• Chapter 1: It’s raining on Main Street

    It’s November 21st, 2008. It’s raining on Main Street, New York. Lalaine Gillenhall was outside, despite what her mother had told her earlier that day. She was strumming a guitar, but not concentrating on it at all. Her mind was in space; her thoughts were with the stars. It was now nine o’clock at night, she had been outside for three hours straight; sitting there, with her guitar, strumming away, humming and singing about the tiny raindrops pelting the sidewalk. “Lalaine, mom said inside, now!” Lalaine’s older sister, Kaitlynne, called out. “No,” Lalaine sang. Lalaine was fifteen, Kaitlynne was seventeen. “MOM, SHE WON’T COME IN,” Kaitlynne yelled to her mother. “Leave her, then,” The mother responded. Kaitlynne sighed and closed the door. She sat at the end of the dinning room table, so she’d be able to see her sister out the window. With her at the table were her mother, Georgia, her brother, Michael, and her father, Jake.
    “Why are you gawking out the window like that, Kate?” Kaitlynne’s father asked her. “Oh, nothing,” Kaitlynne lied. Jake shrugged and continued eating. The family always ate late. Anytime when dad was home, was a mealtime. Whether it was breakfast or dinner, it sure was something to bond with him. He had to go back to work in an hour and was hurrying as much as he possibly could. Georgia hated it that he was always at work, but it made it so their family was happy, and that was all that mattered.
    After Jake left for work, Georgia went upstairs to tell Michael to get ready to take a shower and for bed. Kaitlynne saw her sister still strumming her guitar, in the pouring rain. How could her father not notice Lalaine wasn’t at the table? Was he truly still that mad at her? Kaitlynne didn’t want to think about that night. It was too awful. Kaitlynne sat for a while and watched her sister just sitting there, strumming away. “In weather tonight, it’s raining on Main Street! Floods are possible, drive with care. Storm warnings will last until five tomorrow evening. Thank you, and here is Bob Nickerson.” “Thank you, Helen.” The news casters were speaking in the background on the television set. Kaitlynne sighed again and leaned her head against the window.
    She was sitting on the floor by the back door. The doors were glass, but had a white wooden frame. It had a butterfly design on the wood, it curved and twisted on the glass, it was beautiful to look at when the sun shines through it and casts a shadow of a butterfly on the wooden floor. Kaitlynne touched the doorknob, and then drew her hand back. Going out there wouldn’t be smart at this moment, would it? Lightning scattered across the sky, Kaitlynne hated storms. They scared her to the end of her life. She lost someone due to a storm, and had never forgotten it. She now shudders when a storm comes near, and hides in her room until it is over. But tonight, she stayed by her sister, even if it did scare her to death. Lalaine continued strumming her guitar, her fingers ready to bleed. Kaitlynne could hear her mother tucking her little brother in for bed. Kaitlynne sighed as she heard her mother walk across the wooden floor upstairs to her own room. When she heard the muffled door close, Kaitlynne let out the air in her body. She felt as if she was sneaking around her parents at this moment, but she had no choice. Her sister has been there for everything, and this was a crucial moment for them.
    Kaitlynne tried her hardest not to fall asleep. It grew to be midnight, and she was falling asleep. She grabbed her cell phone out of her purse and text messaged her best friend, Joshua. “What are you up to?” she wrote. Not ten seconds later, she got a message back. “Nothing,” it said. Kaitlynne was worried. Her text back: “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” This one took longer to respond to. “I’m fine. Nothing is wrong. I have to go.” There was nothing more. Kaitlynne sighed and put the phone back. She looked at her sister, her fingers were now bleeding onto her strings, but the rain was washing it away. Lalaine was still with the stars, who knew for how long. Kaitlynne’s eyes were growing weary, but she would not rest. Not until she knew her sister was okay.
    Kaitlynne jumped awake at twenty after one o’clock in the morning when she got another text message. She looked at her sister, she was still strumming, and it was still raining. The rain was now probably two inches high, and climbing. Kaitlynne looked at her phone. It read: “I see you, why are you sleeping? Your sister sits there strumming, but you are not weeping. Why is this, Kaitlynne Rose?” A poem, but, why, why would anyone send her a poem? Kaitlynne checked the ‘from’ number. It showed nothing, nothing at all. Kaitlynne was now frightened. Who sent this poem? Why did they send this? Kaitlynne looked at her sister again, she was still out there, strumming and singing. Kaitlynne looked around outside, the door still shut, to see if she could see anyone. She saw no one, and turned around and rested again. Perhaps it was all a dream, perhaps that poem was a fake. Maybe Joshua was trying to scare her and emailed her phone, maybe that’s why it didn’t show a ‘from’ number. Kaitlynne needed sleep. It was now two in the morning. Kaitlynne drifted off to sleep, slowly, but willingly. She saw her sister strumming. Strumming, and singing to the rain. The blood from her fingers filling her jeans with untold stories. Goodnight, Lalaine.

    Chapter 2: The Poet Strikes Again

    “Kaitlynne, why are you sleeping there?” Jake Gillenhall asked his daughter. Kaitlynne jumped. “Lalaine,” She exclaimed, almost out of breath. Jake narrowed his eyes. “What about her?” He asked his daughter. Kaitlynne looked out the door and saw Lalaine was gone. “Oh, nothing, I guess. It must’ve been a dream.” Kaitlynne told her father. Jake nodded and walked away. Kaitlynne saw it was six thirty in the morning. Monday morning. She jumped up and ran upstairs and jumped into the shower. When she came out at around six fifty, she saw a frightening message on the mirror.
    “Kaitlynne Rose, Kaitlynne Rose, is there another name as sweet? When will you realize Lalaine and you will never again meet? You don’t know who I am, yet, I know you. Darling, don’t seem blue. Your dreams are about to come true.” Kaitlynne was shaking. She changed quickly and jogged to Lalaine’s room. She tried to open it, but it was locked. Kaitlynne wanted to cry, but chose not to, not with her father around. Kaitlynne grabbed her backpack from her room and went downstairs to grab her purse. Kaitlynne started to walk towards the back door. “You’re not eating today, Kate?” Georgia asked her daughter. Kaitlynne looked at her mother. She looked distraught, but, when didn’t she now? Kaitlynne sighed and shook her head. “No, I’m not in the mood to eat.” She told her, trying to calm her voice from her fright in the bathroom. Georgia nodded and Kaitlynne left. She went to her car and drove away from the house and to school. Maybe Joshua would know what was going on.
    “Someone wrote a poem on your bathroom mirror while you were showering? That’s kind of creepy,” Joshua said when Kaitlynne told him what had happened. “More like spine chilling, Josh, I am scared for my life here! I’m scared for my sister’s life!” Kaitlynne almost yelled. Joshua tried to calm her down. “Will you calm down?! Do you want everyone at school to think you’re a nut?” he asked as they were walking to English. Kaitlynne sighed and shook her head. “Now calm down, we’ll figure it out.” “But what if we don’t, Josh? What if this person gets to my sister before we can stop it?” Kaitlynne asked him hastily. Josh had no answer, and he was thinking he probably never would have an answer to that.
    RING! RING! “Alright, class, finish your essays for homework tonight and I will see you tomorrow.” Mrs. Crankshaw told her students. Kaitlynne hurried out of the classroom and stopped at her locker to get her math book out. When she opened the locker, a note fell out of it. Kaitlynne froze, expecting another poem. She opened it, and it read: “Kaitlynne, meet me at the library this afternoon after school, I have a question to ask you. From, Jensen,” Kaitlynne sighed, he had never given up on dating her since the seventh grade, yet he still had an unimaginable lust for her. She finally gave up and decided to meet him. This time she could tell him once and for all that she wanted nothing to do with him.
    When she arrived at the library, no one was there. There was a piece of paper on a desk that said ‘Kaitlynne,’ on it. Kaitlynne opened it and read it to herself. “Kaitlynne Rose, what a sweet name, though, Lalaine will never hear it again. You wonder why I am not here, and realize, I’ll give you to the count of ten. If you want your sweet sister back, follow her song. You’ll realize what happens when you’re wrong.” Kaitlynne ripped up the poem and ran out the door. She got in her car and drove home. She ran into the backyard to see her sister, playing her guitar. Her fingers were scabbed because of the strumming from before. Kaitlynne was dumbfounded. She sat next to her sister. Lalaine kept on strumming; now she was singing.
    “You read all of those poems, and lasted through the storm. You’ve risked everything just to make sure my heart was warm. Too bad you weren’t quick enough, because now I am on his side and he sure won’t hold back. He’s a real nut; he’s real out of whack. Now he’s got a gun, and he sure is ready to fire. So duck down and turn around as you say your final goodbye, as sure as I am done, you’ll be as dead as the telephone wire!” BAM! Kaitlynne froze. She couldn’t feel anything. She looked at her stomach, blood was pouring out. She looked at her sister; she was just sitting there, strumming her guitar. “I guess now that you are dead, we should have a funeral in your honor. Now that you’re dead you’ll no longer be a runner.” Lalaine sang. Kaitlynne started to fall asleep, and she knew this was the end. She tried to keep her eyes open, just to see her attacker. The attacker came closer. Kaitlynne reached for them. They took off a mask, and showed a familiar face.
    “Dad,” Kaitlynne questioned. “You know too much, Kaitlynne,” He told her. Another shot was fired into her. Kaitlynne was now dead.