I closed my eyes, hoping and not hoping for an answer at the same time. After a minute passing, I finally heard something.

"What are you doing?" 

I turned around and saw Amber holding her jar, sprinkling some beside her. I let out a breath of relief. Thank goodness it was just her. "Hey, Amber," I said.

"I told you to use the jar," she glared at me. "It's not safe here. Come in the lines with me."

I did what I was told and ran in between the lines with her. Together we walked back towards the house. Once we were inside, the two of us went into the kitchen to find some lunch. "What are those outlines on the tree?" I asked her while reaching for a pot to boil water for the Mac and Cheese.

"If you look hard enough," she stops what she's doing. "You can see that they're human outlines of their bodies. Their skin is still there."

I nodded my head. "Are those The Lovely Suicide Children?"

Amber leaned her head to the side. "Depending on where Sunny buries someone who committed suicide, that's where their tree grows. That tree is their home. It seems it's in our world, but it leads to the rest of The Lovely Suicide Children.

I shook my head and let out a fake chuckle. "That's insane."

Amber looked at me. "I've seen them come out at night from my window. They try to get in, but the bones are around the house. Keeps them out."

"Bones?"

"When someone commits suicide, sometimes Sunny gives me their bones as a protection. I smash them up into bits, and pour them around the house."

My eyes widened as I looked around the room. I remembered the stuff that I thought was powder was put on my bed. A shiver crawled up my spine when I realized that I had been sleeping in a circle of crushed bones of people who've committed suicide. That wasn't normal, and there was no moral in that.

"Why do their bones protect the house?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. But Sunny says I should be protected. I think she's just jealous that I'll stop being her friend," Amber laughed.

I believed that was the first time I had heard her laugh. It made me smile. However, I didn't understand how she could be Sunny's friend. She often warned me of Sunny, yet they were best friends. I didn't understand it. Not sure if I wanted to either.

"Can Sunny hear us?" I asked.

"I think so," Amber replied.

"About The Lovely Suicide Children," I poured the noodles into the boiling water. "what happened the time you saw them?"

"Outside my window?" She looked at the ground. "I can't hear them because they're not on Earth, but their voice echoes like soft angels crying in the wind. They speak, but not English. I don't know what they talk. It's beautiful. I just get scared when some of their voices get darker. Behind someone's angelic voice, you can hear something. Something...bad. Something scaring them away. And when I hear it, The Lovely Suicide Children leave. They vanish."

I nod my head. "Do you think they would hurt you without protection?"

"Not the good ones," Amber sat down on the chair. She quickly gasped when she looked in the doorway and saw Shayla.

Using her phone, Shayla played back a recording that was between Amber and I. It was the recording of our current conversation. All of it, from beginning to end. "I knew Amber was insane, but God. Olivia, I thought you were sane," she then let out a loud laugh and strutted into the kitchen. She purposely bumped into Amber before sitting down. Looking away, Amber ignored her.

"This is unbelievable," Shayla said while shaking her head. "What would your father think, Olivia? That you're as crazy as your mother?"

Stopping everything, I looked at her. "What is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with you? What is wrong with both of you? What is wrong with your family? Two kids, talking about suicide children. A deluded mother who shot her brains out in front of her child. You have no rights to ask me what's wrong with me. Unlike you," Shayla took out some lipstick and rubbed it on her lips. "I'm sane."

Tears were falling down my cheek. I wiped them away then turned around and pretended to ignore her. However, her words had hurt so much. I felt like someone was taking my heart and squeezing it for fun. The thought of my mother and the day she had left me popped up inside my mind.

"Can you go upstairs and get me a white sheet?" My mom had asked me.

I got up off of the living room chair and went upstairs. I came back downstairs only to find my mom with a gun I had never seen. "I don't belong here," she smiled at me then looked into the barrel of the gun. I wanted to look away, talk, shout, scream, but I was frozen and numbed. Completely still. The white sheet fell out of my hand, and at the same time the sheet hit the floor, the bullet exploded inside my mother's head.

"Your mom was mental," Shayla said while getting up. "So are you."

As she made her way towards the kitchen entrance, Sunny appeared out of nowhere. She walked towards Amber who was sitting at the table then entered her body. I was able to see Amber's inside rip open, providing impossible space for Sunny. With Sunny in control, Amber ran over to Shayla and tripped her, causing her to fall. Instantly, Sunny stepped out of Amber's body then pointed to the pot of boiling water.

"Do it! She called your mother names. You can't let them keep doing this to you," Sunny argued, her voice louder and deeper than the standard. It sounded almost like a man. "Do it!" She pushed and repeated herself. I felt mad, pressured, confused, and scared. However, what I felt most was the anger, and as I gripped the hot pot of water in my hand, I knew there was no going back. Before Shayla could stand up, I poured the boiling water over her chest. As she screamed, my father walked into the house and saw Amber and I standing over Shayla.

***

Shayla was sent over to the hospital, and I was almost pressed with some sort of charges. I lied and told them Shayla wanted to check if the noodles were ready and when I had shown her, she tripped, whacking the pot along with her. They bought my lie, and even my father didn't know who to believe.

At school, I found myself kind of smiling about what had happened. It was bad of me, but for some reason, I felt proud. I felt that I was doing the right thing. It was for my mother. Shayla brought this on herself. 

4th period started, and I was walking towards my next class when all of a sudden, someone talks into the microphone. 

"Hello, this is Gabe," someone says. My heart pounded when I recognized that voice and that name. 

Shayla's boyfriend.

"You all know Olivia Carson? The new girl?" His voice was clear as day. "Well, are you all sure you want that deluded chick around? Listen to this."

"That tree is their home. It seems it's in our world, but it leads to the rest of The Lovely Suicide Children."

 "That's insane."

"I've seen them come out at night from my window. They try to get in, but the bones are around the house. Keeps them out."

"Bones?"

My voice and our words were over the speaker for everyone to hear. The tape abruptly went off, and I listened to a burst of laughter. Megan came out of one of her classrooms with a teacher chasing behind her. "Where is she-oh? There she is everyone!" Megan pointed at me. 

Students, with no one to control them walked out of their classes and laughed at me. Teachers were telling them to calm down and to get back in class, or some type of punishment would come. Megan just kept pointing at me, calling my name.

"That's Olivia Carson! Olivia Carson! Olivia Carson."

Her calling my name echoed in my brain, and at that moment her voice was the only one's I head. Everyone else was just muted background sounds. I walked away from the class, heading towards the exit door. Some teachers were trying to block me off, but I kept trying. I didn't care what type of fight I was putting up. At that moment, nothing matter. Nothing.