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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 an 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 road instead of the dead people walking up and down the streets. There are more of them today; I spot at least five. I have no clue if they’re people who died here or if the Anamotti are scrounging for puppets elsewhere.
     
    There’s also a lot more living people out and about today. Usually, I only pass maybe six or seven, but I spot three crowds, plus ten individuals just on the main strip of town. The growing population only rises when I arrive at the school and almost every parking spot is taken. Finally, I find one at the back, near the road, and maneuver my car into it.
     
    I haven’t been a fan of school at all lately. Never have been, even before the entire town thought I was a killer. So when I get ready to climb out of my car and my gut churns, I think it’s caused by my usual loathing towards school. When I make it across the parking lot and to the school yard, I realize something’s off. People are filing in and out of the school entrance in a perfect line, their attention straight ahead on the person in front of them. They all move together in sync,