Willow's POV

I watched in shock as Alex stepped up from behind the corner. My mouth fell open at the sight of my childhood friend.

U-n-b-e-l-i-e-v-a-b-l-e.

I am not believing what I am seeing that is right in front of my face as of right now. Alex? Is staring straight at me. I don't think I'm seeing things. Scratch that, I am very sure I am not seeing things. My eyes are not playing tricks on me. Not this time around.

She still looks more or less the same as the last time I saw her. Just a little older, obviously. She looked down, as if embarrassed, and her hair fell like a curtain over her face, blocking a clearer view of her face.

"Hi..." I heard her mutter.

"A—A—Alex!" I stammered, silently cursing myself for stuttering. "Wh—Wh—What are you doing here?"

So smart Willow! What an impressively smart question to ask!

She ignored my question, but took a step closer to me. She seemed as if she is not part of this world, and eerily reminded me of a zombie simply obeying orders. She took a stiff step towards me.

"Alex...?" I whispered, slightly freaked out.

She looked up at me. "Oh, hi Willow," she said, as if only noticing me for the first time.

I started opening and closing my mouth like a fish. I simply couldn't get the words at the back of my throat out! It's getting annoying and... I don't know. I'm really starting to get freaked out. I sucked in a deep breath, opened my mouth and tried again. "I don't understand. I was told you were still alive but I didn't believe it..."

She didn't reply.

Is she trying to deliberately ignore me or something? I felt as if she is just seeing through me like I am thin air... Anyway, how do people know that air is thin? They can't even see it. It might be fat.

Not the time to think of these kinds of stupid things Willow Annabelle Rayne.

She continued taking a step at a time, until she was directly in front of me. I was staring her straight in the eye, and her in mine. It was kind of freaky. She looked as if she was searching my face, and I was doing likewise.

Her face held no emotion. She did a great job hiding them. I felt as if I was staring at the face of some stone gargoyle or something. Scary, I know, but it's true. It's as if she didn't have any emotions at all. But I know that that is a lie.

Alex must be one of the most emotional person I have ever met. She would get emotional over almost every single thing, but despite being a very emotional person, she is also very good at hiding them, so that people could not read her face.

But she had a weakness.

Her eyes.

Her eyes is where people can see her emotions if they even bothered to look hard enough. Right now, her eyes held fear, a strong sense of urgency, and anger. Out of the three, the anger seemed to be the strongest. She was rarely angry when I used to hang out with her a lot, and when she was, she did a good job of hiding it, and it was always for a good reason.

I wonder if that was a lie?

If it's not, I wonder what she's angry about right now...

She stretched out her arms and swung them at me. I braced myself for impact but... It never came. Instead, I felt her hugging me. Slightly confused I hugged back, glad to know that my friend is still somewhere deep inside this stranger.

After she pulled away, she grabbed me on the shoulder and shook me with much urgency and strength that I almost toppled over. It took me a while for me to regain my balance, but when I finally did, she said firmly," Willow."

"Wh—"

She cut me off before I could even finish saying what I wanted to say.

"You need to be careful. Really careful. Keep your eyes peeled open to everything around you and do not, I repeat, do not, fall for any traps anyone might be setting up for you."

What in the world is she talking about? Why do I need to be careful? And traps? Hardly anyone would find me a threat. If they wanted to 'trap' me, they wouldn't set them up lying around for the world to see. They would've came to me directly, and not risking their 'plan' of theirs.

What are my eyes supposed to be 'peeled open' for? There are no traps I won't fall into. Doesn't she know that life is full of traps? I don't understand what she is talking about. It all does not make sense...

Maybe that's the point. Maybe she wants me to be confused so that she can get me to fall into her own trap of hers. Maybe that's what she is trying to do. But... I don't get it... Maybe that's why. I get confused easily, and trust people way too easily. Everyone knows that. Everyone knows that I don't stand a chance against them.

Everyone knows I'm weak.

"Willow. Did you hear what I just said?"

That snapped me out of my long train of thought. I shook my head, both to say 'no' to Alex, and to snap me out of my blur state that I am in. "Alex, I don't understand what in the world you are talking about."

She kept silent once again, searching my face for anything I might be hiding from her. Why? Why would she do that? What is she trying to imply? That she wants to kill me as well? She could have just told me straight to my face.

"Why?" I asked her, slightly annoyed. "Why are you telling me this? What are you trying to do? There's nothing you can do about this Alex. About this." I waved a hand around my body. "It's too late Alex.

"Whatever's done is done, and there's nothing you can do about it. You're no god!" I was practically shouting by then. "And what's with all this 'you need to be careful' crap huh? Everyone knows that they need to be careful.

"And what 'traps' can I fall into? Everyone knows I'm weak!"

"That's not true," I heard her mutter.

But I ignored her, deliberately, like how she ignored me.

"Everyone falls into traps once in a while! What crap is all this about, huh Alex? What—"

She clasped a hand over my mouth, muffling my words. I wanted to scream, and get her hand off my mouth. I tried to lick it, but it didn't work. It was still there, as firm as ever.

"Shush. Not so loud," she hissed at me.

Who does she think she is? Hissing at me? Trying to get me to shut up? She has no right to do this! I screamed, but it was quite muffled due to her annoying hand.

"Shut up will you? It's for your own good!" she hissed once more.

My own good? My own good? That's it. She has crossed the line by a lot! I grabbed her hand with both of my own and tore it from contact with my mouth. I had to struggle with her for a while before it was actually gone.

"You—Who do you think you are? You're no better than me! If anything, you're worst!" I spat out.

It felt so good after those words got out of my mouth.

"Willow please calm down!" she said, her voice breaking a little.

It sounded as if she was crying or something.

I don't know what's making me so angry all of a sudden. But the fact that she sounded like she was crying made me realise what kind of... Beast... I was turning into. I have never been like this before. I have never actually been very angry before, except the one time Alex spread that rumour about me in school...

I walked down the school hallway. As I walked, everyone seemed to be making way for me to pass. This has never happened to me before. What were they all trying to do? Were they trying to... Never mind. I pushed that thought out of my head.

As I continued my journey down the hallway – note the exaggeration – I noticed that everyone was whispering quite loudly about something.

"Hey, it's the 'Miss Goody Two Shoes'."

I stopped in my tracks. Miss Goody Two Shoes?

"It's the girl who has 'never been kissed'."

I took a deep breath. In our school, being fourteen and never been kissed is almost worse than anything. You see, everyone in this school is very 'romantic seeker'. Everyone has had at least one boyfriend or girlfriend before. I honestly have no idea what's with all these people's 'romantic fantasies' that's never going to come true.

And you see, not being kissed or not having a boyfriend or girlfriend before is a huge frown upon and disgrace in this school. And I am one of those minorities who does not have a love life.

How did this get out? Only I knew about this? Me and Alex...

Anger started to bubble up inside of me. Alex. She spread the rumour, didn't she? That—That—I thought she was my best friend.

"She's a disgrace," I heard one of the girls whisper.

"Who are you to judge?" I asked, nearly yelling.

This caught the attention of many others.

"I want to do what I want to do with my own love life! Who are you to judge? If you think I am a disgrace, take a look at yourselves! I bet that less than half of you are still virgins! You're all sluts and manwhores, worse than me!"

The whispering grew louder. Most of them sounded angry and offended, but I didn't care. Who are they to judge me?

I felt a hand rest on my shoulder from behind. "Willow..." I heard her whisper.

I turned around and slapped her on the face with such force that it left an imprint. "Get lost. I thought you were my best friend..."

And with that, I ran down the hallway to the nearest toilet, holding my tears in as best as I could the whole way.

I took a deep breath and willed myself to calm down.

"You," she whispered after a few minutes of awkward silence.

She pointed at me. I stared at her blankly, not computing the one lone word she had just said.

"Me...?" I asked, still in my moment of stupor.

She nodded weakly. "You need to be careful."

Wh—

Before I could even finish thinking my thought, she continued. "You need to beware of everyone. No one is who they seem to be. You need to be careful of everyone around you, especially here." She paused, looking as if she was half hesitating and half in deep thought.

After a few moments, she opened her mouth, and spoke another two words continuing her last few sentences. "Including me."