Chapter Five: Dead End

Troy and Emma had spent days searching for any information involving the mysterious mark on the wrist of the unknown woman. So far, they had found nothing. All their searches hadn't even pulled up an image of the mark. Troy resorted to having to draw it out for Emma. It was as if the mark didn't even exist.

Frustrated Emma slammed the laptop shut. "There's nothing. Not even a picture."

"Maybe it's because it's not real. My brain made it all up. My mind really is playing tricks on and I'm really going crazy." Troy gave a half-hearted laugh.

"No. No, there must be something out there. There has to be a logical explanation." Emma had begun to pace now.

"Look, Emma. It's alright."

Emma sat back down, looking defeated. "I'm sorry Troy. I really thought we would find something. It's just…I really wanted answers."

Troy reached across the table to grab her hand. "I did too. But we're obviously looking for something we're never going to find."

Emma shook her head. "I refuse to believe that." She pulled her hand free out of his grasp, opening the laptop. "We just have to keep…"

"Emma stop." Troy sighed. "Just stop. Please. It was a bad dream. A nightmare. That's all there is to it."

"Troy…"

"Promise you'll stop looking." Emma could only stare at him. "Promise me you'll leave it alone."

"Troy…" She didn't want to stop looking. She wanted answers but the look he gave her proved to her he had given up. "I promise."

"I should get going. It's getting late." Emma glanced at the clock, nodding in agreement.

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow." Once she heard the door close behind Troy, she picked up the paper with the drawing, staring at it. Then she folded it neatly and placed it in her pocket. Grabbing her keys and jacket off its hook, she headed out the door.

Noah was tired. As soon as he had gotten home he was looking forward to some much-needed sleep but just as he was about to close his eyes, he heard his mom call out for him.

He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping sleep would take him and his mother wouldn't insist. Unfortunately, she did, yelling for him to come downstairs.

With a groan, he grabbed his glasses off the nightstand and walked out of his room. He leaned over the railing and he noticed that she was talking to someone at the door.

"Mom?" he called. "Who is it?"

His mom turned, looking up. She moved out of the way, given him a better view of the person.

It was Emma. She waved up at him, smiling sheepishly.

"Emma?" He started to climb down the stairs. "What are you doing here?"

"I need a favor." She pulled the slip of paper out of her pocket and placed in his hand. "I need you to do a deep search of anything related to that." She said pointing at it. "Can you do it?"

"Yeah. I can. What is it?" He questioned unfolding it.

"I don't know but you can't tell anybody about it." Noah looked at her then at the drawing.

"This better not bring any trouble." He told her.

"I just want to know what it means."

"I'll let you know what I find tomorrow." He said folding it back up again. Emma thanked him and apologized for bothering him so late. Once she had left, he closed the door, leaning against it. Then he pushed himself off it and headed upstairs to begin looking. It looked like he wouldn't be getting any sleep after all.

The next day, Noah had to rub the sleep out of his eyes as he walked into school. He was so tired he barely heard Jake call his name. He let out a yawn then glanced up to see Jake standing right next to him and Noah almost fell back, surprised.

"Hey there buddy. You're jumpy today." Jake laughed.

"Sorry. Didn't get much sleep." He readjusted the strap on his bag. He had slept in a bad position, hunched over his computer and now his shoulder hurt.

"You shouldn't study so much," Jake told him as they walked to math class. "I'm pretty sure sleep is a requirement when it comes to good grades."

Noah couldn't tell him the real reason he had been up late. Emma had asked him not to so instead he said, "I guess that's why I'm getting opposite results."

They took a seat at the back of the classroom and as he pulled out his notebook, he saw Emma walk in. She looked at the empty seat next to him and started to walk toward it, but someone got to it before her.

"Everyone find a seat." The teacher said. Emma was still standing, looking around the room. She was trying to find a seat close to him, but they were all taken. "Emma?" The teacher called. "There's one right in front of you. Please sit down."

"Sorry. I didn't see it." She said, taking a seat.

During the whole period, Emma kept turning around to look at Noah. Gia had to call her name multiple times just to get her attention. He could see in her eyes that she was getting desperate. It seemed like if she stared long enough, she'd be able to psychically read the information he had for her. Towards the end of the period, she had begun fidgeting with her pencil.

Noah knew that Emma didn't want anyone to know about the drawing, so he wrote down the information on the piece of paper she had given him the day before. Gia would most likely be with Emma once the class was over, so he wouldn't be able to verbally tell her.

As soon as the bell rung, signaling the end of class he heard a pencil snapping and Gia asking Emma if she was okay.

He held the paper in a fist to conceal it and began to walk towards them. Jake followed right behind.

"Hey, Gia," Jake called out. Noah went to stand next to Emma. She looked up. "Did you understand the lesson today?" She nodded. "Think you can help me? I was lost the entire class."

She turned to face him. Noah saw his opportunity to slip Emma the note. He made a motion as if to grab her hand, handing her the paper then quickly dropped his hand back to his side. Emma held it tight.

Gia pointed behind her. "You have a smart friend right there. I'm sure he would love to help you." As she said this, she glanced at Noah out of the corner of her eye. She saw the gesture Noah made and she frowned. Before she could ask him about it, he started to drag Jake out of the classroom.

"We're going to be late to our next class. You can talk to her later. Bye Gia. Bye Emma."

Gia turned around. "What was that?" she asked Emma.

"What was what?" She asked, stepping into the hallway.

"The hand thing. Why was he trying to grab your hand?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She didn't give Gia a chance to speak again. "I have to go to the bathroom." Then she took off down the hall. When she reached the bathroom, she checked to see if anyone was inside. She knew everyone was probably in class by now, but she had to make sure.

Once she made sure all the stalls were empty and no one would walk in, she unfolded the paper. On it was the drawing Troy had made and right below it two words were written.

Pai Zhuq