Rewind (Vanish Book Three)

by Daise, Sonny

“What do you mean?” I wondered.

  “Not even really lately, just yesterday. She seemed a lot nicer. Maybe it was the funeral; I don’t know.”

  “Yeah,” I smiled and was lost in my thoughts.

  What would have caused her to start being nice just yesterday? I figured in this alternate reality, she had been nice all along. If it had only started yesterday, was it possible that she knew something was up?

  Before I knew it, we were parked. I took a deep breath and got out of the car.

  “I’ll see you after school,” Rose said as I walked away. “Right after school Scarlett, I mean it.”

  “Okay,” I called back as I walked toward the front doors.

  When I walked inside the school, everyone had their eyes on me. I looked around at all of their faces. For the most part, they were all the same people I’d known from school before. I looked down, even though it didn’t stop them from staring, at least I could pretend it did.

  As I went to head for first hour, I realized—I didn’t know what any of my classes were. I started panicking. I couldn’t blow it this early on, and over something as stupid as not knowing my classes. I took my back pack off and dug through it, but I couldn’t find a schedule.

  I took a deep breath and walked into the office. I knew I would certainly make a fool out of myself.

  “Hi,” I said to the lady behind the desk, who was too focused on the computer to even acknowledge me. “I lost my schedule; can I get a new one?”

  “It’s four months into the semester…” she started, “…why would you need your schedule?”

  “My mom wants a copy, don’t even ask me why, I don’t understand either.” I smiled at how quick I’d come up with that.

  “Alright,” she said apprehensively. “Name?”

  “Scarlett Summers,” I replied. She looked it up on the computer and printed a copy out.

  “Here you go,” she said as she handed it to me.

  “Thank you.”

  I left the office before I read it. No matter how hard I had to try, I needed to fit in, and I needed to be the person that everyone here knew. I looked at the schedule; I knew most of the teachers—that would make things a little easier. Then, I looked at the date on the bottom, April, 20th, 2011. Three days before Grace’s disappearance.

  Before I knew it, it was lunch time. So far, I’d done a good job at blending in. Everyone else was in the lunch room already, so the halls were empty, giving me a chance to talk to the ghost that just appeared at my side.

  “I know you probably think—” I started to say.

  “No, I know what happened, and I also know that things aren’t the same, you’ll work it out,” Dante’s dad said.

  “So how did I know you here, if I’m not friends with Dante?”

  “You’ll see. I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out already. Nice save with the whole schedule thing, by the way.”

  “You were there? I didn’t see you,” I said, confused.

  “Ghosts can hide, you know,” he joked.

  “So do you have any advice?”

  “No, and I need to go.”

  “Wait, what about Dante, what can I do to make him believe me?” I begged.

  “You have to figure that one out on your own,” he said, and then he was gone.

  I walked down to the lunch room. Nicole and the other girls told me to sit with them. They kept nagging me about my choice of clothes, but I was too distracted to listen; I spotted Dante. He walked across the cafeteria in his usual attire, black jeans and a black T-shirt, with a grey long-sleeved shirt underneath. His dark-brown hair, spiraling out of control. He couldn’t have looked better, and yet… no one seemed to notice him. Were they blind? He was easily the hottest guy I saw, and his bad-ass façade made him seem ten times sexier. I fought the urge to run over to him, to try my best to make him understand.

  As I sat in the crowded lunch room, an array of feelings, I thought were far behind me, came flooding back. All of my insecurities had rushed back in increments since I'd walked through the main doors. Nicole definitely wasn’t helping matters. They all turned away—they were teaching me a lesson; do as we say or we'll make your life a living hell. I got it; I really did, but I couldn’t care less who was looking at me. Scratch that. From across the room, a pair of deep-brown eyes, were fixed in my direction. As I looked back, he rolled his eyes and turned away. I got up to leave the table, enough was enough. I needed to talk to him; he needed to understand.

  "Where do you think you're going?" Nicole demanded.

  "What does it matter to you?" I snapped.

  I was all for fitting into this warped reality until I could figure out what to do. I was even more willing, seeing as I may never get out, but I was not about to let some snotty bitch tell me what to do.

  "Sit." They all ordered together.

  "No," I challenged them.

  "If I were you, I would listen," Nicole said in a sweet voice.

  "Or what?"

  "We'll never talk to you again."

  "Hmm," I pretended to think. "Bye."

  I almost wished I had made a scene. In fact, I didn’t stand up to them at all, not really. I wanted Dante to see, and realize that this was for him.

  I walked over to him, eager to tell him I wasn't one of them anymore, but he, too, turned away from me.

  "Dante?"

  "Are you lost?" He asked. "I know how hard it is for you, but your friends are over there." He pointed to the three girls glaring at me.

  "We're not friends anymore," I explained.

  "Oh," he said. He was coming around; he was realizing that I wasn't the person he thought I was. "Then your table's over there." He pointed to an empty table.

  "So, before you didn't like me because you thought I was mean? And now you’re acting no better than you thought I was."

  He didn't say anything else; he just turned around and ignored me.

  I headed over to the empty table, and sat down. Then, I noticed someone across the lunch room. Someone I knew, but she never went to school here. This was a change that I was happy to see. I never got a chance to say good-bye to her, but she sat just two tables in front of me. Then I realized—this wasn’t the Annabelle I knew, and she definitely didn’t know me. I sighed. Oh what the hell, I needed to make some new friends anyway.

  I walked over to her table. She was alone except for the boy who sat next to her. His hair was light blonde, and his eyes were a brilliant blue. I sat down across from her. She looked at me almost as if she was afraid.

  “Hi, I’m Scarlett,” I said as she looked over.

  “I know.”

  “You know?” I said with excitement.

  “Of course I know who you are. Everyone knows who you are.” Oh, right.

  “You don’t mind if I sit with you, do you?”

  “No, I guess not,” she said under her breath, never looking me in the eyes.

  “I know I used to be awful, but I don’t want to be that person anymore,” I explained.

  “Okay,” she answered back, still not looking at me.

  It was killing me. What had I done to the person who’d been one of my closest friends in the future, to make her dislike me so much?

  “Please give me a chance, I promise this isn’t a trick or anything. I’m tired of those girls, and I need to make some better friends.” She looked up at me, and as she did, her expression changed. She felt my sincerity.

  “Alright, everyone deserves a second chance,” she smiled.

  “So, how long have you lived in Sunny Bay?” I wondered.

  “A few months now… I’m Annabelle, by the way, and this is Xavier.”

  “Hello,” I said as I looked over at him. He looked down and didn’t say a word.

  “He doesn’t talk, not even to me, but hey, company is company, right? So, what about you, how long have you lived here?” she asked.

  “It’s a really long story,” I smiled, hoping one day I would be able to tell her. The bell rang
, and we all got up. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” I asked.

  “Sure,” she smiled and walked away.

  The rest of the day was long. Once sixth hour came, I realized why Rose had said I knew Mr. Quinn better than her. He was my English teacher. The substitute didn’t want to do anything, so we just watched a movie, but I didn’t pay attention. All I could think about was Grace. If she was alive—from what Dante’s dad said— she might not be for much longer. I hadn’t seen her anywhere though, she wasn’t in any of my classes. I hadn’t seen her in the halls or at lunch, so where was she?

  After school was over, I was sure to make it back to Rose’s car right away. She sounded kind of fed up with me, and I could see why. If I was friends with those horrible girls, and I’d put up with them this long, I must have been pretty awful myself.

  “Hey,” I said as I got in the car.

  “Oh, hey,” She replied as she put the car in reverse.

  “So, I was wondering… do you know Grace Moore?”

  “No, I don’t think so, why?”

  “I was just wondering,” I sighed.

  “Ugh, I have so much homework tonight. It’s going to take me forever,” she whined.

  “Yeah, so do I.” It sucked; I was so tired from trying to keep this up; I wanted to go to sleep right there.

  When we got home, I ran upstairs and did my homework with Rose. She was starting to warm up to me a little bit, maybe she was starting to see that I changed—it was a good, and bad thing.

  Everything started to get foggy, and her voice was barely audible.

  “Uh, I need to go to the bathroom,” I announced as I staggered to the bathroom. I sat on the floor just in time, soon after, I was sucked into a vision— the difference between the rest of them? I remembered this night.

  It was all crystal clear; I could feel the texture of the couch as I sat waiting for Grace to arrive. Ann was working late and might not come home at all; Grace agreed to come keep me company.

  The doorbell rang, and I jumped up to answer it.

  "Hey," she smiled as I opened the door.

  "Hey," I replied as I shut the door. She dropped her bag and fell backwards onto the couch. "What's up?" I asked, concerned.

  "Oh nothing, it’s just—" she shook her head, "never mind."

  "Come on, you can tell me," I persuaded.

  "Okay," she sat up and took a deep breath. "Weird things have been happening to me lately."

  "Like?"

  "It's really not important." She grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.

  "What's been happening Grace?" I didn’t say that before, before I would have just listened if she said it was nothing, now I knew better.

  "I think someone's... following me."

  "Why?" I asked.

  "I don't know for sure, okay? I'm probably just going crazy or something."

  "No, I believe you,” I assured her.

  "Whenever I'm alone outside I hear footsteps, and I swear I've seen someone looking through my—” Her eyes widened as she stared at the window.

  "What?" I asked, but she didn’t look at me; she just stared at the door, like she was waiting for something.

  "Wake up!" My eyes popped open.

  "Rose," I grumbled.

  "Are you okay?” she asked with urgency.

  "I was getting closer to finding out what happened to Grace," I nagged.

  "I'm worried about you…” she quavered, “… you’re saying all these weird things, and you’re acting different, and now I just found you passed out in the bathroom.”

  “I can’t explain this, I’m sorry.”

  My eyes widened as I stared behind her, it wasn’t helping my case, but I couldn’t control it. Standing behind her, was Dante’s ghost.

  Chapter 3: Accident

  I jumped up and ran over to him, staring up at his face. This was the Dante that knew me, that loved me. I couldn’t say anything. Rose stood across the room staring at me in wonder. I took a deep breath.

  “I’m going for a walk,” I said as I walked out the door with Dante’s ghost following behind me.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” She called after me.

  “Uh, yeah, yeah. I’m fine. I’ll see you later.”

  As soon as I was out the door, I thought about turning invisible. I couldn’t walk down the street looking like I was talking to myself. I went behind a bush and closed my eyes. It wasn’t as easy as it was before, it was almost a reflex before, but now I needed to concentrate. It wasn’t an immediate thing anymore. First, my skin disappeared in patches; it was agonizing. Next, the rest of me vanished. I held back my screams as I lay in the grass. Weird, it never hurt before when I went invisible, only when I turned back. I took a deep breath and looked up at him.

  “I’ve really missed you,” I sighed.

  “I know; I’ve missed you too, but that’s not why I’m here,” he explained. “Something bad is going to happen, and I don’t know how to stop it.”

  “What, what’s going to happen?” I asked.

  “The Alliance, they—“

  “What do you know Dante?” I pleaded.

  “I think this is another one of those things you have to figure out alone, what I can tell you though, is the only chance for us is if you get the past me on your side. Get me to believe you Scarlett, get anyone you can to help, you’ll need it.”

  “He’s not you,” I cried. “Everything has changed; nothing is what it was before.”

  “He is me, the only version of me you’ll ever have, and I’m sorry,” he said as he started to fade away.

  “Dante, no wait!” I yelled.

  “What?” he asked as he touched my cheek.

  “I have so many questions left. What’s going on in the future? How is everyone? Do they know what happened?”

  “You don’t need to worry about the future; you need to worry about right now.”

  “Rose won’t take me back to the future,” I whined.

  “Rose is in the future, for now anyway.”

  “Am I still in the future, too?” I wondered. I didn’t understand, could I still exist in the future even though I went back to the past?

  “No, you left. You got here on your own.”

  “No, that’s not possible,” I objected.

  “I know you can do this; I know you’ll find a way,” his deep-brown eyes didn’t betray him; I couldn’t tell what was going on, or what he was worried about. I didn’t understand why he couldn’t tell me, I could use all the help I could get.

  “No I can’t… I don’t have control over any of my powers anymore, can’t you see? Isn’t it obvious?”

  “You will realize what you need to do,” he promised.

  “Dante, why are you being like this, why can’t you just tell me?”

  “Because I don’t know, I’m sorry. I’ll see you again soon.” And he was gone.

  I fell to the ground; I didn’t understand what he expected of me. How was I supposed to save the future, when I was stuck in the past? How was I supposed to get the past Dante on my side, when he despised me? And what revelation would come to me, telling me what to do? I had no one to talk to, no one to hear me out, and no one to help.

  I went back behind a bush and tried to appear. It worked, but I had never felt pain like this before. I was still the same person that was in the future, the one who could control her powers, only I couldn’t anymore.

  I walked into the bedroom and fell face-first onto the bed.

  “Are you alright?” Rose asked.

  “Yeah I’m fine,” I mumbled into the pillow.

  “Did you finish your project?” she asked.

  “Oh yeah,” thanks for reminding me. I wasn’t too excited about getting up in front of the whole class room, what was even worse? I had to fret about it until sixth hour.

  I fell asleep as I laid there face down. Before I knew it, I was walking through the halls of a hospital. There was a calendar on the wall. It was November, 3rd, 2011. Why was I in a h
ospital? No one seemed to notice me, so I walked around. If this was some kind of clue, I needed to figure out what it meant.

  Unlike all of my other dreams, I could do whatever I wanted. I wanted to go left, so I went left. I walked into a bathroom; I was invisible, but I could see a slight outline of myself in the mirror and nothing more. I walked out of the bathroom. Even though I had control over where I went, something told me to keep going straight. Then, I passed the second room on the left, and something pulled me inside.

  There was Rose, lying in the hospital bed, unconscious. Her fair skin was now covered in bruises and cuts. It was true; Rose didn’t make it to the past, and the Rose in the past was a different person. Though I doubted this would give me any answers, I sat down. I hadn’t known Rose long, but she was my sister, my twin sister. I heard a nurse walking down the hall talking to someone.

  “Yes, she’s in a coma. We’re hoping for her to make a full recovery, but with these types of things, you can’t be too sure,” the nurse explained.

  Violet must be here to see Rose, I thought. It would be good to see her again, too, after everything, but no, the person who walked through the door was not Violet—it was Ann. The nurse kept walking as Ann walked into the room. She sat in the chair on the opposite side of the bed. What was she doing here? I hoped nothing bad would happen; there would be nothing I could do to help.

  “With Scarlett gone, you’re my only hope,” she whispered as she pulled something out of her pocket. A necklace.

  She looked back at the door, making sure the coast was clear. Then, she lifted up Rose’s head and put the necklace on her. It glowed for about a minute and when it stopped she took it off her. She put it back in her pocket, and then she sat there staring at Rose. She grabbed onto the pillow behind her head and slowly pulled it out from under her. She lifted up the pillow right above Rose’s face, before she could hold it down, the nurse walked in. Ann hurried up and stuck the pillow back behind her head and leaned back in her chair.