Being the GaGa freak Valery was, Kylie listened to "Telephone" and "Bad Romance" all weekend. But she was okay with it; at least they were getting things done, figuring out what Shay was and what she planned. "Okay, okay, okay," said Valery, "You said Shay was some sort of dead zombie thing?" Kylie looked at her aunt. "Yes, minus the zombie part. She said that they were only here because they weren't done with us." Fear engulfed Valery's eyes yet again, and she shivered. "Val? Can I ask you something?" asked Kylie. "Shoot." the woman replied simply.
"What did you do to Aunt Vicky?" she questioned. Valery looked down. "I wasn't a good sister. She thought I had stolen her boyfriend, and that I just wanted her to die. So, she committed suicide so I could be happy. It was hard. I couldn't bear to think that my 25 year old sister was dead because of me. But art saved me, and I became an artist, obviously." Valery motioned all around her apartment, canvases spread throughout the room.
Kylie looked down. "Oh." Valery sighed. "And you know why I'm so scared of her?" Kylie shook her head. "Because. I'm human. I'm scared of everything. Just like you're scared of Shay and the dark." Valery smiled, turning the serious topic into a joke. Kylie half smiled, still not in a joyous mood. She still needed hundreds of people to help her, and she didn't know how to get them.
Then the note showed up.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
A list of signatures was on it. David, Shay, Eric, Vicky, Josh, and a few others were listed. Underneath, the note read,
Kylie,
Wanna know what we are? I'll tell you. We're mortals. Just not blood and flesh like you. Not ghosts either. Figure it out from here 'genius'. You were the one who aced bio last year. You should know what we are. This was what was talked about in there once. We also figured it out in that old wreck.
-YouKnowWho
P.S. The sigs are those who will attack in a few weeks. The others bailed. Lame-o's.
Kylie looked at Valery, whose eyes were wide. "This girl," she choked out, "is creepy." Kylie sat down. Last year in bio? What the heck? Valery re-read it and rushed to Kylie's side, getting on her knees. "Kyles. What did you talk about last year in your biology class? And what 'wreck' is she talking about? We need to know!" Kylie barked, "I know! I'm thinking!" Valery stepped back, giving her niece some room. Kylie rubbed her temples. 'Think Kyles. Just think. What did we talk about last year? Mr. Bruhnman talked about all sorts of useless things. Think!' she ordered herself.
She bolted up. "I've got it!" she yelled, running out the door. Val stood. "Kylie!" she screamed, but the girl had already disappeared through the door.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Kylie rushed to a nearby, abandoned barn. It had been built nearly 100 years ago, but it wasn't used by anyone. Mr. Reynold's let her play on his land when she was little. She was sure he wouldn't mind her visiting the place one last time. She dug under hay bales and rat nests, sneezing a lot, before finally finding the old journals. She used to hide hers here when she had first met Shay. They started doing it together, and then Shay died. The place and journals hadn't been visited since.
Kylie opened the bright purple notebook with Shay's drawings, doodles, stickers, and thoughts in it. It felt weird; they hadn't read each other's journals. She felt like a traitor, but soon remembered that Shay was the enemy, and had to be stopped. Who knew how many lives depended on it? She flipped to the last page.
The answers to the whole thing were there. Relief washed over her as she read what Shay had written. Tearing out the paper, Kylie turned to leave, when she saw Shay.
Shay smiled. "Well, I have David. And your brother. And all you have is a piece of paper. What's that going to prove to anyone? Face it, Brown, you aren't going to win this final round." Kylie was silent, making sure Shay didn't see what she was doing. Her hand edged closer and closer behind her back to the pitchfork leaning against the hay. Almost there, a sudden movement from Shay spooked her. She took a step back, and grabbed the handle. This would be easy. Sucking in a deep breath, Kylie Brown prepared to die. Or kill.
The picture cell phone she had been using slipped out of her pocket, unnoticed, as she jerked the weapon at Shay. The folded paper stayed in its place, however. Shay hissed, darting around the barn. She found a piece of wood and lunged at Kylie's throat with the splintery thing.
Ducking just in time, a few dozen nails flew over Shay's head. No blood had been shed - yet. Shay took it as a good thing; Kylie took it as an inspiration. She screamed, "You took everything! Eric, David! You don't deserve to exist!" Power seemed to rise up in her hands and she felt invincible.
Until a few hundred others that were with Shay arrived.
