• I was talking with Jessica about the movie we had just seen and we were telling each other our favorite parts. Then I said, "Let’s take the shortcut through the cemetery."
    “O.K.” she replied. When we were somewhere around the middle of it, she asked me if we had time to look at relatives and friend’s graves. I knew she wanted to see Marc's grave, who had been our best friend the year before. I looked at my phone and it said 11:58, but I told her it was only 10:00. In about 2 minutes, we “accidentally” found Marc's grave. Jessica bent down and looked at it.
    “I miss Marc so much, don’t you?” She gave me a questioning look and I answered yes. I did, really. Especially since we were on our first date together (finally) and there had been a robbery 5 minutes into it. Jessica still doesn’t know that we had fimally been going out. It always hurt too much to talk about it. I looked to the sky and saw the full moon rising from a cloud. Just like the one Marc and I were looking at when he died. A full, bright moon disappearing behind a dark cloud.
    I heard a strange noise. I looked over to where I heard it and realized I had been crying. I quickly wiped away the tears and thought I saw something move. Jessica asked slowly, ‘What was that?” I answered her question with, “Probably nothing, or maybe a stray dog, but I’ll check it out anyway. Stay here.”
    “Dakota, don’t go over there! It could be a serial killer, or, or, some pervert, or some- something else hiding in those trees!”
    “Dang, Jessica. Did you put more sugar than you were suposed to in your cereal this morning again?”
    “Yes,” murmured Jessica softly.
    “That explains a lot!” So I went over to the trees and tripped on a tree root protruding from the ground. I looked over to it and couldn’t believe I had actually tripped over it. That thing wasn’t an inch from the ground! I heard the same noise again up ahead and a couple of moments later heard Jessica say,” Are you alright?! Dakota?! Dakota!”
    “Jessica, be quiet! It’s past midnight. You’ll wake people up!”
    “O.K!” So I kept going.
    I tripped again but this time on nothing. “God! What’s wrong with me? Do I have my shoes untied or something?!” I looked down at my feet but I didn’t. They were both in a neat little bow. I started thinking “You’d think Marc’s ghost was here or something.”
    Marc used to hide behind things and trip me and Jessica whenever he got the chance. After awhile it harder and harder because we were always alert and knew almost all of his hiding places. Then I screamed at the top of my lungs just to scare Jessica. “Jessica! Come here! Quick!” I could hear the leaves crumpling beneath her feet as she yelled, “Dakota! Are you okay? Answer me!’ She got here with a scared look on her face. I asked. “What’s wrong, Jessica? Are you okay?” “You screamed she said with a scared look on her face, panting. “ You did scream, right?” My reply was, “ No. Jessica. No one screamed. It was all just in your imagination. Now go back to the graveyard, alright?”
    Jessica gave me this weird look this whole time. I don’t think she believed me. But if she didn’t, she didn’t tell me or show it in any way to me. “Alright.” She agreed. She walked back and again I could hear the leaves deteriorate where her footsteps fell. I could also hear her just plop! down on top of Marc’s grave. I continued on.
    After walking for about what seemed years, I looked at the time again and it only read 12:02 Hard to believe, really. Then I heard it yet again. But this time, I saw something, too. Directly next to me, I saw a light. It was about the same height as me starting at the ground. It was more pale and soft than bright or maybe even shiny.
    I just stood and stared. It seemed to be trying to form something, or maybe even multiplying. But whatever it was doing, it was turning into something familiar. A body, with no shadow, but radiating light. I couldn’t scream for Jessica. I was too held back by wonder and happiness. It moved, or floated, or maybe it was me moving, but either way, my solid flesh and his pale ones met.
    After a kiss that didn’t last long enough, we broke apart. “Marc,” I said, breathless. Hey, Dakota. I’m really sorry, but, you really need to get Jessica here now. “He started in a tone of concern and fright. “Get her over here now. She’s in danger over there. But do it quietly. Don’t let anyone or anything see or scare you. Same with Jessica. When things stop moving, and everything gets quiet, run. Run for your life. Just ignore the fact that something might see you. Just get Jessica and run to the other side of the graveyard and out. Then don’t come back if that quiet thing happens, alright?” I could feel the sorrow coming from him, even if he didn’t let it show. I knew that he wasn’t going to explain anything to me.
    “Goodbye,” I said softly, letting the love, sorrow, wonders, and fright leak out through my voice. “Goodbye. What I didn’t let him know was that I was going to come back. Even if the Stillness came after me and Jessica. I knew he cared enough to stay until he knew we were safe. I was coming back. And Jessica was coming with me.
    ***
    As I walked through the woods, all I could think about was that feeling I had when he had kissed me. A feeling as though I was on top of the world, soaring through a sky bright and cool as a sapphire. And just as blue, too. But I just didn’t soar long enough. I’d only had that feeling once before when I kissed him the first time.
    Then I noticed something strange as I came out of my daydream. I could feel the cool of the breeze but I couldn’t feel the actual breeze. The leaves and branches had stopped dancing to their little wind dance. There was no more rustling of the small animals among the grass and trees. All life seemed to have faded away into the darkness. It was quiet. I ran.
    I did it without thinking, really. I did it completely on impulse. I thought about the movie I had just seen probably only 30 minutes earlier. About how the girl was trying to run but seemed as though she was going in slow motion. But it wasn’t at all like the movies. What it was really like was that you go so fast everything is a blur except the destination ahead of you. You’ll just automatically dart around trees without knowing it, you aren’t aware of your surroundings, and all you can hear is the pounding of your feet falling into place with your heartbeat and getting faster and faster until your heart can’t keep up anymore but your feet keep going. It would have been a wonderful feeling, almost as good as kissing Marc, (not quite), except for the fact that I was probably about to die and join Marc, leaving Jessica to grieve over yet another loss, if she even made it out of the graveyard and had a miserable life, scarred with the sorrow of losing her 21 best and only friends over the period of less than a year, not even knowing what happened to one of them. And there’s this thing about survivor’s guilt, which she would definitely have, seeing as she was practically with me at the time that I would have died. Oh well. Might as well try to make it. I got to Marc’s grave, but she wasn’t there. I thought about the Stillness and almost threw up.
    ***
    I looked around but couldn’t find her. I suddenly heard a scream come from where the Stillness had been. That’s when I threw up. I ran towards the scream .I didn’t even bother to wipe my mouth. There was no point. It would just take up precious time that I certainly didn’t have.
    I thought about what I knew were Jessica’s screams. What was going on? What was happening? What was it doing to her? I asked myself those questions but I really didn’t want those answered right now. I ran as fast as I could but it didn’t seem fast enough. When I found Jessica, she was tangled in a bunch of ivy and vines. I would’ve just thought she had tripped and was overreacting had I not seen the true fear in her eyes, seen the gag on her mouth, not just met up with Marc, and not just run from the Stillness. I tried to untangle her quickly, but realized that they were tied tightly in knots.
    I looked at her face but felt her fright before I saw it. I could feel everything now. Marc, hidden back within the trees, Jessica, confused, the frustration, wonder, and hunger of the Stillness, over at the graves. I heard a wild roar come from where I just was .I could also feel him coming back, knowing now where I was. “Sorry Jessica. This is really going to hurt. So don’t scream, or all three of us are doomed forever.” I told her. She was confused at the statement about three of us, but she still nodded. I tore off the gag and pulled her as hard as I could out of the plants. She was in serious pain. I could see the marks clearly from where the vines had cut into her skin. She was even bleeding in some places.
    “Run,’ I whispered. We both ran. Just as I had earlier. Just as fast as the other. The frustration of the Stillness was so strong, we could both feel it. And we each knew it. It seemed to catching up. Closer and closer it got. We were exhausted, but knew we couldn’t stop. I led the way to Marc. All Jessica knew was that we were running towards one of the graveyard gates. Or at least she thought we were. She started to turn towards it but completely stopped when I cried out,” No! Follow me!” She opened her mouth to either argue or ask about what I had just said, but she didn’t have time. We could hear and feel the Stillness coming. She looked at me and I ran. I knew she was running after me because I could hear the familiar crumbling under her feet behind me. We weren’t going nearly as fast as before and that wasn’t good. Before hadn’t even been good enough. But at least it had bought us some very much needed time. The Stillness was getting close enough to still everything again. We just couldn’t run fast enough. But then we were there. But so was the Stillness. And Marc was still there.
    ***
    Marc was looking behind at the Stillness. We all felt it. Jessica and I turned around to look, but it was already moving forward. But not toward us. Towards Marc. I figured being around Marc would fend him off in some way or something, but I was wrong. Completely wrong. It was going for Marc and it wasn’t stopping, not even to get us. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I did know that whatever was going to happen, I wouldn’t like it and it would concern the safety of Marc’s spirit. I screamed out, “No! Leave him alone!” Of course, what good would that do? It was the Stillness, not a kindergartner. I ran for the thing, whatever it was, I tried to beat it, but it burned me. I couldn’t touch it. I was so scared. Jessica was too. I still had that thing where I could feel what everybody else was feeling. She was also sad. I could mostly tell that by her crying, but I could still feel it. I ran back to where Jessica was standing and it still ignored me. It just kept going for Marc. I was so confused about why it only wanted Marc, or at least for that moment.
    Then I realized Marc wasn’t moving. I couldn’t figure it out ‘til I got close enough to feel power exiting the Stillness and immobilizing him. I realized Jessica was trying to tell me something. I asked, afraid, “What? Please tell me we can top this. I’m scared.” It was a quiet whisper.”Yes.”
    “How?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “How can you not know!?”
    “Well…”
    “What!”
    “That, that, thing, the um-“
    “Hurry! It’s almost to Marc!”
    “Wait that’s Marc? Oh my god! I missed him so-“
    “JESSICA!”
    “That thing.”
    “The Stillness.”
    “Yah, the Stillness. It said we were the key.” I was shocked. So shocked. As a result of my shock, I practically screamed in her face, “The key! The KEY! Jessica! This is no time for riddles! Give me a real answer!” By this time I was shaking her by the shoulders. Then the moon came yet again out from behind a cloud.
    It shined on Jessica, full and bright. Her eyes went glassy and she started speaking in her normal voice, but with no tone. She said, “In the light of the full moon, and over the grave, you speak the name.” And suddenly, next thing I know, Jessica’s staring at me all weird and then she does it again.” The spirit is bright, but born of the moon, but the Stillness will come.” I go blank again and she says, ‘To claim victory, the light may move,” and there she stops.
    At the same time, we both say. “Oh my god. What did you just say!?” Then I asked in a mystified voice, “It sounded like you were in a trance or something, with your face all blank and everything. Like you were reciting a prophecy or something.” “You too.” “In the light of the full moon, and over the grave, you speak the name.” I say, repeating what she had said. We kept repeating what the other had said until we figured out the prophecy goes like this:

    “In the light of the full moon,
    And over the grave, you speak the name.
    Midnight will come, and the moon will rise,
    And with it the light. The spirit is bright,
    And is born of the moon,
    But the Stillness will come.
    Save the light, defeat the Stillness,
    Or again and again it will come,
    Hungrier and hungrier each time.
    To claim victory, the light may move,
    And the Stillness may not eat.”
    It was kind of creepy in its own way. We had taken too much time, too. But we each knew what we had to do. “I’ll stop it. You get Marc, Do it now. Don’t fight with me.” I ordered her. I ran off before she could object. I stepped between the stillness and Marc. They were very close together, now. I could feel Marc struggle and his desperation. Jessica’s too. She couldn’t move him and I couldn’t stop the power. Neither of us knew how to, we knew it was all wild, crazy guesses and chances until we got it right. It seems like a stupid thing to do from the outside, but you weren’t there.
    It was our only hope, those chances. I guess you just had to be there to understand. Oh well. I was trying to absorb the power, trying to freeze myself instead. I couldn’t let it take Marc. It wasn’t right. That’s when I realized. We were the key. Not me. Not Marc. Not even Jessica like I had thought. We. “Jessica! Come here! Please, I need your help!”
    I stepped away from the Stillness and Jessica came. I told her to get on the Stillness’s back and to stay there, and to not let it throw her off. It was very, very, important. While she was doing that, I tried to hurry to Marc’s grave. I dug it up and took out Marc’s body and a bow and arrow. I nearly puked again. It smelled really bad. And I mean BAD.
    When I got back, Jessica was unconscious, but at least sill on its back. I was really sorry to do this, but I had to. First *I shot Jessica in the leg with one of the arrows from Marc’s grave. She woke up instantly. The second she woke up and saw the arrow in her leg, she screamed. Her scream was so loud, it stopped the Stillness for a couple minutes. It looked at me. I knew I had to hurry.”Jessica, Will you-“ “Whatever it is just do it now!” she suddenly told me to do. “Just remember to take it over!” I notched an arrow and aimed. I got a perfect shot when I let go. It landed right below Jessica’s heart to the left. I started to cry again. At least I didn’t start crying before I took the shot. I could’ve missed so easily by an inch and could’ve killed her if I couldn’t see because of tears. I could’ve missed just no0w, but I’m a very good archer and there was a lot less of a chance without the tears . I wiped away the tears and looked at her. The very last thing Jessica did in her first life was hold back a tear to keep Dakota brave.
    The arrow had gone all the way through Jessica and into the Stillness’s body or whatever it was. That didn’t matter and it never will. I silently prayed that Jessica would come back alright. Well, besides the fact that she would have a big hole in her and that we would be in so much trouble when we got home and our parents saw the hole. She was bleeding badly but I couldn’t help her. More tears. I looked away and carried Marc’s dead body over to the spirit one. I put the body into the spirit hoping that maybe it would bring him alive again and he would be bonded to the Earth somehow. All the wounds on the body just repaired themselves automatically and on their own. Being connected back to its original soul was regenerating the body somehow too fit the soul and the life it would have. You could practically see the life accept the body it had had before. Maybe it could get him to move. But he wasn’t moving yet.
    ***

    Jessica
    The arrow. I felt it in my back but in a sort of detached way, mostly. I could feel something heavy on my back, the same place as the arrow was. I looked behind me and saw this strange girl with long, black, hair on my back. The body was annoying, but my instincts told me not to push it off of my back . I didn’t know why. I didn’t know anything. I could feel another presence in this body with me and it didn’t want me here. But I knew I had to stay in and push the other back. So I pushed. I pushed until it was squished in a corner of its being. I realized there was a power pulsing through and out of me into the world around me. It was holding still a boy, but I didn’t mind. I didn’t really care, actually. But something told me to stop it. I was about to but paused when I saw another strange girl. This one had a boy in her arms and looked tired. She had brown and gold hair, this one. She walked over to the glowing one and put the boy on top of it. Then it started doing something weird. Strange movements where it was hurt. I watched them for a while then decided to stop the magic already. After awhile it starts to get annoying. Then, suddenly, I remembered. I remembered everything. I had to get out. I couldn’t stay here forever. But I couldn’t leave the Stillness to itself, especially not with the power. I surrounded it with myself and tried to move back through to my own body. It was easy. But before I completely took myself back, I let the Stillness being go in-between the bodies so it didn’t have a boy of its own. But I kept the power because if I left it with the Stillness whether it had a body or not, it could use it against us and others once again. I wasn’t about to let that happen.
    ***
    Dakota
    “Marc? Marc! Marc! You’re okay!” “Jessica.” He whispered. I looked over and she still wasn’t waking up. “oh my god.’ I ran over to her and suddenly I could feel the life within her. I smiled. A big, big, smile just for Jessica to see in her second life. Or as I would find out later, third. She blinked. “Dakota?” she asked me. “Yes, Jessica. Rest. But don’t go to sleep. I’m gonna get this arrow and it’s gonna hurt real bad, okay?” “O.K.” Her voice was scratchy and confused. I laid down the Stillness’s body with her on top and pulled out the arrow carefully but quick. I wanted her to feel as little pain as possible. I winced as a fresh pool of very wet blood came out of the wound and whole bunch of it landed in the grass beneath the Stillness. “God,” I thought, not saying it out loud because I didn’t want to frighten or alarm Jessica. “This is bad.” Out loud, I asked Jessica if she could carefully get up and walk with me and Marc. She didn’t answer, just did it. I led her to Marc’s empty grave and sat her down to rest. “Marc, I’m sorry. I- I” He stroked my cheek and said “Sorry? About what? What on Earth could you possibly be sorry about? You and Jessica are heroes to the dead and alive alike.”
    ***
    Marc
    She looked so sad. She was sorry for something but I didn’t know what for. But suddenly she explained to me, “For letting you die.” She looked away as though ashamed of it. I lifted up her chin and turned her face towards mine. Now I know why she had looked away. Dakota was crying. “Dakota,” I said in surprise.”That wasn’t your fault. It was the murder’s fault. Not yours.” “Could’ve t- taken the bullet,” she replied, stuttering. “I could have d- died for y- y- you.”
    “Then what? I would live the rest of my life guilty because that bullet was supposed to be for me in the first place. I wouldn’t like that at all, even if it had caused me to live to be 1,000,000 years old. Everything happens for a reason, Dakota. Isn’t that what you’re always telling me? That things always happen for a reason? Remember when my dog died? You said that it happened for a reason. It was his time to go so he went.”
    By this time she was looking down again. I lifted up her face. I swear, she had eyes like a river sometimes.
    “It wasn’t your time to go. It wasn’t.” she stated, sniffling.
    “Oh, really? And how is that?”
    “It wasn’t, you know it, and you know all the reasons why. Don’t pretend that I’m just trying to get you to stay forever. I’m not and you know it. You know it’s all true.” I wiped the tears from her face. I had to speak in a quiet, soft, tone to calm her down but it didn’t seem to be working. “But there was a reason for me going, you know that, right?” “But I wish there hadn’t been a reason. Then you would have never died. It would only be fair,” she said to me. “So much for a happy ending. I doubt that there’s even such thing as one.” “What are you talking about, no happy endings? The Stillness was defeated, your both still alive and my spirits alright. What’s not to be happy about?” I was still talking softly and she finally started to calm down. “Jessica’s hurt and is barely alive, I’ll still never get to see you again, who knows if there more of those things, and we’re going to be in a lot of trouble.” She barked back bitterly. At this I said “First of all, I’m sure Jessica doesn’t care about being hurt as long as she’s alive. She is very alive. Second, how do you know you’ll never see me again? Because I’m pretty sure you will. Third, think about that prophecy, or whatever it was. Did it say anything about a second or third Stillness? I don’t think so. And last, what’s getting grounded compared to this? Nothing. As for the big hole in Jessica, she’ll know what to do. Believe me. Go talk to her.” I looked through her eyes for a few moments before she went. I still loved them as much as I did before.
    ***
    Jessica
    I was trying not to fall asleep. Dakota had told me not to. So I didn’t, even though it seemed like it would be heaven. I could hear Marc and Dakota speaking in low voices, but I couldn’t really hear what they were saying. I didn’t really care. All I could care about was the anguish I felt in my back and leg. My leg wasn’t as bad. I heard Dakota coming and looked up. I could see that she had been crying. The moonlight on her face showed that it was red and swollen. I’d only seen her cry twice before, and that was when Marc died and when her gerbils all died. There were cuts and bruises all over her. “How are you feeling?” she asked me.
    All I did was shake my head like a big idiot. Well, that’s what I was, but I could still tell she was worried. “Sorry you have to go through that Jessica. Well, Marc says that you know how to heal both those wounds before we go home tonight. Think you do?” “Yes.” She gasped. “Only one word, but she speaks!” That made me smile. After all this, Dakota was exactly the same. Of course she was. Always trying to make people happy and laughing whenever she got the chance. “I do. When I was possessing the Stillness, I kept the power because I didn’t want it having any chance of using it-“ “or did you just want the power for yourself?” Dakota interrupted, With a joking look on her face. “Noooooo. I truly didn’t want the Stillness using it again. Anyways, I can use the power to heal myself. I’m going to try now. How ,bout that?” “Awesome.” All I had to do was want to be healed and then I could feel it healing. Then I was done. “How was that?” I asked Dakota. “Perfect,” she answered. Everything was fine now. We went over to talk to Marc, and he completely surprised us by saying, “I’ve come back to life. I can stay.”
    “We’ll have a hard time explaining this, but, YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can stay-ay. You can stay-ay. Uh-huh. Oh-ya. You can stay-ay.” Jessica and I started chanting that over and over again with each other all the way home. With our new and improved, but still the same as ever, best friend Marc.

    The only thing that none of them knew was that Jessica hadn’t let go of all the Stillness.