Our kitchen is filled with photos of Theia, my sister, who ran away two months ago. We look almost alike, long blond hair, green eyes and pale skin but Theia is taller, a year older and a risk taker.

Ever since she left, Mom has been at her wit’s end. Dad died when I was seven, which already scarred her. Now, I’m all she has left. Mom quit her job when Theia disappeared. Now she spends her day cooped up in her office, doing I know what. I haven’t bothered asking. It seems since Theia’s disappearance that there’s an invisible boarder between us.

I spread a thick coating of peanut butter over my hot toast and walk into the hallway. I’ll eat my breakfast while walking to the school bus.

“Bye Mom!” I yell, hoisting my bag onto my shoulder and opening the door.

“Have a good day, Rhea.” She responds half-heartedly.

Our house is situated about half a mile from the next cul-de-sac. It has a big yard that ends at a dark forest, which I’ve never taken enough courage to step into. Sometimes I ask myself if it’s the forest from my dreams. The house has three stories and a basement and it is painted green to match the grass. A white fence surrounds it. Rhea and I used to repaint it every summer. I can forget about it now for Mom won’t help, she hasn’t touched the garden since Dad died.

The gravel crunches under my tennis shoes as I near the bus stop. I savor the last bite of peanut butter toast, licking my fingers to get the leftover bits off. Then I’m at the bus stop.

The group of kids that has gathered, glances at me. They all know about my sister, the whole town does. And since that happened my status has gone from “just another quiet outsider” to “the freak who lives isolated in a three story house”. I didn’t have many friends before. Now, I have a total of 0. For what reason, I don’t know.

The bus pulls up, big and yellow and empty. This cul-de-sac is the first stop on the route. I get on last, making my way to the last seat, feeling surreptitious gazes on my back. I sit down in the brown bus seat and lean my head on the window…

I'm sitting in the woods, waiting for them to come, when I hear the noise.  It sounds like an animal breathing, really loudly.  I look around.  No sight of them.  I might as well investigate the noise, even though my head is screaming out "This is how people in horror movies get killed!".  

"Hello!" I scream out into the foliage.  It echoes once before being swallowed up by my surroundings.  The breathing intensifies, but seems to be coming from behind me now.  And it's getting louder.  My feet are pounding loudly on the ground, cracking branches and brittle leaves beneath me.  Yet, I still feel the sticky breath on my back.  I whirl around to see what this thing is, but all I see is darkness. Suddenly a voice sounds: “Hello Rhea.”

I wake up, slamming my head on the window. This time the dream was different. It talked to me, the thing talked to me. I feel around in my backpack, looking for a pen and a piece of paper. As I do this I happen to glance out the window and see a boy. He is standing on the curb, dressed all in black to match his dark curls. He holds one hand up, a cold smile dancing on his lips, and waves.

The boy comes on the bus at the next stop.  He doesn't seem to get the memo that I'm a Full-Time Town Outcast and sits next to me.

"Hey," he says, holding out a hand for me to shake, "I'm Jason."  As I shake his hand, I get the weirdest feeling I've heard his voice before.  

"I'm Rhea," I reply.  

"I'm new to town," he says.  The second he says 'new', I figure it out.  His voice is the same voice that just talked to me in my dream.  

The clouds have been looking suspicious all day, and at that moment, they decide they want to be clouds no more; they want to be water again.  "Welcome to our beautiful town," I say, sarcastic emphasis on the world 'beautiful'.

Lightning flashes outside of the bus, making everyone on it cast an eerie shadow.  Jason's it the eeriest of all.  His shadow appears just like a wolf. 

I don't want to go at first, but then I realize I could try to maneuver Theia and I back towards home.  We trek through the woods in utter darkness.  Then the rain picks back up.  We are pelted by stinging water droplets while lightning lights up the forest for sporadic periods of time.

"We should turn back, or at least stop," I protest, "Trees are dangerous during lightning storms."

"We need to keep going," Jason replies, lighting illuminating his face and making the sentence even more dramatic.

The lightning strike brings a revelation: we are hiking through the same place I am in the dream.  I become frantic.  "Guys, promise me you won't leave me alone, at least until we're out of the woods."

"What, are you scared of a little lightning, Rae Rae?" Theia asks, using a childhood nickname to mock me.

"It's not the lightning.  I... I've seen this place in a dream," I confess, "I know it sounds crazy, but nothing else has seemed to make sense today."

Jason and Theia are silent for a moment.  "Her powers must be more advanced than I thought if she already has the sight," Jason whispers sharply.

"I told you not to underestimate her," Theia remarks, then says much more loudly, "Just keep moving."  And so we walk further into the forest. 

Hello! I'm new. What's an RR?

RR stands for Round Robin. Each person takes a turn writing a part of a story.

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