"Okay, so what do we do, then?" 

The others had just gotten back, and had figured out absolutely nothing. 

Jenna shrugged. "Beats me. We still have no clue what they're up to, so as far as we know, they're doing nothing wrong." 

"They're Shadows, Jenna. They've got to be up to something." Jeremy muttered.

"And we can't exactly leave." Quinn added. "The compass would just lead us back here until we get rid of them, and they aren't going to just let us walk out of here anymore." 

"So what you're saying is, we might as well be trapped here until we get rid of them." Tyler concluded. 

Quinn nodded. "Unfortunately, yes."

"Oh, that's just great." I muttered. "We're losing so much time here."

"She's right." Shane agreed. "We don't even know if our dads are still alive, and if they are, I'm pretty sure we all know that they've all got timers, and those timers are running out fast. We've got to get a move on." 

"Well, what are you suggesting we do?" Cameron asked. "We can't ambush the Shadows when they know what's going on and we don't! They're hard enough to beat without giving them an advantage." 

"He's got a point." Alyssa said. 

"Well then, how about this." I said. "What if we give it one more day to figure out what's going on, but tomorrow night, no matter what we know, we ambush them." 

"One day? We can't figure everything out in one day!" Cameron objected. 

"Sure we can. You've got brains, Cam, and the rest of us aren't stupid." Jenna said. 

"Okay, well aside from that fact, this is a mental idea on so many levels, do you think we could possibly do it another night?" Cameron asked. 

"Cameron, our dads entire lives are on the line here. You want to wait another day, be my guest." Shane muttered. 

Cameron opened his mouth like he wanted to object, but then shut it again, probably realizing we were right.

"Okay then." I said. "We've got our plan."

"Sweet. Now can we go to bed now? I'm exhausted." Jeremy said. 

"You're always tired, bro bro." Jenna grinned, hitting him with a pillow from the couch. "Womp." 

******************************

I was running through the forest, multiple Shadows chasing after me. 

My sword had been snapped in half. Facing them now would spell out suicide. 

Suddenly, a house appeared a few feet away. 

Safety. 

Without thinking, I ran inside, slamming the door shut. I shoved a chair that was inside underneath the door, barring it. 

I backed up into the room, steadying my breathing. 

"Skylar?" 

I turned around to see Tyler standing there. 

"You okay?" 

Always seeing if I was okay. Always offering to help. 

"Yeah, I'm good." I said. 

He smiled. 

And just like that, he disappeared. 

I shut my eyes, shaking my head.

This is what will happen. It never lasts. He'll leave. 

Opening my eyes again, I screamed as the image of my dad, dead on the ground, burned itself into my brain. 

I blinked, and my dad was gone. 

What was happening?

I was standing in a black room, a single light hanging over my head, creating a circle of light around my feet. Everywhere else was dark. 

A woman emerged from the darkness. Long blonde hair like mine, and a face that I vaguely recognized, but I couldn't remember where I'd seen it before. 

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I saw the same face every time I looked in a mirror, except with a different set of eyes.

"Mom?" 

She smiled. "Skylar. You're all grown up."

She reached out to touch my shoulder, but I jerked away. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you. I missed my daughter." 

I almost felt like laughing. "You've missed me? If you cared about me at all, you wouldn't have left me."

"I never meant to leave you." She protested. 

"So why did you? Why did you leave Dad and I?" 

"It's complicated, Skylar, you wouldn't understa-"

"No." I cut her off. "I didn't understand when I was six. I didn't understand why my own mom was gone and she wasn't coming back. You never came back once." 

"Skylar, I-"

"You know what Dad said?" I continued. "He said that every other day I was asking whether or not you were coming back. He said I wouldn't talk for an entire year when I finally figured out you were gone for good. Why would you do that to me? And not just to me, to Dad. You broke his heart, too." 

"Sorry? You think you can just show up and say 'sorry' and everything will be alright?"

Her expression hardened. "I'm still your mother." 

"No, you aren't. Not anymore." I retorted. "You may be the reason I'm here, but you are not my mom. A mom would be there to watch her kid grow up, a mom would be there to teach me things like how to braid my hair, or talk to boys, or any of that other mother-daughter sappy stuff you see in the t.v. shows! 

"But I guess there is something you did teach me." I continued. "Thanks to you, I figured out that there's no such thing as 'true love'. You could have at least let me believe for a few more years."

"I would have stayed. I really would have." 

"Then why'd you leave?" I asked. 

"Sometimes things don't work out. It's hard to explain." 

"Well then figure it out." I muttered, turning away. "And explain it to me. I want to know."

When I got no response, I turned to see that she had disappeared, and in her place was...

Me. 

"You just don't let anything go, do you?" The other me asked, a smirk on her face. 

"Oh, I get it. This is some sort of 'I'm my own worst nightmare' symbolism, isn't it?" I muttered. "Cute. My brain has always loved torturing me at night."

I stared her down. "Well, I've got news for you. This is my dream, and I can make you disappear with a snap of my fingers." I said, even though I wasn't sure if this was a dream, or if I could even do that. 

"Go ahead then." She said. 

I snapped my fingers, but nothing happened. 

"Yeah, you can't get rid of me. I'm you, genius. I know everything about you. How you look in a mirror and hate what you see, because what you see is partly your mother. How you constantly doubt yourself, even those sparks you're feeling whenever you see him." 

"First of all, that woman is not my mother. Second of all, I am not falling for anyone." 

"Oh, yes you are. And I know how much it terrifies you. Sorry, but you've got to face the music sooner or later." 

"I refuse to fall in love. There's no such thing as love anyway, only the platonic kind." 

"Think what you want, but you can't ignore it." Other-me said, and disappeared. 

And I woke up shaking. 

--------------------------------------------------------------

Hey, hey Carl, guess what day it is, Carl. 

"*sigh* It's your two year Wattpad anniversary."

WOOT WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

Don't forget guys, tomorrow I'm doing a day long stream to celebrate! I'll post the link tomorrow! Hope to see you guys there!

Also, don't forget to vote for this story in the Wattys! :D