Casper flicked the coin into the air. It caught the sunlight as it spun. It flipped once, twice, and then fell with a plop into the water of the fountain.
"Make a wish?" he suggested.
"I wish this was over," said Drew. Tears streaked her face. Jerry had been a good guy, but Seb was one of her best friends.
They were sitting on the edge of a grand fountain in the park. Trees surrounded them. A breeze made the leaves rustle.
There had been the necessary statements after Seb's death. That was yesterday. Now Drew was getting very worried.
"You wish what was over?" Casper asked her.
Drew looked at him. "Don't you see it yet?"
"See what?"
Drew gestured wildly. "This! Jerry! Seb!"
Casper stared at her. "What do you mean?"
"Look at it like this. Twelve people got off that bus, right? And now, all of a sudden, two of them die in freak accidents within twenty four hours of each other. That can't be a coincidence. Something wanted us to die on that bus. Thanks to my premonition, we didn't. So now it's back, to claim those that cheated it."
"So you're saying that this… force that's after us… it's the Grim Reaper?" Casper looked at her incredulously.
Drew nodded. "That seems to be the most likely explanation. And there's something else."
"You've really given this a lot of thought, haven't you?"
"Yes," admitted Drew, "I've been thinking about it since Seb died. Look, it seems like a long shot, but I think I can work out the order the survivors will die in."
Casper was definitely worried now. "Are you all right, Drew? Are you still in shock over Jerry and Seb?"
"No! This is the truth! It might not mean anything, but in my dream on the bus, Jerry died first. Then Seb died shortly after that."
Casper considered this. "So we're dying in the order we should have on the bus? You know, there's a hospital around the corner, if you don't feel…"
Drew pushed him away angrily. Casper, caught off guard, fell off the fountain.
There was a roll of thunder. To their surprise, it began to rain.
Passers-by hurried away, but Drew remained where she was. She was thinking aloud. "So if my theory about the order of death is correct, then…" she tried to remember. It wasn't all that difficult – she saw it in her dreams every night.
"Zack is next!" she declared, and leapt to her feet.
There was a bolt of lightning.
It struck a nearby tree.
A large section of the tree fell on Drew.
Casper was horrified. Drew wasn't dead, but the tree had pushed her into the water in the fountain, and was holding her there.
She was drowning.
Casper grabbed the tree, and tried to move it, but to no avail.
Drew's arms were flailing around at either side of the tree. She didn't have long to live.
Something possessed Casper. He remembered the day before, when he had failed to save Seb. He didn't want to fail Drew as well.
With a superhuman effort, he managed to lift the tree.
Drew emerged, gasping for breath.
"See!" she exclaimed. "I was right!"
"You were wrong," said Casper, manhandling her into a taxi. "Okay, so I guess we are all dying, but you said Zack was next. But it's not. It's you."
Drew had been thinking about this, too.
"I think I know what happened," she said. "You see, I think I was supposed to die after Seb. I moved to the back to let Sam sit with Danny. Now, Danny told Sam to grab the wheel after Seb died. Sam refused, and Zack did instead. But had it been me, I think that I would have gone for the wheel. And I would have died."
"So it's you, then," commented Casper. "And then Zack. Then who?"
Drew screwed up her face. "As far as I can remember, if I add myself after Seb, the order was: Jerry, Seb, me, Zack, Phoebe…" She faltered.
Casper looked at her. "Then me?" he said quietly. She nodded sadly. "Keep going," he told her.
Drew continued. "You, Brett, Alexa, Zoë, Leo, Danny, and lastly, Sam."
Casper was upset. "You mean, we're just waiting until you die now?"
Drew nodded. "I guess so. Zack is safe until I die, at any rate. Thanks for saving me, by the way."
Casper forced a grin. "Come on, say thank you properly." He leaned in for a kiss.
Drew was about to reciprocate, when she saw someone crossing the street out of the corner of her eye. She suddenly pulled away from Casper. "Now what?" he said.
"Zack!" breathed Drew. "There he is!"
And there he was. He was heading for a department store.
Drew leapt out of the car. "Zack!" she yelled.
Zack turned around.
Drew and Casper ran over to him.
"What?" he said wearily. Zoë was beginning to wear him down. He was here to buy her a new pair of shoes. He knew that, when he got home, she would announce that she didn't like them anyway. He sighed.
He listened as Drew explained her theories to him. When she was finished, he laughed at her.
"Come off it! Two people die and you assume we're all dead meat!"
"But it's true!" Drew wailed. "And when I die, you're next!"
Zack guffawed. "Yeah, right."
He began walking backwards, towards the doors of the shop. They slid open when they sensed his approach.
"Please listen to me, Zack! We need to get together and-"
"Shut up, Drew! I don't care!" He raised his arm and pointed at her. "You believe what you want!"
He was moving backwards through the open doors now.
"If you think you're next, then you go ahead and wait to die! As for me, I'm getting on with my own life, thank you very much. I'm not going to die now!"
Now he was inside the shop.
And then the automatic doors slammed shut.
They slid open again.
Zack stared in horror. His arm had still been outstretched.
Now it was lying on the floor.
Blood was flowing freely from what was left of his arm.
He collapsed.
"Zack!" Drew and Casper both screamed at him. "Get up NOW!"
But Zack, weak from the shock of what happened, couldn't move.
And the doors slammed shut again.
This time, they were in line with his neck.