This chapter was brought on by a deal. If I posted a chapter of Blindfolded, Artemis would post a chapter of The Unfound. So, I tried super hard with this one... and I'll be bringing on the end of the school year and this story.

Blindfolded

Eleven

Lilian watched her cousin tap her pencil on the paper, her head bobbing in time to the music she was listening to on her walkman. She'd been laying on the floor like that for awhile.

"Hey, Jen?"

Nothing.

"Jen!"

"What?" Jennifer asked, rolling over and pulling her head phones off. Lilian pointed to the video camera in her hand.

"I've been recording you laying there for long enough-"

"You recorded that? Put some awesome music over all of this and take out the original audio and it might make a nice sentimental video if I die."

"You're supposed to be helping me with my project."

"Whaddya want me to do?"

"I have questions you can answer for me."

"Like math questions?"

"No! Interview questions."

"Ah. Go ahead, shoot," Jennifer said with a smile, sitting up. Lilian watched her for a moment. Her headphones around her neck, her blonde hair in a messy ponytail, and a hoodie and sweat pants on... she was suprised Jennifer was allowing her to do this.

"They're gonna be kinda personal."

"I think I can handle it."

"Alright. This is supposed to raise awareness about stuff."

"Like what?"

"Well, there are a lot of misconceptions about adopted children because of Hollywood and stuff. What was it like for you to be adopted?"

"It's strange. I was put up for adoption when I was about... oh, I dunno, five, what ever, who cares. I was young enough that I didn't understand what was going on. I can't remember my birth mother, but, again, who cares. I have a new family and they're kinda cool. Sometimes."

"Gee, thanks. Did you ever wonder about what might have happened if you hadn't been put up for adoption?"

"Of course I did. I mean, who wouldn't? But I didn't get all angry and emotional about it. I was relatively happy. I grew up like any normal kid and I'm going through a normal teenage life. Being adopted didn't change that."

"And what about your mom? Did you ever wonder what caught her eye about you?"

"...Yeah," I did, Jennifer said slowly, staring at the camera. Lilian was worried she had asked a bad question, until Jennifer continued. "But I think I know why. I reminded her of someone she loved very much and she wanted to give me the chance that they didn't have."

"...So Jen, what're you listening to?"

"Elvis, surprisingly enough," Jennifer said with a grin, holding up her walkman and waving it in front of the camera. "And I'm getting hungry, so you can come back to me later. Muah," Jennifer laughed, kissing the lens of the camera and walking away.

xxxx

Jennifer sat in the middle of Alice's old 'Get away from it all' room, trying her best to clean everything up and get it in some kind of order. She didn't want to just leave it a dusty mess. She had been getting used to seeing dead people walking around, and even seeing events was becoming everyday.

She just wished that she had someone besides Lilian to talk about it with. She'd complained to Dallas a few times and he'd snap back at her and leave, so that was proving kind of pointless.

"Why is there so much... paint... of the same color?" Jennifer muttered to herself as she tossed the paints into newly color coded boxes.

"They aren't all the same. That red is obviously lighter than the other ones."

Jennifer nearly cracked her neck she looked up so fast.

"So... I hear you know how everything happened. And that you've been seeing some dead people wandering around."

"...Uh... yeah, I have."

"Oh, yeah, Happy Belated Birthday! Sorry I couldn't make it. I tried, really, but, I have to watch over some people and it got a little busy... You were always so obsessive about things like this," Alice said, sitting on the floor and picking up a box of blues. "But you could never find any of your own things. I never got that."

"...Why are you here?"

"Guardian Angel. Dallas kind of messed up again and I have to work to get into heaven now. The bastard. The only perk is that I'm sixteen again... he was worried I wouldn't remember you on my own, so he spurred my memory. Told me to come here."

"He seems to fuck everything up," Jennifer muttered, throwing a yellow into a box.

"He has a habit of doing those things on accident. Trust me though, if you really need help, he'll help. You might not realize it right away, but he helps."

"But you didn't get better."

"No... I didn't," Alice said, smiling serenely and picking up a shade of green. "But he tried. He really did."

"Is that why you fell in love with him?"

Alice was silent for a moment, separating more colors. Jennifer watched her, taking in her long hair and the yellow ribbon. How pretty she was. "I don't know why I fell in love with that boy. But I did... and it's harder to fall out of love with someone like him, believe me."

"It ruined everything..." Jennifer said, glaring at the purple paint in her hands. Alice sighed and left the paint alone, studying her daughter.

"That's true... I wish it hadn't. I tried my best but... I guess my best didn't cut it in this case. You probably hate both of us now."

"I don't hate you..." Jennifer said. She wasn't sure how convincing she was, especially since she had refused to make eye contact with Alice so far. "You lied about Dad."

Alice apparently had nothing to say about that. "I hated him my entire life and it turns out... I probably should have been hating you. And now I'm just another emotionally fucked up teenager thanks to you!"

"I tried to stop that from happening but... I guess I just wasn't cut out to take care of someone else... Dallas had tried to convince me of that too... said I could barely take care of myself. I guess I should have listened to him. He's not as dumb as most people think."

"Could've fooled me," Jennifer said flatly. Alice laughed.

"He could fool a lot of people. But deep down there somewhere, he cares about things. He cares about his friends-"

"Did he care about you?"

"In a way... I think we both cared about each other. Mine was just more extreme."

"You loved him."

"Yes, but I don't think he loved me. I just wasn't willing to give into that, I guess. That's one thing I never really got to teach you. You have to learn to let go of things like that, unlike me."

"Is that why you came here?"

"Oh, no. Technically, I'm not even supposed to be here, but, who cares. I have a right to see my daughter, at least, that's what I think. And Dallas used to visit me, even though he wasn't supposed to. They all did..." Alice said, trailing off and setting the paints aside.

"As long as you still have that ring, you'll always have someone following you around that isn't supposed to be. You have your own guardian, but, more couldn't hurt. Especially with all of these new abilities you have. Oh, can you do me a favor, before I leave?"

"Sure," Jennifer said, though her enthusiasm suggested she'd rather be jumping off a bridge. "But you have to tell me something first."

"Alright..." Alice said, watching her daughter carefully.

"Why... do I look so much like Dallas?"

"...You aren't related to him, if that's what you're thinking. Sometimes, after people die, children are born that bear resemblances to people that have died, even though they aren't related in anyway. Kind of like the whole past lives thing. Your mother was a blonde though..." Alice said offhandedly. "...But that is why I adopted you... it was a selfish reason, at first, but I wanted to take care of you because you reminded me of him. I figured you at least deserved the chances he didn't get.

"That changed, after a while of course. You started reminding me less of him as you became your own person. So I moved on and began painting pictures instead. I was hoping that once you became your own person, I'd let him go, but... it didn't happen."

"Now, my favor that I ask of you is to go up into your Grandmother's attic and find any sort of string instrument that may be hiding up there," Alice said with a smile.

"What am I gonna do with some violins?"

"I want you to keep the one in the blue case, but the others you can give away. I don't want them wasting away up there anymore," she explained, fading away. Jennifer watched, and sat there once her mother had completely disappeared. She sighed and stood up, walking out of the room and shutting the door behind her.

"Dad! I need your car keys!"

xxxx

"I remember that old thing," Ronnie said as Jennifer passed the blue violin case down to him. "Apparently, she painted it blue herself... she played at school sometimes. But she hadn't played since she graduated from high school."

"Was she any good?"

"Amazing."

"Why'd she stop then?"

"I have no idea..." Ronnie muttered as Jennifer came down from the attic. "She just left them here and didn't mention them again. She did things like that though. She was a hard person to understand."

"Yeah..." Jennifer muttered, taking the case from him. She inspected it carefully, expecting some other sort of secret note that she had seen so much of over the summer, but there was nothing there. Just a blue case with a violin inside. It was probably the most normal thing she had seen from her mother since she died.

"The case isn't that interesting Jen," Ronnie said suddenly, disrupting her thoughts. She squeaked and nearly dropped the case, sighing when it didn't hit the ground.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you..."

"It's fine," Jennifer said cheerfully, pushing her hair behind her ear and holding the case at her side. "I'm gonna go put this in the car. Can you ask Grandma if she knows what she can do with those other ones?"

"Sure," Ronnie said slowly, watching his daughter with a frown as she walked away. She was getting to be more like her mother every day... he just wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

Jennifer tromped down the steps to the sidewalk and walked to Ronnie's car. She dug the keys out of her pocket and unlocked the back door, carefully setting the violin case in the back once she managed to get the door open.

"Natalie?"

Jennifer jumped, nearly crushing her fingers in the car door. She turned quickly glaring at the little boy. She looked up and down the sidewalk, noticing that the only ones outside were in their own front lawns a few houses down.

"Leave me alone!" Jennifer hissed. The boy frowned and stared up at her.

"Where's Natalie?"

"I don't know! My name's Jennifer, not Natalie. This is the third time I've told you that. Please leave me alone."

"You should help him out."

Jennifer put a hand on her forehead. "I don't want you telling me what to do Dallas."

"Hey, if it gets him to leave you alone-"

"Alright, fine!" Jennifer snapped. "Both of you get in the damn car."

xxxx

"This would be a lot easier if you knew where you wanted to go," Jennifer said bitterly, gripping the steering wheel. The boy just stared at her from his place in the back seat. "Dally," Jennifer whined looking at the blonde sitting next to her.

"Jennifer," Dallas mocked. "I don't help dead people."

"Try!"

Dallas sighed and turned to look at the boy. "What's your name kid?"

"David..."

"I need your last name too, ya know."

"..."

"You don't know your last name do you."

"No."

"Oh fuck this!" Jennifer snapped. "Go hang around a graveyard, okay? I don't know any Natalie and I'm not her!"

"Harsh," Dallas said, leaning back in his seat. Jennifer watched as David disappeared.

"...I'm a bitch."

"You sure are."

xxxx

'Alright, so... I'm a bitchy person... to little dead kids. What the hell is wrong with me? Oh... I have to study for that test tomorrow...

'Eep and I have to ask Dawn for Matt's number. I lost it already. Guess mom was right, I can't keep track of my own stuff... but I always know where everyone elses stuff is... again, What the hell is wrong with me?

'...I forgot, I can't ask Dawn until tomorrow at school. Dad grounded me for stealing the car and driving off on my own with some boy. Aka Dallas. Why he decided to drop in, he didn't say. He was grinning as I got in trouble though, the ass hole.'