Chapter fourteen

Julie looks up as the living room door swings open, slamming into the wall. She jumps startled as Sara storms into the room holding a piece of paper in her hands. She sees the anger in her sisters eyes as Sara walks towards the couch.

"Sara!" Julie jumps up from the couch as Sara storms over to her. "Is everything alright?" She asks, staring into her sisters eyes. "What's going on?"

"Where's mom at?" Sara demands hatefully, ignoring Julie's question. "I have to talk to her now!" Sara clutches the piece of paper tightly, her free hand balling into a tight fist. "Where is she?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen her since they brought Chris back here injured," Julie places a hand on Sara's shoulder, hoping to calm her sister down. "Please tell me what's wrong sis."

Sara looks into Julie's eyes and feels her anger beginning to fade away. She sighs and sits down on the couch.

"I thought mom told me the truth about everything," Sara looks down at the floor as Julie sits back down on the couch beside her. "All this time, and she knew exactly where you were at Julie!" Sara yells out, her anger starting to return.

"Sara what are you talking about?"

"Here just take a look at this," Sara tosses the piece of paper she was holding at her sister. "This should be able to explain it a lot better than I can."

Julie takes the paper from her sister and begins looking over it.

"What exactly am I looking at Sara?" Julie feels confused as she tries to understand the document in her hands. "Where did you get this anyway?"

"This is a medical document that our mom signed granting the doctors permission to keep you in a medically induced coma after you woke from your coma." Julie looks up at Sara with wide, curious filled eyes. "Megan had a flash drive with all of your medical files downloaded onto it."

"How many more documents are there?" Julie suddenly becomes curious about what the other documents contained.

"There are seventeen files in all, I had Chris print them all off for me," Sara takes a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself back down. "Megan still has all the others." She stands up and looks back at Julie. "Come on, let's go try and find her. I think she may still be in our room."

Julie stands up and they walk out into the hall, heading towards their room. Sara opens the door, expecting Megan to still be sitting on her bed.

"Well it looks like she's not here now," Julie looks around the empty room disappointed. "Maybe she went to bed already."

"Maybe, here's the rest of the medical documents though."

Sara picks up the rest of the documents off the computer desk. Julie looks over at Sara as Sara reaches the printed documents out towards her. Julie takes the documents from her sister and sits on the bed as she begins looking through them.

"Why would mom want to keep me asleep?" Julie wonders out loud. "According to these documents I woke up six months after I went into a coma."

"We need to go talk to mom. I want to know the truth about everything," Sara walks over to the window and stares out into the darkness of the night with angered eyes. "Maybe if we show her these documents she will finally tell us the truth."

"We have to find her first," Julie walks over cautiously and places a hand on Sara's shoulder. "Come on, let's go see where she's at."

The two girls walk all over the house, but there is no sign of their mom anywhere.

"I can't believe we didn't find mom anywhere. Where could she have gone?" Sara wonders as her and Julie walk back into their bedroom.

"I don't know, but it looks like we are going to have to wait until tomorrow to talk to her," Julie turns to look at her sister. "I don't see where mom could…" She pauses as she hears a gentle tap on the bedroom door.

"Hey Sara, may I come in?" Terri's voice floats gently into the room. The girls look up to see Terri standing in the open doorway. Julie quickly reaches the medical documents back to Sara.

"Yeah come on in," Sara lays the medical documents back down on the computer desk. As she looks at the computer, she glances down at the bottom right hand corner of the screen where the clock was at, 1:15 a.m. "Wow is it really that late?" She wonders out loud.

"So what's up?" Julie looks up at Terri worriedly as she walks into the room and sits down on the bed between her and Sara.

"I tried going to bed, but I couldn't sleep. I was actually on my way to the living room to watch some tv when I seen that your light was still on. So I figured I'd come see what you were doing."

"I'm surprised that anyone around here can get a good nights sleep with everything that's going on."

Sara tries to smile at Terri.

The three girls sit in the bedroom talking all night long. Sara finally glances towards the bedroom window as sunlight begins to shine through it.

"I can't believe it's already light out."

"Wow what time is it?" Terri yawns as she looks around the room for a clock.

"Its 8:10 a.m." Sara glances down at the clock on the computer screen.

"I didn't realize it was morning already," Terri stands up and heads towards the door. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep you up all night."

"Its alright, hey where are you going?" Julie starts to follow Terri as she begins to walk out into the hall but pauses.

"I was just going to go to the bathroom really quick," She steps out into the hall and pauses. "It smells like someone is making breakfast."

The smell of bacon and eggs cooking lingers in the hall. Once Terri walks out of the room and down the hall, Julie stands up and walks towards the door.

"Smells good," Julie smiles as the smell of freshly cooked food begins to enter the room. "You coming Sara?"

She pauses in the doorway hesitantly, wondering if she should go or stay.

"Go sis, I'll catch up in a little while," Sara smiles warmly at her sister.

"Alright, I will see you in a little while then I guess," Julie smiles as Sara tries to hide a yawn.

She closes the door as she steps out into the hall, leaving Sara alone in the bedroom.

Feeling tired, Sara lays back on the bed and closes her eyes. Julie takes a quick peak back inside the room, smiling as she sees Sara laying on the bed asleep before closing the door again and heading towards the kitchen. She sits down in between Chris and Kayla and begins to eat.

"Good morning Julie, is Sara awake yet?" Chris sounds cheerful as he looks over at Julie. Julie looks up at him and shakes her head no slightly.

"No she's just now getting to bed. We kinda stayed up all night talking." Julie tells him as she takes a bite of her sausage and biscuit.

She feels a hand touch her shoulder gently and glances up to find Megan standing behind her. She hadn't seen her stand up from the other side of the table.

"Can we talk?" Megan whispers as she looks cautiously at Julie. Julie stares back at her curiously for a moment.

"Sure I guess so," Julie sits her sausage and biscuit down on her plate before she stands up to follow Megan out of the room. "So what's on your mind?" She asks as they step into the first empty bedroom they find.

Megan walks on over and sits down on the edge of the bed. "I was just wondering if you've gotten the chance to confront your mom yet?"

"No I haven't been able to find her. Me and Sara looked all over the house yesterday for her, but there was no sign of her anywhere," Julie replies as she sits down beside Megan.

"No I haven't seen her since I came here. I'm sure you will get to talk to your mom soon," Megan tries to sound reassuring, smiling warmly at Julie.

"Thanks I hope so," Julie looks up at Megan slightly suspicious. "Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?" She wonders, seeing the worried expression on Megan's face.

"You're welcome and yes there was something else, I was just wondering if everything was okay with Terri."

Megan shivers slightly as she looks at Julie nervously.

"I guess so, why do you ask?"

"It's just the way she looked at me when I first came here with Michael and the rest of them yesterday."

"I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation for why she looked so mad. I'm sure it was nothing, maybe you could try to talk to her."

"I hope you are right Julie. I'm sorry I took you away from your breakfast."

"It's alright, can I ask you something Megan."

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

Julie looks away as she thinks of how to ask Megan the questions that were beginning to form in her head.

"I guess the one thing I really want to know is how is it you came to be mixed up in all of this?"

Megan looks down at the floor and sighs. "Well it all started on my fourteenth birthday. Jerry showed up at Tomas's house. He killed Thomas's parents in front of us and demanded that we either did what he said or we could die as well. We had no other choice, help him or die. So we quickly agreed to do whatever he wanted us to do."

She pauses to look up at Julie, wondering what her facial expression would be before continuing. "Anyway, the only thing he really wanted us to do was to find his daughters for him."

"So you were forced into helping him?" Julie listens to Megan's story with real curiosity.

"Yes and after he had found out that you were no longer at the hospital, he became furious, killing Thomas's brother easily. Then after we brought Michael back to his house to try to get him to talk, I realized that it was only a matter of time before he killed me as well. So I helped Michael escape and then Jeffery picked us up on the highway the next day."

She Decides to leave out the part about staying at the hotel.

"So where are you originally from?"

"Well I was born in a small town called Haven. When I was four, this stranger came into our home and killed my mom. I never knew who my father was and after that night, I was thrown around from orphanage to orphanage until I was twelve. I couldn't take all the abuse and mistreatment anymore so I ran away. Then Thomas bumped into me one day and his family took me in, raising me like I was their own daughter."

"It seems like everyone is having nothing but problems anymore. And it all seems to be because of me and my sister," Julie sighs sadly as she looks at Megan. "If it wasn't for our father trying to kill us, then no one else would have been involved in any of this."

"Don't say that, it doesn't matter what happened to bring all of us together," She pauses and places a hand on Julie's shoulder as she stares into her eyes. "The point is we are all here for each other." She stands up and reaches her arm out to Julie. "Come on, let's go see if there is any breakfast left."

"Thanks and hopefully my mom will finally be up." Julie cries out cheerfully as they enter the kitchen. Her hope quickly fades however as she looks around the table for her mom. "She's not here." She mumbles, more to herself than anyone else, slightly disappointed.

She sits back down and begins to eat. After eating, she begins walking around the house, trying to find her mom. After not having any luck finding her, Julie heads back to the living room and lays down on the couch.

Mom where can you be? She thinks as she begins flipping through the channels on the tv.

~

Kendra awakens and looks around, trying to remember what happened to her. She is laying on her back on the ground, unsure of where she was or how she got there. She tries to raise up, but begins to feel dizzy. What happened to me? She thinks as she struggles to sit up. The very last thing she can even remember is picking up the magic book last night then everything had grown dark.

"Where am I?" She groans and places her left hand against her temple.

She looks around, trying to figure out where she was but nothing looked familiar to her. As far as she can tell she was in some kind of a park. She starts walking, hoping that she comes to a house or a road soon. After walking around for several hours Kendra begins to fear that she might never find a road or anything else to find out where she is. She finally gives up, walking over to a park bench and sitting down on it sighing. She begins to hear the pattering of tiny feet running towards her. She looks up in time to see a little girl beginning to run past her.

"Are you okay?" She calls out as the girl runs past her quickly.

"No," the little girl says as she stops and walks over to Kendra. "I'm really scared."

She looks behind her and shivers slightly.

"What's wrong?" Kendra turns and looks at the little girl with worry as she sits down beside her. She looks strangely familiar. She thinks as she looks at the girl.

"I lost my mommy," the girl mumbles out, tears running down her cheeks as she cries. "And now I don't know where I am."

"I'm sorry, do you want me to help you find her?"

"I don't think you can help me, she's not here anymore," the girl wipes her eyes with her shirt sleeve. "I just want to go home."

Kendra feels sorry for the little girl as she looks at her.

"I'm sure I can help you now come on think, where was the last place you seen your mom?"

Kendra continues to stare curiously at the little girl, trying to figure out who she was.

"She's at home but I don't want to go back there," the girl cries out, continuing to cry. "I'm scared."

Kendra feels saddened as the little girl looks up at her with watery eyes. "It'll be alright, come on sweetie lets try to find a way out of here and get you home."

"No I can't go home," the girl tells her, looking down at the ground again. "It's not safe there."

"Why is it not safe I'm sure your mom is worried sick about you," Kendra reaches her hand out and gently touches the girls shoulder. Why does she look so familiar? She thinks as the girl looks up at her.

She helps the little girl stand and they begin walking through the park again.

"My mommy can't worry about me anymore," the girl sighs as she looks down at the ground as they walk. "She's up in heaven now." Kendra stops walking and just looks at the girl.

"I'm so sorry," Kendra's heart drops, her voice just barely above a whisper. "So why is it not safe for you to go back home?" Kendra fears what the answer might be. "What's back there that has you so afraid?"

"I can't go back there because there is a man there that wants to hurt me," the girl suddenly staggers a little as she walks.

Kendra hadn't noticed how tired the girl must've been until now. The little girl falls suddenly and Kendra rushes over to her, picking her up in her arms. The little girl wraps her arms around Kendra's neck, laying her head on her shoulder.

"Everything is going to be alright," Kendra places a hand on the girls back, comforting her as she begins to fall asleep. "What is your name?" She thinks out loud as they begin to walk past a swing set.

"I'm Megan," the girl whispers as she falls asleep. Kendra walks around for about an hour before she realizes that she has been walking around in circles.

"I should have been out of here by now," Kendra begins to worry as she looks around. Where am I? She thinks as she walks back over to the park bench and sits down again.

She leans back and closes her eyes. It doesn't take her long to fall asleep. When she wakes up again, Megan is no longer there. Kendra blinks a few times, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the darkness surrounding her. As the darkness begins to clear, Kendra finds herself sitting in a darkened room.

"I don't care what you have to do Jerry I need that book," a voice yells out from within the darkness. Kendra begins to panic as she hears Jerry's name. "Now kill the girls and get me that book back."

"Yes Griffin," Kendra hears Jerry's voice and shivers with fear. "I won't disappoint you again."

"Good, now I have one more little task for you. Kendra has entered the shadow realm, she is trapped here."

"What do you mean Griffin?" She hears Jerry ask, his voice full of concern. She begins walking towards the voices, trying to be as quiet as possible. "How is she here?"

"I brought her here as a gift for you. She knows where Sara and Julie are at," he pauses for a moment. "Ah, it sounds like she's heading this way now." Kendra freezes in fear and begins to panic. "Now is your chance to prove your loyalty to me. Bring her to me now."

"No I can't I'll do everything else you've asked of me, but I can't hurt her."

Kendra peaks around the corner and sees Jerry standing there terrified as he stares at someone she can't see.

"You may be able to defy me in the shadow realm but just remember that it is I who controls you in the real world," Griffin cries out from within the darkness that was keeping him hid from her view. "I have no choice but to kill her now." He smiles at the thought. "Once she wakes back up in the real world I will find her and I will kill her."

"Noo..." Jerry screams at the guy called Griffin.

He turns and locks eyes with Kendra for a moment before the darkness begins to close in around her. She feels herself spinning wildly as she falls through the darkness. She closes her eyes tightly, silently praying that the spinning stops. After what feels like forever, everything finally stops spinning. She doesn't feel herself falling anymore and slowly begins to open her eyes, shocked to see where she was at now.

"How did I get here?" She wonders as she looks up at the house a few feet away from her. "What's going on?"

She shivers as she stares up at the house where everything started.

"Are you okay miss?" Kendra hears a voice behind her ask and jumps, startled. "I'm sorry if I scared you it's just that I was driving past and seen you laying on the ground." A young man, maybe around his mid twenties explains to her.

She smiles as she turns around to face him. "Yeah I'm fine I must've just fell or something." She tells the guy. "Can you tell me what day it is?"

She was slightly curious to know how time worked in the shadow realm.

"Yeah let's see today is the twelfth," he tells her while looking down at the calendar on his cell phone. "Are you sure you are alright?" He looks back up at her worried.

"Yes I'm fine," she looks back towards the house and shivers. "I've been gone for two days." She whispers to herself.

"What was that?" The guy stares curiously at Kendra.

"Nothing do you mind if I borrow your cell phone for a minute?"

She holds her hand out, smiling at him warmly. He just smiles back and reaches her his phone. She takes the phone and quickly dials her brothers house number. It rings seven times before she hangs up.

She sighs as she reaches the phone back to the guy. "Thanks anyway."

"No problem do you need a ride somewhere?" He asks as he puts his phone up and opens his car door.

"Nah I'm good thanks for your help though."

She smiles warmly at him at him again and waits until the guy drives away before she turns and walks towards the house. She walks through the open doorway and shivers.

"I'm back where it all started," she whispers as she begins walking around the house. Why did I end up back here anyway? She thinks as she begins to walk up the stairs.

She freezes at the top of the stairs where Emily had been killed. She glances up and sees that the attic door had been opened slightly. She reaches up and pulls the ladder on down. After climbing cautiously into the attic, she flips on the light and sighs with relief as she sees that there is nobody there. There is only one thing in the attic.

"Now I see why I was brought here," she says as she walks across the attic to an old wooden chest. "Now time to find my way back to the others." She says, smiling as she opens up the chest.