thirteen years old

"Come on, Laura, you HAVE to answer," said Callie. "Truth or dare?"

It was Laura's 13th birthday party, and Laura was freaking out. She was usually the person to pick truth- she hated dares. But what if Callie asked her who she liked? Laura was not about to admit to the 6 other 7th graders sitting cross-legged in front of her that she had a crush on Sophie Gilmore.

She darted her eyes around her dark living room, trying to think of the smartest answer. "Fine," Laura breathed. "I choose… dare."

Jacqueline Rodriguez giggled. "This is gonna be good," she whispered to Casey Tanaka.

Callie smiled. "I dare you to… go out into that forest out there, and stay there for… at least five minutes." She pointed out Laura's sliding glass back door, into the patch of looming pine trees that had taunted her since she was a young girl.

Laura sucked in her breath. "What? No! That forest is so creepy. I am so not doing that."

"You have to. It's a dare," demanded Ruby Albern. "Come on, Laura. You're a teenager now. Besides, it's just some trees!"

Everyone was giggling. Laura hated it. They all sounded so stupid. These girls weren't even really her friends anyway. At least, it didn't feel like it. It all just felt so fake. Everything in middle school did. She couldn't wait to grow up.

"Fine," Laura sighed. "But I'm only standing out there for five minutes. That's it!"

They all walked to the door. Laura opened it and walked outside.

"Good luck, and don't die…" Callie said in a fake mysterious voice. Laura rolled her eyes. They were all giggling again. Ew.

Laura made her way to the trees, realizing halfway she was in her pajamas, barefoot. She winced at every sharp twig or pebble she stepped on but chose to ignore it. Slowly, cautiously, she was swallowed by the dark looming trees.

Laura made her way in a little further and stood in the forest, turning to face the direction of her house. She could barely make out the soft glow of the lights seeping dimly through the incredibly dense branches of the trees around her.

After about thirty seconds, Laura heard a snap come from behind her. She whipped around, not able to see very well in the darkness. "D-don't come any closer!" Laura yelled out. "I...I know Krav Maga!"

"Your dad is still making you go to that?"

Laura jumped from the sudden voice, a sharp, "AH!" escaping her lips, throwing he hands out in front of her. Her eyes focused on the person who had just spoken, and she suddenly gasped.

Standing in front of her was the girl from the day she played hide and seek about a million years ago, when she used to go to the park. Her overall style was the same, but she looked so much older, so much more mature. Her jawline was more cut, her voice much deeper, and her style was a little more truly alternative than what she wore at eight years old.

Laura felt her cheeks redden. Wow. I was too young to notice how pretty this girl was before, but now…

"Y...you," Laura stuttered. "I haven't seen you since we met all those years ago. It's been so long. What are you doing out here?"

The girl smirked. "The real question that should be asked here is what are you doing out here, in the forest at this time of night?" she countered.

"My friends dared me," Laura growled. "They're so stupid. None of them are really my friend- they're so fake. All they care about is boys and makeup and popularity. I don't care about any of that."

Laura couldn't read the sudden emotional expression in the dark-haired girl's eyes. It was passion, sorrow, so many things she didn't understand. But the girl simply nodded. "Yeah," she agreed. "All of that stuff is pretty pointless."

Laura nodded, then suddenly noticed the girl was bleeding. She had a scratch across the bridge of her nose and her lip was bleeding. The purpleness surrounding her eye indicated a pretty severe black eye. "Are you okay? You look hurt."

The girl held up her hand, as if to say 'that is so irrelevant right now that I don't even need to explain it to you'. There was a long pause in which the two just stared at each other before the girl spoke up again. "Look, Laura, I came here to tell you that you might not see me again for a while and I'm really sorry. There's business I desperately need to take care of. But…" She took a step closer. "But when you look out your window at night, I hope you still think of me and know I'll still be watching over you. Just know that I'll always be protecting you, no matter what."

Laura's brain was flooded with confusion. "Wait… what? What are you talking about? What do you mean?"

She looked down with her big, brown eyes. "I think you know exactly what I mean."

Laura's mind stopped. No, she thought. The thought she had just had was too crazy to even consider. Looking out my window, watching over me and protecting me, she couldn't possibly mean…?

Before Laura had time to react, the girl leaned in and pecked her on the cheek. "Goodbye, Laura. At least for now." And as quickly as she came, the girl turned around and ran off.

Laura was paralyzed from shock. She still couldn't register the information given to her. In fact, it wasn't possible to register. Laura shook her head. Of course this girl wasn't the black cat. That would be crazy. She had to be talking about something else when she said 'when you look out your window at night.' Some crazy, ridiculous coincidence.

...Right?

When Laura was done mentally freaking out, (both about the black cat thing and the oh lord the kiss), she finally convinced herself that she was being crazy and walked back inside after realizing she had been in the forest well over five minutes. Her friends had asked her what happened and she simply responded, "Nothing. Nothing out of the ordinary happened at all."

The rest of the night felt surreal. All she could think about was the girl and what she had said. She still didn't even know this girls name, and she was the only thing on her mind. When her friends were all finally asleep on her bedroom floor cocooned in their sleeping bags late into the night, Laura crawled onto her worn-out comfy chair and looked out the window, her heart sinking into the bottom of her stomach.

The cat wasn't there.