Episode 57: Scene Six
"I know I'm dreaming. There is no way that you could be here."
Jessica King smiled warmly at her friend. She had finally gotten out of her wheelchair, and was getting out-and-about as much as she used to. One thing was for sure: her attitude was as kind and vibrant as ever. Jessica squeezed Kate's hand. "It seems like a dream to me, too. It seemed as if I'd never be able to get back over here. I know that the Academy is only on the other side of town, but it seems like a thousand miles away when you're all alone at night."
"So do you like it over there? I mean, is it bearable?"
"It wasn't at first. I wanted to get as far away from that school as possible, but eventually it started growing on me. I never thought I'd admit it, but there are some really cool people over there."
"That's good. As long as you're happy!" Kate giggled as she took a seat at a picnic table next to a hot dog stand. "Speaking of which, are you and Jake still going strong?"
A shadow seemed to pass over Jessica. Though her smile was still present, it had become hollow and fake. "No, Jake and I broke up about a month ago."
"Oh, no! What happened?"
"I don't know. We both had a ton of other things to do, so we didn't get to spend too much time with each other. We talked about it for a while, and we both agreed to break up so that we wouldn't drag something out that would eventually fall apart anyways. But," Jessica's voice became cheery again, "I've found time to do so much stuff. You know we're going to be going into the upper class part of the school now, so I'm going to get into as much stuff as I can."
"I totally understand. I was talking to one of my friends the other day, and she said that there was so much to do from ninth grade on. But school's still a couple of weeks away, so I'm not too worried about it, hehe."
A tall, thin guy walked over to the two girls, interrupting their conversation. Looking at Kate, he asked, "Are you Kate Dermont?"
"Yeah, why?"
He handed a small, crumpled piece of yellow paper to Kate. "Some guy told me to give this to you."
"It must be from Zach! Thank you." Kate studied the piece of paper. Confusion became apparent in her eyes.
"What does it say?" Jessica inquired, leaning in to glance at the piece of paper.
"It doesn't say anything. It's just a picture." Kate handed the paper over to Jessica.
"Um, this is just weird. Do you think it's some kind of riddle?"
"I don't know, but it's giving me a really bad feeling. Come on, let's go help set up the Miss Midway stage," Kate grabbed Jessica's hand and attempted to pull her away from the table.
"Wait! What about the note?"
"I don't care about the note. Let's just get out of here!" Kate pulled Jessica away from the table and away from the note.
The note blew off the table and landed on a small patch of grass next to the table. Drawn on the yellow sheet was a watch with legs, and it looked as if the watch were making a mad dash for a door marked 'Out'. With that piece of paper began a terror that Kate would carry with her to her grave. The mystery had begun.