They were dead. Rotting, their muscles tearing as they moved toward her, blood dripping from the ruptured organs that had been crushed by the car. . . As dead as dead could get. Dead, dead, dead. Not gettin' any deader.

Whatever. More importantly, I am dead. Dead, dead, dead. Well, I guess that's what you get for staying up till four. A.M. As in - the freakin' morning! But, anyways, here ya go. I will try to get the updates going more quickly, but, just to let you know, I've only planned one more chapter after this. Sorry.

In other news, Chloe is not dead, but severely dead like.

I thought I was doing fine. I thought I was going to be able to stay awake. I thought I could actually make it. I had just answered an Algebra question correctly, I didn't feel tired, at least not any more than normal. The day was actually going pretty well, and-

Then my head slammed into the desk and I snapped awake. Woops. Dreaming again.

Mrs. Jacobs looked at me sharply, and I waved my biology book weakly, hoping she would assume I had dropped it. She just frowned and continued with the lesson, explaining about the structure of the esophagus or something like that. I tried to concentrate for a few minutes, but my eyelids wouldn't stay open. Kari poked me in the back as my head started to stray towards the desk, and I jerked back upright. One more period. One more period until lunch. One more period until I could take a break, take a nap. Sleep. I'd forgotten what that felt like. A nice long, peaceful, uninterrupted sleep. Huh. When was the last time I had taken one of those? Oh, yeah. When Derek was still around.

The night before I hadn't really been able to take even a small nap. The fear of dead animals long buried on the side of the road tormented me into wakefulness each time I tried. Raising an animal at home was highly unenjoyable, but a much more appealing idea than the bodies of raised roadkill following the path of the bus down the highway in broad daylight until they reached my house. That little image kept me wide awake.

True to my previous predictions, I had arrived home on Thursday at 4 A.M. I have a feeling I'm one of the few teenagers to ever be awake willingly at that hour. It's dark. Really dark. I tripped over the step on the way in the door. I fell into bed, hoping for a few minutes of blessing sleep, but it seemed like almost as soon as I had, my alarm clock was beeping loudly, that annoying, shrill ringing that set my teeth on edge. I probably would have hurled it out the window if I'd had enough energy for anything more than rolling out of the warm, soft blankets onto the floor. I had turned the shower on icy cold, hoping the temperature of the water would shock me alert, but that only worked for as long as I was actually in the shower. When I looked in the mirror I realized the dark, heavy purple circles under my eyes weren't going to disappear even with the thick makeup I used every morning. Still, I did my best, then skipped breakfast so I could nap on the couch. Actually, I don't know if nap is the right word. I kind of just sat there with my eyes half opened, hoping to prevent myself from falling into a deeper sleep and not waking up until, oh, I dunno, a corpse crawled up me.

I really wished I could skip school today, but I knew Aunt Lauren would never let me forget it if my visit with Derek interrupted my school day. More importantly, she wouldn't let Dad forget it, until he had promised not to let me go on any more spur-of-the-moment trips.

I almost agreed with her. I had returned to school after our adventures to find that I was failing almost all of my classes, and my grades had stubbornly refused to go up, as I failed to stay awake in class, slept through the assignments, missed the assignments, forgot the assignments, didn't finish or didn't even start most of the assignments, and was so tired that I couldn't stay awake at home either. It seemed like my life had turned into a quest to find every opportunity to catnap that I could. And catnaps could only get you so far.

It really seemed like I could only get a good nights sleep if I took those pills, or if Derek was there. In desperation, I was planning on taking one of the pills tonight, hoping that catching up on a little sleep would let me at least get a decent grade on my Biology quiz. If taking that medication (which turned me into a living zombie) was the only way I was going to be able to sleep, I should probably just drop out of school and say good-bye to my directing dreams right now.

Biology slid by in a blur of images that I caught between sleep and wakefulness. Then the bell jerked me out of a half-dream again, not for the first time that day, and I walked out, extremely grateful for the lunch period.

I doubted there were any dead bodies around the school, considering how the janitors freaked out if you spilled a drop of soda on the floors. I didn't know about the ghost janitor that had chased me that first day I could see ghosts. I hadn't seen him, and even though I had tried to contact him once, he hadn't responded. Hopefully he had passed over and I wouldn't need to worry about him chasing me any more.

There aren't many quiet places at A. R. Gurney, but one that I loved was the auditorium. When it wasn't crawling with ghosts. I had also inspected the entire stage, looking for anything scary movie worthy, but hadn't found a single suspicious trace, so I put my previous encounter down to nerves and my own overactive imagination. Or a ghost that was now gone.

I pushed the auditorium door open and stepped in. Maybe it has something to do with wanting to be a director, but I've always loved that big, open, silent space in front of the stage. I could just imagine the place, crowed with props and actors, as one of my plays was acted out. And maybe later adapted for the silver screen.

Yeah, it's a vain idea, but it's what every single director or film writer has dreamed of.

I walked down the shadowy aisle to the front row, then up onto the stage. It was dark, but I knew my way around well enough to find what I needed, reaching out in front of myself so I didn't run into any walls. Some of the costumes from elementary plays were packed away in the back boxes, and I was able to use them to make a reasonably comfortable bed. The crystals sewed into the Cinderella costume kept poking me in the stomach though. I set my watch alarm to go off five minutes before sixth period, and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the, er. . . balled up head piece for the Rat King costume in The Nutcracker. I fell asleep on a rat head. A rather morbid picture, but the fluffy stuffing shoved into its head was soooo soft.

I don't know how long I slept, but since I started raising bodies, I've kind of started to wake up if there are any weird, possibly caused-by-animal/human-zombie sounds in the near vicinity. So when I suddenly snapped awake in the almost pitch black darkness, I was considerably nervous as to why I had woken up. More appropriately, what had woken me? I didn't hear anything, but that didn't mean nothing was there. I sat up and listened carefully, trying not to panic.

"Hello?" I called quietly. "Is someone there?"

Maybe it was just one of the other kids, trying to play a joke. But who knew I was here? No one. Someone could have seen me, but I hadn't really noticed anyone. Maybe that hadn't been such a good idea. I'd seen way to many horror movies where the innocent, wandering student was killed off by a silent murderer, and I scrambled up, breaking out in goosebumps.

Then I heard the sounds.

They were wet, like something was slapping softly against the floor, again and again, in no particular pattern. It was coming down the aisle, toward the stage, toward me. There was a faint, odd clicking sound also, like . . . I didn't know, but I needed to find out. As I heard another wet slap against the wood floor of the stage not far away, I rushed around the curtain, searching desperately for the light. There were more of those wet slaps, and I was convinced that whatever these things were, they were jumping onto the stage. The clicking sounds had stopped at the foot of the stage, and I heard what sounded like grunts as the things repeatedly bumped into it.

I had almost reached the light when the things making the wet sounds caught up with me. I felt something jump onto my jacket and then fall back to the floor with a plop. A moment later, something else hit me, this time in the face. It was clammy, cold, slimy, wet, and moving. I shrieked and jumped back, falling against the curtain that momentarily supported my weight, but then gave wayquickly, sending my falling back with a rush of panic as I lost my balance and more of the slimy things jumped onto me. Slapping the tiny bodies away, I jumped up and rushed for the light. I scrabbled blindly for the switch, and my fingernails scraped over it, flicking it on. There was a dull click, and then the dark theater was lit with brilliant light. Unfortunately, it also blinded me.

After a few moments of squinting against the glare, things started to came back into focus, and I looked around blearily. Then I screamed. A girly, damsel-in-distress scream. So you know it was bad.

Crawling toward me, getting closer and closer, were frogs. Thirty or forty of them, using stiffened legs to jump slowly across the stage. They were staring at me with dull, lifeless eyes, freezing me with fear, and then I remembered the other sounds, the clicking, and I skirted around the frogs, and looked down at the base of the stage. I nearly threw up.

Pigs. Fetal pigs, their bodies still not fully formed, their eyes and ears closed, like they would have been before they were even born. Their bodies were tiny and pink, bald, and their skin looked tight and wrinkled. I clapped my hands over my mouth to hold in another scream and backed up slowly. My foot squished on something, and there was a crunch. I had forgotten about the frogs, one of which I had just stepped on. I shook the smashed body off of my shoe, and it fell to the floor, where it lay for a moment before getting up again and limping towards me, closely followed by the other frogs. The pigs had found the stairs, and were trying to climb them. But the bigger ones who could get to the higher steps kept falling on the small ones.

I had to calm down and release them. But some of the pigs bad managed to crawl over the edge of the stage, and the frogs had never stopped advancing on me. I was trembling; I was so scared, and all I could think was get away! Get away from the frogs!

I backed up against the wall, trying to calm myself down, wishing there was somewhere I could go so that I could release the dead animals without them being able to reach me, while staying in the auditorium. No such luck. I took a few deep breaths, counting how long I inhaled and exhaled like Aunt Lauren's meditation DVD said to do. I tried to ignore the click, click of the pigs' hooves, and the wet sounds of the frogs coming towards me. One of them jumped on me, and I shuddered, but didn't open my eyes.

I pictured them all in my head, this big group of dead animals, trying to make sure I remembered them all. Their spirits being released, drifting up to the sky, again and again, until I couldn't hear anything anymore. I cracked open my eyes and looked around, then breathed a huge sigh of relief as I realized that they had all stopped moving.

I just stood there for a few moments, getting my breathing back to normal, and wondering how I was going to get them all back to the Biology room, which was obviously where they belonged. Then I heard the door to the auditorium creak open slowly, and I looked up, panicking, hoping that it was one of my friends instead of someone I didn't know. It might be difficult, but I could probably convince Beth, Miranda, or Kari to keep the subject of dead animals quiet, but someone I didn't know wouldn't know what to think. A large figure was outlined in the shadows of the door, and then he stepped forward. He was wearing loose jeans, a loose, dark T-shirt, and his black hair was hanging over his eyes. As usual.

"Chloe?"

I was off the stage and streaking down the aisle in moments, and then I barreled into him, and he grunted in surprise as I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. A second later his arms came around me gently, and I grinned up into emerald green eyes.

Derek.

"How did you get here?" I burst out.

"Nice to see you too," he remarked dryly, his face serious, but his eyes smiling.

I grinned and squeezed him tighter. After the nightmare with the frogs and pigs, I felt like I was in heaven.

"I missed you," I said quietly.

He looked skeptical. "Chloe, you just saw me yesterday. And please, don't say something like 'I'm in pain when we're apart,' or another equally cheesy or sappy line."

I just grinned more. "I saw you as a wolf Derek. It's not like we could actually talk or anything. And this is perfect timing," I continued innocently, "because we have some work to do."

He looked puzzled for a few moments, then I watched as he looked around with widening eyes at the auditorium, at the pigs at the stage steps, and the frogs on the stage.

I nodded ruefully. "Yeah. I guess we're going to be doing dissection in Biology."

He just gave me a look and shook his head, squeezed my shoulder, and we started to clean up.

~W~S~

After that, there wasn't any chance of hiding anything from him. If I was using the lunch period to hide out in the auditorium and sneak a nap, there had to be something wrong.

"Why aren't you taking the pills?"

"Because they make me act like I'm on drugs, and even though I can actually get a few hours of sleep after taking them, it would probably be better if I hadn't."

He frowned. "I'll talk to Dad and Andrew about it, but until then, try taking just half a pill. That should be enough to let you sleep pretty deeply, without such strong side affects."

I nodded, trying to cover a yawn. We had collected the frogs and pigs in plastic bags, and then returned them to the biology room. Except for the frog I had stepped on. We had to throw that one out. Now we sat in the back of the auditorium, talking quietly, and I was dreading when the bell would ring in five minutes.

He was here because Mr. Bae had wanted his help in picking out a new dining room table set, this time a really strong set, specially made and ordered out of solid steel. The guy who had sold it to them had had some urgent business or something, so Mr. Bae had needed Derek to help him get the new furniture. While Mr. Bae had to do some shopping and visit a few friends in town, he had dropped Derek off at my school, knowing that the lunch period was coming up.

"What classes do you have next?" he asked suddenly, and I looked up in surprise.

"Study hall, then art, then PE."

"So you don't have any really necessary subjects?"

"No . . ."

"Then why don't you skip those classes and sleep while you can?"

I just stared at him. "Huh?"

He rolled his eyes. "Dad takes a long time when he's talking to old friends, so this would be a perfect opportunity for you to get some sleep. You told me that you can always sleep when I'm with you, so we shouldn't have any problems with raising corpses, and you told me last night that you have a biology test tomorrow. You need to sleep so that you can study."

I blinked, and then nodded. "There are some trees out in the back yard; it's really nice out there, and you'll be able to hear when Mr. Bae gets back if we're outside."

He nodded. "Good idea. We'll wait until the next bell so that no one notices."

So we sat there quietly in the middle of the auditorium, waiting. I held his hand tightly, trying to keep myself awake, but I drifted off against his shoulder, and he shook me awake gently a few minutes after the tardy bell rang. We got up and headed for the back exit, Derek walking silently behind me as I tried to be as quiet as possible.

The school area was surrounded by a fence, but near the back there were a few big maple trees, popular lunch spots during the spring months. We sat down under the one in the corner of the yard, and I settled back against him, the cool of the shade and the warmth of Derek's body quickly making me drowsy. His arms were around my waist, and I could hear him breathing quietly behind me.

I'm not really sure why I could always sleep peacefully when Derek was there. Maybe it was because I always felt safe when he was there. Maybe it was because he would know if I raised something, and would be able to tell me. Maybe it was because I trusted him, more than I had ever trusted anyone in my life.

Whatever the reason, it didn't take long for me to drop off into a deep, dreamless sleep.

~W~S~

"Chloe. Chloe, wake up. Chloe come on, get up; school's over."

I opened my eyes blearily, wondering why someone was shaking me awake. It couldn't be time to get up for school yet, could it?

I looked around and saw Kari crouching beside me. The tree's shadow had moved, and I was laying in the sun now. Oh, yeah. Derek had been here.

I sat up and looked around. I could hear people shouting and cars driving off from the parking lot. How long had I slept, and how had Kari known I was out here?

"Chloe, come on!" Kari urged, dragging on my hand. "I need to take the bus today, but that Derek person made me promise to wake you up. And how do you know him?"

I blushed as I stood up. "He's a friend of mine. . ."

"As in boyfriend?"

I blushed more and nodded quickly.

"Well, that sure explains a lot."

I stared at Kari, more than a little confused. What did that explain?

"Huh?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "Chloe, there had to have been come reason you turned Nate down when he asked you to the dance. I asked you if you were going and you said you were free that day, but you didn't know if you wanted to. Me and Beth and Miranda were really confused."

I didn't know what to think, let alone what to say. Fortunately I didn't need to; Kari just kept talking.

"What I don't understand is why you never told anyone, especially us. Come on Chloe, we're your friends, there isn't any reason for you to keep secrets like that. It's not like he's embarrassing or anything. A little grumpy maybe, but really Chloe, he is hot. I mean the muscles, and the hair, and he's so tall! Where did you meet him?"

I grinned. Hearing someone talking like that about Derek was something I would need to get used to. I wondered what her reaction would be when I answered her question.

"We met at Lyle House."

She stared. "Oh. . . Does that mean he has some sort of mental issue?"

I shook my head. "According to the doctors, he had some problems with anger management; he got in a fight with some kids, but his brother, Simon, told me that the whole fight had happened because some jerks were ganging up on Simon for no reason. He is kind of grumpy sometimes, but he's a lot nicer one you get to know him."

Kari breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I thought maybe he was some kind of abusive boyfriend or something. I was about ready to call the police. But why didn't you just tell Nate that, and why haven't I seen you with him before?"

I hadn't told anyone because I would have needed to explain things, at least pertly, and I was happy if people didn't ask to many questions. But I realized now that Kari and my other friends were confused and worried about me and Derek. I, blushed, ashamed. I had forgotten that I still had friends here. I tried to think of what to say without giving anything away.

"Well, first of all, he lives 300 miles away. It's kind of difficult to see each other when we're that far apart. The only reason he was here today was because his dad had to come into town. I didn't tell anyone because. . . Well. . . I don't like talking about it was like at Lyle House, and can you imagine the kind of rumors that would spread if the other kids knew about it? I was in that house, with the guys, and our own bedrooms, with limited adult supervision, for more than a week. And if they found out I had a boyfriend with me there? I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I'd like as few people to know about him as possible."

Kari nodded her understanding. "Well, that might be kind of difficult now. He was standing in the middle of the hall between periods, asking if anyone named Kari, Beth, or Miranda knew a Chloe. And, ya know, the guy is huge. Luckily, I was in that hall, but if you didn't want anyone to know about him, I think your luck just ran out. You know no one can keep a secret here."

I nodded, and we started to walk back out to the front of the school. "I guess it was bound to happen at some point, and it's probably better if we get this done with and out of the way. Is Nate that upset?"

Kari snorted. "Chloe, you really are blind. The guy has been so confused since you turned him down, and he keeps staring at you. We've all been worried, but I think he's the most concerned about you. You guys were really good friends before, and now you won't say two words to him. You look like you're sick, or about to go to sleep half the time, and we're all really worried." She was watching me with concern.

I felt terrible. I hadn't realized how worried Nate was about me, hadn't even considered if how I was acting was affecting them in any way. I had only been so focused on what had happened, I had forgotten that my other friends back here still cared. I tried to think of why I would have shut them out so much, but I realized I already knew the answer. Back here, back in this school, no one was a freak who raised animal and human bodies from the dead. They were normal, and I didn't feel like I fit in to this life anymore. But thinking about it now, I realized that I had tried to separate these two lives. The life I had come to accept, with the necromancers, werewolves, witches, and sorcerers. The life where the people who accepted me were. And then there was my school life, with the normal people around me who I didn't quiet relate to anymore. I tended to avoid them, to shut them out, which was exactly what I shouldn't have been doing. They were still my friends, even if they didn't know what I was. They didn't think I was enough of a freak to shun me, so why was I doing it to them. I had friends on both sides of my life.

All of a sudden I felt really warm and happy, just knowing that fact. I grinned at Kari.

"I have insomnia, which is why I've been so tired. The new pills I've had aren't working quite right. But don't worry, I'm feeling much, much better now."

She shot me a perplexed look. "Well, if you say so. But you might want to talk to Nate, explain about Derek." We were in the parking lot now, and I saw people giving me some weird looks. Nate was by his car, trying not to look at me. I smiled at Kari.

"I'll go talk to him right now."

She smiled. "Great. You actually do look a little better Chloe."

"I feel better. Thanks Kari. See you tomorrow!"

She headed for her older sister's car, waving, smiling, and shaking her head at me; still slightly confused, I knew. Meanwhile, I headed over to Nate. He was trying not to be really obvious as I walked up, and failing quite badly. I tried for a smile, and me tried to return one. I realized just how awkward things had gotten between us. I decided to be blunt.

"So you was Derek?"

He nodded. "Even if I hadn't seen him, I would have heard about him. So, you guys are . . . together?"

I nodded, blushing a little. "Just so you know," I said, "it's not your fault or anything; the way I've been acting, I mean. I've just been kind of tired, and a little stressed, and I'm. . ." I hesitated, "I'm just trying to get my life in order right now. It's nothing you did, it's me. I haven't been really aware of things recently. I'm sorry."

He looked at me for a few moments, and I looked right back at him. Then he nodded.

"Have you been having trouble with that Spanish stuff? I know irregular conjugations are hard for some people, but I'm pretty good at that stuff. Would you like to come over and study?" he blurted out hurriedly.

I hesitated. "As friends?"

He nodded firmly. "As friends."

I grinned up at him. "Then sure. You know, I can't understand half the stuff they say; all the little words keep getting me confused."

He nodded, smiling too. "Alright then. Are you ready now?"

"Just let me call Milos and Dad to let them know what's going on." I took out my phone and hurriedly punched in the numbers, and couldn't help noticing that I suddenly felt more light, happy, and alive then I had in a long time.

Oh, God, that was horrible. And I know it took me forever, but I really, really, hated this chapter, and it was so different from how I had wanted it to turn out, but honestly, you guys have been waiting so long I just had to do something about it, and I did some editing, and then I just said "Heck with it," and posted. The next and last chapter will be out sooner and will be much, much better than this chapter of horror, believe me. I hope. : P