Chapter Twenty-Eight




Annabel decided to wait outside while Clear went into the grocery store to get some food. Annabel attempted to busy herself by playing mental games like 'I Spy' which really didn't work since she knew what she was looking for, while she waited for Clear. Clear had said she might be in the store for a while but Annabel insisted on waiting outside, though she didn't know why.
"I Spy…." She muttered under her breath, roaming her eyes around the streets and storefronts. "Someone that looks like Joshua." She said, trailing her words as her eyes fixed on someone who looked like Joshua. On further glance, Annabel realized that it was Joshua and he had Nicolas beside him; they were arguing over something.
At first, Annabel didn't believe that it really was Joshua and Nicolas, why would they be here, in Long Island, when they should be in Pasadena, in school. However, here they were in Long Island, arguing over something. Why were they here? Annabel repeated the question in her mind. Unless, they were looking for her.
Annabel stood up and crossed the street to join Joshua and Nicolas, who couldn't have been happier to see her.
"Annabel." Joshua said and hugged her tightly. She hugged him back, happy to see a familiar face. "We almost thought we were in the wrong place." Joshua said when he broke the hug.
"I told you she came here." Nicolas muttered, trying not to make it seem like he was happy to say 'I told you so.'
"What are you guys doing here?" Annabel asked.
"We came looking for you." Nicolas answered.
"I left a week ago, what took you guys so long? You didn't travel the way I did, I hope." Annabel asked.
"It took us until yesterday to convince our parents that we needed to come here on a 'school trip'. They bought us the plane tickets and well, here we are." Joshua answered.
"I wish I had had money for a plane ticket." Annabel muttered.
"How did you get here?" Nicolas asked.
"Let's not talk about it." Annabel said, trying to shrug it off because she didn't really want to explain everything to them.
"Do my parents know I'm here?" Annabel asked, suddenly remembering.
"No, they don't have the slightest idea." Joshua said, smiling at Annabel.
"Thanks." She said and gave him a quick kiss.
Joshua just shrugged sheepishly and Nicolas looked slightly jealous but Annabel decided to let it drop.
"So, what's going on? You find whoever you were looking for?" Joshua asked.
"Yeah, she's inside buying food." Annabel answered.
The three of them crossed the street and sat down on the bench where Annabel had been sitting when she was waiting for Clear.
"So, Annabel, you got any new insights on what's been happening?" Joshua asked, the way he spoke made his words sound like a joke, like he was mocking Annabel.
Annabel decided not to answer his question, leaving the three of them to sit on the weather worn bench in silence waiting for Clear.

When Clear finally did emerge from the store, she was struggling under the weight of a few grocery bags. Annabel jumped up to help her, relieved to get away from the oppressive silence that had settled among she, Nicolas and Joshua.
Annabel took two of the bags from Clear, leaving the women with two bags each. Without her vision blocked by the bags, she looked over at Joshua and Nicolas -who had also stood up.
"I do believe introductions are to be made." Clear whispered to Annabel.
"Right, this is Joshua and Nicolas." She said to Clear, pointing to them. "And this is Clear." Annabel said to the two boys.
There were brief 'nice to meet you's before the four of them begun walking in the direction of Clear's dilapidated cabin. Joshua took one of the bags from Annabel; Clear asked Joshua and Nicolas a few questions, surprised that they had come all the way from California to find Annabel.

When the group reached Clear's cabin, it was evident that Joshua and Nicolas were surprised by the cabin's condition, even though they tried to hide it.
"You're staying here?" Joshua asked, his disgust apparent.
"Yeah, great isn't it?" Annabel asked and walked through the hole in the cabin, stepping over the door.
The other three followed in suit and Nicolas offered to help repair the door. He and Clear worked at it while Annabel and Joshua watched until they finally gave up and settled on taping a bedspread over the hole with duck tape.
Once that was done, Clear joined Annabel at the table, her easy-going look disappeared and was replaced by a more serious, foreboding one. Clear locked eyes with Annabel as she began to speak.
"I need you to tell me everything that happened, from the day you left to go to the airport until the time you met Carter here, in Long Island." Clear commanded.
Annabel begun the story, trying not to leave anything out; when she did she backtracked and placed the detail in with the rest of the story. By the time she finished, Joshua and Nicolas had seated themselves at the table as well and were entranced in her story.
Clear sat in silence; it was clear she was working the story over in her head, playing the important details over and discarding the not so important ones.
Without a word, Clear got up and rummaged around in one of the kitchen draws and pulled out a pad of paper and a dust-covered pencil. Annabel watched Clear closely as she begun to write things down on the paper.
Annabel stood up and walked over to stand behind Clear so she could read what Clear was writing.
On the paper, Clear had written the names: Annabel, Randy, Sara, Nicolas and Cody. She begun to arrange them in the order they had died, putting Annabel's name at the end of the list.
"See, I think we're experiencing some sort of deju-vu here. See, when Alex predicted the plane crash seven of us -including him- got off the plane." Clear wrote the names of the seven on the paper: Alex, Tod, Terri, Carter, Ms. Lewton, Billy and Clear.
"Then, thirty-nine days later, Tod died," Clear rewrote the name Tod on a new line. "Then Terri, Ms. Lewton and then it was Carter's 'turn'. However, Alex was able to 'step in' and save him. Then it was Billy; then it was me but Alex intervened and saved me at the cost of his own life. That left Carter and I alive.
You see, you saw the overhang collapse and you, Randy and Sara got out of the car and didn't die. Then, a few weeks later Randy died; you have a 'vision' of him getting killed. Then Sara died and you had another 'vision' of her getting killed; as well as Cody. You see…" Clear continued but Annabel cut her off.
"Okay, I think I follow you so far. I think I understand why Randy and Sara died because I sorta stepped in and kept all three of us from dying. They were just getting what they should have before. But that doesn't really explain why Cody died; I mean, yeah, she and Nicolas left the airport because they saw me but I didn't directly tell them to get out of the car. So why did Cody die?" Annabel asked.
Clear was surprised that Annabel seemed to understand what she had fought so hard to understand a year ago. However, Annabel was related to Alex, perhaps that was why she was able to understand.
"You didn't directly tell Cody and Nicolas not to go but they didn't go because they saw you. So, its like the same thing." Clear answered, trying to fully understand everything.
Nicolas and Joshua were also standing behind Clear. Now Nicolas picked the pad up and studied it.
"Why did you put my name after Cody's?" He asked Clear, indicating that his name was indeed after his sisters.
"I don't mean to sound morbid or anything but the way I see it, you're next because as the vision-haver, I think that Annabel's last. Like Alex was. The only problem is that Alex was last by design, I'm not so sure about here." Clear muttered. "We'll just have to see."