Ella sighed with relief when Kate messaged her.

Sierra was fine. Whatever situation fate threw at Sierra, she was always walking out fine.

Ella was a bit envious with that trait for she was not as strong and as graceful as her friend. Ella could not handle defeat, even if she fought with all her might. Even if people said it was alright. She would need weeks of isolation to get over it. The thought of being not good enough to win was too much for her.

That was the reason she accepted the bet with Renzo. He was an excellent athlete but not serious in competitions he was in. The same goes with Josh. Ella hated them for it. She wanted to understand why they were wasting their talents.

Because Ella was willing to give anything just to be as good as those two were.

She approached Renzo, pestered him until he finally talked to her. But instead of answering her questions, he made a bet with her.

If she loses, she and her friends will have lunch with Renzo and his friends until their graduation day, plus a free training from Renzo. That lunch part was weird but the free training from an excellent athlete was an offer Ella could neither question nor reject.

Though Ella loved the losing side of the bet, being defeated was still unacceptable to her. She gave everything on that tennis match against Renzo. It took them fifteen matches before the draw had been broken and Renzo triumphed. It was hateful yet satisfying. She lost the match yet gained a great trainer, but because of what happened to Josh, Renzo could not train her.

“OUCH!” Ella angrily yelled while holding her hurting head that had been whacked by a towel. She turned around and was surprised to see Renzo standing there, holding a towel.

“Why are you sulking in that corner instead of practicing?” he strictly asked Ella.

“Why are you here? Where is Sierra?” Ella asked back. Though she was glad that Renzo showed up, she was worrying more about her friend.

“You’re friend needs to stay with Josh," Renzo answered. “As for me, I can’t do anything to help my friend. That's why I went here to make myself useful. So, will you train or not?”

“Sierra will be okay, right?” Ella asked, still worrying.

“Of course, Dan is with her,” Renzo answered with confidence that seemed convincing.

"Okay. Let's start," Ella said and began training with Renzo.

^##################################^

Sierra rolled onto her right and pulled the blanket closer to her body. Its warmth was comforting. Her bed, pillow, and blanket had never been that soft and warm. Her room had never been that cold.

Kate must have left the windows open.

“Kate, Ella, close the window. It’s cold,” she sleepily mumbled.

“Are you the patient or me?”

Sierra bolted up from the bed and stared at Josh with shock. He was also sitting there. His back leaning on stacked up pillows. And he was sharing the same blanket with Sierra.

“Nothing happened,” Josh said before Sierra could say anything. “I woke up and saw you sleeping beside me, holding my hand, like this,” he showed Sierra their entangled hands and since he already looked fine, she finally let go and her locket instantly stopped glowing.

She glanced at the bedside table and saw that it was already nine in the evening. She checked her phone and found one missed call and message from Kate.

I bought dinner. Ella and I will go there. I’m just waiting for their practice to finish.

She gazed intently at Josh. He looked pale but at least he could smile annoyingly again. His forehead was not creasing. He was no longer in pain.

“Call your friend. Tell them not to come. I’ll ask Dan to drive you home.”

He read her message without asking permission. How annoying.

“Are you really okay?” Sierra asked despite her annoyance. She wanted to make sure that he really was okay.

“I’m okay but if you want to spend more time with me, I’ll try my best to make you happy,” he held her hand which she quickly pulled away. Her locket was instantly reacting the moment she and Josh touched.

“If you’re okay then why is my locket still reacting? Yesterday when you carried me from the school to that cliff, the locket was not reacting to your touch. Why is today different?” Sierra suspiciously asked.

“I’m really okay. It’s your locket who has a problem. It must be malfunctioning. But if you want to stay, then stay,” Josh tried to push Sierra down on the bed but she firmly remained sitting.

“Touch me like that again and I will punch you even if my knuckles break into pieces,” Sierra seriously warned that Josh quickly pulled his hand away from her.

“Sorry,” he said, leaning on the stacked up pillows. “I got carried away.”

“I’ll call Kate,” Sierra said, dialing her friend’s number while moving out of the bed. “She’s not answering.”

“How about Ella?”

Sierra tried her number.

“Also unattended. Can you check on Renzo?”

Josh pulled the phone from his pocket and called Renzo.

“Unattended,” he said. “Even Dan is not answering his phone.”

“I’m worried,” Sierra said, pacing back and forth around the room.

“I’ll check Dan…” Josh moved out of the bed, faltered, then collapsed on the floor while clutching his right abdomen.

“Josh!”

“STAY WHERE YOU ARE!” Josh bellowed and his voice sounded like a roar, sounded like Jin.

She cautiously moved towards Josh but stopped when hair sprouted all over his body while his muscles bulged until his clothes exploded. He let go of his abdomen and covered his face as he struggled to get up and jumped off the window.

“JOSH!”

Sierra ran to the window but she could not see Josh anywhere.

What happened? Am I… dreaming?

She tried calling Kate and Ella. Still unattended. She picked up the phone that Josh had dropped. Fortunately, it was still unlocked. She called Dan and Renzo but none of them was answering.

She hurriedly moved out of that room and checked every corner of that mansion while trying to get answers from the people she was calling.

But after an hour of searching, Dan was nowhere to be found. Their phones were still unattended. She found a car key when she searched the drawers at Josh’s bedside table. The problem was she did not know how to drive.

Sierra sighed and put the car key, together with Josh’s phone, inside her body bag.

She had no better option but to search for Josh. He is the only one who can take her out of that place. She turned the torch light of her phone on and followed Josh deep within the vast and thick woodland.

^##################################^