Riverton

    Levi slowly walked beside Imani down the street toward their apartment above Dr. Bone's office. He kept him hands in his pocket as a chilling breeze blew by, rustling the dead leaves in the gutter.

    He sighed below his breath. How could he have been so foolish? He should've trusted Raven more then that. Sure, she and Daniel had said some pretty weird things a few days ago, but they had been nothing but kind to him.

    What was wrong with him? Why would he just go breaking into someones private things? Was his mind that twisted to actually believe they had Elyssa locked up down there? That was crazy! Maybe Raven taking away his story books were a good thing. He had only read part of Beauty and the Beast and his mind was already starting to believe that junk.

    "Levi," he heard Imani's soft voice call out beside him, jolting him from his thoughts. He didn't bothering looking up at her. "Levi, I know you don't want to hear this, but..." She trailed off. "I think you should tell Daniel about earlier."

    He glanced at her through the corner of his eye but remained silent. He listened as she sighed. He knew he couldn't hide it forever, but what good would it do involving Daniel? So he could be put under house arrest? So the Noble's could live in fear thinking he was going to die every second of his life? No. That wasn't living. There was a good chance that he wouldn't make it through the day, but he couldn't hide for the rest of his life. 

    "You want these people found, don't you?" Imani continued. She dipped her head forward trying to get him to look at her. "These people had Stella killed. Are you forgetting that?"

    A image of his friend lying in a pool of blood flashed into his mind. He squinted his eyes and shook his head. "How can I forget?" He spoke so low he wasn't sure if Imani had even heard him.

    "Don't you want to see justice done to the people who causes Stella to take her own life?"

    "Yes!" he exploded, flinging his hands into the air as he turned toward her. "Of course, I want to see them in jail, but what do you want me to do?" He balled his hands into fists and shook them in defeat as he lowered his voice. "What do you want me to do?"

    He sighed and dropped his hands to his side. "I can't go on living like this." He looked down at his shoes. "To not have any memories of who you are is more then anyone should have to handle." He raised his head to look her in the eyes, her deep brown glistened as tears welded. "I don't even know why these people are after me. What did I do to them? Why can't I remember? Why is it so hard to remember?"

    Imani placed a tender hand on his shoulder. "Levi, I'm so sorry. I guess I didn't think about the situation from your perspective." She reached down and gripped his hand. "But you can't go on like this. Please. Something will happen to you." She took a tiny step closer. "I can't lose you too," she whispered.

    Levi looked away feeling hot tears fill his eyes. If he continued watching her, he would no doubt lose control and weep in front of her from the overload of stress. He was thankful he had Imani. He didn't know if he would've been able to keep going if she wasn't here.

    Imani's eyes suddenly went big as she glanced at something beyond his shoulder.

    He furrowed his brow as he began turning his head in that direction. "What are you looking a—"

    Imani gave him a firm squeeze. "Don't!" He swiftly swung his head back around as she gave him a soft smile. "That car we saw earlier. The one who fired the gun at us. It's sitting at the corner of the next street." She continued to smile, and he knew she was trying to not give away what she had seen.

    Levi felt his heart begin to quicken as he lowered his head. He swallowed a forming lump in his throat. "Is there someone in the car? Someone watching us?" She pretended to laugh, and nodded her head.

    He sighed, and wrapped an arm around hers, walking toward the road trying to keep his body in sync with Imani's so whoever was in the car couldn't see her and take action.

    "When we get to your house, I want you to go inside, lock the doors, and don't open them for anyone unless it's your dad, understand?" She gave a soft nod, and he heard her sniffle. "No, no, don't cry," he continued in a gentle voice. "Everything will be okay. I promise."

    Once they had reached the orange building in between a brown and blue building a few feet from where they stood, he looked to the glass reading the sign Bone's Therapy. He let go of her arm and stood in front of her, again making sure whoever was in the car couldn't take the chance of putting a bullet in her.

    "Now remember," Levi gripped both her biceps gently. "You get inside, and do as I said."

    Imani frowned. "Oh, Levi, I don't want to leave you." She wrapped her arms over his to grip his forearms. "The moment I step foot inside, those people are going to come after you."

    He shook his head. "You don't know that, Imani."

    Levi nodded his head. "Yes, I d—"

    The sound of screeching tires echoed behind him. He turned around to see the black car pulling off and heading down the road. Relief flooded over him as he tried to calm his racing heart. "See. Nothing to worry about."

    Imani shook her head once more. "I still think you should tell Daniel. He'll know what to do. He's a deputy."

    "What do you kids want to tell me?" Levi turned his head to the right as Daniel stepped up. Daniel pointed behind him. "Oh, I just finished at the station and was about to head home." He sniffed from the cold wind. "Now what's this you want to tell me?"

    Levi released Imani's arms as she did the same. "Nothing." He wasn't about to get Daniel involved in this. People he got close to kept getting hurt. He didn't want to see the Noble's next on the list. That explained why those people drove away though. They couldn't risk being seen by the deputy.

    No one said anything for about a minute until Imani interrupted the silence. "Levi was shot at this afternoon."

    Daniel's eyes widened. "What? Again?"

    "Imani!" Levi flashed her an angered look.

    "No, Levi." She brushed him off. "This needs to be said." She took a step forward. "We were shot at this afternoon right outside the antique store, and just now, there was a black car following us. The same one we saw drive away from the shooting."

    Daniel shook a finger. "We got a call about that. Someone heard a gun shot, and there was broken glass, but nothing else there."

    Levi snorted. "If your search team was good enough you would've found some of my blood there." He raised his hands revealing the clothes he hand tied around his palms.

    Daniel glanced from his palms to their surroundings. "Do you have any descriptions we can go by to find this guy?"

    Levi shrugged. "It was a black Toyota sedan."

    Daniel raised a brow. "That's all you got? Not what type of Toyota? A license plate number? Whether you saw a male or female in the car?"

    Levi shoved his hands in his pockets and narrowed his eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry. I was too busy dodging bullets to get all the details. What did you want me to do? Yell, wait a minute! I need your license plate number!"

    Daniel rolled his eyes. "Teenagers are impossible." He gripped Levi's forearm, and tugged on him. "Come on. Say goodbye to Imani. We're going home, and yes. This time I'm giving you a ride."

    Levi huffed as he was being dragged away. He looked back and gave a quick wave to Imani, who returned the wave before walking inside.

    Daniel let him go when they got to the sheriff's car. "I need to make a quick call to the sheriff and get an APB out on this car. You know how many people drive black Toyota sedans in this town? Too many."

    Levi rolled his eyes as he placed his hand on the door handle getting ready to open the door. He was stopped as a bus rolled by, and pulled up along the side walk a few feet down the road. That was strange. He didn't recall seeing many buses stop in this town.  

    The sound of bus was loud as it squeaked and made numerous weird noises as he lowered down to the height of the side walk. He squinted his eyes as the doors swung open. He wanted to see who was going to get off the bus. An old couple? Young teens? Some strangers he could become friends with?

    He watched closely as a girl stepped off. She wore jeans, pink sneakers, and a blue jacket with a blue backpack strapped to her back. But what caught his eye was the way the sun glistened off her blonde curls. She turned his way and a smile grew on her face.

    His eyes opened wide, jaw dropped open, and his heart pounded against his chest at the sight of this girl. The girl who once laid in his arms bloody and dying. The girl he couldn't get out of his head for days. His lips felt numb as he tried forming words, and his tongue caught in his throat.

    "Elyssa?"