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I nudged Storm and nodded my
head toward the door and he shook his head with his eyebrows
rumpled. That’s when I noticed a guy sneaking out the back door.
Storm must have been worried about me because he took my hand and
put his arm under my elbow and then re-gripped my hand and
whispered “Are you okay?” I nodded. It wasn’t my first wake it
was my second but when I passed by my first dead body, my
Grandmother's, it was different. I knew her and when I saw her I
actually saw her peaceful and asleep. Before she died she was
miserable and in pain. Then I saw her in peace, it was
different.

That's where I got my name,
from my Grandmother, her name was Adele too. We both hated it, but
after she passed the name grew on me because I was reminded of her
simply by saying my name. My grandmother used to smoke and sew and
even though she was stubborn and bossy, I loved her. Yes, she had
lung cancer. My mother and she quit smoking cold turkey the
day they found out she had it. I thought I hated shopping with her
on Saturdays and helping her cut patterns out all day, but after a
while it was actually okay with me, and now, I missed it, I missed
her. She used to take us to a candy store and they only sold it by
the box, making it super cool, that was before the big bulk stores
existed.

Plus, we used to go to this
Lithuanian Deli; they had great lunch meat, fresh polish sausage
and the best bacon buns on earth. That's where Tori and I got the
saying “Two are better than one.” My Grandma used to tell us that
when we fought, and we used to fight all the time, that we needed
to stick together. She had us go outside once and collect three
sticks. She told us to try breaking one, pretty easy right. Next
she had us try and break two sticks, not as easy right...she told
us. “Two are better than one.” So Tori and I were always trying to
use that saying around my grandmother. She found it
humorous.

I'm glad I can get my mind
to focus on other topics easily. Since we were in the last row we
would be the last students to view the casket and last ones back to
class. I'm sure that’s why Storm picked these seats. When we stood
up I was first out of the pew and Storm leaned into me and I could
feel him smell my hair “You smell good.” I turned to him and gave
him a look. “Are you flirting with me?” I saw him give me a half
smile out of the corner of my eye but he didn’t say anything. I
whispered “We're at a wake!”

Storm had sandy brown wavy hair, a prominent
jaw line and the most piercing green eyes I've ever seen, and now
that I was paying attention, a very sexy smile.
When Storm looked at you it was like he was looking into your
soul, but knowing him he wasn't. When we first dated he was skinny,
had braces and was the same height as me. Now he was taller and
filled out a little more with bright straight pearly whites. My mom
used to tell us we were too young go steady and have serious
feelings about anyone back then. She also said we were too dramatic
and I think she was right. Sally liked Tom, but Tom liked Megan,
and so on.

Although, Storm and I kissed a couple of
times, it was first time kissing for the two of us so they were
only soft tender kisses, nothing more; just innocent and sweet.
We used to call each other on the phone and stay
on it for what seemed like forever while never saying all that
much. And that was it to our relationship, it ended because school
ended and I guess I never called him because I wanted someone who
knew how to really kiss, seeing I was a novice myself.

I remember my neighbor Gus
asking me why I broke it off with Storm last year and I told him
that I didn't, school just ended. “Why else did you end it?” he
asked. I thought he was asking because he was curious and maybe for
future reference, so I told him about the kissing thing. You
know he told me I should have told Storm what I thought about the
kissing thing. I was appalled! I thought it was ludicrous to have
to talk to him about it. Then Gus asked me if I wanted to practice,
and I was flabbergasted by the things coming out of his mouth, but
then we did a couple of times later that summer – he was a good
kisser. Maybe he was right, maybe I should have said
something.

I started walking slowly and
followed the line of students. I gripped Storm's hand a little
firmer pulling him into me and I felt Nic bump into Storm, a little
chain reaction. My hands were becoming clammy. Since I’ve only been
to the one wake before I was hoping I wouldn’t cry. I wondered how
Nic was doing. I wish she was in front of me. The line moved slowly
and we were all very close together, mostly because of me. As we
kept inching closer I was getting more and more nervous and kept
pulling Storm closer to me with Nic in tow.

“Relax.” Storm spoke softly
to me, “Just do what the person in front of you does and I’ll be
right beside you when we get to the casket.” I got a chill feeling
his hot breath on my neck “And don’t cry” he added.

Don’t cry! I’m about to see
a dead person and I'm not allowed to cry, how am I going to manage
that? Especially, because when I pictured the casket I kept seeing
me. I wished I wouldn't waste any more time or tears over
“Logan.”

There were only two people
left in front of me. I turned sideways pulling Storm even closer,
he nudged me. He said nothing, then tucked his arm up underneath
mine again and re-gripped my hand. He had nice hands not too big
and not too small, and if hands can be muscular they were and warm,
he gave me comfort.

“You’re fine, don’t look
down if you don’t want to and you don’t have to touch her either.
Just keep breathing” Storm whispered trying to re-assure
me.

I looked at Nic she mouthed
to me “Are you okay?” I said nothing, Nic looked perfectly fine
then she said “don’t look down.” I looked down, as soon as they
told me not too, that’s what I did, I looked down. There she lay
perfectly still, she looked so peaceful, I took a deep breath. She
had a nice royal blue shirt on buttoned all the way up and khaki
pants. I would never wear my shirt all the way buttoned up. I
wonder if her eyes were blue too. She had a couple of scratch marks
on her right hand, and one just under her collar. Other than those
marks it looked like she hadn’t a thing wrong with her. No reason
to die at all.

Keep moving, keep moving, I
told myself side stepping slowly. I looked at her face she was
beautiful, young. There was a poster size picture of her at the
head of the casket and her full name labeled it “Jewel Ann
Richardson Class of 82.” It sent a chill down my spine and I felt
my eyes well up and my cheeks got hotter. The girl in front of me
did the sign of the cross when she was at Jewel's head and mumbled
“She looks so weird in pants, why couldn’t they put her in a
dress, something normal.” Her girlfriend, whom was holding her
hand, agreed.

I wonder what normal was,
jeans and a tee are normal for me. When I got to the end of the
casket by her head, I mimicked the girl in front of me, by using
the sign of the cross. I can do this, keep breathing, we are almost
done – I felt myself trembling a bit inside but couldn’t help it.
Storm gave my hand an extra squeeze. Could this have been me this
summer if my brother hadn’t stepped in? No, no, no don’t think like
that, shake it off. I was in a house with others around and Kit did
intervene.

I was at her head and looked
at her face and down to her wrist where I caught a glimpse of the
scratches on her hand again. I got that eerie sense of déjàvu. I
thought I was going to see me when I looked down but instead I saw
the girl from my dreams and it jolted me. I shook my head, what the
heck had Storm gotten me into, I'd rather be in class. I felt my
eyes well some more and finally a tear escaped. Breathe I told
myself, I turned my head away from the other two and wiped my tear
quickly and took a deep breath.

We finished, thank goodness,
as we rounded the corner Storm put his arms around our shoulders
and gave us a quick squeeze, I felt relief. Storm thanked us for
coming with him, and that he came for his brothers, and I guess in
turn Nic and I came for Storm. Although, I think it had
to do more with cutting class for Storm. My body still felt shaky,
I imagined it felt something like the aftershock of an earthquake,
and I couldn't shake the eerie feeling I had, like I knew that
girl. I took a deep breath in through my nose and out my mouth,
trying to relax.

Storm asked me if I felt
okay and I squeezed his arm around me. “Are you cold you're
shivering?” I turned into him to give him a hug and kiss on the
cheek. He turned his head at the last minute, classic move I might
add, and his lips touched mine then he pressed firmly and our lips
parted. After a second, I pushed back lightly and looked at him
quizzically. He had a devilish look in his eyes.

Nic said “Break it up you
two,” but I kept on looking at him, his eyes were mesmerizing. We
were in a people traffic jam trying to get back into the school. He
kept his arm around me as we moved through the crowd and I realized
I wasn't trembling any longer. I choked back a swallow and realized
that it was fear I was feeling.

I touched my lips with my
hand and thought that kiss; his kiss wasn't familiar like I thought
it would have been. I couldn’t help wonder if he may have had
practice this summer too, and smiled. 

We got to the front school
doors and teachers were handing out new schedules, we still had to
go to all our classes but all of them were cut shorter. Half the
high school student body made it to the wake or blew off class. I
noticed Storm was still holding my hand and not out of necessity
anymore. I opened my hand to release and had to jiggle my hand
free. I looked at him and headed straight so Nic and I could get to
Art class. We walked ahead of him; I gave him one last glance
behind us. He was gazing at me with those gorgeous eyes and it was
like getting lost in a sea of green. I smiled softly back at
him.

While Nic and I were walking
to class I said "I can't believe he kissed me.”

"I can't either!" She
replied snottily.

"Why would you say it like
that?"

"Because Addie, he has a
girlfriend!" She said with another snarky bite. “At least that's
what I heard.”

"You've got to be kidding
me!" 

By the end of the week Nic
caught a rumor to verify Storm was dating a girl named Shelby. I
wasn't speaking to him; of course, I was giving him 'the cold
shoulder' in history class all week. He had to know why and if he
didn't, I didn't really care. He was making no effort to find out
why either; except for consistently poking me with his pen which
just irritated me more. Whatever, I thought, let him stay
dumbfounded.

Nic told me she found out
all the details on Storm from Declan, who said he’d been dating
since this summer. I would've asked Declan myself but he hadn't
been on the bus yet.

Declan was a friend of mine.
We’ve been riding the bus together since seventh grade so this will
be our third year together. He's a nice guy and we have no interest
in each other except for being friends, we can talk about anything.
He was my height, had brown curly hair, slim, a good build,
muscular, not overly either like a steroid junky or anything... He
always knew all the gossip on everyone, the unfortunate thing was I
didn't know half the people he was talking about before, but this
year would be different since we're in the same school
now.

Friday, on the way to class
I decided I loved my Art class because I loved listening to the
radio and drawing, it’s a great class to start the day. Another
reason to love Art, are the two hot guys sitting in front of our
class, seniors Topher and Cale – a very nice view.

While we were in class today
a news report came on the radio, Topher the hot guy who sat up
front turned it up so everyone could hear. Our class is the first
to hear news updates, another plus.

The newscaster
stated:
“Jewel Ann Richardson of Summit
County died two weeks ago, August 18
^th
. Which
at the time, the Police thought was an accident. They are now
stating that they believe foul play is at hand. They believe she
was killed in another location and that her body was dumped at
Township Park. If anyone saw her on the day in question please
contact the Richfield Police Department at 555-1266 ext. 47 or ask
for Detective Grey the lead investigator.”

I flinched and my throat
tightened, panic set in. I flashed back to the girl in the white
dress I had been seeing in my dreams, then to the girl in the
casket. I squeezed my eyes shut and recalled being
trapped
under his body with all his weight on me, his tongue on my face,
ugh, I couldn't breathe.
I felt Nic tugging on my
shirt saying something. I focused and I heard "Breathe Addie,
breathe, are you all right, do you need to go to the nurse?" I held
my eyes with hers and handed her my note from the front pocket of
my jeans, my hand was trembling as she reached for the folded up
piece of paper. She looked down at it flip flopped it in her hand
and then looked back up at me. "Did you have the same dream again?
Do I have to read it?" I tried hard to swallow and speak but
instead I just nodded. 

When Nic was done reading it
she asked, “When was the first time you had this dream?”

I inhaled deeply, trying to
relax. “This summer?”