Once I parked my car at the edge of the woods, I turned to Mel. "Stay here, Mel," I ordered as I opened the glove box and pulled out the flashlight I had in there.Mel turned her head to me. "No way. I'm here to not only protect you but make sure you also don't get into trouble.""I know, but I don't want you hurt. Besides, you can keep an eye out. If anything happens, you can go get help."Mel sighed. "Fine, but you better be safe and you owe me some food."I laughed and petted her gently. "Duly noted," I said before I got out of my Jeep. When I pushed the button on my flashlight, it didn't turn on. Stupid thing. I hit it a couple of times with my palm before it came on. Using the light, I cautiously made my way to the only place that I could think Hayden was. The meadow. As soon as I crawled through the small space, I was shocked. The once beautifully luscious meadow that was circled with a wide variety of flowers was now nothing more than just dirt and sticks.Through, Hayden was he

Orange, red, blue, and white lights flashed around the forest as I stood by my Jeep. It was awful. Kayla had stabbed Angela. It had been tragic. It all happened so fast.Hayden's mother and I had both been stunned before a feeling in my chest hit me. It was pain. Crippling pain that had me curling up into a ball almost. I felt like I couldn't breathe. I could feel Hayden's mother trying to comfort me strangely, but everything felt surreal.As soon as the pain stopped, I uncurled myself. Tears had damped my cheeks because they were wet. And it wasn't from the rain because water still hadn't touched me. I must have been crying. But I wasn't sure if it was from the pain or sadness or both.Just before any of us could do anything, I watched confused and frightened as a black oily cloud slithered and then swirled through the trees until it stopped directly at Kayla. I tried reaching out with my empathy to get a sense of what it was, but all could feel was a strange sense of static.I wante