Poor Alexandria. Poor Jeanette. Poor Brian. Poor Jason. Poor Lucy. Poor Ezra. Poor Amber. Poor me.
Since the summer was almost over, Amber and I made the most of our short time together.
We'd go on walks and trade life stories, limited stories, of course. We'd write and draw together. We made a silly little comic; appliances of the kitchen had a conversation about humans and technology.
We'd laugh, we'd joke, we'd make fun of things together.
One the last day Ezra and Mama wanted to hang out with just the two of us. Great, the real family will be together.
We went to a nice restaurant for lunch.
"You two are getting along well. That's great." Mama said as she put her napkin in her lap.
Amber and I smiled at each other.
"I have some news." Mama announced.
Amber and I leaned forward.
"I'm moving in with Ezra, in Chicago. So you won't have to go to separate places if you wanted to visit." She said.
"That's awesome." They never told us what happened between them, but I'm glad they could work it out.
"So don't you crazy kids be strangers." Ezra said.
Amber chuckled, "we won't."
"I'll come see you guys whenever I get a long break." I said.
"Me too." Amber said.
I'd love to go to Chicago to see them while I'm on a break. I can see it now! Everything will be perfect.
We'll have lunches together, watch terrible movies, and laugh lots!
I smiled.
At home it was just Amber, the others and me. I was changing clothes in my room.
My shirt was off and a cold finger touched my back. I gasped and quickly turned around.
Dee stood there with a fixed gaze.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
They tilted their head and began to slowly circle around me.
I watched them. They examined me, felt my scars, watched me. I leaned away. Why are they doing this?
I hate my scars being touched. Dee didn't care. They just continued to circle me a trace my scars. Why?
"Stop it!" I pushed them away and clenched my shirt.
Dee snatched my throat. I choked. Their hand began to turn gray and I felt faint. I couldn't breathe. Are they killing me? Am I dying?
There was a loud bang at my window. Dee disappeared and I dropped to the floor coughing.
I breathed in, savoring every atom of breath.
"Are you okay?" Indra's voice asked.
I looked up. He kneeled in front of me. I coughed some more.
"What was that?" I asked, panting.
"Dee." He answered. "They... Want you."
You've gotta be kidding me.
"To kill me?" I asked. "Why?" What's so special about me?
"Because, you're very resilient." Indra answered. "You've been through a lot, survived a lot."
"It's...fascinating." He said.
Great. I have Death after me. I stood up. Indra stood too.
"How do we get them to stop?" I asked.
