Alexis Kathan stared at herself in the mirror. Well, lowered and adjusted mirror. She was probably confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Her dad said that she's lucky to be alive, but Alexis sulked about the wheelchair for hours.

Mom had to help her change most of the time since Alexis was still adjusting to her new life. It was awkward and very embarrassing. Alexis brushed her blond hair, tying it into a high ponytail.

Sometimes, she wondered how she was even alive. Did she deserve it? Alexis supposed she owed it to Lukas and the Midên, Lukas ended up coming back early after hearing a faint gunshot coming from Omfori.

Speaking of that horrifying island that Alexis still has night terrors about, the Goode family tried to sell it. No one, not even the rich and fancy people, wanted to buy it. Last thing that Alexis heard of the island, it's some random idiot bought it and turned it into a horror tourist attraction.

Yeah, nothing other than 'GREEK ISLAND TOURIST ATTRACTION WHERE TWO GIRLS DIED PREVIOUSLY' screams for attention. It was around 8: 30 AM, and despite her protests, Alexis knew she had to get up early.

There was much to do, and a lot to find out.

"Alexis," Mom called out from the foyer. "There's someone at the door looking for you!"

God, it better not be another nosy reporter, she thought as she opened the door. She rolled out of the bathroom which was conveniently next to the front door. The front door was open, and there was a boy there, around her age.

He had dark brown skin and light gray eyes. Alexis knew he looked familiar, but school had been out for a while, so she forgot most of her classmates over the summer. "Uh, hi. Who are you?"

"Er—my name is Kirks Witcher. But most people call me Circe," the boy replied nervously. "Uhm...Tellie, your friend, may have mentioned me by any chance."

Suddenly, Alexis was reminded of what Penny wrote in the diary. "Oh yeah...um, Tellie liked you a lot. I could tell, well, everyone could. Do you want t-to come in, or are you just stopping by?"

Kirks stayed silent for a second, looking embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry, I just thought if I showed up here, you'd suddenly open up about Tellie. And th-then that would help me move on and stop crying in my bedroom—"

He stopped, trying to collect himself. Alexis could see the hurt in his eyes, all the pain in his eyes. He clearly liked Tellie a lot, maybe even loved her. But she was gone, so maybe Alexis and Kirks could try to comfort each other.

"I'm so sorry," he laughed, no humour in his voice. "This is stupid, I'm stupid, I seriously need to go—"

"It's okay," Alexis interrupted abruptly. "I...I miss her too. And I can't stop c-crying in my room either. The hurt I'm feeling...it's not fresh, but it's not healed. I apologize if I sound sappy right now, but..."

"No one else understands?" Kirks guessed. "Yeah, it sucks a lot."

Alexis was never open about her emotions, but she felt like she was spilling her guts out. She grabbed her satchel off the mini table in the foyer, rolling outside, and locking the door. "That's some kind of privacy, Kirks. If you want to talk about Tellie, this is a good place to start."

"Tellie and I were supposed to elope."

That sucked the soul out of Alexis. She almost fell out of her wheelchair. "Um, what? You mean elope, as in marrying each other in secret without your parents' blessing? Oh...wow, I was not expecting that. Not that I think that's weird!"

Kirks gnawed at his nails. "We were supposed to elope after senior year was over, we figured that we would skip town once we graduated. We would go get decent jobs and sort of teenage-dream-fairytale crap."

"I never knew you two were engaged," Alexis said. "I didn't even know that Tellie had a boyfriend, much less a fiancée!"

Kirks allowed a thin smile. "Yeah, well, you were the only person who Tellie considered to t-tell first."

Once again, Alexis felt as if she would fall out of her wheelchair. "Me? Why not P-Penny? They were like besties, well, kind of."

Alexis couldn't get the entries of Penelope Goode's diary out of her head. Penny was a horrible friend, a tricky one too. Each one of the girls were hollowed out, a pawn to Penny's game. "Hey, Kirks. This might sound strange, but do you, I don't know, want to join me for the day. I'm going to do an interview in the afternoon, it's about Tellie."

Alexis Kathan managed to avoid the wrath of nosy reporters for the remaining summer, but the topic of what happened on Omfori was still hot. Alexis agreed to do a series of five interviews for a local news channel. After that, maybe the nightmare will finally end.

"Sure," Kirks said, looking awkward. "But it's still the morning."

"I know," Alexis said, rolling down the porch on the ramp that Dad installed for her two weeks ago. "But I need to finish loose ties first of all. Our first stop—the Mak family's house."

It was more anxious than Alexis expected when Kirks rang the doorbell. The walk to Maks' house was short and nerve-wrecking. She hadn't talked to the Maks ever since the death of their daughter.

She regretted her decision to come, but Alexis decided that she had to finish this off before the summer ended. Kirks joined her at the bottom of the porch as the door clicked open. "Hello, how can I help you? Alexis?!"

Mrs. Mak froze, shocked. She looked the same—graying black hair, Asian skin, and those dazzling eyes. She wore a light pink dress, an unnerved frown creased into her expression. "I heard of your, well, wheelchair situation, I'm sorry."

Alexis honestly couldn't tell if she was genuine or not. "Thanks."

"Would y-you like to come in—" Mrs. Mak paused. "Oh right, we don't have a ramp, uhm, I apologize."

"No, it's fine," Alexis replied, not wanting to make a fuss of it. Kirks understood that this was a private moment, so he went to the curb of their driveway, leaving the two alone. "I-I want to talk to you about J-Jeanie."

It was still a struggle to say her name. Apparently, it was also hard for Mrs. Mak as well. She shifted uncomfortably. "I-I miss her every day, Lora Jean was my baby girl. But she was too headstrong, too forward. I always knew she'd end up in trouble, b-but I didn't realize that it would be the death of her."

Mrs. Mak's eyes started to form tears. "I'm so-sorry about how rude I was during your freshman year. It was Lora Jean's fault, not yours. Still, I-I found it easier to blame you."

Alexis stared at her lap, her hands hooked on the arms of the wheelchair. "It's okay, Mrs. Mak. If I'm being truthful...I blamed myself for the longest time. Maybe if I stayed with Jeanie, watched her intake of a-alcohol, she wouldn't be dead."

"You went through enough," she shook her head, crying. "I'm so, so sorry, Alexis. Lora Jean's death affected all of us, but I keep forgetting it also affected you."

They stayed silent until Mrs. Mak spoke up in a choked voice. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can speak of Lora Jean any longer, th-this is too much to digest in one day."

Alexis nodded numbly. "I also need to go soon..."

"You should stop by some time." Mrs. Mak gave a thin smile. "Goodbye, Alexis."

"Bye, Mrs. Mak."

She shut the door as Alexis felt some of the weight of Jeanie's death float off her shoulders. She wheeled back to the sideway where Kirks was waiting for her. "That sounded pretty serious."

"You listened to our conversation?" Alexis went as red as a cherry.

"It's kind of hard to ignore."

They went to the nearest bus stop, waiting for the usual blue bus. Alexis earned some confused and sorrowful looks from others. An old man tipped his head as his way of saying 'I'm deeply sorry'.

A young Asian girl tugged on her mother's hand. Alexis took a deep breath, painfully reminded how much she looked like Lypsie Lee. "Why is that girl in a wheelchair, Māmā?"

"Shush, Lian!" the mother hissed, glancing at Alexis. She turned pale once she recognized her as Alexis Kathan, probably from a newspaper article. She ushered the daughter, Lian, away from Alexis.

The pair went to sit on a bench, far away from Alexis, and Kirks frowned. "How do you put up with that?"

"With what?"

"I dunno', people acting strange around you."

The truth was, Alexis was exactly afraid of this happening. That's the reason why she stayed in her house for the remaining summer, well, other than the fact that she didn't want to be swatted by reporters. "I guess it's still fresh to me, so I don't care that much."

Alexis assumed that Kirks knew that she was lying, but he didn't press any further. "So, where are we heading now?"

She sighed. "I've been putting this off for far too long. I didn't exactly get a straight answer from the cops when they said that Odetta and Lypsie were placed in a mental hospital for the criminally insane."

"So you're going there to find out what really went down on Omfori?" he guessed. Kirks Witcher was good at guessing apparently.

"I need to get answers." Alexis spotted the blue bus arriving in the distance. "I can't let all of this—all of this torture and deaths—slip away so easily without an answer."

Alexis Kathan and Kirks Witcher were dropped off at Wood-Briar Criminally Insane Mental Inc. as they saw a blurry figure at the doors of the building. It was Jenna Parley, the manager of the mental hospital. She had brown skin, black eyes, and she wore a pair of heels "Miss. Kathan, I was expecting you. We already set up a ramp for you."

Alexis gave a small nod. "Oh, thanks, Ms. Sigh."

"Please, call me Jenna." Jenna glanced at Kirks. "I was not expecting another visitor, forgive me, but only Miss. Kathan is allowed to enter."

"Oh, I didn't know that," Alexis gave Kirks an apologetic look. "Er—would you be okay to wait outside for a bit? I promise I'll only be here for maybe forty-five minutes, hmm, maybe an hour?"

"Take your time," Kirks assured her.

"Thanks," she said as she wheeled herself up the ramp, trailing after Jenna. Alexis was led to the visitor's office, seeing tons of security guards in stance. There was a line of other visitors.

"Your stall is at the end, quickly now, Miss. Kathan!" Jenna said briskly, her black heels CLACKING against the hard floor. Alexis' arms ached from pushing too hard, but she tried her best to keep up.

She was suddenly met with the face of Odetta Johnston through a glass panel. She sat on a plastic chair, her hands on her lap. Jenna helped Alexis push the wheelchair into the slot.

Alexis' palms felt sweaty as Jeanna Parley left her alone. She got out a pencil and her Escapism Journal, smoothing the cover. It helped her get over with all the bad memories on Omfori.

Odetta weakly beamed at her as Alexis fiddled with the hem of her pants. "Just to let you know, I'm not doing this out of pity or whatever friendship w-we have left."

Odetta nodded flimsily. "Okay, th-that's fine."

Alexis realized something changed. The courageous flame that burned in Odetta was stomped out, if not extinguished completely. She seemed more bony and feeble, having big bags under her eyes.

But all kind of remorse for Odetta disappeared when she remembered why she was in a wheelchair in the first place. She freaking shot me, Alexis reminded herself. She spent most of summer traumatized and in agony from medical therapy. Doctors said Alexis Kathan was strong for adapting to a wheelchair so quickly, but she felt weak and scared.

"What happened on the island, Odetta?" Alexis asked finally after staying silent.

Odetta sniffled. "I-I don't know. You have to believe me, I didn't mean it."

Alexis let out a strangled noise. "You didn't mean to kill Tellie, huh? A lie. A lie, Odetta. Tellie Hollows i-is dead! She was supposed to elope with a guy after senior year ended! You killed a girl in love—"

"I was in love too!" Odetta cried out, her red-rimmed eyes achy. "I was forced into it all! Gah, don't you get it, Lexis? I was forced into believing it all! I-I was controlled constantly by Penny or Lypsie!"

"Don't start with me!" Alexis yelled, earning odd looks from other visitors. She sighed, gritting her teeth as she gripped the armrests of her wheelchair. Odetta's lips trembled as Alexis spoke again. "Tell me the whole story."

"What?"

"The whole story, don't play d-dumb!" she barked, snappish. Alexis always seemed snappish these days, or maybe it's because she was talking to the person who shot in the leg. "I know you too well to believe that you forget how Monday night went down because of a few drinks."

"Please." Odetta was begging at this point. "Please, Alexis."

"I didn't come here for your mindless pleads," Alexis huffed, feeling flushed. Was it always so stuffy and hot in Wood-Briar? She softened slightly. "I-I need to know the answers to Penny's murder."

"It's too..."

"It's too much," Alexis supplied, but she smiled thinly. "But you don't deserve my pity anymore, Odetta. Not after what happened on Omfori. Talk or I'll get Jenna to make you."

Odetta took a deep breath, shuddering. "It started on the Midén."