One would say that seeing something disintegrate may be an amazing experiment. For Preston Ellis, it wasn't amazing in the slightest. Seeing how a tortured girl to the brim of death had a purple substance oozing out of her body seemed normal for a horror movie. Now, every drop seemed to have melted as if it were a spilled drink.

In horror, he looked at the huge hole in the classroom flooring Ashley had been in. Preston looked over at Oscar with wide eyes before they ran near the open hole. The substance had melted all the way down from the top floor, leaving a large pit on the ground. Only the scalded floor left while Preston saw Oscar automatically grip the pistol that he held.

"Luke is gonna kill us!" His voice still had a motto tone, despite panic filling both of them.

"Dear God, I hope hell has hot girls." Preston closed his eyes, repeating frequently.

"Who else knows we have Ashley?" Oscar asked.

They dashed down the stairs, searching the building for the girl. They ran down the wide halls, with the majority of the classrooms empty or trashed, but there was no sign of Ashley anywhere. She wasn't in any of the washrooms or even the nurse's office that they technically weren't supposed to go into.

"Greyson, Scarlett, and Luke, along with James and Emma," Preston rushed.

They kicked open a classroom door, spotting some Uden kids smoking pot in a classroom. They were all sitting near a small, open window that had a hole in the screen. This wasn't abnormal behaviour at this school.

"See a girl short with glasses?" Preston asked.

"The dyslexic one?" Mia asked, slowly coming over with a dazed smile. "Saw her take off toward Simcoe. Y'all need to calm down, since she's just some ugly girl."

She pointed a finger at both of them before doing what she often did. Swiftly, she lifted her black crop-top up so that it covered her face before falling smack on the ground. It revealed her pink lace bra, which caused her to start laughing on her back.

"You always wear cute bras," Preston said.

When they arrived at the main entrance, they dashed to an SUV. They needed to find this girl before Luke or Greyson punished them.

Mallory Jonz, also known as Tumbles—someone given the nickname due to her sense of clumsiness—washed the vehicle down with cold water. She was standing beside a small bucket with a handle that was filled with soapy water and a washcloth.

"Tumbles, get in the car!" Preston exclaimed before she tripped over her own bucket of water.

Oscar kicked the plastic bucket to the side, gripping her wrist and grabbing the keys from her hands. Tumbles climbed into the backseat, with Preston sitting beside Oscar in the passenger seat. He fumbled with the keys in his hands that were shaking. He inserted the key, adjusted his seat, started it, and sped his way down the highway, looking left and right.

"We didn't kill her, right?" Oscar asked, glancing over at him with his body trembling.

"You saw it! The girl melted through the flooring!" Preston panicked.

Ahead, they spotted the town coming into view from the old trees and long grass that grew along the ditches. Even when they glanced right and left, she wasn't visible anywhere. Preston knew they were doing the main meeting today as Tumbles looked at them both, curious about the situation.

"Did you murder someone?" she asked, leaning toward them.

"Our hostage got away, and I'm pretty sure we're going to die," Preston said.

Oscar pulled into a TD Bank parking spot while they crept through town. Everywhere you looked, there were people wandering around or doing some type of task. There were people guarding stores to decrease theft of food or those delivering baby supplies to the daycare.

"You can turn invisible and not get in shit," Oscar spat, narrowing his eyes at him.

Preston automatically went invisible. When walking through the mess of The Bubble, the system seemed to be slowly repairing itself now that Greyson was the new mayor. There seemed to be less fighting, and now that people actually had jobs, barely anyone was walking around clueless.

Creeping behind a back alley, they looked right and left to see Coffee Culture and the daycare. Preston then spotted a blob of her ginger hair, making him appear as his normal self again.

"There!" he yelled.

The three went running toward her before Tumbles tripped in the process. Oscar grabbed the back of the girl's shirt before realizing it wasn't Ashley. The girl yelled at him before slapping Oscar across the cheek and storming away.

"Idiot!" Tumbles groaned, slowly walking toward them.

"Well, it's not my fault their hair and height seemed similar," Preston grumbled.

He looked around at some of the girls who walked around town. He was supposed to be doing a job, but he couldn't help notice that some were tall and short while being dressed in normal clothes, unlike the uniform some of them still wore.

He snapped out of his thoughts when Tumbles slapped him across the cheek. Oscar covered his mouth as Preston held his cheek. It wasn't exactly something he was new to, due to his sneaking into the girls' dorm and spying on them.

Greyson found out once because Scarlett discovered that he went into her dorm. The boy ended up punching him hard with his telekinetic abilities. Since then, he has tried not to spy on Scarlett.

"Cool off," Oscar said, separating them before they started lurking around the town.

Nobody could know that their hostage ended up getting away. If she burned through the floor, did that mean she burned through the chains? No, that would be impossible for someone to do.

Searching the town, he saw some people he knew, such as Zane or Ilya, that he had seen at the meeting. They couldn't confront them because it was supposed to stay secret; they had kidnapped Ashley so people wouldn't get suspicious.

"We have to tell Greyson," Tumbles whispered, rubbing her thumbs together.

Preston and Oscar looked at each other before staring directly at the white building. Greyson had ordered the instructions to make sure that Ashley didn't escape. It wasn't exactly that they could get her, since she had disappeared through the floor.

The three walked slowly toward the building, seeing it slightly crowded near the doorway. When they tried to push through the crowd, it didn't work because they were all short. Oscar lifted his pistol in the air, shooting it off. Many screamed and fled, leading them to go inside. They rushed up the stairs toward the large room, where Greyson sat in his large chair.

"We have a problem," Preston said breathlessly, looking toward Oscar. "Ashley, she... how would you put it... melted through the floor."

Greyson stared at the three with furrowed eyebrows. "Melted how?" he asked, awaiting a response from one of them.

"There's a huge hole through the classroom flooring," Preston said while using gestures.

"Find Jason," Greyson spat, chewing his pinky nail. "Then bring that thing back to me."

Preston took Tumbles' hand, preventing her from falling down the stairs. When they returned outside, luck had set its sights on them. Jason sat on a bench with Bella on the opposite side. Even if he didn't know where she might be, he still got to talk to Bella. The girl was beautiful, even if she couldn't compare to Scarlett.

"We need your help." Oscar automatically started with his motto voice.

Preston noticed the pain Jason was in while knitting his eyebrows together. Greyson had left this guy in a lot of pain from whatever the two had been bickering about, especially the twin reveal.

"Have you seen your sister?" Oscar asked, "Or whatever she is."

"Weren't you guys the ones who had her hostage?" Bella inquired before he spotted her looking over with widened eyes. "Wait..."

Ashley stood with no wounds on her legs or arms and without the purple substance dripping from her body. There were no rips in her clothes that had melted in certain places; it she seemed she had just magically healed on a whim.

"Hi, Jason," Ashley beamed, smiling.

Oscar held out his pistol, pointed directly at her chest, and narrowed his eyebrows at the girl. Preston knew that someone could be healed at such a time by Emma, but she didn't heal her. There was not even a single scar visible on her body.

"Put the gun down!" Jason exclaimed.

Did this guy know she wasn't okay? It wasn't possible for Luke's torture to heal in such a short amount of time. This guy has left some people in hospitals for months, just for fun.

Preston watched Oscar slowly lower the gun while Ashley ran back to Jason with a smile.

"I thought that girl was the one Luke was torturing?" Tumbles asked.

Preston needed to inform Greyson what really happened with that girl. Luke knew most, but he saw the last of her injuries before she seeped through the tile flooring.

Seeing Ashley healthy was a relief to Jason. They were planning to hunt her down wherever they were keeping her, but she seemed unharmed. That concept still made him uneasy, seeing as she chewed on her nails against their living room wall, her eyes narrowing.

Bella looked over at him from the kitchen, who grabbed a cold cloth to rest on his head. Sometimes Ashley would wander off to her room randomly, but it began happening frequently now that he stayed in their home. Jason didn't exactly know what type of torture Luke did, but he would have to pay for what he had done.

"It's going to be their fault." Jason glanced up from the words Ashley spoke. They were words she kept repeating about some person responsible for something.

Is it murder or a crime? It could be any person in the bubble who creates conflict. Not many have caused conflict, unless you count the fights over toys or Greyson's own motives.

"Who?" Bella questioned.

Ashley looked at them with a solemn expression on her face, but didn't answer Bella. She went back to following words with her finger on a book page, eyes narrowed.

"Ashley, who's the person?" Jason pestered her.

Jason saw something, but he wasn't sure if it was an illusion or not. Ashley glared hard at him with light purple eyes staring into his own.

"The grower," she growled.

Did the grower mean someone who farmed? Did people do that around here? Maybe it had to do with those supernatural powers, such as his hand power or Cindy's teleportation.

"Grower?" Jason asked. "What grower?"

Ashley had shut her eyes, rocking slowly from side to side in her chair, mumbling some words. It didn't seem he was going to get anything out of her based on the way she was acting, especially about her eyes changing colour.

People disappearing became one thing, but now some grower appears to be the threat. Did that person have something to do with why everyone is stuck here? If Ashley knew of a farmer who could assist them when they run out of food, that would be helpful.

"Are they producing food?" Jason asked.

"Powerful!" Ashley spat. "I can feel it."

Jason went to stand, but Bella set her hand on his. Slightly smiling, Bella stood and walked toward Ashley. Not directly looking at Bella, she crouched down in front of her.

"Is this from Luke?" Jason questioned.

"I'm going out," Ashley said, running out of their own house, making the two stare at the screen door.

First, his birthday is approaching, and suddenly his own stepsister is becoming distracted with some grower. Was this related to not only Uden but also to when they took her to Cindy and Melany? Both girls claimed that her body became paralyzed before she was healed.

"What happens if it isn't Uden?" Bella trailed, looking toward him from the hardwood table.

Jason stared at her, knowing she might be right. Whatever substance entered her knee may have had something to do with her crazy actions. Maybe it could even be a phase that some people go through in the fifth grade.

He wobbly stood, grabbing the grey couch for support. Slowly, he walked over to where she had been reading a book. Bella grabbed his forearm to help him, while he picked up one of the pictures she had drawn before they asked her a series of questions.

It portrayed a faceless stick girl with long black hair. If someone drew stick people, it would just be a typical picture. Both knew that whatever happened would begin with a girl.

"We need to figure out where she went," Jason said, supporting himself with the dining table.

"Any girl would have black hair," she sighed. "And apparently they're some grower."

Did it not even imply growing food or something else? People grow in height or weight throughout their lives, which could have an impact on everything.

"Let's go find her," he said, slowly standing with Bella's help.

If this were still the regular world and not The Bubble, he may have never come into contact with Bella. He remembered barely seeing her in the halls. They had been partners once, possibly in the sixth grade, but that's all he could remember. Through this time, she has been one of his right hands.

Slowly making their way out of the door, they walked toward the white golf cart. The gas seemed to be decreasing in the few days they had been using it. Bella started it, speeding past kids on bikes or attempting to drive their parents' car.

The streets didn't seem chaotic until he started seeing people guarding them. One guy named Ryder from his English class and a girl from Uden Academy stood on either side of the road. The girl held out a hand as Bella slowed the golf cart near the two.

"What are you heading to town for?" Ryder's words were blunt.

"We're looking for my stepsister." Jason trailed off, but it didn't feel right calling her that. Knowing he had an actual twin over someone who became half-related changes things.

Both looked toward each other before the girl stepped away to the side. Did Greyson mean this type of security—that everyone gets questioned?

Bella drove around the plaza, now with stores guarded and orders being arranged. None seemed to be in the fountain, but rather cleaning it. Going up and down the streets to find nothing but people guarding or the odd child playing around. It creased conflict, which did help with the overriding of fights and injuries to others.

Bella came to a halt in front of the water fountain. Climbing out, she assisted him in walking on the sidewalk. They'd need an entire search party to find her, but he had to do something he knew he'd come to regret.

"We need to ask Greyson," Jason sighed.

"Are you insane?"

"He may know," Jason winced.

Slowly, when they were walking over, Jason noticed Zane, who wore a slight smile, looking toward them. He was putting some garbage from the ground into a trash bag, but he still had a hose around his shoulder.

"Ashley apparently disintegrated and has been saying wacky stuff. We're going to talk to Greyson," Jason said.

Zane nodded while they all slowly went to the mayor's office. He hobbled up the stairs to the mayor's office before seeing Greyson in his office with James and Scarlett.

There was a frown on Greyson's face as James rushed out of the room with his rimmed glasses lowering slightly. Bella shut the door behind them, before they both let go of him. The boy had his arms crossed on his desk, slightly leaning forward.

"What do you need, brother?" Greyson sighed.

"Ashley is missing," Jason remarked, gripping onto one of the red chairs in front of him.

"So?" Greyson spat, glaring at him with narrowed eyebrows.

Jason could already feel that if they found her, they'd try to have her killed once more. There was something abnormal going on with her, plus her having no remaining wounds was terrifying.

"She escaped from the house and has been mumbling something about a grower," Jason implied.

"Grower? Is that some farmer?" Greyson snarled.

"We don't know!" Bella snapped.

Greyson seemed to be trying to provoke him since he didn't care what happened. They wouldn't get anything out of him because he didn't care about Ashley or have any business in dealing with her.

Scarlett stood, leaning her hip on the desk. "Ashley obviously has something wrong, and it's that substance, correct?" she asked, crossing her arms.

Jason nodded, as she had not gone around the question. He realized that she always got straight to the point of what she wanted, unlike Greyson. The girl looked toward him, wearing a smirk, her eyebrows raised.

"Not so hard, right?" Scarlett said.

Jason then noticed something. Oftentimes, Greyson would either put on an act or use his powers when someone interrupted him. However, it wasn't an expression of irritation toward Scarlett. There had to be no other explanation than that Greyson was in love with Scarlett.

"I'm not sending my people to look for that thing. We're busy working on a contact system," Greyson said.

"Something that will help with emergencies?" Zane asked.

"Yes, but that thing is probably out of town and isn't my concern," Greyson spat.

Did he have any idea if those were traps? It became likely, but he wanted to prevent being thrown at the wall again. When they turned and slowly walked out, James waited outside on his computer, pulling up some software. From a distance, he couldn't make out what the boy had been doing, although it seemed like something he had never seen.

From his nickname at school, Stick had always been lean. He was able to reach the basketball hoop with ease during games. Now he was searching the area for a purple substance, which wasn't his ideal intention.

When he drove down to the hospital that Luke ordered, he glanced back and forth. Cars were scattered on the side of the narrow highway, while Henry, Finn, and a guy named Andrew Carters all piled in. Most of the car batteries had died or were driven into some of the empty fields that had crops growing.

"Why do we have to do this dirty work? I'd rather go after Jason," Finn spat.

Stick agreed that having to do work for Luke had become annoying. Before, he was guarding the alcohol store, where people now take shifts. He wished he could have still been there, since you're allowed to have one cup.

Distracted, Stick turned down the wrong street. "Bro, turn around," Henry called.

He did a full-circle turn, speeding down the long highway. It came out of nowhere that someone stood automatically on the highway. In an instant, he hit her. Andrew screamed, and Stick automatically stopped the car.

They all climbed out, staring down at Vicki, some girl Stick remembered from his class. She didn't stand out, but he had science class with her, and they were in the middle of doing a project where they got to use different chemicals to make a reaction.

Finn leaned over and placed his ear close to her mouth to check on her breathing. The boy looked up with slightly teary eyes before staying on his knees. The reality of the situation was that he hit someone without even knowing they were there beforehand.

"We need to hide the body." Stick stared at Henry with horror.

Vicki was still lying on her side, blood pouring from her head, and her eyes were still wide open. Bloody scrapes were along her left arm, prompting Henry to grab one of her arms and drag her into one of the ditches.

"If we hide it, nobody will know," Henry shouted from the distance.

Stick ran behind him, lifting both of Vicki's legs but noticing that her left leg sagged more than the right. It made his stomach feel sick doing this, but there was no other way to cover his crime. Golden boys like himself aren't supposed to have crimes on their transcript that could prevent them from getting a scholarship.

The ditch had trees bare of leaves running around the opposite side, near the cornfield. Slowly walking near the dead grass, surrounded by a small amount of water in the ditch. They both threw her body into the ditch, with it landing flat on her stomach in the shallow water.

They both ran back into the SUV quickly. "Get in!" Henry hissed to Andrew and Finn.

Both stood still for a moment before slowly travelling toward the SUV with wide eyes and pale faces.

Once they got in, Stick automatically began driving the opposite way. Getting away from that body became the first priority over anything else. Knowing Greyson or Luke may lock him up made him push on the gas more.

Right and left, he glanced at the corners of his eyes. Would Vickie come back and haunt him from the dead? It became enough that people developed supernatural powers; even people aged fifteen and older vanished. Abruptly, he stopped in the middle of the highway road, surrounded by what was once a hospital and the Paradise Hotel.

"Luke assigned us to first check the hospital," Henry implied, glancing back at the two.

Stick felt his entire body trembling as he climbed out of the SUV, a cooking knife in his pocket. It became an order that everyone must have a weapon in case of an attack, since nobody has yet to see a single animal around here.

They made their way to St. Mary's Hospital, located with a parking garage with many parked cars. The entrance for cars had been jammed open, and they walked through with ease. Reaching one of the grey entrance doors, the main floor was bare of people. There was nobody at the reception area, or even people boarding the elevators toward the top floor.

"Search the halls and use the elevators if they still work," Henry said.

Stick rushed to one of the elevators and pressed the button for the second floor. When the elevator opened, he gripped the silver bar behind him, his heart racing and his hands feeling clammy. When the doors opened to the second floor, a loud beeping rang throughout the whole floor. Searching around, holding his knife up, he slowly travelled around the floor.

Large windows looked out front, where on the left sat a reception desk and rooms surrounding it. Walking into one white room with a purple curtain pulled across, he held the knife out. It shook in his hand as he opened the curtain to the beeping of a heart monitor. What did heart monitors even do other than check someone's heartbeat? Shrugging, he pushed the machine over, making it smash to pieces.

It made him widen his eyes again. If someone was there, he may have killed them, and then he'd be responsible for another crime. The blue monitor now creased without sound as he felt his heartbeat continue to race.

What could he do now that he had killed someone? He could hide inside the hospital until people overlook his crime. Wait, did that mean Henry or Andrew, were going to spill the truth to Luke? If Luke found out, then Scarlett and Greyson would know.

Dashing from the room, he quickly checked everything, which was still the same with the white walls, a small accessible bathroom, and a purple curtain. Some rooms had balloons or even books randomly placed, which made him grab the bunch of helium balloons. Inhaling the helium may be able to distract his mind from Vickie and the murder he caused.

Entering the last room, he saw photographs of an older man with his kids placed on the small nightstand beside a cellphone. Grabbing the iPhone, he tried to turn on the power button, but nothing worked. Hydropower works, but not cell service and connection?

"Why didn't you stop?" Stick jumped around quickly, seeing Vickie, how he saw her when he hit her. Her arms were still scraped, and her head wound was still visible, even when the blood seemed dry.

It made him shut his eyes tight and shake his head multiple times. He knew this wasn't real, and it wasn't his fault; she failed to move out of the way. Anyone could be speeding on the highway and accidentally miss seeing her. Opening his eyes, she still stood there with a frown.

"You're responsible." Her voice was as cold as ice.

It made him step back, hitting the white wall with his heart racing. No, none of it was his fault because she was the one standing on the road.

At that moment, she disappeared. Looking back and forth around the room, she vanished. Did it become a situation like what happened to everyone else? The girl may be fourteen, but he thought her birthday wasn't until September. Even if it were the end of the first week of May, shouldn't he not be seeing her? Shaking his head, he told himself she was dead.

He ran out the left side, grabbing the knife and balloons and slamming on the elevator door down button. The right side was nothing more than a wall with some hospital chairs. Next to it sat a small table with brochures about different health conditions or a rehab centre for addiction.

It dinged, resulting in him slamming the button rapidly. Leaning his head against the wall, he slowly crouched down, Vickie's words repeating in his head. None of it had been his fault, and it was all an accident.

The elevator door opened as he spotted Henry near the main entrance, glancing around. The boy has brushed off the murder he committed. Part of it they were responsible for, especially directions.

No, he couldn't put the blame on someone else. It was an accident and nobody's fault. An act of amusement or possibly suicide. He sat on one of the green lobby chairs, taking a deep breath. It wasn't his fault, right?

It seems Ashley isn't herself and Stick has a fault on his back. This will definitely cause some change.
-Lexi