October 9th: Ridgeway Harps.
                         Opal Avery

Running used to be easier. Hiding used to be easier. Everything that used to come so easy, was suddenly so difficult.
  Everyone that had once looked so happy and so full of life, suddenly looked evil. As if they were just waiting for the chance to strike, to stab someone in the back, to watch a loved one take their last breath, to not think twice about throwing a body in the river. To not even worry about the blood splatters on their nice white top.
  That was the thing about trauma. It had negative aftermaths.
You survived, that's all that matters. You're a survivor.
  A survivor? For how long?
How many times had someone said those words to me, prior to the accident?
Probably not once. Although I wouldn't remember even if they had said them to me.
  The brain is like a puzzle and my brain is an unsolvable puzzle. A puzzle with way too many missing pieces, a puzzle with not enough players or helpers to fit the pieces together.
I finger the locket around my neck and then I quickly drop it. Drawing attention to it would only make matters worse.
I stick my hands in my red cloak, my fingers sliding over the barrel of a gun.
Whatever had happened in my years prior to the accident, I must have lived a pretty serious life. I knew how to shoot a gun, I knew how to throw knives, I knew how to fight someone twice my size.
You know how to survive, that's enough.
A doctors words this time, not Elles.
My shoes tap on the blacktop, my high heeled boots not exactly the right footwear for my night plans but they would have to do, for now.
My red cloak wasn't exactly the best article of clothing for tonight, especially when I wanted to stay hidden. The cloak was so bright- you could see it from miles away.
It was also one of my signature items.
A rat scurries across the pavement, red and brown leaves blowing around it.
Fall was supposed to be one of the most beautiful times of the year.
A season for change and for letting go.
Let go of it,Opal. It's fall. It's time to start over.
Elles face pops into my head and I shove it away. If I think about it too hard, I could end up retching on the side of the road.
I can still smell the blood in the air, can still hear Elles gasping breaths, her wheezing coughs. I can still see her bright blue eyes turn to a pale gray, can still see her platinum blonde hair seem to turn yellow as she fades away. I can still see the blood staining her favorite yellow top.
I shake my head and pull the hood of my cloak up and over my hair.
  There wasn't time to think about Elle right now. She would be horrified if she knew I was thinking about her rather than trying to find a way out of the mess I've found myself in.
  Feet tap behind me and I don't dare turn around, I know who is there.
Or who isn't there.
It's not my imagination.
Someone really has followed me from Bear Valley. The same someone from Whisper Woods?
It was possible.
It was even likely, how someone has been able to follow me around the country is a mystery.
A mystery I'd very much like to solve.
I turn down my most used way of transportation, the alleys in Ravensway are my favorite.
Ridgeway Harps, as they are known, are long dark tunnels that run on either sides of this one particular alley. The alley that has kept my secrets well hidden for the past three months. The secrets that I will now have to unbury, that I'll have to keep with me until I settle down in a new town.
  The pavement is cracked and crumbled, you can't really classify it as pavement anymore, it's more just chunks of blacktop. Hundreds of brown leaves litter the ground, some rats and other creatures that I'd rather not try and distinguish shuffle around looking for scraps of food.
  When I first started hiding things in Ridgeway Harps I was afraid the creatures would take it away. They have left it alone so far, probably because I usually feed them.
  An ugly black cat moves between my legs and I crack a smile.
  "Sorry Brevere, this was an unexpected trip. No food today."
Brevere meows pitifully, he looks pitiful, he's missing an eye and half his ear is gone.
But, the animals at Ridgeway Harps are my only friends, now I sound pitiful.
I step away from him, the opening to Ridgeway Harps is just ahead. It is about four feet above my head and the first time I made it up there was simply because I was out running an angry dog who I was sure wouldn't mind taking a chunk out of my leg. I lift my arms above my head and grab onto the ledge of the tunnel.
  Pulling myself up used to be easier, or at least, I remember it being easier. I haven't entered the tunnels in over two weeks. I mainly stop by to feed the ugly creatures and to talk to Brevere because although he's an ugly cat and all he does is meow pitifully or scratch my arms when he's mad. He's a good listener and when he's in a good mood, his purr calms my nerves.
Would the box even be here still?
Did my shadows possibly steal it?
I drop onto the cold and damp ground and suppress a groan.
I wipe my hands on my cloak and reach for a pile of stone, the box shouldn't be too deep in the rocks and debris.
  Brevere meows as I shove a rock behind me. "Not now, Brev. I'm busy."
  Something crashes from outside the tunnel just as my hand brushes against a wooden box.
I grip it and yank it free, it was no bigger than a box of Girl Scout cookies.
It had way more value than a box of Girl Scout cookies.
A hand falls over the opening to Ridgeway Harps.
I don't wait around to see who the hand belongs to, no one should be near Ridgeway Harps. I shouldn't even be here.
The tunnels have been closed down for decades, a safety violation and everyone knows it. The rocks slip and slide inside the tunnel and they could easily bury you alive.
I have never been worried about dying inside the tunnels, I've been too worried about dying outside of the tunnels.
Out in the open, in broad daylight, in front of hundreds of people and still being taken out.
If my guesses are correct, I would probably be tortured first and then killed. Thrown into a river with bricks tied to my feet or buried somewhere deep in the woods. Left in a place that no one would ever find me.
   I glance behind me, there's no one back there. The hand has disappeared.
Brevere is sitting by the ledge, licking his paws.
  I clutch the box to my chest, I'll travel down and through the tunnels and come out the other side, I don't want to risk jumping down and being cornered by my shadows.

     I twist the key in my apartment door and nudge the door open with my foot.
I would have to find somewhere to keep the box until I leave Ravensway.
  I cross the room and set the box on the kitchen counter. The box was locked but it wouldn't take much to pick the lock, or to destroy the box to get the contents inside of it.
  I pull the stringed key out of my pocket and listen carefully as the lock pops.
I lift a blue envelope and stare intently at the writing on the front.

               To my loves: Opal + Elle.
                      My best wishes.

My heart aches and I shove the letter back in the box, I wasn't ready to read it. Not yet.
Not when Elle wasn't by my side to urge me on, to smile at mother's words or to make fun of the way mother compared something to something else.
Not when I knew that the letter was meant to be read by two sisters and would now only ever be read by me. No sister by my side. No sad smiles shared. No fond memories of our beloved parents. No shared secrets. No petty fights. No playful teasing.
Nothing at all shared between two sisters.
The moments I have of Elle have all been hidden in the deepest part of my memory. All I can see is her smiling on the morning before her death.
The morning before her murder.
The morning before she left this world because of me.
The morning before my actions killed her.

Today is a Tuesday, I glance at the clock- it's ten in the morning. My plans to meet with the superintendent at Ravensway High, is at ten-thirty.
  I head to my room, the box tucked under my arm.
I could stick it under my bed, or in the closet, or even in one of the kitchen cupboards.
  I nudge my dresser over and pull a panel from the wall. There wasn't much space there but there was enough for the small box.
I shove it inside and place the panel back, twisting it a little to make it look like I hadn't removed it.
  I then head to my dresser and pull out a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, I'm not here to impress anyone. Hiding under the radar is what I would prefer.. at least until I figure out who my shadows are.
  I pull on my new outfit and glance in the mirror, my face is two shades too pale. The purple half moons under my eyes speaking of endless and sleepless nights. My hair burns a garnish red around my pale face and the freckles that cover nearly every centimeter of my face stand out in stark contrast.
Freckles and red hair.
The complete opposite of Elle. We hadn't looked anything alike. We hadn't acted anything alike either.
I twist the locket around my neck and then let it fall back into place.
Someone taps on the door and I veer toward the kitchen. The apartment wasn't too big, two bedroom, one bathroom, a small living room and an equally small kitchen, but I made it work. Elle would have loved it. She liked simple things. She liked natural beauty and simplicity.
I open the door and paste on a smile.
"Oh, great! I thought you wouldn't be home today. You're usually out around this time."
I open the door wider and let Sehlah walk in. Sehlah is my neighbor, she lives across the hall from my apartment and for some reason thinks it's okay to stop in uninvited.
"Mind if I crash here for a while? They're fixing my water, finally!" She huffs and settles onto the old couch.
She looks content enough to stay there for the rest of the day, which should bother me but for some reason doesn't.
Sehlah wouldn't get into anything while I'm gone. She might let in a few of the ugly stray cats or bring in a homely dog from off the streets but she wouldn't touch any of my belongings and she wouldn't snoop around the apartment.
"I've got a meeting in." I glance at my watch, "Fifteen minutes so I have to be going. You know where all the food is, make yourself at home. I won't be too late." I grab my backpack from off the kitchen chair and sling it over my shoulder, and without looking back, I walk out the door and let it shut with a loud click.

     The drive to Ravensway High was a short one, a short drive that gave me lots of time to think.
Think about how I was going to possibly find out who my shadows are. Running by myself clearly wasn't the way to go.
  I glance at the ugly scar running across my wrist and up my arm.
  Running shouldn't be so tempting.
  But it was.
  To run and to never look back.
To never see Elles smiling face in every young girl.
To never hear my mother's laughter or see her handwriting.
To never feel the weight of that haunted box that I have to protect with my life.
  To start over.
   A woman waves at me from the window, I smile and wave in return.
She looks to be in her mid forties, a smile plastered on her very tan face, her brown hair up in a professional bun.
Mrs. Clary.
It had to be.
She looks just like she did in the picture, even though she was two decades older. She didn't look it.
She could still pass as the twenty year old woman in the pictures.
  "You must be Opal, I'm Mrs.Clary. We're so happy to have you for a tour of Ravensway High." She smiles and it looks like a genuine one.
One that reaches her eyes.
A real smile. A smile that I haven't smiled in ages.
"Thank you so much for having me." I shake her hand and then follow her into the building.

    Whatever secrets Mrs. Clary has, I have every intention of uncovering. Especially if it means getting answers about the past.
A past I have no memory of.
A past I can no longer outrun.
A past that I need to put behind me and to forget, but first. I must remember.

                                              Xoxo,
                                               Opal A. Avery.