EPISODE TEN

Katie's knees popped as she stretched them out. She'd fallen asleep sitting on her bed with her arms hugging her knees to her chest. She groaned a little. Her entire body felt stiff.

She yawned a little and checked her watch. 7:30AM. So she'd slept in, but it didn't matter because the entire town would be at the Horse Race and so the café would be closed. She almost groaned again at the thought of Gwen with Joe and slid down in her bed until she was lying down flat, but the thoughts of what Carl had said the night before still echoed in her head. She forced herself to stand up, stretching fully now.

Katie peeked in the small dusty mirror hanging on her wall as she passed it to leave her room. Her hair was a little messy and her bow that decorated her head was crooked. Her clothes were wrinkled from sleeping in them. She sighed a little, walking over to one of her suitcases that sat on the floor next to the door that she still hadn't unpacked.

Once she had gotten ready, she trudged out of her room and found Carl in the kitchen, washing dishes. "Good morning," Carl said cheerfully.

"Hey," Katie muttered. She was already in a bad mood, and somehow Carl's cheery attitude was making her feel worse. He noticed this and frowned a little.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Here, I'll help you with those." She rolled up her sleeves, moving so she was standing next to him at the sink. Gwen isn't that important to spoil my mood, she thought, picking up a dish. And neither is Joe. In fact, I bet there's loads of better guys than him. If he likes someone like Gwen, then he's obviously too dumb to be worth my time.

"Right," she murmured, feeling better. Carl heard her.

"What?"

"Oh, it's…it's nothing," she said, smiling a little.

---

Oh, she was going to throw up. She knew it.

Dia sat up, practically throwing herself out of bed and almost falling as she made her way towards the sink. She was trembling all over, but felt very hot. She tripped just as she reached the counter, putting her hands out in time to stop herself.

"That's disgusting," she heard someone say behind her as she wiped her mouth and coughed. She barely registered the voice; she felt so sick. She started crying suddenly, still bent over the sink.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" The voice seemed to soften a little, and she heard the sound of footsteps coming up behind her.

She slowly looked over her shoulder and saw Jamie, the angry expression from before still on her face, although she didn't look as harsh.

"I…I c-c-ouldn't s-sleep," Dia stuttered, taking in deep shuddering breaths. "And I-I-I…I…"

Jamie narrowed her eyes. "What is your problem anyway? Why are you doing this?"

Dia sniffled, frowning in confusion. "I-I'm not d-doing anyth-thing. I was t-too scared to s-sleep. I w-was afraid I'd have that d-dream…" She stopped, studying Jamie's face. She noticed how dark the circles were under her eyes, like she hadn't slept in a few days. "A-are you s-scared too? Are you scared of the dream? I-is that wh-why you d-don't sleep?"

Jamie's eyes narrowed further at this question, and she made a grunting sound, turning on her heel and walking over to her own bed. Dia watched how unsteadily she walked, but looked over as the door of the room opened.

"Dia?" the person said, and Dia's eye's widened. Was it already morning? She'd begun to lose track of time…

"Martha!"

---

Maria, Lyla, and Nina were gathered around the counter at the Library, just as they always were in the mornings, even though it was the day of the Fall Horse Race. Maria hated the Horse Races, Lyla was usually shy in crowds, and although Nina enjoyed the Horse Races, she almost always skipped them every year just to hang out with Lyla and Maria at the Library. And even though this all seemed routine, Nina could tell that things weren't entirely back to normal. But she knew that one day they would be. Even last night had gone smoother than Nina had expected.

However, Nina had been feeling uncomfortable all morning, and it wasn't because of the awkward feeling between the three of them. It was because she'd gone to the Harvest Goddess Spring, and had seen something that disturbed her. But she didn't want to bring it up, because it might offend Maria, but…

No, Nina told herself. This is important. I need to say something.

"Um…guys?" she broke in suddenly, and Lyla and Maria stopped talking to look at her.

"What is it, Nina? Something bothering you?" Lyla asked.

"Um, well…it's just that I went to the Harvest Goddess Spring this morning, you know, like I always do, and I saw that the statue…" She looked down now, not wanting to see Maria's face. "I saw that the statue was broken. There was all these weird cracks covering her face."

The three girls were silent for a while before Maria finally spoke in a hushed voice.

"But what does that mean?"

Nina looked up in surprise. "I…I don't know. But I feel really worried for some reason. Something isn't right." She paused for a moment. "…You guys can feel it too, can't you? Eve said she could. I know that something is happening."

Maria and Lyla looked at each other before looking back at Nina.

"Yeah…you're right," Maria said softly.

---

Katie and Carl soon finished with the dishes, leaving Katie bored with nothing to do. She mainly hovered around the kitchen, feeling restless as she watched Carl reorganize everything, helping him here and there, but she mainly just stood there.

"Hey Katie?" Carl said suddenly, and Katie looked over at him eagerly. Maybe he'd have something to entertain her with.

"Yes?"

"Could you take the garbage out?"

Katie let out a long sigh; this was the complete opposite of what she'd wanted to hear. She remembered how Wallace, her grandfather, would always make her take out the trash. She knew that he had been getting old and that he wasn't strong enough to do it himself, but still. It was gross.

She pulled the bag out of the can with another exaggerated sigh, but Carl didn't seem to notice. He was too busy fixing some bowls sitting on a shelf. That's what was so interesting, if not weird, about Carl; he was so obsessive. Everything had to be perfect, and if it wasn't, he'd spend all day on it and not give up. But honestly, who makes mixing bowls look decorative? She watched as he first nudged it to the left, and pushed it back over to the right, further than where it had been before. It was almost annoying, but she still stood there, watching him. He finally took the bowl down off the shelf and walked over to a cabinet, setting it inside and having a pleased expression on his face. He saw Katie still standing there.

"Katie?"

"Oh, yeah…right." She pulled the bag entirely out of the can and turned to leave the kitchen. That was almost cute, she thought as she walked out of the café. Almost.

It was pushing the door open again when she stopped, realizing what she'd just thought.

Wait…what? Cute? Where did that come from?

---