I'm completely numb with shock. Or is it confusion? It might be a combination of both of them. Oh, don't forget the shaking, horrifying fear that's settled into the pit of my stomach.

Staring straight ahead out the windshield of our new Honda Pilot, I couldn't move or talk. It was like everything was silent, and still. Just to catch you up, after I had heard the voice finish it's little chit chat, I'd almost broken down crying. I mean, who wouldn't have? But I pulled myself together, calmed down, and thought about it. I mean, honestly. Though the voice could still be just my mind playing tricks, it also has a high probability of being real. But what was it, exactly?

It had promised it wouldn't hurt me in any way if I cooperated. First of all, what does that mean? Cooperate? Cooperate with what? And second of all, how do I even know he'll- excuse me, it- will keep it's promise? IT'S A VOICE IN MY HEAD, TOO! DON'T LISTEN TO VOICES IN YOUR HEAD! Unless it's God. Anyway. I'm pretty sure this wasn't God. And it had mentioned something about being a villain.

The last topic the it had touched on before it left my mind was still spine tinglingly freaky. I had a sneaking suspicion of what it meant by "getting my siblings recent moments ago", but decided to push that far into the back of my brain. It was improbable. There's no way that voice could be Needle.

I sat back in my leather seat in the front, arms crossed tightly across my chest. My heavy, big orange jacket was keeping me warm in the still chilly car, even though the heat was on full blast. The windshield wipers were hard at work removing water from the open clouds from the window, which were, surprise surprise, still not solid enough to be snow.

Let me remind you why we were in the car. To understand this better, let's add in the picture of Needle in the back seat, licking the windows and seats, and Dad in the driver's position, grinning and babbling about how cool our new mutt was. I was trying to avoid talking or looking at either of them. Needle was still a suspect on my list, and it put me on edge to even have him sitting behind me. Dad was just being a father, so it was easy to just nod along to whatever he was rambling about.

We were all traveling in the nasty weather to the Good Boy, which is our local pet store. I'm dreading walking in there, considering I was a regular customer for Obsidian. I was betraying her, coming here for another animal. I sunk down lower in my seat, miserable.

Sitting in here, with cold air that wasn't quite warm yet blowing hair away from my face, gave me time to think about the voice, and how fast this Christmas had turned downhill. I'm so sick of things going wrong... Too many times in my life I was stuck in a horrible situation that had no exits. Take fourth grade, for example. I had walked into the classroom, excited to tell everyone about how my kitten, Obsidian, had climbed up my shirt and sat on my head that morning. This was when I still thought I could have friends, which was a honest mistake on my part.

Skipping into Mrs. Nearly's room, I made it halfway to my seat when someone stuck out their foot and tripped me. I fell flat on my face, resulting in a bloody nose. While I was crying, and all the little jerks in the room were laughing, one in particular was pointing out how ripped up my plaid shirt was. Enough to scar a 10 year old, huh?

The memory brought back fresh tears, and I turned my face out to the window, refusing to let them fall. I'm not weak anymore. I've been messed with too many times go give into the hurt now.

With Needle being weird, a voice in my head, and Obsidian missing, I didn't know how I could juggle my life right now. But since I was numb, I couldn't do anything about that. So I sat there, silently waiting for us to get to the Good Boy.

It was, to be honest, strange that this pet store was open on Christmas. We've learned a long time ago that the owner practically lives there, and makes it his life mission to serve us loyally. Which is pretty cool, if not also weird. The day we first adopted Obsidian from the shelter near by, we had immediately come here to pick up some things for her. Like food, toys, a crate, that sort of stuff. Mr. Frizby, the owner, held her the entire time like a baby, messing with her whiskers and face fur. She loved him, so it was all good.

I fondly smiled to myself before remembering that she was gone.

Passing by the rural farms and land in our small, Virginia town, we finally pulled into the parking lot of the Good Boy. Dad hooked a leash onto Needle's collar, checking to make sure it was secure. I ignored the forlorn look Needle gave me, hopping out of the car into a puddle.

I looked down at my jeans, which were now soaked to my skin, and groaned. Dad was already half way up the ramp to the door, and I waddled after him, the wet clothing chaffing the insides of my legs.

Ding-a-ling. "Welcome to Good Boy, what can I help you with? Tom? Melody?! What are you doing here, I thought you were heading out of town to Washington a week ago? It's so nice to see you, though!" Mr. Frizby exclaimed, grinning as he hobbled out from behind the check out counter.

Mr. Frizby is old. And by old, I mean old old. He uses a cane to get around, thanks to bad hips and back problems, but it really doesn't slow him down in the least. His warm eyes are surrounded by wrinkles, and his entire face is covered in them. He's short too, only as tall as me, which is only about 4 ft 11 in. Everyone loves Mr. Frizby; He's possibly the nicest person in town.

"And who is this? A new pup for the household? Well, Obsidian must be very excited about that." The kind man smiled, and I looked away.

"Mel, honey, did you fall in a puddle on the way in here? I'll get you a towel, just let me go-" He laughed, and some of my bad mood was lifted.

"I'm ok, Mr. Frizby. But a towel would be great. Where are they?"

"Oh, back in the storage room. Tom, I think I deserve an explanation as to why you're still here. What happened with the move?"

Their voices faded off into a gentle lull of sound as I made my way through the aisles of pet things, completely familiar with my surroundings. I loved this place. The smells, the light, jazzy music playing on the old speakers. I was going to work here once I got older, but seeing as we were moving, I figured that there was no point.

Pushing open the metal door to the storage room, I looked around for towels. The rows and rows of unpacked boxes had always bothered me. Mr. Frizby couldn't get all of this stuff to the shelves by himself. Someone else had to come in for a large sum of money and put them all away, but I still wished that I could've been the one doing that.

Spying a box of towels sitting on a chair, I swiped one from the pile and wrapped it around my waist, rubbing heat into my legs.

"Hey, Mr. Frizby, I was wanting to ask you- AHH!" A boy turning around the corner wearing an employee smock and holding a clipboard jumped back at the sight of me, squealing in surprise.

I fell back against the chair, clutching the towel as if was my life support.

"Whoa, sorry, oh my goodness, you scared me." He stammered, trying to catch his breath. That's when I recognized his eyes.

"Reed?" I asked, standing up, embarrassed.

"Melody? Oh, hi." He grinned, sweeping his curly brown hair out of his face. "What are you doing here?"

I surveyed him, my heart pounding. Should I tell him that I'm here for supplies for that dumb dog he brought me? Or ask what he is doing here? I went with my gut, and blurted, "You brought Needle yesterday, didn't you? When you crashed into our trash can?" Oh shoot. Why did I say that?

Instead of acting like I was a weirdo, he just smiled and gestured to himself. "That was me. Is that what you named the dog? Has he been good?" He looked genuinely concerned for a moment, then tried to conceal it by shaking his hair out of his face, but I caught it. I'm a master at that game.

"Yeah, he's out there. He is a bit crazy, but..." I shrugged, recalling all the of the things that have happened since he arrived. Needle isn't the one who is potentially crazy.

"Oh, awesome." He said, shuffling his feet. My mind raced of things to say.

"So... You work here?" I asked obviously, and Reed pointed at his smock.

"Yep. Just started a few weeks ago. My dad owns the shelter down the street, you know, where your dad decided to adopt Needle. He thought that I needed to get a paying job, so here I am."

"Aren't you only 12? Why do you need the money?" I stupidly asked without thinking, and wanted to run out of there in an instant.

Reed just laughed, which was nice. "You can never start too young. That's what my dad says. Since my mom passed away 7 years ago, I guess the extra income can't hurt. The shelter isn't rich, you know. And we just moved here, so it's nice to have some extra moolah on our hands. My dad just took over the shelter from the last owner, who got too old, so we're a bit busy." He looked surprised for a second that he'd told me all of that. Frozen in place, he seemed caught up in memories.

I didn't know what to say. His mom died? Oh my gosh. I must've seemed so inconsiderate... The fact that he had just moved here didn't surprise me. I would've seen him around.

"But it's all good. Needle, right, was next on the list to be put down, so I'm glad you adopted him. He was always my favorite." He quickly changed the subject, and I awkwardly tried to transition with him.

"He's a handful, can I say that." I muttered, causing Reed to erupt into laughter.

"That's why I loved him so much. You have to watch him carefully though."

"I bet he'll like all the room he'll get to run in when we move to our new house in Washington State. It'll-" The horrified look on Reed's face was enough to stop me. I ran my fingers through my hair, blinking rapidly. "Umm, do I have something on my face, or..."

"You're moving?" Reed asked quickly, and I nodded slowly.

"No, no, no, you can't... Oh sh*t." He murmered, starting to pace.

I placed my hands on my hips, glaring at him. "Watch your mouth." He didn't seem to hear me though, and turned to me suddenly, placing his hands on my shoulders. I looked up at him, my eyes wide.

"When? When are you moving?" His eyes were searching and frantic.

"My dad should've told the shelter... I mean, I didn't think that would be a surprise to you." I stuttered, unsure of why he was acting like this. Was this usual for boys?

"No, no, no, you can't... Dang it. Dang it!" Reed repeated, pushing away from me to start pacing again. "When?"

"A week, maybe." I replied weakly, watching him nervously.

"Ok. Ok. It'll be fine, I just need to fix everything... Ok. Alright. A week. Good."

"Is there something I should be aware of?" I asked, getting annoyed.

"No! No. It's all fine. I just... Was surprised. I didn't know you were leaving." He heaved a deep breath, and I could tell he was trembling. Something was off here.

I opened my mouth to question him again, then screamed. "WHAT IS THAT?"

A round, little face was gazing at me from Reed's shoulder, it's claws hooked into his shirt. It looked like it had emerged from his hoodie, and it's body was long and slender. Little tufts of brown and light tan fur covered it's face, and I have to admit, it was pretty adorable.

"Oh, uh, Mel, meet Sandy. Sandy, meet Mel. She's my ferret..." He picked the mammal off of his shoulder, and cradled her in his hands. Her long, fluffy tail hung off the edge of his makeshift "bed", and I instantly remembered seeing it hanging out of his jacket when he dropped off the box containing Needle that one morning.

Feeling stupid, I brushed at my shirt, avoiding his eyes. "She's cute." Cute? REALLY, MEL?!

"She's my best friend." Reed cooed at her fondly, and she nestled her face into the crook of his neck.

Realizing I was still watching, he coughed and put her back onto his shoulder. "So. Uh. Let's go back out?"

"Sure." I followed him out of the room, straight to where Dad was talking to Mr. Frizby. I glanced over at Reed, who was frowning at me. What was his problem? And why was he acting so weird about me moving? Stupid boys.

I'm so sorry, I feel like I really rushed this chapter. But I needed to get this part out of the way. There are a few key things in here that you'll need to remember, so I needed to add it in. It's essential! Also, if you got bored reading this part, I sincerely apologize. And if you're confused, I'm also sorry. But it'll all come together. Give it some time. :)