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Then as I stepped out of the shower and was drying off, something about earlier struck me. Before Abby and I had parted ways, she’d said, “It was nice to meet you, Meredith Martin.” I didn’t remember introducing myself with my full name. I never introduced myself using my full name. Or at least, I didn’t think I did. I shook it off, thinking that I must have; otherwise, how would she have known?

It took me no time at all to get ready. I was an hour ahead of schedule and aggravated at myself for being ready so early. It just gave me that much more time to sit and think about what I was about to endure. When I finally heard the purr of Roger’s Mustang on my street, I took a deep breath and tried my hardest to put a smile on my face, pretending to be excited for his sake.

I opened the door before he even knocked, hoping not to wake Aunt Rose, who was still sleeping before her night shift.

He whistled as he approached the door. “Wow, Meredith, you look great.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ugh, stop. I’m just trying to blend in. I figured my T-shirt and jeans would stand out too much.” I turned to scan the living room for my purse and saw it resting near the bottom of the stairs.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but you are definitely going to stand out. You’re a knockout,” he said, looking me up and down.

I looked down, examining myself, not understanding what was so great about a lilac-colored dress with a few flowers on it. “Okay, seriously, no more. You’re creeping me out.”

“You’re just lucky that everyone thinks of you as my little sister, so no one will touch you.”

“That’s a relief. Let’s just go and get this over with,” I gritted the words through my teeth as I slung my purse over my shoulder, totally giving up on pretending to be excited.

“Oh, hang on, forgot something.” I stopped just before locking the door. I ran back to the kitchen and grabbed the pen, adding a new note below Aunt Rose’s last one:

Going to the seniors-only party … won’t be out too late. Have a good shift.

Fortunately, it was a short trip to Rebecca’s house. I was eager to see what she was wearing and prayed that I was on the right track with my outfit. We stopped out front, and before I could even get out of the car to get her, I saw her racing toward us, exhilaration spread all over her face. Her brown hair was curled and it bounced up and down with each step she took.  I breathed a sigh of relief when I noticed her dress was somewhat similar to mine.

She jumped in back and immediately started ranting about her day. “Oh. My. Gawd! I thought 9:00 would never come. I love my grandparents and all, but if I had to listen to one more cutesy story about me when I was a child, I think my head would have exploded. I don’t know how I’m going to survive with them in a confined space.”

Roger and I looked at each other and started to laugh. The laughter felt nice, allowing some of the anxiety I had been keeping dammed up to flow out of me.

“Well, hello, Rebecca. How was your day? You seem tense,” Roger said sarcastically while looking in the rearview mirror at her. Then we all laughed as we drove to what would probably be one of their most memorable nights and one of my most miserable ones.

As we turned onto Ocean Avenue, I could already hear the loud music coming from Devereux Beach.

“Wow, hear that?” Roger asked excitedly. “Patrick brought his stereo from home and set it all up … with a few extra speakers, of course. Pretty cool, huh?”

“Yeah, cool,” I answered, trying not to sound too sarcastic but knowing he’d read right through it.

“Totally awesome,” Rebecca replied excitedly from the backseat.

“Come on, Meredith. You can’t already be a downer; you haven’t even gotten to the party yet. Just try and have a good time, okay?” He glanced over at me with a pleading look on his face.

“I will do my best.” I smiled genuinely, not wanting to ruin his fun with my miserable attitude.

As we got closer to the beach, I could see the glow from the large bonfires spread out over the stretch of sand. The actual party may not be my cup of tea, but I must say, it was beautifully done. My stomach began to knot as we turned into the makeshift gravel parking lot a few blocks down. Great, the lot is already completely full, I thought. It looked like we were one of the last to show as we were relegated to park on the grass at the very end.

“Here we go,” Roger said as he put the car in park.

“Don’t leave me alone, okay?” Rebecca said as we began to walk down the gravel path toward the beach.

“Deal,” I said, sounding relieved, knowing I would have at least one person by my side all night.

As we approached the first group of people, everyone screamed Roger’s name, and he was immediately surrounded. Rebecca and I were left standing there alone and looking very uncomfortable.

“Rebecca!” I heard a voice shout.

“Rebecca! Hey over here!” the voice shouted again.

She scanned the crowd and found the mysterious voice. It was Sarah Morris, the head cheerleader. Rebecca turned to me with an agonizing expression, like she was asking my permission if she could go. “Come on, let’s go see what they want,” she said eagerly.

“No, you go for it,” I responded. “I’m fine, really.”

“You sure?”

“Totally.”

“Cool, I will come find you in a little while.” She hurried off, waving to the small group of girls as she approached them.

“So much for sticking together,” I muttered under my breath.

I couldn’t say I was surprised; this had been just what I had envisioned happening—Roger being bombarded the second we arrived, Rebecca finding her little group to hang with, and me being left alone. With a roll of my eyes, I walked off, annoyed at myself for agreeing to go to the stupid party. Just try and have a good time, I repeated to myself as I walked toward the first large bonfire.

The next hour or so was spent mingling with a few people I knew from class, mainly talking to them about what college classes they were taking in the fall and how nervous, excited, or scared they were to be leaving the comforts of Marblehead. I played along, nodding in agreement, but I was really screaming on the inside. Most people would probably think I was insane if they knew how much I really loathed this place. Of course there was no way I could blame the people who loved Marblehead so much. It was a beautiful seaport town, with beautiful beaches and a serene landscape. A person should be committed to hate it so much, right? I guess the town itself was great, except for the complete feeling of suffocation I felt when I was there.

After making a few rounds, I decided to exit the party quietly. My mission for coming there was complete; I’d kept my word to Roger and said my goodbyes to the few people I’d wanted to from school. The next time a popular song blasted over the loud speakers and everyone screamed in excitement, I made my exit. I didn’t tell anyone I was leaving and hoped Roger would understand. There was no doubt that I would have to explain myself in the morning, but it was worth the price to get out of there. No one noticed as I walked into the darkness, away from the light of the bonfires. Just as I left the perimeter of the party, I remembered my revenge on Roger. Darn. I guessed I would just have to settle with hearing it all secondhand from him, knowing that he would leave out all the juicy details on when Riley showed up.

As I turned the corner from Beach Street onto Orchard Drive, memories began to flood my mind—the good times that occurred before I lost my family, when I was still a somewhat normal person. I realized then I might actually miss the place when I left.

Then somewhere nearby, I couldn’t be sure exactly where, loud voices interrupted my thoughts. I tried to cancel them out and return to my memories, but the voices were too loud. It was difficult to see where they were coming from since the area around me was covered in darkness. All I could make out was a girl and a guy arguing over something, and by their tones, I could tell it was not just some silly argument. The guy’s voice was getting louder and louder with each word. I tried not to be an eavesdropper, but it was not like I could hide or turn another direction. This was the only street back to my side of town.

“We need to act quickly,” the girl spoke sternly.

“We can’t do anything yet. We don’t know anything about her. We don’t even know if we can trust her. This could all be some sort of trap,” the guy responded, his voice becoming angrier with each word.

“What do you suggest we do, then? We have to do something. Just sitting around waiting for something to happen to her or to us is not an option,” the girl snapped back.

Then there was silence for a moment until I heard the guy’s voice speak up once more, his voice much more calm. “I’m working on it. Let’s be patient and spend some time evaluating the situation. We will figure something out, I promise.”

After a few seconds of hearing nothing but my deep, slow breaths, I continued walking but at a much faster pace, quickly realizing that it had not been the best idea to walk back home by myself. Not that anything bad ever happened in the town, but the irrational thoughts that were flooding my head were going to give me a heart attack. Plus the argument I had just heard sounded like one that the people would not want anyone else to hear.

“Meredith?” A voice from the darkness in front of me spoke.

Both my breathing and heart stopped simultaneously as I came to a halt and stood there, motionless. My eyes searched the area around me, but all I could see was darkness. After a few seconds, the little voice in the back of my head told me to speak up, and I listened to it. “Hello? Who-who’s there?” I stuttered out.

As I stared down the dark street, two figures slowly drifted into view, stopping just a few feet in front of me. It was still very dark, but as they approached, I could tell one was Abby Harper and the other was the stranger who I’d seen in town yesterday, the same guy who I’d caught staring me down at the crosswalk.

“Hello, Meredith,” Abby spoke.

I put my hand to my chest, trying to secure my heart from jumping out of it as I strained to see them through the blackness of the night.

“Sorry if we scared you, and
really
sorry if you heard our little dispute. We were just having a little brother-and-sister quarrel.”

I couldn’t be sure, but it looked like her lips formed a straight line, as if she were embarrassed. “No worries,” I choked out, still gripping my chest.

I made eye contact with Abby, and then my eyes were drawn to the person standing beside her. He looked at me with the same gaze that drew me to him yesterday at the crosswalk. For a moment, there was nothing else I wanted to do but try and take in every inch of his face. The darkness made it difficult, but I squinted, determined to see him more clearly. When my eyes finally found his, I could do nothing to avert their gaze. It was just like yesterday, right before I walked out into the street and was almost killed. Suddenly, a sound distracted me, and I realized it was Abby clearing her throat. My eyes shot back to her large, almond-shaped ones. It was difficult for me to make out the startling green color I had noticed before, as it was still too dark to notice those types of details.

“Meredith, this is my brother Blake.” She grinned as she turned to look at the guy standing beside her. “Blake, this is
Meredith
, the girl I told you about.”

I couldn’t ignore the way she said my name, making it into three syllables. It also made me curious as to why she had even mentioned me at all … especially to him.

The looks they exchanged were very odd, as if they were talking to one another in silence. I wondered what they could be saying.

And as if I had no control over my own body, my eyes moved themselves back toward Blake. I stood there staring at him as he and his sister gave each other the longest stare down I had ever witnessed. Deep down I knew I needed to pull my gaze away, to look anywhere else but directly at him, but I couldn’t find the strength. The energy I had felt earlier with Abby had returned, but now the feeling was magnified as I stared at him. Just as I was beginning to lose myself in his face, taking in his square jaw, full lips, and beautifully thick hair, he quickly snapped his head in my direction, giving me a killer stare that made me gulp loudly. My heart raced, my mouth ran dry, and I searched for the words. Speak. I have to speak. He was expecting me to say something. The words I so badly wanted to say were stuck in my throat. I reached my hand up to my neck to massage it, hoping it would help the constricting muscles and let my words flow smoothly. But before I could find them, he took in a deep breath, looked back toward Abby, appeared to scream something with his eyes, and stormed off.

It took me a few seconds to come back to reality and before I could analyze what had just happened, he was gone.

“Sorry … I don’t know what happened,” I said, suddenly feeling dizzy as I looked back at Abby.

“You will have to excuse him. He is angry with me and taking it out on you. I’m afraid we are not making the best first impression on you, are we?” She frowned, looking at the ground as she spoke.

“Um, it’s fine. I really have to be getting home now,” I muttered, walking past her and leaving her standing dumbfounded, thinking I was a freak for sure.

Something was going on with me. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before. I had never experienced weird connections with strangers, nor had I ever become mute in front of them. It had felt like I was about to burst out of my own skin if I stood there any longer. Maybe I was going through some young life crisis. Maybe turning eighteen and the reality of knowing that life was about to take a huge turn was getting to me.