EXPOSURE:

Exposure occurs when light is permitted to strike a digital camera's image sensor or a traditional camera's film - i.e. when the sensor/film is exposed to light.

"Morning," I turned to find a petite redhead peering up at me. Her perfectly manicured hand retreating from my shoulder, which she had just tapped impatiently. Obviously I hadn't responded quick enough for her liking. As I looked down at Lydia I realised 2 things, one I should really try to paint my nails more often and two she was much shorter than I had remembered. Even with her designer heels she only reached my nose. How was it possible for someone so tiny to control so much of the school! Though I guess it might have just been me. I hung out with Matt, who even if he would not admit it openly I was fractionally taller than so often I forgot that most girls our age were pretty short. "You're friends with that office hand Audrey right?" she paused waiting for me to reply. I merely cocked an eyebrow and tilted my head slightly encouraging her to continue, "oh right you don't talk."

"I do, I'm just waiting for you to tell me what you want," I replied my eyes glued to her hand as she twirled a single curl round her fingers.

Lydia's face lit up at my revelation, "oh good that was so Wednesday Adams. Anyway, I need something from the office and your friend is being so uncooperative. You wouldn't mind asking her for me right?" The ends of the words almost popped as she smiled sweetly at me. I frowned back.

"I'll help if you drop the clueless act," Her lips pouted before she straightened herself up gaining some height and rolling her shoulders back. That was more like it here was the queen bee Matt and I loved to watch buzz around the school. I began to head towards the newsroom knowing the senior would be fussing with last minute changes to the paper. "Audrey is an easy one to crack once you know her buttons," I stopped and looked back over my shoulder at the girl, "well are you coming?"

By the end of the day, after some light flattery and some heavy bribery, I was able to hand a list of the year group's birthdays to Lydia. Why she needed to know everyone's birthday was begun me and honestly I didn't really care. By the time I realised how odd the request had been I was engrossed in an argument with Josh about which film we were doing to rent later that evening. "Why can't we watch it?" he whined childishly as we returned home.

"Watch what sweetie," mum asked as she swooped down the stairs. Her flowery dressing gown bellowing out behind her as she juggled a laptop in one hand and glass of wine in the other. She said the wine helped get the creative juices flowing. I say she just used to help pretend everything was as perfectly normal as she portrayed to the world when off on book tours. I mean come on, how can she brag about a perfect marriage when Dad hasn't been home in weeks. He had recently taken to staying at fancy hotels and well anywhere that wasn't here.

"Emma isn't letting me pick the film for film night even though she has picked the last 3 film!" He continued on in the same childish tone he had started. As annoyed as I was, I was pretty proud of how he had skirted around our mothers question so easily.

"Oh don't be such a meanie Emmie dear. Let your bother pick tonight's film," I wasn't sure whether to tell her now the film he wanted to watch was a gruesome horror I was too young to rent or wait for him to have horrific monster filled nightmares. I snorted to myself. As if there wasn't enough of them in the household already. I smiled tightly at the pair in front of me before thrusting a thumbs up in their direction. Without another word I turned quickly on my heels and slid back out the front door.

"Hello? Is anybody working here?" Jackson's voice filled the store as I pushed my way through the glass doors he muttered something angrily to himself as he looked around the unusually deserted store. "Finally," He turned round to look in my direction as the door shut and the bells chimed signalling my arrival "oh it's just you," his face struching up into a look that seemed to be both disappointed and disgusted.

"Always such a charmer," I shot back as I strolled up to meet him in the centre of the store. My eyes drifted to look up at the half changed light hanging from the ceiling. We both glanced around again for an employee or another customer as we walked toward the desk. Something wasn't right. Jackson seemed to feel it to as his expression shifted to one of concern. I followed his gaze and found him staring at two booted feet laying limply in one of the aisles. No, something was certainly not right.

A large hand clasped my forearm as I started to move toward the motionless boots, "what are you doing," Jackson hissed at me. I merely stared back at him eyebrows cocked and a look of confusion edged into every line of my face. What the hell did he think I was doing? With a sharp tug he pulled me back begin him and took up my spot in front. I couldn't help but scoff at his actions. I could see his face I knew he was scared yet he still had to put on this stupid bravado. It wasn't like there was anyone about to see. Each step he took seemed to become more tentative. His was hesitating, this person could be bleeding out from a fall and Jackson 'captain of the lacrosse team' Whittemore was wasting time. With a melodramatic roll of my eyes I strolled forward nudging him out of the way as I marched towards to unmoving feet. A single bead of sweat rolled down my neck. Okay, perhaps I was a bit fast to judge Jackson. Now that I was this close I felt like slowing down but I didn't. My heart pounding in my ears as I turned knowing whoever the boots belonged to wasn't bleeding out or at least not still breathing and bleeding. Gulping I looked down at the body. Dead eyes stared back. Frozen to the spot I couldn't even turn to help Jackson as he shot backwards stumbling over the forgotten ladder and into one of the shelves the lights flickering as he did.

Not that he needed my help, he was up on his feet by the time the luke warm glow of the emergency lighting had filled the store. I wasn't as quick. I couldn't pull my eyes away from the still body. The blood. The lifeless eyes. I'd seen them before but where? I had never been to an open casket funeral before, never witnessed a traffic accident, so why did his lifeless expression seem so familiar? "Emma," Jackson's breathless whisper barely reached my ears as I finally dragged my eyes from the corpse. He had gone white, sickly white. "Get down," In that moment I trusted Jackson completely and you know what for the first time in a very long time I did as I was told. I slid down onto the floor at the same time as him not wanting to look at what ever had spooked him. As my eyes returned to the gruesome cut the ran across the store clerks neck I had a good guess as to what had done it and it wasn't a mountain lion.

DVDs tumbled down from the shelves above Jackson his eyes finally looking up to meet mine as we shared a look from across the aisle. He mouthed something to me but I couldn't make it out. My brain was to focused on the fact I was sitting next to a dead man. He tried again lifting his hand to his ear at the same time. Phone? Phone! I could have kissed the boy for his moment of genius but I didn't. If he was asking me for a phone that meant he was currently without one and mine was sitting comfortably on the dashboard of my car. I shook my head back at him. More DVDs were shaken from the shelves around us as we stared hopeless at each other. Then I remembered, I always rang up to reserved films before driving down. That was the whole reason my phone was on the dashboard and not my pocket. I nodded across to Jackson and gave him a halfhearted thumbs up. Before he could protest I had turned and begun to crawl along the narrow row of films. I couldn't help but notice I was in the horror section.

A series of thuds followed by the clutter of DVDs and Jackson's groan stopped my from turning once I had reached the end of the row. Whipping round I gasped out loudly before clapping my hand over my mouth. I should have done something. I should have called out or tried to help but I didn't. The moment the first heavy black paw came into sight I sank down into the floor. Terror turning my blood to ice. I trembled as its thick claws inspected Jackson neck. I could feel it. The pressure of something pushing into my shoulder blades, pulling its claws back through my skin. slicing. tearing. My hand slid from my mouth to my collarbone. 62 stitches. As a kid I had had stitches to close nasty gashes I had gotten during a camping trip. The whole event had left me with thin scars running from my collarbone to the base of my shoulder blade.

I'd been in this situation before and as I looked back at Jackson I realised someone else was there with me then. I could almost see them, her, covered in blood. I had watched the light leave her eyes as she stared back at me. That was why the lifeless eyes of the store assistant had looked familiar. I shook my head and focused on the black shape looming over Jackson. I wasn't a child anymore and this wasn't a faceless memory, this was Jackson someone I'd shared classes with since kindergarten.

I don't know what possessed me to do it but without thinking I scooped up a DVD and launched it at the beast. It lifted its head, fierce red eyes stared back at me as I scurried backwards until my back hit the solid wall behind me. It began to move. In an instant it was up and out of the store smashing the large wall of windows as it did. A series of screams filled the air as I crawled shakily back to Jackson. Not yet trusting my trembling feet to hold me weight. We didn't talk as we helped each other up nor did we mention the stupid move I'd just pulled. Although I did see Jackson's eyes frown at the DVD that had bounced of the creature and landed by his head. The Notebook.

The cavalry had arrived promptly and within moments myself and Jackson had been ushered off towards a pair of ambulances. Lydia , who I assume was waiting in the car during the entire event, was already perched on the back of one. The paramedics buzzed around us as we joined them. "Stay here," I looked up from my spot wedged in next to Lydia at the sound of the Sheriff arriving. His warning clearly aimed at his son who was gawking out the window at the scene. The older man quickly busied himself, "Paul," a younger man in a deputies uniform looked up from his convocation with a medic to listen, "let's get this area locked up." I couldn't help but wonder if I looked as pale as Lydia or as frustrated as Jackson as we waited for the sheriff and duties to cordon off the area.

"Why the hell can't I just go home?" Clearly Jackson wanted to put as much space between him and his place as possible. Not that I blamed him. "I'm fine," he continued on as the older Stilinski approached us.

In his usually manner the sheriff raised a hand to settle Jackson down. I couldn't help but notice how his action resembled the way you'd settle a frightened animal, "I hear ya, but the EMT says you hit your head pretty hard. They just wanna make sure you don't have a concussion." I didn't stick around to hear Jackson's reply though I can imagine it wasn't polite. Like the lacrosse captain I wanted to go home, I just wasn't going to make a big deal about it. While the paramedics and deputies fussed around Jackson I slipped of to the side.

Skillfully dodging my way round the adults I had almost made it past the last police car when I heard my name being called. Turning I found Stiles staring in my direction as he scrambled out of the police cruiser just in time to catch me. However, before he could continue his eyes widened and was soon engrossed in watching the black body bag that was being removed from the store. "Oh, whoa, is that a dead body?" well I was definitely not going to stick around to see that again.

The next day was not what I had expected. The one time I didn't want the school to move away from its usual monotone and cliche routines everyone decided to take an interest in last nights antics. No one cared when a body was found in the woods, the horror of the bus drivers death had dwindled quickly but the moment Mr and Mrs Beacon Hills were involved the whole school was buzzing. Audrey had already blindsided me during my free period and I had only managed to get away from her because she was called for her office aid shift. After Audrey I made a point of avoid people as much as possible. I'd successfully lied about last night's events to mum having told her and Josh I'd turned up after the police so I couldn't get the film. After skirting around Josh's round of 20 questions I spent the night trying to find journals or drawings from when I was younger. I must've seen or experienced something. That camping trip was the root of it all. The talk about monsters, the fascination with the bizarre, the nightmares. I didn't want to talk to anyone until I'd figured it out myself. I mean I had no idea how I was involved with it all or if what happened in the woods was even connected at all.

Unfortunately, we don't always get what we want. "Hey," looking up from my lunch I watched as Stiles awkwardly slid into the seat opposite me. I just stared back blankly. Funny how I was trying so hard to grill him about Scott the other day and now I didn't fancy talking to him at all. I knew were this was was leading I had seen the way his curious eyes light up yesterday.

"Nope," was my only reply as I lifted my tray from the table and walked off to find a different spot.

We had similar run ins throughout the day, four in total before my patients began to wear thin. The last straw was the light tap on my slightly ajared car door as I sorted my school gear out at the end of the day. "What now!" My head snapped round as my spat my question out.

"Easy there Em, I was only seeing how you were," Matt, not Stiles peered down at me through the open door. I'd been so busy actively avoiding Stilinski that I had ended up avoiding everyone else to. "So are you, you know okay?" He pressed on when I didn't answer.

I sighed and nodded for him to get in, " I'm fine." Matt slid into my passagers seat with a snort he knew I wasn't fine. He also knew I wasn't just going to share the finer details of last night.

"So," he started fiddling with the straps of his camera bag, " parent teacher conferences." This was why he was my friend he knew when to drop things. He knew from personally experience that sometimes talking about things out loud wasn't as helpful as adults seem to think.

However, as understanding as he was I couldn't help but groan loudly in reply. I know I should have been happy he changed the subject but surely he could have picked a better topic. "Well Dad has already phoned to say he can't make it. Something to do with numbers and deadlines the usual," I waved a dismissive hand in the air as I tried to recall my father's excuse, " and mum hasn't given me her excuse yet. Bets of what it is going to be?" I continued on bitterly.

"Your mum will make it. Stop being so melodramatic," I was impressed he had skillfully managed to reassured me and insulted me at the same time.

"Well we'll just see later want we. What time are you heading in?" I questioned as I pulled the car out of the car park and began the trip towards his house.

He laughed, " I'm," he stressed the word as he pointed cockily to himself, "not going anywhere, unlike you I actually turn up to class so I'm averaging higher then a C."

"Wow, aren't you clever. So why can't you drive yet?" I jabbed back knowing how desperate he was to pass his driving test. He didn't reply, merely turned the radio up and stared out the window. It was sweet really, he was letting me win. We might not have spoken about last night but he knew I wasn't 100% and this was his way of making me feel better. I reached over a patted him in the knee as a wordless thank you before driving on silently letting the hum of the radio fill the car.

After dropping Matt off I should have gone home but I didn't. I spend the evening driving up and down the roads that encased the woodland reserve trying to remember where we had been all those years ago. Hours later and still having not found anything I headed back to school.

"You did tell your parents about this evening didn't you Miss King?" Mr Harris peered across at me with a tired expression, clearly it had been a long evening for him to. I nodded but didn't reply. I would never admit it but I was embarrassed, I had only been joking in the car earlier with Matt! I didn't actually think the idiotic woman I called my mother would forget parents evening. "Well I guess we will just have to reschedule." I stood ready to scurry out the door without so much as a thank you when he continued, " you know you could grade a lot higher in class if you weren't sick so often." By the way he said it I knew he wanted to say ' if you didn't skip class so often' but didn't have the proof he needed to accuse me openly.

"Can't helping being sick sir," was my short reply as I reached for the door, "but I guess I could start doing my work when I am in." I slid out into the corridor actively avoiding anyone I knew before finally reaching the car park. My pocket buzzing as I started to descend down the concrete stairs. I pulled my phone out and waited for the caller to talk first.

" Hi Hunny, I know how uncool it is for me to be pestering you but I wanted to know if you were home tonight. Josh is out at his friends and the house is just so quiet." I clenched my teeth grinding them together in annoyance, " Hunny, you there? Can you hear me? Hello?"

"Check the calendar," I almost growled down the phone at her. She spent so much time writing about how to be the perfect mum she had forgotten what the reality of the role consisted of.

"Oh how organised are you sweetie, I hadn't even thought to check the calen… oh," she paused. I could almost hear the cogs turning in her brain. " have you had your meetings? Of course you have. Why didn't you call me! Why didn't you remind me! Well... well you need to go back in tell then your brother is extremely poorly that was why I couldn't make it. No I'll ring and tell them. Yes that would be…" I hung up. I couldn't listen to anymore of her rambling. She wasn't the one who had had to explain to every single teacher that her parents hadn't turned up. I was just glad that it was only Mr Harris who had made me come inside and sit between the two empty chairs to wait for them. I slipped into my car and started the engine I just wanted to get home before anything easy could go wrong.