(Title to be determined)

It all started that one day.

My life had been perfect.

I had loved every part of it.

Everything was going the way I wanted it.

Until I got the call.

The one that ruined me.

The one that made me who I am today.

### Chapter 1

I was upstairs listening to music and doing homework when I heard the phone ring.

"Charlie?" My mother called.

" Yeah? " I called back, pausing my music and homework.

"It's...for you..." She responded.

I hurried downstairs, where my mom was. She passed me the phone. And that was when it all began.

"Hello?"

"Hey Charlie, this is Christina. I have some...news." When I didn't respond , she continued. "Late last night, Josh was very severely hurt."

Josh was my closest friend. We did everything together, and nothing could come between us.

"What do you mean, hurt?" I asked.

"He was walking home from visiting his cousin, when a car came straight towards him. He tried to dodge out of the way,  but the car still got him. He was hurt so bad by that, he couldn't walk. The next thing he knew, the guy had gotten out, and came at him. Josh was hurt very badly by the man before blacking out. He was found hours later, at a place a couple hours away. He was immediately taken to the hospital, and he's expected to stay there for awhile. The doctors aren't quite sure he'll make it.."

My heart stopped.

The phone dropped.

I fell to my knees.

The tears came fast.

It felt like my world had fallen apart. My life destroyed. I cried so hard soon I had nothing left to cry. My mom cradled me in her arms, rubbing my back, whispering promises, telling me everything was going to be fine.

But it wasn't. My closest friend was in the hospital, with very little chance of survival. And if I lost him? I shook the thought away. I couldn't lose him. He was my everything. Life wouldn't be worth living, if I didn't have my best friend by my side.

### Chapter 2

"Charlie, are you ready to go?" My mom, Stephanie, called.

"Coming!" I called, grabbing my phone and running downstairs. I was so excited to see him, I didn't realize how hard it would be. Seeing all his wounds.. Seeing him the way he was... When I saw him, I was ready to hunt down the guy who did it and make him pay. No one hurts my best friend and gets away with it.

"Hey, how are you feeling?\* I asked.

"Like I got beat up and thrown around like trash?" He said, smiling softly.

That's one of the things I liked about Josh. No matter what happened, he was always in a good mood.

"I'm sorry they did that too you..." I said, feeling tears in my eyes. " And I'm sorry I wasn't there.... When I get my hands on whoever did this.... " I trailed off, fury burning inside me.

"Charlie, don't. It won't help. It'll just make it worse." Josh said, squeezing my hand.

" I know, but I can't help it.. You don't deserve to have this happen to you. You didn't do anything wrong. " I said, tears running down my face.

Before he could respond, my mom walked in. "I have to go run some errands. Will you be okay here without me?" She asked.

I nodded.

She left, leaving me with Josh.

It was around 9:00 PM when I heard it. I strange sound from outside. I stood up, and looked out the window. Nothing. I frowned, and went back to the chair next to Josh. He was sleeping, but didn't want to be alone, so my mom had said I could stay longer. I watched him sleep. Tossing and turning, but otherwise, peaceful. I heard the noise again. I looked up. An nd that's when I saw it.

A cloaked figure.

Standing in the ledge outside the window.

Holding a rope in one hand.

And something shiny in the other.

I backed up towards Josh, my hands shaking, my heart pounding.

The figure used the shiny object to break the window, and stepped inside.

"Wh..who are you?" I asked, feeling around for something. Anything.

"None of your concern." The figure responded. I couldn't tell if I knew the voice, or if it was a man or women.

"Wh..what do you want?" I said, hearing my voice tremble.

"The boy, if course." He said, gesturing towards Josh.

"Why? What'd he ever do to you?" I said, blocking him as he stepped closer.

"That, dear child, is not your concern." And with that, he grabbed me by my shirt and threw me towards the wall.

I cried out in pain, but stood back up, and ran towards him.

"Leave Josh alone!" I screamed, grabbing a chair and hitting him with it.

He roared, and kicked me away.

by this point, Josh had woken up, and was trying to stand up. He made it two steps before falling. I ran over to catch him, but was shoved away.

"Josh!" I screamed. "Get out of here! Find help!" I grabbed a broken leg from the chair and through it towards Josh, to use as a crutch. I grabbed another and swung it at his head. The figure caught it, and used it to through me towards the wall.

Hearing all the commotion, a doctor, four nurses, and several hospital guards came running in. The figure, still holding the stick, but me hard on the head, and then fled out the window.

the last thing I saw was the doctor, helping Josh into the bed, with the help of two nurses, and the others, coming to help me.

Then everything went dark.

### Chapter 3

It had been a month since the attack. No sign of the figure since. I'd been thinking about it a lot, and I started to feel like I knew the voice. But I couldn't remember the name of the person or reminded me of.

I'd been with Josh every day, and they'd even added more security. He was recovering nicely, but still struggled to walk on his leg.

Everything had been going better. Until I got another call. It was Christina again.

"Hey! What's up?" I answered.

"It's...Josh.." She said. She sounded like it was trembling , like she was trying not to cry.

"Josh? What happened?" I asked, starting to get worried.

"He's missing. No one knows what happened. All they know is one moment he was there, the next he was gone. They've set up a search party, but so far, they haven't found any sign."

" No, no, no, no... Please tell me your joking... " I said, starting to cry.

"I wish I was.." She said.

At that very moment, I knew I was going to find that figure, and he was going to pay.

It had been 2 months since Josh had gone missing. And they'd presumed him dead. They hadn't found a single sign of him.

The funeral was in an hour. But I wasn't getting ready. I was looking through notes. I'd written up a bunch of theories for why I the guy was, and I'd crossed most of them out. the only people left were Stephen Bradley, an old friend of his dad's, who'd gotten in a fight and left, and Carl Dodson, his former best friends dad.

"Charlie?" My mom called from the doorway.

I turned and looked at her, shoving my notes under some books. "Yeah, mom?"

" Why aren't you ready yet? We leave in 10 minutes! " she said, walking over to my closest and pulling out a black dress, with tiny lavender flowers at the neckline. She grabbed a pair of black heels, a curling iron and hair clasp, my jewelry box, makeup box, and sat me down.

"I forgot...?" I said. I hadn't actually. I'd been trying not to think about it.

She sighed and sent me into the bathroom. As soon as I walked out, she sat me down and started doing my hair. While she did that, I decided to look through my jewelry box. I didn't have much, but what I did have, most of it was from Josh.

He'd given me a lot of presents back then. I never knew why, but every week, he'd give me something. And seeing some of the things he gave me, made me cry.

the funeral had ended an hour ago, but I couldn't bring myself to leave his grave. I'd been starting at it for so long, my eyes hurt.

*Joshua Andrew Harley*

My eyes were red from crying. All I could think about was how he didn't deserve to die, how I needed him, how I'd never gotten to say goodbye.

I heard someone clear their thoughts behind me. I turned to see a young girl, around 16, watching me.

"Sorry." I mumbled. "Can I help you?"

"I'm Courtney, Josh's cousin. And I have something for you." She said.

" Oh? " I said, raising an eyebrow.

She handed me two things. A notebook, and a locket.

"What is this?" I asked.

" Josh's journal, and a gift he had for you. I found them in his room. I think he would've wanted them to go to you. " she said, sadly.

"Thanks." I said, tucking the journal in my bag, and putting the locket on.

she smiled and left. Leaving me alone. Once again.

I sat down next to his grave, and pulled out the journal, opening it to the first page.

*Dear Charlie,*

*I'm writing this to you in hopes you'll find it when I'm gone. I don't expect to be around much longer, and there are a lot of things I need to say.*

*First of all, I wanted to say thanks. For always being there. For making me smile. For cheering me up. Helping whenever you could. For being the greatest, kindest, best friend I've ever had.*

*Second,  I really like you, Charlie.. I always have. I wish I could've told you sooner, but I never had the chance, and I saw how you looked at him. And now, if you're reading this, it's too late.*

*Third, my life's in danger, Charlie. Or was.  I've gotten notes everywhere, warning me about something. It's been happening for months. And it'll get worse.  I just know it. And I think I know who it is. It's........*

I turned the page. Looked through every page there. Re-read it several times. But it wasn't there. There was no name.

"No, no, no... You can't do that..." I stuffed the journal in my bag, and left.