Chapter One: Jake

The girl I'm looking at is Violet. She's a junior, a year ahead of me, but I have a major crush on her. I'm pretty sure she likes me too, she seems to always be looking at me or whispering to her friends and glancing at me. My friends always try to get me to approach her or ask her out, but I'm too much of a chicken, as they so sweetly put it.

Jose sits in an athletic position, leaning on the faded blue cafeteria table with a tanned elbow. He speaks to me in his thick Spanish accent that seems to be a girl magnet,"Amigo, you gotta just go for it. You never know if you never try!" He constantly says this to me, I just chuckle and roll my eyes. We came to know each other through the football team. I was lucky to get in as a freshman, but through working hard I was able to make it in as a sophomore, too. The guys are fun to hang out with, though I have a lot of catching up to do to be as good as them.

I sigh,"That's true in all situations… but mine." Jose laughs heartily and runs a hand through his hair. "She's a year ahead, popular, and mysteriously beautiful. In other words, way out of my league. You just live in this wonderful world where your sexy accent gets you women all the time."

He pats me on the back, smiling, and I can tell he doesn't believe that. For a school project, some sophomore made a survey asking who the most eligible bachelor in the school was. I was voted second, only behind Kaleb, the football captain. He pretty much looks like a surfer boy, even out here in Colorado. Hell, I'm not gay, but even I think he's pretty hot. I get up and throw my tray away, heading towards my locker. That's when I see someone walk through the halls. Someone that I used to know.

I rush to the cafeteria entrance to see her again but then shrink away quickly. It wasn't her. She's still gone. As I pass through the halls, everything is too silent. Then, my ears are ringing and my breathing is speeding up. This happens every time I think about her or what happened. My vision blurs for a second and I put a hand on the rough stone wall to steady myself. Luckily, the bathroom is only a few more paces up this hall I make it the last few yards and as soon as I'm in the bathroom, I run to the nearest stall and lock myself in.

Hands shaking violently, I take out my bottle of pills and pop one in my mouth… then another for good measure. I curl up on the lidded toilet and hug my knees to my chest, then stare at the green stall, vision going blurry, then straight, then blurry again. I recall a certain night from my childhood.

I was in my dark room, lit only by a night light. My window was closed with light gray and red curtains loosely hanging over them. I was in a queen bed across the room from a bouncy trampoline chair and a mostly empty bookshelf. I wasn't color blind, yet everything seemed strangely gray. This was a memory from before Evie had been born. I couldn't close my eyes that night, something felt off, but I couldn't put my finger on it. The window to my room was closed and a bright white light shined through. Something had happened the night before that made me extra cautious, I couldn't remember it, though. I was tempted to get up and sprint to Dad's room, but I knew he was still working. He always was, he never stopped. I closed my eyes for a second and heard a strange sound of metal against metal. My eyes flew open to see a shadow. What I could make out of the monster, shook me to the core. It was so tall it had to bend over like a hunchback in my room. Its legs were long, bone skinny and slightly bent. His midsection was flabby and his bony arms were so long they reached all the way down to below his knees. His monstrous face was covered in the darkness, but his bright white toothy grin shone through my dark room. His eyes were little, red neon dots and his nose wasn't there. His clothes, if you could call them that, were rags, torn and hanging off his body. In his right hand, a scythe glittered. The blade was long and curved, the handle a long, straight metal rod. He just stood, grinning at me, red eyes piercing my soul and crushing my lungs. I couldn't breathe, my back was pressed up against the wall, blanket scrunched in my hands like I was trying to shield myself from him. I looked into his eyes and froze. It was pure death. Men falling in battle, gangs cornering innocent women with knives and guns, shooters walking into a crowd and nailing someone in the head. I heard distant screaming, but it was only me. My parents both rushed in, worried as hell. They flicked on the lights, only able to glimpse the monster climbing out the window. He glanced back once, then he was gone like he'd never existed in the first place. I was finally able to place what had been off in my room after the whole ordeal. If my window was closed and the blinds were pulled down, then… how were my curtains blowing in the breeze?

After I recover from the memory, I stand stiffly in front of the mirror, staring. It might seem weird, but every day I look for her in my face. It's been four years since she disappeared. The police have no leads, local gangs claim not to have ever seen her, just like she was a figment of my imagination.

My brown hair, tan skin, honey brown eyes, and athletic build look nothing like she did with her pale skin, bone-straight black hair, black eyes, and skinny build. I was always worried she couldn't protect herself. I should've done more about it… maybe she wouldn't have disappeared if I had.

The school bell rings, signaling that we can go home for the day and I jump three feet in the air. The bathroom is creepy enough without the bell scaring me. I turn my back to the mirror, facing the broken down stalls. The three overhead lights flicker on and off dimly. The bathroom stall doors are faded green and all scratched up thanks to those wannabe thugs. The only decent stall is the one I was hiding out in. I sigh, turning back to the mirror and rubbing my temples. My head hurts.

Outside of the school, it's raining. Wonderful. I puff out a breath watching it turn to white steam in the crisp, cold winter air. I don't get my umbrella out from my school bag. I just stand in front of the school, letting the rain hit my skin and hair, savoring its ability to bring my mind down from the clouds.

"Jake!" Peter, another football guy, comes jogging up to me in the rain looking terrified,"come here, a girl just appeared out of nowhere! We don't know who she is! Come help!" My brain kicks into full gear, heart beginning to pound.

Evangeline?

We sprint as fast as possible around a corner to the right and arrive at the scene of a crowd of people. They must all be gathered around the girl. I stumble forward, quickly shoving people out of my way until I reach the center of the circle where Kaleb is kneeling over a dark-haired girl with her eyes closed. I skid to my knees and gently push him away from the girl. My fingers touch her cold skin as the rain intensifies, feeling like icicles piercing my body. I sit staring at her peaceful face. It's been four years since I last saw her. How is it possible that she's back? Where did she even go? She looks the same… but still different somehow, like she's grown up.

"Evangeline…" I whisper, the entire world dead silent except for the sound of rain hitting the ground and the sun seems to sink further into dark gray storm clouds. It's her. She's back. My finger touches her face and she seems to come to life. Her mouth opens and she jaggedly inhales, coughing. Her eyes flutter open. Dark brown, almost black… just like I remember. They flicker to me and then to the crowd around us.

"Jake? You're still here? You aren't gone? …dead?" She whispers to me. The last word barely even came out. I almost can't hear her over the rain. She reaches up and brushes a piece of hair out of my eyes gently. "I missed you. You have no idea what I went through to get back to you."

It is then that I notice the bruises, scars, and blood on her small body. Her leg seems to be twisted in an unnatural way and my breath catches in my throat as I ask, "What happened to you, Evie?"

"Things you couldn't imagine. Things out of this world. I've been places that no one can go until a million years from now. I just wanted-" Her sentence is cut off by violent hacking. She covers her mouth with a hand and when it is moved away there is bright red blood on it. I grimace.

"You need medical help. We can talk about everything after you've seen a licensed medical doctor. You're in shock right now." I yell out to the people around to call an ambulance and a few fumble to get their phones out of their pockets.

"You're going to catch a cold in this rain, you know?" she closes her eyes and the corners of her mouth turn up slightly.

"Still chastising me… even with a broken leg… even after being gone for four years. I missed you." I chuckle slightly, then mumble, almost to myself, "I needed to know where you were."

Kaleb moves forward. Speaking quietly… he doesn't let anyone else hear his questions. "Jake… do you know this girl? Are you OK? Is she OK?"

I look up, eyes watering and voice trembling. The only words I can work out of my throat are, "She's my sister..."

Realization floods into his eyes and he nods silently. No doubt he already heard about the story of a girl disappearing without a trace, Four years ago it was on the news everywhere. He probably just didn't connect our last names… no one did.

The ambulance arrives after the crowd has cleared off. I stroll up to the one that's carrying Evie. The rain has let up, leaving the heavy clouds blanketing the world in an unforgiving black bleakness. I am told to go home and get a ride to the hospital with my parents as the ambulance departs.

I wait and watch it until the flashing lights disappear into the void. I'd begun to believe that she wasn't alive anymore. My hands violently shake and my heartbeat speeds up as I attempt to reach into my coat pocket and pull out my anxiety pills. The white child-proof cap almost doesn't come off. I pop two more pills into my mouth. I'm honestly not sure if this will help, it would've been better to take my depression pills but I don't carry those around with me. The shaking stops a bit and I decide to walk to the hospital. Lord knows the last people I want to see are my parents.

I shove the bottle back in my wool coat pocket. The rain begins to fall again as I walk. Slowly and steadily, small tink-tinks of tiny droplets are falling on the ground. I turn a corner and oddly enough, no one is around. The street with Penelope's Cafe and Luke's Hardware is usually bustling with foot traffic. Today, though, no one is here and I wonder why. The sprinkles are soaking through my clothes and drenching my hair. My shoes squish with every step. A distant church bell sounds in the distance, it's five o'clock now. Mom and Dad should be with Evie at the hospital by now… or at least Dad would be there. Mom might already be passed out at some bar somewhere, or maybe she's in the same hospital in a different bed, overdosing. Again. All of these thoughts flood my head, overwhelming me… and it aches.

My brain goes back to that last day I saw her, and soon I'm crouching against a wooden fence to try slowing my heart. The anxiety pills didn't help this time... I frantically run into Penelope's Cafe on the verge of passing out. The last thing I remember is darkness closing in and the screams of my sister from some far-away place.