Chapter eight

"Do you think one of us should go wake Sara?" Lexi wonders as her and Chris sit at the kitchen table.

"Nah, just let her sleep a little while longer," Jeffery tells them as he sits plates and bowls of food down on the table in front of them. "Alright breakfast is finished, dig in everyone. I'll be right back, I'm just going to go check on my sister real quick."

Jeffery quietly leaves the room as Chris and Lexi begin piling their plates with food.

"Hey sis, how are you feeling this morning, is everything alright?"

Jeffery sounds cheerful as he walks into the living room, smiling as he sits down on the couch beside her.

"Yeah, everything is fine. I just didn't get very much sleep last night," she mumbles groggy, yawning slightly as she speaks.

"Sis, you have nothing to worry about, everything is going to be fine. You're safe here," he places a hand on his sisters shoulder. "Now I've made some breakfast if you're hungry."

"Sounds good I'm starving," she smiles as she stands up and begins to follow Jeffery to the kitchen. "Is Sara up yet? I really need to talk to her, to explain everything to her."

"There will be plenty of time for you to tell her everything later. For now just go have some breakfast and try to relax."

They head into the kitchen and sit down at the table with Chris and Lexi. Soon they are all eating silently, occasionally glancing at one another. Once everyone is finished, they continue to sit around the table and talk quietly amongst themselves as they wait patiently for Sara to wake up.

"Sara must have been really tired last night," Lexi sounds worried as she stands up. "I should go check on her." She mumbles, more to herself than to the others.

Lexi leaves the kitchen and heads down the hall, heading to find a bathroom before checking on Sara. On the way to the bathroom however she sees Sara's door is partially open and she peaks inside. Sara is still laying in bed fast asleep. Lexi is about to head on down the hall when Sara begins to talk in her sleep.

"...I don't want to go yet…" Sara mumbles in her sleep as she reaches her hand out. "Please stay for a little while longer Julie."

Lexi's interest is peaked as she begins walking curiously into the room towards Sara. As soon as she is beside the bed, Sara raises up and smiles.

"I know how we can find Julie," Sara exclaims as she jumps out of bed.

"What do you mean… wait a second! You went into the shadow realm again didn't you?" Lexi looks at Sara saddened, pouting slightly as Sara walks over to her, still smiling brightly. "So how exactly are we going to find your sister?" She asks as she looks up at Sara curiously.

Sara reaches into her pocket, smiling as she feels the hospital band.

"Yes I did and you will see soon. Now, is there anything left to eat? I'm starving."

"Yeah there should be something left," Lexi says as they walk out into the hallway. "I'll catch up to you soon."

Lexi runs on off down the hall towards the bathroom.

Sara walks into the empty kitchen, grabbing a plate and sitting down at the table. The food Jeffery had made was still set out on the table, so she piles her plate full and begins to eat slowly. Just as she begins to take a bite, the door behind her opens. She turns around thinking it might be Lexi coming back from the bathroom. She smiles, seeing her mom walking into the room.

"I'm glad to see that you are finally up sweetie," her mom says as she sits down beside Sara. She can't help but to notice the huge grin across her daughters face. "So what's got you in such a good mood?"

She looks at her daughter curiously, but Sara just keeps smiling as she continues to eat. Her mom looks up as the door opens again and sees Lexi walking towards them.

"Come on Sara, you said you know how to find Julie so please just tell us how you suddenly seem to know where she is."

Lexi places a hand on Sara's shoulder. Sara just smiles as she reaches into her pocket and pulls out the hospital band, laying it down on the table beside her plate as she finishes eating.

"Where did you get this?" her mom wonders curiously as she picks up the hospital band and looks it over very carefully, a worried expression across her face.

Sara finally looks up from her plate. "I don't really know how to explain it mom, but lately I've been able to pull things out of my dreams."

She decides not to tell her mom how she has been going to the shadow realm when she goes to sleep.

"Sara I think it's time we sit down and I explain everything to you," her mom reaches Julie's hospital band back to Sara and stands up, walking towards the living room with Sara. "How much do you know by now Sara?" She asks as they walk into the living room.

Sara sits down on the couch and opens a can of soda, taking a sip from it before she speaks.

"I don't really know how to explain it mom. I really only know what Julie tells me whenever I fall asleep and dream about her."

She pauses and looks up, expecting her mom to be looking at her confused. Instead, she smiles and waits patiently for Sara to continue.

"Mom, for the last couple of days I've been falling asleep and Julie has been visiting me in my dreams."

"Oh, so it's all starting again," her mom sounds worried as she sits down beside her daughter.

Sara just looks at her mom curiously as she waits for her to continue.

"I was afraid of this... Sara you and Julie are different. From a very young age the two of you could always do certain things that no one else ever could. There were times when I would walk into your room at night and hear you two talking to each other in your sleep, laughing at times at something the other would say. And then there were times when I would wake you up for school and there would be something in your hands that wasn't there when you were asleep."

"So Sara's always been able to visit the shadow realm and pull objects from her dreams?" Chris interrupts as he enters the room.

"Yes and I kept it hid from their father for a very long time, always hiding anything they woke up with in a chest in the attic."

"So if you kept everything hid from him, then what happened to make their father, my stepdad, want to kill them?"

Lexi becomes intrigued as she stares at Sara and her mom, eager to hear more.

"Well one night I was passed out on the couch fast asleep. I don't really know what woke me up, but the next thing I heard was Sara and Julie crying and Jerry screaming at them... 'What is this, where did it come from'...he screamed at them. I heard a loud thud then as something heavy was thrown to the floor," she pauses to catch her breath. "So I jumped off the couch and raced up the stairs as quickly and as quietly as I could. As I neared the door to their bedroom I could see him standing just inside the doorway holding an old leather bound book in his hands as he continued to scream at them."

"Sara, didn't you have an old leather bound book in your hands the other day when we were walking to school?" Lexi asks, looking over at Sara curiously.

"Sara, where is that book at right now?" her mom asks her, raising up suddenly. "How did you get a hold of it again, I thought it was destroyed that night when everything went wrong."

"I found it on an old bookshelf when I stayed the night at Lexi's. But I left it in my locker at school."

"Sara the night your father discovered you with that book, he dragged you and Julie out of bed and out into the hall. I tried to stop him, but he just shoved me out of the way. He carried you girls outside and slung you two in the back of the car and drove away. I was so worried about you girls. I had no way of coming after you."

Sara's mom wipes away the tears in her eyes and hugs Sara tightly.

"I still don't know exactly what happened to you girls after he took off with you. The only thing I do know is that Jeffery showed up and saved you two. He still won't tell me how he did it, but I am glad that he was there."

"Mom, everything is going to be fine."

Sara hugs up to her mom as they sit there silently. She stares at the floor thinking about everything her mom had just told her. She jumps suddenly as someone begins banging loudly on the front door, bringing her back from her thoughts.

"Just sit tight everyone, I'll go and check it out."

Jeffery jumps up quickly, startling them even more. No one had even heard him come in and sit down. He walks out of the living room quickly, heading towards the front door. He looks out the peephole but can't really make out who was standing outside. All he can tell is that it is a girl around Sara's age standing there. He grabs the door handle and yanks the door open quickly, startling the girl standing there.

"I'm sorry," he apologizes as the girl jumps back, looking up at him a little fearfully.

"Its okay," the girl mumbles as her heart slowly begins to return to normal. "I'm looking for my friend Sara is she here?" The girl tries to look into the house. "I was told I would find her here."

From the living room, Sara hears her name and jumps up, running towards the front door as she recognizes the girls voice.

"Terri how on earth did you get here?" Sara runs past her uncle and hugs her friend, looking at Terri with both a happy and confused look on her face. "And how did you know where I was at?"

"I stole my mom's car and drove here. The car broke down back on the main road not long after I turned off the highway so I had to walk the rest of the way here. Sara I have a lot to talk to you about," Terri smiles as her and Sara walk back into the house, followed shortly by Jeffery. "But first I need something to eat, I'm starving."

"Yeah sure, come on, we'll go see if there is any food left."

Sara leads her friend towards the kitchen. Terri sits down at the table and begins to eat as her thoughts begin to drift back to what had happened earlier that night.

~

Terri turns off the light on the little desk beside her bed and crawls under the covers, completely exhausted. Her eyes feel so heavy as she lays there, slowly drifting off to sleep. She is about to doze off when she hears her bedroom door creak slightly.

It's probably just my mom coming to check on me. She thinks as she continues to lay under the blankets, waiting on her mom to leave.

But it quickly becomes apparent that whoever was in her room wasn't going to leave anytime soon.

"Hello?" Terri whispers through the darkness as she remains covered up.

She was expecting her mom to say something if she was in the room but she is only answered by silence. She can hear soft footsteps heading towards her, to small to be her moms, and feels the edge of her bed drop as someone sits down on it softly.

"Who's there?" she asks as she throws the covers off her and looks up at the figure sitting on the edge of her bed.

She begins to feel scared as she raises herself up and flips on the lamp by the bed to get a better look at the girl sitting there. Her fear slowly begins to disappear when she notices the girl is crying softly.

"Are you alright?"

She still sounds a little frightened as she climbs out of bed slowly. She walks cautiously around her bed to get a better look at the girl sitting there crying softly in the semi-darkness of her bedroom. The girl looks up slowly as Terri places a hand on her shoulder.

"Sara!" Terri exclaims with surprise as she looks into the girls face, recognizing her in the semi-darkness of her bedroom. "What happened to you Sara, what's wrong?"

"I'm not Sara, my name is Julie, Sara is my sister," the girl tells Terri, wiping away the tears from her eyes.

Terri stares at the girl wide eyed with surprise, unable to say anything for the longest time.

"Wow!" Terri finally exclaims as she sits down on the bed beside Julie. "I didn't even know Sara had a sister, how come she's never mentioned you before?"

Julie manages a small laugh as she turns towards Terri, smiling slightly. "Well it's kind of complicated really, she just kind of forgot about me."

She smiles again as she sees the confused expression on Terri's face.

"How could she just forget that she has a sister?" Terri wonders out loud. "And how exactly did you get into my house anyway?"

Julie can see how confused Terri is and just laughs, causing Terri to look at her quizzically.

"Terri let me start from the beginning. Me and Sara are very special. The day we were born, we were actually stillborn. The doctor was already taking our mom out of the room when suddenly we started crying. Everyone thought we were miracles but as we got older however our mom quickly realized that there was something different about us, something special. Whenever we went to sleep, we would visit a strange and mysterious place called the shadow realm. There were even times when we could bring back anything we were holding onto when we woke up."

Terri is both intrigued and curious about the girl sitting in her room claiming to be Sara's forgotten sister.

"What about your father? How did he feel about what you could do?"

"Well for a long time he didn't know anything about what we could do. Our mom used to keep everything hid from him really well. It wasn't until we were twelve that he finally discovered what all we could do. One night Sara woke up screaming and yelling, so our father rushed into the room to check on her. As soon as he took that book from Sara's hands he changed. He suddenly started yelling at her hatefully. Then he grabbed both of us and dragged us out to his car, slinging us in the backseat and began to drive away. Soon we were at our grandparents house."

She takes a few breaths of air and wipes more tears from her eyes.

"Oh," Terri looks into Julie's eyes, gently placing an arm around Julie's shoulders. "So then what happened?" She wonders, curious about everything, eager to hear more.

"I'm not sure really, but I remember that our father was holding the old leather bound book in his hands and mumbling something from it in some strange language. Then he raised a knife into the air. Our uncle tried to stop him, but I don't know exactly what happened next. It was just beginning to storm. Thunder boomed above us as streaks of lightning flashed across the sky. Suddenly there was a loud bang followed by a bright flash of white light and that is all that I can remember. From then on I've been stuck in the shadow realm, waiting on my sister to find me and wake me up."

Julie places her hands on the girls shoulders.

"You have to go to my sister."

"But how am I supposed to find her?" Terri becomes confused, sighing as she looks into Julie's eyes. "I don't even know where she is and she never even told me about anything that was going on."

"I've already told you she is back at our grandparents house with Chris and Lexi," Julie explains as she wipes more tears from her eyes.

"So Chris and Lexi know all about this?" Terri sighs, feeling hurt that Sara had confided in Chris and Lexi while keeping her in the dark about everything that was going on. "Why didn't Sara or anyone else ever tell me anything?"

"I think Sara did want to tell you everything, but she also wanted to protect you. I think she only confided in Lexi because she didn't have anyone else around to talk to at the time, and Chris, well he was just kind of brought into it one day by accident. But it wasn't until what happened in the school earlier today that Lexi finally found out that her stepfather is mine and Sara's real father."

"Well Sara could have told me, I am her friend too," Terri exclaims as she stands up. "I would have been there for her."

"Well she needs you now Terri so go to her. Here take this as proof so she will know that you talked to me."

Julie unfastens the necklace around her neck and reaches the small locket she was wearing to Terri as well as a small torn slip of paper with an address on it. Terri opens the locket and sees Julie and Sara staring up at her as little kids. She can't help but to smile as she looks down at the pictures.

"That was our mom's locket, make sure that Sara gets it."

"I will but can I ask you something?" Terri asks as she continues to stare down at the locket.

"Sure, you can ask me anything you want to."

"Am I still asleep and all of this just a dream or something? I mean I do believe you about everything, but it still feels like I'm dreaming."

"Welcome to the shadow realm Terri," Julie replies, smiling at Terri. "Now wake up and go to Sara, she really needs you now." Julie begins to walk away, but stops, pausing in the middle of the room. "Oh and Terri can you tell them one thing for me?" She asks as she looks out the window sighing.

"Sure what do you want me to tell them?"

"When you get there, tell them I'm afraid it may already be too late for me."

Terri begins to hear somebody coming down the hall, heading towards her bedroom. She begins to worry as she looks towards her open door.

"Hopefully we will get to see each other again soon."

She turns back around, but Julie is already gone. She forces herself to wake up. She sits up on the bed smiling, knowing what she has to do.

~

"So how did you know where I was?" Sara asks as she looks at Terri. "Terri?"

Terri shakes her head as she tries to shake away her thoughts.

"I'm sorry what did you say?"

"How did you know where I was?" Sara repeats as she stares at Terri with worry.

Terri just takes a sip of her coke and smiles at Sara.

"I honestly don't think you would believe me if I told you."

"At this point Terri I'd believe just about anything," Sara smiles as they get up and walk into the living room. "Just start from the beginning and tell me everything."

"Well I was almost asleep when I thought I heard my bedroom door open. I figured it must have been my mom coming in to check on me so I just laid there pretending to be asleep. But whoever it was in my room didn't leave. I felt the edge of my bed drop slightly and looked out from under the covers to find a girl about our age sitting there crying softly."

Terri becomes quiet as Lexi walks into the room.

"You don't have to stop on my account," Lexi exclaims, sitting down on the couch beside Sara and smiling at Terri.

Terri looks over at Sara, unsure if she wants to talk about what happened in front of Lexi.

"It's okay Terri, please continue," Sara smiles as she looks at Terri.

"So anyway when I got up and walked around to see who the girl was, I was shocked. At first I thought it was you Sara. I mean this girl looked just like you. I was so shocked and slightly frightened. When I touched her shoulder, she looked up at me with such sad, tear filled eyes."

"Terri did she tell you her name?" Sara looks worriedly at Terri, deep down she already knew the answer.

"Well yeah, she said her name is Julie and that I had to come find you," Terri watches as Sara smiles wildly at her. She had figured that Sara wouldn't have believed her, but she wasn't expecting the reaction she had gotten. "Anyway we set there talking for awhile and she explained everything that was going on. I know all about your father trying to kill you and how you almost died once when you were younger. She also told me to come here and I'd find you, but none of that is the strangest part."

Lexi raises up to look at Terri confused.

"What do you mean?"

"I only turned around for just a second because I thought I heard my mom coming down the hall to check on me. Julie said something to me so I turned back around, but she was already gone. But I still heard her voice echo inside my head as I continued to stare blankly at the spot where she had just been standing. I will never be able to forget the last thing she said to me." She pauses and shudders as she thinks about the last thing Julie had said to her. "It's already too late for me so please help keep Sara safe... her words kept running through my mind as I grabbed my coat and ran through the house."

She pauses to reach into her pocket and pulls out the tiny locket, reaching it out towards Sara.

"She also told me to give you this as well."

Sara fastens the locket around her neck.

"Thanks."

They just sit there in silence as Sara opens the locket and looks at the small pictures of her and Julie. Everything suddenly seems way to quiet until Chris comes running into the living room.

"Hey I was just wondering if any of you have seen the news yet?" he picks up the remote and quickly turns on the tv. "I think you might want to take a look at this."

He flips through the channels until he finds one of the few local news channels.

"And in other news, the police have found the body of fifty-one year old Arthur Creepsly. His body was found in the biology lab at Mason county high school. The police say that he was found stabbed to death and that the window in the back of the classroom had been smashed from the inside, allowing the killer to escape. Small traces of blood found on bits of broken glass have been collected and sent to the lab for testing. Still no word on the whereabouts of fifteen year old Lexi Tackett. Now it is urgent that anyone who sees her is to contact the authorities immediately..." Chris turns off the tv and looks down at Lexi sternly.

"Now would you like to tell me exactly what all happened at the high school Lexi?"

"Me and Sara were trapped by our father and we seen Mr. Creepsly locking up his classroom. We thought that he was going to help us, but it turned out that he was helping our father. We were locked inside the classroom and so we had no other choice, Sara busted out the window so we could escape. As we were climbing out, our father grabbed my arm and tried to pull me back inside the room. I sliced my arm open on a piece of glass pulling my arm free from his grasp."

Chris quickly becomes worried as he listens to Lexi.

"Let me see your arm Lexi," Chris kneels down on the floor in front of her. She pulls her sleeve up a little and he sees the gash running up her arm. It doesn't look very deep. He thinks, feeling slightly relieved. "This isn't so bad."

He begins to run his hand up her arm, wiping away the blood, but she pulls her arm away a little to quickly and winces as the cut slides across her pants.

"We need to go find Julie."

Sara holds the locket open in her hands. She feels tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes and wipes them away before anyone else notices. It's never too late. She thinks as she looks at her sisters picture.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Chris interrupts Sara's thoughts as he stands up and pulls his dad's truck keys from his pocket. "Let's go and get her."

They stand up and head outside, beginning to climb into Chris's truck when Jeffery comes running out of the house.

"Hey hold up, where do you think you are going?" he cries out as he runs across the yard towards them.

"We're going to try and find Julie. So if you came out here to try and stop us, don't even think about trying to," Chris yells as he starts the truck.

"I'm not going to try and stop you, I know exactly where the hospital is. Just stay close and follow me and I will take you all there."

They climb into their vehicles and leave the farm house. Soon they are driving back down the road and turning onto the highway in no time. Sara opens the locket again and smiles as they head down the highway.