A Known Stranger

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

                Alright, so I over exaggerated a bit. I didn’t die, but I did have a near death experience and I swear if I had died, I would have haunted the stupid idiot who almost got me killed for the rest of his life. Noah was the bane of my existence; he pissed me off to no extent and did it on purpose because he knew it would grind my gears. But there was something about him that always had me staying cemented into my spot. Maybe it was the way he spoke, or the way he thought and saw the world. Whatever it was, whether it was an act to get more girls or that was really him it worked. He was different and I guess that was what drew me in to go after answers.

                Although I wasn’t the one who died, there was a death among us.

                I guess I should start from the beginning; go back to where it all started. And if I really thought about it, it all started the moment summer started to simmer down and the days grew closer to the day we were supposed to start our senior year of high school.

                That one Wednesday afternoon was when it all changed.

                I bounded down the stairs, taking them two at a time as I struggled to pull my hair up into what would turn out to be a messy bun. My long dark brown hair was caught underneath the strap to my bag and as I yanked I winced out in mild pain. At the bottom, I rounded the corner and grabbed my keys from the small green bowl that sat on the squared table next to the front door. Locking the door behind me, I hurried towards my car and slid in.

                I was running late. I was supposed to meet up with my two best friends, Kimberly and Zoe, an hour ago at our usual hang out spot but I had fallen asleep and woken up an hour after the scheduled time to meet up. So as I drove to the ice cream parlor we usually met up at, I mentally prepared myself for Zoe’s rant about how I needed to get to places on time. It was the same thing every time I was late for an event, and while Zoe ranted on about how I needed to be more in-tune with time, Kimberly sat back and ate her chocolate chip mint ice cream while inspecting her perfectly polished nails.

                “You’re late,” were the first words that I heard as I entered the brightly lit ice cream parlor, the small bell dinging overhead as I pushed the door open and let it close behind me.

                I sighed and headed over to the small green circular table that had three white iron chairs surrounding it; I took the only empty one and gave my two best friends an apologetic smile.  “I know,” I began. “I fell asleep.”

                “Did you set up an alarm to wake you up?” asked Zoe.

                Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kimberly sit back, her small cup of chocolate chip mint ice cream in her hand as she prepared herself to, once again, hear the unavoidable rant Zoe was about to lay on me. Pushing back a strand of honey blonde hair behind her ear, Zoe fixed her peach colored blouse and sighed knowing that my silence was a clear ‘no’.

                As Kim and I waited for her to start her rant, the next words that came out of Zoe’s mouth, surprised us both. “Well you should start doing that.”

                Kimberly sat up straight in her seat, giving her sister a weird look as she pushed the half eaten cup of ice cream away.

                “You okay?” she asked, her blue eyes running over her sisters features. Zoe and Kimberly were fraternal twins, meaning that they didn’t look alike but had a few traits that were similar; just like any pair of siblings. They both had the honey blonde hair, blue eyes and body shape, but that was basically it.