Serena

I'm lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. I listen to the news.  Nothing. Just boring weather and the commercials. Dawson and Kylie are on the couch arguing about who gets the shower after Nick gets out. The news comes back on. It shows footage from a dump fire. I sit up and watch closely, my finger on the pause button of the remote.

"What idiot what light part of the dump on fire-" Eric started.

"There!!" I exclaim, "Look!!"  They all stare at the paused screen.

"What am I looking at?" Dawson asks. I point to the bottom right corner of the screen.

"Oh my gosh." Kylie whispers, “You found him!!!" There in the corner of the screen, you could see two figures running toward the forest and one was wearing that exact same clothes Trenton was wearing.

"Where's the fire at? We could see if we could find the forest they went into and try to find them!" Eric said, opening my laptop and searching the news website for the location of the fire. I lay back down, my head throbbing. Suddenly, I'm not in the apartment, but in the forest with the girl.

"That was a close one," she said as we both sit on the tree stump. I get visions of the monster that took Trenton away and them fighting it.

"Yeah," I start, but go silent. A twig cracked, like someone had stepped on it. The girl jumped up brandishing a hunting knife,

"Who's there?!" she said cautiously. A figure steps out of the shadows and smiles at us. It's a boy around the age of fourteen. Suddenly I'm back on the floor of the apartment again.

"They're in the forest!" I say. "Which one is it?"

"Um it doesn't have a name but I have directions to it," Eric replies, not looking up from the laptop.

"Get your stuff. We aren't coming back here." I say to everyone, "Grab some food and water after you get your stuff."

We all go down the hall to the bedrooms and gather our things. I put my hair up and sling my bag over my shoulder. I fill another backpack with water bottles and food. I also put the first-aid kid in the bag as well. I rewrap my hands (the cuts Megan gave me are starting to scar nicely) then go help the others with their stuff. We meet by the door. Everyone goes out before me and right before I lock it, I look back inside. Another note waits for me in the middle of the floor.

"Why leave so soon? Your death only comes sooner. See you soon, sweetie. -M"

I crumple it up, put it in my bag, and slam the door.