Stepping Off The Path Of Hate

Prologue

"Well, this is what I call a bad thing," Jenna Holt said as she, Kieran Hamilton, and Samantha Bingham walked into the school library. School had let out for the day, yet the trio couldn't get over the fact that things just took a turn for the bizarre. Especially when they were concerned with the story about Jed and his secret past coming to life.

Of course, Kieran had first-hand knowledge about that part, as he had seen it happen. (Kieran's parents had to fight Jed's grandparents for custody of Jed; that fight almost destroyed the Hamilton family.) Yet he couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Jed hadn't found a copy of Zach's will, which stipulated that Michael and Jessica should not be allowed to interact with Jed at all. (To date, Michael and Jessica still had not forgiven Jed and Kieran for exposing the ugly truth about their part in Emily's abuse.)

"Just because Zac Fraser claimed that Faith Thompson was lying about who she is and where she came from in the school's newspaper didn't give him the right to expose her to the public, which got her taken out of the school and away from her family," said Samantha. "Right now, she's probably locked up in some cold dark room in a mental hospital, being beaten with sticks and intimidated by other people..."

"Or her parents probably sent her to stay with her grandparents in Indiana after she was kicked out of school," said Kieran. The girls stared at him as he said, "What? I'm friends with her on Facebook. What did you expect?"

"Whatever, dude," said Jenna. "Now since you know more about Jed than you should, why don't you just tell us what happened next?"

Kieran frowned, wondering if he should find Allison and get the diary from her. Unfortunately for him, Allison and her friends had gone on a school-sanctioned field trip, which mean that they wouldn't be back for another 30 minutes. Allison had to have the diary with her, or she might have left it in a place where Kieran could find it.

And yet, she couldn't trust him or his friends, concerning how Kieran had reacted upon finding out that Allison had had Jed's diary and was reading it instead of returning it to him. Samantha frowned, knowing that Allison would take them to task if they tried to read the diary without her. (Of course, Joanna revealed that she had given Allison the diary instead of allowing Kieran to have the diary.

At the same time, Kieran said, "OK guys, here's the next part of the story..."