AN: I didn't want to give anything away, before, but now I gotta give a shoutout to the reviewer who called it! Once you read, you'll see. Thanks for the reviews yall. I'm having alot of fun writing this!

Chapter Seven: September

The transition between seasons are always calm in Haddonfield. Today, the sun is gentle. The wind smells sweet. Children are scattered throughout the park. Some dip their tiny feet into the lake. Their laughter ring like bells. Melodic and innocent.

All while Laurie cries on the park bench with her brother on one side and Annie on the other; they never end up shopping or getting that hotdog for Michael.

Though Michael's face reveals nothing, Annie rubs her hand up and down Laurie's back, knowing all too well how much this means to her and how it might be a stab through her own heart.

"H-how?" Laurie blubbers.

Annie looks down at the grass tickling her sandaled feet.

"Engine fire," Annie murmurs. "My dad's been gone all morning trying to figure out how it happened. Something about a damaged spark plug."

Laurie's face falls to her hands as she leans forward and balls. No one is around to judge her. And Annie is understanding and Michael probably doesn't know anything.

But, all the understanding in the world doesn't make Laurie feel any better.

"The Tramers are thinking of holding the funeral next month," Annie says.

Laurie cries harder while the breeze picks up and blows through their hair.

XXX

Once they return home and Annie has left, Laurie fixes dinner for her brother, but has a hard time trying to find the kitchen knife. She wants to make him something with plenty of vegetables because she can't stomach the idea of handling meat without feeling sick to her stomach.

In the end, she never finds it and uses a smaller blade instead. As a result, cooking takes a little longer, but the meal is ready by seven and after she readies his plate. She doesn't wait for him to collect it. Only drags herself upstairs and falls into her bed in her dark room and thinks to cry but is incapable of shedding the tears from the well of her heart that has dried up.

Her body is exhausted and she begs for sleep, but her mind is haunted with daydreams and polite smiles and "Hey, Ben, how are you?"s and the cheery "I'm doing great Laurie!"s bordered by cheeky laughs and twinkling eyes and every so often a rising blush which doesn't go away until third period.

Hunger was gnawing at her earlier today but after discovering Ben Tramer's death, the emptiness in her gut is a good distraction from the hole in her heart.

The clock on her bedside reads eleven, when Laurie decides thinking like this is unhealthy. Annie had told her to try to get sleep, take a break, and unwind. School and stress are only enablers to worsening the situation and she'd said that Ben Tramer was seeing someone else at the time, like that would lighten Laurie's devastation. It made her less inclined to have Annie present as she mourns but it's not like Lynda could provide any solace. She hadn't bothered to call Laurie once or visit.

But, Laurie's not mad at her for that. She's really not mad at anyone.

Accidents always happened. And the only person she could blame is fate and maybe God, but Laurie doesn't. It's silly to think such things.

All she could really do is wade in her grief and maybe write this in her diary.

With all the speed of a slug, she reaches over to her lamp and turns it on. It flickers and drowns her face in soft yellow light. When she shuffles to her desk, Laurie is struck with mild surprise. Sitting open, with a crease in the page, her scrawl stares back at her. The date written on the corner is one she distinctly remembers and never forgets because she occasionally comes back and reads through it.

"Dear Diary,

All the girls love him. Every morning he's lost in the crazy horde which jams up the hallways. I never make it to first period on time because it's either the football team or the cheerleading squad I need to elbow my way through and am elbowed back. But, today, Troy Capper was being incredibly rough and my books fell to the floor. My face might have been flaming as bright as a tomato on fire and I could hear Tracy Dacke laughing under her breath while I tried to crouch down and pick them up. With my luck, Billy Haring stepped on my notebook, and I was trying to do my best to not be stepped on as well. That's when I saw a pair of feet stop in front of me, pushing Billy off to the side as someone picked up my homework. Could you believe it? I couldn't.

He's really handsome holding out my notebook like that.

I think I know why all the girls love him now."

Laurie knows exactly why she feels angry in that moment, and if she weren't in the state she was in, maybe she would've thought twice about her actions and wouldn't have barged into Michael's room, to find him sitting on the edge of the bed, staring blankly through the window.

And while she tries to get his attention in a voice that's louder than conversatorial, her hand grabs his shoulder and that's when she realizes she's made her grave mistake.

As her breath leaves her lungs, Laurie slams into the mattress and the sheets which smell like they belong in the hospital.

Danger drums its warning beat in her chest as she looks into the dark eyes of her brother whose body traps her beneath him.