"Jara...Jara...JARA," Jessica screams into my ear.

Scowling at her, I put my water bottle on the boards "Yes?" I say sweetly.

"I have been calling you for minutes now," she says, scowling.

Sliding my feet back and forth on the ice, I say sweetly "And how is that my problem?"

She huffs, clearly exasperated "I was asking you for help. My axel is off, and your mom is in a lesson. I can't ask her."

Sighing "So you want my help?"

She grins, a sparkle in her eyes "Pretty please?"

Huffing, I wave my hand "Show me."

"Yippie," she claps skating away with enthusiasm. She prepared for her axel, and I watch closely, my eyes tracing her every movement.

"You're dropping your shoulder again before you jump," I call out as she comes back.

She quickly U-turns, her movements smoother this time. She executes the jump flawlessly. "Ahh, so much better. Thanks, Jara" she says, her face lightening up with relief. 

"Welcome. Now go skate," I say, pushing her away gently.

She laughs "You too."

Shaking my head, I take her advice skating away from the boards. Glancing at the clock, I sigh, thirty more minutes left of the two-hour session. I had the first lesson, so I'm alone for thirty minutes, but there is never a shortage of things to do - just a shortage of will to do them. Glancing out the corner of my eye, I quickly look away. My distraction was not from just a wandering mind; the girl is here, along with a few others I don't recognize. They were talking to me, and so were others - many others. I tried to ignore them to no avail, again.

Shaking my head, I take a deep breath. Skating - we are here to skate, nothing else, nothing less, Toe loop, let's do a double toe loop - maybe make it a double-double that wasn't working earlier. Clapping my hands and slapping my face, I scan the ice, looking for the right time to circle for my jump through the dozens of bodies doing the same thing.

Finding my opening, I circle, checking all sides as I move, watching for any gliding bodies coming my way or into my path. Clear. I set up, hold one-two, turn one-two, jump. Good set, and jump - land. Pulling out, I quickly turn to scan for incoming people and move to the boards. Going through the remaining jumps and combos I have left, fixing anything that I can today, I take the last fifteen minutes that I somehow still have left to do the spins I haven't done yet.

And in no time at all, I am off the ice, taking my skates off. "Did I tell you about my school project? No? Well, I have this huge art piece that I need to do, and have no time for with the other assignments in class and my other classes..." Jessica's voice drones on.

I nod along, muttering responses as I untie and dry my skates, packing them into my bag before tossing in my hard guards and gloves. "Yeah, man that sounds so annoying, but I know you can get it done, and it will be amazing. You always do," I say.

She sighs "But this one is so annoying. It's half the size of me, and I barely even started. Plus, I have all that math work and bible studies - that pointless class my school makes us do."

"You are in a religious school," I say, raising an eyebrow.

"Not by choice. My parents put me into that high school."

"Yeah, we are minors, so that does happen. But they say private schools are better than public, so at least you got that." I say, waving "See yeah. Hope that art project works out."

She groans and waves back, getting into her car "Don't even mention that stupid project. Bye."

Continuing to wave as she drives off, my smile drops as she turns out of the parking lot. How tiring. Groaning, I pull my bag closer to my chest as a gust wind blows by, kicking up the loose snow from the ground. Why does my mom take so long to come out when she is the one calling me to come out? Damn hypocrite, not even unlocking the door in this cold.

Shivering, I stand beside the passenger door, waiting for my mom to come or at least unlock the car. Tucking my hands into my sleeves and shoving them under my arms, I hold my skating bag with my elbows tight against my chest.

"I can't believe they are changing the rules like that. It leaves no competitions for the younger kids unless they go out of province," my mom says, walking closer to the car with coach Caroline.

"The board is going to get a lot of messages from angry people about this," Caroline says.

"We'll see how this goes. Hopefully, by the end of the year, they have everything all figured out," my mom says.

Sighing, I watch them through the fogged windows as they continue to talk about skating stuff and the new changes being implemented.

Blinking, my eyebrows scrunch together as my head begins to pound. Rubbing my temples, I groan "Not again." Glancing around, I mumble "Where am I?" My vision fade's in and out as my headache grows into a migraine, and all the noise around me fades into a soft whistle lost on the wind. And then I am gone, lost in the wind along with everything else.

____

BEEP BEEP BEEP.....BEEP.....

"Oh shut it, you damn clock. I know you are going off, I am just stuck in my blanket, my goodness." Shuffling out of my tangled mess of bedding, I fall to the floor. Groaning, I shuffle onto my feet towards my phone, pressing the stop button.

Sighing, I turn on the light, blinking away the tears as my eyes adjust to the sudden brightness. "My gosh, why am I so tired?" I mumble, rubbing my eyes as I get dressed. Everything feels hazy, my thoughts jumbled.

Grabbing my backpack from the ground, I clutch it from the top strap and zipper, ensuring nothing falls out. Unplugging my phone, I glance at the time as it turns on from the movement. For a moment, I can't remember what time it's supposed to be.

"5:30? What the fuck," I mutter, looking at the date. I gasp, Tuesday, January 5th? "How is it Tuesday already? January at that? Last I checked, it was still December."

Swearing under my breath, I turn off my lights and gently open my door, stepping into the dark hallway. Moonlight shines in from the windows, casting an eerie glow onto the banister and illuminating the living room down below.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck why did it have to be the early morning."

Not again, not again, not again. I rush around, getting ready to leave for the rink by six. Once done, I rest on a bar stool on the island. Taking out my phone, I scroll through Instagram, looking at the new artwork that was posted.

"Hmm, not bad. The shading could be better, though. Yours look better than theirs." Jolting at the voice over my shoulder, I stare into the empty eyes of my lookalike. She smiles, showcasing her pearly white teeth and dimple on her left cheek, just like mine. But her smile is not friendly in the slightest, it glimmers with a slight predatory gleam like a cat stalking its prey. "Yes, Jara?"

Jolting, I look away, trying to calm my heart down as it beats franticly in my chest. No one's there, Jara. No one's there. Mom doesn't see anything, so nothing is there. Glancing at my mom as she sips on her coffee, doing something on her computer in the sunroom, I try to steady my breathing.

"Why'd you look away, Jara? I'm not going to go away just because others don't know I exist." The girl leans onto the island, cutting off my view of my mother. "Or are you trying to ignore me?" She grins like the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland.

Holding my head in my hands, I close my eyes as I fold into a ball on the stool, rocking back and forth. "It's not real, it's not real. There is nobody there. Mom can't see them, so nobody is there."

The girl laughs, clapping there hands "You really think that is going to work? It never has, and it's about damn time you stopped thinking it would. Come on, Jara. We just want to play and talk. It's time for you to join us. Look, here comes some more of our friends to say hi."

Shaking, I look up from my hands to see three elderly people, two women, and one men, dressed in Victorian-era outfits...drenched in blood. One lady's head is hanging by a thin layer of skin on her shoulder, on the verge of falling to the floor. The other is holding her guts with her hands, well the man has his head in his hands.

I gag, covering my mouth as I stagger out of the stool towards the bathroom. The three wave to me with eerie smiles on their faces. Falling to my knees in front of the toilet, I heave, my breakfast coming up in chunks of colourful bile.

My mom comes running in, holding my hair back and gently rubbing my back. "Jara, it's okay. Let it out," she says as I continue to dry heave, my stomach already empty. Chocking, as the image of the three standing in our kitchen stays vibrant in my mind, my knuckles go white on the sides of the toilet.

"Breath, Jara, breath," my mom urges. Taking deep breaths as she said, I fall back to the ground, shaking. "Jara, how are you feeling? Do you want medicine? You don't have a fever, but you're as white as a sheet."

Hiccupping, I continue to shiver as my mom holds me close, wiping away my tears. "No...no medicine. I think...I think I'm just...tired," I say, my voice trembling.

My mom nods, helping me to my feet, she leads me toward the island. Glancing at the spot where the three were, the image of their bloody and mutilated appearance brings forth a new wave of nausea. Running back to the bathroom, I gag into the toilet, hoping for something to come out.

My mom sits beside me, rubbing my back as I gag into the empty toilet. "I'll get you some water," she says, her voice soothing.

I hear her leave, searching for my water bottle. "Wow, never thought this would be your reaction. It's not your first time seeing that, you know. You should be used to it," the girl says, her voice dripping with mockery.

I glance at her, leaning against the door frame, arms crossed in a relaxed but alert manner. "What are you talking about?"

She smiles "Been a while since you spoke to me. Hmm, 6 years old was the last time, if I remember correctly. Man, what a ride the 6's were. The three of us were such an unstoppable team-"

"Wait, wait, wait...what are you going on about?" I ask, cutting her off.

Her smile drops "You don't remember?"

My mom comes back in, passing me my water bottle. Greedily chugging down the water, my energy returns a little as my stomach fills. "Slow down, Jara, or you will throw that up too," Mom says, sighing. "Haa, I have to go to the rink now. You go back to bed and rest for today. I'm not surprised if you got sick - you've been pushing yourself a lot lately." Pushing myself? What was I doing for the past few weeks? Mom rubs my back one more time before she leaves the bathroom. "Don't worry about the school. I'll call and tell them you are sick today, so stay home and rest."    

I linger on the bathroom floor for a few minutes my mom long gone. The girl has been silent ever since I interrupted her. Standing up, I unpack my lunch and lug myself back upstairs to my room. As the door clicks shut behind me, the air grows cold, and the girl's voice rings behind me, sending a shiver down my spine.

"Time to go down memory lane," she whispers, her tone dripping with unsettling familiarity.

~

Rule #2 Everyrhing you see is not re-

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