Chapter 1

The five of us were walking home, finally. We all had a great time, sort of. Talking and joking around as we walked ourselves back home from our night out at the movies. The monotony of the neighborhood of track homes where Ally lived did not bother me as it usually did, only helped with the emptiness I've been feeling lately. They didn't seem to notice it tonight though, which I was relieved about. They usually tried, but failed in their attempts to cheer me up.

"Time for you to go I guess," I said to Ally. I hope she didn't feel as if I wanted to get away from them, but I rather did. I'd sort of become anti-social these past months. Her dark windowed house was coming up next in the row of freshly mowed front lawns and garden gnomes.

"See you guys tomorrow," she said as we waved and said our goodbyes to her. If I only knew then that it was the last time I would ever see her I would have said more. We watched her walk across the street to her house. The rest of us continued our walk out of the neighborhood, the occasional dog barks and dark windows of the fleeting two-story houses indicating how late it really was. I guess that's why Ally's parents didn't see the rest of us off and pretend to offer a ride home. Fake bastards. Ok, maybe I was exaggerating but it was true that Ally's parents only tolerated us because we were Ally's only friends.

While we walked, I wondered why my mom had asked me to meet her at the liquor store around the corner of my house. I could have just walked home instead of her wasting the car's gas to pick me up. It was unnecessary but sweet of her, considering that we had argued before I left to the movies.

"Hey, aren't you going to meet your mom at that one liquor store?" Cheyenne asked, interrupting my thoughts. I had told them about the inane disagreement I had gotten into with my mom, and they were confused by my mother's behavior too.

"Yeah, I still don't get why though," I said distractedly. We were coming up on the next corner. The street lights flickered as we got nearer, but I only noticed because the others squeaked in surprise.

"Maybe, she wants to make up for what happened earlier?" Briana suggested. "Maybe she's finally realizing how she's been behaving these past few months and decided to not sit around and sulk about it." She was getting worked up.

"Let's just drop it, ok? I don't want to talk about it." I said.

"Why? So you can just keep moping around and expect us to deal with it? I'm getting tired of your bad mood. I know that your dad left your mo –" Briana was always too opinionated for her own good. Stef elbowed her and she stopped. Stef was always the one breaking up our arguments; she always talked sense into us before we said something that we would regret.

She didn't do that now though. She just shook her head slowly at Briana. Briana huffed and walked ahead of the rest of us. I guess Stef knew a lost cause when she saw one because she joined Briana ahead of Cheyenne and I. I don't know why that made me sad but it did.

"Look on the bright side;" Cheyenne said, reminding me that I still had her, "at least your mom is not as withdrawn as before. I'm guessing that she really does want to make up for... what's happened. Briana was just being how she usually is, you know? Just ignore her." She finished with a hopeful smile.

I could do that. This whole conversation was pointless anyway. They didn't know what really happened. And I wasn't about to tell them.

"I guess I'm about to find out," I parted from the rest of the group taking a right on the corner. Cheyenne, Breanne, and Stef walked away into the dark. They all waved goodbye except Briana, and I could guess why by her stony frown. She hated being silenced, but she especially hated when people didn't acknowledged when they were being stubborn. I guess I was acting like that, but I had reasons she didn't even know about. I nodded goodbye and turned away.

While I walked, every thirty steps or so I passed a street lamp that would light up the gloom. The dark street would need more of those if I had anything to do about it. I was coming up to the pizza place next to the liquor store when all the fun I had that night drained out of me in less time than you could say 'pizza'.

Something was wrong. I had been hunched over trying to walk as fast as I could to get out of the cold and that was probably why I didn't notice the first few people run past me. No, they didn't run, they barreled by me. They were running up and down the street and dragging belongings with them. Small children were crying and the adults' nervous energy made it worse. All I could hear now was the cacophony of screaming and shrieking panicked voices. People's fear shone plainly on their faces.

At that moment the street lights went out with a loud buzzing pop. Everyone around me shrieked in surprise, but continued running ahead of me. It was completely dark; apparently the power had already gone out in most people's homes because people already had flashlights waving around in the dimness. It was dark but I could still dimly see shapes moving around me in the moonlight. What was going on? I sped up my pace down the sidewalk. No one even bothered to walk on the sidewalks anymore, granted the farther they ran the less of them there would be. From what I could see they were heading toward the city, towards help, it seemed.

Cars would have been faster, but I could see that many were abandoned in the middle of the street with their doors still hanging open and their hoods up. I was near my neighborhood so I looked for a familiar face among the shadowy rushing crowds but found none.

At that moment a crowd of people came surging from the sidewalk behind me, jostling me as they all ran past me. Were Briana, Cheyenne, and Stef caught in any of this? I had no time to contemplate that thought as I tripped over my own feet and the crowd around me. People stampeded over me with no concern for the other people they knocked over. They probably couldn't see anything in the gloom. Heck, I could barely see the deteriorating pavement under me. I could hear others who were also being knocked around by the fleeing crowd. While I lay there trying to get up to no avail, a hand reached in through the midst of the crowd and grabbed me from under my arm and practically threw me over their shoulder with my stomach against their shoulder. I gave a surprised yelp and tried to get free. I weakly pounded my fists onto his back and tried to reach for his head.

"Stop trying to get away, I'm helping you." He sounded annoyed but he tightened his grip on my waist. I stopped trying to get away, but I was ready to fight if the need arose. It was so dark I could only make out the outline of his profile. I could feel blood running down my chin and trickle onto him as I tried to get a better look at his face.

"Hey, thanks, but, um, who are you?" I whispered. A sharp pain in the back of my head stopped me from speaking any louder. Why was everything spinning?

"Just your friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man." He huffed out sarcastically.

"Uh…Okay. You can set me down now." I said weakly, my vision was starting to fade so I closed my eyes.

"Just a minute," he said. I felt more than saw him move his head from side to side. I slumped against his back. I guess he was trying to look for a place to set me down where I wouldn't be trampled again.

I waited until he set me down on a bench near the liquor store that I was originally going to. Before I was trampled on by the spooked crowd of people that is.

He set me down on the old wooden bench that Mr. Thompson had outside his liquor store and I had to close my eyes and concentrate on not throwing up all that junk food I ate earlier onto him. I tried looking up, but suddenly I felt gust of wind hit me, sending my hair across my face. When I looked up nobody was there.

I sat there stunned. I was sure that I didn't imagine that. What the hell was going on? Who was that? Why did he just leave like that? Howdid he even leave that quickly? And why the hell didn't he stick around to at least see if I was going to stay conscious? All these questions drifted in my mind, but the main one was as to why he would even stop to help me and then take off like that. I guess he had better things to do than to babysit some stupid kid who couldn't even avoid a crowd of people. I dismissed that thought and just kept concentrating on not upchucking.

As I sat on the bench, I felt it start to rock back and forth, as if I was on a boat or something. The whole street seemed to be spinning.

I rested my hand on my face and leant my elbow on my knee breathing through my mouth in deep gusts trying to calm my nerves and stomach. My nose was bleeding; I could still feel it running down my neck and blouse. I think it was broken. I sat there for a long time trying to calm down.

I still didn't have any answers as to what was going on but I was going to find out. I stood carefully and scanned the street for someone to question, but didn't find anybody. The street seemed empty now. Only the occasional person would run by with nothing but fear etched in the expressions. They didn't even chance a second glance in my direction when I tried to get their attention. A few seemed to look at my appearance and sprint even faster into the darkness. What was going on? I didn't feel like I was in any danger.

However, maybe that was just me. These past few months I had become like a robot, no emotions, it was better that way. Unfeeling as I was I couldn't stand being around my mother for any longer than was necessary. Since my mom and I were alone now I have been the one taking care of her, not the other way around. She just did not have the energy to lift a finger or do anything for herself or me since that day. Not even drink…

I shook my head to clear it. I didn't want to become distracted by that train of thought. I didn't have time to be emotional these days, let alone now.

I rounded the corner to get to the front entrance of the liquor store. Something seemed different. I couldn't tell what though. What I saw surprised me. My mom's car was there in the parking lot with all its doors hanging open and my mom nowhere in sight.

I stood there, too stunned to move or think straight. Without thinking, I reached out to the car and started taking a step toward it. Suddenly I seemed to place the nagging thought that something was out of place or different than it should have been right now.

The screaming had stopped. It was dead quiet. The only thing I heard then was the crunching step behind me. I had time to take a breath to scream, but a hand came up from behind me and covered my mouth, muffling it.

"Don't make a sound!" a voice said in a hushed whisper, and then everything went black.