"Jay? What the hell!?" Her eyes were wide at first when they first opened, in shock, but she quickly hid that with anger when realization hit. I wondered if she would ever let anyone into her head…….

24 hours earlier……..

I watched Ellie sleep as I leaned against the van. It was warm night and she was bundled up with a thick jacket, but yet she still shook slightly. Stupid skinny girl.

I usually watched them all as they sleep but Ellie had been acting strangely since we left the store. I never slept much, I would worry too much. I guess it was because of my mother died when I was young; I always felt I had to look out for everyone. Also, I was kinda fallin' for Ellie; she was different, saw things different. She saw them the way they were, no dreams of impossibilities or sunny days ever entered her mind. I could see the way she thought but never what she thought. If you can understand the difference between those things.

I continued to watch her; nothing was out of the ordinary. But then she turned over on her side. There was a small bulge in her pocket. I had stolen enough things to know it was a cell phone. It was small and neat; expensive. Ellie would never steal a phone, someone had to pay for the plan and it was worthless to us since we all stuck together.

I decided that I would a closer look at it. I made few sounds and poked her a few times; she never woke up, so I slid my hand in her pocket and pulled out the phone. I opened it up and went to the contact list.

My eyes bulged out and it took everything in me not to yell at her when I saw Rick Murray's name as the first and only name. What the hell was she doing?

I breathed deeply and tried to think. She has been acting weird ….maybe she's just stuck in something that she can't get out of…there were a lot of explanations but I had think of the worst one. She was a traitor. Maybe I could change her mind.

She stirred in her sleep and I slid the phone back in her pocket and went in the van to get some sleep.

I woke before anyone else and headed out to calm myself down before I faced Ellie. I had to think of a way to change her mind.

When I came back she was watching Craig fool around with a guitar and Emma and Sean were dancing with each other. They were clueless, but at least they were happy that way.

"It's weird isn't it?"I said and she jumped a little when I spoke, I must have startled her.

"What is?"She asked when she turned to me with a confused look on her face.



"It's weird that the people who supposedly live wasted lives with no meaning or purpose could have moments like these. So full of life and joy. I mean look at Cameron over there," I gestured to Sean with a shrug of my shoulder and she looked in that direction, "He's so happy right now, but usually he's just waiting for the next tragedy of difficulty to come along. Alex and Marco both have to face discrimination for being who they are, yet even they know when to let loose and have fun. Craig's always looking for the better side of a situation, so it's no wonder that he could start a night like this."

I watched her expressions change from the corner of my eye. She stared at me a bit; it looked like I was getting to her. Either that or she thought I was going completely crazy. Then she got this worried look on her face, almost like she knew I knew. Then she relaxed a bit, almost like she calmed herself down. Let she looked away and starred at the rest of the group; expressionless.

I heard a very quiet buzz come from her jeans and I knew it was her phone. She looked at me but I didn't flinch.

"Well, looks like I'll have to take a break from this. Nature isn't very patient." She said to me and then she left. I took a deep breath….this was way harder than I thought.

I still had no idea what she was doing, but hopefully I made a difference, for the better.

She returned a little bit later looking like she had been really shaken up only a few seconds ago. Her eyes were tinted red and I could see that they were bloodshot in the dimming light of the twilight sky. She had been crying, but the reason for that still evaded me.

"Well we're going to hit the sack." Sean said when he and Emma stopped dancing. They were so not going to sleep. I couldn't help but smile. Ellie came up to me as they left a smile playing at her lips as well.

"Yeah me too," I said to her, just barely keeping from cracking up. As soon as I saw her face in front of me, for the first time since I saw Rick's phone flash in my eyes, my expression changed I stop it from becoming cold, but just barely.

"Don't tell anyone what I said tonight. No one can find out that I have a sensitive side." I said trying to lighten myself up.

"You have many sides that we don't know about, don't you?" She said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah."I said failing at staying light.

After I hopped into the van and slammed the doors, everyone else went off to find a place to crash for the night. I watched Ellie from the tinted windows of the van. She went the slowest to the side of the Van and lied on the down on a patch of grass. She lied there, stiffly not even trying to fall asleep. As soon as everyone disappeared she stood up and crept into the woods.



I guess I hadn't gotten to her like I thought I had. Looked like plan B was my only option. I opened a plastic tool bin to on the side of the van and pulled out a small bottle of chloroform and a rag.

Present…….

I silently opened the van doors and followed her. At first I thought she wasn't going to go through with it when she turned around but when she turned back and kept going I decided I had to act.

I grabbed her shoved the rag over her mouth and nose. She struggled at first but then fell limp in my arms. I picked her up and carried her to camp. I set her down gently against the tire of the van and waited for her to come to. When she did she started yelling at me right away.

"Jay? What the hell-!?" She yelled. I quickly shoved my hand over her mouth and whispered to her harshly.

"Hey! Either you shut up right now and explain what you're doing with a phone that has Rick Murray at the top of the contacts list or you can keep screaming and explain it to everyone!" I said.

Her yes went wide and she froze. I had never seen someone as afraid as she was in that instant.