CHAPTER 3--28 DAYS

The next morning I got up to my dad screaming at my mom.

“Betty! This is ridiculous! I’m not living here any longer!” My dad yelled.

“Jeffrey! You have to be kidding me! It’s my JOB!” Mom yelled back.

“I’m tired of it!” I heard the front door open and slam closed. Then my mom sobbing.

Oh no, I thought to myself, that did not just happen. That did NOT just happen!

It did happen. But worse, Dad filed for divorce. I have no idea what they were fighting about, Mom won’t tell me, all I know is it’s been two days since Dad’s been home, and now he’s getting a restraining order and a divorce. Mom left me home by myself while she went to deal with this.

I hated being alone in that house, it just creeped me out. I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. Seeing as it was eleven in the morning, there wasn’t anything on worth watching. I settled on a classic, Tom and Jerry.

CRASH!

Something fell in the kitchen. I got up quickly and ran in there, but everything was the same.

BANG! CRASH!

It was still in the kitchen, but I didn’t know where. Suddenly, a cabinet door flung open, revealing a ton of shattered glass. I walked over to investigate, but it all fell out at the same time. Luckily, I jumped out of the way and didn’t get hit. I saw something still in the cabinet. Before I had a chance to move it fell out on top of the glass. It was a piece of wood. I bent down slowly and picked it up. It looked like it was a hundred years old. It had something carved into it, but I couldn’t read it. I looked up when I heard something scratching at the cabinet. A line appeared out of nowhere on the cabinet door. Then another, and another. More lines appeared, they spelled out 3 words. Then 3 letters. I tried to make out what it said. The first word was die, the second wasn’t a word at all, it was a number, 28, then the last one was days. Die, 28, days. Die in 28 days? Then the letters, AHJ. AHJ? What’s that supposed to mean?

“Alyss! What happened?” My mom asked as she walked into the kitchen. I looked over at her.

“Um…I dropped something…domino effect…” I said slowly. “Mom, what’s this--” I stopped as I looked back at the cabinet door and the scratches were gone.

“What’s what?” Mom asked as she started sweeping up the broken glass.

“Nothing.” I said. I must’ve just been imagining it or something. No, I’ve been on my mom’s team for too long. That wasn’t imagination, that was a ghost. A ghost trying to warn of something. Of a death. A death of AHJ. In 28 days.

The following Monday I started school. I walked slowly down the hall, taking everything in, the people surrounding me. Students, laughing, talking, shouting. Teachers, telling them to quiet down, get to class, to stop pushing poor Jimmy around. I looked at people and saw their auras, or the light surrounding someone, it tells about you, who you are. I saw a whole rainbow of colors, red, blue, gray, but one made me stop and stare at the child within it. Black. Black meant lack of energy, illness…and imminent death. The person within the black aura was a girl, probably about my age. I walked up to her, she was getting books out of her locker.

“Hey.” I said, putting on my sweetest smile.

“Hi.” She replied, and coughed.

“I’m Alyss Potter, I’m new. What’s your name?” I asked, holding out my hand.

“I’m Andrea, Andrea Jergens.” She said. A J.

“What’s your middle name?” I asked.

“What’s yours?” She countered.

“Mary.”

“Mine’s embarrassing.”

“Does it start with an ‘h’?”

“Yeah. How’d you know.”

“Just a guess.” Oh no. This is who’s going to die in 28, now 27, days. Andrea H. Jergens. AHJ. We hung out all day, I sat next to her in every class, during lunch. I talked to her in the halls. We shared a locker. But, now it’s time to drop some heavy news on her.

“Andrea.” I said. She looked at me and handed me my science book.

“Yeah?” She asked.

“Um…I have something I need to tell you.”

“What?”

“Um…” I can’t just tell her she’s gonna die in 27 days. That won’t do me any good, she’ll just think I’m a creep. “Never mind.” I say.

“Okay.” She said as she closed the locker. I’ll regret that day forever.