The week of suspension trudged on as the girls remained idle in their respective houses. Amber was still barred from attending her volunteering events, and this made her coil up in guilt. She'd logged into Ultimate Online to get her mind off of it with the hope of seeing Hayden until she remembered his hospitalization and the awful words she'd said to him. Amber couldn't forget the hurt look on his face when she'd called him a coward.

Now that she'd had time to think about the situation, she wasn't sure if lashing out at him was called for. If it weren't for him calling a janitor, who knows what would have happened to them in that dark room?

Amber sighed as she laid back in her bed that night, her heart heavy with regret. Hayden had put himself in danger for Amber's sake, and it wasn't fair to scream at him the way she did. This is why she decided to sneak out again and visit him the next morning.

***

Amber knocked on the hospital door before making her way in. She was not prepared to see Elias there, with his chin resting on a clenched fist and teary red eyes.

Amber's heart skipped a beat when she saw his troubled stance.

"Elias—"

"Amber, what are you doing here?" He said in a tight voice. His piercing blue eyes held something back.. anger?

"I'm checking up on Hayden," she said. The steady beeping of the heart monitor made her anxious as she drew closer. "I actually wanted to talk to him alone, but I can come back later if you two are busy."

"You can talk to him, but he's not going to respond," Elias' voice cracked.

Amber's thin eyebrows raised in concern at his strange statement. It finally dawned on her when she caught sight of Hayden on the bed. His eyes were closed, and a clear oxygen mask was strapped to his still face. His body showed no sign of movement.

"The doctors say he fell into a coma as a result of the head injury," Elias said, keeping his arms crossed.

Amber gulped down the knot in her throat, trying just as hard as Hayden's cousin to keep her composure. "How long will he stay like this?"

"They're estimating four weeks at most, but they couldn't say for sure."

Amber shook her head in disbelief. Her nails dig into her arms as she silently guilted herself once more for leaving him alone that day.

"You have to tell me what happened down there in that basement, Amber."

Amber kept her gaze locked on Hayden as if her attention were enough to keep him alive. Could she trust Elias?

"There were two men.. the power went out and they came downstairs," Amber answered.

"Men?"

Amber nodded, glancing up at him nervously. "They were wearing police uniforms, it seemed."

She decided to leave out the fact that they were specifically looking for Rain's file, just in case. "We overheard them arguing about a file they didn't want us to find, and we felt scared so we hid. That's when one of them found Hayden, and they both... they both beat him," Amber closed her eyes, urging the memory to hurry away. "They almost caught me too, but I escaped. I know, I shouldn't have left him alone but I was scared. I shouldn't have left him alone."

Amber bit back her lip. She knew what Elias was thinking. It was all her fault, for being a coward. She knew it, too. If only she hadn't pulled Hayden into this investigation, his life wouldn't be in danger.

"Amber... It's not your fault."

Amber turned to look at him in surprise. Surely she'd heard him wrong. "How can it not be?"

"If you hadn't run away, who knows what they would've done to you? They could've hurt you, too. I don't blame you for running. This is THEIR fault. I'm going to find those sons of bitches and make them regret this," Elias growled through gritted teeth.

"Be careful, please," Amber begged. "And... there's more. They're helping cover up Rain Wilson's murder. That's the case Elias and I were studying, and the same one we overheard them looking for."

"But it was declared a suicide," Elias said in confusion.

Elias wouldn't make a very good detective, Amber thought to herself. "They wouldn't be so worried about us finding something unless they were trying to hide something. Right?"

Elias' eyes went wide when he finally understood. "Right! You may be onto something. I'll let you be alone with Hayden for now. Like I said.. he might not be able to respond, but I'm sure he can hear you."

Amber smiled at Elias and thanked him before he walked out the door.

"You be careful too, Amber," he warned. "Oh, and..." He paused to scribble down something on his notepad. "Call me if you feel unsafe."

"Thank you, Elias," Amber said.

"Of course."

He closed the door behind him gently, leaving Amber alone with a silent Hayden. Tears welled up in her eyes at the desolate sight of him hooked up to a ventilator and she finally let it out. Amber rushed to his bedside and knelt, holding his hand in hers as she cried.

"Hayden, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for everything I said to you. You're not a coward. You're brave, Hayden. And you saved my life again that night, and at the pool when we first became friends. I'm just... an idiot for not recognizing it. I let my pride get in the way, and I was selfish. I should've been here for you, but instead, I lashed out." Amber gently brushed his soft blonde curls away before kissing his forehead. "I don't even know if you can hear me right now, but I'm truly sorry. Please.. wake up soon."

Amber rested her head on his chest, feeling a bit more assured once she heard his heart beating next to her ear. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. Even when unconscious, Hayden was helping her. His steady heartbeat synchronized with hers, somehow guiding hers to slow down so she could breath normal again.

Amber smiled gently, not wanting to let go. She opened her eyes to see a pale face with cracked skin and sunken eyes staring straight at her from the other side of the bed. Its constricted pupils stood out like white rings floating in two pits of darkness as it stared coldly into her very soul.

Amber jumped back, but the face was gone. The hairs on her neck stood on end as the lights above flickered. She glanced around. The room was empty apart from her and Hayden.

Amber gulped hard before kneeling to look under the hospital bed. Surely a person couldn't fit under it. Amber let out a sigh of relief upon only seeing the pattern of the checkerboard floor reflecting back at her. A low hum followed by a static snap interrupted her short-lived peace of mind as an entire row of lights above her suddenly flickered out. The room became dim, and the only source of light came from above the door.

Amber grabbed Hayden's hand on reflex, but it was cold, slimy, and wet. She let go in shock when she realized his hand was covered in blood. It wasn't only his hand. Blood was smeared all over his white hospital gown, and the scarlet smears around his neck left evidence of a firm hand print.

"Hayden, no!!" Amber yelled. "Rain, if you're in here, please stop this... Please!"

Whimpers coming from a dark corner of the hospital room pierced the eerie silence. Amber trembled as she turned around. A figure sat curled up in the corner next to a closet, rocking itself back and forth as it wailed.

"Rain..? Is that you?" Amber said, not yet brave enough to step closer. The dark curls falling over her face made Amber feel confident that it was Rain. The last lights flickered for a second as Amber stepped closer.

The girl continued rocking herself and whimpering but suddenly began whispering words in a series of rushed breathing.

"Who... Who did this to me, who did this to me, who did this to me, who did this to me?"

Amber's leather ankle high-heeled boots clicked on the floor as she stepped one foot in front of the other, slowly, as if not to disturb Rain. Finally, Amber stood only a few steps away from the figure. "Rain..? Are you here?" Her voice quivered softly.

The girl suddenly stopped rocking. A hoarse and quiet voice choked out from behind the disheveled curls, "D.. id... you... fiiind... m.. my... killer?"

Amber gulped. "No, not yet—!"

Rain's head flung back and screeched violently, her unhinged jaw hanging wide open. Her body lunged forward and shoved Amber into a table with unfathomable force, sending clipboards and glass clattering and shattering all over the floor. Amber winced as her palm landed on shards.

"You... stupid... BITCH. I've waited and waited and WAITED!" Rain screeched as she held Amber down.

Amber moaned in pain as her palms pressed harder into the shards. Ice-cold talons gripped Amber's face up by scratching past her neck and yanking the short ends of her honey-blonde hair down.

"Find who did this to me. Or else..." The tiny rings of white in Rain's pupils glowed just as a sudden high-pitched beeping sound blinded Amber.

Amber was enveloped in white light for just a second before the bright fog cleared to reveal Hayden laying in his bed in the hospital room. The lights were back on, and everything was organized like it was at the beginning. Amber could see the scene below as if she were stuck to the ceiling. The beeping sound continued as a single chilling monotonous tone as nurses rushed into the room. That's when Amber realized, the heart monitor had gone flat.

The scene happened in fast motion. The nurses went from performing CPR to stripping him down and attaching paddles connected to wires on his chest. They counted down before pressing a button, causing Hayden's body to convulse violently. It happened over and over to no avail. The monitor stayed flat. A male nurse announced the time of death. Tomorrow's date, 7:06 P.M.

The lights went out after a staff member zipped his body bag closed and rolled his gurney out, leaving the empty space ready for the next patient.

Amber choked out tears as she stared at the closet on the other side of the lit-up room. She was back in her own body, in the present time, and Rain was nowhere to be seen. Her threat, however, had been clearly received. Amber's bloodied hands and bruised knees trembled, reminding her of the shards of glass poking into her skin. She ignored the stabbing pain and rushed herself to Hayden's bedside. His heart monitor was active and showed he was still alive.

Amber let out a sob as she collapsed into his chest. "I can't let you die, Hayden!"