FREEZE

Chapter 6: An Explanation

    "Okay, something seriously strange is going on in this school right now". Emily confirmed. "But what do we do now?"

    Just as Emily finished saying those words, a streak of green light began to appear in mid air a couple yards behind her. "Look!" yelled Kayla. Everyone stared in awe as Katherine and Rachael dissolved from thin air. Rachael was holding something hanging on a necklace that seemed to be the source of the light.

    Jenna backed away, her eyes wide. "Whoa, what just happened?" 

    "Rachael and I teleported" Katherine rolled her eyes. "What did it look like we were doing?"

    "It looked like you were eating potatoes" remarked Jazzy with a dead serious face. Rachael, just as seriously, nodded. They both laughed.

    Emily interrupted, "As I was saying, what do we do now?"

    Rachael looked around the circle dramatically and spoke. "Have you ever had anything happen, anything you couldn't explain?" Katherine rolled her eyes.

    "How about just a few minutes ago, when time stopped?" Nicole said. 

    "Yeah, what was that?" Asked Kaelyn. "You guys are the ones teleporting everywhere, of all people you would know"

    Everyone else agreed and started to ask Katherine and Rachael questions, all at once.

    Jazzy was curious. "How is it even possible to stop time?"

    "Okay, I'm really confused right now..." Said Emily.

    Jenna was angry. "Why didn't we get an explanation sooner? Where did you guys go?" She yelled. 

    "Okay, okay geez guys calm down, I was about to explain everything" Rachael sighed as they quieted down.

    "First of all, Katherine can freeze time with that clear crystal hanging around her neck, and I can teleport with this green one. We found them inside a rock".

    Katherine jumped in. "Well, technically we found three in the rock. Our best friend was with us at the time and she took the third one. It was blue. We figured out pretty quick what the crystals are for, since all you have to do to activate it is squeeze it tightly. But... the blue crystal didn't work for some reason." Katherine sighed heavily. "The three of us would go out in the woods together to play with the crystals after we found out... We had so much fun, teleporting and freezing time... She had always been like a sister to us. We had know her since elementary school" Her voice became shaky.

    "One morning". Rachael replied solemnly. "We... She didn't..." Rachael looked away, her eyes shimmering and her mouth quivering.

      Katherine swallowed a lump in her throat. "One day she didn't come to school. We thought she was sick, but... Then they called an all school assembly and told us she was missing" A tear fell down Katherine's face. "The police came and interviewed us... I told them she would never run away, she loved her family... We walked past her house... There was caution tape everywhere... There were missing posters up of her...". She took a deep breath and rubbed her face with her hands.

    Emily and Jenna's eyes were wide. "Are you talking about..." Emily's voice trembled.

    Katherine was quiet. "Yeah, I'm talking about her". She took another deep breath in. Kaelyn, Jazzy, Kayla, and Nicole, who were new, were stunned by the story.

    "Was she... Kidnapped?" Jazzy asked.

    "Must have been" Jenna said quietly. "That's the scariest part. She was part of our own school. Imagine someone from your school just... Disappearing. Like, that could happen to any one of us."

     "What... What was her name?" Kaelyn asked.

      Rachael lifted her head up as a tear rolled down her cheek. Her eyes were red.

     "Her name was Mimi Drabik"