Awaken (Awaken Series Book 1)

by Jaime Guerard

  Rebecca stopped reading. “What happened to her? Where are her parents?”

  “They died a little over two years ago in a car accident. I found a box with a newspaper clipping about it and a program to their funeral.”

  “Oh.” She looked back down to the journal. “So the house we went to for the party, that’s her grandparents’ home, not her parents?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why did she lie?” she questioned, the same as I did.

  “That’s what’s confusing me…maybe denial, I don’t know.”

  “Huh.” She skipped a few pages and started reading again.

  Today was the first day at my new school. I was kind of looking forward to it since I haven’t gone anywhere since I arrived. My Grandparents don’t ever leave the house unless they need to go grocery shopping or Grandpa needs something at the hardware store. So school was going to be that one thing I could do to keep myself sane and maybe make some friends. But that all changed when I walked into my first class. Maybe I thought it would be different here since it’s not a big city. Whenever I talk to Grandma about how much she likes living in Oregon, she always brings up the fact that everyone is so nice and welcoming here. She must either be living in her own little world or maybe it’s because they don’t ever go out and meet the people like the ones I came into contact with today. It was probably the worst first day to date, and I’ve gone to three different high schools in the past couple years. There was one girl, however, who did came right up to me. I think she said her name was Stephanie, but other than her, everyone else just glared at me or whispered behind my back, like we were still in elementary school. Whatever.

  “Hey wait!” Rebecca grabbed a picture from the pile. “Look, I know what these numbers mean now. Do you see, they match the pages of the journal.”

  She was right. Each page of the journal corresponded with one of the pictures.

  “Here, go through them and see which ones you think could tell us something, and let’s read what she wrote about it.”

  “Alright.” I flipped through them and the first one I came to was number five. It was a picture of me, Rebecca, Josh, Trevor and Megan. It looked like it was taken at the festival.

  “Here, this one.” I handed her the photo.

  She flipped to the page and read.

  I made a friend a few days ago! Well kind of. I don’t know how to describe this friend. All I can say is that I never met anyone who understands me the way he does. Without me even telling him, he seems to know things about me and knows how to make me feel better. At first it was weird and kind of scary that he was so in tune with me, but I don’t think he will hurt me, and I’m glad I have someone to talk to.

  Today however, was interesting. He gave me a task. I’m not sure why he asked me to do this, but I don’t want to chase him away so I agreed. I was supposed to go to the festival and take a bunch of pictures of some kids I’ve never even talked to before. When I asked why, he told me I would find out later. I’m supposed to find a girl named Breanna Davis, and take photos of her with her friends. I can’t imagine why he wants these photos, but I’m sure I’ll find out soon. Until then, I’ll make him happy. Time for dinner, so I’ll write about this later.

  Chills swept over my body and I felt numb. “Vivian said something about a friend.”

  “Vivian…who’s Vivian? And what friend? I’ve never seen her with any guy or anyone else for that matter.” Beck shook her head confused.

  “Vivian’s Eve’s grandmother. I met her today. She said something about a new friend of Eve’s that Eve won’t invite over to the house. She seemed a little nervous about it and wouldn’t tell me anything else.”

  Becka’s eyebrows shot up. “Wait, you talked to her! She was at the house?”

  “No, well, yes, but she didn’t show up until I was just about to leave. I had to sneak out the back door and when I was about to run to the car, we almost knocked each other down.”

  “Oh my gosh! Did she ask you why you were there?” Becka was leaning forward, hanging onto my next words.

  “Yes.”

  She gasped. “What did you say?”

  “I didn’t tell her my real name. I told her that I thought I was supposed to meet Eve at her house. Don’t worry, it all worked out,” I reassured her. “Well, kind of.”

  “What do you mean by kind of?” she asked slowly.

  “I didn’t know what name to tell her so I gave her…K-Katie’s name.” Her face dropped and she didn’t have to say anything. I already knew that was a horrible mistake. “Nothing I can do about it now,” I shrugged. “Hey, what about this one?” I pointed to a journal entry.

  “It looks like she put two days together. The day at the festival again and…where is picture fourteen?” she asked.

  When I found it, I knew exactly what day it was. It was the day that me, Becka, Stephanie and Katie went to the mall, the same day as the incident with the Andersons.

  Things are getting strange. Lapsus is starting to ask me to do things I’m uncomfortable with, and if I refuse, he gets really mad at me. To be honest, I’m getting nervous, actually a bit scared. I don’t want to upset him because he’s the only friend I have. I don’t know what to do.

  My eyes widened. “Lapsus, that’s the same name that she has written everywhere! Well, at least we know this friend’s name,” I stated.

  Rebecca nodded and kept reading.

  His demands are escalating and I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m terrified of him. I feel like a prisoner and I don’t know how to escape this. He’s starting to threaten me, saying that if I don’t follow through for him, my Grandparents will be in danger.

  I can’t take my mind off of the day at the festival. Lapsus told me to find Breanna and watch her every move. I tried to tell him I had plans with my Grandma that day, but he didn’t care. He said that I had to go or something bad was going to happen me. I didn’t know if it was an idle threat, but the way he said it made me believe him, so I did what he asked.

  I spent the entire day watching her and her friends and still don’t know why he’s asking me to do this. She seems like a nice normal girl and every time I ask him about her, he gets angrier with me. He won’t tell me anything and it’s freaking me out.

  Something really strange happened while I was watching Breanna. Lapsus kept saying things that didn’t make sense to me like, ‘there are so many of them’ or ‘something is going to happen soon.’ At first, I thought he was talking about all the people around her. I mean, there were a lot of people at the park that day, but once we locked eyes, I couldn’t look away. I tried, but something forced me. Lapsus told me that I needed to hold her gaze, to stare back at her. It was so uncomfortable, but I couldn’t move my head. One of her friends came up and I was able to free myself and look away. Lapsus was furious and ordered me to go back. When I told him no, he threatened me again, saying that if I didn’t do exactly what he told me to do something bad would happen to me.

  Frightened, I searched for her, but couldn’t find her right away. There were people everywhere, and I walked up and down the booths looking for her, hoping she had left. Right as I was about to tell Lapsus that I couldn’t find her, I spotted her sitting on a bench, looking straight at me. I froze and returned her stare, but realized she wasn’t really seeing me. It was like she was somewhere else. Then in the darkest voice I’d heard from him yet, Lapsus hissed, ‘They’re everywhere.’ He made me crouch down as he hissed again, ‘You’re not going to win.’ It wasn’t a statement. It was more like he was warning someone, but no one was around us. A couple of times he flinched backward, as if something were there lashing out at him. Was he afraid of something? I couldn’t imagine. He was the confident one, but not at this moment. Nothing made sense, nothing.

  It took maybe two full minutes before Breanna moved. I studied her and something happened in that two minutes that made me think that maybe this was the ‘thing’ Lapsus wanted me to watch for. Still, I’m not sure if th
at’s what it was because I don’t know exactly what I was supposed to observe. Something obviously affected her, something I couldn’t explain, and Lapsus was definitely upset by it. There was no way I was asking him what it was. I kept quiet and waited until he calmed down.

  It happened again. He asked me, or I should say, he told me that I needed to get up early to follow Breanna today. When he told me what I needed to do, he also said, ‘The closer it gets, the more of them surround her.’ I’m thinking something will happen either today or tomorrow. He told me, ‘You need to be prepared for anything and whatever I tell you to do, you do it’.

  It took a few hours of waiting out in front of Breanna’s house before she left. When she finally did, I followed her to the mall. It was hard trying to follow her, staying close so I didn’t lose her but not so close that she knew I was there. Lapsus was tense the entire time, I could feel it. He wasn’t happy, and he did that thing where he makes comments into thin air. ‘I’ll stop you,’ he’d say. Once he made me crouch down right in the middle of the crowd. The one thing that really startled me was when he flung around and yelled, ‘No!’ I was so freaked out! I told him that I couldn’t handle this anymore, but we followed her again, despite my objections and pleading. Then, it happened again. Breanna looked at me, then her face went blank. I could tell her friends were concerned because they couldn’t get a response out of her. It is the freakiest thing to watch.

  This time, I didn’t want to look away. I wanted to know what this was all about. Lapsus seemed pleased that I wasn’t fighting him anymore. I sensed something was coming as Breanna suddenly bolted through the mall. Lapsus screamed at me to follow her and not to lose her. I wasn’t about to. I had no idea where she was going or what she was doing. It was hard, but I stayed right behind her the whole time until she pulled off the freeway exit, which I missed. That was a bad move for me. Lapsus was pissed off again and started yelling at me, calling me obscene names. He said he knew where she was going by the light. He kept on talking about this light. I didn’t question it, I just listened and did what he said.

  We got to the airport and what happened next made me… Oh I wish now that I never came to this town. I wish I never met Lapsus. I would rather end up with my cousin Lucas. Anyway, as we were coming into the airport, I saw Breanna running to the main building and…

  Beck stopped reading. “Her hand was shaking. Do you see?”

  “Yes,” I said quickly, “Keep reading, keep reading!” My heart was pounding as I was swept back to a place of uncertainty, remembering everything in vivid detail.

  Rebecca went on…

  …and Lapsus yelled at me to run her over! I couldn’t but when I refused, he forced my hands to turn the wheel in Breanna’s direction. It took everything in me to turn the wheel just enough so I wouldn’t run her over. He told me I was going to pay for that.

  Nothing has happened yet, but… Well anyway, she made it in to the airport and I bought a ticket. I hated lying to her, but what choice did I have? All I wanted to do was tell her the truth but I can’t, Lapsus won’t let me. Lapsus has an agenda. I’m not sure what it is, I only know that he has chosen me to help him. My freewill has been replaced by a paralyzing fear and I don’t know what to do to free myself of him. Because of today’s events, I have learned now that Breanna has a gift. Lapsus told me that if I ever want to be free of him, I need to stop her.

  “Look!” Rebecca pointed to a small watermark on the corner of the page. “Do you think she was crying?” she asked. “Bre?” She looked up to me after I didn’t respond.

  My face was stricken white with fear. “Oh my gosh,” I whispered. My heart was throbbing in my chest. I was shaking and sweaty. She or he or they meant to run me over? And they’re not going to stop until I…until I’m what? I repeated that over and over in my head. What did this mean? Should I be ‘fearing for my life’ if I continued, or do I just give it up and hope for the best? I felt sick.

  “Bre?” Beck said in a comforting voice. “It’s gonna be okay. We’ll figure this out.”

  “Beck…I really don’t know what to do now. I mean, how can I continue this if I’m in danger?” Tears welled in my eyes.

  “Then stop. You don’t have to do this. You haven’t had any more visions, so maybe it was just that one time?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  “No? What’re you saying?”

  A tear trickled down my cheek. Without saying a word, she knew that there had been another.

  The next fifteen minutes consisted of reading more disturbing journal entries, one of which was about the night of the party. Rebecca broke down a few times. She tried to redeem herself, but failed at the next attempt to keep reading about that terrifying night. I finally took the journal and finished reading it for her. The further we got into the journal, the more dark, hostile and dangerous Lapsus was. The thing that stuck out in my mind more than anything was that whenever we saw Eve she didn’t look afraid or timid, like her journal entries seemed to indicate. She had an air of confidence. She seemed so sure of herself, so bold, like she was the one with the agenda. From reading her journal, we now know that she was being forced to participate in someone else’s sick plan. I almost felt sorry for her. The way she wrote about her feelings, the fear in her words, definitely did not match her external demeanor. I mean, the way she spoke to me at the airport, right after she almost ran me over ― I shivered at the thought. Her mysterious nature exuded from her core; her intentions seemed so clear at the time. But when I read what she wrote that day, about how terrified she was and how she wanted to tell me everything. I get so confused.

  Something else that bothered me was that I had never seen this Lapsus before. She talked about him as if he was always right by her side. I didn’t remember seeing him in the car with her that day. She was always alone. The more I thought about it the more I struggled to pull myself together. There were so many scattered thoughts darting around my head. At moments, I feared her, and other times I felt only concern and sympathy for her. In a twisted way, I wanted to help her get away from this mysterious, menacing guy with this weird and unexplained power over her.

  We were nearing the end of the entries, and I was almost completely numb to everything. I had absorbed all that I could with what little bits of information she had given me in her journal. I had gone to Eve's house hoping that I would find something to help me understand the strangeness that had overtaken my life. I wanted to find something that might make sense of it all. Now I wanted something to help me figure out what to do with everything I knew. What if things continued like this for the rest my life? My head was spinning in a tunnel of confusion. The information jumbled in my head, making me feel dizzy.

  My previous life, the normal life that I should’ve been living today, was turning completely upside down. I felt like I was floating above everyone, completely detached from the earth, unable to put my feet on solid ground and scared they’d never come back again.

  “What do you want me to do, Bre? Just say it. I’ll do anything,” Becka encouraged me. I think she finally figured out that there was no way I could do this alone. And despite her own reservations, she was willing to stand by me.

  “Thanks, Beck…I don’t know.” I sat there with my head in my hands, not knowing which way to turn.

  There was a brief pause and then Rebecca spoke. “So there’s another …” she hesitated, “I’m afraid to ask, but…do you know who it is?”

  My stomach knotted.

  “Yes,” I forced out.

  And then, I saw Josh walking across the grassy field. My uncertainties and jumbled up bits and pieces of information began ripping and tearing at me, killing me little by little. He looked so innocent in his exuberant confidence. If only he knew what was coming. I had only discussed this briefly with Collin at the lodge. I didn’t want to think about it now, but I had no choice, he had no choice. Josh was with Trevor and Megan. They looked like they always did: cocky, arrogant, above everyone else. Walki
ng past a group of people, he grabbed one of the guys’ hands and pulled him in with one big slap on the back before releasing him, only to repeat the same welcome with the others in the group.

  I had my issues with Josh - and granted they were warranted - but I still cared about him. To think that something bad could happen to him was almost unbearable. My thoughts ran rampant - so much to take in, so much to process. Before, with the Andersons, I didn’t really know them. Josh was a huge part of my life and…I shook my head at the thought, I just couldn’t bear it. Josh was still a big part of my life.

  As I watched Josh, churning the bizarre vision in my head, something occurred to me. If he was the next one, the next victim, then Eve would most likely be watching him, right? I scanned the school grounds, wanting to prove my assumptions right. It took me a few minutes, but when Eve came into view, my numbness faded and what surfaced was a blood-curdling anger toward her, like a mother lion protecting her cubs.