Hey guys

! Here's the 4th chapter as promised :-) Please comment, vote and share! <3 Hope you like it!

-Sophia xoxo

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I keep on searching for any sign of Jay's figure from the safe premises of the inside of my home, but turn around with barely-controlled anger when I catch none. 

He's just evaporated. Poof! Gone. 

Who does he think he is? 

"What was that about?" Alice's voice calls from the kitchen where she's seated by the island counter. I walk towards her through the light and rustic hallway and swing myself onto a barstool next to her. The kitchen is made of stainless steel appliances, but the wooden counters give it a slightly more country-looking feel. There's a large window above the stove, over-looking the neighbouring houses on the street. I try to act nonchalant and look at her with fake surprise. 

"What do you mean?" I ask in a higher voice than normal which clearly unravels my lie. I know exactly what she's talking about and she knows that I do.

"I heard you yell." Alice looks up from her phone and looks at me with a raised eyebrow. I can clearly see the worry swimming in her eyes. "Is everything okay Em?"

-Yes, Alice." I respond calmly, trying to appear appeased, "Everything's fine." I rest my forehead on the cold kitchen counter. "Umm... but Al - ?"

-Wait, wait..." She replies, cutting me off when her phone beeps. I huff. 

Rude...

I try to peer over her shoulder but she turns her back to me, rolling her fingers across the keyboard. She giggles to herself, reading the text, and I raise an eyebrow, crossing my arms over my chest. 

"Who is it?" I ask, impatience lacing my words. She groans at me without even looking my way and waves a hand at me.

"Shhh." she puts a finger to her smiling mouth, not directing her gaze away from the screen. 

I shake my head and wait. When she keeps on rolling her fingers across the keyboard I sigh and slide of the barstool. I begrudgingly trudge up the stairs, walking through the hall with doors on either side of it. Cardboard boxes half-opened or still sealed closed are scattered through the hallway, as both Alice and I are both too lazy to even think about finishing the unpacking. 

I find the door standing ajar to my bedroom and breathe out a heavy sigh of exhaustion when more boxes fill my line of site, on the desk, on the window bench, and inside of the wardrobe. The only real place left untouched and actually completed with grey and navy blue bedding is my safe heaven. I launch myself into the air without hesitation and land on my beloved soft double bed with sudden sleepiness overcoming me. I roll onto my back and begin to close my eyes. 

Beep!

My eyelids flutter open and I groan with annoyance, rolling onto my side. I roll out of bed and land ungracefully with a thump on the ground. Pain courses through my side but I ignore it, crawling towards my bag by the door with sluggish movements. I rummage through its contents and find my beeping phone. I turn it on and scroll through the old messages until I lay eyes on the new one. 

'Hey gorgeous ;-) I'm taking you to the party after the game on friday. Be ready at 8:00! :-) xoxo, Brad'

"Urgg...." I groan, pressing the cold surface onto my forehead. I close my eyes and drift into a blank darkness.

"Alice!" I yell, running towards the fifteen year-old girl standing by the doorway. Tears stream down her face as my eleven-year-old self jumps into her arms.

"Emma... Oh Emma..." I look up at her quizzically, until I notice that something's wrong.

-Al... What's wrong? Where's Mummy and Daddy?" She shakes her head silently and puts me back on my feet, as I stare in shock behind her. 

"Mummy? Daddy?" I run towards the unmoving black body bags, cops and science technicians streaming in mass around them. 

"Hey! Young lady, I'm gonna need you to back away. No trespassing this limit." The cop nods towards a fluorescent flashing yellow band, stripped around a marked zone. 

-What's going on!?" I demand, fear overwhelming me. 

'Too young - Dead - Shouldn't know yet - Looks like an animal attack - Interesting.'

I blink in disbelief, already touched by his thoughts. My little head is buzzing with those words. 

Dead. 

"Where are my parents?" I repeat, surprising myself by the calmness of my steady voice. Hesitantly, he nods towards the body bags. A single tear falls down my face, but I restrain the coming tears. I will not cry. Not now, not ever. 

I turn away at his attempt at concern by placing his hand on my shoulder, shaking it off numbly. I run straight into Alice, who's joined me in silence. 

"Emma... It's gonna be alright." She pulls me into a hug, and I let myself crush into her shoulder, silently wishing for this nightmare to end. 

"Emma... Emma, wake up..." 

"Em? Emma wake up." I open my eyes, blinking to regain focus, and stare right up into Alice's blue ones. She looks slightly worried. She brushes a strand of blonde hair away from my face, and when I reach up to touch I feel my forehead matted in a cold sweat. 

"Wh - What...?" I push myself upright onto my elbows and look around me. I'm still in my bedroom, lying on the cold wooden floor, and my sister is kneeling beside me. 

"You fell asleep here. Did you have one of those nightmares again?" She questions curiously but cautious. I shake my head and bite my lip, and by the way that her eyes narrow in contemplation I know that she doesn't believe me one bit. She chooses to let it go though and stands up, looking down at me with amusement. 

"Not your wisest choice of place to fall asleep." I stick my tongue out at her childishly and she laughs. "Dinner's ready." She shakes her head and walks out of the room, leaving me staring blankly after her. And just like that, my phone rings. It breaks me from my confusion and I reach for it where it's tumbled out of my grasp onto the floor beside me. 

"Hello?" I say, bringing it up to my ear. 

"Hey gorgeous." I sigh and get up, taking a seat on the edge of my bed. I turn my head to the large window hanging over the elegant, grey and cushiony window bench and my eyes zone over the dark clouds draping over the silent city like a shield. It feels like it's either protecting us from the danger above, or keeping us prisoner's in this colourless winter season. I love cold weather, but even I can get tired of the monotone shades of the outside world. 

"Hi Brad?" I say in a tired voice, rubbing my eyes, "What do you want?" 

Okay, that might have come out a bit meaner than intended.

He doesn't seem bothered in the slightest though, "You got my text right?" He asks with a cheeriness that seems to get on my nerves slightly in this exact moment. I recall my dream from just before and a shiver runs through me. I force those images out of my head and focus on the conversation. 

"Huh... yes I did." I rub my throbbing head groggily. 

-Cool, so I'll be at your place at eight on Friday right?" I roll my eyes.

-Brad? How do you know where I live?" I ask, faking sarcastic sweetness. Silence.

-Uhh... I don't." I sigh and laugh to myself, and I imagine him grinning on the other end.

-I'll text you. 

-Okay, see you at school. 

-Yeah... bye." I hang up and text him my address quickly - shaking my head with a half-smile at his lighting speed at texting me a kissy-face emoji back - before joining Alice downstairs. 

As usual, she's still texting, smiling her head off. She must really be happy about something. My eyes zone in on the two smoking plates of spaghetti bolognaise facing each other and placed lonesomely on the wooden dining table beside the kitchen area. The one light bulb hangs over it with desolation. 

Yup, we seriously need to get a better lamp over that. The whole house needs freshing up honestly. Right at this moment, it doesn't feel that - homely. Just a carcass of a house waiting to be lived in. But after moving to another one of England's grey cities, and into another nameless house, I guess Alice and I have both gotten tired of unpacking just to pack up again. 

'But it's all because of you. You're too weird to be normal...' My annoying sub-conscious voice echoes in my head and I feel a pang of dread in the pit of my stomach. I'm suddenly not that hungry anymore. It's true though; if I were just normal, like everybody else, we wouldn't have to move at the end of each school year. I rub my temple as a pressure builds there, and approach Alice still mesmerised by the blinking screen of her phone, still seated at the island counter. All notions of her having prepared food that's steaming on the dining table seem to have evaporated from her mind.

"Alice..?" I begin. No reply. I try a different choice of words. "Are you seeing someone?" Her head shoots up and she looks completely and utterly shocked. A moment passes when she doesn't reply so I know that I've got her. I know my sister in-and-out, and she's definitely involved with someone.

"Uhh... I - no!" She begins, searching for words. But it's too late. I nod, pretending to believe her and I see her relax immediately. Why wouldn't she tell me about her dating? In fact, I'm happy for her. 

Aren't I? 

That possessive side of me shouts in protest but I force it under, locking it away in the deepest crevasses of my mind. I can't be that selfish; my big sister's got a life as well, and she's got the right to live it. 

I'll just have to try my best to act normal.