I walked with my band towards the conference room. I sighed. 'Why do we have to go to these retarded things? They're not fun! Plus, I hate those damn stupid reporters breathing down our necks! I mean, come on! Can't they get a life?' I looked around and saw that my band mates held the same expression I had. It made me laugh, inwardly of course. Who would laugh at nothing out loud and have people stare at them?... All right, I actually know some people who would *cough cough* Shay *cough cough.*

I finally snapped out of it when I heard my name being called out. I turned to face the voice and it was Criss. "Hey Lilly, are you okay? I've called your name five times already." He said, with worry written all over his face? I scrunched up my face in confusion. Worry? Why? I then remember what happened at the diner the last time we two were alone. 'Right, right...'

I decided to make Criss worry less. "Yeah, sorry; I spaced out a bit." I rubbed my head sheepishly. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Tyson and Michelle arm in arm, raising their eyebrows at Criss and me. That technically said 'what happened after we left?' Great, now I got to explain this to them. I can just hear their nagging voices right now. I shuddered. Criss must have thought I was cold because he put his jacket over my shoulders making me blush a little at sudden act of kindness. This of course did not go unseen by the stupid paparazzi, who were now spazzing out with their flashing cameras and flailing arms with microphone galore!

"Criss! Criss! What is your relationship with Lilly Knightley?" Criss started to turn a little pink.

"Criss, I heard you two were seen together with her in your lap! Any comment of this?" Now he was turning red.

"Hey Criss! How about a kiss from the happy couple?" I swear I think he just invented a new color. He turned an even darker red, but who was I to judge? I was blushing myself.

I quickly stopped them in their tracks before they could continue. "We're not dating. We're just friends! Honestly! Ask Tyson and Michelle!" I said, waving and pointing at me and Criss's only hope.

They looked at each other and looked back. They shrugged. "Actually we have no clue where you guys stand." Tyson stated as Michelle nodded. Talk about your crash and burn scenario. And because of their answer to that stupid question that they DIDN'T NEED TO ANSWER, - 'Calm down, Em!'' - me and Criss are left to fend for ourselves when the paparazzi pounced on us with even more embarrassing questions. Thanks guys. Thanks a lot.

'We're screwed!' I had a feeling Criss was thinking along the same line. We couldn't even breathe because right and left, microphones were being shoved into our faces, some got into my mouth and even in my nose! And let me tell 'ya: microphones are dangerous weapons and were invented by evil people to annoy me.

"OWWW!" I yelled painfully, clutching my nose which blood was starting seep from. Criss looked over at me and was next to my side in a flash, asking if I was okay and rubbing my back in a soothing way.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I hate those damn reporters." My voice didn't sound normal because I was clutching my nose so that the blood didn't come out.

Criss laughed at my squeaky voice. "I'm glad. So how do we get away from these pests?" He whispered the last part to me so that the paparazzi didn't hear us.

I pondered on the subject for a minute. 'Now where would they least expect us to go...AHA! The Frozen Frenzy! They'd never expect that!' A light bulb lit up in my brain as I told Criss my idea. "Yeah, I know of the place. How fast do you think we can get there?"

"Just give me a second..." I said, jumping up towards the crowd, I yelled out, "Look! A distraction!" And they were stupid enough to actually look!

"Run!" I mouthed to Criss and the rest of the band and we dashed out the door before the annoying, life-ruining hippies could follow us.

We were able to make it to the Frozen Frenzy in twenty minutes. Of course, though, we got stares from everybody because of who we are. I mean, who wouldn't?...Wait, my head just inflated for a second. We just ignored them and sat down at a booth. I finally laughed at what just happened. "I can't believe they fell for that!"

"I can't believe that their smart enough even work a camera!" Michelle uttered out, grabbing her gut from laughing to hard.

"Well, I can't believe it's not butter!" I hear Tyson's comment that caused us all to stop and stare.

"What?" We shouted at him.

"Tyson, I think you need to be tested." I said, patting him on the back in sympathy.

"NO! Michelle, honey, you don't think so, do you?" He said, desperately trying to get out of the situation.

Michelle just giggled at him. "Oh Ty, you're not that stupid." She smiled at him warmheartedly.

"Thanks, love." He then realized a few seconds later that his girlfriend just called him stupid. This proves it. "Hey!" We laughed at his slowness.

"Oh, I'm just kidding. You know I love you." Michelle said, kissing him on the nose. Criss and I could tell they were about to get even more lovey dovey.

"EW! Ew! All right, break up the love fest here. You can do that behind closed doors, not out in the open, got it?" Criss said, blushing from what looked liked... embarrassment? I raised my eyebrow at him. 'Eh, I'll just let it go...for now...*cue evil laugh*' Yes, I'm a lunatic, don't judge me. Anyways, back to the real world.

"All right lets just order some stuff. I don't know about you guys, but all that running made me hungry!" Tyson exclaimed as we heard his stomach growl.

"My, God! Do you ever think about anything other than food and your girlfriend?" I questioned him.

"Um...Pie?" I think he was trying to save himself. He should know better. Plus, It just so happens that I'm immune to stupidity.

Criss shook his head at his obviously sad attempt to redeem himself. "You have food for a brain, which makes you brain-dead. I'm so sorry for your lost, Michelle. Tyson was a good man..." He said sarcastically, fake-sympathizing patting Michelle on her back.

"Hey! I'm food crazy, not dead!" He retorted pouting.

"Oh, you're such a child." Michelle said, walking towards her boyfriend to comfort him in his fake little tantrum.

"Okay, I'm actually going to order something this time. If any of you are going to join me, feel free to." I said. Criss followed me shortly who was followed by the two love birds in our band, who had their hands intertwined. We quickly ordered our food and chatted quietly to each other. It's very hard to be normal when you're famous.

"That was some awesome food!" Tyson said, rubbing his tummy in delight. "You always know the best places, Lil!"

"Dude, you would eat just about anything. Scratch that. You would INHALE just about everything." I replied. He was bound to find out the truth someday.

"Michelle!"He whined, acting like he was five, "She's being a meany head!"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh yes, I'm sorry for telling you the ugly truth. Sue me!" Tyson was opening his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. "Never mind." I heard Criss's snort behind me. I turned around to face him. "You got something to say there, pretty boy?"

"Oh, I've got plenty to say, but I don't think you can handle it." Criss taunted with a smirk. I've never realized how much I hated smirks until now, but who am I to say this? I do it too.

"Well, bring it on, man! I can take you!" I said, trying to egg him on. We then started to fake hit each other.

"Isn't that low, even for you, to hit a girl, Taylors?" Danny's mocking voice bellowed as he walked up to us, appearing out of nowhere.

"Are you stalking us or something?" I questioned, rhetorically.

He got into my face. "Maybe." He whispered. Ugh, personal bubble invaded! I guess he doesn't get rhetorical questions either.

"What do you want now, Galatas?" Criss sneered. "You want to steal our fame?"

"Oh, no," He said, acting all innocent, "That'll come in due time, my stupid friend." Criss snorted at the word friend. "In the mean time, I would love to just steal that pretty, little drummer of yours." He said quickly. I felt myself being yanked and pulled in his direction.

Criss grabbed my other arm and yanked it towards him. "As you can see, she is busy and doesn't want to hang out with you, so get lost."

Pull. Oww. "She didn't say that herself, so how would you know?"

Yank. My God! I think my arm's going to fall off! Criss fights back with, "She doesn't need to say it. It's written all over her face." What's written all over MY face is 'Lord, have mercy on my soul. I think I'm gonna die!'

And while they were playing tug-a-war with me like I was a rag doll, I looked over towards Michelle and Tyson and they were just staring, trying not to burst out with laughter. Gee, you would think that kind, sweet Michelle would help me out in a time like this, but I guess even she likes to see someone be tortured!

"Hey…" I said, trying to get their attention.

They didn't seem to hear me as they continued their banter. "Why don't you just give up, hot shot. You know you're not gonna' win." Danny said with a sardonic grin and pulled me. OWW! What the hell are these two trying to do? They're like a medieval torture device! I then thought that it reminded me of how they stretched taffy. I shuddered. I'd rather eat it, not be it!

"Hey." I voiced out again, but those two doorknobs were still being a bunch of toddlers fighting over the new shiny toy, which just had to be me. Oi, I need to get new friends.

"Who says you're winning, slime ball? Clearly, I'm doing so much better than you." Criss smirked, yanking me towards him. OOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW! OW! OW! OW! That does it!

"HEY!" I yelled over their rising voices. They shrunk down a bit at my outburst. "I'm not a toy, so would you two babies stop pulling on my limbs?"

"Sorry..." I heard them grumble out. These two are such a bunch of sissies.

"You better be! And if you ever decide to rip my limbs off again, I will make sure you will never be able to have children! YOU GOT IT?" My voice boomed.

"Yes, ma'am!" They whimpered, covering their "family treasures" and backing away from me. Haa, I'm awesome. Oh, wait. They didn't let go of my arms. Crap. Well, this is gonna' hurt.

"OWW!" I whined.

"Look what you did, Taylors! Stop hurting her so the two of us can go on a date!"

"Oh? Well, sorry to burst your bubble, Galatas, but that's all the time you've got if you want to make it out of here alive." Criss said pointing at screaming mob of fans the behind him.

Danny's eyes widened at the killer crowd speeding towards us. "Shit! I gotta go!" He grabbed my hand, kissed it, and with a smirk, said, "Until later, love." He then ran away from us, leaving me in a shocked stupor.

Twitch. Twitch, twitch.

Hmm. I think my brain just broke. When I finally got out of shock, I looked at Criss' expression. Yeah, he did NOT look happy. Na-ah, not one bit. I swear by the look on his face, I would have thought his head was gonna' explode.

"Who the HELL does he think he is, barging in here, acting like he owns the place and interrupting our double date!" He blurted out the last part. I raised my eyebrow at his statement. After realizing what he said, he quickly covered his mouth with his hand, his face blushing with embarrassment. "I...I...I mean, wow look at that shiny floor! Th-that's somethin' else, ain't it? J-Just wow!" His attempt to try to be less embarrassed was a complete epic fail. I mean seriously, a double date? Where did he get that idea? We were running for our lives from the paparazzi! It's not that I don't like him like that, I-I mean I kinda', but don't- aw forget it.

"I don't know which one of you lost it first, but ya'll are both nuts!" I exclaimed, talking about Criss and Danny. My god, those two will kill me one day. "And where did you get the idea that we were on a double date? We were running for our lives, dude! Did you not see the stampede of reporters on our tails?" I sighed. "Alright, whatever. I'm tired from this awkward day, so I'm going home." I stated, walking away from the trio.

I felt a tug on my elbow. "Lilly, I'll walk you home." Criss replied.

I then remembered that they're not supposed to know where I lived. "NO! heh heh, I mean, You can't. I'm only like, five minutes away, so it's not needed." I declined quickly. I then hauled ass towards my house before Criss could say anything.

I, now as Emily Adams, quickly got out the shower, immediately falling asleep as I hit the bed. And in that dream, if you can call it that,is when it got weird.

Looking around me, I saw that I was at my old house that I used to live in when I was younger before we moved to Holly Grove. I then looked into the mirror and saw that I was in my 8 year-old body. I walked around the house, looking to see if anybody was home.

"Mom? Dad? Dylan? Are you all home?"

-Nobody.-

All of a sudden, I started to hear heavy, unfamiliar footsteps coming from downstairs. I knew it wasn't from anyone in my family, so I ran into my parent's room and hid in their closet. I felt like my heart was in my throat as I heard the footsteps get closer and closer. I held my breath, seeing the Shadow reach out for the closet door. It stopped and started to move away from the door. I let go of my breath, but I did it too soon and the Shadow came back and yanked the door open.

-Terrified.-

-Scared.-

-Petrified.-

'I...I don't remember any of this.'

I could see the Shadow clearly now, but I know now that it was a man, standing tall above me, a satanic smirk on his face. He grabbed for me, but I quickly ran between his legs and out of the room. I ran down the stairs, but tripped on the way down. I tried to get back up, but my ankle hurt. I think I sprained it. The man ran at me, and before I could escape out the house, he punched me in the head, hard…everything turned black.

...

...'Wait, the scene was changing. Why does this not seem familiar?'

Now I'm in a basement, chained to a wall. My entire body is pulsing in pain as I looked around, trying to see if this place was familiar. It wasn't. I cried, knowing that I probably wasn't gonna' see my family again. I had cuts and sores and bruises everywhere. Suddenly, I heard the door open and the Shadow Man walked down the stairs.

"So, you're still moving, aren't ya'?"I cowered in front of him, scared he was gonna' hit me right then and there. "Well, I can fix that..."He pulled out something from his pocket, but I couldn't see it in the dimly-lit room. He dragged it across my throat, I felt something wet on my neck.

-Blood. -

He then did another cut up my neck, making a cross. I started to feel dizzy and everything went black again.

...

...'The scene is changing again. It's...it's...the scene is starting to become clearer to me, but then'...

-Black.-

I opened my eyes, feeling something crunch under my back.

-Leaves.-

I tried to get up, but everything just hurt too much. I put my hand to my throat; it was still bleeding. I was going to die. I was about to close my eyes forever, feeling very tired, when I noticed a boy, a 9 year-old little boy, kneeling, just a few feet away from me, crying. I grunted trying to get up, but fell over again. He stopped crying, noticed me trying to get up, and came over to help me up. I couldn't do anything as he put my head into his lap and started to wrap something around my neck. Thinking he was gonna' choke me, I started struggling.

"Hey! Stop it! I'm trying to help you!" He said. I continued to struggle to get free, not believing a word he said. "I'm trying to stop the bleeding."I stopped flailing. He started to wrap the cloth around my neck again, this time without me struggling.

I opened my mouth and tried to speak, but my throat was hurting. Still, I tried again, this time it worked, though it was raspy, "Who are you? What do you want? Why are you helping me?"

He stopped me from saying anything else. "Don't talk. My name is Charlie. Charlie -"His last name came out distorted, so I didn't catch it.

"Emily, Emily Adams." I whispered out harshly. My lungs and throat felt like they were on fire.

I stared at him as he continued to bandage my neck. He had dried mud all over his body, his hair with leaves and twigs sticking out everywhere. "Where are we?" I whispered out barely.

"We're deep in the Red Forest that's at the edge of the river. It would take about 2 hours to get back to town." He said quietly. After he finished bandaging my neck, we sat in silence, me absorbing in what had just happened and him just staring at the wet, muddy forest floor.

I finally got the courage to ask him. "Why are you here?"I saw his shoulders tense up at the question.

He didn't answer me back. I started to get up but stopped when he started to speak. "My... my family... they just... just left me here, and right after my sister..."He started shaking and I could hear him sniffling.

"What? What did she do?"I whispered, my voice still aching and burning.

"...Right after she tried to kill me."He whispered back, tears streaming down his face.

I was shocked and appalled by what he just told me. How can his sister, no, his family, do something so hideous and cruel to their own child? "Why...how could your family do this to you?" I whispered back, coming out a bit raspier as my throat started hurting more and more.

"...I don't know..."He replied back, dropping his head in between his legs. "I just don't know."

"Well...I'll be your friend, though it's not your family, but still...if you want..."I replied.

He picked up his head from his legs and looked at me, tears still present in his sad eyes, but now they look hopeful. "Really? Do you mean it?"

I smiled, though it probably didn't look pretty in the current state I'm in. "Of course. We'll help each other."I whispered.

He wiped his runny nose on his sleeve, and smiled at me. "Yeah, I'd like that."

I then took off my bird necklace, and gave it to him. "Here, I want you to have this and I want you never take it off. Just in case we split up, I'll know who you are."

He took it and then started to unhook his own necklace. "Then I want to give you this, so I'll know where to find you." I smile, tears reappearing in the corners of my eyes.

I held out my hand and he to grab it. We walked hand-in-hand into the direction of the river.

'Then...wait...the image...it's starting to fade away into something else...'

... Everything's going fuzzy...I'm starting to see flashing red lights, sirens blaring in the distance. All of a sudden, pictures are flashing different scenes, memories I have forgotten, horrifying, gruesome memories I wanted to forget, but I know couldn't.

I jolted out of bed, hyperventilating and covered in sweat. What the hell was that? I clutched my head in pain.

-Those images. -

How could I not remember something like that? 'Maybe Mom and Dad know something about this and can clue me in...' I thought. I looked at the clock.

3:26 A.M.

'I'll ask them in the morning I guess.' I got back into bed, still wide awake, knowing that I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep now. I sighed as I raked a hand through my hair. Why does this have to happen now? Life just has to be so cruel.