30 days, 9 hours, 51 minutes left 

Gasping, I dropped the phone in shock and scrambled to pick it up again quickly.

“Where are they!” I shouted into the phone, forgetting I was in a public place. I saw other students giving me weird looks and I quickly rushed outside the building to get more privacy.

“You don’t need to know that yet, hun.” They said.

“Give them back.” I snarled, my blood boiling in anger.

“Now, now, little Charlotte. Let’s not be greedy, each journal comes with a price.” The voice said.

“Yeah, and what’s the price?” I asked irritably.

“I require a lock of your hair for one of the journals.” They said.

“Why?” I asked, thoroughly confused.

Why would they want my hair?

“That’s need to know information, and you do not need to know. If you accept this deal, tomorrow morning you will give Abby your lock of hair, she’ll know what to do from there.” They said.

“Why Abby?” I asked shakily, not prepared for the answer.

Please don’t let my best friend be working against me.

“Oh, my dear, this has been a long time coming. It shouldn’t shock you that someone close to you isn’t really your friend.” They cruelly revealed.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked, my voice nothing but a whisper.

“Tomorrow morning, lock of hair to Abby. Bye for now, little Charlotte.” They ignored my question and hung up.

I sunk down along the outside wall of the building where I was standing, feeling hurt and betrayed. I felt my eyes start to water but I furiously rubbed at them to stop myself from crying. I can’t let them see me cry.

“Charlotte!” Someone shouted to my left and I saw Liam jogging towards me.

“What?” I asked hoarsely.

“Are you okay?” He asked, concern etched across his face.

“I’m fine. What do you want?” I asked brushing off his concern.

He crouched down to were I sat against the wall on the ground and peered into my eyes.

“Well, something weird happened, I passed out in the art room. I saw you giving Abby a lock of hair, and then it seemed like time had passed, and you gave her a vial of what looked like blood.” He said, looking scared.

“Weird. But I would never do those things.” I lied and he sighed.

“Charlotte, listen to me. This may sound really crazy and out there, but I think this all has to do with you. I feel like you should know, I know we just met, but I can feel something bad coming.” He told me, gripping my knee tightly in his hand, “Ever since I turned 12, I can see glimpses of the future. I thought they were dreams at first, but then I saw someone get run over by a car. The next day it happened right in front of me when someone crossed the street in my neighborhood. You cannot give anything to Abby, I have an awful feeling about it.”

“Liar.” I said softly, not fully believing what I said and he scoffed.

“Please. I know you believe me, Charlotte, I know something’s going on with you too.” He insisted.

He seemed to be telling the truth, his truth anyway, he sounded so sincere. I really do believe him for some reason unbeknownst to me. But I don’t know what to say to him, we just met and I feel so stupid for feeling so safe when he’s around. He could just as well be working with the people who took my journals, like Abby, but something inside me is telling me to trust him, to take the leap.

“Why should I?” I ask, helplessly unraveled inside.