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Chapter One Sense of Stability
JIA was supposed to be at Tara's house. She always used to be there, even just to lounge on Tara's couch for a while. It was better than being at her house with her mom, even if Tara's mom was similar to her very own. There wasn't much of a difference, but at least Tara's mom was going to meetings and trying to screw her head on straight. Not much could be said for Jia's mom.
Jia couldn't even tell you why she didn't go to Tara's that night, which was the most horrible part of the whole thing. All she could say was that since she ran into Ghostface that night while walking home, she hadn't been the same. She swore she was beginning to see Ghostface more and more around town, even while doing the most mundane things. But it had barely only been two months. From the end of July to mid-September, Ghostface was seeping into her life and scaring her shitless. Why wasn't she dead yet?
But she didn't even say these things out loud after she saw all the crazy looks she was starting to get, from her friends included. So she just shut up. And the lock and key were more often than not, popping pills or sliding alcohol down her throat. Anything she could get her grimy little hands on to get the image of her being hunted out of her mind. But no amount of drugs could fix this. She was beating herself up for not being there. She was stupid to think someone wasn't going to die.
"Attention, Panthers. A reminder that all classes and school activities are canceled tomorrow due to public safety concerns."
Jia nodded, and while those who sat around her looked more disappointed than her, she couldn't say she was shocked. She knew she should be playing dumb like everyone else was – all she was doing was making herself a target – but if Ghostface was back, she knew they needed to hide away as fast as possible. She didn't even want to go to school that day, and the longer she sat around listening to them talk the more she wanted to turn around and go back home.
She was dressed as a paranoid individual usually does. She didn't spend much time on her hair and makeup anyways, but today it was even less. Two pieces of her hair were dyed Barbie blonde, the rest jet black. All of it pulled into a messy braid that rested down her back, stray pieces hanging and flowing whenever the wind blew through the grass and picnic tables in front of their school. She wore an Artic Monkeys tee-shirt with a pair of very old jeans and a random pair of Converse. Despite looking as messy as she usually did, she felt out of place like a sore thumb.
"That was Sam," Wes said to the small group. Sam was Tara's big sister, but despite them being related, she couldn't remember the last time she saw Sam much less actually with Tara. The two had a strained relationship for many years, but Jia wasn't totally sure why. All she knew was that Sam grew up and moved along – literally moving to another city, leaving Tara behind with their mom. She was glad that Sam was coming back, even if there wasn't much they could do at that point.
