I realized what I had said and indeed some memory had come back. “Alise did my hair and makeup and made me wear the outfit I was wearing. I ate the veggie burger in secret in my room, so she wouldn’t know I ate. My dad had picked it up for me when he picked up his pizza.”

He clapped. “Yes, see some of it is coming back.”

I was excited, except for the fact veggie burgers were going to be off the menu for quite a while.

Shane took me home after I stopped picking at my fries. I dragged myself up the stairs, half dead I was certain. My body ached. My liver pains were unbearable. I climbed into my bed and fell asleep with my clothes on.

The warm wind came again. His voice crept through my dreams.

"Get better, Aimee. Get better and forget about me."

Chapter Four

The word is hamtard…

I felt my phone vibrate in my jacket pocket as I was trudging my way to chemistry the next day. I would never dread chem, but an hour sitting next to one of the biggest frauds on earth was hard to stomach. Blake had pretended nothing was going on with my sister. They both swore nothing was going on.

I hadn’t really spoken to my sister since the incident, but I knew that I had been taken by one of the best grifters in the world. She was a pro con artist, from not wanting to do chores to juggling four boyfriends.

Trying to think on other things, I thought about how I needed to see the 'not Wade' guy again. He was plaguing my dreams. I had become convinced he was a ghost, who I could only see when I was near Shane’s house or sleeping. I didn’t believe in ghosts at all, but even I had to admit it was odd that the only times I had seen him were at Shane's. I knew I was just scaring myself with the shaman ghost story I had cooked up in my head, but I needed to see him again. I needed to prove he was real. Something about him was driving me insane.

I thought about him day and night. I could hear his voice. He was talking about my veggie burger and chewing next time. His face and words were the only memory I had. I recalled seeing him in the bathroom at Shane’s, but the memory was fuzzy.

I looked over, noticing the kids at school whispering and watching me. It wasn’t one group of kids. It was all the kids in the courtyard. I tried not to notice. It was hard going from complete unknown to that girl who got drugged and nearly raped.

I held my books tight to my chest and looked toward my class, but I saw Blake walk up to the class door. I cringed, thinking about being around him, and for the first time ever, I decided I needed more air than chemicals. I decided to ditch and go to Shane’s house. Mr. Mac saw me running the wrong way, well maybe not running. “Aimee, what are you doing?”

I looked down at the ground ashamed. “Sir, I need to go home. I’m feeling sick.”

He laughed. “You are the worst liar ever.” Mr. Mac knew me better than any other teacher. His youthful look had people believing him to be just a youngster, but he was smarter than any teacher in the school…even the fossils like the lit teacher.

He walked toward me, looking extremely concerned. “Are you having a problem getting back into the swing of things?”

I nodded. “Yeah, it seems hard to focus now. I’m tired a lot lately.”

He looked down on me and pointed to the chemistry room. “I’m going to walk this way, and if you follow, great, and if you don’t, I might not notice cause I’m pretty preoccupied with the marks on the test we took two weeks ago. The ninety-eight you got probably earned you a day off from class, if you want to think about it that way.” His eyes grew dark. “I truly hope you’re feeling better, Aimee.”

I looked up into his dark-brown eyes and smiled, relieved. “You’re the best, Mr. Mac. Thanks.” He nodded and walked away from me, strolling casually toward the chem lab.

I hobbled over to where Shane was taking his welding class and waved at him through the shop doors. He looked at me, puzzled.

He walked over, looking sexy in his coveralls with his welding helmet lifted up and bits of grease and dirt on his face.

He smiled at me as he opened the door. “Aimes, what’s up? You taking shop now?”

"Uh, no. Not unless an early death for both of us is on the syllabus." I held my hand out. “I need your truck keys. I want to go to your house for a bit. I think your yard is haunted.”

He burst out laughing and fished his keys out of his pocket. “You are the weirdest girl I have ever met. I notice you’ve gained a bit of weight, by the way. I meant to say something ‘cause you’re filling out again. Want me to come?”

"No. That's cool. I'll be back before class is over to give you back your truck." I took the keys and grinned at him. “Thanks, this is a good look for you too. I think if you wore this to the spring formal, I might want to dance.”

He winked and closed the door.

I turned on my heel, feeling very flirty. I knew it was that I felt so safe with him. I knew nothing would ever come of our flirting, even though deep, deep down where I never let myself go, I hoped it would.

I went to the truck, feeling a small sense of freedom mixed with a lot of guilt. I never skipped, ever. The one good thing about being a straight-A student was that at the end of the school year, it was pretty well sorted out what your grade was going to be. We had two and a half months of school left, and I was at a ninety-three percent average. Skipping out one day wasn’t going to cost me too much.

The drive to Shane’s house was about five minutes, and for some reason, I couldn’t help looking in my rear-view. I was not a very good criminal.

I pulled into the driveway and hopped out of the truck. My ribs were hurting, but I ignored it and walked quickly up to the house. I was so hopeful, it was ridiculous. I wandered around the outside of the huge grey house. I looked behind myself sharply and then peeking around corners. If anyone saw me, they would instantly assume master spy or total idiot. I was going with the latter. I looked like a moron sneaking around the bushes and the vibrant green grass.

I decided the woods were my best bet.

I looked around, stopping midway across the lawn to listen for anyone who might be following me. I decided that thinking about creepy people following you was not the smartest way to enter the woods.

The trees on the North Coast were huge; ‘big’ was what you called a tree at half its size here. The trees, in the woods that Shane called a yard, were massive. I felt the forest air hit me like a ton of bricks as I entered. It was freezing and damp. I crept along looking all around me.

I decided camping out in a quiet spot was my best plan. Then, like a rabbit hopping into a trap, I would be able to see him, but he wouldn’t see me.

I crept through huge ferns and old man's beard covering the branches. The forest thinned out remarkably once you were inside of it. The canopy of the huge trees was a filter for the light; not a lot of other small trees and bushes could grow. Moss and ferns didn’t need light to prosper. The forest on the North Coast always reminded me of Jurassic Park. The air was clean and pure but colder sometimes by five or six degrees.

I found the old tree fort Shane had constructed once with his friends and hid at the base of the tree next to it. There was a small bush surrounded by several huge ferns and if I sat still long enough, I could probably see his ghost. I climbed into the bush and fluffed the ferns around me.

I pulled my jacket tight around me and drew the hood up around my head to cover my blonde hair. The black jacket helped me to blend into the bush and massive trunk. I settled back on the dirt, leaning against the tree and sat still. I turned my phone to vibrate and waited.

I wanted to say I was a peaceful enough person, that the calm of the forest and the small noises it made throughout the day were relaxing. Instead, I felt on edge, hiding in the forest, watching for either a ghost or a stalker.

I heard a crunch after ten minutes, fifty feet back toward the house. I stayed very still as it came closer.

I felt my heartbeat increasing as the noise got louder and louder. I wanted to close my eyes and become invisible or blink my way back to the safety of my own room. I was terrified. As the sound got loud enough, I swore I could feel the vibration of the branches breaking. I knew for an unexplainable reason that the noise was not the ghost. I needed to fear whatever made the noise.

I heard it breathing. It was out of breath or nervous like I was. I knew the bush covered me, but if it got close enough, it would be able to see me.

Its pace slowed to a step every minute as it scanned the forest behind me somewhere. I knew what it was doing, even if I couldn’t see it, and I knew then that it was a danger to me. Somehow I knew it was the person who drugged me, and I started to panic as I realized there were only a few feet between him and me. If I could get a glance of his face, I knew I would know him. He and the not-Wade guy were different people. I sensed the evil coming from this person. I knew everyone in our town that was near my age, and there was no way someone was at the party that I didn’t know, at least a little. I waited to see his face when he came around the trees. I could know my attacker and text it to Shane before he got me.

His steps sounded like they were on top of me. I wanted to dash from the woods screaming, but I knew my dash was more of a light jog at best. I also knew that in every horror movie I had ever seen, the hiding person would have lived, if they had just stayed hidden. But they always let the suspense and madness get to them.

“Aimee, are you here?” he spoke in a breathless whisper. I couldn’t even be certain it was a man’s voice.

“Aimee, I saw you come into the woods. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

He knew my name and he was watching me. There was something familiar about the way he whispered my name, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I knew he must have gone to school with me—how else would he have seen me take Shane’s truck?

I didn’t even swallow as the breaking of the twigs and leaves attempted to drive me insane. I waited till I heard his footsteps walk in a different direction and I reached into my pocket and grabbed my phone. I clicked the sound off completely. I was glad I had worn a hoodie and not a jacket that made noise. I slowly put my phone back into my pocket and left it there. I knew nothing would make me leave that spot.