As I sat in the middle of my floor, staring at my phone, which still laid on the other side of the room, I had no clue what to do. Nick's voice—crying out my name—still echoed inside my head. I'd never heard him sound so scared. Ever. Even on the scariest of investigations, he was usually the calm one.

I continued to stare at my phone like I was waiting on something to come out of it; maybe I was. After the day I'd had, seeing things that weren't there, anything felt possible at this point.

Taking a deep breath, I scooted across the floor and reluctantly retrieved it. I tried to call Nick back, but he didn't answer, causing me to panic even more. Not knowing what else to do, I called Erik.

"Hey, Amber... what's up?"

"Something has happened to Nick."

I told him about calling him and the reason behind the phone call, feeling stupid as I recounted my dreams to him, and told him about how he'd said my name right before the line went dead. Assuming he now thought I was crazy, I was surprised when he admitted to having bad dreams, too.

"Yeah, there was this black mist that came out from under my bed and tried to suffocate me. Then it was pulling me down, underneath the surface of the water, even though I was still in my bed; like my bed had become a dark lake. It was... weird." He laughed nervously. "Scared the shit outta me, actually."

"Well, I think we need to go check on Nick. I don't want to go by myself."

"Okay, I've got to get out, anyway, and since your house is on the way, I'll pick you up."

As upset and scared for Nick as I was, I felt guilty when excitement started to creep in, causing butterflies to awaken in my already nervous stomach. "I'll be waiting out front."

When I hung up, I hurried and changed my clothes before telling Mom and Dad I was going to grab a bite to eat with some friends. "Are you sure you're up to it?" Mom asked. "That dream upset you so."

"Yeah, I'm fine now," I lied. "I'm sure it's just that investigation we went on. It was pretty... intense."

"Well, as long as you're okay. Make sure your phone is charged and call if you need me."

"And don't be out too late," Dad added, peeking over the top of his fishing magazine.

"I won't." Even though I was eighteen, they treated me like a child.

As I walked outside, the humidity almost choked me. It was already getting late, but it was still as hot as Hades outside. I sat down under the dogwood tree in my front yard while I waited, wishing he'd hurry, knowing I'd pay for it tomorrow when my allergies exploded. I didn't know exactly where he lived, but I knew it wasn't far, yet it seemed like forever before he was finally pulling up to the curb in his big, black truck.

"Overlook the mess," he said, pointing to the trash on the floor, which I kicked to the side as I opened the door and hopped up into the seat. "I had to drop my little brother and his friend off before heading here, and he obviously has no respect for his chauffeur." His smile almost made me forget the reason he was picking me up in the first place—almost.

"That's okay. Mine's a mess, too," I lied. Actually, mine was immaculate, since I was a bit of a clean freak, but I didn't want him to feel bad.

"So, what do you think's up with Nick?" he asked.

"I don't know, but he sounded... he sounded...." I wanted to say scared, but that was a bit of an understatement. It sounded more like someone was about to kill him, but I didn't want to say that, either, so I merely shook my head. "I hope he's okay."

"I'm sure he is. You know Nick; he's probably just pulling a prank on ya."

"Well, if he is I'll kill him, myself." I looked out the window, wondering if I should bring up the coincidence of it all—our dreams—and decided against it, for now. "Even though he's ten years older than me, I feel like the adult when I'm around him, like he's a big kid and I have to babysit him."

"He is, but there's nothing wrong with that, being young at heart," Erik said. "Being an adult is overrated." When he shot a sideways grin at me, I looked back out my window.

"So, what's Courtney doing today?" Courtney was his girlfriend, and I started to make a smart remark about her shopping or staring at herself in a mirror, but bit my tongue.

"I don't know," he replied, and I tried my best to read the tone in his voice, but couldn't. "With her, there's no telling."

"You don't keep up with what she's doing?" I hadn't had a serious boyfriend, but assumed if I did that he'd want to know what I was doing when I wasn't with him. I hoped he would, anyway.

He shook his head. "She doesn't tell and I don't ask. I'm not her keeper, so...." He shrugged, and after a few seconds, I didn't realize I was still looking at him until I heard him say, "What?"

"Oh—" I nonchalantly looked down at my phone, which had no messages or notifications, as usual, and shrugged. "I don't know. It just seems odd that you're not with her, with it being the weekend and all. And not knowing what she's even doing..." Another shrug. "It just seems odd, that's all." I laughed nervously. "But then again, this is coming from someone who has been single practically forever, so...."

Thankfully, we pulled into Nick's driveway, which allowed me to get out of the awkwardness that now filled Erik's truck.

"Maybe I should go in first," he said as he walked around the front the truck, joining me on the other side. "You know, just in case."

"Go in first? Just in case?" I repeated like an idiot.

"Yeah, in case he really is in trouble. And if not, then I can warn him that he will be soon." He smiled at me, knowing how Nick and I were.

"But if you need help, I won't be there. And then I'll be waiting by myself out here." I looked up at the darkening sky. "No, I'd rather go in with you."

"Okay, but if anything happens, run."

I nodded. "You won't have to tell me twice."

As we walked into the house, I was surprised at how clean it was, except for a few things that appeared to have been knocked over, which made it look like there had been some sort of struggle. Maybe not a struggle, per se, but something. As we walked further into the house, and Erik saw the broken glass on the kitchen floor, he held out his arm in front of me, causing me to stop and stay behind him. As his forearm gently grazed my chest, I wondered if he noticed. I sure did.

"Nick?" he yelled, causing me to almost jump out of my skin.

"Don't do that," I fussed. "Nick does that to me, so I don't need you doing it, too. Geesh." I reached up and put hand over my heart, feeling it thump against my chest. Then, realizing Nick didn't answer, it seemed to beat even faster. "But his car's outside, so he has to be here."

"Let's go check his room."

After checking his entire house, Nick was nowhere to be found, so we headed back outside. "I don't understand," I admitted as we walked across his small patio.

"What don't you understand, exactly?" Nick said.

"Nick!" I almost ran to him and hugged him, but stopped myself before throwing my arms around his neck. "What...? Where...? How...?"

"When? Why?" he added with a smile, being his usual, smart-mouthed self. "Are you writing a book?" He was sitting on the top of his picnic table, sipping on a beer.

"No, but if I did, it would be called What an Ass and your face would be on the cover." I smacked his arm. "You scared me to death. What's wrong with you, pulling a stunt like that?"

"What stunt?"

Was he for real? "When I called you, you answered and sounded like... like... like someone was about to kill you. That's why I called Erik—" who was now standing off to the side, smiling at our banter "—to come with me and make sure you were okay, which you obviously are." I punched his arm, this time, rather hard, might I add.

"I... I had a dream or something, that's all. When you called, you woke me up and... it felt like I was still dreaming." I thought I saw him shiver. "Anyway, I'm awake and everything's fine now. I didn't mean to scare you." He almost sounded sincere. "I should've called you back, but needed some fresh air."

Erik sat down on the table next to him, which was always a pleasant sight—the two of them together. "Yeah, Amber had me a bit scared, too. But we've both had bad dreams, so that's probably why it didn't take much to rattle us."

He looked from Erik to me. "You both have had dreams, too?"

I nodded. "Vividly bad dreams, and one while I was awake," I admitted. "I actually thought someone broke into the house and..." I didn't want to give him the details, since they seemed personal, even though none of it was real. "And it scared me to death. I had been downstairs eating cereal, not asleep, so I was awake when I had this 'dream'." With Nick here, it didn't feel as awkward to talk about, especially since we'd all apparently had bad dreams. "Don't you two think it's strange that we'd all of a sudden have bad dreams... at the same time?"

Nick shrugged. "That sanatorium has us a bit shaken up, still, that's all. I'm sure after a couple of good nights of sleep that we'll be fine."

"I hope so." I sat down beside him. "I dreamed Kylie was killed and then she became that crazy lady that chopped everyone up and came after me, right before I dreamed about that intruder. And Erik dreamed about being suffocated and drowned. What did you dream about?"

He took a deep breath, like simply remembering it again bothered him. "Snakes."

"Snakes? That's it?" I asked.

He glared at me, which wasn't anything new. "Yes, snakes." He looked back out towards the field behind his house. "I'm deathly afraid of snakes. They were everywhere, even when... when I woke up."

"Is that what happened in the kitchen? The glass?" Erik asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, it was like they kept coming at me. About gave me a heart attack." He laughed, but it sounded fake. "My hearts racing, now, just thinking about it."

I thought about all of our dreams and how they were so different, and something clicked. "Erik, are you afraid of drowning?"

"Of course. Who isn't, though?"

"No, I mean afraid of it like Nick is afraid of snakes. I mean, I hate snakes, but they don't scare me that bad. And as bad as I wouldn't want to drown, it's not something I'd say I'm particularly scared of... not as scared as I am of other things." Like being murdered... raped and murdered.

"What are you saying?" Nick asked.

"Well, it seems more than coincidence that we've all had vivid dreams about the things that scare us the most, don't you think?" When they didn't answer, I continued to think out loud. "I wonder if Tanya or Alex and Mark have also had these same kind of... dreams, or hallucinations—whatever they are." I pulled out my phone. "There's only one way to find out."