chapter 2

It was time to leave home Lara's mom was making her go and live with her high school friend. Ginnie was driving Lara to the air port to go to Las Vegas on the plane alone. She was taking the earliest flight out of Salem to Las Vegas. Ginnie Pulled over and they got the things out of the trunk and walked in to the airport in silence they had not spoken the whole way here.

"Mom, please---"Lara started, but was cut off.

"No, Lara, you are going to go and no more fighting."Ginnie said, not letting her daughter get out the full sentence. They hugged just before Lara had to go through the boors to the plane. But she never got a real hug anymore not since the car accident she thought that her mom blamed her for the accident. Lara was crying she did not want to go. She got seated in the back of the plane and was by the window, another older guy sat next to her.

"Do you need a tissue, Miss?" He asked, pulling out a tissue and handing it to her.

"Thank you, Sir,"She said, trying to smile but it did not work.

He nodded, and pulled out a laptop and started typing.

She grabbed her Carrie on and pulled out her MP3 player. She was sleeping before the plane took off, but that did not last long she woke up half an hour later. She was thinking of what kind of family her mother wanted to send her off to. I miss you, Dad, she thought feeling more tears role down her cheeks

* * *

She landed in the Las Vegas air port. No one was there yet for her, she thought. So she went over to the bench and tried to stay awake, but was soon getting shaken awake by a lady she did not know."Are you Lara?"

Lara nodded, looking up into the lady's eyes they were green with brown spots in them. She stood up and went and grabbed the luggage bag. " Are you Nina?" She asked.

The lady nodded,"Are you ready to go home?"

"Yeah, I guess,"Lara said in a sad voice.

Nina came over and gave her a hug and whispered into her ear."Honey, everything is going to be okay." Lara felt a tear run down her cheek her mother never gave her hugs like this anymore, loving and caring. Her mother never even listened to her anymore.

"Sweetheart, let's get home you can get some sleep and some food to,"Nina said."How does that sound?"

Lara nodded and let Nina lead her out of the airport and to her car. The was a Mustang and was a beautiful car. In the car she took Lara on a lot of twists and turns and to a huge house in the middle of Las Vegas. They walked in Nina said."Nick, are you hear?"

There was no reply so she went on,"He is probably at a friend's house. Do you want a tour first or sleep?"

"Umm, tour?" Lara said, smiling.

"Okay, well we do not use the third flood that is storage if you want to go up there I will take you up there only if you want?"Nina asked

"No, it is okay. If it is not used that much then no need."Lara said, shrugging her shoulders lightly.

"Okay, then the first two floors. Well, here is the living room."Nina said as they walked into the doorway on the right side. It was huge with a nice TV and CD player setup and two overly stuffed couches and chairs. Along, with that there was an old fire place over on the far wall made out of brick, but there was no wood by it or even near it. After the living room it was on to the kitchen Nina told Lara anything here she could eat too. so on we went to the two bathrooms and the three other bed rooms on the second floor, the fourth bedroom was mine she said then they pulled up Lara's things.

"So, Honey, what do you think of the place?"Nina asked while putting some clothes in to the dresser in neat little piles." It was my family's place and when my older sister moved out and then my mom and dad moved. Well, this is where we-- I have been raising my son Nick Redfern I changed my name back to Kail."

Lara nodded and said" I am sorry about the family moving"

"No need. So what do you think?" she asked again, smiling.

"This place is huge!"Lara exclaimed, happily looking around the, her, room. She walked over to the bedside table and looked at the only picture she had of Logan her father.

"Honey, what happened to Logan your dad?"She said in a sad voice.

"He died two years ago,"Lara said, recalling the accident easily.

"I do not mean to make you upset, Sweetie, but could you tell please tell me. Logan was like a brother to me in high school."

"He died in a car accident. I was there."Was all she would say. If she could trust this lady she knew that she would open up soon."I am sorry I just don't talk about it."

"I am very sorry. Your mother has not changed since high school much as I can see."Nina said looking sad at the girl with eyes that were nothing like her mother's or father's.

"What do you mean by that?"Lara asked, looking up suddenly.

"Oh, I am sorry. . ."She said,"Well, I will leave you to unpack the rest of that. Come downstairs when you want and eat."

"Okay, Nina, I will only be a minute."Lara said, pulling out the rest of her shirts and pants from the bag. She put in a CD and without really knowing how tired she was she lied down on the bed and was asleep.

He was standing behind her looking down slightly he was tall. He reached out and put his hand on Lara's head and brushed her hair back. Lara turned around and looked up at him with wonder in her eyes. He ran a hand down the side of her face sending electric shocks through her body right to her hart.

He hurriedly took his hand away from her face and stepped back. He turned and walked out of the room Lara called after him, but he kept walking down the hall not looking back. She ran after him in to the hall her hart was beating fast and she could not calm down enough to think. He was walking faster trying to get away from her. He turned a corner and disappeared in to . . .a dark room. She went in to the room after him there was a man he had a belt in his hand and was yelling,"HOW DARE YOU DO THAT YOU SPIOLD BRAT"

"W-what did I do, Dad?"The boy asked, looking scared.

" I DID NOT TELL YOU TO SPEEK."The man said, walking up to the boy and knocking him back. The boys head hit the wall and a spot of blood slid down the back of his neck. The boy stood his ground and did not fall to the ground like, it looked like the man wanted.

"I do not know why your mother even bothers with you."The older man said, then started hitting the boy with the belt were no one would see the marks. The boy now on his hands and knees looked up at Lara and said.

"Please go away. I do not want you to watch this." The boy begged, tears rolling down his face.

She could not respond so Lara tried to distract the man from the boy, but walked right through him. She looked at the boy on the floor and walked over to him and tried to lie a hand on his shoulder, but again his hand passed right through him.

She mouthed the words."Fight. Stand up and fight."

The boy shook his head."He only hits more if I do fight."He said, through the tears and the pain. "Please, go away."

She shook her head and ran out of the room looking for some help for him. There was no one in the halls that kept going she could not even find the room she started out in. There was a set of stairs at the end of the hall, she ran to them.

At the top of the stairs she started to run down. The stairs kept going around in circles and never stopped. She was still running then out of nowhere she fell, and could not catch herself on the railing that was not there and a silly thought popped in to her head, No wonder why they have rails on the stairs so people don't fall.

She sat bolt up right with a start and had to hold back a scream. Lara had never had a dream like that before, she could not normally remember her dreams at all, not since the car accident nothing at all ever. She sat on the bed and started to sod like she had not sobbed since her father's funeral a little more then two years ago.

After she got herself under some kind of control and put on some cover up the dark spots under her eyes she left the room. Nina was in the kitchen eating a salad a strangely weird thing for someone with no bad fat on her body at all Lara just shrugged it off.

"Did you sleep well?"Nina asked, smiling."I figured that you had fallen asleep."

"Not bad, I guess."Lara said, holding back tears again. She turned back into the fridge and pulled out a pudding.

"Okay, I heard you crying a few minutes ago."Nina looked sorry for some reason."I am sorry that your mother does not listen still."

"It is okay. It's not your fault."Lara said, playing along with Nina's thoughts and not telling her what really had made her sob like that.

"If you need to talk, Lara, you can talk to me, okay?" Nina asked,"Don't talk to Nick he is not a people person."

"Okay."Lara said."I think I will go to bed early tonight."She turned to look at the clock on the oven it said 7:15. Lara was not really tired she just did not want to talk about what the dream was like.

"Okay, Sweetie, I will see you in the morning."Nina said,"We start the schooling at nine O'clock in the morning, Okay?''

"Okay, I am not a morning person. Do we get to sleep in in the weekends?"Lara asked.

"Oh, yes, I try to stay on the same schedule as the schools so Nick and now you don't have to miss out at seeing people."Nina said.

"Okay, night."Lara said and walked out of the kitchen. On the way to going up the stairs with her putting she heard the TV on. She walked in to the living room and her eyes grew wide. Sitting there on the couch was the boy from her dream she walked over to the couch and said,"Hi I am Lara." She reached out her hand to shake it with his.

"Hi I am Nick and I am watching TV and you are in the way."The boy said, not looking up at her and looking around her at the TV.

"Jerk."She spat at him and just to make him mad she sat down on the other couch and ate her pudding and just talked to him. After about a minute of me talking he shut off the TV and looked at her.

"Can you shut up?"He asked,"I am trying to watch TV, Hu---Lara, right is that your name?"He said in a teasing tone.

"Yes that is my name, Jerk."Lara said, stood up and left the room.