Chapter 5

It's a Saturday morning, and I get an entire day to research who this man is and rewatch that video with that Melody bitch.

I rewatch the videos and keep writing notes.

"Okay, I'm not Burn, but more like the daughter of Burn." "He's a great guy who really means a lot to me, and I don't see the reason why you are all attacking him anyway," Melody said, and there was a reflection in the background of some random blonde masked guy holding a gun towards her.

"I love my mom—I mean, dad—so much, and it really hurts to think that people are just saying mean stuff and just really acting bad towards my father," Melody said.

"Damn this child is a good actress; you wouldn't be able to tell that there's a gun pointing at her head," I said to myself, and my sister entered the room.

"Yo, can you help me with something?" Avery asked, but I continued looking at the video.

"Nah, I'm doing something right now. Wait a minute," I said, and I heard her gritting her teeth.

"Fuck you," Avery muttered, and I looked at her right before pausing the video.

"What the hell did you just say to me?" I asked, and she rolled her eyes before slamming my bedroom door.

What the hell is up with her? I get out of bed and walk out of the room to see Avery standing next to Andy.

I was in shock when I saw him; he was crying, and he went up to me and hugged me. I hugged him back, still not believing how he's still alive.

"Stupid bitch asses," Avery cursed and walked away.

I stopped hugging him and grabbed Avery's arm.

"What's wrong with you?" "Whyare you acting like this?" I asked if he was worried for her.

"Because I never see you ever." Either you're at school, doing homework, or you just don't want to be bothered," Avery said.

"Oh, so you want attention," I said blatantly.

"Yeah, pretty much, and I just want to be with you like old times," Avery admits.

"Don't worry, Avery, just know that I'll most likely not change for you and probably not try! "But you have to just accept that fact and maybe learn that you're not going to get everything you want," I said while booping her nose.

"What?" Avery asked

"Avery, you know I'm not the type to change for someone, and in reality, you should understand that trying to curse like Eminem isn't going to make you sound big and tough; it makes you sound ghetto," I explained to her and she nodded.

"You didn't understand a single thing that I just said," Avery realizes.

"I did, and I know you want my attention, but I just can't give it to you because I have more important things to deal with," I said and turned away from her.

"Andy, do you know what happened during the fire?" I asked him, and suddenly I saw all the color drain from his face.

"I don't want to talk about it," Andy admits, looking down.

"Don't worry, take as long as you need," I said, caressing his face.

"I think I heard the doorbell," Andy said, and I ran downstairs.

I looked out the keyhole and said, "Conner." That man is stalking me, and I'm sure of it. I opened the door anyway and saw Conner have a surprised look on his face.

"You're the last person I wanted to see," Conner says out loud.

"Same goes for you, but yet you're here at my doorstep," I said, leaning against the door ledge.

"Well, I came here to tutor Avery, so I guess I made it to the wrong house," Conner says, kind of embarrassed.

"More like an excuse to come and see." I was interrupted by Avery.

"I'm here and ready," Avery said, pushing me away.

She's posing for some reason. Why is she posing? I sweat my life away; it makes no damn sense.

"If your older sister wasn't so self-centered, she could've gotten this done earlier," Conner says while holding Avery's hand.

They walked away, and she stuck her tongue out at me. Am I in some parallel universe? I walk out of their trying to understand what just happened.

"Whatever they can have a make-out session for all I care, I got to solve this mystery," I said to myself and started going up the stairs.

"If one of you needs me, just know I'm in my bedroom," I said to them while going up the stairs.

While I was going up the stairs, I saw Andy leave my room in a hurry.

What in hell was he in my room for? There's nothing really important for him in there—actually, he should be terrified after looking at what's in their

I walk into my bedroom, forgetting that Andy is there, and immediately see something is wrong. Odd pictures were printed and on my bed, while a broken piece of a necklace was on the bed. I put on the necklace, ignoring its beauty.

"Something this pretty always has a consequence to it," I said to myself, admiring myself in the mirror.

I noticed that there was writing on it. It had the letter B on it and what looked like a broken plus symbol.

"Did Andy give this to me?" I asked myself and left the room.

Suddenly a flash hit me, and I was taken back by that flash.

𝐼 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑎 𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑏𝑜𝑥 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑑𝑠 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 l𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑒𝑟'𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑓 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑒𝑡. 𝐻𝑒𝑟 𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝐵 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒'𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑀. 𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑦 𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑀 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑆? 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜 𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑓𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒.

"𝐵𝑂𝑁𝑁𝐼𝐸!" 𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑟

I woke up with The Johnsons and Avery looking at me.

"What happened?" I asked them

"You collapsed on the ground as soon as we came back," Mrs. Johnson explained, and I held my head in pain.

Mr. Johnson helped me off the ground.

"Where is Andy?" I asked

"Who is Andy?" Mr. Johnson asked

Avery was shocked by my words and looked like she was going to cry.

"Andy is... dead," Avery said and ran off, leaving not only the Johnsons confused but me as well.

But he gave me the necklace. And he scattered my bed with stupid pictures. How the hell is Andy dead?

I walked back into my room and saw that it was empty. When I say empty, I mean like the entire room was not only white, but it was just gone.

"Hey mom, dad, where did my stuff go?" I asked, looking at my mom, who was confused.

My mom walked towards me and looked into my room.

"Everything seems to be there to me." "Just take a break, but first take a shower, you stink," Mrs. Johnson said and patted me on the back.

I turned to face my room and saw that everything was back to normal.

"What the hell?" I asked myself, staring at my same old messy room.

"Yo, maybe I do need a shower to fix my head," I said to myself and just sat in the bathroom.

I took a deep breath and looked at myself in the mirror.

Maybe I should just forget about this crime. I mean, if this is a serial killer, what connection do they have to me? I'm just some girl from an orphanage; what do I know?

I felt someone tap me, making me turn around and face away from the mirror. I looked confused because not only did I see nothing there, but the door was left open.

I closed it and heard a whisper.

"Turn around," Something whispered, causing me to turn around so fast that it looked like I could've gotten whiplash.

I saw no one behind.

"Okay, what the fuck is going on?" I'm cursed now scared.

I walked into the middle of the room and just took a breath. I looked at myself in the mirror, and my reflection was moving on its own. I backed up against the wall as my reflection came out of the mirror and started to walk towards me.

"Wake up!" My reflection demanded

"What?" I was confused but still scared.

"WAKE UP! "WAKE UP, WAKE UP!" My reflection held me by my shoulders and started shaking me.

"Wake up from what?" I asked.

"JUST WAKE THE FUCK UP!" My reflection shouted, and then she banged my head against the wall.

making me pass out...

I woke in a dark room—wait, it was my room.

"How the hell did I get here?" I was just-" I stopped myself, realizing something wasn't right about me.

I realized I wanted to go to the kitchen to maybe clear my head out.

"Wait, I wasn't thinking that." I said I was confused by what I heard.

She wanted to go to the kitchen and get some water or anything really.

"Who the hell is saying that?" I asked myself and turned on the lights.

I see in the corner of my room a black orb sucking everything inside my room.

"HOLY SHIT!" I cursed myself for backing up against the wall.

"GET OUT THE FUCKING ROOM!" Someone yelled, and I held my head in pain.

God, please make it stop. Just make it all stop. I was now curled up in a ball, crying to myself in fear. I wanted to die right then and there. I hoped that my life was going to end, but suddenly I heard nothing. I uncurled myself and saw that the hole was gone. I walked out of the bedroom and saw nothing but darkness. That's why I took my phone and brought it along with me. I used the flashlight and shined it through the hallway as I walked. While walking by, I saw different things or heard different sounds, like Avery getting tortured by some demon-looking creature or the sounds of my adoptive parents calling me, or just anything really. I walked down the stairs and saw no one there. I turned the lights on in the living room and heard some noises, like a little girl's voice. I looked on the couch and found a piece of paper with those symbols all over it. The TV turned on randomly, and I tried to turn it off, but the remote had no batteries in it. Suddenly, the TV turns to some odd channel.

"Melody, where are you?" Someone yelled, and whoever was holding the camera was running.

"That must be her," I said and sat on the couch.

I wrote down what was happening on the TV in a random notebook I found there.

The camera girl ran underneath the bed and saw the man run in after her.

"Melody~ MELODY!" The guy called out to her.

Suddenly the camera glitched as the guy popped his head underneath the bed, and then it went off.

It was only for a split second, but I definitely remembered how he looked, and I had to draw it out.

As I was drawing, Avery entered the room.

"What are you doing here so late?" Avery asked, wiping her eyes.

"I was just watching some TV," I admitted to her.

"But the TV isn't on," Avery said, and I looked back at the now pitch-black TV.

"Well, it was just on trust me," I said with a happy voice even though what I just discovered wasn't good at all.

"Can I get something to drink?" Avery asked, yawning.

"Yes, but then go right back to bed," I said to her, and Avery went into the refrigerator.

Don't let her go in the refrigerator.

"Again, I didn't think that," I said to myself.

"Who is in my head?" I continued

Avery then screams loudly, making me jump off the couch in fear.

"What happened?" I asked her

Avery was crying and hugging me in fear.

Someone drew a picture of Avery with her head decapitated.

"Hold up now, what the fuck is really going on here?" I cursed mad and confused.

"Told ya," Someone said in my head even I'm not talking to myself.

My adoptive parents came down the stairs in a hurry.

"Okay, I know this probably has nothing to do with the situation, but why the hell is the TV back on?" I asked

"The TV was on when I came down. "It just stopped because I saw you turn it off," Avery admitted, and I looked at her, still confused.

Step mom grabbed the paper, and I saw at the back of the paper Burn's signature symbol.

Okay, after everything I just saw, this is what it could be. One Burn is someone in this room right now; Burn was in the house; Burn was held captive and is threatening us; or Burn could be...

"It was me," I said suddenly, and not only did that surprise me, but it surprised everyone there.

Avery separated herself from me and continued to cry.

"Why would you do something like this?" Avery asked

Why would I do something like this?

"Cause I wanted to, and besides I just printed out Burn's symbol on her and drew it on here because it was fun," I said, even though it wasn't me who said it.

"What is wrong with you?" My adoptive dad asked

"Just living my life as an ordinary teacher, that's what." Someone else said controlling, and for some reason I walked to the couch and grabbed that notebook.

"I gotta go anyway. I've got places to be in the morning anyway," I said, flipping them off.

I walked up the stairs and went into the bathroom.

"What the hell was that?" I said I was not under the control of anyone anymore.

"Hi Starr, you may be confused as to why you can hear me and why you weren't in control of your own body," The voice spoke, and I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror.

I saw in the mirror that my reflection was moving on its own.

"Hey, I'm Jelani, but you can call me J for short," Jelani introduced herself.

"Jelani? "Who the hell are you and why can I hear you?" I was so confused.

"Listen, I'm only here to help you and Avery survive. "There is someone after you two, and right now, first they thought they killed you two at the orphanage, now at the school, and now at your house," Jelani warns, and I was now scared and confused.

"I'm going crazy; not only am I seeing things, but I'm also hearing things, so I'm basically going crazy," I said to myself and saw Jelani sigh.

"Starr, you are not going crazy. I am here to help you and Avery, because right now your adoptive parents can't be trusted," Jelani says.

"Why do you say they can't be trusted?" I asked, trying to understand more.

"Right now the plan is for them to think you're crazy, so then you would be given some weird pills that will affect you mentally," Jelani says.

"Why do you want me to take the pills?" I asked

"That's the whole point, you're not going to take it," Jelani says, and we were both quiet for a little until I sighed.

"I don't know why I should trust you, but I will anyway," I said and walked out of the bathroom.

I don't know what to believe or what to do. Right now, I just need a break. I just found out my adoptive parents are just insane, and my life is just insane. I wonder how my life was when I was with my parents. Why was I put in an orphanage? Did they ever visit the orphanage? I just need my questions answered.