Author's Note: Ohhh my gosh, I honestly did NOT know it had been almost two weeks. D: my apologies, I am so sorry. I'm going to try to stay on top of this so that you guys can stick with this story. Sorry, again. Please enjoy chapter 6.

Curious and scared glances were exchanged between the five of them as tears continued to trail down Eli's drenched face. His eyes wandered over to Imogen, who was less than two feet away from him on the bed. She looked into his eyes and her lips began to quiver; she could sense that something wasn't right.

"What?" she whispered reluctantly, watching his horrid expression carefully, afraid to find out what was wrong.

She was next. Eli's mouth was so dry that he couldn't even get the words out if he wanted to, and he didn't want to. He was afraid of his own voice. He only scooted close to Imogen and buried his head into her chest, wailing into it. Imogen combed her fingers through his wet hair and couldn't help but to shed a few tears herself. She could feel it; her time was up.

"What's going on right now?" Bianca asked shakily, her arms wrapped tightly around Drew as they sat at the desk chair. Eli slowly moved his head away from Imogen's chest and stared at them, averting his eyes back up to Imogen after a moment.

"I-I can't say it," Eli managed to choke out, holding onto Imogen tighter, too scared to look into her chocolate brown eyes.

"Wait, is Imogen...next?" Clare asked quietly, causing Imogen's stomach to sink. Clare's statement brought a knot in Eli's throat and all he could do was cry harder.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you," Eli promised, sitting up and facing Imogen. Imogen's face scrunched up as she tried to contain her tears.

"Eli... there's nothing you can do," she croaked, looking away from him. He reached up and cupped her face, bringing her attention back to him.

"I promise," he whispered, Inching his lips to hers. He captured them swiftly and kissed her slowly, ignoring the stares from his friends. Clare looked away, focusing her attention on the TV which had some horror movie playing. She cringed. Her life was like a horror movie.

Imogen wrapped an arm around Eli's neck, bringing their faces closer together. They released each others lips, only to bring them back together two seconds later. It pained Eli so much that this would probably be the last time he'd get to kiss his girlfriend, but he was determined to save her life.

Bianca and Drew turned to face each other, tears gleaming in Bianca's eyes. Drew reached his thumb up and wiped one of her tears away, frowning softly.

"Do you hate me?" she whispered, sniffling. Drew shook his head quickly, looking down at the ground.

"Of course not, Bee.I could never...I...I love you," he said, causing Bianca's eyes to widen in shock. "I just miss my brother. I miss him so much, Bee."

Bianca let her thoughts process before she spoke up. "You still love me?"

Drew looked up into her eyes and nodded. "I never stopped."

"Drew, I love you too," Bianca said, her happiness overcoming her entire body. It meant the world to her to know that the guy who she was madly in love with still loved her. It gave her hope that she anxiously needed at that moment.

She reluctantly pressed her lips against his, sighing of satisfaction from the feel of his lips. She missed them ever so dearly, and it felt like a dream to finally taste them again. Clare looked over at the two and cringed, looking away just as swiftly.

"Forever alone," she whispered to herself, thinking of Jake. She stayed strong enough to not let them see her cry, even though she truly wanted to.

…

"We can't just sit here all day," Bianca said, cuddling closer to Drew on the bed. The five of them were laying across the bed with Clare smack dab in between the two couples once again.

"Yes we can," Eli argued, his arm wrapped tightly around a depressed Imogen.

"She's right Eli," Imogen said, resting her head against Eli's chest. Eli didn't want to hear it.

"We can't risk doing anything, you guys! I don't know what I'd do if..." Eli trailed off, his nerves getting the best of him.

"What about Dr. Floyd? Can't we go and ask her more questions?" Drew asked, looking over at Eli.

"What the fuck did I just say?" Eli shouted, sitting up in the bed. It caused Imogen to jump. She sat up and put her hand to Eli's chest in a caressing matter.

"It's okay, baby. Just lay down. It's okay," she reassured, calming him instantly. He rested his head back against the pillow and tried to focus his mind on something else, even though that was purely impossible.

His phone buzzed from the dresser next to him, startling him. He quickly grabbed it and noticed that it was a restricted number calling.

"Hello?" he asked, nervously waiting to hear who the person was.

"Is this Elijah Goldsworthy?" the person asked. It sounded like a female's voice.

"This is he...who's calling?" he asked quietly.

"This is Kendra Baker," the woman said after a minute. Kendra? Eli didn't recognize the name at all.

"Who is it?" Imogen asked, wrapping her arm around his waist.

"A girl named Kendra Baker..." he whispered.

"L-like Kendra, the girl Dr. Floyd mentioned?" Imogen asked confusedly. That's when Eli remembered.

"How did you get this number?" Eli asked the girl.

"My therapist contacted my doctor and told him that a couple of kids had gone to her with a similar story that happened to me. I called her and she gave me your number. She said maybe you'd like to talk..." Kendra explained, her voice low and raspy. Eli sat up in the bed, his hand shaking intensely. Was this real?

"I have so many questions," Eli whispered, his mind racing. This could be it, the person who could possibly help them find a way to stop death's cycle.

"I think I have the answers," Kendra said reassuringly. "I am the only one who managed to survive."

Eli was undeniably surprised, and he felt like there possibly was a God out there who answered his anxious prayers.

"Please, tell me what you did. How? How did you manage to survive?" Eli asked quickly, anxiously clenching the phone in his hands. His friends were staring at him with beady eyes, eagerly trying to find out what conversation was taking place in front of them.

"I can't really talk about this over the phone. I'll be at the downtown district warehouse in about an hour. Think you and your friends could meet me over there?" she asked quietly.

"Of course. We'll be there," Eli said, his breaths low and shallow. He heard a click on the other end and his phone went black. His slowly turned to his friends and smiled the widest smile he had in a while.

"What's going on?" Clare asked quickly, confused at his change in mood.

"Remember when Dr. Floyd mentioned something about a girl named Kendra?" Eli asked them.

"Yeah, what about her?" Drew asked.

"She called me. She...she told me that she was a survivor from the shit that we're going through." The faces of his friends automatically lit up, giving them all hope for their lives.

"Wait, what?" Bianca asked. She wasn't aware of any Kendra, or of the conversation that they were having. Drew quietly explained it to her as Eli turned to Imogen.

"I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to you," Eli said happily, pecking her soft lips. She curled them into a smile and gave him a warm hug, closing her eyes tenderly.

"So you mentioned something about meeting her somewhere?" Clare asked, interrupting their moment. She was undeniably jealous.

"Oh, right. She wants us to meet her at the downtown district warehouse," Eli told them.

"Doesn't that mean that we have to leave the bed?" Bianca asked with a hence of attitude.

"Yeah, anything could happen from now till then," Clare said, trying her hardest to make Imogen's skin crawl. She hated her more and more by the second. Eli looked into Imogen's light brown eyes and frowned sadly.

"I'm willing to risk it, Eli. This is for us," she whispered, smiling reassuringly. He nodded and grabbed her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Drew, you're driving. Bianca, you can ride shotgun. Me, Immy and Clare can ride in the back. It shouldn't take us more than a half hour to get downtown. We can do this," Eli exclaimed, his mindset in the right place.

He moved off of the bed and turned his bedside fan on. The big wings slowly began to flap, getting faster and faster. The cool air coming from it felt so good on his back.

"When are we supposed to be meeting her?" Drew asked.

"In about an hour," Eli answered, walking over to computer and booting it up. "You guys just put on the clothes that you were wearing yesterday."

Imogen climbed out of the bed and walked over to Eli's dresser. He had a drawer for her with a bunch of her stuff kept in there. She took out her favorite Strawberry Shortcake doll and sat it upright on Eli's bedside dresser where the fan was. She began removing more and more of her stuff from the drawer, being fascinated at what all she kept in there.

Seconds later, one of the curls from the doll got caught in the fan, pulling the doll into the fast moving object. Her plastic body shredded to pieces, flying out all over the room. Imogen shrieked, her heart beating rapidly.

"What the hell was that?" Bianca asked, moving off of the bed.

"My Strawberry Shortcake doll... it's gone!" Imogen said sadly.

"It's okay," Eli said, standing up from his desk chair. "I'll get you another one. Just get dressed."

Clare stared at the shredded pieces of the doll and her stomach felt queasy. She hoped that it didn't mean anything, but she couldn't bring herself to look away from it...

…

The five friends climbed in the car, Eli making sure that Imogen was in the middle.

"Put on your seat belt and keep your head down," Eli told her, closing the car door.

"I'm not going to do that to you in the car mister," Imogen joked, trying her hardest to lighten up some of the tension.

Clare choked on air, turning her head away from them. She honestly couldn't stand their gushy relationship, or any of the affection that Eli showed her. It reminded her too much of Jake, and how much she missed him.

"You're funny," Eli said to Imogen, laughing sarcastically.

"Lighten upppp Eli," Bianca said from the front seat, kicking her feet up on the dashboard.

"Let's just get going please," Eli said quietly, resting Imogen's head on his lap. He didn't want any stupid car accidents that they were doomed to get in taking off her head.

Drew began driving, turning the radio on. Some current rap song was playing, interfering with Eli's thoughts. Maybe that was a good thing, which was probably why Eli didn't tell Drew to turn that bullshit off.

Clare peeked over at Eli and sighed sadly. She wanted to be where Imogen was. She wanted Eli to touch her like that and care about her in the way that he cared about Imogen. Eli could feel her eyes on him, but he tried his hardest not to look.

The car ride felt like forever, and Imogen's neck was cramping.

"Can't I at least lay on your shoulder or something?" she asked.

"We're almost there," Eli said impatiently. So far, so good."

She couldn't seem to stay mad at him, because she knew that the only reason why he was being like this was for her own good. The rest of the drive was quiet except for the radio playing random hip hop songs.

Drew pulled into the abandoned warehouse's dusty passageway, parking it in front of the tinted doors.

"Please tell me why she wanted us to meet her at this creepy haunted mansion?" Clare asked, climbing out of the car.

"This has predictable horror movie written all over it," Bianca said as everyone else scurried the car.

"Do you guys want to live or what?" Eli asked sternly, walking up to the tinted doors. The tiny rocks crunched under his feet and thunder rumbled above him from the dark clouded sky.

"Well where is she?" Drew asked, looking around.

"She's probably in the warehouse," Eli said, cracking open the door. It was dark in there and reeked of old. He stepped inside, the others following reluctantly after him.

"Eli, I don't think she's going to be here," Imogen said, but Eli shushed her.

"She has to be. Why would she lie?" Eli asked, taking a look around the warehouse. There wasn't much to see except for dust and space, with rooms covering the walls.

"This creep is probably trying to play hide and seek with us," Bianca said, holding onto Drew's hand.

"Call her," Clare said, sighing in anticipation.

"She called me restricted. If I knew how to crack a phone line, I think I'd be doing that right now," Eli said, unintentionally giving her attitude. Clare tried to hide the smirk on her face as her mind gave her a cunning idea.

"I know how to do that. Jake did it to people who prank called him all of the time. It's super easy," she said, reaching for Eli's phone which was in his jean pocket. Their bodies were dangerously close as she swiped it from his pocket, taking in the scent.

"Well while they hack the code or whatever the shit, we can go look in these rooms and see if maybe she's...lost," Drew offered. Eli sighed heavily and nodded in agreement. He walked up to Imogen and kissed her swiftly, trailing his thumb down her lower lip.

"Be safe," he whispered. She nodded up at him and kissed him once more before scurrying off with Drew and Bianca.

Clare wandered off up the stairs, listening at the steps creaked under her feet.

"Where are you going?" Eli asked, following after her.

"Somewhere where we can be alone," she answered. She noticed the look on his face, and looked down. "So that we could crack this code without distraction."

"Right..." Eli said, reassuring his thoughts. Eli felt mighty uncomfortable being alone with Clare after the thoughts that he'd been having about her lately. He kept finding himself thinking about her at odd moments, and as much as he tried to shake it, he couldn't stop. They stopped in front of an indoor windmill as Clare fiddled around on the phone.

"Did you umm... figure out the number yet?" Eli asked, scratching the back of his head. Clare giggled and shook her head, placing the phone inside of her bra. Eli narrowed his eyes at the girl in front of him. "What are you doing?"

"I lied... I have no idea how to crack a code or whatever," Clare admitted, a sly smile on her face.

"Why?" Eli scoffed. Clare slowly walked closer to him, her eyes looking directly into his.
"I wanted to be alone with you," she said quietly, her heart racing. She had no idea what she was doing, but there was no going back at this point. "You're always with her. It makes me...it makes me so angry, you know? She doesn't deserve you."

"Now you wait a minute," Eli said, stepping away from her.

"What?" Clare asked innocently. "I'm just telling the truth. Maybe this is destiny calling. You know, her being next... when she's gone, then we can be together."

"Clare you need to back off!" Eli said, raising his voice. He could barely comprehend her words with his anger boiling. She flinched and slowly continued to walk closer until their heaving chests were barely touching.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I just... I just miss you so much, Eli. You have no idea how much I still love you," Clare said, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Eli looked back and forth between them, at loss for words. What could he say? He knew he still loved Clare, but he couldn't and wouldn't do anything about it.

"Clare," he whispered as she began to lean forward. She shushed him seductively as their lips rubbed against each other. The sexual tension between their bodies was undeniable as Eli's brain left his body and his lips fell upon hers.

Bianca tip-toed up the stairs as she searched for the two and gasped lightly when she saw them. They were too engulfed in each others lips to even notice that Bianca was standing there.

She cleared her throat and folded her arms, causing their lips to separate instantly. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Bianca... it's not what it looks like, I swear," Eli said frantically. Clare frowned up at him, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"Oh yeah? Because to me, it looked like you two were in the middle of a kiss!" Bianca shouted.

"Please keep it down," Eli pleaded, but it was too late. Imogen had heard everything. She appeared next to Bianca, a hurt expression on her face.

"You kissed her?" she asked, pointing at Clare. Eli shook his head quickly, his palms growing sweaty.

"No I swear-

"Don't even try to lie!" she interrupted. "I saw the way you were looking at her last night. I saw the way she was looking at you. I knew there was something going on, but I couldn't bring myself to believe it. But now..."

"Imogen!" Eli called after her as she turned to walk away.

"Go to hell," she said, sticking her middle finger up at him. As she continued down the stairs, the chandelier above her popped from its hinges, making its way downward.

"Imogen look out!" Bianca shrieked.

"Huh?" Imogen asked, turning around to face them. Eli frantically lunged forward, knocking Clare's body backwards and dove toward Imogen.

He pushed her body out of harms way as the chandelier came crashing down to the ground, glass flying everywhere. Imogen clung onto Eli, her body shaking intensely. He kissed her forehead repeatedly, holding onto her tightly.

"HELP!" Clare screamed, causing everyone to avert their eyes to her. When Eli knocked her body, he had incidentally pushed her into the windmill and her curls had gotten caught on one of the wings.

The doll, he instantly thought. It was a sign! Imogen wasn't meant to die at all!

"Clare!" he screamed, scurrying out of Imogen's arms and lunging for Clare. Luckily the windmill wasn't turned on, so all they had to do was get her hair untangled from the wing.

Bianca was tugging at her hair, but it was wrapped tightly around the sharp wing.

"OWWW! GET ME OUT!" she cried, crying out sharply.

"I'm trying!" Bianca cried. Eli appeared and began trying to help, but her hair wouldn't budge. It was if they weren't doing anything at all. That's when the engine kicked on.

"GUYS TURN IT OFF. IT'S PULLING ME!" Clare screamed.

"We didn't do anything!" Bianca said frantically.

"It must be on a timer!" Eli screamed, looking back at Imogen. "Imogen, do something!"

Imogen was in too much shock from the events minutes earlier that she could barely hear him.

"Imogen!" He cried, but it was no use.

"Eli, move!" Bianca said, grabbing his arm and running for the corner. The windmill had picked up speed and it was too late. The machine crushed Clare's body, blood flying all over them.

Author's Note: O_O what did you guys think of THAT? Reviews please? I'm LOVING the ones I am getting now. :) and I also PROMISE to update much, much sooner! Bye-bye for now!