Water rushed out of the shower head and pounded into the bathtub in a harsh pitter patter. It didn't compare to the roaring waves of the ocean. Nothing could.

I hadn't been to the beach since the day Tori's body was found. I had always loved the ocean, I could never stay away from it for long. But it had been a month since I set foot on that beach. A new record.

There were too many ghost that would haunt me if I returned. Victoria's absence and the longing to end it all would drown me quicker than any amount of water.

Even then, although Tori was dead she wasn't really gone. She was still all I thought about and still all the town talked about. And as long as her murderer was still out there, the conversations would not cease.

The girls and I decided to go home. Our first day back had been a total bust and we did not want to stay to find out how much worse it could get. I walked home, my clothes stained with red. It was almost amusing to see everyone's reactions. The blank faces, the gasps, the checking of calendars to see if it was Halloween. Even that one women, obviously a nurse at the local doctors office, ran up to me asking if I was hurt.

I was definitely hurt from the 'prank'. No amount of medication or stitches could make that hurt go away.

My clothes peeled off like a soggy bandage, the stench made my nose wrinkle. The gray sweater was now blood red like my hair. Whoever did this was an extremely practiced prankster who had little regards to feelings or the value of clothing.

I stepped into the shower and watched the fake blood stream off of me and down the drain.

I wanted to be mad at the students who were doing this to us but I couldn't. We deserved it. I deserved it. I shoved the thought aside a lot, knowing it would just make me break down. But at the moment, that was all I could think about.

We were the ones that tormented the students first. We were the ones that taunted them, pointed out their flaws, made them feel like they were less than and manipulated them. We only made them feel loved when we wanted something in return. Now, they were returning the favor.

I made my bed and I had to lie in it.

Only, I realized this too late. There was nothing that could be done now. I couldn't change the past. Everything that I did to them, to hurt them, was engraved in me, making me who I was. I couldn't stand who I was.

I am a horrible person.

I covered my mouth as a cry escaped my lips. Then a sob. A few tears. More tears. So many tears I thought they would fill up the tub and drown me. Soon, my knees buckled and I melted down, curled up in a ball.

-------------------

It was that day again, the day Tori's body was found.

Except it was different.

I was standing at the edge of the cliff with a determination I had never seen in my eyes. The clouds were gray but the pulsing purple sky was shining through. Bolts of electricity ran through the sky to the beat of the roaring thunder. My arms slowly raised to create a horizontal line parallel to my shoulders. I span around so my back was to the ocean. It was reaching out to drag me down. It didn't have to.

I was going to jump.

The lacy black dress that Victoria had formerly worn was on me, the lace flowed in the wind like a flag of a ship. My eyes shut. I let go of myself. I let myself fall.

I only felt the breeze for a second before my body slapped the water. It hurt. An icy cold shock ran through me as I went a few feet under.

The waves circled around me and I felt myself being lifted up. The light became more clear but only to be shut out completely. More waves crashed into me, causing me to sink deeper and deeper.

Suddenly, I was scared. Although I was a great swimmer and could hold my breath for a long time, I would eventually run out of air. I wanted to die but did I really think about how? The water would flood into my lungs. It would be complete agony.

My hair floated around me, blood red. From the corner of my eye, I saw a figure. I wasn't alone.

Victoria's limp corpse was tossed by like a rag doll. She was as blue as the water, her eyes open and red. She stared right through me.

I screamed. The water flooded into my lungs. I was dying.

I was pushed around for awhile longer, the water flowing into me, until everything went black.

Then, I could see again.

My body was being dragged out of the water. My hair stuck to my face, my tan skin was tinted blue, my lips purple. I was limp in Zac's arms. He continued to pull me until we were a few feet away from the shore.

I was laid on the sand. People began to crowd around. Zac kneeled next to me and stared. His expression was blank. Everyone's was.

That's when they all started to pull out shovels. Zac raised his index finger to his lip.

Sh.

They all did the same. Like they were silently agreeing to keep my death a secret. They stabbed their shovels into the sand and dug a hole. Then, Pete came over to lift my body into the pit. I wanted to scream.

Why were they doing this? Why weren't they getting help? I could still be alive.

No one cared.

The students of my school stopped him suggesting they just kick me in instead. In one hard kick, my body rolled into the pit, landing with a sickening thump.

Then, to the beat of the sand being dropped on me to conceal my body, I heard whispers.

She deserved this.

This place will be better without her.

No one loved her.

No one will miss her.

I realized I didn't land on more sand. I landed on bodies. The dead bodies of Helen, Norah, Hannah, and Victoria.

I woke up to realize that even though it was a nightmare, it held truth.

The most mild that I was about to drown in my bath water, the most startling being that in order for Tori to wash up on the shore the way she did that day, she must have been pushed off the same cliff I was planning to jump off. That was the way the currents worked.

Did the detectives know this? If not, I wasn't sure if it would be good for them to hear it coming from me.

The detectives were probably correct. Maybe Tori was murdered by one of her peers. The motive would be obvious. They did it because she was a bully like me and the girls. And if that was true, then this murderer was probably coming for the rest of us.

____________________

"I thought it was a mistake when I saw the text. Why are we meeting at Tori's house?" I asked as I walked up Tori's block with the girls.

"Her mom saw me and invited all of us over. I'm not sure why. Maybe since her daughter's gone she wants to get to know us so she could feel closer to Victoria. Kind of like what you're doing with Pete," Helen offered.

I flinched at the mention of Pete and I. After Hannah's reaction to the discovery I felt guilty about our meetings. Was it wrong that I was hanging out with Victoria's boyfriend? There was nothing going on between us and I highly doubted there would ever be. Still, I was self conscious about it and didn't want the other girls to know. Clearly, Hannah had blabbed about it. How else would Helen know?

We started to chat about the encounters we had with Victoria's mom, Mrs.Barely. I almost forgot Hannah existed. She was quiet, hadn't said a word. Her face was set and her gaze focused on the house in front of us. We were crossing the yard when I decided to confront her.

"What's wrong?"

Her head snapped in my direction and gave us all an icy stare. "How could you guys be talking about anything else then what happened to us in school today?"

We all exchanged a look.

"Arielle, only an hour ago you were covered in fake blood! Norah, someone pushed you into the pool, you could have gotten hurt!"

"What do you want us to say?" Norah almost shouted. She took a breath and lowered her voice, her eyes holding pure frustration. "We're scared too but you didn't want to tell any of the teachers-"

"I am not scared," Hannah stated through her teeth. She straightened her posture and got close to Norah's face. "I am disappointed in the lack of determination in you all. We didn't tell the teachers because we are going to handle this ourselves like we always do."

Norah blinked. "This isn't one person. Heck- this isn't even a couple people! It's the whole school."

"So what?"

We were on the porch of the house and I really wanted the argument to end. The last thing we needed was to make a bad first impression for Mrs.Barely.

"It was a long summer and they forgot why they shouldn't mess with us. We'll remind them." Her voice was overly pleasant, creepily so.

We didn't even have to knock. Mrs.Barely's front door swung open. She was leaning on it as she struggled with a large box, unaware that we were all standing there. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail at the nape of her neck and when she looked up her eyes pierced mines. They were Victoria's eyes.

She gasped and jumped back. "Oh . . . Hello."

"Sorry to startle you Mrs.Barely," I said taking the lead. Hannah gave me a pointed look. She usually did the talking first.

"It's fine." She placed the box just outside and stepped back to make a pathway for us. "Come in."

We wandered into the house in a single file, not stopping until we got the the living room, the only place there was that had enough space for us to all stand. The house was crowded with boxes and was lacking much furniture. What was left of it was pushed into a corner.

"I don't suppose you're doing some redecorating?" Norah asked, hopefully.

Mrs.Barely sighed and shook her head. "Nope. We're moving."

I had to cover my mouth to keep my jaw from dropping to the floor. I should have saw it coming. Why would they stay in a town that only reminded them of their dead daughter? But I thought they'd at least wait until the investigation was over. Besides, I would be sad to see the house go to new owners. Victoria never had us over much but we had some nice memories in the house.

"Wow. That's a big decision." Helen was staring at no one in particular as she said it but Mrs.Barely responded.

"Yes, it was but my husband and I don't think staying here will do us good. We lost too much in this town. Too many painful memories . . ." I suddenly remembered that Victoria wasn't there only child. She had an older brother who passed two years ago serving in the military. I wanted to hug Mrs.Barely. She had to bury both her children. I was surprised she wasn't broken down in front of us.

She had us sit with her on the couch and introduce ourselves. After about an hour of small talk she told us the reason she invited us over.

"My husband and I decided to not take Victoria's stuff with us. Most of it is going to be donated to charity. I wanted to let you guys go up to her room and see if there's anything you want to keep." The whole time her gaze was passive. Like her body was there but her soul wasn't. It was unsettling.

"Thanks. That's really kind of you," Hannah said. Awkwardly, we all started up the stairs. The house was old. About a hundred years old to be more specific. It had a creepy, horror movie feel that I teased Tori about. Her parents busied themself with work all the time so there was dust and cobwebs everywhere to add to the mood. It matched her taste. Victoria was a sweet girl but was into dark things. Her favorite color was black, her makeup was dark, and she loved a good murder mystery movie. If only she knew she would become the victim of one.

Like her taste, her room was creepy. Her curtains were purple and her bedsheets were black as well as her furniture. Helen and Hannah went for the wardrobe as Norah went for the little shelf on the bottom of the window seat filled with books Victoria had no intention of ever reading. I, on the other hand, roamed the room absently. It felt like Victoria was about to walk through the door and ask why we were touching her stuff.

I found my way to a shelf filled with dolls. They were all plastic and resembled American girl dolls. I never really looked at them before but I realized then that they were lined up strategically. From left to right, the way the girls were dressed and styled changed, progressing in fashion from the ages starting from around the 1950's to now. The latest one wearing a cropped top and skinny jeans, her hair resting in loose curls. She had to have styled them herself.

"Fashion genius," Helen stated, in awe. She stood behind me admiring the shelf. "Those dolls are gonna make some little girls extremely happy."

I nodded, speechless.

One doll stood out to me. I couldn't let it go to any little girl. It wasn't on the shelf with the other dolls. It was at the bottom of the shelf closest to the ground, facing down. The lacy black dress on it was making my hands shake. I turned it around quick, and jerked it away. I was right.

The doll was Victoria. It had her black hair, her beautiful eyes. Except, it's lips were blue like they were when she was found on the beach. There were even dots of sand on it's skin. No. I was hallucinating. Paranoid.

I blinked a couple of times and took deep breath. Slowly, I opened my eyes hoping I had imagined it. I had. The dolls lips were a fashionable berry purple and the dress was a romper. The sand was freckles. It wasn't Tori.

First the nightmare, then this. She was dead. Gone. But she wasn't. She was haunting me and I had a feeling she wouldn't stop anytime soon.

My eyes filled with tears. I dug my fingernails into the plan of my hand, commanding myself to suck it up and not cry.

I moved away from the dolls and to her nightstand. A book rested below the lamp. I slid it out, my curiosity peaked. Flipping through it, I saw ink on almost each and every page. The words were written in the familiar script I recognized as Tori's hand writing.

Her diary, I thought.

I knew I should put the book down and respect her privacy but I wanted to use this opportunity to get into her head, to hear her voice again, even if it was through writing on a page.

One page, I told myself. One page and I'll put the book down where I left it.

I flipped through the book and placed my finger on a random page. Then I removed my finger and began to read.

The date went back to a few months ago, the beginning of spring. It was the last entry.

I am a paranoid mess. It's one in the morning and I can't sleep. I feel like my life has turned into a big stopwatch. I'm just waiting. Waiting until it strikes. I don't know what "it" is and "it" might even be a who. All I know is that I'm in danger. I have to be prepared for when it does strike. I need to be alert. Maybe even be ready to strike back.

My heartbeat quickened. Tori felt like she was in danger? Why didn't she tell anyone? The worst case scenario lingered in my mind: Tori was right to be paranoid because the same person who was making her feel anxious was the one that murdered her. Which also established another thing. Whoever murdered Tori, had been meaning to or planning it for months.

My voice shook as I spoke. "Did the detectives do a sweep through this room?"

"Yes," Norah answered not evening looking at me. She had her nose in a copy of the book, Of Mice And Men. "Mrs.Barely said they did it a while ago but hadn't found anything helpful."

"Oh." So it would be of no use to bring the diary to the detectives. They already saw it. But I had a strong feeling that somehow this diary was the beginning of a break through.

I stuffed it in my bag and sighed.

"I will find out what happened to you," I whispered to the doll that resembled Tori.

"Are you talking to a doll?" Hannah asked with a raised eyebrow. She had a stack of dresses from Victoria's wardrobe on her arm. "We better go before you start to imagine it talking back."

I stole one last glance at the doll as I left the room and could have sworn I saw it wink at me.

Authors Note- Well, that was a creepy chapter.

Arielle has some self esteem issues, do you think they're well justified?

Victoria's parents are moving away, suspicious or nah?

Remember to vote and comment! :)