chapter two:: witches & psychics

"WHAT'S on your mind, Dawn?" My mother asked me, noticing I wasn't eating from my plate. "If it's about the audition, sweetie, it's just postponed for another time."

I shook my head, "No, it's uh, it's not about that," I then met her confused gaze, "What if I told you that I'm seeing ghost involuntarily now?"

She placed down her fork and wiped her mouth with her napkin, "When did this start happening? Why didn't you tell me?"

"It was today when I was with Evan at the Shack," I explained, "I felt this strange presence and when I looked out the window, it was three ghosts. Not one, but three and one of them saw me seeing them."

"Are you sure they were ghosts? When you were little, you weren't able to tell the difference," She noted and I shook my head.

"I asked Evan and he didn't see them, like at all," I assured her, "And because they were together, their presence were stronger, even through glass."

"Did they speak to you?" She asked and I shook my head, causing her to hum, "Then don't worry, sweetie. If you see them again, just don't go near them."

"Why not?" I asked and she looked up from her plate, "Why should I avoid them if you're telling me not to worry."

"We don't know what caused their death, Dawn, and you are not going to be that person to find out," She told me, but I shook my head again.

"They didn't look like bad people, mama. They were-" I paused, trying to think of a way to describe them before I snapped my fingers, "They were like my age! Practically teenagers and they looked familiar."And they did. Just by seeing that guy's face who stared back at me, reminded me of someone I've come across before.

Regardless, my mom shakes her head and stood up, taking both of our plates, "You do know that there are teens who also happen to be murderers or criminals, right?"

"Mama-"

"I'm just saying this for your own good, don't involve yourself in them," She told me, but glanced back, "Are we clear?"

I sighed, "Crystal." I then stood up from the table as well, "I'm going to go do homework." I quickly left before she could answer me, so I could shut and lock my door without her noticing. I quickly went to my laptop and searched whatever I could to know who these boys were, though that was a bit more difficult than I thought. I guess you can't just search 'three boys dead in California' without 1,000 results.

I barely touched my actual homework, even when a group of familiar faces popped up after pages of results. My satisfaction grew as I read, 'Sunset Curve members dead on night of performance', but in 1995, which caused my feeling to drop. I clicked on the link to the article, reading up on how three out of four band members died suspiciously on the way to the hospital, making me raise a brow. What the hell, I questioned, but hopped out of my bed to go on my carpet. I grabbed my candle so I could light it and set it before me I sat down with my legs crossed. I hesitantly placed my hands on my knees, squeezing them lightly as I thought of my mother's warning. I hope she was joking about that.

Slowly, I let my eyes closed at I controlled my breathing and let nothing come to mind but that boy's face and group name that I read off of the computer, Sunset Curve. Sunset Curve. Sunset Curve. Sunset-

"Woah," I suddenly heard and jumped back slightly by the sound, but opened my eyes to see the same boys from earlier today now standing in my room. I quickly stand on my feet as a blond boy spoke first, "Um, where are we?"

I cleared my throat, rocking on my heels, "Uh, in my room."

They all looked at me with confused faces but a boy with jet black hair then spoke, "And who are you?"

"She's the girl that I told you was staring at me today," The main guy responded and the all made a sigh of relief like that was the answer they needed.

I furrowed my brows, "I have a name and it's Dawn, thank you very much. And, for starters, you were staring at me first."

"Yeah, right," The brown haired boy laughed, glancing back at him friends, "So, 'Dawn', why are we here?"

"And how can you see us?" The blond guy asked, now examining my room, "Are you like a witch or something?"

"Oh my god, that's so cool! Can you do a spell?" The dark haired guy wondered, "If so, I want to be able to eat food again."

I raised my hand up, but shook my head, "I am not a witch. I'm a medium."

"A what?" They all asked in unison.

I then pushed my hair behind my ears, "I can see ghosts and spirits like you guys. And I can also summon them, like how I did you guys."

"Which brings us to the most important question, why?" The brown haired guy asked me again, clearly annoyed by his friends.

"Because, I wasn't supposed to see you guys," I explained, sighing heavily, "I can only summon ghosts I've come across before they've died."

"And I'm guessing you didn't see us play in 1995?"

"Reggie, shut up," The blond guy told the other one- Reggie before looking at me, "I'm Alex, by the way, and that's Luke and Reggie."

I smiled at his greeting, but noticed that Luke held an annoyed look, "That doesn't explain why you 'summoned' us."

"Look, I just wanted to find out why I can see you guys but not every ghost that's roaming Hollywood," I huffed out, watching Reggie now wander around my room in amazement, stopping at my cello case.

"Woah, what is this? An extra large guitar?" He wondered, genuinely curious as I grew concerned for his mentally stability.

"It's a cello," I simply answered and he looked at me with even more excitement in his face when he saw my dad's guitar beside it.

"Wow, it's like every girl we've come across today has instruments in their house," Reggie smiled, picking up the guitar to play it very loudly, which caught all of us off guard.

"Reggie!" Alex yelled at him suddenly causing him to clumsily put the guitar back down.

I sighed, but jumped when there was a knock on my door, "Dawn? Are you okay?"

I glanced back at the guys, before towards my closed door, "I'm fine, mama. I was just messing around."

I then heard her try to twist my doorknob, "Why is your door lock?"

"Because I'm messing around and..getting changed?" I responded as if it were a question for myself, watching my doorknob stop twisting.

"Well, hurry up and go to bed, okay?" She asked and when I said okay, I heard her steps descend down the hall.

I breathed out a sigh of relief, but turned to see the guys still there, whispering amongst themselves. I let out a light laugh, "Is this some secret band meeting?"

"How do you know we're in a band?" Luke asked and I examined all of them, noticing their clothes and rocker style before shrugging.

"I did my research, like anyone can in 2020," I scoffed, "What were you guys even talking about? Was it about me?"

"I think she's some sort of psychic," Reggie suddenly commented and Alex rolled his eyes and spoke up.

"It's just that we had a rough day and more and more, strange things keep happening to us," He explained, and Reggie quickly nodded, "It's just that we were thinking you would have the power to send us home?"

"Home? Like your house or," I paused to point upwards, "Or 'home'?" I watch their hands all point up like me and sighed, rubbing my temple, "Once again, I'm not a witch."