We walk into her room where she falls on the floor sobbing. I try my best to comfort her, but the deed is done.

"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know..."
"There's a lot of options..."
"I know!"
"Do you have any idea?"
"I said, I don't know!"
"Okay, abortion?"
"No way. I can't..."
"That's a start, so you'll keep it..."
"I guess..."
"Now you're left with adoption and keeping it."
"I don't want to be that one pregnant girl."
"Of course not, but there isn't another way."

She stands up and stares down at her stomach. You can't tell yet, but you will. She's short so it'll be prominent.

"I'll keep it, there's not point of adoption if everyone knows anyway..." she says.

"Okay, do you want to reach out to the possible fathers?" I ask.

She shrugs, "I could but there's at least four of them..."

"How many guys have you slept with?"

"Ever? Or between now and my last period?"

"Both."

"Ever, I can't count. Last period, like seven maybe?"

"Oh gosh."

"I don't even have half their phone numbers..."

"That's bad..."

"I know! I fucking know it's bad!"

"I think I might know who it is..."

"Who?"

"Well, there's two main possibilities..."

"Who? And why those two?"

"Well, it's the only two guys I didn't use protection with..."

"Okay?"

"Alex's friend might be the father..."

"Do you know his name?"

"No."

"Oh gosh. And the other?"

"This is really bad."

"Tell me."

"Mr. Atkins."

"You slept with him?"

"At least seven times..."

"Why?"

"He boosts my grade, one point per time, three points without protection..."

She slides down the wall, once again. We discuss who to tell, she'll tell her mother when she gets back from Austria. She's going to tell Mr. Atkins on Monday. I'll tell Alex and ask for his friend's number on our coffee date in the morning.

Soon it was morning, I passed out from exhaustion, but was awoken by fear, Avery's sobs and my own nightmares. I give Avery a final hug before leaving and drive to Haven Coffee. Alex is already waiting outside when I get there. He's wearing a plaid button up and jeans. I look down at my outfit, I stole it from Avery. I'm wearing a pair of ripped jeans, one of the most modest things she owns. Along with a very tight, red tank top and my own leather jacket. I think Alex's geeky look and my almost badass look clashed, when he hugged me we got a few stares.

    I pull away from his hug and we walk in. I order a chai tea and Alex has a Americano. He pays. It really is a date. We get our drinks and sit down.

"Americano?" I ask.

"Yeah..." He says, chucking.

"So, there's a few things I need to tell you."

"Already? Ugh, okay, what?"

"Sorry. I never told you, but there's pattern..."

"A pattern? Of what?"

"The murders and attacks."

"Oh, go on."

"So, every two days there's a murder, each time someone close to me. Every murder gets closer. The attacks are the same way, but every attack gets closer to Avery... Wait. I didn't watch the news...who died?"

   Alex covers his mouth. I already know it isn't good. He looks broken, almost. It made me realize, what would they do to him?

"No one died..." He starts.

"Okay?"

"I think he's doing the same thing to me, but with kidnapping..."

"Who's missing?"

    He doesn't answer, but pulls out his phone and shows me a photo. In the picture is a guy I don't recognize strapped to a chair, his mouth duck taped. I look at the time the text was sent: 3:30 am. I look up.

"Did you tell the cops?"

"Yeah, at 4 am this morning. I've been up since."

"That explains the Americano."

"There's something else I need to tell you."

"What?" He asks.

"Look, you know how your friend hooked up with Avery?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Can I have his phone number?"

"Um, I thought you and I were on a date..."

"We are. I need it."

"I'll give it to you, but why? He's not interested in anything with Avery. He said it was a one night stand..."

"I know, but Avery's, um, Avery's pregnant."

He chokes on his Americano.

"Oh, that's bad. Yeah, here's his phone number."

   I text it to Avery. Alex and I decide to go for a walk, it's nice outside. We walk for about three minutes, just talking before he laces his hand in mine. I give it a squeeze just to make sure he knows I'm okay with it. We walk though a park, it's fairly empty. We wander up a bridge where he stops to look at the stream below.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" He says.

"It really is," I add.

"Just like you..." He says.

     I turn to him and smile. He lifts my chin, so I stand on my tippy toes to kiss him. He puts his mouth on mine and we kiss. He's a good kisser. I go flat footed after a minute and smirk.

"You're a good kisser."

"You are too," He adds, a faint blush rushing over him.

   I wrap my arm around his and we continue walking. A squirrel scurries around in the tree above us leaves fall. It's April, the trees are beautiful this time of year with beautiful blossoms. A leaf falls on my hair. Alex picks it off and almost throws it on the ground before he stops.

"What?" I ask.

"There's a note on the leaf..." He answers

"What do you mean? Let me see."

I take the lead and surely, there was a note on it. I read it. It's so weird.

Ah, Ruby and Alex... I'm going to have to find a ship name for you. Maybe Ralex? Or Aluby? I like Aluby... Anyway, I need you two to keep walking through this park and go to the swing set area. Look under the slide. Make sure to hush, hush. No cops or it will be a trap, it's not right now. You can call them once you look. I can't wait to see the looks on your faces.

"That's weird." Alex says.

"Very..." I add.

"Do we go?" He asks.

"I don't know," I say.

"Let's go, type 91 in your phone so you can hit the last one if necessary."

I do. We walk towards the park, holding the leaf. We find it, there's two swings, a huge slide and a small jungle gym. There's one little girl who swings as her mother pushes her. We walk past and she points.

"Mommy! That's the girl from the news!" The girl says.

Her mother scolds her as we walk closer to the slide. We approach it cautiously, watching our feet for something that might set a bomb off. Once we get closer to the slide I see a small trail of red. I look up and see a man slouched up against the slide.