"You'll be starting school in a week," Grandma Abigail told us over breakfast. "We might just have to go clothes shopping. Exciting! I haven't been clothes shopping in six years!" And with that happy note, she left the room.

Allow me to explain something. The mirror copy image of myself was actually just my cousin Mary, and she decided to unpack my suitcase for me. In the middle of the night. And watch me sleep while she did it. I tried not to think much about it if I could.

"Are you excited?" she asked me, but I didn't respond, so she continued. "I am. I've never been to a public school before. And I'm glad you will be there with me. I'd just hate to go by myself." She began to babble as if we's been friends for the past few centuries, but she stopped when I looked up at her, my eyes narrowed slightly in annoyance.

"Well, look who's grumpy this morning," she teased. I only rolled my eyes and looked back at my food. I knew it had hurt her feelings a little, but I was still wary of this whole situation. How convenient, that when I got injured and had to leave my current dwelling due to safety issues, that a new, safer dwelling seemed to appear out of thin air. How had I never heard of either of these people? How had my mother never spoke of her mother? How, how, how?

I grunted in annoyance and stood from the table, going to the back door and dumping the remainder of my cereal onto the ground. I locked the door back and then went to wash my bowl.

"We have a dishwasher, you know." Mary was suddenly behind me and I jumped, instantly reaching for something on my belt that wasn't there. I stared at my hand in confusion, then wiped my hand on my pajama pants and set the bowl down. I'd been reaching for phantom weapons since I hit my head on the last step. I rushed to my room and locked my door behind me, the unease in my stomach suddenly overwhelming. I crossed the room to my bed and sat heavily, rubbing my eyes with my thumb and pointer fingers.

A chime got my attention. Six more chimes followed it, only about a second and a half apart. Probably Brian.

I groaned and crawled the width of my bed to get to the nightstand where my phone sat, fully charged. Sure enough, the seven texts were from Brian.

HOW.

COULD.

YOU.

NOT.

TELL.

ME?!?!?!

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I thought we were friends?!?!?!?!?! :'( :'( :'(

For the first time in two weeks, I actually smiled. Brian always knew exactly what to say; it was absolutely amazing.

Hmm...

Tell you what?

You know what!!!!

When did you leave?!?!?!

Yesterday. I didn't even know this place existed until the day before. Creepy, huh?

Yeah, super creepy. But you still could've told me!! T-T

You're so dramatic.

I learned from the best ;)

I smiled and lay back against the bed, holding my phone over my heart. Another ding had me lifting it over my face.

So, do you like it? Y? N? S-S?

Definitely a so-so. Something's really weird about this place. Oh, yeah, and did you know my cousin, Mary, she looks EXACTLY like me!!!! Creepy!!!!

Wow, that's really creepy! O_o

She's okay. She's really quiet, though, like REALLY quiet. She unpacked my suitcase for me last night, while I was asleep, and I didn't even know she was there until I woke up from a nightmare and found her staring right at me. I freaked, but it's all good now.

Brian didn't reply immediately like he usually would.

Yeah, that's really weird.

Brian? Something up?

After he didn't reply for a solid five minutes, which was enough time to make me start having a panic attack, I sent another message.

Brian, please tell me, is something wrong? You're... scaring me.

I'm sorry, Mir. I didn't mean to. Let me make it up to you? :)

I didn't know what he meant, so I just made up some excuse, like my grandmother was calling because we were going to go shopping, which she was doing, though the offer was optional, and I scrambled to get dressed as I waited for his reply.

Oh. Have fun, then, Mir! Buy something for me tooooo!

Not what I had wanted him to say. What I needed him to say, I realized.

Okay.

He texted me again after that, but I didn't look at it. I just cursed my stupidity and the naive hope that he would ask what town I was in and what store I was going to. Stupid, stupid hope. I should've just been able to shrug it off, but for some reason, I just couldn't. It bothered me more than... more than I could stomach.

=================

My wrists were hurting. Badly. My body felt as if it had been run over by a train. My eyes slid open a little, squinting against the harsh sunlight. Rope holding me in the air by my wrists burned my skin. The rope was tied to some sort of catwalk.

A man was standing above me.

"Help...." I croaked, though somehow I knew it would do no good. "P-Please...."

The man dropped something right beside me, maybe a pebble. I watched it fall with my eyes, and the lower my gaze fell, the more my stomach clenched.

I was hanging in the air - hundreds of feet in the air. Directly below my feet was a huge creature, the color of light gray marble, and I could smell from this distance just how badly he smelled. It was the most terrifying creature I had ever seen, and, even though I didn't know how, I knew I had seen scarier things.

My gaze whipped back up to the cloaked man, now desperate. "Please, please, help me, help me! Please!"

The man reached under his cloak and produced a silver cylinder of some sort and pressed a button.

Red light in the shape of a blade snapped out, making a strange buzzing sound, and extended directly into my face. The sabor hovered just above my nose, so close I could feel its heat against my skin. I drew in a short breath and froze, staring cross-eyed at the blade before me.

Lightsaber, my brain whispered. I didn't understand how I knew it, only that I did. I didn't dare move until the man lifted the blade away from my face.

To the rope that held my wrists.

I began to panic, tears of pure fear starting to form in my eyes. "No, no, please, please don't -"

The blade snapped down - right next to the rope, leaving a burning scorch mark. I let out a cry, my whole body shaking and my tears flooding down my cheeks.

He did it again and again, my cries rising in volume each time. I couldn't see the man's face, but I could feel his evil smirk.

Roars sounded below me, but I didn't dare look down.

Just then, the catwalk shook, a huge gray hand appeared just beside us not five feet away, and I couldn't hold back my cries of terror. The man above me stumbled a bit, then looked down at me.

His eyes were glowing yellow.

They haunted me as I woke up screaming, though that was all I could remember of the night terror.