Part One Chapter Two

                Zara sat on the uncomfortable plastic chair and her eyes drooped as she tried to remember why she was in the hospital. Oh yeah, Samantha asked her to. Ryan had gone to visit Leslie in the hospital to see how she was after all the blood loss and if the doctors had found out why she was bleeding in the first place. Archie, Ryan's best friend, had gone with him on Ryan's request. Archie was Samantha's cousin and his mom had invited Samantha to come live with them after her father disappeared mysteriously when she was ten (her mother had died in childbirth), so she offered to come with him and asked Zara to come along so they could go a movie right after. They were currently sitting in the waiting room until Ryan found out what room Leslie was in. Archie was sitting next to a guy Zara believed was named Cliff, who was Ryan's other best friend. Cliff was pale with slanted black eyes and hair, with a shirt proclaiming to ph33r him. Archie was also pale, contrasting with his red (actually scarlet, not orange) hair and soft brown eyes.

            Ryan came back from the nurse's desk, and mumbled, "Room 1396," before running off eagerly. Everyone seemed to wake up and they followed him with as much fervor to Leslie's room. She was lying on a bed, sleeping peacefully though her face was very pale. There were stitched-up scars on her face and arms, which were attached by tubes to an IV filled with blood. Ryan held her hand and Leslie opened one eye.

            "Where am I?" she asked in a hoarse voice.

            "The hospital. Dude, what happened? I was really worried," Ryan said nervously.

            "Uh…I dunno, I can't remember a thing. I just woke up today and…"  Leslie gave a yawn and moved her arms uncomfortably. She suddenly glanced at Zara and gasped, "Oh, you're Sara, right? You visited me, and brought me chocolate. Thanks."

            "I didn't visit you," said Zara, confused. "And my name isn't Sara."

            "No, no, you visited me," asserted Leslie. "You were laughing and trying to feed me chocolates." Leslie yawned again, and glared at Zara. "Don't do that, I'm allergic. You were practically force-feeding-"

            "I told you, I haven't left Roville," the hospital was in a large nearby city, "for weeks. Not to mention you just got here yesterday." Zara felt extremely freaked out. She had had a dream of being force fed and vomiting, by the Blob in the laughing shape of herself just last night.

            "Oh…I suppose it was a dream or…something…hey, what's that noise?" There was a low sobbing noise coming from outside the door. "Oh, Jess? Honey, is that you?"

            "Who is Jess?" asked Zara to Samantha as everyone else except Leslie went outside to see who was crying.

            "Leslie's sister, Jessica," explained Samantha. "If I'm remembering correctly, then she's twelve. I'm not sure, she's pretty shy and doesn't speak much."

            Someone opened the door and a tall red headed woman with blue eyes-probably Leslie's mom-was patting a mini-Leslie with longer hair and saying soothing things. Zara assumed this was Jess, who was blubbering out, "Are you ok, Leslie?"

            "Jess, come here," commanded Leslie, and reached out to hug Jess, wincing a bit.  "Poor baby. I'm OK, don't worry."

            "Jessica just found out around 30 minutes ago," explained Archie to Zara and Samantha. "She was at an over-nighter at the recreation center and just got back this morning and found out that Leslie was at the hospital."

            Jessica's cries started to slightly slow down and she ran over to hug Leslie tightly. Leslie looked in pain and Jess quickly let go, still sniffing.

            "I'm OK Jess, don't worry," sighed Leslie, patting Jess' hair a bit. Zara suddenly felt like she wanted to puke. This was so stupid, why was everyone lapping attention on Leslie, vapid bitch. Zara felt suddenly scared, why did she suddenly feel so hateful? Just because Leslie was a stupid, attention seeking-

            Leslie suddenly screamed. "Ow…ow…nurse! Nurse!" she yelled. A nurse rushed in, shooing everyone out as Leslie started to bleed again. Zara was already gone.

       "Zara! Why did you run out like that?" Samantha gasped, trying to catch her breath as she held on to Zara.

            "I don't like blood, ok? I felt sort of sick…" Zara lied. She didn't want to say anything about her hatefulness or the dreams, for fear Samantha might get scared and blame her for Leslie's sickness.

            "You don't…" Samantha wheezed, "…look sick."

            "Well, yeah, I'm tanned. Tanned people don't turn green."

            "Seriously, Zara, what's going on with you? Maybe you just haven't gotten enough sleep and it's affecting your brain, with all your staying up late to study."

            Zara paused for a second. They were outside in the parking lot, alone, and no one would hear them. Zara quickly told Samantha about the terrifying dreams she had, and realized tan people can look green. Samantha widened her eyes and decided to tell Zara a secret of her own…