Part Two

As a rule for this whole story, the things in italics are in Kaitie's mind. This goes for her dreams, as well as her thoughts. Enjoy!

     Kaitie picks up her water bottle from the floor next to her bed and, instead of feeling the weight of the water sloshing within the plastic chamber, she is met with the near weightlessness of an empty bottle.

     "S**t," Kaitie mutters to herself. She slowly raises herself off of her bed, trying to avoid the loud metallic creaking of the springs that would surely alert the other occupants of the house to her lack of slumber. Her bare feet graze the floor of her room, the coolness of the wodd almost startling her. A faint creak of floorboards is barely heard coming from the hallway. Kaitie's eyes snap forward. Can they hear me?

     Attempting stealth, Kaitie rises from the bed, water bottle in hand, and softly pads across her room and into the hallway. Just as she passes through the doorframe, Kaitie's foot rolls onto a floorboard that groans under her weight. She freezes, heart pounding. This water isn't worth it right now, Kaitie thinks. She begins to turn around to head back to her bed, but too late. A resonating smack echoes through Kaitie's head, and her vision blurs as she is thrown sideways by the force of the fist that has collided with her face.

     Pain blossoms in her right cheekbone and her eyes squint with the effort of trying to focus enough to identify her attacker. Darkness weighs her eyelids down and slows her consciousness; it was almost as if she was trying to look through a two way mirror while standing on the reflective side.

     No matter.

     She already knew her attacker. How could she not?