Familiar

Chapter Fourteen

Two minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off, my phone buzzed, causing me to groan as I rolled over. Blinking my eyes several times before they focused, it was a text from Ryan.

"Phone me. It's urgent." Startled and significantly more awake, I sat up, already dialing his number.

"Hey." Ryan's voice was filled with worry, and quiet.

"What's wrong?" I asked trying not to panic. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, but - have you checked the forum this morning?"

"No," I said, as I bounded off my bed and flipped open my laptop. "Why, what happened?"

"I was just scrolling through and I saw what I'm assuming was your post, and there was a guy who described what you had, right?"

"Yeah," I said distracted, typing in my password and willing my computer to load faster.

"Well, one of his friends said he, well," He sighed. "Are you loading it now?"

"Yeah, almost got it." There was silence from his end as I quickly scanned through the threads, found mine, and clicked to open up the comments.

"No," I whispered in disbelief.

"I'm sorry," Ryan answered.

Somehow, since last night, his friend had found Taylor33 in his apartment: Not breathing. His friend had known that he was messing with some stuff, and knew about the spell. He had called the ambulance and was apparently in critical condition, with most of his major organs seeming to be failing for no reason. But I knew the reason, and so did Ryan.

"But," I could barely speak, my breaths were short, and I pulled my knees up to my chest in the chair. "The other post, they - they said it worked."

"I'm sorry, Kara. This doesn't mean-"

"Yes, it does. It means there's a good chance that I- that I'm going to." I swallowed hard, fighting back all the panic and sobbing that suddenly seemed overwhelming. "But I knew that." I swallowed again. "I knew what this was before I started." I tried to make my voice sound confident and strong, even though that was far from what I was feeling.

"Do you want me to come over?" I glanced at the clock on the corner of my laptop, then dismissing the startling alarm that sounded from my phone.

"No." I cleared my throat and closed my eyes, trying to calm down. "No, I have class anyway."

"Phone me if you need anything." He paused. "I mean it, Kara. Okay? Anything." And I knew he really would come over if I asked. Despite the tightness in my chest and my heightened worry; I was grateful.

"I will." Hanging up, I sighed loudly and gave myself a few minutes to think it through. And get the panic-crying-wanting-to-scream out of my system quickly, and - because of Tanya - quietly. I had found that it was easier to get through the day if I let my emotions out somewhere private first. Then at least there would be less that I would have to fight to keep under control while in school.

Or that's what I thought. Showered, dressed, and papers packed, I walked out of my apartment, only to be surprised to find Dane waiting for me just as I opened the front door of the apartment.

"What are you doing here?" I mouthed to him in case there was someone around.

"Thought you could use the solitude earlier, but I figured I'd accompany you to class." As Dane spoke, I turned and locked the door, moving my backpack to tuck my keys in the front as I descended down the stairs.

Thinking, I brought my phone to my ear but didn't press any buttons or turn the screen on.

"That's nice of you," I answered Dane while speaking into my phone. It felt absolutely ridiculous, but at least the front security guard didn't give me (or Dane) a second glance.