"Carmen! Carmen! Oh thank god," Shelby let out a sigh of relief when her friend finally opened her eyes.

"Ugh.. it's so bright in here," Carmen shielded her face from the glaring ceiling lights. That's when she realized her whole fist was wrapped in bulky bandage wraps.

"Oh Carmen, I was so worried," Amber stopped her pacing and walked up to the bed, sharing a worried expression with Shelby. "What do you last remember?"

"Uh.. I was.. walking with Shelby on the West Wing.. and I think a window cracked?"

"You said Rain before you passed out," Shelby reminded her in a low voice. "Did you see her?"

Carmen's memory flashed back to that disturbing image of her father frothing at the mouth just after seeing Rain's reflection on the pane of glass.

She held back the urge to vomit and pushed the memory away. "That's what I wanted to tell you," she breathed fast, rushing to get out the words she couldn't earlier. "I know why I'm dreaming her life! My dad was friends with her in high school, he must have known what happened to her. He must have known something!"

"C-Carmen," Amber stuttered, her eyes going wide.

"Yes Amber, I know you won't believe me without evidence so look at my camera! It's in my purse. Rain Wilson is showing me her life through dreams because my dad is the link. He's the link that psychic told us about— No Amber don't try to calm me down," she pushed her hands away. "I know what I'm saying. It all makes sense now—"

Carmen's jaw dropped upon seeing the stranger in the room.

Hayden stared back awkwardly and feigned a cough. "I should.. uh.. get going. I'm glad your friend is doing goo.. is awake now."

He raised his hand goodbye and paused besides Amber just before going out the door. "Here uh.. you can just take these."

"Oh—" Amber had no choice but to grab the box of cosmic brownies. "Uh Thank you," she barely managed to say after he had left.

Oh just perfect, he probably thinks we're a bunch of freaks now, Amber thought to herself. Peering into the box at the last couple of brownies, she wondered why she even cared about what he thought. They'd only just met today. He was probably hoping to get that thing all the guys want, anyway. She would've been foolish to continue playing along.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know he was right there," Carmen sunk into her shoulders with guilt.

"No please, don't worry. I dodged a bullet there," Amber smiled faintly, glancing at the empty doorway.

"Amber~! Who was that cutie?" Shelby sing sang, grinning wide and arching her eyebrows with interest.

"No one," Amber rolled her eyes and shrugged. "He's just a classmate. Anyway, what's all this about a link, Carm?"

"On second thought, we should probably talk about this somewhere else."

"Ooh, we should go to my place after school! It's been ages since I've had people over," Shelby gushed.

"As if!" Carmen and Amber glanced at each other knowingly and laughed out loud.

"Ok ok, besides the dudes... Those don't really count. I want my girls to come over for once!" Shelby slid her arms around them and brought them close. "Whaddaya say, you both down? I'll just tell my mom we're working on a school project or whatever, she'll totally believe it!"

"Well, I'm not really busy after school," Amber smiled at them both.

"Me neither," Carmen raised her bulky bandaged hand and the girls laughed.

"Alright, then it's set! I'll drive us over there after school," Amber jingled her keys proudly and gave a smug smile.

***

"Wow, this is really the first time you guys will be coming over! I'm so excited," Shelby grinned as they pulled into her neighborhood.

"It's crazy, we've been friends since sophomore year and we're barely getting to see your place," Carmen mused and chuckled softly. "We used to ditch P.E. to hide in the back room and tell creepy urban legends."

"And now we're actually investigating one," Amber parked the car. "How time flies."

Shelby shut the car door and extended an arm, lavishly presenting her uptown suburban house. "Mademoiselles, bienvenue to my place!"

"Merci merci," Carmen and Amber chuckled softly.

The girls followed a cheerful Shelby up the front porch and stopped right before the grand ornate oak doors.

"Alright before we go in, there's something I need to tell you guys. My mom's kind of.. super strict. So if she asks, we're working on a project."

"No problem," Amber nodded.

"My lips are sealed." Carmen agreed.

Shelby took in a deep breath and smiled before unlocking the door. "Come on in."

A pungent fragrance of expensive perfume combined with the sour scent of tar wafted through the air when they opened the door. The living room was expansive and well lit by curved bow windows on the right hand of the door.

"Whoa.. how do you keep this place so clean?" Carmen murmured in amazement, glancing at the sleek creme white walls, carpets and few lavish white furniture that decorated the room.

A light cloud of smoke trailed up from behind one of the white couches as a blonde woman with prominent cheekbones peeked back.

"Darling, you didn't tell me we had visitors today," she began to get up, the hint of slight irritation in her haute voice.

"My apologies, our teacher assigned a group project and we thought it'd be best to work on it early," Shelby glanced at her friends somewhat nervously.

The towering older woman finally stood before them, popping her hip as she scrutinized each girl. Her thin frame was accentuated by loose flowing cream pants and a red low cut blouse. She stood tall even while barefoot, and not a single frizz peaked out from her sleek straight platinum blonde hair.

"Is this true?" She squinted her tired swollen eyes, wondering if the girls would give a different answer. Her gaze paused on Amber, expecting her to say something.

"Yes," Carmen confirmed, trying to appear visibly relaxed as to avoid giving herself away. "We're preparing.. a presentation on the representations of femininity in Jane Eyre."

Shelby lifted an eyebrow, impressed with the quick lie.

Her mother also lifted a pale eyebrow, impressed by a different matter. "She speaks English?" She pointed a finger at Carmen and grinned, clearly amused.

"Um, yes?" Carmen's lip twitched.

"Mom!"

"I'm sorry," the woman laughed. "There's not a lot of Mexicans around this town, especially the kind that speak like that."

Carmen sucked in a breath and felt her blood begin to boil. "What makes you think I'm Mexican?"

"You kidding? You have that exotic brown skin and raven black hair. It's not that hard to tell, babe," Shelby's mother took out a cigarette from her blouse pocket and lit it, taking a slow drag.

"I'm actually Mexican-Venezuelan-American, for your information," Carmen bit back. It wasn't so much the fact that she'd been called Mexican that bothered her, as much as it was that this lady was so quick to assume where she came from and act like she was right.

"Get into fights often over a simple mislabel?" She nodded at her wrapped up fist.

No, but you're tempting me to start one now, Carmen didn't say out loud, of course.

"Alright mom, I think you've bothered us enough. I'm going to take my friends upstairs to work now," Shelby gently shoved Carmen and Amber away from further embarrassment.

"Two hours and then they have to go," her mother yelled from downstairs.

"Ok!" Shelby called back, sighing in frustration as she led them up the polished wood stairs and into a white hallway.

"Here's my room, make yourselves comfortable," she welcomed them, opening a door on their right and closing it after they walked in. "Carmen, I am so sorry for the way my mother acted. She clearly doesn't have many brain cells to work with."

"You're good, Shelby," Carmen rested a hand on her friend's shoulder affectionately. "I'm just glad you're not like her."

Shelby smiled back warmly, about to speak until she noticed what Amber was holding up.

"Whoa, what's this? Sexy lingerie?" She giggled, twirling around a lace bra. "Looks like someone was getting ready for tonight."

"Girl! Shut up, it's not like that," she protested in embarrassment, her cheeks turning pink as she shoved the bra into a white drawer.

Carmen made herself comfortable on Shelby's bouncy floral patterned bed and pulled out the camcorder from her backpack. "Guys, come look at this."

Shelby and Amber rushed over to either side of her and peered at the small screen.

"Wait, shouldn't we lock the door?" Amber peeked over.

"No, I don't have a lock."

"Why not?" Carmen questioned, furrowing her brows in confusion.

"My mom's strict," she shrugged as a-matter-of-factly.

"Gosh, that's terrible," Amber lamented. "Here..." she shoveled through her purse and placed some random notebooks on each of their laps. "In case your mom walks in."

"Clever," Shelby smirked, touched by her friend's thoughtfulness.

"Alright now, what have you got Carm?"

"These pictures are of my dad when he was younger. Here he is with a group of friends at some restaurant. Do any these people look familiar to you at all?"

Amber and Shelby squinted.

Her dad looked about seventeen, smiling warmly at the camera while wearing a red flannel and sporting dark curls. He held a glass bottle of Coke and a shiny cheeseburger in the other hand. Across from him was a grinning blonde girl with smudged eyeliner making a rock sign. Peeking out from behind the young man and winking photogenically at the camera was an African American girl with loose medium length frizzy hair.

"Holy shit," Shelby whispered.

"That's.. that's Rain, just like in the newspapers we looked at," Amber realized, flipping open a folder from her purse and sliding an old folded newspaper out.

The faded headlines read "Local Highschooler Commits Suicide in Willowburg Graveyard", and the date recorded was April 14, 1980. Featured above the shocking details of how and when she was found along with interviews of locals was a large black and white headshot of Rain, probably taken at a professional studio for an event of some sort.

Next to the headshot were two smaller images, the front of her highschool and one of the gazebo the night the police came to investigate. While it wasn't very clear due to its small size, poor quality, and distance at which the photograph was taken, the silhouette of a body could be seen hanging from a rope attached to a tree next to the gazebo.

Shelby gulped. Why the press was so insistent on taking those photographs was beyond her. Business is business, her mother's condescending and emotionless voice echoed in her head.

"All three of them look exactly the way they do in my dreams," Carmen assured them, holding the camcorder gingerly.

"Who's the blonde?" Amber pointed.

"That's.. Sloane. She and my dad— er, Joel were close friends of Rain. They'd dance at rock clubs together and talk about their crushes," Carmen chuckled nostalgically.

"Ooh, did you get to see how your mom and dad met?" Shelby bumped Carmen and laughed.

"No," she frowned. "My parents didn't meet until community college. It seems my dad had this huge crush on a popular chic. She was so snobby, I'm glad he didn't end up with her."

"Hold up! These are good witnesses, don't you think?" Amber'a eyebrows shot up. "If we look for Sloane and this popular chic, maybe we can get some clues on what happened."

"Amber that's brilliant!" Shelby applauded her.

"How will we find them though?" Carmen held her cross with uncertainty.

"If we're lucky, they'll still be in town. Carmen, do you have any other important names? We need as many witnesses as we can get."

Carmen stared up at a Clueless movie poster and tried to remember. "Well.. Rain had a crush on this popular guy— Darren Banks, I think. Oh shoot!" She jumped up, stepping on the furry white carpet.

"What?!" The other girls exclaimed in confusion.

"The teacher, they had the same teacher. Mr. Dacus was their English teacher back then too!"

Amber and Shelby's shared an enlightened glance and cheered.

"That's perfect!" Amber grinned, but her lips fell and her tone of voice suddenly turned gravely serious. "Carm, you're closer to him than any of us. Now I'm going to ask you a huge favor.. but we have to do what it takes. Could you get him alone and ask him what he knows?"