Souls Of The Innocent

Chapter Ten: Back up

History books laid open on her study table, an untouched pen laid on the first page of her empty notebook. Amber sat there staring blankly at the windows whilst she twirled a strand of her hair in between her fingers. Her mind wasn’t on what she was supposed to be researching for her history assessment, , it was on what happened this morning at the Martin’s residence. She wasn’t crazy that was for sure, she did see Lisa and Farrah tried to stop her from telling her mother because she was going through exactly what she was going through. But how come it’s only the two of them who can see their sister? What kind of sorcery was that and who was the one playing those games on them? One thing for sure, she was going to speak to Farrah and George will help her. He seemed like the type of guy who would pass for a gentleman. The way he had politely asked her to leave in a very calm tone displayed a soft personality. She had to get him on her side and she will have to find a way to speak to him. Amber glanced at her cellphone, at least her parents didn’t confiscate it. She was grounded for one month, with a good earful of how disappointed they were in her and that she should never get involved in things that she shouldn’t put her nose in. But, Amber wasn’t going to stop, somehow the whole drama this morning made her more determined. She will have to tell her friends about what she was going through, she couldn’t do this on her own. After all, they did say that they were there for her. What if they think that you’re crazy and make fun of you like the others? , she silently said to herself.

“ I don’t have a choice, I have to take my chances”, Amber softly said as she turned her attention back to her textbooks. She wasn’t in the mood to study, but she was warned by her parents that if she failed this year, she would have to repeat the year and she surely didn’t want the others to make fun of her for staying behind in high school whilst they were off to college. She grabbed her pen and turned to the last page and wrote down, My Agenda: investigation finding Nora day 2. Tell the girls about what I was experiencing and that I need their help to solve those mysteries.

Amber had never looked forward to going to school like she was today. She sat quietly in her mother’s car as she drove her to school. She was not on good speaking terms with her parents, in her opinion she thought that their punishment was a bit too exaggerated since she was only looking for answers regarding her sister. Amber glanced out of the car window at the passing cars, she realized that last night she didn’t get the usual nightmares. In a way that made her worried, in those nightmares, she got to see her sister and she was scared that if she didn’t experienced those nightmares again that meant her sister was slowly slipping away from her. She didn’t have time to waste and time to listen to anyone’s sermons, with that thought she turned her gaze towards her mother. If she’s not willing to go the extra mile, I will! Amber said to herself and then turned her gaze outside again. She will go to any extreme to find her sister again. She softly said goodbye to her mother before she exited the car at the entrance gate of the school. Her mother switched off the engine and sat there looking at her through the windscreen, Amber rolled her eyes and hurried towards the school entrance. She had an idea that her mother will do just that , park and observe her every move, making sure that she walked through those front doors of the school. As she reached the entrance, she turned and looked in the direction of where her mother had parked. To her surprise, her mother was speaking with the security guard and Amber shook her head as she hurried into the hallway. She didn’t have to wonder about what her mother could be telling the security guard, she will do absolutely anything that she doesn’t skip school. Her father would be picking her up straight after school and the thought of that made Amber exhaled deeply. Suffocation; the state or process of dying from being deprived of air or unable to breathe, that summed up the meaning of her life at the moment. Making her way towards her locker, she spotted Nathan and his friends coming in the opposite direction. They will surely cross paths with her, something that unfortunately Amber wouldn’t be able to avoid or wanted to experience this morning.

Exactly what I need, an early dose of and a…hole, Amber silently said to herself. She increased her pace and walked with her head bent so that she wouldn’t make any eye contact with any of those “ jerks”, as she would often describe Nathan’s friends. They all acted like Nathan’s shadow, only because he was from a rich family, drives a nice car and all the pretty girls wanted to be around him, easy catch for them. Eva on the other hand, was more down to earth, more like a human being than her brother who seemed to have abducted only the human form of a human being.She will ride on the school bus every morning with Nora, they were extremely good friends. Probably the reason why the police were always asking her questions. Thinking of Eva, she had not seen her around the school lately, since after she had spotted her with the police officers at school. Amber wondered what happened to her, she was pretty sure that her parents transferred her to another school or even probably to another country. Amber wondered if she should try and call her, but that would end badly if Eva’s parents finds out that she was contacting their daughter. It was pretty clear that the Ricci’s were upset at her family.As she walked past Nathan and his friends, Amber increased her pace.

“ Someone is in a hurry this morning. Killed anyone last night Amber Jones?”, one of Nathan’s friends said out loud and laughter erupted in the hallway. Amber stopped walking and she stood there with her back turned towards Nathan and his friends. Even if she had told herself that she was better off not answering the words of an i***t, but she had enough of those people rubbing her face in the mud like that. She was tired of being treated as someone who had no feelings, even if she had often heard the saying that “ silence is the best reply to a fool”, today she wasn’t going to remain silent. No way! She slowly pulled her hood off her head and turned around, looking in the direction of Nathan and his friends who were laughing at whatever Vince was whispering to them. She was sure that he was making fun of her but since she didn’t hear whatever he was saying that didn’t affect her, she was only going to reply to what he had said earlier.

“ Well, Vince Walker, you might be my next victim. Better close your doors and windows at night. I suck blood, every drop of it and it’s a full moon tonight, I might need more than one victim to satisfy my hunger ”, she confidently said as she gazed at all of them. Then she pulled her hood over her head and walked away towards her locker with a smirk lingering on her lips. She left the boys and everyone else who had heard her standing there in silence looking at her she walked away. One thing she had learned from Logan, just go with the flow , let them see that you ain’t bothered about their stupidity ,you can actually play along.People will always believe what they want to believe.

“ That girl is crazy!”, Vince said.

“ Are you scared?”, Nathan teased him.

“ Scared of that crazy thing! Hell no!”, Vince replied and his friends laughed.

As they walked away, Nathan turned and looked in the direction of where Amber was standing by her locker. He smiled as he thought about how she had handled Vince’s comment. At the same time Amber turned her gaze towards him and their eyes met for a brief moment. Amber quickly looked away when she noticed that Nathan was looking in her direction. Thinking about his next move , Amber said to herself.She couldn’t wait for break time, she had some serious revelation to do that may or may not cause her friends to freak out, but she wasn’t going to back out now. But first, she had a history test to pass, if she wanted to leave this school for good.

“ What are you on about Amber? Can you please speak in English?”, Debra exclaimed after Amber finished telling them everything that she experienced after Nora’s disappearance.

“ This is like some Freddy Krueger s**t!”, Logan excitedly said out loud and Stacy told her to keep her voice down.

“ I’m sure this excites you Logan, but it’s scaring the c out of me!”, Stacy said as she rubbed her hands along her arms to get rid of the goosebumps that had covered her skin.

“ I’m so in! When do we start? I have so many ideas of what we can do…”, Logan excitedly chatted away but then stopped when she realized that the three others were sitting there and staring at her with narrowed eyebrows.

“ What about you guys?”, Amber asked glancing at Debra and then at Stacy.

The two girls looked at each other, Amber could see that they were not comfortable and she wasn’t going to force them.

“ I guess friends stick together through thick and thin and paranormal s***h horrific things that we don’t understand ”, Debra said and Stacy nodded her head in agreement.

Amber looked at her friends and smiled. She was almost in tears, she never had such good friends like them. They didn’t know her that well, yet they were willing to help her uncover the mystery of the missing girls.

“ So what should we call this mission. Ghostbusters, no girls hunters, that didn’t sound correct”, Logan said as she tried to find an appropriate name for their paranormal adventure.

“ Anything that doesn’t come close to a nightmare on Elm Street”, Stacy said and they all laughed.

“ The most important thing , we don’t tell anyone else about this. This is our secret”, Amber said putting her right hand on the table. Logan put her right hand over hers, followed by Debra and then Stacy.

“ Secret”, they all whispered.

They didn’t realize that on a table a few meters away from them, Nathan was secretly observing them and he was curious to know what they were whispering about. From his view, the conversation looked quite serious. He looked at Amber as she laughed with her new friends, she looked different when she was not being an uptight little b***h who spent her time showering everyone with her sarcastic remarks and her silence. He observed her as she pulled the hood off her head and the one they called the “witch” pulled her hair tie from her hair. Her long hair cascaded on her back and she laughed as she tried to get her hair tie back. Nathan couldn’t believe that he was sitting there staring at Amber Jones. He quickly looked away as the little witch looked in his direction. Lara Grey sat in front of him and he breathed a sigh of relief, he didn’t what any of his friends to see him staring at Amber it would have been an embarrassment for him.

“ I think you have a secret admirer”, Logan said teasing Amber.

“ Me! Oh please … very funny Logan”, Amber said.

“ Well I caught Mr. Cuteness overload staring in this direction”, Logan said, and Amber wondered who that was.

“ Nathan Ricci”, Logan said and Amber laughed.

“ He is probably wondering how to hurt me. Anyways leave Mr.Cuteness overload, we have way better things to do . Like making a plan…how and where do we start our investigation?”, Amber asked.

“ My friends, situations like this calls for a séance!”, Logan whispered.

“ A séance!? Hell no!”, Stacy said as goosebumps crept up her skin again.

“ Where will we get someone to conduct a séance for us?”, Debra asked and Stacy looked at her in surprise, she couldn’t believe that Debra was interested in the séance idea. Debra looked at her and shrugged her shoulders.

“ Why not?”, she said and Stacy shook her head.

“ Well, why do you have yours truly”, Logan said and everyone looked at her in surprise.

“ You! Oh my, what did I get myself into!…”, Stacy said and the others laughed .

Amber looked at Logan with a serious face and asked her why a séance. She had watched in movies that one conducts a séance to contact dead people, she didn’t think that Nora was dead, or was she wrong?

“ Well Amber after what you told us, it looks like these are what we are going to be dealing with, spirits…we better hold on tightly guys because I’m sure that we are embarking on an extremely bumpy ride”, Logan said with a serious tone.

The three other girls looked at her with wide eyes as she looked at them with a serious face. It wasn’t like Logan to be that serious so they had no other choice but to believe her. Amber wondered if it was a good idea to get her friends involved and she glanced at them one by one.

“ Once we embarked on this journey, there is no going back,”Logan said and Amber nodded yes.

“It’s not like anything exciting happens in our life. So let’s do this”, Debra said and they all nodded in agreement.