"I feel terrible," Dream groaned. "I have to see my dad be all upset on the news. I mean he was insensitive but I don't think he meant to be a total jerk."

"I thought you were running away from home," Zac chuckled. Dream had finished her homework in detention. Zac didn't do it, either way. But now they were in Zac's room playing a game from his enormous stash of video games.

"It's been long enough," Dream complained, moving her controller to the right and pressing a button.

"It's been two days. You miss home already?"

"I guess. I mean, I have to turn myself in before next Friday, anyway. I have to go to court."

"What happened?"

"Haven't you heard about the time Savannah and I rescued a girl from the woods?"

"Oh yeah. Didn't you tell me that?"

"Yeah? Well, she woke up from her coma this morning and is accusing Mrs. Woods of kidnapping and abusing her. Or something like that."

Zac didn't take his eyes off the screen. "That's amazing! That girl is our proof that Mrs. Woods really is a kidnapper."

"No, no, no," Dream said, realizing her mistake. "She didn't say Mrs. Woods kidnapped her. She said Mrs. Woods was behind the whole thing."

"I know where I stand, I know who I am, I would never run away when life gets bad..."

"Your phone is ringing," Zac said. He was already used to Dream's ringtone, which consisted of all the Hannah Montana soundtracks.

Dream was obsessed with Hannah Montana, and she was not ashamed of it. At all.

Dream looked at it for a split second, still focused on the game. "It's my dad again. He's called me like a million times in the past two days."

Zac snorted. "I would never run away when life gets bad, says your ringtone."

Dream rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

"It's everything I see, every part of me, gonna get what I deserve, I got nerve."

"Have I ever mentioned your ringtone is annoying?"

Dream shrugged. "Not yet," she turned her phone onto silent.

"Whatever," Zac said. "If Mrs. Woods didn't kidnap her, then who did?"

"Exactly," Dream said. "I swear, Savannah said that it was a hooded black-clad figure who was exceptionally tall."

"What the--" Zac said. "Two days ago, we were kidnapped by a hooded black-clad figure who was exceptionally tall!"

"I know," Dream sighed.

"Do you know what that means?" Zac said, turning off the game and setting his controller down. "We were almost one of Mrs. Woods' victims!"

"Yeah...I think I figured that out actually. I mean, it's definitely a maybe. Not definitely."

Zac thought for a moment. "Well. That was a narrow escape. No wonder Mrs. Woods looked so weirded out and surprised when we walked in that day."

"Yeah, she looked like she was seeing a ghost," Dream agreed.

"She probably thought she was," Zac said.

"Hm," Dream said.

"We have to watch our backs from now on. We don't know what else Mrs. Woods is going to try to pull off."

"Yeah. It's getting late, I think I'll go to bed now," Dream said, leaving Zac's room.

"Okay, good night."

"Good night."

---

Crash!

Dream sat straight up. What was that noise? "Zac?" she called.

No answer.

"Um, Zac!"

Dream slowly creeped out of bed, grabbing her phone, just in case. She left the guest room, her heart pounding.

Stop being such a drama queen, she scoffed at her own silliness. Probably raccoons outside or something.

"Whatever," she muttered as she went back to bed.

Crash!

"Okay, what is that?" she said out loud, feeling annoyed.

The door to the guest room flung open, and the lights turned on. "Did you hear that?" Zac demanded. "The first time could have been my imagination, but the second time..."

"Yes, I heard it," Dream nodded, leaving the room with him.

"That definitely did not come from outside either," Zac told her. "I feel like someone's in the house."

"Are you sure," Dream fidgeted nervously.

"Positive," Zac nodded seriously as they walked down the hall.

"Oh my gosh, is that a person?!" Dream whisper-yelled, hiding behind the wall to peek in the kitchen.

Zac's eyes widened. "The heck?! Hey!" he called, opening the kitchen light. "Who are you? Why are you in my apartment?"

Whoever it was, fled towards the window.

Not the door.

The window.

"What is he doing?"

Zac grabbed a frying pan. "We've got you cornered and we're calling the police."

"Yeah," Dream grabbed her phone, dialing 9-1-1.

The stranger in the apartment opened the window, and hopped out.

Dream screamed.

---

"I'm going home today," Dream announced.

"Might I remind you when it is? Saturday. Morning. You said you need to turn yourself in before Friday. You still have like, six days."

"I know. But I feel really, really, really bad. Also it's weird. Having to wear sunglasses and put on my hood every time in public because I don't want to be spotted and reported. And explaining to everyone at school that I ran away. And not to mention creepy things happening at night," Dream shuddered, remember the events of the day before.

"Okay, fine," Zac said.

"Thanks for letting me stay," Dream said.

"No problem. You were good company. And we're closer than ever to uncovering the mysteries of Mrs. Woods."

"Yeah," Dream said, as she began packing. "You know, you really should attend court. You don't need to speak. Just watch. You might find out things you never knew."

"Good idea."

"Just out of curiosity..." Dream said. "Why are you so committed to the whole Mrs. Woods thing?"

"What, I'm not allowed to love my school, and want to protect my fellow schoolmates from a possible kidnapper?"

Dream raised her eyebrows.

"Okay. The truth is...I told you I have an older brother. But, I also have--had--a sister."

"You never mentioned a sister."

"I don't like talking about her. She was in tenth grade. Mrs. Woods' class. Then, one day she came to me and told me, 'Mrs. Woods is a kidnapper.' Then the next day she disappeared. But not before making me swear not to tell anyone. And...well," it was clear that it was hard for Zac to talk about this, "She's probably dead. And I need to find out what is really going on."

"Oh," Dream said. "Then why did you tell me, if you promised your sister you wouldn't tell anyone?"

Zac shrugged. "Impulse. She's the oldest sibling in my family. I was in first grade when she disappeared. It's been over nine years. I guess I was dying to tell somebody."

"But you don't have any close friends...?"

Zac cut her off. "I don't trust anyone. I don't know why I trust you. Maybe you look like a typical good girl who would be scared to tell anyone. Anyways, you haven't told anyone, so now I know I wasn't wrong to trust you."

"Yeah. I didn't tell anyone."

"Anyways, thanks to you, we're on the right track."

Dream stood up. "Great."

"So...you're going?"

"Yeah," Dream said. "It's better to face my problems head on than run away. Although, the past two days have been great though."

"It's always fun analyzing facts about hated teachers in order to prove their involvement in the kidnapping of several students at your school, isn't it?"
"Of course," Dream said. "Bye, Zac, thanks again for letting me stay over."

"Yeah, it was no biggie," Zac shrugged. "See you around?"

"Yeah," Dream said.

Sighing, she left Zac's apartment, taking the long elevator trip down, slowly dragging her feet. It could have taken her two minutes to get to her place, but she really, really, didn't want to get there so soon.

As she took the elevator trip up to her apartment, her heart pounded. Her dad was going to be mad.

There might as well have been a sign on her front door that read:

"Welcome to Hell."

---

A/N

I hope you guys enjoyed this longer chapter! Please vote if you did, and comment below your thoughts!

Next update is going to be on Monday, we're back on normal update schedule!

💙, Stella Rose