As her dad stopped the car at the curb, Lyla narrowed her eyes against the burning sun that seemed locked low in the bleached morning sky just above the orange and yellow tree line.

"See you at four," Ryan called when his daughter exited the car and began her trek up the concrete walkway. She waved in response.

She followed two nurses who chatted between sips of tea from their travel mugs. Behind her, a bearded man and his thin coworker, both wearing suit jackets, lugged their shoulder bags toward the hospital entrance.

Where's Shaniece? Or Natalie and AJ?

Nearing the sliding glass doors she heard Bo call out from behind, "Lyla! Lyla, watch out!"

Reflected in the glass, she saw him topple. Pedestrians on the walkway were shoved aside, screaming and shouting. She turned, wide-eyed at the terrifying image of Rose with stormy eyes, her mouth frothing, hacking her way toward Lyla with a butcher knife.

Lyla fumbled getting the Mace out of her pocket. It dropped to the sidewalk and rolled. With Rose closing in, Lyla abandoned it and ran.

When the bearded man made a daring attempt to intervene, Rose slashed ferociously. His throat opened, a trail of blood following the arc of her blade. She yanked free and lunged for her target.

Lyla bolted for the doors, her desperate eyes scanning for security personnel or police. She shrieked when she felt the knife rip into her backpack, sending her crashing into the nurses and stumbling to the ground, in a puddle of spilled tea. Rose pounced, lashing first at the unfortunate nurse who had come to Lyla's aid, then directing her fiery eyes at her victim.

"You little murdering bitch!" she shrieked.

Lyla howled as the blade tore through her outstretched hand. She turned her head away, the knife striking the pavement inches away. Lyla's nostrils flared when Rose squeezed her throat, raising her weapon for a brutal, fatal blow. As the wide blade came down...

Lyla threw her arms like windmills against her invisible attacker, thrashing in her bed. She opened her eyes and sucked in a deep breath, finding herself in her bedroom, her chest heaving, her legs twisted in a rope of sheets. Thankfully, there was no tattooed bony hand crushing her windpipe, no crazed knife-wielding witch straddling her torso, no wounds on her trembling hands and arms.

........

After a restless school day, when Lyla arrived at Moore Park, she slipped the backpack from her sweaty shoulders, unzipped it, and pulled out her drone and controller. She scanned the surrounding area. A soccer game was in progress at one end of the field. Aside from the soccer players, she noticed a girl running with her leashed chocolate lab, some kids on bikes, and a small group of skater boys smoking cigarettes in the shade of a nearby tree. She ignored one of the skaters with flippy blonde hair and Vans making kissing noises at her.

If her dad knew that she was venturing out on her own, he'd explode, but she couldn't wait for him to get home from work. She hadn't told him about the drone because she hadn't concocted a plausible excuse for why she bought it. And then there was the matter of Jack. With Ryan as her escort, she wouldn't be able to explain her plan to Jack.

"Hey, drone girl. Hey, baby drone girl," flippy hair called.

She noticed Jack as he jogged down the grassy hillside, his arm still in a sling. He gestured toward the church at the far end of the field and called, "Why'd you have to pick this place?" Then, noticing the drone, his brown eyes lit up when he asked, "Where'd you get that?" His bruised face had healed and he now wore a short scruffy beard.

"Don't be so rude." Flippy hair persisted. "Wanna smoke?" He offered his pack of cigarettes.

"Ignore them," Lyla said.

When flippy hair said, "I'm talking to you, girl," Jack slowly turned.

"Ah, skater babies," said Jack. "When you can't cut real sports, and you're tired of playing with dolls."

Flippy hair stood and tossed his cigarette into the grass. "What're you gonna do with one arm, bruh?"

"Try me." Jack started in his direction.

"Come on," said one of his skater friends as they headed out of the park. "Forget shit and move on."

She simmered with anger. "You just got out of the hospital and now you're gonna fight some stupid kid? Over what?" 

"Had to be done," Jack replied with a grin.

She set the drone in the grass, backed up toward him, and then launched it into the air. She'd had a few practice sessions but still wasn't feeling terribly confident. The drone sailed across the field gaining altitude. Jack drew near, his eyes alternating between the drone and her phone screen mounted on the controller. When the drone reached the church, she set it to hover over the roof for a few seconds and then concentrated on bringing it back. She flew it in a wide arc then landed it in the grass about ten feet away.

"That's awesome," he said when their eyes met.

She nearly got lost in her admiration before she said, "Now we can see what's up there." She retrieved the drone and walked back to him.

"Up on the roof?" he asked.

"No. At the top of that hill."

"Huh?"

"We don't even need to get out of the car. I mean we can park on the road and fly the drone up there to see what's going on."

"Wait, what?"

"We talked about this, remember? We don't know if they moved the grave, or if there's somebody up there, right? This way we'll find out."

He thought about it for a moment then nodded. "Yeah. I guess that could work."

"It'll definitely work."

"Let me try it."

"How you gonna do that with your arm in a sling?"

"I drove my car here. Think I can drive a drone."

"You drove with one arm?"

"Pretty much." He eyed the drone. "Come on. Gimme a try."

"If you wreck it or lose it, you owe me a hundred bucks. You have a hundred dollars?"

"I'm not gonna wreck it."

She walked about ten yards into the field and set the drone down. When she returned to where Jack was standing she pointed at the controller in his hands and said, "That's take-off."

"Duh."

The drone wobbled its way off the ground. He flew it around the field, nearly hitting a tree at one point.

"That was close," she said.

"No worries. I got this."

"Battery's not fully charged," she said. "Better bring it down before it crashes."

He managed to navigate the drone to a rough landing. She brushed off the grass and stuffed it into her backpack with the controller.

"So let's make a plan to go out there and give it a try."

He nodded.

"Can you give me a ride home?" she asked.

"Darcy drop you off here?"

"I ran."

"You ran? Okay, yeah, I'll give you a ride."

"Hope you drive your car better than you fly the drone."

"Ha! Ha!" he said sarcastically. 

She slung the backpack over one shoulder and they made their way toward the hill and the parking lot. 

"You see him lately?" Jack looked around.

She shook her head. "You?"

"Nope."

"I got a couple messages," she whispered. "And I've seen the creepy janitor guy again."

He scratched his head. "Yeah, about our texts. Sure the cops aren't reading them?"

"I'm sure."

"Hope you're right."

"I'm right."

When they arrived at the parking lot she asked, "Which car is yours?"

"The red one over there."

"Oh, nice."

"Yeah, I like it."

As they drew closer, Lyla's heart clenched in her chest. Carved into the hood of Jack's car was a large O.