She stomped her foot and did a direct about face and marched back up the stairs to her room. She slammed the door a little and started pacing around her room. Olivia wasn’t sure if she was mad, frustrated, disappointed, or sad. All this time she thought it was just her and her dad against the world, and now it turns out she has multiple family members she didn’t know about? She flumped down onto her bed. Olivia hated drama, and this was da-ra-maaaa. Whenever life’s drama overwhelmed Olivia she wanted to see her best friend, Charlotte.

Charlotte was the same age as her but was fair skinned and had red hair. She was just as popular as Olivia with Sophia and Isabella, and she often paired with Olivia during group activities or assignments at school. She had a way of calming Olivia down that no one else seemed to have. Olivia decided to write her dad a letter and then sneak out to go visit Charlotte to help herself calm down and feel better. She grabbed a pen and some paper and sat down at the desk in her room that was scattered with papers, books, and a not-totally-working-lava-lamp. She cleared herself a spot and began writing.

“Dear Dad,” it started. “I can’t believe we have had a family this whole time and you’ve been keeping it from me. All those nights I’ve laid awake wondering where I came from, who my family was, why or how they died or left. Every time I asked you about it you found a way of changing the subject. But now your past has come back to bite you. I want to meet them. All of them. But, for now, I’ve gone to Charlotte’s to help me calm down. I might sleep there, I don’t know yet. All I know is that you lied to me. Please don’t call, I’ll be fine.” She signed the letter as “O,” folded it into thirds and slid it under his bedroom door. He was still downstairs, but she thought he’d find it later when he came up for bed. She didn’t want him to know she was going out until she was already gone, so she slid open the window in her room, grabbed onto a low hanging tree branch about the width of her arm, and jumped down, letting the branch bend and carry her smoothly and safely to the ground. Olivia was wearing a pink hoodie, and she put up her hood because it made her feel more inconspicuous, although the opposite was probably true. The walk to Charlotte’s place was always quiet, especially at night. The street lights burned orange against a blank black sky. Olivia always wished she could live in the country, where you could actually see some stars instead of the light polluted city scape. Even though she couldn’t see any stars she still walked with her head up in wonder and awe at the vast expanse. She was deep in thought about, well, everything. The day’s events, running from Sophia and Isabella, finding out she had more family than she knew, right up to hopping out the window and walking down the street. She was blown away. Maybe she should go back? What if Uncle Jethro was there now and she was missing it? What if he brought more family with him? Maybe they were having a whole family reunion and making up and she was stubbornly sneaking off to Charlotte’s place when she could be learning all about who she is and where she came from? She was still looking up when she bumped into someone and toppled over backwards.

“I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!” She said frantically.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t ‘Little Miss Perfect,’' a snarky voice said. She looked up and saw, to her heart’s dismay, Sophia and Isabella standing over her. “And, there are no trucks for you to hop into this time, you boyfriend stealing little puke!”

“I didn’t steal your boyfriend…” Olivia said. “I didn’t even talk to, or look at your boyfriend. He’s not my type!”

“Oh, so he’s not good enough for you? You’re too perfect for him, Little Miss Perfect?” Snapped Sophia.

“You're going to regret disrespecting us,” said Isabella. As Olivia was trying to stand up, Sophia grabbed her by the hair and shoved her back down.

“Stay down!” She hollered. Olivia took a quick inventory of the situation. She decided to try a take down she’d seen in a manga once. She put both hands on the ground and shot her feet out from under her, kicking Sophia in the lower shins which made her lose her footing and fall.

“It worked!” Olivia thought as she watched her bully topple over. The only problem was it made Sophia topple right on top of her! They were now rolling around on the street grappling while Isabella took some well-timed kicks to Olivia’s ribs. She was finally able to push Sophia off of her and scramble to her feet away from the girls. Looks like she’d be running again. She took off down the street back towards her house as the two girls ran after her. She tried knocking some garbage pails over behind her in an attempt to create obstacles for the other girls, but it only really served to slow her down. Olivia cut through an alley she knew had a fence in it. She was good with fences; she quickly scaled the wire structure and flipped down to the other side. The two bullies caught up and slowly began to climb.

“Way to box yourself in, idiot!” Shouted Sophia. It was true, or at least, it looked true. From the other side of the fence it looked like there was no way out. But Olivia knew better. She ran over to the dumpster and climbed on top. She jumped and grabbed onto a fire escape ladder that lowered slowly and allowed her to climb up. Olivia scurried up to the top of the rickety metal staircase and climbed onto the roof of the building. She ran towards the other end of the building and hopped over a small gap less than about two feet to the building next door and then climbed down its fire escape. She poked her head out of the alley and saw the two girls now walking out of the other alleyway. They were walking towards her but didn’t see her. Olivia stayed hidden until they walked past. She followed a distance behind them with her hood up until she could reach the route back to her house. She had given up on making it to Charlotte’s and really wanted to see what all the fuss was about regarding Uncle Jethro.

All the way home she thought about what she was going to say, about what line she would use when she walked through the front door to confront her father. What if Uncle Jethro was there? What would she say? She thought about saying, “Ah HA!” But didn’t know exactly what she was ah-ha-ing. She came to her house and could see that most of the lights were off. Maybe Uncle Jethro didn’t come by after all? She walked up the stairs to her porch and reached for the door when a chill ran down her spine. She turned the knob and opened the door to see a strange man sitting alone at the dining room table with his back to the door.

“Hello.” She said, “Where’s my dad?”

“He had to step out for a while…” Said the man without turning around. “But come here, child. I have a gift for you.” She walked to the table and as the man turned to face her she was struck with terror. She couldn’t move. Their eyes met. She’d seen those eyes before; on the Shadow Man.