I would never have believed I'd be good at a sport. Rose took me through many steps. She taught me how to punch with my thumb over three fingers. She showed me blocks, kicks, and moves that mimicked animals and insects like the praying mantis, hawks, monkeys, and even turtles.

"You're a natural!" Rose smiled. "Before we mix our moves in with the dance, I just want to give you a feel of martial arts." 

I sat on the mat, exhausted from all the kicks, flips, and practice landings. Rose sat beside me and leaned on my shoulder. "I just love the way karate makes me feel. Not just the dance, but the way we learn to move. The way we learn to strike and block."

I know what she meant because I felt it too. Even though I was tired, I felt like getting up to do some more moves. It wasn't just fun and good for my heart, but it relaxed my mind. The whole time we had practiced, I didn't think about anything else except perfecting myself. Other sports didn't make me feel that way. They just made me feel tired.

"I should have done karate a long time ago," I stretched my arms back and leaned into my hands.

"It's helped me through a lot," she said, looking at the ceiling as if she had remembered something bad. 

"That's good," I said. 

"Are you ready to go home?"

I shrugged, unsure of the question. I wasn't ready to go home. In fact, I would rather stay here than leave. However, I didn't want to overstay my limits. Before I could get up, someone upstairs began yelling. Glass started breaking, and someone was cursing life and everything in the living room. Rose let out of a deep breath then pinched the skin between her eyebrows. Two minutes later, whoever was upstairs yelling, left the house. 

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked her. As soon as she looked at me, I realized I had made a huge mistake. That wasn't the right question to asked. "I'm sorry," I said quickly.

"It's fine," she grabbed my hand and helped me up. "Let's get you home."

I had a hard time taking off the uniform, so  Rose came over to help me. As she untied the knot in the uniform, I could see the tears floating in her eyes, ready to fall. She held them back though. Even sniffed a few times. Our eyes met for a quick second. 

"I'm sorry," she said as if she owed me an apology. "Things are a little crazy right now."

"I understand," I replied, meaning it. I did understand, and I wasn't going to ask any more questions.

On our way upstairs, I followed Rose. She wanted to give me a few shirts that were too small for her before we left. After she had given me the shirts, she went to the bathroom. I sat on the bed waiting for her, looking around at the white and blue themed room. 

So there I was, minding my own business when all of a sudden Robert Parker crawled out from underneath the bed. I was too shocked to scream and ended up covering my mouth with my hand. My heart was beating so fast it felt dangerous. I was about to ask him what he was doing here, but my eyes noticed something that I didn't catch right away. Robert had a gun in his hand, and a bullet wound to his head. His Of Mice and Men white shirt was blood stained along with his blue jeans. I froze at the sight, unable to speak. 

"August 14, 2007. I put a bullet to my head and from there left with The Lovely Suicide Children," he said in a monotone. His eyes looked into mine, bleeding onto the carpet. "Scar number one was because of Rose. Scar number two, Rose. Number three, and ten, the eleventh, number thirty, then the gun. Rose made my middle school a living hell, and she doesn't deserve you as a friend."

Before I could say anything, Robert pulled the triggered and disappeared with the blast still ringing in my ear. Rose walked out of the bathroom normally, but I sat on the bed shaking with fear. The crazy part was, Robert's shadow remained on the wall. Scratch that, there were many shadows on the wall, mimicking what Robert had done. I had seen the gun, the blast, and the blood splattered all as shadows on the walls around me. I heard the blast, over and over again. I held my ears, annoyed and irritated by the ringing in my ear that was so intense. Rose wrapped her hand around me, but I continued to sit there, frozen and tortured by what was happening and what Rose could not see.

"Hey!" Rose tried prying my hand away from my ears. "Olivia, what's wrong?"

My head felt dizzy, and so did I. The room started to sway left, and right and my head did the same thing. The shadows did the same, swaying left and right creating strange distortions and illusions. The last thing I remembered was Rose holding my face telling me to wake up.

***

I woke up in my room with a bright lamp beside me and my father holding a glass cup. "Thank God," he placed his cup on the floor beside my bed. "Olivia, what were you thinking!?"

I sat up easily. "What happened?"

My father sat on the bed beside me. "You blanked out at your friend's house."

"Oh," I said, trying to remember what had happened. I tried to push it away as soon as the memories began to flood my mind, but I was too late. I was already hit with a wave of disturbing images of Robert Parker. The gun. The bullet wound. The reason behind his scars. 

Rose was the reason Robert killed himself and now, even he claimed to be with The Lovely Suicide Children.

"Oh?" my father raised an eyebrow. His face expression changed from worried to outraged. "I busted my ass looking for you, and you was at your friend's house?"

"I called you, but no one picked up," I said. "No one came to get me."

My dad shook his head. "Shayla was stuck in traffic. Couldn't you have waited? Called her? Instead, you're out willy-nilly with some girl and her drunken father. I mean, what kind of move was that? Didn't you see the glass on the floor in that place? That's the kind of place that looks safe to you?"

"Dad, I-"

"You're grounded," he stood up. "I'm glad you're alright, but you are not allowed to go to anyone's house ever again!"

I watched as he stormed out of my room and shut the door. The door was opened a few seconds later by Amber with Sunny walking behind her. "Shayla did not pick you up from school today," Amber said. 

"She knows we did something," Sunny crossed her hands and stuck up her nose in the air.

"How?" I asked, pulling the blanket off of me.

"I don't know, but she's convinced we did it," Sunny said.

I sighed and shook my head. "Great, now I don't have a ride from school."

"She is going to get you," Amber frowned.

Sunny raised her hand. "I say we get her back."

"No," Amber looked at Sunny. "We aren't hurting anyone else. Leave Shayla alone. All of this getting and gotten is going to get someone hurt."

Sunny stayed, but Amber left the room. I still couldn't get over how creepy, and scary Sunny looked. She still had the light green face with the veins pumping in her face behind her skin. "Amber's turning into such a pancake."

I combed my hair back using my hand. "She's right. We can't fight fire with fire because we'll just create a bigger fire."

"Okay, Dr. Seuss. Then let Shayla walk all over you. She's not going to stop, you know."

I let my head fall against my pillow. "Today was a long day. This Lovely Suicide Children thing is stuck with me. I've heard this stuff since I got here, now I'm haunted by ghost."

Sunny sat on my bed and chuckled. "They're not ghost. They're children. Some of them."

"Why do I see them?" I asked. "Am I some spiritual person that sees ghost?"

Sunny laid beside me. She was a little too close, and I got chills feeling her hand touch mine for a quick second. "No, you're not that. The Lovely Suicide Children only appear to people who need help or request help. For you, you just need help."

I licked my lips because they were dry. "I don't know what I need. Each day gets worse and worse here."

"You know what to do when you get tired of this place," Sunny sat up. The way she had looked at me after she had said that gave me terrifying vibes. She didn't smile. It was just a firm stare. I watched as she left my room and closed the door. Tomorrow at school, I was going to ask Robert what he wanted from me. I was also going to ask Rose what actually happened on August 14, 2007. Because if she was behind Robert's suicide, then I'm not sure if I wanted to be around that type of person.