by Daise, Sonny
When I woke up in the morning, the clock said it was ten thirty. Rose was gone, and I was late for school. Why didn’t anyone wake me up? I ran to the closet and threw on the first thing I found. The school was only a mile away, and walking was my only option. I grabbed my back pack and headed out the door.
As I walked past Dante’s house, I saw him heading out the door. He was either skipping or late, too. I picked up my pace and ignored the urge to run up to him.
A few minutes later, he drove past me and stopped about ten feet ahead. I ignored it; he was probably just messing with me. When I walked past the car, he yelled out the window.
“Hey do you need a ride?” he asked.
I looked over at him, and my heart melted. Was he starting to warm up to me? I could only hope.
“Okay, thanks,” I said as I walked over to the passenger door.
We were quiet for a few moments, but he finally spoke.
“So, you really stood up to those girls?” he asked.
“Yeah, I guess, if that’s what you want to call it,” I replied.
“Well good. I mean, I always saw you as one of them, but different.”
“What do you mean?” I wondered.
“I mean, you tried to fit in, but I don’t believe that’s ever who you really were.”
“So, does this mean you—“
“Look, I’m not trying to be best friends with you or anything; I’m just trying to be nice.” Then I lost it.
“Dante we were best friends. You have to believe me. Everything has changed. I was never friends with those girls; I was friends with you and Grace.”
“I don’t know who Grace is, or what you’re talking about.”
“Can we hang out?” I asked.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, just because I don’t have a problem with you, doesn’t mean my friends don’t.”
When I looked out the window, we were at school. Right when he stopped the car, I jumped out.
“Thanks,” I mumbled as I walked away.
It was lunch time. I didn’t see Annabelle, so I sat alone. It was better that way anyway. I wouldn’t look that crazy as my mind was wrapped up in thoughts of Dante. I looked across the lunch room. Dante was sitting with his friends, but every couple minutes, he looked over.
Fifth hour was a blur; I couldn’t get him off my mind. I thought back to all of the memories I had of the future, us at the lake, having a good time. The last night we spent together. A few tears escaped. I wiped them away just in time to head to sixth hour. Then I remembered the presentation. I was so nervous. Nicole and all of her friends sat only feet away. Nothing could make matters worse, I was almost certain of that.
“Scarlett Summers,” the substitute teacher called. “Would you like to go first?” She looked around the room, waiting for someone to answer.
“Okay,” I said as I walked to the front of the class.
Before I could even begin speaking, Nicole was making comments about my clothes, my hair. Besides Nicole, they all had perfect blonde hair. Now, she was the odd one out, with her still-perfect brown locks. Every time I would go to speak, one of them would laugh or cough, and soon the rest of the class was joining in. I could feel my cheeks turning red. The one person I saw that wasn’t joining in, was Annabelle. I didn’t even notice that she was in this class before. I wondered where she was at lunch.
“Oh wait,” the teacher interrupted, ignoring the girls. “I forgot to take attendance, sorry Scarlett, it will only take a minute.” I tuned everything out as I stood in front of the class, waiting for this to be over. She called out name by name, and each person responded. “Dante Quinn?” She called out. “Dante Quinn?”
He was in this class? I understood why he wasn’t here; it was his dad’s class.
Finally, the teacher was finished, and I took a deep breath. When I went to speak, Nicole threw an open carton of milk at me. Without warning, I went invisible. I ducked down below the podium I was standing at, and prayed it would be so easy to turn visible—it wasn’t. Confused chatter filled the room, but the teacher was too busy scolding Nicole to notice. I took my chance and ran out of the room. Once I was out of the school, I finally went visible.
“What the hell?” I looked over and saw Dante staring.
“I—I” I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t explain this, and if he didn’t have powers, he could be in danger—and so could the rest of the class. I ran a little ways down the side walk in front of the school. I couldn’t believe what had just happened or what could.
A few minutes later, Dante walked up. I couldn’t let him question me, it was obvious that he was shocked and therefore, did not have powers. I got up and ran straight ahead, in front of cars that slammed on their breaks and honked. It was stupid, but I had to get away. I ran through the little patch of woods along the school, and out onto the main road. It felt like my lungs would explode, but I had to keep running. I looked back, and Dante was driving up. He stopped next to me.
“Come on, get in the car,” he begged.
“No, I’m fine,” I said as I picked up my pace.
He drove a little farther and turned down a street up ahead. He stopped right in front of the sidewalk. I knew he wasn’t going to give up, now he was interested in me, but only because of what he saw. I ran through a patch of bushes, and through random backyards, until I made it to the stretch of woods by the bar. The one with me and Dante’s spot. I needed to think, a whole class full of people had just seen my power and if the Alliance knew—no, I couldn’t think it.
I ran to the rock. I didn’t know what to do. Whatever was happening in the future was my fault. Whatever would happen here would be my fault. I couldn’t even dream of fighting the Alliance alone, and I had no one to help me. Then it hit me—Elizabeth and George. They must be in those woods, just a past version of themselves. Tomorrow I wouldn’t go to school—as if I would have after what happened anyway. I would have to figure out a way to get Rose’s car for the day, but I didn’t know how long I would be gone.
“Hey,” Dante said as he came up behind me. Great.
“Hi…” I mumbled. “How did you know I would be here?”
“How did you know I would be here the last time?”
“I didn’t,” I replied.
“Well, then, why did you come in the first place?” he wondered.
“What, you think you’re the only one that knew about this place? I used to come here all the time with my best friend.”
“Nicole?” he asked.
“No, you.”
“I’ve never come here before with anyone,” he said, confused, he shook his head. “What was going on back at the school?”
“If it’s that much of a shock to you, then I can’t really say,” I sighed. “If it isn’t bad enough you saw, so did my whole sixth hour class.”
“Exactly what did I see?” he said as he came closer.
I didn’t understand why he didn’t have powers; I couldn’t be the only person in the world with powers, could I? If I was, that meant no Alliance, but I couldn’t just assume. I grabbed his hand—an old habit he probably didn’t appreciate—and as I did, the ghost of Dante appeared.
“Whoa,” Dante jumped back, letting go of my hand. “What was that?” he asked.
“That was you…” I said under my breath as I stared at the Dante who I’d known and loved for years.
“Tell him… me… whatever,” his ghost urged.
“About six months into the future… you died,” I blurted.
“What? No, I don’t know what’s going on with you, but you’re crazy, and I’m seeing things.”
I grabbed his hand.
“Why don’t you tell him,” I said to Dante’s ghost.
“It’s true; everything that she said was true. She was cornered by a group of people that wanted to hurt us, so she went back in time. It was the only way that she could fix things.”
“This is messed up, there’s no way… this is crazy. I don’t k
now how you’re doing this, but you’re crazy,” he babbled.
“I knew this was a bad idea,” I said, shaking my head as I walked in circles.
“I need to leave; this is too weird,” Dante said. He went to run, but I grabbed his hand.
“Please don’t. You wanted to know and now you do.”
“No, I need to leave, let me go!” he yelled, and as he did he started to glow. Blue and green swirls circled him; it wasn’t like it was before. They grew brighter and brighter, until we were sitting in his basement. He stared at me, and I stared back; he was in shock, and I was relieved.
“You need to go,” he ordered.
“I didn’t do that… you did.”
Chapter 4: Picture
We sat there in silence. He couldn’t believe that he did that, but somewhere deep inside, he knew it was true. He was starting to realize that I was telling the truth, but even if he did realize, would he help? I wasn’t sure what it was that I had to do, but I knew I couldn’t do it alone. Another thing that I wondered, would Dante always be like this? I needed the Dante that I knew and loved; if the situation were reversed, I was almost certain he wouldn’t be able to stand the person that I was in this alternate universe. I looked back over at him. He still stared ahead, lost deep inside his thoughts. I shook him.
“What—” he said, startled.
“I need your help,” I started to explain.
“Can we go for a walk? I think I need some fresh air,” he broke in before I could finish. His face looked tired; it was as if he’d aged five years in the time that we sat on this couch.
“Sure,” I smiled.
“There’s one problem,” he looked at me in a way I would have only expected from my Dante. “My mom never saw us come in, and if they’re not up there my brothers will be.”
“What time is it?” I asked. It seemed like we had been down here for quite a long time, but lately I wasn’t very good at measuring time.
“Almost nine,” he replied.
I really should have gone home, I knew that Rose would worry, and Ann would probably be mad.
“Where do you want to be?” I asked. “Just think about the place you wish you were and before you know it, we’ll be there.” I grabbed his hand.
“I have a better idea,” he muttered as he walked over to the tiny window near the ceiling.
“You’re joking,” I laughed.
“Come here,” he said under his breath.
I needed to show him that his powers were nothing to fear. I needed to teach him, just as he’d done for me not too long ago. But for a moment, I thought about running away from them, too, and everything that came with them.
He laced his hands together and looked up at the window. Instead of going out the window, I grabbed his shoulders.
“I know it’s not easy. I’ve thought about ignoring it too—”
“Come on, let’s go.”
He gave me a boost, and just as I went to crawl out the window, a giant spider crawled in. I fell back and he caught me by the waist, we both fell to the floor. He fell on top of me, and I couldn’t say anything, I had the wind knocked out of me. He stared into my eyes and then looked over at something. He tried to get up, but before he could, someone started coming down the stairs.
I didn’t know why he decided to use his power—because someone was coming, or did it have something to do with whatever he was looking at? He started to glow before I heard footsteps.
Once we reached our destination, I stood there without a word. We were standing right behind Allison Floyd; I didn’t know her, but I’d seen her around.
He held my hand as he stared at her longingly. She had her back turned to us and didn’t seem to notice our arrival. I became invisible; I couldn’t help it. This was heart breaking. He was in love with someone else. Dante would never be who he was before, and I couldn’t save the Dante that I knew.
When I looked over to him, he was nothing but an outline. I gasped. He had seen ghosts when I held his hand before, but I never had anyone become invisible with me. After a few moments, he looked like a ghost, I could see him, but I could also see right through him.
His eyes were fixed on her. They never left her face as she stared into her light-brown eyes in the mirror. He looked into the mirror, and saw that he couldn’t see himself. I was afraid that he would freak out, but as he stared at her, he seemed calm, like nothing else mattered. He ran his fingers over her wavy blonde hair, being careful not to touch her. I thought about leaving, but I couldn’t.
She sighed as she looked over at a picture of him hanging on her wall. Then she flipped open a sketch pad and started scribbling—or so it seemed until I got closer. It was a picture of us, me and Dante, holding hands and walking into… a lake?
She flipped through the pages, and page after page was Dante and me. They were all different, sometimes we were in the forest, sometimes our favorite spot. In others, we were kissing and a few looked as though we were underwater.
“I wish I knew what all of this meant,” she sighed to herself. “Why is this all I see when I close my eyes?” She wondered aloud.
I could see the pain in his eyes as he watched a single tear stream down her cheek. When she flipped another page, I almost screamed out for her to stop. Thankfully, her eyes rested on it for a moment. No matter what was happening in this drawing, it seemed to be a welcome change from the previous few. I recognized the girl in the picture instantly—Grace.
“Who are you?” she whispered to herself.
I felt horrible. I didn’t particularly want to stay here, but I had a strong feeling that this girl was a major piece to this puzzle. I needed her sketch pad.
She closed her eyes again and started drawing a new picture. It took her almost an hour to complete. I didn’t look; I just sat in the corner waiting as he watched over her shoulder.
Once she was finished, she walked over to her bed and lay down. It took her a while to fall asleep, but once she did, I grabbed the sketch pad and walked over to Dante.
“We need to leave,” I said.
“I—I can’t,” he stuttered.
“Come on Dante, we need to go,” I protested. I grabbed his hand, but he refused. “We’ll come back to return this,” I promised.
“Why are you taking that?” he wondered.
“I think it will help, but I don’t know for sure,” I admitted.
“Fine,” he agreed. He took my hand in his and closed his eyes. “There is nowhere I’d rather be than here.” The words broke my heart, but soon we were standing in front of the house.
“Can we go back to your house or—”
“I guess,” he sighed as he grabbed my hand again, and soon we were back on the couch in his basement.
“You’re really getting the hang of this,” I complimented, but he shrugged me off.
I looked through the sketch pad, taking in every detail. I ran my fingers across the page, and soon I was sucked into a vision, only it wasn’t my vision—it was Allison’s. Unlike my visions, hers seemed to only be a single moment. It was like a slide show—snapshot after snapshot— some were happy, and some sad.
The first picture was of her and Dante. There were words written across the top of the page ‘our first date.’ They were smiling, and they looked in each other’s eyes the same way Dante and I used to.
The second was of me and Dante. There was no happiness in our eyes only fear and disappointment. I threw down the sketchpad and pushed it away from me. I had two options, the first, get away from Dante and leave him alone—forever. The second option, do what I was going to do anyway, get closer to him and hope there are no consequences. I chose the latter; I would try to get Dante back, but I needed to move slowly.
I was selfish; I couldn’t deny that. But when you love someone so much that you feel your heart sinking when you think about them, they’re not something you should just let go like that. I could feel my heart breaking every second I thought about him. I thought about the time we sp
ent in the beautiful forest that glowed. I needed to go find Elizabeth and George, but before that, I had bigger problems, ones that had to be dealt with promptly. I had all but forgotten what day it was today—two days before Grace disappeared. That meant today was the day she was murdered and someone took over her body.
“Look,” I began. “I know this is going to sound crazy, and I really should have started looking days ago, but there is a girl named Grace. I have a feeling something really bad is going to happen to her.”
“…Grace?” he said as he moved a little closer. “I don’t know anyone named Grace. I do remember you saying something about her though.”
“Will you help me?” I asked.
“How am I supposed to know this girl even exists, that you’re not lying?”
I thought for a moment. I had no pictures of her. No way to prove that she existed in the past, but I knew she did—and then I remembered. I grabbed the sketchpad again and flipped through the pages. There had to of been at least forty pictures. Some Dante and I did look happy in, happier than I’d ever seen two people. I felt the pain return. Then, I found the picture of Grace, and I turned the drawing toward him.
“This is Grace.”
“So Allison knows her?” he asked.
“No, I don’t think so, when she was staring at the picture, I heard her mumble, ‘who are you?’.”
“This is insane, you know that, right?”
“I know…” I stopped, at a loss for words. “I know how it seems to you, but you have to believe me. I came back from the future. I spent six months in a mental hospital and do you know why?”
“No, I don’t.”
“I was accused of killing her,” I choked; I felt a tear stream down to my chin. “And you know what? I didn’t do anything to her, but it could have been my fault.”
“But you don’t actually know her?”
“Not here, no, but we were best friends, just like you and I were best friends…” I sighed.
“I’m going to try to believe you. I’ll try to help, but you better believe that this is real, because if you’re lying, I’ll never talk to you again.”
