Chapter 4: Secret Places and Filming the World

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Sarah: I walked in the front door that night absolutely drenched. I smiled when I saw my parents sitting on the couch. When I walked up the stairs and my parents saw me, they gasped. "What happened to you, Sarah!" they asked in near unison.

"I went for a late night swim," I said, still smiling. My mom caught on to smile.

"Who is he?" she asked, pausing the movie.

"He's just a friend. His name is Louis. I met him on the beach," I said. My mom smiled.

"He must be very nice," she said. Of couse what else was she going to say. She wanted me going out again. Ever since... Emily! I had a sudden moment of noticing my night had been scream free. Aside from those aimed at the vast ocean. As I went to bed that night I smiled. Maybe Louis could help me forget.

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"Wanna see some place I've never showed anyone," Louis asked, licking his vanilla ice cream cone. It had been a week since our, um, date I suppose. We were sitting on a curb across from the truck a man was scooping ice cream from.

"Sure," I said, lip-biting my strawbery chocolate twist. He stood up and I followed.

We found ourselves stading at the base of the life guards...booth I guess. There was a door with dusty glass. "The information I am about to tell can be disclosed to no one. Understood?" Louis asked. I pretended to zip my lips then lock them. Louis smiled and looked around to make sure no one was watching. He turned the knob on the door and opened it. Inside, I was surprised to see a couch and a side table with a dusty old lamp on it. On the oposite side of the room there was a foldable card table and two lawn chairs in front of it. "Ta da," Louis said, I stepped inside, the wood floor covered in a layer of sand.

"This is where you keep so secret?" I asked.

"I found it a few years ago. Its almost never in use. It depends on the life guard. Some of them put their stuff in here. Only a few though so no big deal," Louis said. I took a seat on the couch, which creaked as I sat down. Louis smiled.

"So where do you escape to?" he asked, as I examined the walls of the room.

"Usually my room," I said, not even giving my words a second thought.

"Really?" Louis asked.

"I guess I'm knid of an introvert at heart," I said. Louis smiled and looked down at his sandles.

"So I guess it'd be weird to ask if I could see it sometime," he said.

"Do you want to?" I asked, eyeing him.

"I'd be fun sometime," he said. I stood up and opened the door and he followed.

When we reached my house I opened the door. I thought my parents had said they were running for groceries but apparently not anymore. My parents saw me peeking in the door and I realized there was no getting out of this. I opened the door full swing and walked in. My mom saw Louis and ran down the stairs, ready to shake his hand.

"You must be Louis," she said, smiling. I bit my lip.

"Yes. And you must be Mrs. Pollen," Louis said, smiling back like any gentle man should.

"Please call me Charlotte," she said, blushing, "I've heard so much about you."

"For once I am able to say the same about you," Louis said. My mother laughed.

"Okay why don't we head upstairs," I said to Louis. He nodded. Once wee were safetly up one floor I said, "I'm sorry about my parents."

"Hey, no problem. Your mom seems nice," he said.

"She is," I said. He smiled. Finally we reached the small set of stairs to my room. My room was a loft above the house. Once we finally peeked the stairs, you could see my vaulted ceiling that almost made my entire room a triangle. He looked around the room with an evaluating eye. My bed had been made earlier by my OCD mother (I never made my bed but being an only child my mother took it upon herslef to tidy my room when it was needed). On my bedside table there was my pink alarm clock that was almost an hour off. I had a sea shell on the table and my cell phone. Past there there was my moving box castle. These held the things that weren't summer nessesities. On the other wall I had my dresser, displaying an array of perfumes and hair accessories. There was a tipped over picture, one I couldn't look at. Louis pulled the picture up so he could look at it. I turned away as he did.

"Who is this?" he asked. I spun around again. It was Emily. In fact it was a picture of me and Emily two night before the, um, accident.

"Um, thats an old friend," I said, looking down at my feet.

"Why was it down," Louis asked, studying the picture.

"Um," I said said, attempting to think of something to say, "It must have fallen." Louis shrugged and put the picture down again and moved on to my desk. On my desk there was a speaker for my IPod and my computer which had been set up with my webcam (which was of pro quality) and my camcorder (which was also very nice).

"Do you film?" he asked.

"Yeah. Um I did," I said, accidently revealing past tense.

"What do you mean 'did'," he asked.

"I haven't in a while," I said.

"I see," he said. He picked up my camera and switched it on. The familiar turning on-tone made me wince. He slipped his hand throught the hand cuff and hit the record, "Hello. I am hear with Sarah Polan," I laughed as he spoke, "She tells me she hasn't made a video since..." He waited for me to fill in the blank. I bit my lip and looked at the ground.

"April 21," I said quietly.

"And why is that?" Louis asked. Emily! I heard the scream in my head. I took a long, shaky breath.

"The camera knows," I said, looking out the window in hopes Louis wouldn't see my eyes filling with tears. I blinked a few times and heard the camera turn off.

"Whats up?" Louis asked, genuinely worried.

"I don't want to talk," I said. Louis nodded.

"Okay," Louis said, rubbing his hand up and down my back. I won't ever be want to talk I thought as I felt my tears dry up.

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