A/N: Okay, this took me a while, but it's up! Finally! Yay, and it contains scary stuff...at least I think so...

Alright! Thanks to TheNextPoliticalDynasty (that's right, it's always the school's fault and don't ever forget that.) xXxSarahxXx (calm thyself, TJ and Spinelli will find one another all in good time...but will it be a happy reunion considering what TJ's done? That's a question to consider), goofymonkeychild (I'm glad you caught that joke...hehe...what can I say, I'm a modest gal. I'm glad you're back on my review board too), and MOMO-CHAN IS BACK! (Yay...hehe...alright Momo-chan you're not being an idiot, you have to be overly analytical with my stories, because if you're not, you'll miss certain things...and I love taking characters that others portray as "evil" and giving them a little more depth than that. If you liked that characterization wait 'till Randall comes into the story, it'll blow your mind...or not...we'll see...) THANKS FOR REVIEWING MY LOYAL READERS, YOU ALL ROCK. very much so, yes.

ON WITH THE STORY...caps are fun...hehe...ENJOY!

Chapter 15: Going Back To School

TJ and Vince walked in silence down that path of road that they'd both walked down side by side so many times before. They stopped in front of the Grundler house; painted white and blue, the black mailbox in front with the golden letters seemed so inescapably memorable. TJ touched the black peeling paint with trembling fingers. There was a dent in the side.

"I still remember when you broke your arm on this," TJ commented, looking over to Vince.

"I want to find Spinelli, TJ, not talk about old times that are better left forgotten," Vince snapped, though his eyes lingered on that mailbox dent.

"Rightâ€umâ€Spinelli came here after she left her own home," TJ went on, he pointed to the door, "She leaves the house upset, not really caring where she's heading"

"You sure she was upset," Vince asked, doubtfully.

"Her and Gretchen were in the same room together, Vince, I'd bet good money that she wasn't happy when she left," TJ told him, making his way to the door, "She left the house, and there's the wall hereâ€the best path to run isâ€that way," TJ pointed down the road away from the direction they'd come.

"And she's upset, so she doesn't care which way she runsâ€the easier the better," Vince stated, "Not to mention, the other direction leads back homeâ€back to all the problems she's trying to escape from."

"Let's go then," TJ said, motioning Vince to take the lead. They began their trek again, in silence once more.

"When did you and Spinelli" Vince started, breaking the silence, "Never mind"

"When did we get together?" TJ finished for him, eyes focused on the ground, bracing for the inevitable argument that was bound to follow.

"Yeah" Vince looked away, his jaw held taut. It seemed to be something Vince needed to know, but TJ wasn't sure if he could talk about it.

"End of 6th grade, right before summer," TJ finally answered silently.

"Humphâ€it didn't matter because we weren't buds anymore, huh?" Vince questioned, turning a glare on his former best friend. They'd been through so much together.

"That's not it" TJ mumbled. He kicked a rock on the sidewalk, watched it roll into the gutter. How could he explain all the emotions he'd been through that year? When him and Spinelli started talking again, hanging out again, like old times, how could he explain that?

"Then what is it?" Vince demanded, "You knew how I felt and you snaked her from me."

"I didn't do anything! She" TJ trailed off, shaking his head, biting down that anger, "Do you know how much it hurt, feeling the way I did about Spinelli and knowing I could never do anything about it because my best friend, who I didn't want to lose, felt the same about her."

"You're kidding me," Vince spat maliciously, stopping in his tracks, glowering at TJ, "You held back because you didn't want to lose my friendship? What a joke. I bet you started dating her to get back at me."

"Oh, fuck you," TJ muttered, "You're the one kidding yourself. Yeah right, I stayed with Spinelli, spent every bit of free time I had with her, went through fights, and making up just to get back at you? I did it all just so I could come back here five years later, oddly at the same time as you, and make you jealous? What a load of crapâ€do you not realize how ridiculous you sound right now? I started dating Spinelli because I wanted to, because of how I felt about her, not you. I never gave you a thought when I was with Spinelli."

"Whateverâ€but now Spinelli knows everything. Now she knows how I feel, and she can make a better decision based on that," Vince said, continuing walking.

"You are unbelievable you know that?" TJ shook his head again, "You don't even realize how much pain you're causing her."

"Me? I'm not the one causing her pain," Vince chuckled at the prospect, "You're the one that hurt her."

"Maybe I didâ€but you helped," TJ told him, "And forcing her to decide like thisâ€well, it's not a happy-go-lucky experience for her." They stopped, reaching an intersection. They looked both ways. "You know," TJ started, glancing to the left, "If she walked down this way, eventually the road turnsâ€and you know where that would take her, right?"

"The school," Vince concluded, knowing exactly where the road went, "But why would she go to the school?"

"I don't know," TJ started walking down the road, "But then again, she wasn't thinking straight." Vince didn't argue, following TJ without question or protest.

Few cars drove past, and the sun was beginning its descent. For a long time they walked in silence, not wanting or needing to talk to one another. They were too busy thinking over their own problems and feelings, trying to sort through that new fight, those new statements. Eventually, they found themselves finally standing outside the building that held the most prominent effect on their youth. Third Street Elementary, the embodiment of their childhood.

"Old Rusty is still standing," TJ observed, smiling at that small piece of so many memories.

"She's not here, TJ," Vince muttered, frustrated, "Waste of time. She's not here; she can't be in there seeing as how it's all locked up. She's a bit old to be hopping fences. Let's keep looking."

TJ sighed, looking around, and not so certain that Spinelli would ever be too old to hop a fence. He stood there silently scanning the playground, the sidewalk, the chain link fence, looking for any sign, any clue that she'd walked by there. His eyes fell on a piece of gloss paper stuck to a bush sticking out of the fence. A photograph. He bent, picking it up and examining it, his mouth opening slightly.

"Spin" he mumbled. It was a picture of her, lying on the ground, unconscious, there in front of the school. Vince took the picture from TJ, looking up at the school and back down at the photo.

"She was here," he whispered, "Where was she taken?" Vince glanced up to look at the playground, and then lifted his head, to look again. Had he just seen someone standing, watching them? A little girl maybe? The wind picked up, causing goose bumps to trail up his arms. "Can we get going? This place is giving me the creeps."

"We have to find"

A scream cut through the silence of the day; shrill and sorrow-filled, like a dying animal. TJ and Vince turned to the school, eyes wide.

"TJâ€we have to leave" Vince whispered.

"No," TJ told him, determination steadying his voice, "I'm going in."

"TJ, you don't know what's in there," Vince argued.

"Spinelli was here, Vince. We know that she was. You can stay behind if you want, but I have to go in there, I have to find her," TJ said, staring up at the building he knew so well. He grasped the fence, pulling himself up. He hadn't jumped a fence in a long time so he was surprised that it didn't take him long to get to the other side. It was however a surprise when Vince leapt down on the pavement beside him.

"You think I'm letting you go in there yourself?" Vince scoffed when he received a quizzical look from TJ; "Somebody has to watch your back because I know you'll get yourself in deeper shit than we're already in. And we're supposed to stay together, remember? Mikey and the others would never forgive me if I left you alone." TJ nodded and Vince quickly added, "No matter how tempted I am." TJ smiled slightly, it was good to know that Vince was with him, almost like old times. They crossed the playground, knowing that the scream came from somewhere inside the school itself.

"I think we can still get in through the basement entrance," TJ said, leading them to the side of the building where twin wooden planks were laid out like cellar doors. TJ bent down to examine them. "They're locked," he commented, searching his pockets for something he could use to pick the locks. He found nothing.

"There's still the ventilation," Vince suggested.

"You think you can fit in them?"

"Do you think you can?"

"Let's go then," TJ sighed, standing up.

There were two places to get in through the ventilation; the front of the school, which was exposed to the street and any traffic or passer-bys, or the back of the school where the dumpsters lay and the smell was the only threat. So of course, the back was their best choice. Vince stood by keeping watch while TJ unscrewed the vent cover, and took a guesstimate of how big it was.

"I think we'll fit," TJ finally decided, then lifted himself into the tiny tunnel. Vince followed shortly, lifting the cover up to put back in place. TJ's estimation proved to be correct, and the young men crawled through the tunnels with varying ease. Because of Vince's height, he practically had to drag himself through the vents on his belly, but TJ was able to move through the metal vents as though he were still a ten-year old boy.

"You know where you're going?" Vince called up to TJ.

"Yeahâ€I thought I wouldn't, but now that we're in here, it seems like I never left Third Street" TJ replied, "You remember when we used the vents to sneak into the equipment room and retrieve all of the good balls for the rest of the kids on the playground?" Vince grinned, remembering that event clearly. They'd been the heroes of the playground, but all they wanted to do was ensure that everyone had a good recess that day and that the best kickball made it's way to their scheduled game with the third graders. TJ had had some good plans back then, making life so much more enjoyable for the gang. He'd had such a strong sense of what was right and what needed to be done, of what being a kid was all about.

"Yeah, or what about the time you deployed that stink bomb in the vents so it would circulate throughout the school and we all got sent home for the day while the building was fumigated?" Vince chuckled, "We all went to eat ice cream sundaes at Kelso's."

"I believe Prickly had a lecture on Ear Care planned for that day," TJ snickered. They broke into laughter until they realized whom they were with and fell silent.

"I remember the last time we used the vents for one of your pranks. A little girl ended up dead," Vince stated coldly. TJ said nothing to that, turning at a corner and, kicking the vent cover off, slipped out of the ventilation into a classroom. Vince followed, placing the cover back where it belonged. They looked around. The classroom was bare. An empty teacher's desk sat at the front with rows of student desks lined to the back of the room.

"It smells the same," TJ noted, making his way to the door and cracking it open. He glanced out, Vince standing beside him.

There didn't seem to be anyone in the halls or any sign that someone had been in that building for a long time, which somewhat surprised TJ at first. That is, until he realized, of course no one would be there. His father had explained the school had been shut down for nearly three years and wouldn't be reopening until the next school year. TJ motioned Vince to follow him and they made their ways out of the room.

The halls were eerily bare. No student work posted. No encouraging posters. No flyers advertising clubs or yearbooks. Nothing. They walked down the halls, ears perked for any sounds of motion.

-0-0-0-0-

Mikey balanced one of the film rolls on his nose, only for it to fall and roll across the floor away from him. A newcomer to the microfiche room, the only other occupant, gave him an odd look. Gretchen paused, glancing at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Will you cut that out, Mikey," Gretchen snapped, "One would assume you hadn't matured a moment out of kindergarten."

"We've been here for four hours, Gretchen," Mikey whined, "You won't let me help you look, you won't tell me what you're looking for, you won't take a break so we can get something to eat or anything"

"Go take a break then, Mikey. I have to work," Gretchen hissed.

"I can't leave you here aloneâ€what if our little psycho got you?" Mikey questioned. Their silent company, a young woman who appeared to be a college student eyed them funny. Gretchen smiled at her sheepishly, and then turned an angry glare on Mikey.

"Will you not talk about that here?" she whispered roughly.

"Gretch, you're starting to get little wrinkles in the corners of your eyes from squinting at the scanner," Mikey argued, "You've got huge bags, your eyes are turning red! All you have found in the past several hours we've been here, wasting our time in my opinion, is little updates on the progress of the construction on the school gym! You've only made it through five years of papers. Do you have to look at the town paper, as well as every county and state paper?"

"I've told you before, Mikey," Gretchen snarled, "I'm not certain of what I'm looking for or where I would find it! This is how I work, if you have a problem with that"

"I do have a problem with that," Mikey cried out in frustration, "Four hours, Gretchen! Four damn hours! And you have found nothing! Nothing, nada, zip, zilch! Whatever the hell you are looking for must not be there! Otherwise you would have found it in the same time frame as"

"IT HAS TO BE HERE!" Gretchen screamed. The college student grabbed her bag, slipping out of the room.

"What, Gretchen? What are you looking for?"

"I don't know. Some hintâ€some clueâ€some link to the past to stir my memory, remind me of what this is all about," Gretchen sobbed, "I can't rememberâ€it's like a science experiment that can't be tested, Mikeyâ€I can't figure out the solution"

"Gretchenâ€allow me to help you," Mikey pleaded. He pulled his chair beside her, rubbed her hand soothingly. She smiled half-heartedly at him. "Your first smile since you returned here," Mikey noticed. She looked a bit stunned, running an absent hand across her mouth and realizing for the first time how moody she'd been. Mikey pushed loose red strands behind her ears, kissed the side of her head, surprised she was allowing him to.

"I'm sorry, Mikey," she whispered, "I'm sorry things are the way they are."

"So'm I," Mikey replied. He smiled softly at her, "But there's no use apologizing if we don't plan on doing anything about it. Do weâ€do you?" Gretchen looked thoughtful, twisting her hair around her finger. Tears cascading down her cheeks, gathering at her chin and dripping on the scanner.

"How come you've changed?" Gretchen questioned, "You're like the old Mikey again."

"I suppose it has to do with TJ," Mikey shrugged and Gretchen nodded, knowingly.

"Gus should have never called TJ," Gretchen chuckled jokingly, "I mean, look at meâ€I'm a mess. If Gus and TJ hadn't conspired together, if TJ had never come back hereâ€I would still hate everyone and never look like this." Mikey wiped the tears from his own cheeks, feeling a knot of happiness grow in his throat. "It's true, I guess, you can't resist TJ Dettwieler's charm," she traced the bottoms of her eyes with shaking fingers, trying to clean up the mascara that was running. She smiled up at the large blonde man adding quietly, "Or the Mikey Blumberg charm." He slipped an arm over her shoulders.

"Did weâ€was that us talking things out?" Mikey inquired. Gretchen laughed which felt so good, and she found herself wrapping her arms around his chest and laying her head on his broad shoulder.

"I think so." They sat like that, finding comfort in that long forgotten place, the warm arms of a good friend.

They heard the door open again and pulled away from one another, seeing the college student return, taking her seat again and looking at them baffled and shaking her head. Mikey cleared his throat, looking down at the scanner.

"That's odd" Mikey mumbled, pointing down at the newspaper image. Gretchen's eyes trailed down to where his finger lay. "I didn't know they wanted to tear that down," Mikey said.

"Debate rises over whether to tear down old boathouse on Third Street Lake," Gretchen read, "Governor Gustav Delavan plans to replace the boathouse with a new resort on the lake. However protestors to said idea, Mayor Third himself being amongst them, argue that the boathouse is a historical landmark and should be preserved as such," Gretchen shrugged, looking to Mikey, "The governor must have lost. This was almost ten years ago, and that boathouse is still standing. When I walked by it, I saw it there."

"Gretchen" Mikey mumbled, "The governor's name is Gus."

"What? So" Gretchen's eyes widened, "'Gus will never win the debate'â€this can't be what it was talking aboutâ€can it?"

"It does seem suspicious," Mikey told her, "An odd coincidence?"

"I'm not sure" Gretchen said, rolling back to the beginning of the newspaper, "I won't know until I've looked through this whole thingâ€and even then"

"Alright, then let's start looking"

-0-0-0-0-

TJ trailed his hand along the wall, walking beside Vince in wary silence. He turned his head. Did he just see a movement down that hall? Maybe a shadow?

"TJ" Vince whispered. TJ looked at him. "There's no one here, let's go."

"Are you scared, Vince?"

"Yes. We're walking through an abandoned school in the dead of night with some psycho out to get us."

"First of all, the school's not abandoned, it's just not in use right now. Second, it's not the dead of night, Vince, it's only 5:40."

"Close enough. I also hate to bring this up, but you know how in scary movies they always say that the black guy"

"Jeez, Vince, can we not talk about that. That's only in the movies. You're not going to die."

"So you say" A giggle. "Did you hear that?" Vince stopped, eyes wide, looking about in fear. TJ turned to him, glanced about, straining to hear what Vince had.

"I didn't hear anything. What did it sound like?" TJ asked. Vince shrugged, wrapping his arms around himself.

"I've heard it beforeâ€right before" Another giggle and the sound of somethingâ€something -metallic? - scraping against the wall.

"I heard that," TJ moaned, "Let's get out of here." He grabbed Vince's arm and they broke into a run down the hall, hopefully in the direction away from their pursuer. The giggle, again, closer and louder, echoing off the walls. They ran blindly, turning around a corner where the hall split into the 40's and 70's, Vince threw open the bathroom door and heard it slam shut behind him. The giggling and scraping sound were gone.

"I think we lost 'em, TJ," Vince sighed, trying to catch his breath, "TJ?" No answer. He turned around, fear filled eyes searching the empty tiled room. "TJ? TJ? Oh man" The giggling, again. He turned, searching the room. "Who's there?" he cried bravely. No answer. Did the room just get hotter? Like a sauna, the air was burning up. There was a smell of ashâ€another giggle. He turned again, facing the sinks; they were stained with blackened red and the mirrors. Cracked mirrors, each reflecting his face, contorted with horror, and a little blonde haired girl standing behind him, features hidden behind tangles of hair, holding a porcelain doll, face bashed in covered in dirt and stained with mud and singe marks. Vince didn't hear himself scream, but he knew he had as he ran from the bathroom.

-0-0-0-0-

TJ finally stopped running, hearing the screams of a young man. He turned, his eyes scanning the vacant hall. "Vince?" he called into the empty air. He stared down the hall in the direction the scream had come from, his mouth parted slightly in a silent gasp. They had turned different directions. He cursed silently under his breath, strained to hear any commotion from their pursuer, and then started in the direction he assumed Vince was in, walking slowly, carefully, hesitantly.

There was nothing but silence, dead quiet clinging about TJ. He could hear his heart pounding in his chest, his breath, soft and steady. He trailed his hand along the wall, ran his hand through his hair. He heard the soft sound of footfalls, metal against the wall, the smell of burning, smoldering fire. He'd smelt that somewhere beforeâ€but where? He kept moving, picking up the pace.

"Darlin' you know I love you so" it sounded nothing more than a whisper that TJ barely heard at first, sweet and careful, a shaking unsteady voice singing warily, "â€I'll never let you go" Echoing through the halls. TJ stopped, gulping, turning about in confusion and fear.

"Hello?"

"â€but you're gonna leave me darlin'â€I'll follow you wherever you go"

"I don't know who you are" TJ called out, "I'm here for Spinelli." The singing stopped for a long moment of time the school's halls were silent again.

"â€baby, you know I love you" another song, different, "â€something's keeping us apart" angrier, "â€but someday you'll come again" louder, "â€you'll want me back" more confidant, "â€you'll be too late." Too late.

"Where's Spinelli? What do you want from us? Why are you doing this?"

"I told you to stay" a shaky, childish whisper. TJ's heart skipped, his throat went dry, and he couldn't swallow. "Why didn't you stay, TJ?" He clenched his fists, his stomach turning.

"What have you done with Spinelli?" he demanded, tears coming to his eyes, "Who are you?" An anguished cry came from down the hall and stirred TJ to action. He turned; sprinting towards Vince's direction, praying his former friend was all right.

"DON'T LEAVE!" came the uncontrolled scream. TJ turned into the first open door, nearly running into the taller young man, who was gaping, and facing the other side of the room.

"Vince!" TJ cried, almost throwing his arms around the man in relief, but stopping himself. Vince was staring at a panel of screens. Lined up and stacked, three rows of three.

"Security cameras," Vince explained, "We're in the AV roomâ€I didn't know they had this kind of setup."

"They must have recently put it inâ€what's wrong?" Vince pointed to the screen at the farthest corner.

"Wait for it" he told him. TJ stared at the screen as it flickered from different hallways and different classrooms, his ears perked, listening for sounds of their pursuer. Finally, it flickered to a classroom that seemed out of place. TJ didn't take time though to examine it and figure out where it was, because something caught his eye, most likely what caught Vince's eye. A hunched over figure, huddled in one corner of the room, head ducked down, black hair falling over shoulders and face. TJ didn't need to see the figure's features, though; he would know that person anywhere.

"Spinelli" he whispered. He stepped up to the screen touching it with gentle fingers, falling to his knees. The image had changed again, but he still saw her sitting there. "Spinâ€go back to her damn it! Is she all right? Did she look alright?" TJ cried desperately, tapping the screen, laying his forhead against it, closing his eyes, and whispering, "We're coming, Spinelliâ€please be alright." Vince just stood by, watching, not knowing what to say.

"TJ?" Vince finally spoke up, his voice a little strained, "The bathroomâ€I ranâ€I saw herâ€Mary Anna, it had to be her."

"She's dead, Vince, it can't be," TJ whispered, unmoving. His eyes snapped open. "This is my fault," TJ muttered, "It's my fault, what happened to Mary Anna. She's after me."

"Don't flatter yourself, TJ," Vince spat, "But my bruised body says otherwise."

"Noâ€sheâ€I" TJ fell flat. He couldn't tell Vince what he'd done. He had to talk to Spinelli first. She had to know first. He felt sick enough, knowing that he'd slept with that psycho. He didn't need Vince adding to the pain at that moment, or turning on him. They needed to work together to get to Spinelli.

"Where do you think she is?" Vince asked, making a wise subject change. Even though him and TJ were no longer close, he could still sense the way TJ felt and part of him still cared for the boy he'd once recognized as leader and best friend. Even as he felt so much animosity towards the man before him, he could still see that little boy with the red baseball cap and rumpled gray cotton jacket. And Vince couldn't hate that boy. No, he could never hate him.

"I don't know," TJ pulled himself off the ground, walking to the control panel and examining it. "If Gretchen were here"
"But she's not," Vince interrupted, knowing exactly the words that were going to come out of the shorter man's mouth. "Now would be an excellent time for one of your outstanding Dettwieler Plans."

"That would be nice," TJ sighed, "Except I don't make plans like that anymore." Vince narrowed his eyes at him.

"You don't make plans anymore," Vince repeated incredulously, "Now is not the best time to tell me this!" TJ shrugged. He looked back at the screens, watched them flicker, looking between the different screens.

"I think I know what room it is" he mumbled.

"Which room?" Vince asked.

The screens went blank, each one shattering. The glass shards flew through the air, one cutting into TJ's cheek, slicing deep. His hand went up to shield the rest of his face, the same with Vince who wasn't close enough to the screens to take as much damage as TJ, which allowed Vince to recover faster, making his way out the door. It slammed shut behind him. He turned, able to see TJ's desperate face turned to the door through the window; blood pouring down his cheek from the gash the glass had left. TJ ran to the door, fumbling with the knob. It was locked, and he couldn't seem to unlock it from the inside.

"Come on, TJ!" Vince cried nervously. TJ stopped struggling with the knob, meeting Vince's eyes. Vince knew what that look meant. "No," he told him, "I'm not leaving you here."

"You have to," TJ hissed, his voice muffled by the door, "You have to get Spinelli." Vince jumped back, seeing a figure move across the room behind TJ. His breath came in sharp. The deep loyalty he'd thought he'd lost for his former friend returning.

"Leave him alone," Vince cried through the door. TJ turned, looking at somethingâ€no, most likely someone. TJ turned back to Vince, brow furrowed with obvious fear, but jaw held stiff, stubborn. "No" Vince protested.

"The basement," TJ told him firmly, "It has to be. There was no window. Save her, Vince. Get her out of here. Don't let me down."

"I"

"Go Vince!" TJ commanded, "GO!" Vince nodded, turning away and bolting down the hall, trying to recall how to get to the basement from inside the school.

TJ turned away from the door, searching the darkness of the room for that hidden person he knew was there. He pressed his back to the door for support, searching. He saw motion to his right, turned his head. From the shadows she stepped, her hair falling in tangles in her face, her eyes deadened brown. She wasn't a little girl. She was a woman.

"You" TJ whispered, confused. "It's been you all along"

-0-0-0-0-

Vince ran down the stairwell to the brown door with the word "Basement" etched into it. He tried the doorknob, but it was locked. With a burst of strength and energy, he kicked the door and it was thrown open from his force.

"Teej�" a startled voice whispered. Vince couldn't ignore the sting that single name left. He walked into the well-lit room. There was a small form huddled in the corner, a frightened young woman, legs drawn up to her chest, eyes lifted slightly to stare at him, filled with tears streaming down her cheeks. He held his hand out to her.

"Let's go," he said. She stared at him, blankly, not sure what to say.

"Vince" she started, and then looked around at the walls. He followed suit, noticing finally the pictures, the thousands of Polaroid pictures that adorned the place. "She's been taking picturesâ€she's been stalking us, Vince. TJ and me." Spinelli held a picture up to Vince that she'd been grasping tightly to her chest. He took it from her shaking fingers, looked at it. It was picture of TJ. He wasn't awake in the picture, as far as Vince could tell, nor was he dressed. He looked a wreck, his hair a mess, his face and body glistening with sweat. Vince raised an eyebrow at Spinelli, as she stood up beside him, flipped the picture over. The word "mine" was written in red ink, several times.

"He was rightâ€this psycho is after him," Vince murmured, crestfallen, he buried his head in his hands, "I never should have left him"

"What do you mean?" Spinelli asked, her voice a squeak, "Where's TJ?"

"We have to go Spinelli," Vince told her, shaking his head, "We have to get out of here."

"Where's TJ?" Spinelli cried, "Not until you tell me where he is!"

"I think she got him" Vince croaked, "He's probably gone now. He told meâ€he told me to get you out of here. That's what I'm going to do." Spinelli shook her head at him, pouting stubbornly.

"No"

"We have to," Vince said solemnly. She struck him, her fist connecting evenly with his jaw. Vince said nothing, taking the hit in silence. She made to strike him again, determined to beat him until TJ appeared, but Vince grabbed her arm mid-swing. She wasn't even trying; there was no force behind her throws, no real anger. She was crying.

"He's gone?" she questioned, her voice so soft and innocent.

"He'll be alright," Vince promised, "We'll find him. I'll find him." She nodded, letting Vince drag her away. He was still grasping the photo of TJ.

-0-0-0-0-

Theresa hadn't expected a call, but she picked it up on the first ring anyways.

"Kelso's Diner and Convenience Store," she greeted in confusion.

"Like, finally!" a chipper voice cried on the other end.

"Ashley A.?" Theresa questioned.

"I have been, like, attempting to call you for, like, half an hour! The phone line was, like, always busy. Like, what have you been up to?"

"I've been calling the people Gretchen told me to, trying to get a hold of someone," Theresa explained, still uncertain as to why she was talking to Ashley A. who seemed to have reverted back to her fourth grade self, from the way she was talking. She sounded excited.

"Progress?"

"Menlo hung up on me, Butch isn't answering, and Francis checked out of his hotel nearly two hours ago."

"Damn," Ashley A. mumbled.

"Why are you calling?"

"Oh yeah," Ashley A. cried happily, "Have I got new for you!"

"What is it?"

"Gus."

"What? Where? Is he all right? Are you with him? Can I talk to him?"

"Calm down, they brought him into the hospital, like, half an hour ago, when I first started calling you," Ashley A. laughed, "He's here. They say he's, like, going to be all right. I think you should, like, come down here."

"I'll try," Theresa sighed, "But it started raining outside. I don't know if I could make it. I'm worried about everyone else, Gretchen and Mikey are still at the library, they called ten minutes ago, said they think they made a discovery. But Vince and TJ are still out there looking for Spinelli and the storm is getting worse."

"I'll like, send my driver," Ashley A. told her, "You should so be by his side."

"Thanks, Ashley A.," Theresa said, smiling softly, "Have you spoken to the other Ashleys? I mean, about what's been going on?"

"Not yet. I didn't have a chance. They brought Gus in right after I arrived here and I thought I should call you so you'd know. Is that, like, lucky or what?"

"Yeah, lucky" Theresa chuckled. Ashley A. had an odd idea of luck, but at least Gus was alright, "I don't know if I should leave Kelso's though, what if Gretchen and Mikey call again."

"I'll contact them at the library," Ashley A. told her, "Give them my cell number."

"Alright."

"My driver should be there in, like, ten minutes."

"Thanks, I'll see you then."

"Right. Bye!"

"Bye." Theresa hung up the phone, pulling herself up on her feet and waddling to the door. She glanced outside. The sky was covered with gray rain clouds and all the heavens seemed to be falling on the small town. She touched the glass door pane. In the distance she could see the lake and someone walking through the rain, dragging somethingâ€someone. She shook her head, blinked her eyes. The figure was gone. She sighed. She was seeing things. Gus, Theresa smiled, he was safe. She would be by his side soon.

END A/N: Who can it be? Finally, we reveal the psycho...but does it end the mystery? Not by a long shot.

Alright, the songs: The first one was "Shed So Many Tears" by whoknowswho?,'causeIdon't. AND the second was "You'll Be Too Late" by Don Rich. Bayou songs from cajun country (Louisianna, Mississippi, Georgia, and all those other little Southern states down there). I know that "Tom Dooley" is a western song, but I love it and it fit. So there.

Is this story getting odd or is it just me? It's got a few more chapters to go...don't fret yet.

NOW, go REVIEW. and THANKS for reading, please excuse any and all grammatical and typing errors. JOY TO YOU! Love much and see ya' next time. I feel so bloody brilliant right now...that feeling will pass soon.