Emerald

Chapter Two- Friendship

I had to go over to Ari's house and tell her. Ari is Shawn's younger sister. We'd known each other forever and she was the one who set me up with him. I will be forever grateful to her for that. This is how it happened; because we were best friends, I told her that I liked her brother. She laughed and set us up for a little "date". We were about twelve at the time and everything just went on from there.

She had short brown curls that seemed blonde instead of brown and her bright blue eyes held the same little sparkle as Shawn's. It was one of the many ways you can tell that they were even related, although they looked almost nothing alike. Her face had more freckles than Shawn's, but you could still see the pale cheeks that always had a little bit of pink dusted upon them. I had known her since we were four, and we were sixteen when this story takes place.

I got dressed in a plain white t-shirt, black shorts, black sneakers and my favorite brown leather jacket. Looking in my large mirror, I brushed my long, raven hair and raced down to my kitchen.

It was quite a large kitchen with beautiful red oak floors and cabinets. A small breakfast bar with soft stools resided in the middle. That was where my mom and I ate our food when no guests were over. The appliances were made of stainless steel; the oven, microwave, dishwasher and even the refrigerator. I quickly grabbed my phone, which was covered in a white and blue case, and a small granola bar.

"I'm heading over to Ari's, mom!" I yelled up the wooden staircase.

"Okay! Just call me when you're on your way back!" she yelled back down. You could tell that she had just gotten up from the way her voice cracked, which I giggled at.

"Okay!" I yelled back as I walked out my front door. I got on my old, red bike and rode the five blocks to Ari's house. My neighborhood was quite beautiful with many trees, beautiful houses, and smooth roads. Once I got to Ari's house, I stopped in her driveway and knocked on the blue door. The rest of her house was a pale white color and I'd never known what material it was made out of. The door opened to reveal Ari and my other two friends, Matt and Rose.

Ari's hair was up in short pigtails and curled a bit at the bottom. Her large, purple glasses were shining in the pale sunlight, although she usually wore contacts. She was wearing a blue t-shirt with dark denim shorts, random white sneakers, and a denim jacket. I gave her a weak smile and she just ran to hug me. I hugged back as tight as I could, relieved to see one of my best friends. I had tears pricking at my eyes again from the thought of how she reacted to the note from Shawn.

Then, I looked to Matt. His long, curly red hair was as crazy as ever. He was wearing a red, short-sleeved flannel, ripped jeans, brown hiking boots and one of his thick, brown hoodies was tied around his waist. His deep brown eyes showed signs of worry, not just for Ari, but for me, as well. There were even a few tears threatening to spill onto his tanned face. I let go of Ari ran to hug him as I looked to Rose.

Her piercing blue eyes showed stern signs of worry for all of us. Her long, blonde hair was up in a tight ponytail that curled a bit at the bottom and there were small strands hanging on her tanned face. She was wearing a rainbow tye-dyed shirt, denim shorts, and her favorite black sneakers. Her black hoodie was, also, tied around her waist. She didn't really like hugs so I just nodded in her direction.

"Alright. Let's go to Ari's room. We all...um...need to talk," I said. They all nodded and we walked up to Ari's bedroom. She had white furniture and light green walls. The pale sunlight lit up the room with a warm glow that would make anyone's worries and stress disappear, but it didn't really seem to help us all that much. We all sat down on her queen-sized bed with light purple sheets. They were always very soft. So soft that I began to sink into it.

"Okay,...you're all probably wondering about the note and why he left." They nodded in response. I began to get nervous about how they were going to respond. I took a deep breath and continued. "Well...he's right, I can tell you everything."

"We know. You'd better spill. I want to find my brother," said Ari with worry in her voice. I took another deep breath and continued.

"You know all those weird dreams I've been telling you about?" They nodded, again. I had sometimes told them about my weird dreams, but I always went to Shawn first. "Well, I have a secret that could put all of you in danger if I tell you. I made Shawn promise to not try and figure it out, but he didn't listen. I think that's why he went away." I began to cry at this point. I just began to tell them everything about the most recent dream and dream messages, everything except my actual secret. I didn't like lying to them, but I had to.

I might say what the secret is at the end of this story. And yes, I know I broke the fourth wall. You're welcome.

They all just stared at me wide-eyed the whole time. Matt's mouth was even hanging opened a little bit.

"And now you know. You all must think I'm crazy, right?" I stuttered. All they did in response was give me a hug, even Rose joined in. I felt loved by my three closest friends and it was probably one of the best moments I'd ever had with them. I didn't want to let go, but we had to part to continue our conversation.

"No, not really. I believe in the supernatural and magic and blah, blah, blah as much as anyone here so, it could be possible. I mean, hey, Em's got freakin dream powers! That could be a big help in finding Shawn!" said Matt.

"Then we can all go find him, together! But, we do have to lie to our parents..." I continued. I began to get worried by my own plans...

"No problem! We can just tell them that we're gonna go stay with my Aunt Sandy! My mom lets me go over there for as long as I need to and she would never call to check up on us! And summer break just started, so we have all summer to do it!" said Matt in excitement. I beamed at him, he had always come up with some great ideas. We all nodded and I internally cheered.

"Okay, how about we leave in a week? That way we have time to get permission and pack. I can bring as much money as I can so we can pay for motels and stuff," I said. They beamed at me and nodded in agreement. My mom was the CEO of a large publishing company and she gave me an allowance, but I had always saved it up for a special occasion. That search and rescue seemed like the perfect opportunity.

"And we can use my dad's old truck so we can go around," said Rose and her suggestion made a lot of sense. Her dad's old pickup truck had enough seats for the four of us, plus Shawn when we got him back. The bed was split in half; the half closest to the seats was covered, almost like the trunk of a car. That was where we could put all of our belongings when we were out on the road.

We spent the rest of the day planning and we all went home around dinner time. I called my mom to tell her I was leaving, saddled onto my bike and rode off. As I was riding home, only one thought was on my mind;

Don't worry Shawn! We'll be there soon!