"How could you say that?" Mom said. "Photographs do matter. They store memories."

I looked at Dad who shrugged, "She's a fan of Ed Sheeran, remember?"

I laughed and received a smack on my head from Mom. "If you don't want to see, I could put them back."

"No, I want to." Yes, please. Put them back.

We continued as Mom narrated the incidents behind each picture.

I knew that I would hate myself but I said it nevertheless, "My hair has turned brown."

Silence.

I cringed.

Mom exhaled.

I cringed a little more.

Dad shifted and moved away.

My heart crumbled and I hated myself.

"That's normal," Mom said and looked at the edges. "Minor color changes from blonde to brown is pretty normal."

I gave her a flat look. Was she hearing herself? I said quietly, "Not if they change from blonde to white, then to brown."

They both raised their eyebrows. "What?" they chorused.

"I...when I was at Wallflower's Deck, the last evening, Brody pointed out the color of my hair. They were turning frost white."

"Did something strange happen before that?" Dad asked.

"Besides the fact that I was worried, no."

"Maybe it was just them. They could have added white dye to your shampoo," Mom said.

Dad and I turned and gave her blank looks. "Now I know where I get my bad sense at making excuses from," I said. Mom made a face. "The edges were white, not the entire hair."

Silence.

"I hallucinated."

More silence.

Dad's nostrils flared, "What?"

"Relax, Dad. I called you the next morning to talk about it when you were at Mr. Newt's party."

"Are you sure it was a hallucination?"

"I was not sleeping. I saw things wide-awake that I had no idea about. If it was something else, I'm all ears."

"What did you see?"

"Scary, mind-complicating stuff."

Her eyebrow remained raised and I dived into the description for them both. They frowned.

"Sounds like a nightmare to me."

"I was awake," I pointed out. "But, I did have a nightmare."

They stared at me, expectantly.

"I slept on the way to the town. There was this dream – no less than a scary one – in which I wake up in a hospital. I am not current me, I am my seven-year-old self, or maybe six. I don't remember exactly. I try to think what brought me in the hospital. The next thing I see is standing in a park when a man comes at me. He picks me up and I'm crying. Before, he could run, a bird out of nowhere comes and the man drops me. He turns into a bird and they fight. Then, you -" I looked at Mom. "- came and picked me up. That's it."

They gave me blank stares.

"Silly, I know."

"How could we leave you alone in a park?" Dad said.

I frowned. Is that what he found strange?

Mo frowned too. "What's stranger is that how a man could  turn into a bird."

I nodded in agreement. Dad frowned this time but as the words settled upon him, he nodded too. "Yes, that also, is strange. But we would never leave you alone in a park like that."

I laughed. "It's okay, daddy-dearest. I'm grown up now and you can leave me alone."

"You weren't then."

"When?"

"In the dream," Mom said.

I shrugged, "Does that matter? It was just a dream."

"Does it matter?" Mom asked Dad.

"No," Dad said. "It was just a nightmare."

*****

As I lay in my bed, I realized just how brilliantly I avoided the topic of my hair-color. It wasn't an intentionally diversion. One thing came over the other and only now I realized that the topic was dumped before anyone of us knew. I was content to know that at least they were not lying about anything. It was just me and my mind over-thinking. Now that Wallflower's Deck was behind me, I was sure my mind would come back on track.

"What about me?"

I shot up straight when I heard that voice. I turned on the side lamp and looked around the room.

"Would you leave me?"

"Erin," I whispered and got out of the bed.

"Would you leave me alone, Roe?" She stood near the window.

"N...No. I wouldn't." I walked up to her.

She stepped back, looked out of the window and vanished.

I sighed at my mind playing tricks and shut the windows. She was still out there. We could not forget her. But where was she?

A figure caught my attention near the tree. I brought my phone up to see and yelped. Brody lay there, his back with the tree. His face was covered with blood.

"Brody," I went to him, wiping the blood with my bare hands. I shook him lightly, hoping he would say something. I could feel his heartbeat. That gave me some relief. His lips moved. I leaned in to hear him properly.

"Eric," he said quietly.

"Where's Eric? Do you know? Where is he?"

He didn't reply. I felt his hand move. He pointed at the tree. I frowned and followed the direction. From a branch, a lifeless body was hanging. I gulped and put the flashlight there, fearing what I might see.

"No," I whispered. "No." Eric's lifeless body hung there.

Eric and Brody were close. Erin had to be somewhere close. She couldn't go too far unless she escaped. Brody was awake. He might have known about her. He knew about Eric.

I hoped Brody would wake up soon.

*****

"He's doing better." I looked up to see the nurse smiling. "He'll do fine."

"When will he wake up?" I asked, my hand grazing his face.

She frowned but smiled quickly, "Soon." It meant not anytime soon. "How are you doing, Ms. Forrester?"

"I would feel better if they woke up." I paused, and then spoke, "How's Brody?"

Her frown deepened. "Would you like to see him too?"

I nodded and brushed Eric's hair away. Leaning down, I whispered, "Wake up so that we could find your sister and teach her a lesson for going to the forest, okay?"

I sighed. He didn't look any better than before. Bruises were covering his entire face. But the doctors had hope. He was improving, they said. They were quite surprised and happy that he had survived the forest. I was shocked to know that Brody was not that well. The last time I saw them in the forest, Eric looked far worse. Then again, they found him on the ground and not hanging with a rope.

I walked into Brody's room and sat next to the bed.

"He's stable now but we're not seeing much improvement. But, I'm sure he'll make it. Be careful," the nurse said and left.

For a minute I just sat there, staring at him. I wondered if he knew about Erin. He never told me if he knew. He did point at Eric. I was sure he knew about her as well. What was it that he saw and I didn't? I thought harder but got nothing. He needed to wake up and find Erin.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I'm sorry, Brody. I didn't help you. I'm sorry."

Tears welled up in my eyes. He told me to go, to leave him behind. I shouldn't have listened to him. I should have helped him.

Somebody knocked on the door and I saw Mac Summers, staring intently at me. I kissed Brody's forehead mumbled a goodbye and came out.

"Are you fine?" He asked.

"Do I look fine?" I asked. "Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as rude."

"It's alright." He shifted awkwardly from one feet to another.

"You wanted to talk to me or just make sure I stay away from them?"

He sighed, "Look Ms. Forrester, I want to help you. I really do; but I cannot if you'll lie to me."

"I didn't -" I stopped when a nurse walked between us. I stared at her disappearing figure.

"This isn't the right place to talk," he said and gestured me to follow.

I walked after him but objected, "I'm not going to the police station again."

He shook his head, "The parking lot."

Once we were in the almost-empty parking lot, he looked at me. I raised my eyebrows at him, folding my arms. He sighed and I thought he might just pull his hair out. Rather, he spoke, "Please tell me the truth."

I made a face. I was fine if he pulled his hair out of frustration.

"I am telling the truth. What makes you think I'm not?"

"The fact that we found Eric on ground and you say otherwise."

"Why would I like, Mr. Summers?" I hissed. "Give me one reason why I would lie when saying the truth would help in finding Erin."

He grew awfully quiet.

"What?" I asked with confusion.

"You said that you went to wake up the Millers but they weren't there."

I nodded, "I even checked their rooms. They weren't there. Why?"

"Because when my team talked with them, they had something completely different to tell." He stole a glance at me and I urged him to continue. "They say that they were right there, in their rooms and you never came to them."

I gasped.

"You were leaving the next day which upset Erin. The next day when Tom Miller decided to check on you guys, you weren't there. He thought you all left but found your possessions right there. It's the same thing he told the police there."

I shook my head.

"You tell me, Ms. Forrester, whom should I believe?"

"You tell me, Mr. Summers, why do you think I'm the one lying and not them?"

His frown deepened, "Are you sure you checked the entire house?"

"Room-by-room? I had no time but I shouted their names, considering they might be somewhere else." I stopped; thought and spoke again. "Tom Miller says they were right in their room?"

He nodded.

I shook my head, "I checked their room. They weren't."

"I'll ask them again, if they're lying."

None of us spoke.

"Brody might know something."

"What?"

"When I went into the forest and found Brody, he was awake. Injured, but awake. He pointed at Eric's body which hung from a branch of a tree. I'm sure he knew about Erin too. Unfortunately, before he could tell me anything else, we heard someone coming. I think they were those men who are responsible for my friends."

"But he's not awake to tell us anything."

I raised an eyebrow at him. He nodded as reality sat upon him. "If Erin was close, we can search that area to find some clue."

He frowned at me.

I waved my hand, dismissively, "You can find some clue."

I saw him clench his jaw.

"Ask away," I said.

"Who's Harrison?" He asked. "You mentioned him numerous times to Flynn and Jarrod."

"Now you talk business." He frowned but let me continue. "On New Year's Eve, my neighbors, Louis and Carol Anderson were murdered. At their funeral, I was called in for interrogation by Jarrod Wilde. He asked me but didn't believe me. Then, all of the sudden, he began pleading me that I tell him the truth. Just then, a man walked in, claiming to be a police officer."

"Harrison?"

"The one and only. Flynn, later that day, told me he was a police officer from a nearby town who had handled such mysterious cases. There was a man, who I've never seen here before, from whose shop I saw Mao running out. What's unsettling is that Harrison told me that that man was on the run and the local people identified him whereas Flynn said he was found dead in the forest and nobody, just like I suspected, knew that guy."

"That's not unsettling. Police often hide certain things from the public."

"But Flynn didn't. He told me just right. Why did Harrison lie? But granted, he hid it for confidential reasons; why did Flynn and Jarrod lie about Harrison? Why did they act like that never happened? Does that not strike as odd to you?"

He was lost in his thoughts.

"Did Flynn mention which town Harrison came from?"

I shook my head. "Why?"

"Which town comes to your mind when anyone says 'nearby town'?"

"The nearest inhabited place is the forest and its citizens are animals. The second nearest place would be-" I stopped breathing.

"Would be?" He prompted.

"Wallflower's Deck," I breathed. The geology of my town came in my mind. We were surrounded by forests. On the outskirts, it merged with empty, open landscapes. The nearest town was Wallflower's Deck.

"But I had never heard of the town until Erin told me about it."

"That's because it was once a part of Madesville Town until ten years ago." He spoke after sometime, "I'll read about the case and see what I find out."

I exhaled out loudly. He turned to his car and sat inside. He rolled down the window and said, "Ms. Forrester, if you're not lying – which I hope you're not – I'm sure we'll find Erin."

"We?"

He shrugged as a small smile tugged on his lips.

"Why would you hope I'm not lying?"

He shrugged again, "I may hope you're not lying but I strongly want it all to be a lie."

"Why?"

"Because if it is true, then your friend is in trouble." He rolled the window up and drove away.

*****

I sat in my room, my legs folded. I placed on chin on my knees and sighed. Just then, I saw my bag pack that I took to Wallflower's Deck. I got up and emptied the pack. I was thankful that Mom left the bag as it is. At the bottom of the bag, something rattled. I frowned and fished the object out.

It was a glass trinket. I remembered it as one of those that were placed on a side-table near one of the couches at the Millers' house.

Why was it in my bag? Something else was taped at its base. A card. I opened and read it: We're sorry. Take care. It'll help you stay safe. It was signed by Marina Miller.

I ripped the card off and stared at the statue of the dancing girl. It'll help you stay safe. These weren't normal glass trinkets.