After school was over, I stormed home in an angry rage. I burst through the front door to find Gabriella sitting on the couch watching some talk show.

"When does your brother get home from work?" I demanded.

"Five o'clock, why?" she replied.

"I was just wondering." I jogged upstairs to my room and sat down on my bed. Then I took my algebra homework out of my backpack and began working on it.

Once I finished, I glanced at my clock. It was four thirty. I took out my history text book and read pages 234 through 240 just like I was supposed to. By the time I finished it was four fifty-seven.

I raced downstairs and waited for the three minutes leading up to Alexander's arrival.

"I'm home." he declared, walking through the front door. My mom followed behind him.

"Hi Alexander. Hi mom." I greeted them solemnly. Both of them ignored me. "So Alexander, did you hear about that girl who died this morning? They think an animal bit her. Officer Deblin is on the case though, so I'm sure he'll get everything figured out."

"No. I didn't hear about it." he replied.

"Oh really? Because it was actually this girl who goes to my school. Her name was Natalie Clements. She was my best friend." I said these words without any emotion at all. Although on the inside I was sobbing to death.

"Well I haven't heard about it."

"Are you sure? Because I'm almost positive that you know exactly what happened." I pressed on.

"What makes you say that?" he asked. If he was nervous, he wasn't showing it. He sounded completely calm.

"Well when you killed my dad it was because he knew your secret. So I just thought that when you killed Natalie it might have been for the same reason." I suggested coldly.

Gabriella's mouth dropped open and my mom gasped.

"Allison that's enough! Go to your room!" my mom ordered.

"No." I replied sternly. "So Alexander, who's next? Is it Daniel? Officer Deblin? Me?" I asked.

"What are you talking about?" he replied.

"Your next victim. Who's it gonna be?"

"Allison!" my mom shouted at me. "Stop that right now! Alexander did not kill your friend! Now stop accusing him!" she demanded.

"Really mom? Do you truely believe that he didn't kill her? Or are you just saying that to protect your perfect little husband? Well wake up mom! He isn't perfect! He's a killer!"

"He may have killed your father, but he did not kill Natalie!" Tears were forming in the corners of her eyes and they began to trickle down her pale cheeks.

"How would you know mom? It's like you're blind when it come to Alexander's imperfections!"

"I know because I'm the one who killed her!" she shouted. I couldn't speak after she said that. I began gasping for breath and my heart raced at a high velocity. And that everything went black.

I woke up laying in my bed. The clock on my wall told me that it was eleven forty-five. I had to get out of this house. I couldn't live in a house full of killers. Then I remembered that I was supposed to meet Daniel at midnight. So I grabbed my backpack and stuffed it with clothes. Then I slid my suitcase out from under my bed. I put two pictures in it. The one of me and Natalie and the one of me and my dad. Then with whatever room was left, I crammed in more clothes.

I headed out the door and straight to the forest. When I arrived at the meadow I stood there for about a minute or two before Daniel and his pack arrived.

"Hi." I welcomed them.

"Hey, I heard about your friend! I'm so sorry! I bet it was Alexander!" he exclaimed.

"That's what I thought too. But I was wrong."

Daniel looked at my backpack and suitcase. "You going on a trip?" he asked.

"No. I'm running away. I can't live there."

"What about your mom?" he asked. Meanwhile, his pack was waiting patiently for us to finish our conversation.

"She's not my mom anymore. Alexander transformed her into a whole different person. A killer."

"A killer? Who did she kill?" he asked sounding astonished.

"My best friend." That was all I had to say for him to know what I was talking about. His face shifted from surprised, to sympathetic, to a mix of both.

"Wow." he said.

"I couldn't believe it either." I told him.

"Well where are you gonna go?"

"I'm not sure. But I can't live in that house full of murderers."

"Well you're definitely welcome to stay with us." he offered.

"I'm sorry, but I can't stay with you and your dad."

"Actually ever since I found out what he was up to, I've been living with Josh and his family." He nodded his head towards one of his pack members. "Actually while we were out running, Josh found Natalie's body."

"Wait a second, Josh Griffen?" I asked just to make sure.

"That's me." Daniel's pack member answered.

"Oh, well thanks. But I wouldn't want to intrude on you guys." I rejected his offer.

"Trust me, it's fine. We'd be happy to have you stay with us." Josh reassured me with lots of hospitality.

"Are you sure?" I asked him.

"Positive. So what do you say?"

"I guess so. If you're ok with it." I agreed.

"Cool. By the way this is the rest of our pack. This is Cameron, Brandon, and Kyle."

"Hi," I greeted all of them.

"Ok. So why don't we all head back to Josh's house then?" Daniel suggested.
"Sounds good to me." Cameron replied. So we all went over to Josh's house. I was happy that I'd found a place to stay, but I was still extremely upset. I don't think I would ever recover from this.


Josh's house was amazing. It was a huge Victorian with a wrap-around porch and a long, twisting driveway. And that was just the outside. Once you walked inside it was even better. He had an extravagant living room that was all black and white. The walls were painted white with five different pictures that were in all black and white hung about them in black picture frames. And there was also a plasma screen tv hanging on the wall.

There were wood floors that were the lightest I had ever seen. And in the middle of the room was a circular, black rug. There were also two white, leather couches with black throw pillows. There was a wooden coffee table with a glass top that was painted jet black. And in the middle of it all, hung a massive, crystal chandelier.

"Your house is amazing!" I commented.

"Thanks." Josh replied. "Well, I'll give you the grand tour."

"Ok." I accepted his offer. He led me into the next room and the rest of his pack just sat down and watched TV. Accept for Daniel, who came with us.

"This is the kitchen." Josh said. It had all stainless steel appliances and an island in the middle. The counters were all granite and there was a circular window right above the sink. The cabinets and floors were both made of a dark mahogany wood.

Then we walked into the dining room, which was just as amazing as the rest of the house. He led me up his spiraling staircase and showed me all of the bedrooms.

"And this is where you get to stay." He opened the door to one of his guest bedrooms and all three of us walked inside.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed. "This is way better than the room Alexander forced me to stay in!" The room had the same light wooden floors as the living room and had light pink walls. There was a queen-sized bed that had a deep red comforter and light pink sheets that matched the walls. The comforter also had black and light pink rings on it that went perfectly with the sheets. The vanity was black. Along with the desk and dresser. Plus it had a walk-in closet! There was even a plasma screen tv hanging on the wall next to the vanity. "Thank you so much!"

"No problem. I'm glad you like it!" he replied.

"I love it!" I smiled and set my backpack and suitcase down on the bed. "So does anyone else live here besides you and Daniel?"

"Yeah, my parents live here too, but my dad has a business trip this weekend and my mom is visiting my aunt. She'll be back tomorrow though. And trust me, they won't mind that you're staying here." Josh explained.

"Ok. Well I'm kind of tired. I think I might just go to sleep now and unpack in the morning."

"Ok. I'll tell the rest of the guys to go home then." Daniel and Josh left the room and I moved my backpack and suitcase to the floor. Then I laid down in my new bed to test it out. Way more comfortable than that what Alexander had me sleeping on.

In fact, this whole house was better than Alexander's. The only thing that was missing now was my mom. But she was gone for good. Alexander had taken her away from me. Although I still didn't know exactly how he did that in the first place. But it didn't matter how he did it now. She was gone for good and there was nothing I could do or say to change that.

I'd tried talking her out of it. I'd tried telling her how crazy it was to marry some psycho killer. But she just didn't listen. In fact, she became a killer just like Alexander. It was hard to imagine that my mom was the one who had caused the death of my best friend.

I sat on my bed and thought about the situation I was in with my mom.

I had so many questions still. Why did my mom kill Natalie? Why did my mom want to marry Alexander? Why couldn't Gabriella just say that we're even and get on with her life? Why was Alexander doing all of this?

But all of those questions would have to wait. Right now I was tired. So I switched off the light and climbed into my new bed. I fell asleep right away.

While I was asleep, a knock on the window near my bed woke me up. I sat up in bed and yawned. Then I looked over towards the window. Nothing was there. I looked around the room and spotted a folded up piece of paper on my bedside table. I picked it up and unfolded it.

"Kyle is next." I read quietly. What could that mean? Underneath the words was a faint sketch. It looked like fire. I then crinkled the note up and tossed it into my waste basket. Whatever. After the note was discarded, I fell back asleep.

The next morning I awoke to the sound of voices coming from somewhere downstairs. I followed where the voices were coming from. They lead me into the living room.

"I can't believe it." Daniel and the rest of the pack were standing there with mournful expressions. And then I realized that someone was missing. Kyle.

"What happened? What can't you believe?" I questioned frantically.

"Kyle is dead." Cameron stated.

"What?!? How did this happen?" I cried.

"His house got set on fire. His mother and sister made it out ok. And his dad just had a couple of bad burns. But he didn't make it out." Brandon explained.

"Well what started the fire?"

"The police think it was arson." Daniel replied.

And then I thought back to the note on my bedside table from yesterday night. "Kyle is next." the note had said. And now Kyle was dead. The note also had a faint sketch of fire on it. And Kyle died from a fire.

"Guys, you might think this is weird, but yesterday night I heard someone knock on my window. I woke up and nobody was there. But then I saw a note on my bedside table. I picked it up and read it. On the bottom was a drawing of fire. And above it were the words Kyle is next. And now Kyle is dead. From a fire." I told them.

"Are you serious?" Daniel's expression went from mournful to fearful. I nodded. We all looked at each other with frightened and shocked expressions on our faces.

"Whoever sent me that note is the one who committed the arson." I informed them.

"Well what should we do?" asked Josh.

"We have to figure out who sent me that note." I informed them.

"Well how are we going to do that?" Cameron asked sounding discouraged already.

"I'm not sure." I admitted. "Any suggestions?"

"Well I could ask one of my dad's friends at the police station to test it for fingerprints." Daniel suggested.

"That's a great idea!" I complimented.

"Thanks. I can go deliver it to him right now if you want."

"Ok. So I guess that's the plan. But what do we do after we have the fingerprints?" I asked.

"Well my dad has a whole book of people with criminal records in San Diego that have been arrested. Maybe the person is one of those people." Daniel suggested with a shrug.

"Well let's hope so." I replied.

"Do you still have the note? We'll need it to find the fingerprints."

I nodded. "Just let me go get it." Then I raced up the stairs and retrieved the crinkled note from my waste basket. Then I brought it back downstairs. "Here it is." I handed it to Daniel and he spread it out so that it was flat.

"Alright well I guess I'll be going now." Then he raced out the door with the note in his hand. He was back within fifteen minutes. "I snuck this back with me too." He held out a book of criminal records for us to see.

"Awesome. So when will we get the results back from the note?" I asked.

"He said he'd call back in about an hour. So should we start looking through the book and write down anyone who we suspect?"

"Sure." I replied. And we all sat down on the two leather couches. Daniel opened the book and we all leaned over to peer inside. After flipping through all of the criminals who's last names began with the letter A, we moved on to the B section. We still hadn't found anyone who had any record of arson or murder.

"What if the guy isn't in this book?" asked Brandon.

"Then I guess we'll have to figure something else out." I responded. We kept flipping through until we reached the C's. "Hey it says that someone named Thomas Carlson has committed three arsons, which all together killed a total of four people." I pointed out.

"Should we right him down?" asked Josh.

"Probably." Daniel answered. So we wrote him down as the first person on our list of suspects. Then we flipped over to the D's.

"Hey, there's Alexander!" I cried. "It says that he was arrested for two crimes. Stalking and breaking and entering." I read aloud.

"Should we right him down?" asked Brandon.

"Well I think we should. This guy is crazy. He's pretty much capable of any crime you could ever imagine." I informed them.

So we wrote him down. And just as we reached the E section, the phone rang. Josh picked it up.

"Hello." he answered. "Ok." He walked over to his fax machine and pulled out a piece of paper. "Alright, thank you." He hung up the phone and walked back over to us. "Here are the pictures of the fingerprints. I guess we just compare it to what they have in that book."

So we compared it to Thomas Carlson's fingerprints and it didn't match up. I held my breath as we compared it to Alexander's.

"Perfect match." I stated.