Echo

I stood stunned for a few moments. I couldn't speak. My eyes were wide and fixed on Dakota's serious black ones, and my gaping mouth moved to try to speak. I couldn't.

"W-what?" I finally managed to say.

Dakota stepped closer and grabbed my arms. "I've figured out what your dreams are all about."

I shook my head violently. "C'mon Dakota. They're just dreams. Vivid ones," I added when she glared at me. "but just dreams."

That's when Dakota became very un-Dakota-like. She let out a growl of frustration, and threw her head back to the sky. I gazed at her in shock. She was never frustrated or mad, Dakota could be the most patient person in the world. A sudden terror gripped me, and convinced me more than any evidence in the world that Dakota had researched this through and through and that she was either very concerned, or very convinced she was right.

"D-dakota?" I asked tentatively when she was still staring at the sky. She looked down at me as if coming out of a reverie, and her face was dead serious.

She took a deep breath, and said, "Listen to me, Miranda," in a slow voice. She gave my arms a little shake for emphasis. I nodded, completely listening. "I'm extremely positive about this. I don't go around preaching things I don't know about, do I?"

I thought quickly, and shook my head no. Dakota was one of those people who completely gets their facts straight before prancing around claiming things. She wasn't about to tell me something that she didn't know.

Dakota nodded to herself, and then grimaced. "Ok. See, I've been doing my own research, including talking to a professional psychic."

I jumped back from her reach in shock. "You WHAT?" I yelled perhaps too loudly. She gazed at me in surprise. "You told someone about this?" I cried, gesturing wildly towards my head.

"I talked to a professional. It seemed reasonable," she said calmly in defence.

"But do you know how insane I must sound?"

"Oh, please Miranda. She didn't judge you, she completely understands!" Dakota said exasperately. She grabbed my arm again but I jerked it away.

"Understands? How can anyone understand! Do you know what it's like, hearing these things in the daytime?"

"Miranda-"

"Let alone seeing these things at night?"

"Miranda!" Dakota finally yelled, catching my attention. I stopped my rant, and began breathing hard, tired from my extersion. "Listen! It sounds incredible, but there's a simple explanation."

I snorted in disbelief. This really wasn't all that simple.

"Yes, simple. It's happened to many others before."

"Oh, really? People hearing a girl being murdered?" A flew birds took flight from the tree in my yard, and next door the man stopped mowing his lawn. I immediately lowered my voice, worried someone else would hear. "Please."

"No, not necessarily that," Dakota said, "But others have seen into another's mind before. It can happen if-"

I felt as if I had just been punched in the chest. I stumbled backwards, my breath caught in my chest, hardly daring to breath. "What?" I gasped. Dakota just looked at me, puzzled. "Another persons...mind?" I whispered.