Thomas sighed as he gently took her hand, "Katie," he sighed. "Just breathe for a second... Please. You're speaking too fast, and you need to relax. I know this is stressful and hard for you, but that's what life is: hard and stressful at times."

Katie breathed deep breaths, trying not to freak out even more than what she was doing right now, "Alright. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I promise. Just keep going with your little speech before I actually lose my mind."

Thomas chuckled softly as he looked at Katie, "Don't worry. I'll try to make this short and sweet," he sighed as he took a breath. "I don't actually have anything else to say. Unless if you want me to say something encouraging to you. Other than that, I have no idea what else to say."

Katie nodded as she sighed, "Thank you, Thomas. Thank you for always being there for me. I appreciate it a lot. You have no idea how much this means to me. Though I'm sorry, I'm not sure how much how you can actually help me. I need to face this on my own. If I don't, I will never succeed in this life, and I will fail. I will tumble down to my death I don't take care of this," she looked into his eyes. "I'm sorry. I-I'm so sorry!" The streams returned to her eyes.

Thomas gave her one last hug. He sighed as she could feel his eyes close, "Alright. It's alright, Katie. I'm not mad at you for choosing this. Just know that no matter what, I will always be here for you with open arms. If you are ever in trouble, you can always run back home."

Katie blushed as she hugged him back with a nod, "Alright. Thank you again, Thomas. You've been the best friend that I could ever ask for; that a girl could ever ask for. I'm gonna miss you so much again."

Thomas placed his head gently, "I'll miss you two, Katie."

She let go of the hug and started walking away, afraid of looking back. The ocean didn't leave her eyes, but she stayed strong in what she believed was right. She lifted her head high, even though she wanted to hide. As she left Thomas' side, she heard voice surrounding her, and the scenery around her had changed.

"You're worthless."

"You're stupid."

"You're a food."

"You're an idiot."

"You're nothing."

"You're worth as much as trash."

"You stink as much as poop."

"No one will ever love you."

"You should never have been born."

"No one will ever be there for you."

Many more voices echoed their torments at Katie, and she her knees gave way and forced her on her knees, "Stop it, please!"

"You're hated."

"You should just die."

"Die. Die. Die. Die," they all formed together in unison.

Katie's tears blinded her. She covered her ears, unwilling to hear anything stop, "Please stop! Why won't you stop?! I just want to be alone! Please let me be alone! Please!" She begged for mercy. She just wanted everything to be quiet for once. She just wanted to feel okay.

"We just love you too much to ever stop, Katie," a voice called out to her, which made Katie looked up to see who it was. To her disappointment, it was her parents. Her mother looked disappointed, "Why do you look like that, Katie? Are you not happy to see your parents?"

Katie just stared, tear faced.

She laughed softly, "Fine. You won't talk? We'll make you talk," she smirked as she called out something to someone. "Bring in the children!"

Katie gasped as the horror only increased. Her best friends were surrounded in a circle and all tied up, "No! Let them go! It's me you want, not them! Just don't hurt them," she looked at her parents, now as well as Leola, Collin, Jayne, and NAME. "Please. I'm begging you all..."

Leola laughed darkly, "Now a chance sweetheart," she grabbed a knife out of her pocket and aimed it right at one of her friends.

Katie couldn't tell who it was, their face was blurry, but everything started fading away quickly.

******************************************************************************

Thomas swung up to his bed where he was sitting. He heard a piercing scream, and ran as fast as he could to the cause of it, "Katie!" He called out as he was worried about her. He wondered if anything terrible happened to her. As he made it to her room, he burst into her room, finding that Katie was alright, but really panicky. He ran to her side, sitting next to her as he held her hand, "Katie..." he started. "Are you alright? What happened?" He turned on her bedroom light to see her better, and to see where he was going.

Katie looked at him with a blank expression, though she had a clear expression on her face that showed how terrified she actually was. It looked so bad that her face looked pale in the light.

Something's wrong. Something happened. The worst I can think of is that she had a nightmare. When she didn't respond, he looked directly towards her, "Did you have a nightmare, Katie?"

She swallowed and turned to him nodding.

He could tell that she wasn't in a speaking mood, and he understood why, "Do you mind telling me what it was about?"

She shook her head, not clarifying what she meant.

"No that you won't tell me, or no you don't mind."

Katie bit her lip, looking away from him as she gave off a huge sigh, "I-I dont wanna t-talk about it right now..." she whispered shakily.

Thomas nodded, "That's alright. You don't have to tell me now. If you ever need to talk about it to someone one day, you can always turn to us. We're going to support you for eternity."

Katie smiled slightly, nodding.

Thomas wasn't sure if his next question was a good idea or not, but he was willing to try. Anything to help Katie out. "Katie?"

Katie turned her head back to Thomas, tilting her head to the side slightly.

"Do you mind if I give you a hug? I know you're never fond of them, but I wanted to make sure that you were okay with it."

Katie thought about it for a moment, then nodded.

He went in to embrace her in his arms, and she returned the jester. He could tell that she felt awkward about it, and wasn't willing to make her feel uncomfortable, "Are you sure you are alright doing this?"

She nodded and laid her head on his shoulder.

Thomas grinned as he felt her tense muscles settle down slowly. At least she's calming down. That's all that matters.

*****************************************************************************

Maggie sighed as she sat on her bed, blushing.

Nick rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "Look, I'm sorry if I made it back there... awkward. I had no idea what I was thinking. I should have paid attention to our little mission on saving Katie."

Maggie put a gentle hand on Nick as she gave him a soft smile, "Don't worry about it, Nick," she giggled softly. "It happens to the best of us. I bet there are many people out there that have done that to their best friend. Sometimes that leads to lasting relationships."

Now it was Nick's turn to blush a rosy color, "Are you saying that we could be in a relationship if we wanted to?"

Maggie's blush filled her whole face, "U-Um..." she laughed awkwardly. "I mean, i-it technically c-can... I-I'm not s-saying that h-has to h-happen. I m-mean... I-If you want it t-to... I-It can... I-I'm n-not f-forcing you to be in a relationship!" She put her hands up in defense. She was flustered and wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible.

Thomas held her hands in his, blushing as bright and deep as she was currently, "Don't worry, I know you're not forcing me to do anything. You have never forced me to do anything. We can be whatever you want us to be, Maggie. I promise I won't force into something that you don't feel comfortable with," he chuckled softly. "I knew exactly what you mean, so don't stress."

Maggie nodded as she cleared her throat, "A-Alright... I guess that settles it then!" She grinned as she got up and started walking away. She stopped when she heard Nick speak to her.

"Are you okay, Maggie? It's not like you to just walk away like that. What's up?"

Maggie breathed out and turned around with the same smile she had before walking away from him, "Don't worry, Nick. I'm fine. I just need to go to the bathroom real quick if that's okay."

He chuckled, "Of course! You gotta do what you gotta do."

Maggie giggled as she left the room directly towards the bathroom.

******************************************************************************

Maggie shut and locked the door, planning on doing something that she never thought that she would actually do. She was nervous, and she didn't want anyone else to know about it. She wanted to be alone, and she normally wasn't the type that was usually alone. She wanted to just be able to think about all of this. About everything that happened that day. Everything happened so fast, and she had no idea on how to think about it all. H-He kissed me... Why did he kiss me? Does he actually like me like that? Did he just do it out of some sort of auto pilot mode or something? None of this actually makes sense!

She sighed as she placed her head in her hands. She slid her fingers through her hair, confused and stressed at the same time. She had no idea what she was currently feeling. She thought that she would feel happy, yet it only led to her being confused about the whole situation in general, and she had no idea what else to do, "What am I supposed to do now? I don't know what I should do. What's right, and what's wrong? Am I confusing myself more than what I need to do?" She sighed again as she wanted to punch something to help take her mixed emotions out of her body.

"I mean... He's a sweet guy, and has always treated me right... But am I ready to face this sort of challenge? I don't know... All I know is that I have to do something... And possibly soon..." before she could continue her thoughts, she heard a knock on the door. "Who is it?"

The person didn't answer her.

Maggie wondered if anyone was trying to trick her or something, "Hello? Who is it? I'm going to the bathroom, so please don't come in! This better not be a joke!" She called out to the stranger outside. She assumed that it was one of her friends, but she had no idea which friend it was. She sighed and got up opening the door, "Who the heck is it? I keep asking but no one is answer-" a hand went over her mouth, and she tried screaming but couldn't.

"Shh... Don't worry, little girl," a voice crept up behind her, locking her in place. "We aren't going to hurt you..." the voice sounded to be male, and laughed out of Maggie's helpless state.

Maggie struggled as hard as she could to escape, but it felt pointless to even try. I have to try. If I don't, then no one will know that I'm here. She slammed on the stranger's feet as hard as she could, hoping to give her an easy escape. To her luck, there was about a three to five second gap that she could escape out from as she called out to anyone who heard her call, "Help! Someone please help!"