Chapter 7

"Sarah?" Ariel's voice sounded too loud in her ears, despite her whispering the name. Attach checked the streets before crossing and motioning for Ariel to come down. It was easy enough and Ariel joined Sarah at the corner of her house.

The look on Sarah's face was one of calm determination. Ariel could tell that whatever she was about to say, was thought out and well formulated. She had never seen Sarah look so serious before.

"What is it? What happened with Austin?" Ariel asked, hoping Sarah was able to get a hold of her friend.

"Have you noticed anything different about yourself since you have not taken the vitamins?" Sarah asked. Ariel was surprised by the question, and knew that it had a lot of implications. Ariel was not sure how to respond at first, and felt the weight of the question as she considered her response.

"Insomnia and some soreness." Ariel replied, though when her eyes met Sarah's, she could see that the girl was seeing past her dismissive answer. She knew there was more to it, as if she herself had already been through it. It would make sense, since they had both been on the vitamins since long before they could remember.

Sarah pulled a hand out of her pocket and held it out to Ariel, who stared at the girl hard for a good while. She knew taking what was being offered was going to change her life. She knew that whatever was in her hand was going to give her answers.

"Destroy this once you have it memorized." Sarah said. Slowly Ariel extended her own hand and Sarah placed a many times folded square of paper into her hand. As Ariel was closing her fingers around it, Sarah returned to the other side of the road. She seemed to meld into the shadows under the trees, becoming one with them and vanishing before Ariel could say another word.

Back up onto the roof and in through her window, Ariel closed her curtains and her door, the quickly unfolded the paper. She was careful not to rip it. Inside was written instructions on how to get to an abandoned house at the edge of town. Not what she was expecting, but it meant there was going to be some kind of meeting. There were going to be more of the vitamin kids there.

She spent the rest of the night committing the directions to memory. Then, as the sky was starting to lighten, she went into her bathroom, tore the paper into many little pieces, and flushed them down the toilet.

Work the next day was long. She was tired from not sleeping and the soreness lingered, no matter what she did. She would recite the directions to herself just to be sure she had them down. When she got home, her mother began to question her on how she was feeling. She aspired her that it was just the insomnia. It took some convincing, but eventually Mary seemed happy with her answers.

Breakfast the next morning was waffles with lots of fruit and whipped cream.