Ryan and I were up in my room studying for our exit exams to determine what kind of high school we were going to. My relationship with Troy was going great. The next day we had a date at the movies.

.:FLASHBACK:.

"Here Ry, test me on these." I handed him a study sheet that I had created the day before. I flopped down on the couch in the study room and waited for him to ask me a question.

"Okay…um…what's the---" He was cut off by a horrible loud crack in the air.

"Ry, what's going on?" I asked him. The crack surely sounded like a gunshot. A scream was heard and another crack sounded through the air. The scream belonged to Mom.

"THOUGHT YOU COULD HIDE FROM ME? WELL, GUESS WHAT? I FOUND YOU, DIDN'T I? NOW I'M GOING TO FINISH WHAT I STARTED!" It was David. I knew it was.

"No, please!" Mom was begging him. "What do you want? I'll give you anything! Just don't hurt the twins, please!"

"YOU KICKED ME OUT TWELVE YEARS AGO! AND I WANT TO MAKE YOU SUFFER LIKE I SUFFERED!" More screams and another gunshot…it sounded like it went through the wall. Ryan and I finally figured out what was going on and I was panicking.

"Oh god, Shar, he's going to kill her!" Ryan was pacing around the room. I was in shock. What about me and Troy? What was happening to mom?

"Ry…what do we do?" I whispered.

"GET OUT, SHARPAY. Leave the house. Here…" he opened the window and threw a chair at the screen. It broke. "Get out of the house through the back gate, okay? I want you to go, run down the street and get help, okay? Don't go directly next door. He might look there." Ryan noticed the tears coursing down my cheeks, so he grabbed my hand in both of his. "Listen, Sharpay, get out! David's dangerous." There was a crash, and it was closer to where we were. "Go, Shar. I promise I'll be okay. I won't leave you, remember?" I nodded.

"D-don't leave me alone, R-ryan. I d-don't want to be alone," I was whimpering between sobs. He pulled me into a hug and I broke down further. "DON'T LET ME GO, PLEASE! I CAN'T GO!" I wailed. I wouldn't let go of him.

"WHERE ARE YOU, YOU UNGRATEFUL BRATS?" David howled. Ryan pried me off him.

"Go now, Sharpay! Hurry up!" He led me to the window and helped me through it. "GO!" he sighed. "I love you, Sharpay. Now go."

I was shaking and just standing there ."I-I love you t-too," He gave me a small push and I ran. I ran faster than I ever did before, Ryan's screams and yells repeating over and over inside my head, down the street, and deciding to go somewhere safer, I turned right down another street. The first house I came to I ran up to the door and pounded on it. An old lady answered it.

"C-can I please use your ph-phone?" I gasped for air and she let me in. I tried to dial 911, but my hands were trembling so badly that I had to hang up twice and start over because of mistakes. I barely could tell the person my address, and once I did, I hung up weakly. I collapsed on the floor and sobbed. Loudly. I mean, really, really loudly. It sounded like if you stuck a hundred babies that were crying all at once in one room and just listened to that.

I cried for my mom and Ryan. I cried because of my wretched father. I cried for all those harsh names anyone has ever called me before in my life. I cried for pain, despair, and death. I cried for the fact Troy and my relationship was at stake. But most of all, I cried for the innocent life that I never had, and never will have.

The sirens were ringing through the air once again, so that was my cue to leave. Still crying my eyes out, I picked myself up off of the floor, thanked the old woman and walked out the door, towards my house. It took me about five minutes because I was walking slowly.

I approached the house. There was noise everywhere. Ryan suddenly spotted me and ran up to me. He was crying almost as hard as me, and THAT was pretty hard. My twin-ish instincts took over and I just started hugging him randomly.

"Ryan, what happened?" I asked. "Did they catch David? Where's mom?" Now he was sobbing. I knew something happened because he never, ever showed emotion like this. Never.

"She's dead, Sharpay! She's DEAD!"

No. She couldn't be dead. That only happened to people in movies and things like that. That couldn't happen to us, could it? A few minutes passed and I was still in shock. I'd become numb to all things around me. I let go of Ryan and glanced over to the front door. There was blood everywhere coming out of the house all the way into the ambulance. The ambulance arrived. But it was too late. She was already gone.

"Oh god, no…" I felt sick. My head hurt. This was just a bad dream, it HAD to be. In just a few minutes my alarm clock will go off and I'll wake up from this nightmare. But it never did. I was soon engulfed in darkness, and Ryan was yelling my name.

.:END OF FLASHBACK:.

That was the day that my biological mother died. She was the mother that guided me through all those times when David came to our house and tried to harm us. All through the years I wanted to be just like her. I remember when I was four I once said to her, "Mommy, when I'm a grown up, I'm gonna be just like you!" She had smiled at me then. Mom had died to save Ryan and me.

The funeral was a dark time. I didn't have the courage to give a speech, or even listen to the whole ceremony. Ryan held my hand through the whole thing, but I couldn't feel it. I was empty inside. The week I went to school, I avoided everyone and I didn't participate in class. My straight-A's turned to B's, then into C's, D's and F's. I really didn't care anymore. My MOM was gone! She was gone and now I had nobody to confide in. My nightmare of being alone was coming true. And I didn't even get to tell her that I loved her.


Remember in "Preschool Problems: Year 1", how in the present day section, Sharpay and Ryan's "mom" was there? That was their foster mom, just to explain that.