5

Travis waited at his locker for Parker after school like they had arranged the period before. He was eager to ask Parker about the two students in Chemistry. He was leaning against his locker when he saw Parker come around the corner. He straightened up and walked forward to meet him. Parker lived in the area near Travis’ house so they had agreed to walk home together.

As they were just leaving the school Travis asked ‘Hey, do you know a girl in our grade named Sarah? This one doesn’t have blonde hair’

‘Sarah? Yeah, what about her?’ Parker asked.

‘Well, I just thought it was really weird how she had the scar that you have on your wrist and that I have on my foot. Do you know her boyfriend’s name?’

‘Oh, that’s Wes, they’re never seen without each other. She says her scar was from when she got burnt as a baby’ Parker answered. Travis contemplated about whether or not he should bring up what he had seen in his Chemistry class. He decided against it and remained silent for the remainder of the walk home. About ten minutes later, Parker took a side road towards his house and said goodbye to Travis.

Travis’ house was another ten minute walk so he turned around to remove his bag and take out his iPod. He turned around and saw Sarah walking along the sidewalk alone behind him, without Wes. She was looking directly at him when he turned back around and started to continue walking. He turned around again to see if she was still walking behind him and came face to face with her. He fell back onto the pavement in shock.

‘What did you see?’ she demanded

‘Wha...What?’ Travis stuttered as he rubbed his scraped elbows.

‘In Chemistry class, what did you see?’ Sarah asked again.

‘Nothing, I didn’t see anything. You’re in my Chem class?’ Travis quickly lied.

‘You’re lying, tell me what you saw’ she asked more aggressively.

‘I didn’t see anything, I already told you’ Travis said. Sarah paused for a minute and stared at Travis’ face. Then, a look of surprise came across her face.

‘You’re still lying, come with me” she beckoned to him to follow. Travis sat on the ground and didn’t follow her. She turned around and whispered ‘Don’t you want to know what these scars mean?" Travis frowned and got up to follow her. Suddenly, she stopped walking, She turned down Travis’ street and led him right to his own front door.

“How did you know where my house was?” Travis asked her.

“Are you going to let me in or not?” she asked hurriedly. Travis shrugged and unlocked the door. As they stepped inside, Travis’ younger brother stepped down the stairs.

“Blake, this is Sarah, Sarah, Blake” he introduced them to each other. Travis looked at Sarah and his mouth dropped in surprise. Sarah's nose was bleeding and she was holding her head in her hands as her face screwed up in pain. She fell to her knees and fainted across the welcoming carpet in front of Travis’ door.