Distorted

Jude had come after me, and he was standing beside me when I started to shake me head furiously. I fisted my hands into my hair, fully prepared to rip out chunks, when his hands covered mine and he looked into my tear-streaked face. Slowly, he released my hands from my hand and held them, a frown on his face.

"What is it?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"I know him," I said, looking at the picture of the flyer. "His name is Jared Davis. He's Christian's best friend."

I couldn't believe that this, any of it, was happening. I realized, then, that I hadn't seen Jared for the last few days at school. It didn't even occur to me that he might have gone missing, either. All of the nightmares I was having revolved around someone dying. I only had one option left: I had to stay awake.

Jude bit his lip. "How the hell are you able to deal with it?"

"It's not like I have a choice," I told him, stepping away from the window. I pressed my fingers to my temple, trying to ease the dull pain I felt. "Can we go somewhere else?"

He nodded. "Where would you like to go?"

"Anywhere but here," I said, sighing.

Jude smiled.



Behind Jude's house was a lake surrounded by woods. He took me there and we sat on top of a log, talking about my nightmares, our families, and finally, the reason why he moved to Alpena.

"My parents wanted to be closer to my sister," he said. He wasn't looking at me when he said this, but out into the water, like it would reply back.

"Oh, you have a sister?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "Had," he said softly. "She died."

I didn't know what to say. The only other person I knew who had lost a family member was Christian, and he rarely talked about it with anyone.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't know. But don't apologize. It was a long time ago." He leaned back slightly, perhaps stretching, his eyes on me the entire time. "So, these nightmares, when did they start?"

"A few months ago, but I didn't think anything of them until the people around me started dying."

"Who was the first person?" Jude asked, tilting his head.

"My old psychiatrist, John." I shook my head. "Whoever is doing this is being careful."

Jude nodded and surprised me by putting an arm around my shoulders. We stayed like that for awhile, until he cleared his throat and spoke again.

"Would you like to visit my sister, Kendall?"