"I'm sorry if I freaked you out yesterday," Donnie apologized on the bus ride to school. We sat all the way in the back, away from everyone else.

"You didn't freak me out." Donnie's reaction appeared to be puzzled.

"What does that mean?" he asked, the growing concern showing on his face. I reassuringly squeezed his hand before continuing.

"It means that none of this is your fault, you can't help the things you see or the coincidence in that book. But it scares me. I don't think your crazy, trust me. I'm just afraid for you. Please don't try to push me away during all this."

"I won't," Donnie said. Ronald and Sean moved back near us and began talking to us, mostly to Donnie. I didn't mind; we had discussed the main things of importance already and I needed to clear my head the rest of the way to school.

We entered the school, ready to brave the long day ahead. "Oh I forgot. Sam wanted me to tell you, she and her dance group won her talent show," Donnie told me right before the bell rang.

"Tell her I said congratulations," I replied with a smile.

"Will do." We parted ways as more people came bustling through the doors.

I approached my movie scorers the next day. "I'm going to finish filming this Saturday, then I'll be editing the film. Are you guys almost ready?" I asked eagerly.

They nodded, beaming at me. "I really appreciate your help," I added. I left the building once the bell rang and headed for the bus.

"April!" I heard a familiar voice shriek. I whirled around to see Bayley, grinning widely. "After we wrap up the movie on Saturday, do you want to come to my house and spend the night?" she asked.

"I'll have to ask my mom," I said, walking to the back of the bus.

"Of course, I know that but do you want to?" she questioned.

"Of course I want to." Once again, my mind was racing. I had a lot of things to do. My homework, wrapping up the filming, keeping up with my friends. All I needed to do was take a deep breath.

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"I spliced together the first two scenes," Dylan informed me as we washed the dishes from dinner. He lowered his voice. "Mom seems a little down again."

"We'll keep a watchful eye on her, ok?" Dylan nodded. Our mom exited her room and helped us finish cleaning. She offered us a weak smile and told us that she didn't need anymore help. I hope that she knew she was loved and needed.

Half of the crew showed up on Saturday, because other people had already finished their parts. Donnie didn't come, but Lacey, Bayley, and several others came. The remaining scenes nearly took the entire day, leaving me exhausted and slightly irritable.

My mom had allowed me to go to Bayley's house, just so long as I had made sure my assignments were completed and I came home in the early afternoon on Sunday to finish my chores. "Take care, mom. I love you. Bye , Dylan!" I said, grabbing my overnight bag and waving. Bayley and I got in the back of her mom's car quickly.

"Hi, April," her mom greeted. "How've you been?"

"Good, what about you?" I asked in return.

"Good, good," she answered, focusing intently on the busy road. The minute we arrived at Bayley's, it was major kickback time. We threw off our shoes and sprawled ourselves out amongst the two couches in her living room, preparing for a marathon of movies.

"There's Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Karate Kid 2.. Stand By Me; I say we watch all of them."

"That sounds good," I agreed. Nothing like a good movie marathon to clear my head. We stuck to only watching two, then saving the others for the next. Then, we stayed up into the middle of the night snacking, gossiping, and occasionally venturing outside.

I awoke to the sound of a loud, shrill gasp. Abruptly, I sat up from my pallet on the small floor of Bayley's bedroom. I searched to find her clock which was hard to spot among the clutter of posters on her cream walls. 8:00. The sunlight made it's way somehow through the shut blinds. I stretched my neck to see if Bayley was still sleeping, but the covers of her twin sized bed were pulled back which led me to assume the gasp had come from her.

My feet softly padded on the carpet as I made my way past the table by the kitchen and into the living room. There was Bayley and her mom on the couch; their eyes glued to the television in shock.

"What?" I asked meekly. Bayley motioned for me to sit next to her. On the television was the face of Jim Cunningham; a local author who had visited our school quite a few times. Mrs. Farmer had seemed to idolize him. The news reporter's voice in the background told of a fire that had burned his house and now a child porn ring had been exposed.

"Holy shit," Bayley's mom managed in utter shock. "And here Bay was just trying to get the movies ready and we see this."

Bayley and I exchanged worried glances, trying hard to fathom that this had been a man who was actually allowed within the walls of our school. I shuddered. It might've been a terrible thing to hear, especially first thing in the morning, but it was a blessing in disguise that he had been caught. A clip came up on the screen of him being shoved into a police car.

"You are a product of fear," he seethed, struggling as the police handled him. Bayley put the Karate Kid 2 tape in, trying to erase the previous and disturbing image from our minds.

The Middlesex High School was buzzing about the news come Monday. Half the day, Mrs. Farmer looked like she would burst into tears, the other half of the day appeared as though she would burst into flames if she heard any more talk of what went down.

"My parents are out of town for the week," Donnie told the lunch table that afternoon. "Samantha's dance team made it to finals and my mom has to go with her. She didn't seem too upset about missing school." He flashed us a toothy grin before continuing. "Elizabeth had gotten into Harvard and we're going to celebrate. Plus it's almost Halloween."

"When's the party?" Lacey asked.

"Wednesday. You guys can start showing up after school, it doesn't matter."

After that, there was no further talk of the party, at least from Donnie. Quite a few people were chattering about by the end of the day. "I don't think I want to go," Dylan told me. "It's nothing against Donnie, but you know how I feel about parties."

I nodded in understanding. "I'm going to ask mom, ok?" I got up from the couch and saw that her bedroom door was shut halfway. I left Dylan to the splicing of the film, which I had full trust in him, to check if my mom was alright.

I knocked very lightly on the door, trying not to open it with the outward force of my knuckles. "Yes?" I heard her ask; I waited. "Come in." The now fully opened door revealed my mother, her favorite pink robe fit around her loosely and she was brushing her hair.

"Are you ok?" She nodded. "It looks like you're getting ready for bed. It's 8:15," I stated.

"I'm aware of the time," she assured me wearily. "I just get worn out so easily and my medication makes me a little drowsy."

"So you're not going to watch Dylan and I splice the film? You haven't seem it yet, it's pretty cool." Her cracked, thin lips pursed together in thought.

"I still have to rinse out the coffee pot, which shouldn't take too long. Yea I guess I'll join you," she surrendered with a meek smile.

To speed up the process, I followed my mom to the kitchen and got the hot water running as she took the pot out of the coffee maker. "I have a question.. can I go to Donnie's Halloween party Wednesday evening?"

My mom gasped in surprise, seeming almost delighted at the idea. "A Halloween party? Oh my gosh you haven't celebrated one since.." She trailed off on a sour note. "I think it would be great for you to go. After all this time, it's nice that you want to celebrate Halloween. What are you going to wear?"

"I haven't quite figured it out yet," I answered.

"Maybe we could get you a costume," she offered.

"Thanks mom."

"You're so loved, April. You really are."

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"Bye April! Bye Dylan! I love you so much!" our mom said to us as we prepared to exit the house. She pulled me in a tight hug. "I love you my little director." She then pulled Dylan into a hug. "I love you my little star."

We were fairly close to our mom, but she didn't say goodbye like this usually. She would still be getting ready and shout to us from the bathroom. "Stay safe, promise me?" she asked. "I read in the paper that the police have some leads on the kitchen and cafeteria food fiasco but you still need to be safe. You never know where that person could lurk."

Upon taking in her advice, we exited the house and approached the bus. We waved back at the house before boarding. As soon as we got on, I spotted Donnie smiling up at me.

"Good morning beautiful," he whispered breathlessly, planting a kiss on my cheek and taking my hand in his. I felt the butterflies in my stomach go crazy.

"Good morning my perfect mystery boy." He chuckled at my attempt at a compliment and nuzzled into my shoulder.

"For the first time in a while, I had a good dream," he murmured in my ear. "Normally I have nightmares, but this wasn't a nightmare. I knew as soon as I saw you beckoning me." He chuckled, the heat of his breath tickling my neck. "The rest was some pretty R rated shit."

His voice was low and I was straining to hear him, but I was fairly certain that I had heard him right. Heat rose to my cheeks. I was quite sure that my face was visibly red at this point.

"Oh please, not on the bus," I hissed as softly as I could. He nodded, sitting up and still looking happily entranced.

"I'm sorry, it's just so good to not be afraid to go to sleep. I'll have all sorts of nightmares, the possibilities are endless you know. But to see you in my sleep, it makes me not afraid anymore. I don't feel so alone."

The almost heated conversation that had taken place on the bus made me reluctant to head to class, but I did so anyway. As lunch time came around, the conversation of the party resurfaced and people were decided what to dress up as. I still had to decide, but I needed to decide fast.

By the end of the day, so many things were whirling around in my mind that I could hardly pay attention to my lessons. I sat, stumped in 6th period, wondering exactly where I had gotten lost at. The phone rang, making me jolt in my seat.

"Yes that's fine....Why?.... Oh my heavens. Ok..... I'll send her down," my teacher answered before looking directly at me. "Ms. Hepler, it is urgent that you go down to the front office at this very moment."

The tone of her voice did not sound good, causing a great wave of paranoia to flood over me. I packed up my bag as quick as possible and bolted out of the classroom. I got to the front office, not sure what to expect. My heart leapt up in my constricted throat.

Standing across the room was Dylan, his backpack slung over his shoulder. There was a grave expression on his face as his eyes met mine. "There should be a car pulling up shortly to take you to the hospital," one of the woman said to Dylan. "Fill your sister in on the way there alright?"

I began to get frantic and I had possible conclusions running in the perilous depths of my mind. Dylan started walking towards the door, then grabbed my hand. "It's mom," he choked hoarsely. "She tried.. again." His voice was shaking but he kept his head down, leading me to the car. A wave of nausea and panic swept over me, interfering with my balance. I struggled to get in the car, hot tears beginning to blur my vision.

"I'm a volunteer for the hospital," the driver told us before stepping on the gas. My chest heaved and my throat got tight as tears threatened to pour down my face.

"I think she was flushing her anti-depressants," Dylan managed to say. I licked my dry lips and sniffled softly.

We got to the hospital and were told to stay in the waiting room. "What's the deal here?" I asked impatiently to Dylan.

"The Heplers," a woman called. The two of us got up and approached the counter from which we were called. "Your mother is in surgery at the moment. I figured you should know. You're both lucky your neighbor heard the gunshot or else it would've already been too late."

"She had a gun?" I demanded, not necessarily towards the woman or to anyone really.

"Yes," the woman answered, nodding slowly. "I can't tell you the status of the surgery yet because right now, it could end good or bad."

Dylan thanked her softly and led me back to our seats. I felt drowsy from the immense sobbing I had just gotten through with. I stretched out in the seat, leaning against Dylan, I drifted off to sleep as the soft cries still escaped my mouth.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"April, I'm worried and bored," I heard Dylan's voice whine as I felt someone shaking me. I opened my eyes, sitting up slowly. There was no one else in the waiting room except the woman at the counter. I looked up at the clock; it was now 4:30.

Dylan rose from his seat and conversed with the lady at the counter, only to return with his blotchy face looking defeated. "She still doesn't know the status."

"If you guys are hungry, you can get something at the cafeteria. Just let them know that you're the Heplers, they'll know. It's a special situation," the counter lady told us.

"Thank you..." I replied but I didn't know her name.

"It's Tasha," she said with a smile as she tucked her buoyant black curls behind her ears. Dylan also thanked her before we ventured to the cafeteria. I'm sure we looked like an absolute mess. My uniform was twisted a little from the position I slept in and I didn't doubt that my hair was knotted at least a little. I was bound to find a mirror somewhere.

"I feel like a worried parent," I admitted, guilt beginning to surface. "What the hell do we do if she doesn't make it?"

"She will," Dylan snapped. "Trust me."

"Dylan, she's written out a suicide note once, we caught her in an attempt just in time, then there was the last time and now this time. Do you really think someone can be that lucky?"

"I'll pray that it is so. That's all I've been doing. I've been praying for mom, for our family."

"Do you ever worry that we're not enough to keep her here?" I asked as we came across the cafeteria doors.

"I don't like to think like that. She loves us," he pointed out. I could see the epiphany he had by the look that suddenly crossed his face. "No wonder she hugged us goodbye and told us she loved us so much when she usually doesn't do that. She tells us she loves us, but she doesn't act like we're parting for good every morning before school."

"I should've seen it," I said, starting to curse at myself. The tears came back and I began to crumple apart in front of my brother. "I don't know if I can be strong for you right now."

"No one said you had to be," he whispered, steadying me.

A/N: Familiar Faces is close to being done. I'm kinda sad because writing about Donnie Darko almost makes me feel like I'm living the movie. It's like an experience. Anyways, thanks for reading. Prepare yourselves my darlings.