I felt like I was choking.

It was bright and sunny, and the birds were flying around happily calling out to each other.

Definitely choking.

Everyone was walking around with huge smiles on there faces, acting as if nothing in the world was wrong. There was nothing wrong with anyone.

Except for me.

Something changed that night. Sure I saw all the carefree happiness around me but I felt far away from it. I wasn't part of it. There was some invisible barrier that separated me from happiness and left me in the dark.

"You okay Red?" Conall asked looking down at me - since he was several inches taller.

I nodded.

We were walking around Fairy Tale, Conall's futile attempt to make me feel happiness again. I guess he thought he was the one who was supposed to bring me back to reality since he had pulled me out of the lake. Or maybe because he was a natural leader figure, either way it would take a lot more than a day and a walk around town to cheer me up.

"You want to go somewhere?" He asked me suddenly.

I shrugged.

"Well we're going there anyways."

His hand wrapped around my wrist and then he started running, dragging me behind him. I didn't feel like talking today so I just tried to keep up with Conall - since he was abnormal fast - as we ran through town and into one of the neighborhoods close to the forest. After lots of running - and lots of panting from my part - we ended up in front of a beige two story house.

It was average, no porch, a concrete walkway, and grass. Conall took me inside and we entered through the living room/dining room/kitchen. Open floor plans.

There were tow couches in the living room facing the fireplace and the tv hung above it. On a glass coffee table lay about ten issues of Seventeen. The dinning room was on raised hardwood, so there was a step to go up to it, and had your average wooden table and chairs around it. There were boxes of pizza on top of it. And lastly, the kitchen was just like the one in Grandma's house except for the pile of plates in the sink.

"You live here?" I asked.

Conall nodded. "But not by myself," He assured me. "Actually Ellie, Matthew, Nick, and Evan all live here with me. We all have our own rooms in the house."

"Oh."

"So Ellie has the living room today for whatever reason and we both know that we shouldn't bug her. So lets just go up to my room."

Isn't there like some rule for going up to a guys room? Like you have to be dating him or be like best friends. I'm pretty sure some law in the universe was made to prevent a girl who you've know for two weeks and saved from drowning, from going into your room the first time she comes to your house. There's got to be some rule right?

"Come on," Conall said leading me through a door parallel to the dinning room table I had over looked when taking in the room. We walked up the carpeted stairs and into a small hallway. There were five doors. One lead to a bathroom, one lead to an all green room, one had a bunch of noise coming from inside it, one was silent, and the last one, Conall opened.

Conall's room was a light beige color and decent sized. There was a desk and closet to the right, his bed pushed up against the left wall, and a window directly across from me. Papers were scattered everywhere and his computer lay open and on, on his desk.

"Sorry for the mess," Conall apologized. "I haven't had much time to clean up after myself."

"It's fine," I said quietly.

Conall smiled and walked over to his desk leaving me awkwardly standing in the doorway. Since it seemed like we wouldn't be leaving anytime soon, I walked over to his bed and awkwardly sat on it. His red blanket was soft and plush as I sat on it, and it kinda smelled like the forest.

"Is it legal to have five teenagers living in a house with no adults?" I asked as Conall started organizing the papers on his desk.

He shrugged. "No one's ever come and told us we couldn't," Conall said.

"Maybe no one knows," I suggested.

Conall shrugged. "I guess."

A silence filled the room and I turned to look out the window. The sun was still annoyingly happy and you could see the first top of Downtown Fairy Tale and tons of trees past the one story house across from Conall's. It was the top of the community center, I could tell even from inside Conall's bedroom. The community center of Fairy Tale is where the Garden Club met and Grandma spent most of her time.

I hadn't seen Grandma much since I had arrived here. She liked to spend unusually long hours at the community center or out on some plant searching adventure. Even when she was home, though, I was usually out with Conall, Haley, and Ryan, or George, Marcus, and Kelsea. George hadn't taken up my earlier offer of staying at Grandma's house with me and instead - as far as I know - was staying with Marcus and Kelsea instead.

Strangely I never saw Marcus, George, and Kelsea in town. They seemed to only stay in there log cabin by the woods and at the end of that narrow road. And if they only stayed there, I didn't see why Conall and everyone else would hate them so much. This whole feud between the two groups made me feel awkward and trapped. And now - unfortunately, regrettably, and every other sad word you can think of - I found myself relating to Bella from Twilight, which made me want to shoot myself.

Bella is just to winy and unemotional. Her true vampire love left her for her to be safe, so this hot werewolf tried to make a move on her, so she tried to kill herself. If she think her life is bad, we can switch. I'd much rather fight some vampires and fall in love with one than be stuck in a stupid war between my two new friends and unable to feel happiness because I almost drowned.

Stupid Bella, stupid Conall, stupid Marcus, stupid Swan Lake, and stupid Fairy Tale.

If I had never come here than I would be having no issues! I would be on the beach of San Fransico with Kate or the Beach Boardwalk in Santa Cruz scared out of my wits because Kate dragged me into a haunted house. If I had listened to Mom and never agreed to stay with Grandma in this stupid town, then I would of had a normal summer vacation. And I would be happy not have this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

And despite everything that is wrong with me because of that night, I don't blame Ellie. She was honestly shocked that I had gotten trapped underneath the lake and almost drowned. She had felt that horrifying stab of guilt thinking she had killed me, and was petrified. I honestly blamed myself for almost drowning more than her, she's near the end of my list with everyone else that was there during the camp out. I was the one to blame. I had actually gone in the water to fetch the necklace, I could have refused the initiation, I should have noticed the trap waiting to spring in the water, and I should have nicked the locket faster.

"Red, you okay?" Conall said snapping me from my thoughts like a bucket of ice cold water.

I turned away from the window and looked at him. His short brown hair was messed up and sticking out at odd ends and the papers on the desk in front of him were tidy and neat. I must have been lost in my thoughts longer than I thought.

I nodded, but telepathically sent Conall a message that no, I was not okay. But since Conall isn't a magical mind reader he believed my nod.

Sometimes you just wish that when you tell people your okay they'll realize your not and try to do something.

Sadly Conall didn't realize that and started to clean up the floor in front of the desk.