I Imagined

Chapter 7

~~~~~~~"Are you sure you're alright?" Tristian asked as he ran into Amara on his way to practice.

"I'm just sick." Amara answered, her voice hoarse and face pale. Tristian brought his hand up to her forehead, like a parent would.

"I'll come over tonight."

"That's probably not a good idea, my family and all."

"I'll be over around five, with soup from Panera." Tristian leaned down and placed a kiss on Amara's cheek. "I can meet your family too," he said while walking into the gym. Amara shook her head, pulling her phone out to text her mom.

AMARA: Got sick today, skipping practice and heading home.

MOM: Sleep.

Her mom didn't elaborate anymore, but all Amara wanted to do anyways was sleep.

She walked out to her parking lot and hopped into the car, pulling out and driving backroads home instead of the main roads.

When Amara got home she headed straight for her room, dropping her backpack in the middle of the floor and jumping straight into her bed, throwing her covers over her.

                    Amara knew she was asleep, but she couldn't help but think she wasn't. A noise triggered a full body response in Amara, causing her to twitch, waking her slightly. When her eyes finally opened she sat up in confusion, wondering if the noise came from inside her house, or in her dream. She grabbed her phone to check the time: four-thirty. She had a couple Snapchat and Twitter notifications but nothing else. She slid out of bed and walked down to the kitchen. She opened the pantry to grab a granola bar but then remembered today's incident in the bathroom and lost interest, placing it back in the box. She leaned on the counter and thought about the dream she had, except she couldn't remember it from only two minutes ago.

Standing there dwelling, Amara suddenly felt the urge to go to the woods, almost like it was calling her. She started thinking about the trails and the field, the field seeming like it held some secrets that Amara wanted to know the answers to.

Quickly she put her tennis shoes back on and headed out to the trails on foot. The streets were quiet, no cars driving by and no people milling about. Amara was walking rather quickly too, trying not to be seen by anyone, especially her mom if she was headed home.

She ducked into the first path she saw entering the forests' area. With the trees covering the sun, the forest was darker, showing shadows and dark spots within. Amara had slowed her pace inside, walking precisely on the marked paths, not wandering off. All was quiet in the woods, except that she kept thinking she heard a sound, the sound of someone else walking. As the next step she took she paused, almost still in motion. The sound continued behind her and then stopped. Scared, Amara turned around to see what was following her, only to be startled at Delylah's sight.

"Delylah!' Amara screamed. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, as you said you didn't want to come here with me." Amara dropped her shoulders in a sigh, not exactly knowing how to explain herself, especially since she had claimed she was sick after school.

"I got curious."

"When you were throwing up in the bathroom?" Delylah joked.

"No. Shut up." Amara rolled her eyes at Delylah and turned back to the way she was headed.

"Amara wait." Delylah was now walking at Amara's side, making the trail seem narrower.

"Do you have a plan?" Amara asked. "Or are you just wandering out here?" Delylah didn't respond, only looking around the forests admiring the trees.

"How many paths are here you think? Five? Ten?"

"Delylah," Amara warned. The girls walked in silence along one path for some time, up until the point where it ended abruptly. Beyond the marked trail was just woods, trees and bushes. Branches covering what could be a continuation. "I'm turning back."

"Amara, don't be a baby."

'I'm scared Delylah. Why do you think I came out here?" Amara had a whine in her voice as she talked.

"Normally people who are scared don't walk into the basement where the killer hides." Delylah said.

"Look," Amara started, changing her stance to face directly at Delylah. "I've been having these dreams, at least I think they're dreams, of Claire, who was my friend until last year when she went missing. But nobody, not even the internet knows who she is, and I just don't understand why, I thought it was a sick joke at first when I told you guys, but the internet? I don't understand what's going on here." Delylah stared at Amara as she ranted, trying to comprehend all the words being said. "And I think she's trying to talk to me but no words come out, but she's there, standing in my room, at the foot of my bed, just standing there, watching me." Amara's voice began to fade and she dropped her head, focusing on the dirt underneath the shoes.

"Amara," Delylah started, moving her hand to Amara's and grabbing it. "I believe you, even though I can't prove it, I believe you. We're going to find out what happened to your friend and the five kids that went missing." Delylah dropped her hand from Amara's and began to look around, specifically looking at how the trail ended. Amara had taken a few steps backward and was looking around the edges of the trail, squatting down as Delylah was doing. Amara had angled herself and let the sun shine directly down on the dirt, it slightly blinding her sight. But as she began to turn away she saw a flicker of something shine against the sun.

"I got nothing here," Delylah said. "I swear there never was a trail here to begin with." Delylah had stood up and began to dust her pants off. Amara leaned forward some more and pulled from the dirt a silver necklace. "What's that?" Delylah asked, standing by her side. Amara stood, holding it closer to their faces. The necklace had a heart on it, a small heart, covered in silver coating

"I don't know." Amara answered, not to what it was, but whose it was. "We should go." Amara finally said, as she realized she had been gone for some time and her mom was bound to catch her out of bed.