Chapter 3

Zac was reluctant to have any fun-even smile- the first half hour to an hour. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he detected a familiar face. He spotted Natalie in a navy blue tee-shirt and old ratty jeans. Her bleached-blonde hair was up in a messy bun, and her eyes were red and bloodshot. She must have been crying, Zac thought. She is quite the emotional type. He walked over to her.

"Natalie, you're a mess!" he said, bringing her over to sit down. She faked a pathetic smile and said, "No, I'm fine..."

He saw no use in arguing over it, so he dropped that and brought up a new subject, or at least tried to. They talked for awhile, and she seemed to become more comfortable. He heard the phone ring in the distance, and saw Hannah get up to go answer it. Her pleasant face soon faded.
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Taylor stayed on the side watching the party progress. He passed the time by eavesdropping on other conversations, to clear his mind of his thougts. He 'overheard' one conversation between 2 girls he knew, Amie and Sarah.

"Everyone is so upset... and over what? This girl was a no one, and someone buried a butcher knife in her, and now we're all 'boo-hoo'?" Amie said.

"If you ask me," Sarah commented, "The girl got what she deserved."

Ok, enough of that, Taylor thought. He looked to the side ans Sebastian was standing there. Taylor looked down and said,

"Hi..."

"Hey, Taylor... Are you ok?" Sebastian asked.

"Me? Oh yeah. Sure. Of course."

"Uhmmm... Alright," he said, very well knowing Taylor was lying.

Hannah pushed by them after hanging up the phone in her kitchen. She walked back over to Isaac.

"Help me empty this place," she said.

"Why? What's the matter?" he asked.

Hannah looked around and whispered, "Look-I'll tell you later. I just need everyone gone right now."

"Alright," he said.

Amazingly, they got it done, and they got it done quite quickly. The only ones left were the people Hannah had asked to stay. Isaac and his brothers, her friend Patrick, Chloe, and Natalie.

"Well, we should go now too," Taylor said. "Right, Zac?"

"Yeah, we'd like to stay, but..." Zac said.

"Sorry Hannah," Isaac said. "I'm their ride home."

"I'll take them," Natalie volunteered.

"Yeah," Hannah said, holding onto Isaac's arm, looking at him with pleading eyes. "I would really like for you to stay..."

Isaac saw no way out, so he stayed. He said goodbye to Zac, Taylor, and Natalie, and told them he'd be home later. Once they were gone, he pulled Hannah to the side and asked her,

"What was the deal so that everyone had to leave?"

"First off, Isaac, thank you for being here," she said. "I feel so much safer with you here."

He looked straight at her and asked,

"What happened, Hannah?"

She looked around and behind her and said,

"There's been another murder."