Chapter Nineteen
For the rest of the day, Annabel was restless and worried about something. She figured it had to do with Cody, but she couldn't place her feelings so she attempted to shrug them off. However, it was no easy task.
As the sun begun to set in the West, Annabel sat down at her desk and connected to the Internet. It was the last thing she could think of to do, after she cleaned her room and locked the Etch-A-Sketch, blow dryer and any spare cords in her closet.
As soon as Annabel connected to the Internet, she decided to research anything she could on Harris Hospital. The search engine could turn up nothing on the hospital except for the fact that it was located in Long Island, which she already knew.
Frustrated, agitated, confused and bored Annabel flung the closest thing to her across the room. That thing happened to be her phone; the phone smashed into the wall and the plastic casing brook off.
"Damnit!" Annabel screamed. She stood up and walked across the room and picked up her broken phone.
All the numbers -which usually glowed a bright, sickly green-, were pale except one. The six number was still flashing; it flashed three times and then went dead.
Annabel stared at the phone, wide-eyed and confused before dropping the case like it was hot iron. She remembered that the number "six" was supposed to foretell Death and/or Evil.
Annabel backed away from the phone like it was the plague and refused to believe that it was a warning. However, Annabel couldn't deny what she was feeling. But, that wasn't going to stop her from trying.
In a little while, her mother called her down for dinner; to humor her parents, she went downstairs and sat at the table but she didn't eat, didn't feel like eating.
"Annabel, you need to eat; you haven't eaten anything in a long while, it's really not good for you." Her father said, pointing to her plate with his fork.
Annabel looked down at her food -lasagna, carrots and a small salad- and swallowed. She grimaced as she forced herself to take a bite of her lasagna; she clapped her jaws shut and forced herself to swallow. Suddenly, food seemed so repulsive to her, she could not go through dinner forcing herself to eat bite by bite the way she just did.
"Can I be excused?" She asked, asking no one in particular but speaking downward to her plate.
"And where do you plan to go?" Her mother asked, looking over at her daughter. "Not to your room I hope; you're spending too much time in your room. I know your best friend is dead but that's no reason…" Her mother begun but Annabel cut her off by slamming her palms onto the table and standing up.
"I'm going for a walk." Annabel said as calmly as she could manage. Without another word from anyone at the table, Annabel left the kitchen and left the house.
At first, Annabel didn't know where she was headed but she didn't really care; she continued to walk down the sidewalk blindly. She crossed the street, heedless of the oncoming cars that had to screech on their breaks and swerve at out of the way to avoid hitting her.
Annabel left the main part of the small town and once again begun walking down a leaf-covered sidewalk. When Annabel came back to her senses, she felt like she had been asleep or in a trance; she looked around her and realized she had no idea where she was.
She was, however, in a neighborhood that almost looked like no one lived there except for the lights on in the windows and flickering of TV sets that could be detected through the curtained windows. All the houses were large, semi-mansion like but a lot bigger than Annabel by a few feet; some were bigger than Annabel's house by whole stories. Large houses lined the sidewalks, lawns well cut and hedges well trimmed.
Despite that fact that this placed seemed vaguely familiar -almost dream-like familiar- to Annabel, she still had no idea where she was.
For the rest of the day, Annabel was restless and worried about something. She figured it had to do with Cody, but she couldn't place her feelings so she attempted to shrug them off. However, it was no easy task.
As the sun begun to set in the West, Annabel sat down at her desk and connected to the Internet. It was the last thing she could think of to do, after she cleaned her room and locked the Etch-A-Sketch, blow dryer and any spare cords in her closet.
As soon as Annabel connected to the Internet, she decided to research anything she could on Harris Hospital. The search engine could turn up nothing on the hospital except for the fact that it was located in Long Island, which she already knew.
Frustrated, agitated, confused and bored Annabel flung the closest thing to her across the room. That thing happened to be her phone; the phone smashed into the wall and the plastic casing brook off.
"Damnit!" Annabel screamed. She stood up and walked across the room and picked up her broken phone.
All the numbers -which usually glowed a bright, sickly green-, were pale except one. The six number was still flashing; it flashed three times and then went dead.
Annabel stared at the phone, wide-eyed and confused before dropping the case like it was hot iron. She remembered that the number "six" was supposed to foretell Death and/or Evil.
Annabel backed away from the phone like it was the plague and refused to believe that it was a warning. However, Annabel couldn't deny what she was feeling. But, that wasn't going to stop her from trying.
In a little while, her mother called her down for dinner; to humor her parents, she went downstairs and sat at the table but she didn't eat, didn't feel like eating.
"Annabel, you need to eat; you haven't eaten anything in a long while, it's really not good for you." Her father said, pointing to her plate with his fork.
Annabel looked down at her food -lasagna, carrots and a small salad- and swallowed. She grimaced as she forced herself to take a bite of her lasagna; she clapped her jaws shut and forced herself to swallow. Suddenly, food seemed so repulsive to her, she could not go through dinner forcing herself to eat bite by bite the way she just did.
"Can I be excused?" She asked, asking no one in particular but speaking downward to her plate.
"And where do you plan to go?" Her mother asked, looking over at her daughter. "Not to your room I hope; you're spending too much time in your room. I know your best friend is dead but that's no reason…" Her mother begun but Annabel cut her off by slamming her palms onto the table and standing up.
"I'm going for a walk." Annabel said as calmly as she could manage. Without another word from anyone at the table, Annabel left the kitchen and left the house.
At first, Annabel didn't know where she was headed but she didn't really care; she continued to walk down the sidewalk blindly. She crossed the street, heedless of the oncoming cars that had to screech on their breaks and swerve at out of the way to avoid hitting her.
Annabel left the main part of the small town and once again begun walking down a leaf-covered sidewalk. When Annabel came back to her senses, she felt like she had been asleep or in a trance; she looked around her and realized she had no idea where she was.
She was, however, in a neighborhood that almost looked like no one lived there except for the lights on in the windows and flickering of TV sets that could be detected through the curtained windows. All the houses were large, semi-mansion like but a lot bigger than Annabel by a few feet; some were bigger than Annabel's house by whole stories. Large houses lined the sidewalks, lawns well cut and hedges well trimmed.
Despite that fact that this placed seemed vaguely familiar -almost dream-like familiar- to Annabel, she still had no idea where she was.
