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go there first. Thankfully, nothing turns up. I could call the police, but I doubt that’d go over well. She’s an adult. I’m crazy. End of discussion.
     
    I start to head up to my room, when I hear the front door creak open. I pause, waiting for the sound of footsteps or a voice, but all I hear it the wind. Slowly, I go into the foyer again. The door is wide open and leaves are blowing in across the floor. There’s no one in there though. No one out on the porch. I stick my head outside and there doesn’t seem to be a single soul in sight.
     
    “That’s weird,” I say, shutting the door, confused as I turn for the stairs.
     
    That’s when I hear the swish .
     
    Seconds later something flies over my head, getting so close it brushes against my hair. I duck, throwing my arms over my head as a dark mass circles around and does it again, this time going through me. A cold chill soars through my body, like it did the night the book was stolen, and I drop flat on my stomach on the hard floor. It feels like the wind is knocked out of me as I flip over, catching my breath, trying to scream, even though there’s a good chance no one will hear me.
     
    But as my lips part the shadow swoops straight up and then plunges straight at me, a black mass ready to devour me. I open my mouth to scream again, but the air is sucked from my lungs. I hear a voice as it nears, one I swear I’ve heard before, but can’t place.
     
    “You better watch what you do,” the shadow whispers, nearing me. “We’re everywhere.”
     
    Then it disappears, right before it hits me.
     
    I lie on the ground, stunned as I stare up at the ceiling stained with water spots. “What the hell was that?” I ask, breathing loudly
     
    You’re being stalked. Cameron’s voice rises in my head again. 
     
    “By what?” I ask as I sit up, my body aching in protest.
     
    By a Reaper, he says. I’m not sure who it is though.
     
    I clutch onto the wall as I get to my feet. “Sure you aren’t.”
     
    I’m not, Cameron snaps. I might be a Reaper, but I sure as hell don’t know all the Reapers or what they’re all doing. Your guess is as good as mine who that was and why they appeared so suddenly.
     
    “It wasn’t suddenly,” I say. “They were here about a week ago too.”
     
    And you didn’t tell me because…
     
    “Because you’re you.” I get my balance and trudge toward the stairway.
     
    Ha, ha, you’re hilarious. He pauses. So when the shadow was here last time, did it do anything to you?
     
    I shake my head as I start up the stairs. “No, it just dove at me and then stole a book from me. Honestly, I sort of thought it was you.”
     
    Well it wasn’t. And I really wish you’d mentioned this sooner.
     
    I pause at the top of the stairway. “Why?”
     
    Because it seems you have a Reaper stalker on your hands.
     
    “Like you?” I ask sarcastically.
     
    I’m not stalking you. I merely see something I want and refuse to give up until I have it.
     
    “Which will be never,” I say, turning down the hallway. “So you might as well give up now.”
     
    He doesn’t respond. I wait until I enter my room before I repeat what I said. I never get an answer and eventually the silence gets to me, along with the fear of being stalked and the fear of having a Reaper live inside my head. I decide to go to school because it’s better than sitting around in a quiet house again, waiting for my shadow stalker to return again. Then, on my way home I can check out the clinic and the streets for my mom. I gather my backpack from my room and then head out the door, hoping upon hope that this isn’t going to turn out like my dad.
     
    Missing forever.

Chapter 4
     
     
    I drive to school in my mom’s car, cranking up the music because it’s the only thing that will block out the dark thoughts in my head and the quiet around me. I thrum my fingers on top of the steering wheel to the beat as I drive up the highway, focusing on the