I remember the night everything changed so clearly. The house was full of teenagers dancing and drinking and all the other typical things you'd see and find at a high school party.
I was never the party going type, I would much rather just hang out at home with a few friends, but Brooke liked to party so Peyton and I could at least go to a few with her through out the year.

Peyton, Brooke and I had been best friends since...forever!

Our parents were friends when they were in high school, and have stayed close friends to this day.

"Remind me again why we're here," I said, leaning into Peyton so she could hear me over the music, she just laughed.
As Peyton and I walked through the house we noticed that almost the whole grade twelve class had been there. I'm pretty sure thats the first time we've all been together, in one big group outside of school.

"Wow, this is crazy," Peyton said, as we both smiled and waved to a friend sitting on a near by couch.
We both got a glass of pop, and stood in the kitchen talking.
"Aren't we party poopers," I joked.
"Haley, look around, they're all so loaded, they probably dont even realize we're here," Peyton commented, as we both took a quick look around at everyone.
After a little while, Peyton and I started socializing with other people, dancing and having a good time.

Before we knew it, it was 2:30am; we had been there for four and a half hours.
"Lets find Brooke and get going," I said, standing up from the couch and grabbing Peyton's arm to pull her up.
"Sounds good," she said, as we both looked around for her, or for someone who would know where she was.
"I don't see her anywhere," I said.
"Lucas's right there, he might know," Peyton noticed.
Peyton and I walked over; kind of interrupting the conversation he was having someone who he probably thought was very good looking. We asked if he had seen Brooke, and he told us she had left about an hour before. She apparently wasn't feeling well, and her mom was coming to get her.
As Peyto and I drove a quick ten minutes home, we were silent; there wasn't much to say at two-thirty in the morning.

As we got to my house, we quietly made our way up the stairs to my room, trying not to wake my parents or my sister. We quickly got changed, and ready for bed; we were so tired.
"It's weird that Brooke didn't say bye, or tell us she was leaving," Peyton said, as I got into my bed.
"I know," I agreed.
As I laid down and drifted off to sleep, I had no idea that the next day, things would change forever.

But wait, I'm getting way too far ahead of the story. It all started three months ago, when our town was all shaken up.

"Oh, I can't wait for school to just end! Three more months and we'll be graduated and moving on" Brooke said, we as drove to school one Monday morning.
"Maybe Haley and I, but I don't know about you," Peyton joked from the back seat of my car.
"Shut up!" Brooke said, the three of us laughed.

First period of the day I had 'Travel and Tourism', both Haley and Madison were in the class with me. Every morning, we started the class off with something we called 'in the news'
"Anything in the news you'd like to talk about?" Ms. Newman asked. No one said a thing, so she moved on with the lesson.

First period went by really quick, and we were now on the way to our second period; English, which only Brooke and I had together.
The bell had rung to let everyone know that class was starting, and just as Mrs. Clark was about to start talking, the voice came over the PA system.

"Excuse the interruption staff and students," said the principal Mr. Calvin said. "As most of you know last week Rachel Saunders, from a local high school went missing. Police and the neighborhood tried to find her as fast as possible. About one hour ago, Rachel's body was found, not exactly how everyone wished. Now would you please bow your heads for a moment of silence to remember Julie."
The room went almost dead quiet. The only noise I could hear was the crying from some students. As I looked at my desk, I could feel the tears running down my cheeks. I had only ever met Julie once or twice, but never really knew her.
It was still very upsetting to know someone so young had their life taken away.

"Thank you," Mr. Calvin spoke again. "Rest in peace Rachel."
The rest of the day went by very quiet and slow, you could tell there was sadness in the air. According to the news on the radio we had turned on in my last period class, 16 year old Rachel had been beaten black and blue, and then strangled; poor girl
.
Three weeks later, I was in my room doing some homework, while watching TV when the show was stopped for a local Amber Alert. Best friends Lindsay White and Carrie Morgan, both 17 from another local high school had gone missing yesterday morning. According to Carrie's mom, the girls spent the night there on the Friday, and got up Saturday morning to go out for breakfast. The people working at the restaurant say they remember them leaving around 11:30am, and they didn't return home.

You have to be kidding me, I thought to myself. I really hoped these girls wouldn't end up like Rachel.

A few days had gone by, and once again we were faced with the terrible news of Lindsay and Carrie's death. Found in the middle of a forest, beaten just like Rachel had been, and both hanging from trees.

After a very long investigation over the months since Rachel had been murdered, the police had a lot of evidence from the crime scenes, but no solid proof like finger prints or anything.
Although they did get information from people around town who believe they had seen the man who did this. From the information these people gave, the police artist was able to draw up at sketch of what the murderer was believed to look like. The picture was all over the news, on every poll in town; everywhere you looked it was there. This man also wasn't the best looking thing, kind of creepy actually, a face that is hard to forget.

It was the morning after the party when we got the news. I had called Brooke's house to see how she was feeling, when her mom told me she hadn't come home that night that she thought she was with us.
Right away, everyone started to panic, and the police were called. They started their search right away, hoping maybe Brooke wouldn't end up like the other three. Peyton and I did whatever we could do to help, but a lot of the time we sat there and cried together. We never thought this would happen to us, never even though of it. The two of us spent every night locked in my room, crying, praying and hoping that she'd come back home.

I quickly turned the TV on, hoping there would be something on we could watch to try and get our minds off things for a little. I couldn�t help but stop though at a news broadcast, that caught my eye. The heading at the top of the screen read 'Teen Terrify; Strikes Again' and under it was a picturing of the drawing of 'the killer' and beside that, a picture of Brooke.

"You can't say that! She's not dead!" Peyton shouted at the TV as she started to cry.

It was the next morning that we got the phone call we'd been dreading. The police had found Brooke's body, but not how we had hoped.
Just like the others, Brooke had been beaten, but unlike the other girls, there was no sign of strangulation, Brooke had been drowned.

The days leading up to the funeral, all I did was sit in my room and cry. I couldn't believe I had just lost one of my best friends. The day of the funeral, Peyton and I stood in the front row next to Brooke's parents and older brother Nathen. I remember whispering "I'll miss you Brooke," just as I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around quickly to see who it was. Chase, Brooke's boyfriend.

As I was turning back around, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, so I turned around to see what it was. There, in my back of the crowd was the man from the drawing.

I turned around as fast as I could, hoping he didn't notice me looking at him. My heart was pounding, and I was trying not to scream.
Slowly, I turned around again, and he was gone. crap, I thought to myself, he did see me! what was I going to do.

I quickly excused myself from the crowd about ten minutes later, and walked to the back of the crowd where my mom and dad were. I had forgotten something in the car that I wanted to bury with Brooke.

My head was spinning, and I wasn't thinking clearly, when I decided to walk to the car alone. I was half way there when I was attacked from behind.
Before he had a chance to do to much damage to me, I managed to press the panic button on the car started, knowing someone would have to run over to turn it off, and save me.

"Anything else Haley?" the female cop asked. "Anything at all?"
"I'm sorry, that's everything. The only other thing I remember is waking up in this hospital bed." I said to the two police standing next to my bed.
"Alright, thank you Haley," the male cop said, rubbing the top of my head. "You were a lucky one."
I looked out the window, as they left my room.
Once they were gone, I thought I would just get some sleep; I was wrong.

As I turned over in my bed to get comfortable, there he was, standing in the doorway...