~KAHLAN~Everyone was dying to know what happened. I was dying to forget. Every word spoken, every moment, every sound was in my mind, replaying, every night. I went to bed early, ready to face the nightmare once again. As I closed my eyes and drifted off, I remembered doing just that the night Ryan kidnapped me.I don’t know how, but I felt my eyes close. I think that I drifted off to sleep. I wouldn’t be able to tell you how long I was out, but the sound of groaning startled me awake. My eyes searched around the room quickly. I had momentarily forgotten where I was. In the corner of the room, I saw Justin’s body move. He was first hunched over and now he leaned back, his face staring up at the ceiling as he groaned in pain."Oh Justin, are you okay?" I cried. He looked at me, his
~ASHLEY AND JUSTIN~ Justin walked slowly across the parking lot towards his grandparent’s townhome. His clothes were just about dry due to the slight wind the night had brought in, however it caused some chaffing from his jeans and he could feel his skin turning raw. He walked into his home, only to see Ashley sitting on the living room couch with his grandmother. Justin’s grandmother was a sweet woman, a little round with swollen ankles, and a big heart. She was the one woman Justin knew he would love for the rest of his life. Both women had their blue eyes on the television set, small feet propped up on the small wooden coffee table. They seemed to be enjoying a stand up comedy of some sort, short chuckles escaping their lips. “Ashley,” Justin said softly, as he closed the door. The dirty blonde looked at him, eyes lighting up. He ran up the creaky old stairs to his bedroom, not saying a word. Ashley excused herself before running right after him. “Geesh, you reek of chlorine
~THE HANCOCK FAMILY~Mya and Amy both felt the intensity in the room as they all sat around the table for dinner. Paul Hancock and requested a family dinner, expecting his twin girls to be there. His daughter’s boyfriend Jason just happened to come along as well. He had planned on telling the girls everything, in a more private setting, but with Jason here, things already weren’t going as planned. Mya’s brown eyes slowly examined the faces of everyone at the table. Amy seemed to be doing the same. Jason looked uncomfortable. Julie, their fathers significant other, seemed to be staring Paul down, who looked a bit nervous. Something wasn’t right. “What’s going on?” Mya asked, being the one to break the silence and try to get everything out in the open. Paul and Julia glanced across the wooden table at each other. Amy sat up a little straighter, curious of the answer.“No more secrets,” Amy stated, backing her twin. She wanted to know what was going on and now. The silence was agony. “W
~KAHLAN AND DAMON~“That’s not what I’m saying at all,” Damon replied softly. I stood up and made my way into the kitchen. It was time to clean up. Besides, the conversation that I was having with Damon had seemed to take an awful turn. Damon came rushing over to me, his large hands gripping me at the waist. I stared back at him, waiting for his explanation. “I’m saying there is a limit to talking about my sister. I mean she’s made mistakes, like you, like me and everyone else in the world.”“So what do you want me to do?” I asked, giving a slight shrug. Damon’s emerald green eyes burned into mine, as if seeing he may be wasting his breath. “Pretend like I like her, pretend to be her friend?” He looked.“Just work on forgiving her,” he a
~THE TWINS~Mya stared out her bedroom window, seeing nothing but the empty street lit up by the streetlights, her thoughts were swirling around in her head. She was confused and angry. The woman that she was obsessed with all this time was hooked on drugs and wasn’t her mother at all. And her father, the only man she ever loved, wasn’t her father, but her uncle. Her life seemed to be screwed up. She didn’t have a chance to know her real father, but just maybe she had a chance to know her mother. “Go away,” Mya said softly when she heard her twin enter her bedroom. She hadn’t realized how raw her throat was until she spoke. She had spent the past few hours blaring rock music, hiding the loud sounds of her sobbing from the household. “I want to talk,” Amy said. “I don’t ever want to talk to you again,” Mya responded softly. Amy felt a crack in her heart. Should she push or give her some space? The best thing for her to do is give up, and so she did, leaving her sisters room.~KAHLA
~KAHLAN AND JUSTIN~ Monday. God I hate Mondays. I had locked myself away from the world for weeks now and the thought of returning back to school made me nervous. It scared me. Not many people have seen me since the night I left the police station. How were they going to act towards me? What would people say? I had debated if I wanted to go to school today. Maybe a couple of more days at home would be good for me. My cell rang and I couldn’t help but to hope it was Damon. It was our second day without talking and I missed him, even though I was still a bit upset. To my surprise, it was Justin. We had finally exchanged numbers the last time he was here. I put the phone to my ear. Justin said one short sentence.“Come outside.” And then clicked the receiver. Lucky for him I was dressed, but I didn’t un
~ELLA AND DAMON~ “So, how are we doing this morning?” Ella asked Damon. He sat at the dining table, staring down at a notebook full of writing. Ella had expected her son to sleep in, due to how much he had to drink, and the hour that he went to bed, but here he was, working hard as usual. She smiled at her son’s success. “Good,” Damon answered quickly, closing the notebook as if he had something to hide. Ella said nothing. It seemed that there were so many things that Damon tried to keep private that had been spilled to the world due to his little sister who liked to tell any and everything she knew. “Do you want some breakfast?” He shook his head. Ella stalked around the house in her blue fuzzy slippers and a loose long white gown. “I can’t. I have a lead on Kahlan’s mother.” That was one of the conversations she had with her son just a few nights ago. “Oh yeah? What is it?” “Well, I have a detective who looked over some things. Kahlan herself stated that she believed that her
~KAHLAN~Classes seemed to be extra long today and in every class my fellow students found it to be alright to stare and whisper things behind my back. Today really sucked. I felt so out of place, like an alien. I actually missed the days when no one knew who I really was and didn’t know anything about my past. I couldn’t have that anymore. ~SANDINO AND JUSTIN~“Hey man,” Sandino said, catching up to Justin in the hallway after the last bell of the day. Justin looked over at his friend. Sandino had a look of worry on his face. You could tell because his eyes seemed to droop, his lips were still, and he slumped as he walked. “How is she?” Justin stopped in his tracks, looking over at the Spanish young man. He already knew who he was referring to.“Why don’t you ask her?” Justin asked. It seemed that a lot of people were coming to him about Kahlan, like he was the keeper of her secrets. Dino picked up on his attitude. “She’s not talking to anyone but you,” Sandino replied, sounding a
~ELLA~ Ella rushed up to one of the cops on the scene. The waiting around was killing her. The cops had begun to clear out one part of the building. There was an automotive class-taking place, and their escape was out the garages of the North side of the building. Officers were planning on storming through there. That was the last that she had heard of their plans. There were two students hurt, but at least ten evacuated. That gave some hope. There were no fatalities. Ella wanted to help."I'm an off duty nurse," she stated, "I'm here to offer any assistance." The cop looked at her."Do you have your badge?" She pulled out her nursing badge and let the cop examine it. At least he was being thorough."Go on over to the par
~JUSTIN, EMETT AND MYA~ Mya snuck the guys into one of the pool exits. It threw them off course just a bit to get the front office, but as long as they got inside, Justin didn’t care. He would find a way to Kahlan."How did you know this would be open?" Justin asked quietly. He wasn’t comfortable with Mya leading them. As men, they should be protecting her. She should be behind them."They cut the electricity off," she whispered back, "That means that the doors that were usually on manual locks, would open." Justin never paid attention to things like that, so he was glad that Mya did, otherwise, they may have still been outside, trying to find a way in, or they would have given up."How did you know there were
~KAHLAN AND BROOKE~ "It’s been five minutes!" Brooke shouted at me as quiet as she could when I returned to her side. She had gotten loud as if she was angry, but she was scared. She was sweating bullets, her face looking as if she had gotten caught in the rain."I know, I'm sorry," I said, "Did anyone text back?" She shook her head. "Damn it." Brooke looked at me. She wanted so badly for me to have good news for her, but I didn’t."What are we going to do?" she asked as she placed a hand over her belly. I stared down at her stomach. It was more than out lives at stake, it was the life of this unborn child. I couldn't give her an answer; so instead, I looked around, trying to come up with our next move.
~AMY, CHAD AND JASON~Jason looked, asking himself the same question. What was his problem? The fact that his friend and girlfriend lied to him… yep, that was it."I don't have a problem," Jason answered softly."Well you sure do stomp around like you do," Chad said."I'm upset," Jason replied. "I don't know how I should feel, but I know I don't hate you. Most of me misses you guys, but there is still a part of me that can't get over the fact that you two lied. And when I think about it, I can see you guys in my head, and it just makes me sick to my stomach.""Let us help you get over it," Amy said getting to her feet, "trying to avoid us and staying mad at us obviously isn't helping." Jason looke
~JUSTIN~ Everyone got to their knees outside, at the sound of another gunshot. The group was pushed back further from the school as more people escaped. Now officers had arrived on the scene. They had begun pushing everyone back across the parking lot, closer to the street and the surrounding homes. Justin couldn’t just stand around and do nothing. He was not the type to feel powerless."I have to get in there," he demanded, pushing past Carly. He didn’t even get a few feet, before he was thrown to the ground. He landed on his left knee pretty hard, feeling the pain of the pavement. He looked up and saw Coach Myers on top of him."Where do you think your going boy?" the coach growled."I ha
~KAHLAN AND CARLY~“So you have a date tonight?” Carly asked as we made our way to the front of the school. I glanced over at her as we walked down the hall. I had to stop by my locker to drop off my textbooks. We agreed that to car pool for a while. It saved time and gas money.“Its not a date.” “Yeah, but you want it to be.” She grinned. I looked over at her. It seemed that Carly might have knew more than I did. Justin and I had discussed going out together. As far as I was concerned it was just as friends. Though I wasn’t sure exactly what we were doing. Justin just said it was a birthday surprise.“Its two friends hanging out.” I responded. She looked at me. &l
~CARLY AND JUSTIN~Justin rushed through the crowds of teens pooling into the lunchroom. He was chasing one particular person down, and wanted to get to her before she reached their lunch table. He reached out and touched Carly’s shoulder, pulling her back.“Hey,” she said with a slight chuckle, his force a bit surprising. The last time she was grabbed like that, James was the one with the force. She was able to push the thought away from her mind rather quick. “What’s going on?” He seemed eager.“What do you think I should get Kahlan for her birthday?” That wasn’t a question she thought he’d ask.“Well, what do you think she wants?” She questioned, “besides you naked in a bow?”
~BROOKE AND SANDINO~ Brooke knocked on Sandino’s door. She had heard that he didn’t go to school, and figured now would be the best time to go over, since his mother would be at work. Dino opened the door, looking at her through the screen."What do you want?" he asked. She looked. So far, this was going better than expected. She didn’t even think that he would open the door, let alone speak to her."Just to talk.""I don’t want to talk. Not to you anyway.” He looked as if he had been sleeping the day away, hiding from the embarrassment that she caused."I don’t want you to hate me," she spoke out. Hate was a strong word, but if anyone was going to
~KAHLAN AND JUSTIN~ I stood at my locker, putting away my books when Justin walked up to me. I could feel his presence before I saw her. He stood behind me."Hey," he said. I turned around to look at him. We hadn't talked since what happened in my pool, and since I blurted all my thoughts and feelings at the lunch table. It seemed that our time had now come. I was ready to talk to him and it seemed that he was ready to talk to me."Hi," I said quietly."How are you?" he asked."I'm good," I answered, "You?""Not so much," He responded, putting his hands into his pockets. I looked at him. He did look a mess, as if he were losing sleep