Bonded

Chapter Four

"He was in your house!?"

I was starting to think telling Jamie about Isaac's visit was a bad idea. Scratch that, I knew telling her had been a bad idea. She hadn't stopped questioning me since we sat down in the back seat of Alyssa's car. Neither Jamie nor I were old enough to drive, since we were only freshmen in high school. She was 15, I was 14. Alyssa, on the other hand, was a senior, and she had a nice car because her parents spoiled her on her 18th birthday a few months ago.

Alyssa didn't seem to care about our constant chatting. In fact, she happily joined in most of our conversations, which was unusual for her, since she was usually the quiet type while driving. Something about safety.

"Okay guys, here we are!" We had pulled into the parking lot of the mall, and I was taken aback by the size of it. Sure, I had been to a mall before, but it had been much smaller than this! We climbed out of the car, shivering slightly when a cold winter breeze blew our way. That was another reason I had agreed to come with them; I really needed some winter clothes. We had just experienced the first snow of the season, and temperatures were dropping fast. Honestly, I could just wear my thick hoodies for a few months, but most of them were worn and I wanted some change in my life. As Alyssa says, Wanna Change Your Life? Change Your Wardrobe.

We quickly made our way to the entrance, and I was immediately surprised by how few people were here. Weren't there supposed to be tons of people at the mall? Hundreds maybe, especially the food court, where we were now? I voiced my opinion to Alyssa, but she nonchalantly shrugged it off. I tried to follow her example and stay cool and collected, but something in the back of my mind told me to be on guard..

We got some chicken from Panda Express, and sat down to eat. We talked about a lot of things; such as how school was, the upcoming project in Mr. Klide's history class, boys, Isaac, fashion, and more boys. Despite my attempts to curve the conversation, it always came back to boys...UGH! A meme popped up in my head, the one about how deep thoughts about the universe, life, and death made for the best conversations. Compared to the ideas swimming in my head... My friends' topics seemed so shallow.

"Diana...." I looked over at Jamie, who was grinning devilishly. "Have any crushes?"

How was I supposed to answer that? I decided to go with my default answer, the one I used regularly when other girls asked me those things. "Nope, never. Boys are gross."

"Oh come on Ann, you have to like somebody!" It was Alyssa's turn to pester me, which I supposed I saw coming. She may have been older than us, but she was just as boy crazy. Well, just as boy crazy as Jamie. I shook my head and they sighed, obviously discouraged. Mission Accomplished. In all the years of our friendship, never had they gotten me to spill the beans.

"Hey guys, we should probably get back to shopping. I heard there was a sale on pink camouflage print down at the-" I never even got to finish my sentence before Jamie squealed and hopped out of her chair. Dang, girls will be girls.

As we walked through the mall, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched. I mean yes, mall, people, of course there were eyes on me. But shivers constantly ran up my spine, and I swore I kept on seeing things in my peripheral vision. I was constantly looking around, enough for even Jamie, who was busy trying everything on, to notice.

"Diana, what's wrong? You seem nervous. Are you afraid someone will see you in that coat?" Pfft, typical Jamie. "I would be too," she continued. "Here, try this on!"

She handed me a vibrant pink coat with silver threading and grey fur around the hood. It actually wasn't that bad compared to what she had saved for herself. She had miniskirts and knee high socks, stuff like that. I shrugged, it was normal Jamie stuff, and maybe she was trying to imitate Japanese schoolgirls. Meh, it wouldn't surprise me... I headed to the changing rooms, and random thoughts kept going through my head. Only one was very sensible.

Why am I going to a changing room to try on a coat?

I soon arrived at the changing room, which was, like the mall it was in, very big. I chose the closest stall and slipped off my current coat, which was really a worn grey hoodie, all the while wondering why girls were so obsessed with fashion. But, I had promised Jamie I would be more like an average teenage girl, so the least I could do was upgrade my wardrobe. I managed to pull on the pink thing and get comfortable, but when I looked in the mirror....

There was a familiar figure behind me, dark and silent.

I spun around looked right at the black shadow. There was only one difference this time; I could actually see its eyes. Those silver-blue eyes stared back at me, seemingly straight into my soul. Somehow, I knew that this was the boy I had met in my dream, the thing from under my bed, the shadow I'd seen in my living room. My thoughts were cut off when light suddenly shone through several places of the shadow, as if the lights in the ceiling above were burning through it. It rushed at me with a blast of cold air, and I stumbled back, tripping over the bench that held my hoodie.

When I managed to stand back up, I looked around, but the shadow-thing was gone. Maybe this had all been fake, just a dream, figments of my imagination. I groaned, my brain felt like it weighed a ton. I dizzily made my way back to my friends, and we bought everything we had looked at, including the pink jacket. Yeah, we could do that, because Jamie had a lot of extra money from her babysitting job. I guess she had been saving it since summer. We quickly got back home, and I decided I didn't want my mom to see me like this. I stumbled through the house and into my room, collapsing onto my bed. As I fell into a fitful sleep, thoughts crossed my mind.

I'm sorry I caused you pain. I didn't mean to. I'm new at this.

In my tired state of mind, it didn't even bother me that the thoughts were not my own.