Hello everyone! Did you miss me?
I think that this was the fastest that I've ever posted two chapters, and also the most words in a chapter that I've ever written. yay me!
haha. i dont feel like rambling today, so on with the chapter:

"Well, are you going to answer me?" asked my mother for the second time, though I never even heard her ask in the first place. I was too busy in my own little world, racking my brain for any rational excuse I could think of that would cause such an outburst from me.

I momentarily forgot all of my terrors from the voicemail; I was too preoccupied. My mother may think she's "hip", which she's totally not, but I can tell you one thing; she's far from naive. She can tell a lie from the truth in an instant, so it's pertain ant that I come up with a well formed lie.

"I... umm... I slammed my cut hand against the corner of the kitchen counter, and it... umm... cut open again and started bleeding." I stuttered, hoping she would believe me.

In truth, my hand was bleeding again, but only because I rubbed some anti-bacterial cream all over it, and the cream was making my hand bleed to rid it of any possible infections. Nonetheless, my mother did not need to know that. The less she knew about my dreams, the better.

"It hurts really bad, mom." I added, wiping a fake tear from the corner of my eye.

One of my mom's most endearing qualities was her sensitivity. She was way too nice, so she usually fell under the hands if any injured person, always wanting to make them feel better. Just as I thought, the tear, and one look and my cut open hand, my mom rushed to my side and put her arm around me.

And as she held me tight, I began to cry, but not because of the pain; I could deal with that. I was more worried about my dreams, and what would become of then now that they started mixing in with reality.

My mom also knew the right things to say at times of hurt and sorrow, so she did to me what she does best.

"It's going to be okay, honey. Everything will work out just fine." Of course, my mom was only talking about my hand, but I instantly felt better. I knew that she was right; I could solve this problem with the "monster", if it even is the guy from my dreams. Maybe I just misheard the voice, and it really was just Tyler calling. Yeah that was probably just it, I reassured myself. But I knew one thing, for sure; I was going to meet whoever called at 8:00 sharp in the park, no matter whether or not my mom would let me out of the house.

- - - - -

"No! No, no, no, no, and definitely no!" my mother shouted through the roar of the television.

"But mom..." I whined like a 5-year-old who really wanted a big stuffed dog, but her mom wouldn't let her get it.

I had told my mom that Mara wanted me to go over her house for a few hours, since it was a Friday night. Oh yeah, and did I forget to add the night before my 16th birthday! I told my mom that I wanted her to drop me off at the house and then I could stay over her house for a little while. I was hoping, then, that I could have my mom come and pick me up at 11. I didn’t want to sleep over, though, because of the whole dream problem, but I didn't tell her that.

Apparently, she thought that was too much to ask of her. She told me that she had a "life of her own", yes, her exact words, and didn't need to pick me up and drop me off to my liking.

"First you beg me to let you stay home from school, and now this? Absolutely not!" my mom retorted firmly. I tried to press my argument further, but with one raise of my mom's eyebrows, I knew that her mind was made up. I sighed, knowing I'd have to do this the hard way.

"What would you like for dinner, honey?" my mom asked, completely ignoring our previous dispute.

"I'm not hungry." I mumbled as I stomped up the stairs and into my room, slamming the door behind me.

- - - - -

Once I was safe in the confinements of my own room, I began to plan my escape for tonight.

My mom was always the overprotective type of parent, so she gave me a fire ladder when I was just a little girl. My window is hidden behind my bed, so it's not actually visible if you were to, say, look through my door.

There's a hook on the ledge of my windowsill that connects to the ladder. Once the physical ladder attaches to the hook, it unravels over the window and outside. Then, all that's left for me to do is sneak down the ladder, past the living room window (where my mom is) and then out the driveway and to the park I go. Sounds east enough, right?

Just to make sure that my mom wasn't going to come look for me, I decided to walk downstairs and tell her the lamest excuse in the dictionary, literally.

"Hi Mom." I said, adding a quick yawn at the end.

"Hello, sweetie. Are you going to eat any dinner with me?" she asked. My mom was sitting on the living room couch, watching TV, so she lowered the volume as I stepped into the room. She was eating left over Chinese chicken and broccoli.

Ever since my father died of a heart attack three years ago, my mom has taken to eating very late in a structure less manner. Dinner was my dad's "thing". He wanted everyone "eating together as long as he lived". It was weird when he said exact phrase, just a mere 24 hours before he suffered from a heart attack and died.

"Actually, I was thinking about heading to bed. I'm pretty tired right now, and I want to get a good night sleep for my birthday tomorrow." I could tell that my mom didn't really believe me as I said it, but I was too nervous for my soon-to-be encounter to really care. And, besides, meeting this mysterious man was too vital to miss just because my mom didn't approve of it. I'm almost sixteen years old; I think that I'm capable of making my own decisions. Although, I'm not sure that my mother always agrees with me.

"Alright, honey" my mother agreed reluctantly, since it was 10:30 p.m. already.

"'Night mom!" I said sleepily, hoping that she would believe me.

"Goodnight." I heard my mom reply from the living room, as the television got louder and louder until I could barely hear her voice anymore.

I skipped the steps two a time as quietly as possible and walked into my room.

I figured that tonight, I would just go out there and find out who left the message. After all, I must know the person awfully well if he just introduced himself as "me". Or he could have just been trying to shield his name from me. There I go again, trying to scare myself. He probably just thought I'd know the voice. I reassured myself. Yeah, I've got nothing to worry about.

- - - - -

Getting down the ladder was the east part; the hard part was sneaking past the living room window that my mom was looking through. I considered just waiting for my mom to go in the other room before I moved, but she would take way too long. Besides, it was already 10:45, and it takes a good 15 minutes to get to the park by foot. I knew I'd just have to take my chances.

I saw my mom gaze her head towards the TV for just a quick second. I took advantage of that second, and sprinted across the window before I could change my mind. I wasn't sure if she saw me or not, but I definitely wasn't planning to stick around and find out.

So, I ran. And kept running, all of the way past my driveway and through the street. I didn't stop running until my house was way out of view.

From there on, I continued my walk, thinking about this mystery man. I knew that I should be thinking of a plan and what to say/do, but to be honest, I was too petrified, and nervous, to be thinking of anything remotely intelligent to say. The way my brain was acting, I should've been just trying to say one complete sentence, let alone a smart comment.

Deep breaths, I reminded myself, Stay calm. I continued to thinking these thoughts until I finally reached the park. It was 11:00 now, I was right in time.

The entire park was empty, except for one lone park bench, which was tucked in the far corner of the park. There, I managed make out a slight figure, though I was too far away to make any conclusions as to who it might be.
I willed my feet to move closer to the person, no matter how much my bottom lip began to quiver. Eventually, I began to see some of the man's main features; brown hair and one earring in left ear. I panicked, thinking it was now the monster but I kept on going.

Finally, I reached the person to see it faced towards me, startled as though it was figured that I wouldn't show up. The person looked me up and down, as I did the same to it.

By now, I noticed that it was moat definitely not the monster, since it was, in fact, a young woman instead. The long brown hair was actually short on a girl, fitted with bangs and a pixie cut hair style. Instead of just one earring, there were actually two small diamonds at the top of each earlobe. The woman looked to be in about her early twenties, and by looking at her now, I wondered how I ever mistook her for the man in my dreams. Now that I actually think about it, they know nothing alike!

The woman got up and walked away, bringing me back to reality. I sat down on the bench, waiting for the man on the answering machine or whoever it was, to finally show up.

- - - - -

I checked my watch again; 11:45. I would be home by 12 if I just left now, I told myself. At last, I convinced myself that I should go home; this man was obviously not coming anytime soon. So, I got up from the stiff bench and starting walking. I only took about 5 steps before I noticed someone running towards me. I stood frozen in place, knowing that this had to be the man looking for me. Why else would someone be running at me? I thought to myself, though these words were hardly reassuring.

The man finally reached me, and looked me straight in the eye. Trying to keep eye contact with him, I quickly noticed the light blonde shade of his hair and blue eyes. I also noticed that he was only about 17 years of age. However, the thing that stood out most to me was the one earring on the top of the left ear, just like the man in my dreams.

"Are you Audrey Young?" he asked me, without ever losing his eye contact.

Trying to keep the same confidence that this man portrayed, I didn't answer, but added a quick question of my own.
"Are you the man that left me a voicemail?" I shot back surprised at my lack of self-consciousness. I guess I was better at confrontations than I thought I was.

"No," he answered, "but this is from him," he said, handing me a note. I examined it for a quick second and began to mutter a quick "thanks". But before I could even mutter a word, I looked up to find him running across the park, almost through to the other side.

"Hey!" I screamed, not caring if anybody else heard. "What's your name?"

"Todd!" he yelled back, his voice echoing in the distance.

- - - - -

On my walk home, I decided to open the note Todd gave me. It read:

Hello Audrey. I'm so sorry I could not make it. But actually, I'm not late, just early for our next meeting. Sorry if I caused you any problems, and I'll see you later. Don't worry, I'll be in touch.

This note didn't have the effect on me that I thought it would, but a totally different one. I felt only irritation for whoever left the note. I couldn't believe that I was told to sneak out of my house and risk getting grounded, just to wait 45 minutes and then, only receive a note with no answers! And trust me; I was not in the mood to read that stupid joke. As of then, I was no longer anxious at the thought of who wanted to meet me, but angry at them instead.

I thought about all of this on the way home. I ran for the few minutes, so the walk only took about a total of 10 minutes.

Still thinking, I absentmindedly walked past the living room window, not thinking about being sneaky, and up the ladder. By the time I got in my room, I turned on the light and noticed that my bed was overturned, which was definitely not the way I left it.

Quickly, I turned around to see an unexpected visitor watching my every move through the doorway; my mom, of course, she always ruins everything. I was debating on how long she would ground me, while making sure that I didn't look at her. But when I did get a little peak, I noticed that she looked as calm as ever. I continued to fix my bed as I suddenly saw the lights flick on and off several times and knew it was my mom doing so. Giving her my undivided attention, she began to speak.

"Hello Audrey. Would you like to tell me where you were? Because I already called Mara's house and she told me that you were not there. Is there anything that you would like to tell me?" she asked, her voice showing no signs of rage, only calmness.

"Umm. I've got nothing." I replied, letting her do her worst.

"Well then, Audrey, it's now officially 12:00. Happy 16th birthday! Now, here's you present; you're grounded for three weeks." my mom said, as she walked into the hall and slammed the door in my face.

dun dun dun! grounded, just like me! haha, but i always find a way to get out of everything hint hint wink wink... uh oh. I've said too much. so now, my fellow reviewers, push the review button below and well, review! )