You're Not in This Alone

I was too tired to force myself to stay awake that night, and I was also too tired to force myself not to dream. I dreamt about the fire again, but this time I wasn’t the one being consumed by it. I was being held down so that I couldn’t move.

I could feel the heat of the fire on my back, but I couldn’t turn around to see it. Even so, I could see the fire reflecting off of a water source that I thought was the Hudson River. It was so bright; such a huge fire.

When I woke up, Ebony had already left our room. I got dresses and saw that she’d left a note. It said she’d gone to go help set up for both funerals we would hold that night, one for Ethan and one for Jason.

I walked from out house to the supply house. The sun was high in the sky, and I guessed it was about noon. Everyone that was left ate silently at the table. When I came in, Faith, Lance, and Miranda only glanced at me before going back to their lunch. Tristan, Skyler, Sarah, and Nadia all nodded or smiled weakly at me. Ebony got up.

She came over and kissed me shortly before saying, “Don’t be mad at me for not waking you up. You needed the sleep.”

I nodded and didn’t say anything else. We silently arrived at our cemetery in the afternoon. Two more stone structures were built on the lawn in front of the Hudson River next to Grace’s. The one right next to Grace’s read “Jason” on a stone plaque, and the one farther to the left read “Ethan.”

Before each mausoleum were the bodies o Ethan and Jason, dressed in their best. Ebony spoke over them before Miranda closed them inside with stone, but something in her voice was off. She seemed a little confused and unsure.

I was surprised to see Tristan with tears in his eyes. He’s seemed stony and emotionless to me until that moment. I guessed he was mourning Jason, who he’s been close to.

I held Sarah’s hand, and Ebony pressed Nadia to her side. They’re so young, I thought to myself for the thousandth time.

We ate dinner and went to bed after Ebony had done her best to comfort everyone she could.

Nothing eventful happened the next day. The only conversation I remembered having was with Sarah over breakfast. I noticed a chunk of skin scraped off of her elbow, and it looked dirty. “What happened to your elbow?” I asked her.

She looked startled and avoided my eyes. “Oh… um,” she stuttered. “I fell and scraped it on the street this morning.”

I thought her story sounded strange, but Skyler nodded his confirmation. I shrugged inwardly and told her, “You should clean it do it doesn’t get infected.”

“I will,” she promised, and lunch continued on in silence.

A couple of weeks passed, and nothing happened. There were no deaths. We tried to go on without too much fear, but everyone was jumpy. Apart from that, we lived normally. We woke up, ate breakfast, did chores, ate lunch, did something that was supposed to be fun like go swimming, shopping, or watch a movie. Some people had expressed hopes that the killer was done, but when everyone else was asleep, Ebony said this wasn’t true. On the nights I was too tired to hold back dreams, I had nightmares.

On July 21st, our lives strayed from normal again. While we were eating lunch, Sarah cocked her head to the side. “I hear a car,” she announced.

“It must be Shelby and Leo,” Faith pointed out, as they were the only people left. “But why didn’t they just fly here?”

“We’ll see when they arrive, I guess,” Ebony said. Looking suspicious, she asked Lance, “You didn’t tell them to come back, did you?”

He shook his head, and we waited for them to get closer.

Skyler looked through the house in the direction that Sarah said they were coming from. It was plainly visible when Skyler caught sight of them. He turned white and mumbled something under his breath that only Sarah could hear.

She listened for a few seconds, and then she, too, turned pale. She shook her head at Skyler.

That was when Ebony stood. I realized she’s figured out what was wrong shortly after Skyler and Sarah. “I know why they came back in a car,” she stated grimly. “Shelby had to drive Leo here. He’s dead.”

Everyone ran out of the house to wait in the driveway. When Shelby arrived, her tear-streaked face looked exhausted. She met Ebony’s eyes and said, “I assume you all know Leo is dead. It happened the same way as the others. I’ve been driving all night.”

“I’m so sorry,” Ebony whispered, and that was all anyone could say. They began their usual tasks to prepare for a funeral that afternoon.

Shelby informed us that she and Leo had been doing fine in a forest in South Carolina, and they’d thought they’d been safe after a few weeks had passed. Then Leo just dropped dead out of nowhere. Shelby figured that whoever the killer was, he or she could do it from any distance. Knowing this, she’d decided it would be in her best interest to come back and help us find out who it was. She apologized for leaving in the first place and said she was sorry to hear about Jason’s death.

As we stood outside a fourth stone structure for Leo, I felt extremely uneasy. It was beginning to get dark, and something looked familiar. I just didn’t know what it was.

That was when Miranda fell, never to get back up again. Everyone stood in shocked silence for several minutes. Than Lance stepped forward and raised a shaky hand to point at Ebony. “It’s you,” he accused darkly.