Chapter VI

Grace's mother burst through the door, in work attire, "Gracie?! What the hell is going on?" her mother waded around the bedroom before seeing Grace standing in the bathroom.

"We heard screaming, why did you say Holden's name?" Her mother's tone was tense, cracked even when she spoke her sons name.

Her mother, Dianne, never stopped working when Holden passed away. She never took Grace to the therapy appointments. In reality, her mother was so swamped with work that she expected Grace to get through it on her own. Grace never got through anything on her own because Holden was always there.

"I'm fine." Grace spoke blandly, almost robotic. "It was just a nightmare. Go to work."

As an attempt to comfort her daughter, she stepped forward but Grace hit the door with her foot to shut it. She could hear a large exhaled sigh from the other side then footsteps leaving the room.

Grace couldn't believe what just happened. Hanging over the sink, she felt sickened. "Just a dream.." she murmured to herself repeatedly until the alarm clock buzzed with the time now at 7 a.m.

It was time to get ready for the first day of Junior year.

Sitting in the parking lot of the school, she kept both hands gripped on the steering wheel. "I'm fine." She recited those words over, predicting that she would be asked if she was okay many times today.

The lot was filled with cars and trucks while students filled the front quad of Caine High. Seniors were hanging banners already for future events, some were standing around conversing and the rest hung around their vehicles or the tables outside.

I can't do this, she thought. Her eyes wandered through the rear mirror over to the parking spot where her and her brother used to park. It was still empty except for the many flowers and stuffed animals placed there by students throughout the summer.

She remembered that Holden would always back into the parking space instead for safety reasons he would always claim. He never loitered outside the school like most of the students do, but instead he would be asking Grace if she had did her homework or govern some student council meetings. Never once put himself first, never really enjoyed life. She was staring at the empty spot until someone knocked hard on her window.

Startled, she jumped and turned her head to see who it was.

"Gracie!" The young girl squealed, excited to see Grace's face.

Rolling down the window, "I-i'm sorry, I was just sitting here." Grace narrowed her eyes, feeling nervous to even talk to her friend.

It was Melody Cooper. One of Grace's closet friends since she could remember. She hadn't seen her since the funeral, even when she stopped by a couple days later. Grace never answered the door and refused to come out of her room.

Melody had hoped Grace would be there today, given that she hadn't heard from her all summer. One would think that Grace up and left for good after the incident. She worried about her friend all summer with leaving multiple text messages and phone calls. Her hypersensitive personality crumbled because she felt neglected by Grace.

"Aren't you coming in?" She asked. Her need to have Grace by her side would reassure herself and lower her insecurities for first day jitters.

Melody twisted her plump lips as if Grace was going to reject her and not go inside the school.

Grace blinked her eyes and nodded in response. She reached for her shoulder bag and stepped out of the vehicle.

Her heart thumped as they walked through the quad with separate pairs of eyes falling on her. She could feel the stirring of anxiety build up in her stomach, almost making her nauseated.

"Don't pay them any attention." Melody stated as she bucked at other students to make them back off with their stares.

Grace picked up the foot pace with Melody following closely behind until they passed through the entrance and the corridors of different hallways until finally reaching their set of lockers. Releasing a huge breath, Grace struggled to grasp the lock to enter her combination.

Melody bunched up her black eyebrows, witnessing the entire struggle. "G..Are you okay?" There it was. The first one.

"I'm fine." Just as she rehearsed, she forced herself to steady her hands and unlock the locker to open it.

Melody then raised her brows, pushing herself to comfort Grace more. "Are you sure? I can't wait to tell you what happened over the summer. We didn't even get to celebrate your birthday. You know, I'm always here if you nee--"

"I said I'm fine." Grace looked up at her. Feeling discouraged, Melody looked away and rummaged through her locker.

"Hey...Grace?" A deeper familiar voice crept behind her.

Without turning around she answered, "Jackson, hey."

She continued to empty her books into her locker. The last person she wanted to talk to was Nathaniel Bates.

He left her the most text messages and voicemails out of anyone. Given their last encounter was a rather close embrace, she wasn't ready to talk about it nor talk about Holden. Deep down, she did long for the two of them to be close again though.

"Are you okay?" There's number two.

He has never felt so disconnected to Grace since Holden's funeral. He always visited their house, had dinner, stayed the night. Holden was his best friend for God sakes, how can she just ignore me like that, Jackson thought. He wanted to be there for her and comfort her and express his own feelings to her.

Grace shut her locker and turned around to answer him. Jackson was almost as tall as Holden was, but he had an auburn hair color and his eyes didn't match Holden's blue ones.

"I'm fine." She stared at him. Melody looked at the two of them, seeing the awkward silence grow and it made Grace feel even sicker. "I need to go to the bathroom." She stated.

"Wait" Jackson stopped her by taking her arm gently. His expression of genuine concern, "Can we meet up after school at Caine Cafe?"

The desire to be around Jackson was actually not slim. She enjoyed his company and being with him today may be just the pick up she needs.

With a slow nod, Jackson smiled at her and let her go. He glanced over to Melody who gave him a 'yay' sarcastic shrug.

Grace hurried down the hallway, trying to dodge the stares and whispers. She felt as if the walls were trying to corner her and her anxiety was beginning to overflow. She pushed open the bathroom door and latched onto the sink.

Taking quick breaths, she felt her head becoming dizzy. "I'm fine.." She repeated over and over as she closed her eyes. Unable to control her breathing, she became vulnerable to her surroundings. After a moment, she heard something from the stall at the far end.

"Grace.." It whispered, leaving a trailing echo.

She opened her eyes and craned her neck in the direction of the voice.

"Gracie.." It repeated, coaxing her. She stepped away from the sink and towards the stall slowly.

"Hello?" She narrowed her eyes, feeling her heart jump as she got closer. Nobody seemed to be in the bathroom but her. She reached her hand out to push her fingers against the stall door to open it.

"Grace..." The whispers continued until the door was completely open to find nothing there.

"Who's there?" She stared at the empty stall, believing she was hallucinating again. She pursed her lips and turned around to leave.

As she looked up towards the door, he was standing in front of her that made her gasp. Not on fire this time but he forcibly grasped her forearms again.

"Wh-who are you?!" Grace attempted to yank away, but his hands started to burn into her forearms like her dream even when there was no fire around.

"Why Gracie.." He whimpered. His blue eyes filled with tears when she didn't respond. "Why won't you tell them that it's your fault.." His voice echoed in her ears.

"What do you mean?" She couldn't believe what was happening right now.

In an instant, he stopped crying and stared at her with a blank expression. "You killed me, you bitch." His lips curled into a devilish grin that turned into a cackling laughter.

Grace closed her eyes tight. "It's not real, it's not real, it's not real." She, hyperventilating now, opened her eyes to see nothing there.

Without even thinking she ran to the door and pushed it open fast to only collide into someone so hard that they both ended up on the floor.