The sun lit the quad up like a warm summer day and the students relaxed as the day came to an end. When the bell rang, everyone got to their feet and made the trip across the parking lot to leave. As she neared her brother's jeep she saw Terry walking to a black car. It was a nice mustang, but something seemed off as she watched him approach it. He seemed to be eerie of getting in and she used that hesitation to approach him.

When he saw her he stopped walking and she said, "Hey, sure is nice today."

He shrugged and said, "If you say so."

Her eyebrows came together and she asked, "You okay?"

He looked at her and said, "Never better."

'Way to lie, bud.'

She nodded and said, "That's good to hear. Mags was worried about you and kind of assigned me to talk to you."

His mouth twitched and he said, "That's Mags."

The car window rolled down and the woman said, "Get it before we are any later."

He nodded to the driver and opened the door. Her eyes narrowed as she watched the car drive off. Something just felt off about the whole situation and the difference in the atmosphere around that woman. When she returned to the jeep, she found her brother waiting. She put her bag in the back seat and climbed in.

With the twenty minute ride ahead of her, she relaxed and slouched down into the seat. Her knees rested on the dashboard and her head on the window. That is until the jerk rolled it down and made it fall out the window. She sent him a look and he shrugged as he kept driving. Since her window was gone, she leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes.

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When the door was closed and his shirt rested on the chair, he collapsed onto his bed. He rested his head on his arms and looked up at the ceiling. Already he could hear the conversation between the two adults downstairs in the kitchen. He closed his eyes and tried to tune them out, but only failed. He could hear the conversation stop and the climb to his room begin.

He pushed himself up and the door opened. The two walked into his room and he waited for the evening to begin. When his chest burned from a punch, he took a deep breath and waited. That's all he could do is wait. He lost count how many times he was hit after the blow to his head.

He saw everything start to darken and heard the two leave his room. His head fell onto his hands and he fought to regain his sight. Then everything went dark and he collapsed back onto the bed. His strength was gone and all he wanted was sleep. He forced his body to move onto the bed properly and then he gave out.

___________________________________________________________

An owl spoke a good morning to the night and she looked up at the sky. It was so full of stars to be hanging over the bright town. True Raiders was small, but it was always alive somewhere. She leaned against the window seal and looked down at the pad of paper in front of her. Her eyes read the words she had written and she let the silence continue.

Something still bothered her from this afternoon, but she didn't know what it was. All she could remember was watching that car drive away as if it were directed to Hell. She shook her head at that thought and continued writing. Then the silence was destroyed by the sound of her phone ringing. She put her pad of paper on her desk and walked across the room.

Her phone rested on the table next to her rather large bed of silky white sheets. She sat down on her mattress and let her eyes wander over the bare walls while she answered the phone.

"Well, did you talk to him?"

She smirked and said, "Of course."

"What did he say?"

"He said that there was nothing wrong."

"I knew it! Something is going on! We've got to find out what it is."

"I highly disagree. He seems like he doesn't want any help, so just let it be until he tells us, or better yet you."

Mags sighed and then she said good-night. She listened to Mags disconnecting the line and then she hung up her phone. She placed it back on the charger and looked back at her walls. Soon she would be dragging out her paint and start making this room hers. There was too much stuff needing to be shown that she couldn't help but want to get out.

Then she yawned and rubbed the wet tears out of her eyes. She looked at her clock and saw that it was almost eleven. It was time for her to call it quits for one night, though she wish it wasn't. There was still so much to figure out, but tonight had ran out on her. When she slid under her covers, she curled up into her warm pillows around her and drifted asleep.

PGS