Rain: Chapter 3

The first three months of school seemed to go by fast. I was getting A's and B's in my classes and I was part of the dance team. Larissa and I were also becoming very popular with all the students while Ramie was becoming popular with the teachers… I seriously had no idea how she was doing all this without getting caught or without catching something else. The only teacher she couldn't get to was Mr. Jericho. He wasn't about to risk his job just because some random girl wanted to whore her way to good grades. Soon I had stopped talking to her completely.

"Girl that looks fabulous on you," I told Larissa. We were out at the town mall shopping for Winter Formal dresses. She had tried on a light blue spaghetti strapped dress that rose just above her knees.

"Thank you Carmen, now you have to find a dress."

I looked down at the floor, "I don't think I'm going Rissa, I think I should just stay in that night."

"Awe but why? Is it because you don't have a date?" she asked.

"No that's not it at all, I just feel like I should stay home."

Larissa put her hands on her hips, "No, you are going and that's final. Now let's go find you a dress!"

I smiled and turned around to look at the dresses. As I was searching, I saw a tall man walk into the store. He was wearing a long black trench coat with a bandana tied around his head and his long black hair tied back into a braid. He also had a pair of back sunglasses that hid his eyes very well. In his hand was a silky black dress wrapped in plastic. He handed it to the sales clerk before looking back in my direction. I looked away quickly and pretended to be looking for something to wear.

"Did you find something yet?" Larissa asked. I shook my head. "Well I did…I hope you like red."

I looked at her to see what she had and I was surprised by her choice. It was a red strapless dress that had a nice thin red lace layer on top and a solid red layer underneath. It looked a little short but I was sure I could manage it.

"Wow, let me try it on." I said as I took it from her.

"Go for it girlie!"

Once I walked into my dressing room, I was greeted by a full length mirror. I quickly got undressed and slipped into the dress. I smiled when I saw that it fit me perfectly. Before I walked out to show Larissa, the lights shut off.

I froze and looked around only seeing myself in the mirror.

"Carmen….Carmen…" I looked around trying to figure out where the voice was coming from but there was no one there. "I'm coming for you my sweet pet….just wait…"

I tried opening my door but it wouldn't budge. "Larissa? Larissa come on this isn't funny!"

"What are you talking about? I'm not doing anything,"

I stopped trying to open the door and then turned around to see if there was a way I could climb out. Unfortunately I came face to face with a figure in the mirror. He was just as tall as the guy at the checkout counter only he had on a black cowboy hat and his hair fell at the sides of his face. I backed up against the door trying to get as far away from him as possible.

"What's the matter Carmen? You look like you've seen a ghost?" he said.

"Who are you?" I asked. "Why are you following me?"

He smirked, "You will find that out sooner than you think my dear…just wait and see."

Suddenly, he disappeared and the lights came back on. I let out a sigh of relief and then opened the door to show Larissa my dress. She was standing on the other side of the door with a blank stare on her face.

"What happened in there girl?" she asked.

I sighed, "Nothing I thought I saw something but there was nothing there."

She nodded her head and then complemented me on the dress. I decided to buy it since it was so cute and very cheap. As we were leaving the store, I saw the tall man again sitting on his motorcycle just staring at me. I froze to look back at him but Larissa broke my stare.

"We should get some shoes Carmen, since we're out now."

I looked back in his direction and then agreed with her. "Come on let's go."

We got in the car and headed off towards the shoe store. Every now and then I would look around to see if the motorcycle guy was following me, but I didn't see him at all.

Soon I just started to relax and enjoy my time out with Larissa. We ended up stopping at a smoothie shop after we picked up some shoes and other accessories.

"This dance is going to be so much fun don't you think?" she asked me.

I smiled and nodded my head, "Yea it will be alright as long as I don't freak myself out every few minutes."

"What do you mean by that?"

I sighed, "Listen, something happened to me in my past and I think it's starting to affect my future."

Larissa listened intently as I told her about that dreadful event six years ago. I then told her about the mysterious man I had been seeing a lot lately since I revisited the funeral home.

"Most of the time he comes to me when I'm alone…I don't know what he wants."

Larissa seemed horrorified by my story. She took a few sips of her smoothie and then told me what she thought.

"Well do you think this man is someone from your past? Maybe he's trying to convey a message."

"I'm not sure, but there is something very familiar about him…he seems very mysterious like my old friend Mark."

"That e-mail you received, do you mind if I take a look at it?"

"I'll show you when we get back to the room. I still can't catch whatever is in that background."

She smiled, "Well you've got a great person here to help you. I love solving mysteries."

I smiled at her, happy that I had finally found a new friend I could hold on to.

When we got back to the house, we went straight into my room and I opened up the video for her to see. She watched it thoroughly a few times before finding what it was that I missed.

"Wait! Do you see that on the side of the house?" she said as she rewinded it and then paused it.

"Look very close…it looks like there's a boy there crawling out the basement door on the side of the house."

I looked at it closely and then played it. She was right, there in the picture was one of my friends crawling out of the house and out of the picture. He was hard to spot because of the tall weeds that were partially hiding him. I zoomed in on him and then cleared up the photo.

"Oh my gosh…it's Mark…"

Tears formed in my eyes as I looked into the eyes of my best friend. Mark was alive? But if this is true where could he be now? I walked to my bed and sat down. "Ok so now I know what this person wanted me to see…but now I need to find out who sent me the video."

"I can do that for you too," she said as she started typing really fast on my computer. It took her several minutes before she hacked it. "Ok here it is. It was sent from the Summerville Funeral Home."

I froze and looked at her with confusion on my mind. "That's impossible…that place is burned down now there is no way it was sent to me from that place."

She shrugged, "Well that's where the computer was at the time it was sent to you so it would have to come from someone with a laptop-"

"-And someone with a purpose to get to me."

I sighed and then got up from the bed. I started biting my nails feeling very scared for what was happening. One of my best friends was alive and well, and someone wanted me to know it. Could it be him? I shook off that thought and then thanked Larissa for the help. I then got on my cell phone and called Paul.

"What's up sweetie?" he asked.

"Um Paul I'm sorry to bother you but I was wondering if you had a laptop at all,"

He sighed, "Don't tell me yours broke."

"No it didn't..but someone sent me something from a laptop in Summerville and I was wondering if it was you?"

"No not me dear, I don't own a laptop. What did they send you anyway?"

"A video from six years ago…about the accident."

He fell silent, "Why would they send you that?"

"You are never going to believe this but…Mark's alive."

"What?"

"He's alive Paul. I saw him crawling on the side of the funeral home. You can barley see him but I know its him."

"Well…that changes things…uh I have to go sweetie, we'll talk about this later OK?"

"Ok dad,"

Without another word he hung up. I tossed my cell phone on my pillow and sighed, "Well that was nice."

"What did he say?" Larissa asked.

"He told me he would call me back later. I'm not sure why he reacted like that."

Larissa shrugged, "maybe he needs to make some calls and find the video for himself."

"Yea maybe."

Larissa and I started our homework while Ramie got herself ready to go on one of her little flings. I swore that girl was going to end up hurt one day. I just hoped that I wouldn't be around to see it.

Later on that night I got myself undressed and put on my pink robe so I could get in the shower. I turned on some light music and then went into my bathroom to begin my relaxation. As I showered I thought more about everything that was slowly starting to happen in my life. I wasn't sure what was going to happen but I really hoped that me or Paul didn't end up hurt because of it. While I was drying myself off, my cell phone started ringing. I didn't recognize the ringtone but I answered it anyway.

"Hello?"

"Hello my pet…remember me from earlier?" said a deep voice.

"Who are you?" I asked. "What do you want with me?"

He laughed a little, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you Carmen."

"Yea well there are a lot of things around here that I didn't think I would believe,"

He laughed again, "Feisty…I love that in a woman."

"Oh I bet you do," I said. "Now tell me who you are,"

"Sorry darling, that will have to wait," Click.

I sighed and snapped my phone shut. I then looked over at my computer and saw that I had yet and other video message. Slowly I walked over to the computer and clicked on the video. What I saw nearly brought me to tears…