Chapter 2: Poems

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I didn't say another word as the four of us walked to school. All that I could concentrate on was the fact that something was happening to Emily, and I was the only one who could see it. Elise had asked me several times if I was okay, but I shrugged her off.

We reached our school within five minutes. The middle school and elementary school were right next to each other, so we all walked Emily there. All of the kids were on the playground and waiting for their first class to start. I recognized a few of them that my sister used to be really close with, but they didn't even glance at her as she started to make her way to the swing set alone.

"Bye, Terra. Bye, Elise. Bye, Carson," she called over her shoulder.

"Bye, Emily," we all replied. The three of us began to walk across the street to get to the middle school, but on the way I turned around to get a last look at Emily.

I expected her to be alone, but a strange-looking girl was swinging beside her. She wore a long, purple dress with slits in the skirt that gave it a layered texture, and a purple headband across her forehead to match. Her long, dark hair was done in a complicated braid that touched the top of her hip bone. It only took one glance for me to know that the girl was Anna.

"Look, it's Anna," I said, nudging Elise and Carson.

They both scanned the playground and then looked back at me in confusion. "Where?" Elise asked.

"By the swings next to Emily," I pointed with my right hand in the direction of the girl.

The twins frowned. "There's no one over there," Elise said.

"Yeah, but no one can see her but me." I remembered Emily saying those exact words only a few minutes ago.

How was it that we were the only ones that could see Anna?

"Terra," Elise said with wide, blue eyes. "are you okay?"

I nodded my head slowly. "I'm fine." Maybe I should have told her about Emily's transformations, and seeing Anna, and the note. Heck, maybe I should have told her about Emily's stick figure on my wall suddenly missing her legs, but I didn't. I didn't want her to think I was crazy.

I felt a small pat on my shoulder and looked up to see Carson's hand resting on me. He gave me a small smile and then shoved his hand into the pocket of his hoodie.

I let Elise do the talking for the rest of the walk. She never ran out of things to talk about, which wasn't unusual. The entire time, she made wide hand gestures, attracting a bit of attention from anyone we passed.

We swung open the double doors that led to the main hallway of Seaside Middle School. Carson gave us a small wave goodbye and headed down another hallway to the right. Elise and I shared first period, so we kept walking together.

It took me a while to notice that Elise was giving me a weird grin. "What?" I asked.

Elise rolled her eyes. "I saw him touch your shoulder."

I furrowed my brow. She was obviously talking about Carson, but it took me a while to register that. I recalled the feeling of his hand resting on me. "Yeah, I know."

"You know?" Elise said in a high-pitched and loud voice, gaining stares from everyone around us. "That's it? This is a big deal, Terra!"

I snorted. "He just gave me a pat on the shoulder, Elise."

"He's never touched you before," she said. "That just means he's one step closer to confessing his true feelings for you!" Elise placed the back of her hand against her forehead dramatically. It was hard to take her seriously that way.

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