Not once in my life have I seen her smile. Sometimes I wondered why, but never really spent too much time on it. Not until the day she showed up to my door grinning ear to ear.

Chapter One

The first time I ever saw Kara Kramer was in the seventh grade. Well, okay, I didn’t really see her, just the pile of books she was carrying. Which wasn’t exactly unusual, because she’s quite small and it would be easy not to see her. But she made herself noticeable because of the vast stack of books she had stuffed into her slender arms.

However, now standing on my doorstep the mysterious girl had not one book. The only thing she had was a small dirty envelope which she held between her skinny fingers.

“How would you like an adventure?” she asked, her voice full of excitement, her big blue eyes sparkling with curiosity. I was shocked, whether it was because of the way she was strangely beautiful or the fact she was offering me a once in a lifetime opportunity to hang out with the girl no one seemed to know, I wasn't sure. The only thing I was able to spit out was two simple words,



“Why me?”

I wasn’t trying to be rude or offensive, it’s just, out of all the people in the entire town of Millsboro why did she pick me? I’m nothing special. I’m just a boy who went to school and then came home to play video games. I’m just ... normal.

“Well, in order for me to answer your question Mason, I’d have to kill you,” she teased a smirk breaking out on her lips. I don’t know what caught me off guard more, the fact that she had a morbid sense of humor or that she knew my name. I furrowed my eyebrows at her confused, causing her to roll her eyes. “You’re the only person who lives close enough to me who can drive,” she sighed shaking her head.

Even with the very small explanation, I was still confused as to why she needed a ride. “Where do you need to go?” I questioned crossing my arms over

my chest. She fiddled with the envelope in her hands as she tried to come up with a good explanation. After a few seconds of what should’ve been awkward silence, she looked up, a goofy grin spread across her face.

“Because it’s an adventure,” she continued on, “Adventures don’t just happen in one place, they’re suppose to take you on a journey, where you’re suppose to figure out who you truly are.” She sounded like someone from a storybook, “So that’s why I need you to join me.” She was positive, yet hopeful in me agreeing to her strange little quest.

    At this time I was able to glance at the front of the odd little envelope she was holding. All it said was To Rose, in beautiful calligraphy. I looked back at Kara, impatiently waiting for my answer. “Look I know this seems totally rash and kind of bizarre, but this is important to-” I cut her off mid sentence.

“I’m in.”

“Really?” she asked dumbfounded. I nodded. She broke into a soft smile and nodded back at me. “Okay, meet me here at seven pm,” she said walking backwards away from my house, “and bring a flashlight,” she added before turning around and walking down the road.

What have I gotten myself into?

I opened my front door ready to meet Kara to do- I don’t even know what- but unsurprisingly she was already standing at my doorstep. She smirked at me from under her dark hooded sweatshirt, that was twice the size of her actual body, “I was afraid you’d chicken out,” she said crossing her arms over her chest.

I stepped out and pulled the door shut. “How could I chicken out if I don’t even know what we’re doing?” I replied sarcastically. She liked my burst of personality, I could tell by the way she giggled and started walking off. I took this as my cue to follow her.

It did not take long for me to catch up to her, for one of my steps equals at least four of hers. We walked next to each other, nothing but the crickets chirping in the dead of the night. We didn’t want to raise any suspicions as to what we were doing.

 I mean two teenagers dressed in dark clothing out at night would be kind of worrying to most the neighborhood.

It wasn’t until we reached the end of the cul de sac where all the old abandoned houses were that she finally spoke up, “And so our story begins,” she said finally looking at me. I looked around and saw a dismantled mailbox, and an old rickety house. I then looked back at her waiting for an explanation, only to find she was waiting for me to piece it all together.

“Well?” I asked shoving my hands in my pockets as the cold Delaware air nipped at my fingers. She rolled her eyes and dug around in her huge sweatshirt pocket until she pulled out the mysterious envelope from before. She held it out to me. I took the flimsy letter from her and looked at the fancy cursive writing; To Rose.

“This is where I found that letter,” she begun to explain,

“clearly no one has lived here in years, and this letter must be pretty old, and we need to know who Rose is,” she said, then smirked slightly, “that’s why we must go there,” she said pointing at the abandoned house. The ceiling was caving in, the whole place was covered in dust, it honestly looked like a house from a horror movie. You know the kind, where everyone gets murdered.

I looked back at her as if she was an asylum escapee, “Yeah no way,” I told her giving her back the letter. She sighed slightly. “Sorry that I rather not be murdered,” I said.

She shoved the letter back into her pocket and ran her hands through her long blonde curly hair holding onto the ends as she looked at the house. “Whoever this Rose character is obviously never got this letter and I decided it was my job to get it to her, but in order to do so we need to know who she is,” she explained.

She looked back and smiled at me. “So we have to check out the house,” she said.

“Why did you decide it was your job to deliver this letter?” I asked slightly confused by her reasoning.

“For the story,” she said with a shrug as if it was that simple. “Now come on, you said you’re down for the adventure,” she said taking a hold of my wrist and dragging me towards the house. When we got close enough, she let go of my arm in order to inspect the surrounding rubbish. As for me, I just stood to the side watching her go through the trash.

Eventually she groaned in defeat, letting go of some drywall she was holding up, “This won’t work, we’ll have to go inside the house,” she said walking to the front door. She grabbed the crumbling handle only to find it was locked.

So she started to shove it, which led to kicking it, and then she just started throwing her body at the door.

She was breathing heavily by the time she gave up, her hands on her hips. I could just tell she was coming up with another plan to get inside the house or as the police- who will be picking us up later would call it- breaking and entering. She then looked at me for help but ended up rolling her eyes.

“You’re judging me.”

“Well, seeing as you showed up to my house, and then dragged me to a creepy house that you want to break into, I’d say I am indeed judging you.”

“Well stop.”

“Sorry, can’t. It’s what I do- it’s a hobby of mine.

“Whatever,” she rolled her eyes, “just help me get in this window,” she said pointing up at one way above her head. I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms.

“Isn’t breaking and entering illegal?” I questioned her.

    “Mason, it’s abandoned, what do you think is going to happen?” she asked in all seriousness, I shrugged in reply. “Is a ghost going to call the cops on me?” she teased using a very sarcastic voice. I rolled my eyes cupping my hands together, she smirked and stepped into my hands. I think the sweatshirt she was wearing was heavier than she actually was.

    However, my thoughts were interrupted when I heard the shatter of glass, causing me to nearly drop the strong willed girl. “Mason stay still!” she hissed, so I fixed her back in front of the window, she then jumped up into the now opened window. I backed up just in time to see her wiggling into the broken window. Once inside, she looked down at me with a devilish smile.

“You’re insane!” I cupped my mouth with my hands calling up to her.

“I know! Isn’t it great?” she snickered before disappearing from my view into the dark creepy murder house. I stood on my tippy toes in hopes I would be able to see her, but alas I could not.

I’m not sure what worried me more, the fact that someone could of heard us breaking into the house, or Kara never returning from inside the house. I shoved my hands back into my pockets as I was beginning to feel anxious. Waiting is agony.

Suddenly the front door was shoved open and there stood Kara smirking excitedly. I reluctantly walked over to the door, “You brought a flashlight right?” she asked me as soon as I got there. I nodded and reached into my pocket pulling out the small flashlight my mother gave to me in case of emergencies and held it out to her. She took it and smiled, “Come on,” she said turning on the flashlight and shining it into the dark house.

She took a step in the house, but I was nervous. “Wait,” getting her to stop, she furrowed her eyebrows looking at me, “isn’t this wrong?” I questioned. However she didn’t quite follow what I was getting at. “This was someone’s house, someone’s life was here, their memoires and all their belongings. And we’re just going to march on in there, intruding?” I mumbled.

She smiled slightly and faked a disgusted look, “Ugh- Keep your morals away from me,” she teased blowing off my statement, before walking off into the house. I felt slightly embarrassed but followed her in anyway. The floors creaked under our weight, as clouds of dust polluted the air around us, it must’ve been abandoned for years.

“So what’s your plan?” I questioned, hoping she had more of a plan than just breaking into the house. She didn’t answer, instead she shoved the flashlight in my hand and kneeled down next to what seemed to be a coffee table.

“My plan is to find out who owned this house,” she begun, as she lifted up magazines, going through mail, tossing anything useless aside. Trying desperately to find anything that could help us in our hunt for Rose. “Because once we found out who use to live there, we can track them down and ask about Rose,” she explained before standing up giving up.

She sighed and walked around me down a hall. I followed behind her, providing her with light as she begun raiding all the cabinets. “So how do you plan on tracking these people down?” I questioned her. There was a glint of irritation in her eyes, as she was digging through a drawer in the kitchen island, she wasn’t too fond of all my questions.

She slammed the drawer shut and looked up at me, her eyes slightly glowing because of the flashlight. “I haven’t got that far yet,” she stated, getting me to chuckle slightly. “Hey it’s better than having no plan at all,” she said before

leading me towards some stairs. We went up them quickly fearing the steps would break beneath our feet. At the top we found only two different rooms, a bathroom and a bedroom. Both of the rooms fairly small.

Kara decided we needed to check the bedroom first, and immediately started going through the closet. “Check the nightstand,” she commanded as if she was some sort of drill sargent. I did as she pleaded and dug through the nightstand, only to find an old picture in there. I reached in and pulled it out, shaking the dust off before looking at it. The picture was a black and white polaroid of a young girl. She was standing on what looked to be a homemade swing smoking a cigarette.

“Kara,” I begun slowly, “I don’t know if this is helpful or not but I found a photo.”

I stood back up to my full height, holding the delicate photo in my hands.

Kara was overly excited as she pulled the picture away from me. I watched as her eyes looked over every inch of the picture. Those bright blue eyes sparkling with curiosity. She then flipped it over, something I didn’t think of doing. “Rose ‘67” she said.

“So it’s a picture of Rose from 1967,” I restated looking over her shoulder. She then turned her head to look at me with a smirk and I knew exactly what she was thinking. She was right. I rolled my eyes. “Okay so maybe going inside to find out more was a good idea” I said getting her to snicker. We both then looked back at the picture, wondering where this picture was taken. Then it hit me, “You think that swing is in the backyard?” I questioned.

She looked at me with wide eyes, “Mason you’re a genius!” she squealed before running off in the dark. I quickly went after her, afraid she might trip over something in the darkness. We then went out the back door and out into the yard

which had one big tree. We shared a look and I shrugged before the two of us walked over to the tree. Kara touched the tree and walked around it before sighing in exasperation. “So maybe the tree wasn’t here,” she muttered slightly disappointed.

I looked up up to see two separate pieces of rope dangling from the limb of the tree. I smirked, “Hey Kara,”  getting her attention. I pointed up above me, and her eyes followed. She gasped and walked over standing next to me looking up, “So this was definitely Rose’s house,” I stated the obvious. I looked back at her, her face was gleaming, but then it dropped slowly as she was thinking.

“But we don’t know who’s house it is,” she said. I was going to offer going back inside to search around some more, but I was cut off by the sound of a car pulling up and the sound of voices. My eyes shot to where the noise came from, only then I found a cop car and our local dick of a sheriff. I quickly took Kara’s

wrist and drug her over to the garage shutting the thankfully unlocked door and turning my flashlight off. “What the-” I covered her mouth with my hand, looking out the window. The cop was inspecting the house. Kara threw my hand off her mouth. “What is going on!” she whispered angrily at me.

I looked at her in the dark and pulled her down so they couldn’t see us through the window. “Listen there is a police car outside, and a cop inside the house, so would you shut your mouth,” I pleaded with her. She narrowed her eyes not believing me, she slowly stood up and then peeked out the window. Then her eyes went wide and she kneeled back down next to me, “Yeah so we got to keep quiet,” I said.

It felt like we were sitting there for eternity in the completely silent darkness. Thankfully the idiotic sheriff didn’t check the garage as I heard the car start and drive off, and I felt like I could finally breath. The two of us stood up, and I turned

on the flashlight. We shared a look and both starting laughing, not believing we actually got away with breaking and entering. I looked around when something metal caught my eye; I walked over to see it was a license plate. Then an idea popped into my head, any moron can run a license plate. “Kara I may have found out whose house this is.”

“No way.”

“Yeah, we just have to go to the DMV.”

She walked over to me, “Oh my God! Come on then,” she said grabbing my arm as she started pulling me out of the garage. She then started heading down the road towards our houses, she was literally skipping happily down the road. Until suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks, and I caught up with her, “The DMV isn’t open this late,” she muttered. I chuckled at her sulkiness.

“No Kara it’s not.”

“And tomorrow we have school.”

“Yup, we do.”

She sighed wrapping her arms around herself, she sighed in defeat, “So we’re going to have to put this whole adventure thing on hold,” she mumbled. I furrowed my eyebrows confused.

“Why? We can just go after school,” I said.

She was rubbing her arms as we walked down the road, “I’m sure you wouldn’t want to be seen with me at school,” she said not wanting to make eye contact with me, she also didn’t give me a chance to speak. “It’s understandable, I don’t really care if I am alone or not,” she said with a slight shrug. I was confused as to why she was saying this to me, I thought we were becoming friends.

“Don’t you ever get lonely?” I asked.

“Lonely is not being alone, it’s feeling like no one cares.”

In this moment, her wall seemed to fall down slightly, she was letting me in. Giving me a glimpse of what wonders she hides behind those blue eyes. We walked silently side by side, listening to the crickets chirping.

“Do you have any friends?” I questioned.

“Not really. I feel like I’m not anyone’s favorite, or their first choice. Like even if people tell me how I’m important to them, I still know there is someone they prefer to be with. Someone they choose over me, so why make them important to me?” she asked, with a hint of bitterness, but for some reason I knew she wasn’t bitter, she was hurt. “And then I think that maybe I was designed to be alone,” she mumbled. She didn’t know who would stay or leave. So she pushed them all away.

“Well I don’t care...” I said getting her to look at me sheepishly, “what anyone else thinks,” I added. She smiled slightly. “So tomorrow, you and I have a date with the DMV,” I said with a smile back at her. We walked up to my front door, “So I will see you tomorrow,” I said.

She nodded, “Yeah, tomorrow,” she mumbled. I turned to go into my house. “Mason,” she said getting me to stop and look at her, “thank you” she said. I smiled slightly and nodded before going inside. I pulled the door shut behind me, and laid my back against the door.

I ran my fingers through my hair trying to process the events of the night. I had followed the girl who had no friends, to a creepy abandoned house, where we proceeded to break in, then having to hide from the local sheriff. In my seventeen years of life, I had never even dreamt of doing such things, yet here I am senior year of high school doing the unimaginable.

Chapter Two

“What is Kara Kramer doing by your car?” my best friend James asked as the two of us were walking out of the school. I turned my gaze to look at my car, indeed Kara was sitting on top of my car, looking around at everyone. I looked back at James to see him looking completely and utterly confused. I mean in his mind, why on earth would I be associating with Kara, why would anyone? I smirked at my best friend.

“We’re going on an adventure,” I told him simply.

He furrowed his eyebrows, and I let out a chuckle, of course that didn’t make much more sense. I patted his shoulder as I walked over to Kara. She jumped off the hood of my car, “So, we’re off to the DMV?” she questioned. I nodded and walked over to the driver’s side, opening up the car door. “Bet you aren’t use to locking doors since you live in the nice side of town,” she muttered, opening the passenger side door and getting in, I did as well.

“My doors aren’t locked because my car is shit,” I told her. She blushed slightly embarrassed, and I smirked, winning. She tucked her hair behind her ears, before looking at the liscense plate in her hands.

“No one in my family has a car” she said softly. “My grandma never had a car, nor my mother or father,” she explained. They must all live under one roof, or at least I assumed. I didn’t want to ask either because she didn’t seem like she wanted to talk about it. So instead I started my car and headed towards the DMV.

“So, I’m not too sure how we are going to convince the people who work there to run an old probably outdated plate,” I said. She sighed tapping her fingers on the plate. “And they always work very very slowly,” I added trying to get what she was thinking out of her mouth.

“We’ll just ask them,” she said with a nod.

I looked away from the road for a split second to look at her. “We’ll just ask?” I questioned her as if she was some kind of moron. She nodded as I pulled into the DMV and parked. I looked at her, and she looked at me.

“Yeah, I’m sure they are reasonable,” she smiled before getting out of the car. I furrowed my eyebrows. Had she never been to the DMV before? Does she not know how painfully slow and ignorant those people can be? I got out of the car, and quickly caught up with her.

“Do you have your license?” I asked her.

“No” she replied quietly.

I smirked and wrapped my arm around her shoulders picking up the pace, dragging her towards the front door, “Oh, then we better hurry,” I said. I opened the door for her and then holding my arm out, allowed her to go inside first. She smiled at me before walking in all happy with herself. I followed after her ready to

watch her get incredibly frustrated with the DMV. She walked up to the first open window, with a crabby looking old man.

“Hi-” he cut her off, right off the bat,

“Take a number and wait your turn lass,” he growled.

“Um well I’m kind of in a bit of a rush,” she replied speaking sweetly.

“And so are all the other lovely people,” he said sarcastically motioning around the building. She looked over her shoulder at all the empty seats, gave me a confused look, and then looked back at the old man. She set the license plate down on the desk, and he looked at it with an eyebrow raised.

“I found this letter at an abandoned house, and this license plate and made it my duty to find the person who needs to get this letter. So my friend and I need to know whose plate this is,” she said kindly and as desperately as she possibly could. He sighed sitting up to look her in the eye for the first time.

“Listen, even if I wanted to, I’m not suppose to run plates,” he said.

“I know it’s not exactly ethical, but it would mean a lot to me,” she said, she smiled slightly, “please for me,” she begged. The two stared at each other for a while, and then finally he stood up taking the plate and walking off grumbling.

I looked dumbfounded at her as she smiled excitedly at me. I ran over to her and looked down at her. “How did you possibly get that to happen?” I asked, getting her to giggle.

“With this smile, I can get away with anything,” she replied giving me a little smirk. I chuckled as the man came back throwing down the plate and a little piece of paper stating the owner of the car.



Edwin Gander

“Thank you so so much!” Kara squealed leaning over the desk to give his cheek a kiss, she then took the plate and the note running off. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my wallet, and looked up at the now, slightly less crabby man, who actually was now smiling.

“It’s on the house,” he said taking the receipt and throwing it in the trashcan next to him. I nodded shoving my wallet back into my pocket before heading out after Kara who was now sitting in my car, and as soon as her eyes spotted me, she was waving me to come faster. I chuckled and shook my head, speeding up to a slow jog. I quickly opened the door and got in the driver's seat.

“I have a plan,” she said.

“Is it a good one?” I questioned.

“I have a plan,” she stated again getting me to chuckle and shaking my head, and she giggled slightly, “all we need are phone books and a place to work,”

she said. 

“I don’t think I have a single phone book in my house,” I told her. She rubbed her hands nervously. “So could we go to your house?” I asked her. She was tapping her fingers on the license plate thinking it through, whispering things to herself. Then finally she looked at me and nodded.

“Yeah I suppose it’s our only option,” she said, and with that I turned on my car and started driving. She directed me all the way across town, towards the beat up downtown. The houses were hardly two yards apart, and I parked in front of one of the smaller ones. I looked at the small ratchet house and nodded. “Don’t talk about it, it’s embarrassing,” she muttered getting out of the car, and I followed behind her.

“I didn’t say anything,” I said following her to the front door.

“Yeah but you were thinking it,” she mumbled pulling out her keys.

“No, wasn’t thinking anything,” I replied honestly.

“Clearly,” she teased, trying to ease her own insecurities.

She unlocked the door, and then pushed it open allowing the loud sounds from the inside out. There were kettles boiling, TV blaring, kids screaming, loud was probably an understatement. She looked at me apologetically, and I shook my head with a shrug as if it was nothing. She went inside and I followed her, all of the noises stopped. Well except the kettle, but an older lady was quick to remove it from the stove top.

Everyone was looking at us, Kara shut the door and turned to look at them all. “Um, this is Mason,” she said introducing me to her family. I lifted up my hand and waved at all of them awkwardly. The older woman smirked at the two of us and walked from behind the counter over to us.

She took my chin in her hand, “Strong jaw,” she had a Russian accent, and tough calloused hands, “beautiful eyes,” she said letting go of my face. I took a glance at Kara to see she was slightly embarrassed, then looked back at the old woman. “You’ve picked a good one, dear,” she said before returning to the kitchen.

Kara blushed, “I’ll get the phone books,” she said walking into the kitchen and started rummaging through drawers. I watched as her grandmother and her danced around each other in the small kitchen, each of them doing their own thing.

“Are you Kara’s boyfriend?” I turned my head to look at three kids, the oldest hardly ten years old, and obviously the one who asked the question. She smirked at me, “Kara has told me an awful lot about your adventure together,” she said. I looked at the two younger boys who were looking up at me in awe as if

I was some sort of hero.

Kara walked back over to us, “Could you all leave us alone?” she tried shooing them, but they wouldn’t budge. She rolled her eyes and dropped the books into my arms, “Let’s gooooo,” she said dragging out the o and literally shoving them out of the way. She then nodded and I followed her over to a small side bedroom where there was yet another girl laying across a bed, phone in hand. “Beth get out,” Kara said with a groan. Everything out back in the other room was extremely loud.

Beth sat up and smirked at her older sister, “This is the mysterious Mason,” she said in an alluring voice. Kara crossed her arms over her chest. “So you’ve made out yet?” she questioned.

“BETH!” Kara screeched embarrassed.

“I mean why else would you bring him here?” she continued crossing her arms over her chest. Kara walked over to her sister and grabbed her by her wrist and started to drag her out of the room. “Hey I want the full scoop later,” she said as Kara slammed the door shut in her face and. “So you’ve just started dating!” Beth shouted through the door.

“Don’t you have to be stupid somewhere else!?” Kara shouted, hitting the door trying to get her to leave. Honestly, the whole thing was very entertaining.

“Not until four.”

“Please! Please leave,” she begged of her sister, who cackled but ended up leaving us alone.

She turned around and smiled at me faintly, “I am so sorry,” she said shaking her head before falling down on the bed.

“Is this why you don’t have any friend? You lack people skills?” I teased sitting down on the floor setting all of the phone books down on the floor next to me. She was pulling up her long hair into a pony, it was getting kind of hot in the windowless room.

“Well, I made it through the day without beating anyone with a chair,” she said tilting her head to the side quickly and then back to the upright position. “I’d say my people skills are improving,” she said getting me to chuckle.

“So what’s your plan?” I started looking at the books, she came down onto the floor across from me. She was just arranging the books, but I was watching her. She was so so bare. She wasn’t hidden behind books, she wasn’t covered in dark too big clothes, she wasn’t concealed. I could see the mole behind her ear, the small scar above her cupid's bow, the nearly invisible freckles that sprinkle across the bridge of the nose and down on her cheeks. She wasn’t so mysterious

anymore.

“So we are going to go through all of these books in search of all the Edwin Ganders and then we’ll take it on from there,” she said.

Throwing the book open and looking through the pages. I pulled my gaze from her and opened one of the books in front of me. I started reading through all the E names, and once I didn’t find any in one book, I moved on to the next one. We sat there together, looking through all the old and new phone books. We were silent, but it wasn’t awkward, it was a comfortable silence. I shut the last book I had, and looked up at Kara, who was impatiently waiting for me to be done.

She shoved a notebook at me where I saw she had three Edwin Gander’s in our area. I then looked back up at her. “I didn’t find any in our area,” I replied. She sighed and pulled the notebook at towards herself looking over the names and numbers, as if somehow she would be able to find who we were looking for just

by a look.

“Maybe we should just call them and see if any of them know of a person named Rose,” I said filling the silence. She nodded, still just staring at the notebook.

“Can we use your phone?” she questioned finally looking at me.

“Yeah sure, if you used yours, we can go twice as fast,” I muttered taking out my phone.

“I don’t have a phone,” she said rubbing her arm.

I furrowed my eyebrows, “You’re sister had a phone,” I stated.

“We share that phone we all share that phone,” she said, meaning her and her entire family share that one cell phone. “And Beth is hardly negotiable,” she added with a laugh. I nodded and handed my phone over to her, and she took it in her hand and then started to dial the number. Then she pressed it to her ear,

looking at me quite hopeful.

“Hello, hi, I was wondering if you’ve ever known of a girl named Rose?” she questioned, she was quiet for a moment, then she furrowed her eyebrows. “Hello hello,” she said before pulling it from her ear to see whoever it was had hung up. She sighed and crossed out the name and tossed the phone at me, “Your turn, maybe you’ll have more luck,” she said with a shrug. I took her notebook and dialed the next number, luckily for me it went straight to voicemail.

“Edwin here Can’t come to the phone now that I’m in the hospital bye.”

I shrugged and tossed my phone back at her, “This dude’s in the hospital or something,” I explained, she nodded and dialed the last number, her fingers crossed hoping this would be the one. Yet, I could tell by the defeat on her face that it was indeed not the one. She huffed and tossed my phone at me before collapsing on the bedroom floor.

“I I guess this is where it ends,” she said with a sigh, she was now laying on her side, her head resting on her arm. She smiled slightly at me, “Thanks for trying anyways,” she said before picking at the chipping flooring.

Even I was glad we were no longer snooping around doing illegal things, I was somewhat disappointed we were no longer going to be adventuring together. Not because I loved the whole adventuring thing, it was because I loved poking at her mind, I loved getting to know her. While to her we were on a quest to find Rose, I was on a quest to find her.

“Well the Edwin in the hospital probably lives around here I mean he drove that car,” I started, cutting the devastated silence that had filled the room. Kara sat up slowly, her eyes narrowed at me, she was listening, curious. “I mean we could just visit all the local hospitals,” I told her.

She crawled over to me and flung her arms around my neck. She was hugging me. To say I was surprised, that’s an understatement. She pulled back sitting on her knees. A crooked smile spreading across her face as she moved hairs out of her face. I never thought in a thousand years that I would be sitting here. In Kara Kramer's house, in her room, literally a foot away from her.

“So we can go through the phone books and find all the nearby hospitals” she said flipping open one of the closest books.

“Or we could just do this” I replied pulling out my phone and holding down the home button. It then suddenly responded back to me, asking how it may be of service “Hospitals near me.” I said, and suddenly my maps pulled up showing the nearest hospital to me.

“Mason-” she said looking up at me full of wonder “Don’t you ever get use to me calling you this but you’re a genius” she said moving closer to me looking

at my phone.

Suddenly the door bursted open and her three little siblings were standing there “Mom says it’s time for dinner.” the youngest one said with a smirk.

“And that’s my cue to leave” I said getting up to go.

Kara placed her hand on my arm. Her freezing hands causing goosebumps to rise on my skin. She turned her head looking at me “No, stay for dinner” she said smiling sweetly, a new one from her.

I stood up and pulled her up with me. I returned her smile “As lovely as it would be to dine with you all, I wouldn’t want to leave my mother eating all alone” I said. Kara opened her mouth to say something, that glint of curiosity in her eye, but she closed her mouth and nodded.

“I’ll lead you out” she said passing between her siblings and heading towards the front door. We went through the small house quickly, and the two of

us stood outside her front door. It wasn’t even a second before she dropped her load of questions on me.

“You’re mom’s not married? Or was she married and divorced? And don’t you have any siblings?” she said quickly.

“My mother was married. I am an only child because my mom was diagnosed infertile but then somehow due to some magic above she was blessed with me.”

“And your dad?”

“He died when I was ten” I told her shoving my hands in my pockets.

“I’m sorry.” she said quietly, picking at her blue fingernail polish.

“It was years ago, broke my heart. Only hurts when the sky is grey and the wind is cold” I replied with a shrug.

“You don’t even seem broken.” she said looking up at me.

“Everyone is broken,” I told her, my voice not even sounding like my own. “They just like to pretend they’re not.” I watched her blue eyes tear at mine “it’s like a mask that no one is willing to take off.”

“You could write a book.” she mumbled mostly to herself.

“Only of our adventures.” I replied with a slight smirk as a pinkish shade rose beneath her cheeks and she tried to hide a smile.

“See you tomorrow?” she shyed away opening the door.

“At my car.” I nodded. She went inside, then looked over her shoulder at me.

“Bye Mason” she said.

“Goodbye”

Chapter Three

“It’s social suicide man,” Jake said shaking his head upset with me. For some reason he couldn’t fathom why I would ever want to hang out with Kara Kramer, the girl who reads books for fun. “I mean I bet right now she’s completely loving this book,” he said tossing our AP Literature book on the table.

“Shakespeare actually does write some pretty good things,” I said running my fingers over Othello. I then lifted my gaze to his to see his completely dumbstruck face.

“Do you even hear yourself Mason? Who actually thinks this crap is good?” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. I shrugged, lifting up the book and continuing to read the part we were at, but I couldn’t help but feel his gaze.

“What?” I asked, slightly annoyed. I peeked a glance at him to see he was smirking with his arms crossed over his chest.

“You fancy Kara Kramer.” he said it slowly, like everything now made sense.

I felt my cheeks heat up, and I hid my face back in my book.

“What are you even talking about you idiot, I don’t fancy her,” I said. He then slapped my book out of my hands and I turned to look at him, and he gave me the ‘really’ face. “You don’t know anything.” I grumbled, rolling my eyes

“Hey if I could get Kara to like me like that, I’d be all over her too.” he said, leaning back in his chair. And after that comment I was half tempted to knock the legs of his chair out from under him.

“It’s not like that,” I stated coldly.

“What is it like?” he asked, with a smirk.

Thankfully the bell rang, saving me from continuing this tortuous conversation. I smirked in triumph and stood up throwing my things into my backpack before heading towards the door.

Kara was already sitting on the hood of my car, a book in her lap, her eyes nowhere else. However, she was slightly distracted by her own shivering. She was wearing only a tee shirt, and it was only forty degrees outside. I walked up to her, and she looked up smiling at me, the blue in her eyes nearly matching the color of her lips.

“You idiot,” I rolled my eyes setting my backpack down on the ground, before wiggling out of my sweatshirt. I held it out to her, and she looked at me slightly confused, so I shook it a little “put it on or you’ll freeze to death.” I said. She then took it from me and pulled on the oversized sweatshirt, reminding me of the time we broke into the house.

“Ready to go?” I asked, she nodded closing her book and hopping off the hood of the car walking over to the passenger side door. The two of us climbed into the car at the same time, and then we were off. The ride ended up being

mostly quiet, but knowing Kara it wouldn’t last long.

“My dad walked out on us when I was ten.” she said out of the blue.

“You don’t-” she cut me off.

“I want to,” she said before moving on, shifting uncomfortably. “Mom was pregnant with Julian at the time, and my father didn’t want anymore kids, too much hassle I guess. Not that he really liked any of us anyhow, but he said either the baby goes or he does so we moved in with my grandmother,” she mumbled. Neither of us talked after that, for we had nothing to say to each other but the usual ‘I’m sorry’ and by now, the both of us were sick of hearing that.

We parked in the hospital parking lot and then the two of us headed into the building. I didn’t know what exactly our plan was, and I was hoping Kara had something in mind. Once we got in Kara walk straight up to the receptionist, and I followed her. The woman gave us a sweet smile and then asked if she could help

“We’re here to see my grandfather Edwin Gander,” she said in the most innocent voice I have ever heard. The lady went wide eyed.

“Really? He told us his family wanted nothing to do with him,” she said standing up excited. A pang of worry hit me. How were we to pull this off?

“Yeah but after the accident, I don’t know, I just feel like someone should be there,” Kara explained with a shrug. The nurse nodded, handing her a thing to sign, which Kara carefully tacked Gander as her last name.

“He’s in room 203,” she said with a smile. She was one of those people who actually care about their patients. “I’m glad someone is here for him,” she added.

“Thank you,” Kara replied before heading off towards the rooms. I followed closely behind, not wanting to get caught alone with any of the doctors. I wasn’t the best liar, hell I couldn’t lie about anything, but it came so naturally to Kara, as if it were her second language.

The empty halls smelled of saline and death, moans and groans coming from each closed door we passed. It’s a scary place to be in, knowing at any moment someone could die. The patients on this floor were basically sitting in their pre-graves. We walked to an open door, where there was one lying uselessly in the bed. Every part of him old and hollowed out. He honestly looked dead, but that didn’t stop Kara. She wasn’t fearful of death.

I slowly followed in after her, she had already pulled up a chair next to the side of his bed. She sat down and he slowly moved his head to look at her. She gave him one of her brilliant smiles, the kind of smile that makes anyone feel like they’ve known her for years. I stood quietly next to Kara, and the man looked between the two of us, completely shocked.

“Do I- Do I know you?” he asked looking beyond confused.

“No,” Kara said honestly pulling the picture out of her pocket and looking

at it, “But maybe you know her?” she asked handing the picture over to him.

He took the old flimsy picture in his slender shaking hands and held it up to where he could see it. His clouded eyes seemed to clear a bit as a smile spread across his lips. “Rose” he said in a hushed tone. Memories must have been crossing his mind. Kara looked up at me with a hopeful glint in her eyes.

“Yeah, did you know her?” Kara asked.

He dropped his arms down in his lap, holding the picture tightly in his hands. He nodded. “She was a lively girl, had quite a bit of an attitude,” he said happily.

“Reminds me of someone I know,.” I mumbled quiet enough for only Kara to hear me, who elbowed me in the side knowing I meant her.

He turned his head to look at me. “Are you a friend of hers?” he asked us. I nodded, not trusting the sound of my voice. “I haven’t seen her in years,” he said softly. “My daughter was her best friend. Those two were as close as two people can be. I always wondered what happened to Rose,” he said.

“How can we get a hold of your daughter?” Kara asked. He looked suspicious. “Rose lost contact with her and asked us to help track her down. We live close by your old home,” Kara explained her elaborate lie.

The old man looked away from us, “I haven’t talked to Lucy in year,.” he said slightly ashamed. I could tell he didn’t want to talk about it, but Kara, whether she was blind to it or she just didn’t care, pressed on.

“Well someone must have signed you in here. Family don’t just leave like that.” She stood up before walking around the bed and out the door. I knew she didn’t believe what came out of her mouth, but I didn’t want to stop her. So instead I took her seat next to the man, and he looked at me.

“Who is she?” he asked, slight curiosity in his voice.

“Kara,” I replied.

“Care to explain?” he asked.

I laced my fingers together trying to come up with the right words to describe Kara Kramer. Which had seemingly become hard. I looked back at the man who was patiently awaiting for an answer.

“She’s almost absolutely unexplainable.” I started furrowing my eyebrows “You see her and you think she’s the good girl, but once you get her talking, get to know her, you realize she’s everything. She’s honest, she’s funny, she’s crazy, and you never know what she plans to do next,” I told him.

He smiled. “A lovely friend to have,” he said.

“She’s something else,” I replied shaking my head.

"The last I talked to my daughter was nearly forty years ago,” he said with a cough, “She was marrying this police officer. Bryan, I believe his name was. Rose was probably at the wedding, maybe she could help get more information on him

to find Lucy,” he told me. I smiled and nodded, stood up and shook his hand.

“Thank you for talking with us,” I said before walking out of the room and down the hall where there was some chaos happening.

“Family doesn’t just leave family like that, they always come back! Who’s on the goddamn files!” Kara said, hitting the counter with her fists getting angry. I quickly ran over to defuse the flame that was Kara.

“Kara, his daughter hasn’t talked to him in over forty years,” I said, placing my hands on her shoulders. “And I’m sure he can sign himself in,” I said, looking at the nurse for reinforcement and she nodded. Kara huffed and shook me off before storming out of the hospital front doors.

“I’m sorry about her, she’s a bit of a loose cannon,” I said lifting up the pen that had dropped and setting it on the counter.

“Don’t worry about your girlfriend sweetheart, it’s all good.” She winked before walking off. I don’t know why my cheeks burned when she said that, or maybe I did but didn’t want to think about it. Either way I shook the feeling off and headed towards the door. I ran over to the car, but Kara was no place to be found. I furrowed my eyebrows and looked around to where she could’ve gone.

I walked over to the closest patch of green, and looked around for the small girl. She was sitting down next to a small creek that went under the bridge. I slowly walked down there, she was sniffling and throwing rocks into the water. I pulled up my jeans before sitting down next to her. I didn’t want to look at her at first, afraid she’d get mad, but I could still hear the sound of her crying.

I looked over at her. Her nose was pink, and the skin around her eyes were red, blotchy. She glanced at me, feeling my stare on her. I noticed her eyes were bluer when she cried, almost like an aquamarine gem. I knew right now, to most

people they’d see a regular girl who’s upset over something. But to me, she’s no ordinary girl. To me she was the most beautiful, most lovely girl I’ve ever met.

“Could you not just stare at me? At least say something,” she said, wiping her tears away.

I looked back out into the water. I cleared my throat before speaking “Why are you crying?” I asked. She wrapped her arms around herself rubbing her arms.

“He loved me. He told me everyday up until I was eight. He told me I was the best thing that ever happened to him. We had the father-daughter bond TV shows make girls wish they had,” she sighed.

“Did I become so horrible that he wouldn’t want me? Why would he just up and leave me like that?” she sniffled, tossing another rock into the water, disrupting the peace.

I looked at her and she was so desperate to know why, and throwing rocks in the water was all she could do to ignore that fact. “What did I do to make him want to stay away from his precious baby girl?” she asked, rubbing her forehead. I stayed silent because I didn’t know how to help this helpless girl. There was nothing I could say that would make her feel better because she wanted to hear it from him.

“It still hurts. It’s been so long, you’d think I’d be fine,” she says looking down at her worn out converse. “It use to be a dull ache that was constantly with me, but now it’s a sharp pain that only occurs once in awhile.” She smiled a little, but it was bitter sweet. “At least I’m getting better right?” she asked softly.

I bite my lip before speaking “Have you ever thought that maybe he hasn’t come back because he doesn’t feel worthy of you?” I questioned. She tucked her hair behind her ear looking at me confused. “Like maybe he didn’t want to come

back because you’re better than him,” I explained.

She smiled sadly at me. “Thank you Mason,” she said, then sniffled rubbing the rest of the tears off her cheek “if only that were true.” she replied, standing up brushing off her leggings. I stood up and nodded at her. “Let’s go,” she muttered walking off. I followed behind her.

She no longer had her usual bounce as she walked, instead she was moving slowly. She was no longer radiating happiness, instead she was pulling along a dark cloud of sadness. She wasn’t her usual talkative self, gushing on and on about books and adventure. This wasn’t the side of her I’ve seen before. This was a new side, one that’s dark and twisted. Where storm clouds meet lightening giving you the thunderous boom. A place where the clouds can no longer hold back the rain. Yet, this was still the place I wanted to be.

I could tell she didn’t want to talk, so I decided to drive her home in silence. I could feel her brewing beside me though, with a brain like hers, thoughts must be insanely wild. Dreams more outrageous. Demons more demented. Leaving her now would be cowardice act.

We parked outside of her house and I looked at the side of her head as she moved to unbuckle her seatbelt. She then was starting to move her head to look at me, so I looked at my hands that were clenched around the wheel. “See you around I guess,” she said with a sigh.

“Do you know why I don’t make eye contact with you often?” I asked her suddenly.

“No, why?”

“Every time I look at you I feel this unknown danger rise in my stomach to my throat. It makes my throat scratchy and my cheeks flush. It makes my hands clammy, and my stomach turn... “ I looked up at her, she wasn’t laughing or judging, but for some reason I still blushed. “Eye contact is a dangerous thing for

a boy like me. All these feelings I feel when I look into your eyes scare me. All of it scares the hell out of me,” I said softly looking back at my hands.

Suddenly her lips were against my cheek, a tingling sensation went running down my spine. I turned to look at her, our faces inches apart, she shook her head ‘No.’ causing me to furrow my eyebrows. “I don’t believe you,” she said before placing her hand on my cheek getting every nerve ending in my body to become suddenly electrified by her touch. “But Thank you,” she said before exiting my car.

I sat there driving home, feeling everything. From excitement to disappointment. Why had she cut me off like that? Why couldn’t she believe that I actually liked her. This is the first time I’ve ever had any sort of girl relationship. I pushed these thoughts out of my mind as I quickly ran inside seeing as I was late for dinner. My mother was already sitting at the dinner table, a place set for me.

I sat down across from her, “I’m sorry I was late, I was with-” she cut me off.

“Mrs. Kramer’s daughter I know,” she said, yet she didn’t sound mad so I wasn’t going to push my luck.

“I’m sorry,” I said picking up my fork and piling the food in.

“I think it’s good for you. I never liked that friend of yours Jake,” she said and being my mother, she knew me better than anyone. “I know he’s your childhood friend but he’s been breaking the law recently,” she said delicately. I tried hard not to smirk as I looked down at my potatoes, because I wasn’t exactly innocent in that category. “But Kara has her books, and she’s a decent girl,” she explained.

I moved around the peas on my plate, “Uh mom, can I ask you something?” I said, feeling a bit awkward having to ask her.

“Yes Hun of course.”

“How How do you know you’re falling in love?” I asked, getting my cheeks to flare red. I slowly looked up at her and gave her an awkward smile, but she gave me a warm one.

“I think it’s when they make you see the beauty in things you once thought were ordinary,” she said simply before continuing to eat.

“Shakespeare actually does write some pretty good things,” I said running my fingers over Othello.

I blushed “Oh,” I mumbled before stuffing my face, to keep me from embarrassing myself further.

“You’ve been hanging out for a few months now” she started, wanting me to continue on it.

“Yeah like 2 or so months, but who’s counting.” I was.

“Why don’t you invite her over sometime?” she questioned.

“She’s not really good at meeting new people.” Liar.

“Oh she’s quite shy then?” It was like an interrogation.

“Yeah she is.” half truth.

“Well she’s an innocent girl right? Not a trouble maker?” Mom why?

“Of course.” Not so true.

“And you really like her?”

“Yes.” Dang it.

Chapter Four