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My mother met him by chance at an acoustic show he was performing in her hometown of Salem. Her friends had thought she needed a night out, that she needed to feel alive - if only for a few hours.

You see, life had dealt my mother a cruel card more than once. When she was seventeen, she fell in love and found herself pregnant with my sister, Kara, who is now twenty-eight. Kara’s dad left my mom and never looked back. Eight years after that, she had put herself through school and was completely devoted to Kara, not even taking a moment to breathe.

My father was her prince charming; my mom’s friends told me every girl fought for my father’s attention, but the only girl he could see was her. It took him almost a year to convince her to fall in love with him, and another year to put a ring on her finger. He promised her that he would stop touring and only produce music, that he wanted a family.

He was on his way home from his last tour when his bus crashed, killing everyone except the driver. My mom was seven months pregnant with me, and once again she was left alone to raise not only a twelve year old, but also a newborn.

This, in my opinion, made her crazy. She locked Kara and me away. Our house was silent; no music, no laughter. I was never allowed to do anything that might have any element of danger, meaning sports, riding the bus – not even sleepovers. I considered myself lucky that I was allowed to go to school. I was sure my odd way of locking myself inside of music – of avoiding silence so I could hear - made my mother more determined to protect me.

I’d stopped talking about the whispers when I was thirteen; by then, I’d discovered how to muffle them: headphones. In the beginning, it was only when I listened to my father’s music, but as the months and years passed, I found that almost any music – at least music with a guitar - could hinder the fearful sounds around me.

The nurse walked in the door. Interrupting my mother’s embrace, she took out my IV; the moment I was free, I rushed to the door.

“
I have to get out of here,” I said to my mom, holding her stare and ignoring the random shadows from the corners of the room.

She nodded. “I want to ask the doctor a few more questions and make a phone call…wait for me in the lobby. I’ll make sure you are signed out,” she said, balling her fist and crossing her arms.

I shook my head, then pulled the hood up on my hoodie and walked out of the room as fast as I could. I have never been able to handle hospitals very well. The smell and the sick people were nauseating to me, and the ER had to be dirtiest place on Earth, in my opinion. The lobby was swarming with people. There was nowhere to even stand.

A sick feeling came over me. I felt like I was in trouble. I’ve never given my mother a reason not trust me, and I was furious that I messed up this bad – this close to the end.

I fumbled with my phone, fighting with my trembling hands as I found Madison’s name and texted, “Are you up?”

She texted back immediately, “Yeah!! I was on my way there but your mom told us to stay here –are you on your way home – I’m freaked out for you.”

I furrowed my eyebrows as I read her text. Why would I go home to Salem? It was hours away, and I had graduation in just a few days. I couldn’t figure out why she was ‘freaked out’; I thought she would be mad. I figured my mother had told her what happened – and more than likely made it worse than it was.

I texted back, “Home – what? No – the only the only place I’m going is to bed.”

A second later, my phone rang; it was her.

I answered and said, “Hold on, it’s loud in here.”

I saw a cop outside the door and figured I would be safe close to him. It was the dead of night, and a breeze was blowing. As I felt the wind, I saw the shadows across the ground begin to move – almost slither- in my direction. The stress of everything I’d been through tonight allowed me to be angry, not afraid. I pulled my shoulders back and glared at the ground, refusing to run from them.

“
Are you there?” I said as I put my phone to my ear.

“
What do you mean ‘it’s loud’?”

“
I was in the lobby of the ER; I couldn’t hear over them,” I said in an exhausted gasp.

“
Is it quiet now?” she asked in a concerned tone.

I looked to the shadows across the ground and heard their echoing laughs. I tried to remember if I had ever told anyone about them or not. I couldn’t recall – and I knew if I started to talk about them now, they would think the drugs in my system were causing me to go insane.

“
Not really…but I can hear you,” I mumbled

She hesitated before she said anything. “Your mom said she thinks something is wrong with your memory.”

“
When did you talk to her?” I asked, confused.

“
I didn’t – I overhead them talking about you a minute ago.”

“
Who?”

She didn’t say anything for a minute or two; I thought I heard her whispering to someone, but I couldn’t understand what she was saying.

“
Madison – I’m tired; I’ll just call you tomorrow.”

“
No – wait. I think we should come get you. They’re talking to your mom; I’m trying to see what she says.”

“
We? They? What are you talking about? You’re not driving two-and-a-half hours in the dead of the night to see me. I’m fine. It was no big deal; I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“
Did you seriously just ask me who ‘we’ was?? Oh my God, you really are messed up. Wrong place? You were at your house.” She paused, and I heard her open and close a door, then she began to whisper. “I told you this was a bad idea – that you needed all of us.”

I squinted my eyes closed and tried to remember what she was talking about. “Madison…I don’t remember much of anything now…I mean, I feel like I was trying to convince Britain of something – like save him – but I don’t know why – did I tell you?”

“
Yeah…and I told you to stay away, but you didn’t listen to me - and now look at what has happened.”

“
Just tell me what I told you. I feel sick – like I’m in trouble.”

“
You are in trouble. That girl has messed with your mind.”

My phone beeped, and I looked at the screen to see Bianca’s name pop up on the ID.

“
Charlie? Charlie, where did you go?” I heard Madison say.

I pulled the phone to my ear, ignoring the incoming call. “I’m right here. Bianca was beeping in.”

“
Don’t talk to her,” Madison said firmly. “If this girl wants to play mind games, then she is going to have to play them with all of us.”

“’
All’ – there you go again with the plural words – does my mom know what I was trying to do tonight? Just tell me.”

I heard a young man’s voice in the background around Madison; she must have pulled her phone to her chest because the sound muffled and I heard her say, “Nichole was right – it’s bad – just give me a second here.”

Nichole is my mom’s name. I had no idea who Madison was talking to, and it was making me mad.

“
Madison!” I whispered harshly.

She came back on the phone. “Listen to me…I’m not talking to you about this over the phone – I’m just going to come…I’ll come by myself – I’m not going to break a promise to you, even if you don’t remember me making it.”

“
No…just forget it – I just need rest, and I’ll figure it out. I don’t want you driving all the way here this late.”

“
Then I’ll come in the morning,” she said shortly.

“
Madison, you have graduation in a few days – just let me deal with this. I really just wanted to talk to someone. I messed things up with my mom…I guess I just wanted to hear you say it would be OK.”

“
Graduation is the last thing either of us care about – I can only hope you remember that. You’re going to be OK. Don’t worry about your mom. I don’t think she completely understands what you went through; if she did, she wouldn’t have left your side. It’s time to come home.”

I felt the knots in my stomach tighten. I had no idea what she was talking about, and it was terrifying. The whispers began to hiss louder, and the shadows started to move closer. I held my finger tips over my other ear and closed my eyes, hiding from the shadows.

“
I can’t come home, Madison…something is telling me not to…I feel like I have to stay here – at least until I figure out what I can’t remember.”

The whispers became so loud that it became pointless to try them block out with my fingertips. I let my arm fall and balled my hand into a fist.

“
When you’re home, you’ll figure it out – this has gotten out of control,” Madison said in a frustrated tone.

All at once, the whispers became silent and the shadows took the normal shape they were meant to. I felt someone gently put their hand on my shoulder.

“
Charlie.”

I looked up to see Britain standing beside me.

I smiled slightly, then let out a breath. “I gotta go,” I said into the phone. “Britain just got here – I have to figure this out.”

“
No!” Madison said in a desperate tone. “Lost cause. Charlie – I swear, if you had just read your freaking horoscope you would have known to stay in the bed today – stay away from him.”

“
I don’t believe in that crap – it’s well past midnight; I’m sure today has a better forecast. I’ll text later.”

“
Charlie I’m calling your mom if you hang up with me.”

“
Do that,” I said just before I hit ‘End’ on my phone. I doubted she would call her, but even if she did, that would only mean I would get home faster – I just wanted to go to bed.

I looked up at Britain’s questioning blue eyes.

“
Bianca?” he asked.

I shook my head no. “Madison.”

A mischievous grin came to the corners of his perfect lips as he stared down at me. He only met Madison once, and I have yet to figure out if they liked each other or hated each other. By the comments Madison made at him, I wanted to say hate – but when I remembered the awkward stares I caught them in that day…I didn’t know what to think. There was no doubt that Madison hated Bianca – she made that very clear every chance she got.

Both Britain and Bianca’s families were exceedingly wealthy, and in their mind there were boundaries – things that should not be said openly. Madison only met them once, but she made it a point to push the boundaries Bianca drew. It was almost as if they enjoyed not liking each other.

“
And what did Madison have to say about our night?” he asked, resting his hands on my hips as he pulled me closer.

I gently put my hands on his and brushed them away. “That my horoscope said to stay in bed.”

“
You believe in that stuff?” he asked curiously.

“
Maybe I should have today,” I said, looking away from the pull of his eyes. “I just don’t remember much,” I answered quietly.

“
I don’t either,” he said, leaning his forehead to mine.

I looked down and pulled slightly away in fear that my mother would walk out of the front door at any moment.

“
Charlie, I swear I didn’t know – I didn’t do this,” he pleaded.

“
I know,” I whispered.

He furrowed is eyebrows like he was confused about why I was being so distant.

“
Mom’s coming,” I whispered.

He nodded, understanding, but he refused to give me anymore room.

“
Bianca told her dad the Chinese delivery guy must have given it to us – she claims he was going to come back and rob us.”

“
And your high-powered defense attorney father believed that?” I asked sarcastically.

“
I’m sure he didn’t, but her version leaves us all innocent,” Britain said as he dared to smile, enhancing each of his alluring features.

“’
Innocent’ is not a word in my mother’s vocabulary; she isn’t going to buy that story,” I complained.

“
She made that obvious,” he said, raising his eyebrows and trying not to laugh.

“
What?” I asked, dreading to know what the whispers had covered in the conversations I tried to hear earlier.

“
She threatened to sue both Bianca’s and my parents, but they countered that they would sue her for hosting the party. It was a screaming match, but once my father started siting case history, she stopped arguing and went back to you.”

I felt my stomach turn. I could only imagine how my mother felt standing up to those men. We did not come from a silver spoon like they did. We were just a middle class family from Salem. Everything we had came from my mother’s strives in the business world. She had literally climbed every ladder there was in her company, and now holds the title of CEO, which was great - except I never saw her; even when she was home, she was working. I’m sure she felt belittled by them, and I would bear the brunt for that as well.

“
Perfect,” I said sarcastically, stepping away from him.

He closed the gap between us and put his hands on my shoulders, trying to get me to look into his eyes.

“
Why are you so mad? This is not our fault; she’ll get over it,” he said.

I looked up at him and furrowed my eyebrows. “What did I want to talk to you about tonight…why do I feel like I need to reach you?”