that no one passing by would have noticed. However, nothing in her world could have woken her up anyway. The peaceful appearance of a girl sleeping in the park is just a ruse because she is actually a world away.

"Hey Jayme, you should loan me a couple bucks. You have some expensive taste and since you refuse to take your dad's money…Jayme?" asks Fiona as walks up to the sleeping girl.

Jayme doesn't stir despite her friends attempts to receive compensation. While Fiona maybe a forceful loud mouth, she never hurts her friends so she gently nudges Jayme in the ribs with her shoe in hopes of waking her up.

"Hey I have your fancy ass chocolate now wake up and drink it with me," chuckles Fiona. Nothing. Fiona almost feels like laughing. Her poor friend has recently been fighting with her parents about what she wanted to do when she finishes high school. Jayme doesn't have anything in particular in mind, but her parents are working on plans for her without her consent. They have been pushing and bullying her into a business degree of some sort, but Jayme just doesn't have the heart to tell them no. It angers Fiona that Jay's kindness also made her a target for being walked on. At school she could protect her, but at home…well she couldn't be there all the time.

She needs the rest, and the sunshine is perfect for it. Fiona felt proud knowing that her best friend needs this break as much as she does. However, she did just buy her expensive chocolate so she needs to drink with her.

"Come on, Doofus. You can't leave me without conversation because I'll get bored and we all know what happens when I get bored. Remember Andrew Gibbon's birthday cake when he thought he could hog your attention," reminisces Fiona as she nestles the hot chocolate in the grass. She gets on her knees tries tugging a little bit on the pink, long-sleeve shirt Jayme is wearing. As she tugs she notices Jayme's lucky bracelet is missing. In its place is something else; a worn leather bracelet studded with purple amethysts. Fiona doesn't recall ever seeing it before, but maybe she got it on the recently when the school made the day trip to Boise History Museum.

Nothing happens. For a moment she considers leaving her friend alone and it is then she notices small peculiar things. Like the bead in the braid in her hair; it's small and made of metal. It seems severely out of place because Jayme rarely wears things like that not to mention she hadn't been wearing a braid earlier. Oh well maybe she put it in while Fiona was gone. However, the large necklace in the shape of a key hanging around her neck is extremely strange. It's too strange to leave alone.

"Okay then you asked for it," says Fiona menacingly. She then begins to gently rub a random blade of grass under her friend's nose in hopes of getting a rise out of her. At first there is nothing and Fiona wonders just how tired Jayme really is. Then Jayme's face muscles start twitching and Fiona grins.

"There you are! I was wondering-"

"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!"

Jayme's eyes don't open, but she begins screaming. Fiona jumps at first thinking she is having a nightmare of some sort, but when she moves to restrain her friend she notices the blood that starts to stain her friend's clothes. The grass starts to smear red as she writhes on the ground and lets out another scream. At first it seems to be coming from her back, but then her shoulder starts bleeding as well. Blood is just appearing everywhere on her friend and for a moment Fiona is frozen in fear, staring at the girl who was joking with her only minutes ago. Once free from her terror, Fiona pulls out her phone and watches her friend squirming from the pain as she dialed 911.

"911, what is your emergency?"

"My name is Fiona Roland and I'm currently at Dietrich City Park. My friend is bleeding everywhere and she's screaming. I don't know what to do."

"We are sending dispatch over right now. I need you to stay with me. Is she conscious?"

"I can't tell," Fiona says as she looks over her friend again, "I thought she was sleeping. Right now her eyes are closed, but she is yelling. She's bleeding even more heavily now though." Fiona can feel the panic rising within her as Jayme starts crying from behind her eyelids. Suddenly red starts blooming on her abdomen and her breath becomes more labored between her screams. "Oh my god!"

"Sweetie, I need you to put pressure on the wound, we have to slow the bleeding ok?"

"Ok," cries Fiona. She takes off the jacket she had been wearing and began to put pressure on Jayme's abdomen. She doesn't know if the jacket is really necessary, but it's what she had seen in the movies. For a moment her friend's breathing hitched and released a pain filled moan. The screams have stopped and now only pained moans leave Jayme's lips. The change, along with the icy wind, cause goose bumps to spread along Fiona's arms. She is unsure of what to do. Her best friend is dying and she can't do anything to stop it. In her fear she starts crying. This is wrong, this is all wrong. She was fine only a moment ago, where were these wounds coming from. As more screams permeate the air, Fiona starts shaking.

"Now you need to talk to her ok? Just tell her to hold on. Help is on the way."

"Hang in there, Jay. The lady says you're gonna be ok. Please be ok."

"Thorin…don't…" her friend whimpers.

Fiona feels her tears flow more freely as she could feel her friend's blood begin to soak through her black jacket and onto her hands. A small amount has flowed downward towards her jeans staining the top of stonewash jeans red. The blood pooling at her knees also stain her knees where the jeans are ripped. There is so much blood. Through it all Fiona could only wonder:

What the fuck is going on?

"Your daughter was in a coma, Mr. Halder," says the doctor.

"'A coma?" he asks confused.

It has been hours since Jayme was picked up from the park and brought to the local hospital. She is still in critical condition, but right now her chances are good. Since then Jayme's family had arrived as well as Moira and Fiona's grandmother. The Halder family consisted of: Jayme's father, Justin, her mother, Sarah, one of her older sisters, Megan, and her younger sister, Christine. Her eldest sister, Keira, is being picked up from college by her grandparents and making their way to the hospital. Fiona is anxiously pacing outside the ER with Moira and her grandmother watching her anxiously.

"For ten freaking minutes?" asks Fiona, enraged. "When I left we were talking about our school project and when I get back she's bleeding everywhere. She was screaming like she was being ripped apart! How do you explain that? It's like the cuts appeared out of nowhere."

"That's impossible Miss Roland," says the Doctor calmly. "Although in truth we don't know how it happened yet, Miss Halder was in a coma for approximately fifteen minutes. Is there nothing you can think of that may have caused this?"

"You should know," says Justin accusingly as he faces Fiona, "You were the last one to see her before this happened." At this Fiona stops her pacing and faces Justin like an angry bull.

"Calm down sir," says a police officer. "We have Miss Roland on security footage at The Coffee Shack. Her alibi clears." Once they heard about what happened in the park they had sent out officers to investigate Fiona's story.

"The fact that you have to check and see that I'm not lying pisses me off," growls Fiona. "I would never hurt her. We've been friends since fifth grade. If you should be looking into anyone it's him!" Her finger points at Justin. "He's been stressing her out over stupid shit and-"

"Es suficiente!" yells Fiona's grandmother suddenly. "I know you are distressed, Nieta, but you can't point fingers right now. It won't help her." One of the few people Fiona did respect is her grandmother. The woman raised six kids on her own when her husband died from an accidental roof collapse while he was working; then worked day and night to keep them fed and clothed until she managed to get them through college. Fiona and Moira just had the misfortune of being born to the one who couldn't handle the responsibility of being a parent.

Fiona looks around at Justin and the cop, looking to start something, but they didn't move or say anything. With nothing distracting her, tears begin to form around her eyes and she clenches her fists. She looks down at the floor and speaks through gritted teeth.

"She was bleeding everywhere," she croaks, "Her blood was all over my hands and I couldn't stop it. She's my best friend and I couldn't do anything! Something was hurting her and I…"

Moira stands up from her chair and gently starts rubbing her sister's upper arm. Fiona wouldn't appreciate it if she started hugging her in public. Fiona worked at making herself appear strong it wouldn't do to ruin it now. However, Moira couldn't stand to see her sister so scared or sad so she offered her comfort in the only way she knew how.

"We are sorry to have to do that Miss Roland, but it is standard procedure," says the officer sincerely, "But we were wondering if you might have noticed anything in the park – anything out of place."

"You mean besides the fact that whatever was hurting her was INVISIBLE?!" Fiona yells in frustration.

"Calm down, Nieta," says her grandmother soothingly. She now rose from her seat and took her granddaughter's hands in her own. "They just want to help and you are clearly distressed. We need to help Jayme now. Is there anything you can think of?"

Fiona began running things through her head wondering if there had been anything wrong when she got back. She tries to wrack her brain for anything. There had been those small changes in apparel…maybe someone had done that to her. Maybe…but that didn't explain the cuts or bleeding.

She shakes her head while trying to even her breathing. Fiona could see through her tears for a moment and she saw that further down the hall, little Christine is being held by her mother. She's asleep as far as Fiona can tell. Her mother is holding her close and rocking her gently, though it's probably more for herself than for Christine. It's obvious that Sarah has been holding back tears for hours now, not wanting to scare her youngest child.

Christine has always been Jayme's little shadow and she is blissfully unaware of what had happened. She remembers now that Christine had almost wanted to go with them…what if Sarah had let her. What if she-

"Did Jayme say anything?" asks Justin sharply. His voice cuts through the haze that formed in Fiona's mind. While her dad is a right bastard, he did love his girls. She thinks about what he said and then something clicks for Fiona. She had been so afraid when it happened that she forgot to remember.

"When she started waking up she was crying out a name I think," Fiona answers, unsteady. The looks from the people around her told her to go on so she told them, "Thorin. She was crying out for someone named Thorin."