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Jackie's story, Narrator's POV

The little girl skips downstairs in pink unicorn pajamas only to behold the sight of her short life: her entryway is on fire! A little scream of shock and fear leaves her tiny mouth as she slowly looks around.

"In case of an emergency, go outside or look for Daddy and me." Her mom's soft whisper flows through the girl's mind.

From the last step of the stairs, the place she stands, she can see into the large window of the living room. It's clear as day that it's night time.

"Don't go out after dark, Jackie. It's dangerous." She vaguely remembers Daddy's scolding voice telling her this a while back.

So with these two things in mind, she chooses to do the only thing she can do: look for her parents.

More noise from the kitchen and even what might be the basement makes its way to her ears. To her, this must mean that Daddy is putting out the fire in the kitchen, and Mommy is in the basement making sure it's safe. Deciding to go, help Daddy, the little girl jumps from the step she was on, and onto the little strip of wood without fire. She keeps doing this, hopping from place to place despite how hard it is because of how sticky the floor is until she reaches the kitchen.

The image here is much worse. Daddy seems to be nowhere while the fire happens to be everywhere.

Fear crawls up her little back like a hungry parasite. The thought of death crosses her mind, but she chooses to ignore it. Looking around the little kitchen, the only fire free space beside the little square of wood she stands on is just a couple feet in front of her. She studies the fire for a moment. It seems to be everywhere except for that little space, so the choice becomes clear.

With her eyes forced on the spot, she jumps over the little fire in front of her, and onto the land right by the kitchen island.

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August 25th, 2017

The city passes by in blurry uneven lines, partly because of how fast we are going, and also because pretty much everything looks like that.

This is why I hate most makeup.

"I'm so excited! We are going to have so much fun!" Jaylin goshes, looking back at from her seat in the front.

Yea. As fun as a party in hell.

The words itch to fly out of my mouth, yet I stop them by bitting my tongue. It wouldn't be right to be mean to Jay: all she's doing is being a good person.

Yeah, she practically made Beatrice force me to go out with her and Jace tonight after I told her about my promise to Finn, but that's her only fault.

Therefore, I must smile, and at least try to have a good time.

"Totally."

Fortunately, after my one word Jaylin stays quiet for the rest of the short trip, her phone apparently more interesting than Jace and I. But I'm not complaining, I like the silence.

It gives me time to admire the city for thirty seconds before I get bored, and pull out my phone.

A couple of messages from Finn lights up the screen.

Finn: Tell Jace to answer me.

It's been almost forty-eight hours since he left, and the first thing he texts me it is a message for his best friend. Talk about disappointment. Like, out of all the things he could've texted, why that?

I get over myself after a roll of my eyes and swipe my screen to the right to see what time he sent the message.

2:36 pm

His second message came two hours later at 4:48.

Finn: Miss you.

This one actually makes me smile, my first real one since work ended at three, four hours ago.

Miss you too.

I hit send before I change my mind about it, though I actually wouldn't have the time to even if I wished too: we are here.

Loud music shakes the ground as we all exit. Teenagers and even some people who look to be in their twenties are everywhere. In the large house, out of the house, on the front lawn and even some in the trees that scatter around the perimeter.

As you can probably guess, I'm instantly sick. I wrap an arm around my stomach and take deep breathes.

You are independent women. You can do this. Look at how many people are doing just fine. You can be fine too.

"See ya, later Jackie!"

I physically freeze at Jaylin's words, one word floating around within me: how?

It's clear by the way that she emphasized my old name that she wanted it to have an effect. And me standing like a statue outshines all her expectations, the smile on her face stating this.

"You good?" Jace arches an eyebrow, placing a somewhat comforting hand on my elbow. It's clear he's got no idea what's going on.

"Yea. Thanks." My words are whispered, and the 'reassuring' smile that follows doesn't reach my eyes by a long shot.

Jace, like Jaylin, leaves me a moment later.

After a few good moments of just breathing and debating all my life choices, I decide to head inside. It's somewhat quieter in hear, so I'm more at peace. For some weird reason, the house looks kinda familiar. I shrug the feeling off and walk around the large, crowded house until I find the quietest room in the house: the living room.

No ones here and the music from the other rooms is barely hearable.

Perfect.

This room, unlike all the other ones, is clean. Everything from the posh black couches to the huge, clear coffee table screams money. Even the sparkling wood floor. I'm kinda scared to walk any farther; what if I break something?

Curiosity hits me hard a second later when my eyes spy the pictures on the other side of the room, and I literally either have to die from it or take a quick peek.

I don't about you, but personally, I'm not into the idea of dying young, hence why I rush over.

The first five are of two little mixed kids, one a girl and the other a guy, during ages zero to what looks to be four. The sixth photo shows them with another kid around their age, maybe a little younger. She's darker than them, seeming to be fully black unlike them. They all smile big toothy smiles, looking as happy as can in the little sandbox.

Awww! So-

"What are you doing?"

My heart misses a beat at the sound of the girl's voice: she scared me. I thought I was alone.

"I'm um ju" Her glare became colder. "J-just looking around."

Her whole faces softens at my stutter, and she forms her bright pink colored lips into a small smile.

"No need to be scared." She giggles lightly. "It's ok. I was just wondering." She holds out a light brown hand. "I'm Whitney, but call me Whit."

"Jacqueline. Call me Jacqueline."

Whit seems like one of those people who like to shorten names. I'm not into that.

We shake quickly before she nods at the photos.

"Want me to tell you about them?"

"Sure."

"Ok. So the first five are of me and my twin brother, Kingsley, or 'King' as he goes by." She rolls her pretty light green eyes at this. "Sixth one is of us and our childhood best friend, this girl named Jackie."

Jackie...?

Just like on the day I meant Finn, my pulse starts to increase as my heartbeats all over the place. I know I'm not going to faint this time though, I've got too many questions I must know the answers to before that. The most important one being: could it really be?

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Hello, thanks for reading:)) Please vote, comment and share if you liked this chapter.

School starts in just two days for me! So un-excited: I'll have so little time for everything...:(

Love you all, Liv

DP: Sept.4.17
WC: 1,212