~~~Chapter 17 - Getting Their Trust~~~



Jesse pressed himself as far as he could into his computer desk. His breathing got jammed in his throat long ago and his chest screamed for oxygen, but he could not fill his lungs up. His eyes are shut tight and he feared it would be the end of him if he opened them. The air around him was silent, all except his father’s rough breathing just inches from where he stood. Jesse managed to frown slightly when his father failed to utter a single word to him. He took in a much-needed breath and then slowly opened his eyes.

“Honey, are you sure you haven’t been in here?” Ginger McCartney asked, her voice sounding so tiny and far away.

“Honey, I am positive. I thought maybe you were,”

Ginger wrapped her arms around herself. “It wasn’t me,”

Scot took a step forward in Jesse’s direction, so close that he could smell his aftershave. He placed his hand on the laptop and held it there for a few moments. Then, Scot looked right at Jesse. Jesse’s eyes widened and all he wanted was Aaron’s power. The power to shape shift into anything and that moment the computer desk would make do. Jesse blinked and began to study his father’s face. His expression was weary and dark circles made their home below his eyes. His hair was completely white, a total transformation from his light brown tresses with a few gray areas. That was five months ago, before Jesse’s life was taken away.

Scot suddenly reached toward him. Jesse quickly recoiled and stepped to the side, careful not to knock anything off the desk as he went, just barely missing his father’s fingertips on his face. Jesse gasped when he realized the odd, shocking truth about what he was seeing. He knew why his parents were not reacting toward him…

They could not see him.

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Meanwhile with Allison, Amanda, and Hilary

Someone is coming…but who?
Footsteps…
More footsteps….
And more….but wait…they stopped.
No…there they go again.
They are coming….

"Somebody’s coming!" Allison gasped loudly, quickly sitting up and stirring dirt astray, knocking Hilary and Amanda in the head on contact.

"Ouch, bitch! That hurt!” Hilary growled rubbing her head.

"Shhh!" Allison shushed them. The girls clamped their mouths shut and became silent.
"Allison...what is it?" Amanda whispered, giving her a suspicious eye. Allison breathed in sharply and hesitated.

“They’re coming," She answered back. Hilary and Amanda looked at each other with questioning looks.

"Who are they?" Hilary said, wiggling her nose.

"The girls, I can hear them. Jamie is telling Mika how good of a job she did on the set. Mika is laughing, but I am not quite catching what she is saying. Now they’re talking about Kaci's death and how much they miss her." Allison rambled on.

"Okay, how the hell do you know that?" Amanda frowned. Allison frowned herself and put a hand over her ear, her throat feeling thick with each hard swallow.

"I can hear them," She told them, catching their eye. Amanda and Hilary looked around for a while as if they were trying to hear what Allison was hearing.

"I don't hear anything," Hilary flatly informed her.

"Me either," Amanda added.

"But I can,"

"How," Amanda asked pushing back a twig that kept nicking her in the head.

"I don't know. I think—I think I might have a new power. I think I can hear things from...far away...." Allison abruptly trailed off and sat up straight. "Shit! Get down! They’re coming!" Allison grabbed the other girls by their arms just as the side door of the studio swung open. Mika, Jo, and Jamie stepped out surrounded by a bunch of security guards.

"Well, that’s just great, now what?" Hilary groaned her eyes strained on the security guards.

Allison licked her lips. "Okay I have an idea, get ready to grab a teenage celebrity that's in danger on three." She rushed out.

"Allison, I don't think that's such a good idea..."

"Three!" Allison suddenly pulled her body forward and stretched out toward the girls.

"Ohhh!" Amanda and Hilary followed suit. They grabbed the back of their shirts and pulled them into the bushes, without the guards realizing a thing. As soon as they were in the bushes, they disappeared, leaving a cloud of dust behind them.

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A couple blocks away, the girls suddenly came to a stop in an empty parking lot. A few cars are parked here and there, including Mika’s blue Prius. Hilary and Amanda stared at Allison completely stunned, their mouths agape.

"What the hell was that?" Amanda choked out. Allison took a deep breath and slowly started to grin ear to ear.

"I have no idea, but I like it." She said with a cheesy grin. Allison gasped, suddenly remembering the other girls that they just hijacked. She turned around and came face to face with three horror-stricken actresses. Mika, Jo, and Jamie, stood there frozen in place.

"Please don't be afraid." Amanda said, holding up her hands, hoping they would calm down and let them explain.

Jo closed her mouth and leaned closer to Jamie, "They’re supposed to be dead right?” Hilary jumped a little from Jo’s outburst and sudden movement. Allison grabbed her arm to steady her.

Jamie inhaled sharply, "Yeah,"

"See ya!" Mika turned and began to leave, until Allison grabbed her by the arms and pulled her back over to them. With a sharp cry, Mika yanked herself away from Allison as if she just got burned.

"No, Mika! It is okay. We're not going to hurt you." Allison told her in the calmest tone she could bring up.

"Oh I get it! We're being punked. Where's Ashton at?" Jamie laughed nervously, her voice cracking a bit.

"Uh, no Jamie...."

"Come on, where’s the cameras?"

"There aren’t any cameras and this isn’t a joke. You guys need to trust us." Allison explained as best as she could. Allison glanced at Amanda and Hilary, wishing they would chime in at any time, but the girls remained tight-lipped. Allison felt like she had to do everything by herself when it came down to explaining something.

"Trust you? Look at you people. You are a pair of walking—talking, probably brain— eating zombies. How can we trust you?" Mika pointed out.

"Zombies?” Allison gapped, “Do we look like zombies to you? Look, we’re dead. We are not afraid to admit that anymore, but were very much alive as you guys are. We even feel pain and emotion, despite our cold skin and non-beating hearts.” Amanda and Hilary stole a glance at each other. Their lips coordinated with each other forming the word ‘what’. They shook their heads and tried their best to hide their giggles from Allison. Allison pressed her lips together for a split second, glaring at Amanda and Hilary from the corner of her eye, and then she continued.

“But were alive in a different way, but don't worry it's a good way. But what I'm about to explain to you may be completely over your heads...but it's fatal that you trust us first, before we tell you." Allison explained.

"Forget it!" Mika grabbed the other girls and they started to storm away. Allison groaned loudly and cleared her throat. She knew what she had to say to them next.

“Don’t say it, Allison.” Amanda told her, knowing exactly what she was getting ready to say.

"Someone very bad is after you!" Allison called out to them. The girls stopped dead in their tracks.

“She said it,” Hilary said. Allison ignored them.

"What do you mean?" Jo asked, nervously.

"Are you blind, Jo? Can you see that they are lying? They’re not real!" Mika hissed. Jo frowned, stealing a glance at Mika. She shrugged her shoulders and lowered her eyes to the ground.

"Fine, we're lying, but Mika, let me tell you a little information that’ll make you wish you would’ve trusted us. If you find yourself with a machete forced through your body or your throat sliced to the Adams apple, don't make me tell you I told you so. Actually, you wouldn’t be able to tell me shit, because you’ll be dead and this isn’t threat, it’s a promise. “Allison warned. Mika bit her lip so hard she drew blood. She remained tight-lipped and didn’t argue any further.

“You go girl.” Allison smirked and looked at Amanda.

"Okay, fine. We're listening," Jamie said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Allison took a deep breath and took a step forward. The other girls stiffened, but remained in their spot.

"It’s very hard for me to explain this to you guys in words. You might think I'm crazy. Hell, I think I’m crazy too." She chuckled, “To get to the point, you guys are being stalked by a psycho killer."

"Well it wouldn't be the first time." Jamie said sarcastically, but uneasily, remembering the time when she came face to face with her own stalker.

"No I mean it. This time it's different. This is a major deal. You guys and seven others are being stalked as well, possibly getting killed as we speak...."

"Wait a minute..." Jo interrupted putting her hand up. She daringly took a step forward, "Seven others? Who are they?" Allison took a glance at Amanda. Amanda nodded, urging her to go on.

"Well, it's you three, Chris Brown, Sara Paxton, Evan Rachel Wood, Jeremy Sumter, Zac Efron, and Ricky Ullman." Allison named off the people on the psycho killers hit list that is wedged in her brain.

"How do you know that?" Mika snorted.

Allison sighed heavily. "It's the reason why we were sent back here in the first place! To protect you guys from being killed, that is why you need to trust us. This guy is bad. If you get caught, you’re dead. You can't fight him by yourself. Trust me when I say this, that this guy is the same fucker that slaughtered us five months ago. That's another reason why we're back, is to kick his sorry ass, but the real mystery is, is that Aaron...killed our killer before he died. The bad thing is we had two killers. So it must be the second killer that's after you guys."

"But the weird thing is Jesse doesn't even think our main killer is dead. He thinks he's still alive." Amanda added.

"Which gives us more problems," Allison said biting her lip.

"God I hope not," Hilary groaned.

"You guys...the killer has already begun to kill. He killed Kaci," Allison said sadly. The girls gasped and their faces fell.

"So it's true?" Jamie said shuddering at the thought.

"Yes and honestly...I wish it wasn't. So...do you trust us?" Allison gave them an encouraging smile and held out her fist. Amanda and Hilary giggled and clamped their hands on top of Allison's closed fist. Jo took a deep breath and slowly hovered her hand just above Hilary’s. She hesitated before placing her hand on top. She flinched a bit from the coldness of Hilary’s hand. Jo took a glance at Jamie.

Jamie sighed, "Well, I just hope I get to see my sweet sixteen when this is all over." She smiled, placing her hand on top of Jo’s.

"Mika, what about you," Jamie said, turning toward Mika. She gasped when Mika wasn’t anywhere to be found, "Mika?"

"Mika?" All the girls became alert at once and whirled around and around, calling out her name. Amanda gasped as she suddenly saw Mika running toward her car.

“There she is!” She said pointing Mika out, just as she was opening up her car door.

"No! Mika wait!" The girls sprinted after her as fast as they could. Mika got into her car and quickly buckled her seat belt.

"Mika stop! Don't go, please!" Jo pleaded with her. Mika quickly locked the doors and windows. The girls pounded on the windows, begging her to listen to them.

"Go away! Leave me alone!" She quickly put her car into reverse and punched the gas. Hilary, who was standing behind the car, screamed loudly as the car slammed into her, sending her flying 20 feet in the air. Mika whipped her car into drive and sped away.

"Oh shit! Hilary!" The girls ran over to her, where she laid face down on the pavement, lightly pounding the ground with her fist, "Are you okay?"
Hilary lifted up her head and looked at them, "Ouch?" She said, sarcastically. The others girls chuckled and shook their heads. Hilary groaned and let her face fall back on the hard cement.

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Meanwhile back with Jesse, Lindsay, Stevie, and Alicia

Jesse slipped out of his parents’ house unnoticed, realizing the true horror he endured in that brief period. He walked briskly away from the house and found the others laying low and waiting patiently inside the SUV. Jesse stopped at the door, took a deep breath, and then hopped inside. Once he was inside, he let his forehead slam against the steering wheel and a long groan escaped beneath him.

“What took you so long?” Stevie asked pulling himself forward from the back seat and slapping Jesse on the shoulder. They stared at him with concern, as he remained silent. Jesse pulled back and brushed Stevie’s hand away. Jesse slowly settled his gaze on Alicia when she reached over and squeezed his hand.

“What’s wrong?” She asked climbing over and resting her chin on his shoulder while her right hand carefully caressed his cheek.

Jesse cleared his throat. “We have another problem and I don’t even know where to begin.”

“What?” Lindsay murmured settling herself closer so she can hear. The others became silent and their full attention was stationary on Jesse.

“My parents…they came in while I was in the room.” Jesse jadedly said.

Alicia gasped. “Oh my God…”

“That’s not the worst part,”

“What’s worse than getting caught, man?” Stevie grunted tapping Jesse on the back to get another form of an answer out of him.

“I didn’t get caught, Stevie. They were standing so close to me that I could smell my mom’s perfume. I was really looking at them, but they…they weren’t looking at me.”

“What do you mean?” Lindsay said flatly. She gave a nervous laugh and then turned toward Alicia. “What does he mean?”

Alicia closed her eyes and sighed. Then, she quickly waved Lindsay off and took Jesse’s hand into hers. “Baby, what do you mean by that?”

Jesse continued staring out the window. “My dad knew that someone was in the room. He kept looking at my computer, just knowing. I was trying to stay as quiet as I could, but the look on my dad’s face…I just knew he knew better. Then, out of nowhere, he looks up and looks right at me. He looks me right in the eye, but he wasn’t seeing me.” Jesse broke his gaze from the window and narrowed his eyes at his stunned friends. “My parents could not fucking see me,”

Alicia shrank back, glancing at the silent duo in the back. “Are you sure?” Her words lingered in the air around her when her words came out nothing but a whisper.

“Then, how come every Tom, Dick, and Joe walking on the streets can? I mean I know they’re not seeing us, only our disguises but how come your parents couldn’t see your disguise?” Stevie asked.

Jesse shook his head, his mind swimming far away from reality. “I don’t know, but what I do know is that I am eternally grateful that they couldn’t. I don’t think I would be able to handle another problem like that. I mean for God sakes, it was hard for me to see them. My dad looks like he’s sixty. He’s always been so young looking, and my mom…she’s so tiny…” Jesse trailed off and a look of swift sadness seeped into his eyes. He lowered his gaze to his lap and bit his lip until he drew blood. The others remained silent along with him, soaking in his sadness as they thought about the possibility of their parents failing to see them.

The thick air was sliced open when Jesse became alert, clearing his throat, and starting the engine. “We need to head back. Maybe the girls or Aaron and Frankie found some good news they can share with me for once.”