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“Hey Sky? What was it you were going to tell me this morning?” Jordan asked as she dipped another pretzel into one of the many tubs of icing on Amber’s bed.

Oh yeah. Haden. She had completely forgotten.

“Well you know how I never remember my dreams? Well…this may sound strange, but I’ve been having this one dream lately every night.” So she told them the dream, from the peaceful beginning to the terrifying end.

“Well, that’s not so weird. Not enough to freak out over. Dreams can be like that sometimes. Trust me. You’re not the only one.” Emily reassured her.

Amber looked down and played nervously with the sash on her robe. ‘Well, that’s not exactly the weird part. The guy…in the meadow…he looks exactly like Haden.” She looked up and stared deep into their eyes.

“That could just be a coincidence.” Jordan said doubtfully.

“He couldn’t have looked exactly like him…could he?” Emily offered.

“He did.” Amber said softly.

“That’s so weird. No wonder you freaked when you saw him.” Jordan laughed a little.

“It does make sense now. You’re normally not awkward with guys. It surprised me a little. I thought you were floored by his…” Emily searched for the right word.

“Everything?” Jordan offered. “He gave off the same kind of vibe Sky gives sometimes. Charismatic, but something more.”

“You noticed that too?” Emily said. “He was just w-o-w.”

While they kept talking she thought about all the times when she presented or spoke in front of class, how everyone would stop talking and completely focus on her. How everyone would be so willing to help her all the time…she had noticed and enjoyed it before, but it was because of that? She knew she had some special attention, especially from some of the guys at school, but she hadn’t put a lot of thought into it. None of them interested her anyway, but…that was why? She wasn’t completely blind to the fact that she was pretty.

She hated the way it sounded, but it was true. When a person looks at themselves everyday it’s hard not to notice. So was looking at Haden…like how others saw her?

“Yes.” Jordan and Emily answered in unison.

Amber’s head snapped up. She hadn’t meant to ask that out loud.

“Well, in way, but his was way more intense.” Jordan said.

Emily made a small squeal. “He was in my French class today and sat next to me. And guess what? He asked about you.” Emily gave an almost triumphant smile at Amber’s truly shocked face.

“What?” Amber asked faintly.

Emily’s smile got wider as she continued. “He was very persistent on the subject, actually. Wanted to know all kinds of things…” Emily trailed off. Amber took the bait.

“Like what? What did you tell him?”

“He was so very nosy that I actually told him to back off and mind his own business and if he was that curious he should ask you himself.” Emily sounded gleeful. “It was very fun! You should have seen the look on his gorgeous face. It was priceless.”

Amber smiled, barely relieved. She knew there was no need to have worried. Emily loved being in other people’s business, but only because she loved sharing it with them. However, she was vehemently loyal to her and Jordan.

“Well what he wanted to know couldn’t have been that bad.” Jordan put in.

“Erm…well…he noticed that Sky seemed…a little off this morning,” Emily threw her a nervous glance, “And he was asking if she was always like that and if something was wrong with her. It kinda pissed me off, saying something wrong with her, but I had noticed it too. But I didn’t say anything because, you know, I thought it was because it’s almost…that…time.” She finished brokenly.

Ah. Now Amber understood. She also understood why she had been thinking of her father so much recently. She hadn’t realized it was almost the sixteenth of September.

“It’s okay Emily. I’m fine, really. But thanks for not telling him.”
“Especially now that he’s freaked you out so much. What do you think we should do, Sky? This is a little weird even by my standards.” Jordan said. Amber ran a hand through her hair, something she did when she was worried.

Then she remembered she had already decided it was nothing. No big deal. New guy, no singing, end of story. She bashed down any feeling of doubt deep in her stomach. She smiled and shrugged. “It’s okay. I decided earlier that it was stupid to take something so small and to turn into something so major. Things like this don’t just happen. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“If you think so…” Jordan hesitated.

“I do.” Amber said firmly. “Haden’s nice and he doesn’t deserve us being all suspicious of him because of a fantastical dream.” She realized that as she said the words she truly believed them.

“As long as you’re okay I’m okay.”

An idea popped into Amber’s head.

“Thanks Em. And I’m really okay about my dad. He would want me to be living instead of dying with him like my mom, so to celebrate…” She threw Jordan a wicked smile.

Jordan’s eyes lit up like fire. “Ooo, I know what you’re thinking. I’m so in for The Underground!” The Underground was only the biggest, wildest, and most exclusive night club in the city. Amber had accidentally stumbled upon it two years ago and for some reason they let her in even though she was only fifteen. It was one of the greatest nights of her life. She brought Emily and Jordan with her one night and they were accepted to.

The only rule was that it had to be kept an absolute secret. The people who owned it were also a mystery, it ran all day every day, but it literally was underground, so it always had the illusion that is was night. It was a world just for them. Where they could just cut loose, forget, and rave. Amber couldn’t remember the last time they went and she had no idea why they stopped going, but she felt it was time to start again.

“We haven’t been there in forever!” Emily gasped.

“When do you want to go?” Jordan asked excitedly. She wanted to go now.

“Ton-”

“Go where?” Amber’s mother asked as she slowly stalked into the room, Amber whirled around, surprised. She hadn’t expected her to be home so early. She quickly scrambled for an excuse.

“Mick’s,” Jordan lied smoothly, “We wanted to get out for a while and Amber suggested we get a milkshake.”

Amber’s mother glanced icily at the clock. “At one in the morning?”

Jordan smiled wryly. “It’s open twenty-four-seven for a reason.”

She pursed her lips deciding whether or not she was in the mood to pretend to believe Jordan’s lie. “Fine. I believe you, but that doesn’t mean I’m letting you go. I don’t want you out this late. Not tonight. You have school tomorrow for goodness sake.” Her mother sounded very tired as usual, and almost…sad.

“Okay mom.”

“Thank you. Now if you girls don’t need anything I’m going to sleep.”

“No thanks. We’re good Ms. Sky” Jordan said a little shortly. Her mom winced a little at the ‘Ms.’.

She nodded and left without another word.

“Unbelievable,” Jordan muttered. Amber knew her mother saw how she looked to them, what kind of mother she must have seemed like.

“Next Saturday. I want to go next Saturday.”

“It’s a date, but now that the Miss is home I want to go to sleep.”

Always being a good host, she let Jordan and Emily sleep on her bed while she curled into her futon on the other side of the room. She stared sleepily at her ceiling picturing Haden’s face through the darkness. She stared at it until she faded gently off to sleep. Would she dream of him again?



She felt a vague sense that something was wrong. She had walked through these same halls thousands of times, she could practically find her way through them blindfolded. She’d seen the same faces, exactly the same in her memory as the day before. She’d heard the same voices. The same phrases. As she passed through all the familiarity everything was in its place, yet something was wrong. She walked through the mass of people like a ghost, her vision blurred at the edges until it all became one mass. Haden turned a corner into her field of vision, every part of him in sharp focus. Everything around him stayed hazy, but he was vivid and alive. He practically glowed.

She felt something ram inside her. Something locked away deep inside her soul that wanted to explode. His deep blue eyes stared into hers as he walked towards her. The ramming grew more violent. As he got closer something rolled of his skin in gentle waves, radiating towards her, recognizing a kinship in her. It was beautiful, delicious, and exhilarating. He was the only thing holding her in place in this world. Everything else fell away into darkness until it was just her and Haden, back in their field. Whatever was rolling off his skin made every part of her tingle and she felt a steady thrum run through her fingertips.
He started to sing again in his ethereal voice and every glorious feeling she felt was replaced with the same sense of perverseness she felt earlier.

The steady, relaxing thrum that he invoked in her was overpowered by the wild flow of blood through her veins as panic took over. She started to run, but his voice restrained her, in a wave of power she couldn’t comprehend. She looked wildly for anything, anyone, but nothing was there and nothing would be. She raised her horror-stricken eyes to his and saw the cold malice of a monster. He stopped singing and took a step towards her. Even though she no longer felt him trapping her she was frozen to the core. He lifted his hand and ran the back of it almost lovingly against her cheek. It burned and she wanted to scream, but the look in his eyes kept her from doing so. He twisted his mouth into that cocky, arrogant smile she had seen on him before.

“Amber.” When he said her name, his voice could have passed it off as a blessing but it felt like a curse. “Don’t be afraid.” He backed away a step and began to sing. No sound came out, but she could feel it. His actions completely contradicting his words, his voice coiled around her, vice-like in its grip, and searing in its pain.

She wanted to run, kick, thrash, every inch of her body screamed at her to do so, but she couldn’t move, barely breath. Bursts of panic shot through her like an explosion of fireworks. And, oh, the pain. She was internally gasping. Oh God! It felt as if she were being burned alive! Actually she’d rather be burned alive than this. It might end quicker. Please, please I want to die, she thought as he stood over her. She wanted to burn him with her hate and her anger through her eyes, but all she could convey was pain and fear that she would never feel anything else in her entire life. He boldly held her gaze, and a moment later something glistened on his cheek and fell softly onto her face. A tear. Her mouth was unlocked and she screamed.


She thrashed knocking the futon jarringly against the wall. Panicked, disoriented, and burning she shot into her bathroom slamming the door. Her stomach rolled in sickening waves and the floor felt like water beneath her feet. Almost gasping, she clumsily stripped of her clothes and, as she collapsed into the tub, flipped on the cold water. The water sprayed against her skin as she shuddered violently. Her vision was blurring in and out of focus, she glanced down at herself and saw red staining her skin all over her arms, stomach, legs, and chest. Bangs erupted at the door and she could barely register Jordan and Emily’s voices on the other side, asking if she was okay, begging her to let them in. Amber felt weak like she had a fever, she couldn’t answer them.

There was another bang from farther away and then she heard her mother’s sharp worried tone from the other side.

“Jordan, Emily, what happened? Who was screaming? What’s wrong with Amber?”

Emily’s voice shook as she answered her, “I-I-I don’t know. We all went to sleep and I woke up to her screaming and going crazy, bashing the futon into the wall, then she bolted into the bathroom without saying anything.”

“The door’s locked and she won’t answer us.” Jordan said.
Amber heard the rattling door knob as someone tried to open it.
“I just told you it was locked.” Jordan’s voice was tight with anger and worry.

“Amber, honey, are you okay?” Her mother asked gently.

Amber wanted to answer her, but her throat felt charred without her even speaking, like she was smoldered inside out. She felt her consciousness begin to ebb.

“Girls, I think I should go ahead and take you to school. Get ready.”
“Oh, and what!? You just expect us to leave her here like this!” Jordan blazed.

“Amber’s our best friend I think we should stay and see of she’s okay.” Emily said calmly.

“I’ll be here to take care of her.”

“Oh, right!” Jordan snorted. “Like you’ve been here for her these past four years? Completely abandoning her everyday like that!” It was like a levee breaking on Jordan’s rage. “Do you even realize what you’ve done? What you’ve put her through?” Jordan was practically shrieking.

“I’m a good mother! Everything I’ve done and everything I do is for her!”

“Sure, letting her call me all those years ago to help her deal with the loss of her father because you were never around is a great quality! You never had to listen to her cry, or hear how much pain you put her through, so don’t even begin to tell me you’re a good mother! No person, let alone someone’s mom, should make her feel that way! Don’t tell me you’re a good mom when you don’t even know whether your daughter comes home from school or not! Do you even know her anymore? She sure as hell doesn’t know you!” Amber wanted to stop this, she could tell Jordan was crying, but she could barely feel the water on her skin now.

“Jordan.” Emily muttered warningly.

“You’re a terrible mother. Just face it.”

It was quiet for a second. Amber wished she could see their faces.
“Get dressed.” That was all her mother said before leaving the room and shutting the door softly behind her. A tear of her own fell down her check, then nothingness.



Amber woke up to the sound of water against marble and it running down her face. She scrunched her eyes and weakly got up and turned it off. She looked down to see how bad the burns were, but there was nothing there. She ran her hands down her arms and moved them around. No red, no pain. Nothing except another nightmare, she shuddered. A nightmare she didn’t ever want to have again. Her sanity wouldn’t be able to take it. She slipped on her clothes and peered outside the door. No one was there, but there was a soft lyrical sound coming from below. She stepped out and listened. Her dad’s soft jazz was coming from downstairs. Huh. That was weird. She hadn’t heard that music for years. She cautiously went downstairs, a little afraid to face her mother after what Jordan had said. She almost wished Jordan had just left it alone…almost.

She heard whistling. Now that was really strange. She sped up and turned the corner, seeing if her mother was still sane and found a giant man with dark brown hair and in her mother’s pink Kiss the Cook apron…making omelets. She quickly ducked behind the corner, thinking of what to do. Who the hell was that and what was he doing in her house? What should she do? She couldn’t think of anything to use for self defense.

They didn’t have guns and the knives were in the kitchen. Was he even a burglar? She never heard about criminals who snuck inside people’s houses wearing the owner’s things and making freaking breakfast for themselves. Her heart calmed a little. She stole a glance again at the man and he was actually dancing while he was cooking and whistling. Normally, she would bust out laughing at the image at this big buff guy wearing a pink apron dancing in her kitchen, except for the fact that he was a complete stranger.

She could probably rule out murderer. He didn’t seem like the cold blooded killer type. She took another glance around the room. The windows and door look normal, so she could probably rule out robber too. She didn’t like eggs anyway. She didn’t have any family to speak of, so this guy couldn’t be here unless…her blood ran cold. She was impossibly still for a split second. A switch flipped on inside her. Mother brought him here. It was practically a snarl in her head. She didn’t know who this man was and she didn’t care. She just wanted him out of there. Now. She stalked over to the stereo and bashed in the off button. The man jumped and whirled, every muscle tense. When he saw her he relaxed into a jubilant smile.

“Ah, good morning! I’m making omelet-”

“Who are you?” She asked icily. She folded her arms across her chest. His smile turned a little awkward and he glanced across the room.

“I’m a friend of your mom’s. I’m just-”

“Really?” She asked cutting him off, raising her eyebrows. “Last time I checked she was too busy working to have any friends, let alone hang out with them. I haven’t heard one thing about a friend.” She couldn’t believe her mother was actually spending her spare time out with some guy, when this whole damn time she thought she was working and couldn’t be here. She didn’t want some replacement dad, especially one that stole her mother away from her. Amber ground her teeth together. The guy shifted nervously under her glare.

The front door opened and in walked her mother, when she saw them in the kitchen together, she smiled, but it didn’t fit.

“Aw, good! You’re up! You had a rough night are you okay?” Amber turned her glare from the b*****d cook to her. The silence was heavy and uncomfortable…but not for Amber. Her mother shot glances at the b*****d and Amber could see she was floundering like a fish out of water. Her face was all she needed to see to know the truth. Liar. Something seethed inside her.

“Uhm…” She put on a kind of fake smile and walked over to her new Bo and lightly touched his arm. “So, you’ve met Amber! Amber this is Slater.” Her mom waited for the polite greeting that wasn’t coming. She continued.

“He’s a coworker of mine. I told him you were having some problems sleeping and I thought maybe he could help. He’s going to stay here for a little while” Amber wasn’t buying it and when she spoke her voice sounded beyond harsh.

“Yeah, because coworkers definitely shack up with each other for their daughters.” Slater didn’t look like mister happy cheery now. He looked somber and…oh, God. Disapproving, like he was about to admonish her or something. Her nails dug into her palms. Her mom looked a little frantic.

“Honey, baby, I know how it seems, but it’s not like that between me and Slater. You have to believe me.”

“Why couldn’t you have at least tried to help me yourself first before bringing this home.” She gestured at Slater. Her mother’s mouth turned into a thin line. An expression she knew to well. Apparently referring to Slater as a this was crossing the line. She couldn’t help it. She felt too angry, too hurt, too deceived.

“Amber. I know you have the wrong idea about this, but he is a guest and he is someone close to me. I understand the original shock, but I suggest you try to be a bit more polite. Hm?”

Slater turned his head so his mouth was close to her ear. “Evelyn, it’s okay reall-”

“Then what exactly would the right idea be, mom!” She yelled. “Is this the reason you don’t come home? This whole time I thought you were suffering silently over dad, but you were actually sneaking around my back seeing this!” Tears started welling up.

Her mother had a sharp intake of breath. “Amber-”

“And did you have to tell me like this! I didn’t even know he existed and I come in here hoping to find you and it’s this Slater person? You couldn’t have at least tried to sit down and talk to me first! To see if I was even okay with this!” She wiped her tears away with the back of her hands.

“Amber, baby,-”

“NO!” She felt something explode inside her. It was beyond anger, beyond pain. It was something so purely dark, but it seethed just below the surface. She took a deep breath, but her body was shaking from the emotions raging inside her. Her outburst had them stunned to silence.

“I’m not your baby. Not anymore. I’ve grown up and you’ve left the nest.” Amber whispered. A tear spilled over her mother’s cheek and Amber felt almost sick that it made her feel glad. She couldn’t take this anymore. Amber slung her purse over her shoulder and grabbed her keys. She didn’t know where she was going, but she’d rather be anywhere, but there. As an after thought, she turned around once more into the stunned room.

“I’ll be back.” She said. Even though she didn’t want to be, she knew later she would probably cool off and come crawling back. It was a promise her mother never made to her. She stepped out into the sunlight and slammed the door behind her.