Ghost In Red

*Olivia Jillian Hunters' POV*

---

"Oh, damn! Who is that girl? Is that OJ? Why are you looking so gorgeous, as always, girl?" Amanda Grayson let out, smiling widely at me, and remarked when I had arrived near them at our locker area, and her sister and another friend of mine, Daisy, followed, "That's the effect of being in love, Mandy."

"You look so great in red, Liv. Never seen you in that one before." Pauline Wright commented as she kissed me on the left cheek, and I laughed softly in response. These girls are damn flatterers. But, one is missing; Grace, the loudest one and the latecomer.

"Are you kidding me? We bought this one just last Saturday with what you are wearing, Paulie. By the way, you look awesome, too. Hi, Mandaisy! Are you done with your statistics work?" I replied cheerfully as I gave two of my friends their kisses and hugs while asking them about our homework. Then I proceeded to open my locker to get the things I needed for my morning classes.

"Oh, sheemmie! Now that you have mentioned it, Liv... I have just one item that I have a hard time dealing with. Daisy won't help me with it, yet I am hella sure that she doesn't have an answer for it, too. Can we have a clue, please?" Mandy answered and earned a smack on the arm from her older sister. We all are classmates in three subjects, but in my APs, we aren't, and I know they need help with some of our lessons, and I am happy to help them because what are we friends for, right?

"Yeah, of course! We will discuss it later, after lunch. We still have---" I told them, but Pauline's murmur cut me off, "If you have time for us."

"Of course, I have. It doesn't mean that today is Valentine's Day, I would be so busy not doing academic shits. It goes first, you know." I retorted just to make them feel like I am abandoning them, and Mandy clapped her hands with a bright smile plastered on her face.

"Yeah, that's our girl! Does that mean you won't be going on a lunch date with Harvey?" Mandy cheered and asked me while wearing a suspicious look on her face.

"No. I will spend a lunch date with you, girls. I actually have a dinner date with him later tonight, and you know, it's our first Valentine's Date together." I answered and talked about my two-month-long boyfriend, who asked me out on a date just a week ago for this special one tonight. I am just so excited.

"Mmm, yeah, sure! That is so great! Best of luck for your date then, Liv." Paulie uttered cheerily and turned her gaze to Daisy, who let out a sigh, and I looked at her with a facial expression that seemed to ask if there was anything wrong.

"Oh, wow! I thought you would be leaving us alone for lunch, Liv. Thank you, if not." The bothered girl stated, and we all turned our heads to the noisy newcomer when she belted, "Hello, my b**ches! What have I missed? Oh, sh*t, you look stunning as hell, OJ! Look at that dress! Red as the sun, and lovely in all other ways. Oh, no, the sun is yellow, orange? Yeah, whatever. Hi, girls! Missed me?"

"Hi, Grace!" We all greeted her back as she gave us each her power hug.

Oh, here comes the hugger person. She is the most hyper sunshine that I have met in my whole life. And I love this gay bitch down to my bone marrow.

"Happy Valentine's Day, by the way! Who got dates later tonight? Me? If you ask mine? I have. Yeah, I do have one. Last year. But now, f*ck, she turned me down yesterday. Damn, she said she's straight as heck. I'm so so so so unlucky." Grace Thales bellowed and sobbed like an elephant, and I patted her back to comfort her. Of course, I know she's not that hurt, but she needs comfort.

"How did you ask her in the first place, Grace? Or did you even ask her? I don't believe you can talk to girls, though." Mandy asked and taunted our broken-hearted friend.

"It's none of your f**king business, you straight b*tch. You don't even have a boyfriend yourself. Or the rest of you all here. Unlike OJ here, blooming as heck and having a handsomely good-looking boyfie. Oh, I forgot, you have one, too, Daisy, right?" The ecstatic girl countered and made the two single ladies roll their eyes in reply. And the girls continued bickering so early in the morning.

When I finally faced my locker to get my things, I was greeted with lots of envelopes, scented ones, while there were some ribbons on them. Just like the usual every time it is Valentine's Day or my birthday.

"Are there chocolates in them, OJ? No, it can't fit in the hole. Hey, for those who want to give Olivia Jillian Hunters some gifts, you can give them to us! We are her representatives to receive!" Grace asked me and announced through the hallways shamelessly.

And Mandy went to choke the girl because of embarrassment when some of the students, especially the females, snickered while the males cheered. Well, me, myself, felt a bit humiliated, too. Damn this girl! Can't she knock it off?

"I'm just kidding, you know? Kidding? Joke?" Grace added in between coughing, and Mandy dusted off her hands.

"We better get to our classrooms now, girls. See you on the third subject, the rest of you. Come on, Grace." I told them after I closed my locker and bid my other friends goodbye as we will go our separate ways. It's just that Grace is my classmate in all of my subjects. Smartass, but has a loud-ass.

"Hey, OJ, look! It is your boy, Harvey. Do you wanna talk to him first? I can wait. Not that I am gonna eavesdrop, but I will wait till we are good to go. Or do you want me to go ahead first? I could, too." Grace Thales, one of my closest friends, asked me curiously as we got sight of my boyfriend, who has been eyeing me as he walks in the hallway with his group of friends.

"Oh, umm, no. I will just tell him something before we proceed." I answered as I closed my locker after getting the things I needed for my morning classes, and I saw her smile become wider.

"What? I love you? Eeeeet! Oh, damn, I am so single." She teased me, and I just glared at her playfully.

"Shut the hell up, Gracey!" I told her. That just made the idiot laugh like a witch on crack.

As Harvey Jon Ferrer, the academy's quarterback, and I'm proud to say that he's been my boyfriend for more than two months now, went near us, I felt my cheek warm up as he proceeded to check me out from head to toe. Can't he stop it?

"Hey, that's... that is... That red dress is... You look... Firey. Is that a word? Well, what I mean, Babe, is... you look amazing. Yeah, amazing. Good morning, by the way. And, this is for you. Happy Hearts' Day." He stuttered in remarking and greeted me with his bright handsome smile as he handed me a red rose in his hold that I didn't notice that he was holding. And I turned to look at my dear friend, who seemed to be exploding anytime soon when I accepted it, and the guy kissed the back of my hand.

"Thanks, Babe. Happy Valentine's Day, too. I'll see you later, okay?" I told him, to which he winked at me in reply, and he bid us goodbye as they went to his locker with his pals. Well, yes, he asked me out for a dinner date tonight, and I'm just so excited about it.

"Oh, I am gonna melt! I wish I had a girl complimenting me like that. Or just me having a girl to compliment and give flowers to. Damn! She better come quickly to my life." The hopeless romantic Grace let out while we continued to walk to our classroom, and she kept on blabbering things until we arrived.

---

We still have ten minutes before dismissal time in the afternoon will come, and here is our History teacher giving us an assignment. Not just an assignment but a pairwork for next week, where our partners are the ones who picked the same number as we have and the teacher is the only one who knows who that is. It's a surprise, and it is this young woman's way of making us work with someone we don't usually talk to. It's crazy, and I am a bit nervous about it.

Well, it's just that someone is coming near my way and carrying her piece of paper that she picked from the box after she asked the teacher for her partner's name, and she is someone that I would pray down to my grave for her not to be my partner in any class activities. I will really trade my soul for a corn chip if it happens.

When she looked my way with her cold stare, I turned my bitch mode on quickly. I would be very challenged to work with her if so. But damn, I am not sure if there will be no blood to shed, though.

As my seatmate noticed my uneasiness, she nudged me and asked, "OJ, do you think that Sydney Roswell will be your partner?"

"Grace, wish me luck that she is not because I could just kill her first. You wouldn't want me going to jail, would you?" I told her in a whisper, and she cleared her throat when the blue-eyed blonde-haired girl stopped at our table. Can't she just go and ask for another partner from the teacher?

"Grace Thales, meet me at the library tomorrow, right after class in the afternoon." Sydney Roswell, the mean girl, uttered and left when my seatmate answered with a trace of surprise, "Yeah, sure. Of course, Syd!"

"Damn, OJ! We are partners. Am I gonna die? Can you help me out? What if she... she is... A vampire, and she will be devouring me? Can you go with me tomorrow? Please?" The freaking girl let out and held my arm so tight, and I just giggled at her.

Then we both looked up to the another person who went near our table.

"Hi, uh... Olivia! Umm, we are partners. Good to see you. I mean, it will be nice working with you. You set the schedule, and I will just give you my number. Here. Just give me a beep. Bye!" The girl began while stammering, and it's Emma York, she is one of Sydney's best friends.

"Alright, it's going to be great working with you, Emma. I will surely message you. Bye!" I told the girl in response, and she left with a bright smile on her face.

"Well, we will surely have great activities next week. Let's go and meet with the girls and announce your blazing news, Gracey." I let out as I kept my things and stood up to leave with my friend.

---

"Hi, Miss OJ Hunters! Someone wants me to give this to you." A guy from the other class approached us and handed me a white scented envelope with a bouquet as we were about to turn left in the hallways, and I told him in reply, "Thanks. Tell them my thank you, also."

"Who the heck is that that gave you such things, OJ? Isn't it Harvey? Nope? No chocolate? Fine." Grace uttered as we both looked at the things in my hold.

And I told Grace to hold for a while the pretty flowers. I just want to read what the letter in this scented envelope says about the person who gave it to me. Maybe it's from Harvey.

"Come on, come on, open it, girl." Grace cheered excitedly, and I finally got the sight of the things inside the envelope.

"What the hell is this all about?" I cursed when I saw before me pictures of my boyfriend and someone else. Not just someone but a person who I hate the most. Now I hate her more than anything.

"Holy shit! Who the fuck sent you that? Should I kill that bitch now, girl?" My friend let out angrily when she saw it, too, and I felt my heart beats faster as I saw the rest of the pictures of them both so sweet, and one of them is the two of them kissing.

No, this is not real. How can he do this to me? And with Sydney Roswell? They certainly are the worst!

*Olivia Jillian Hunters' POV*

---

I roamed my gaze around the hallways to find a particular blonde backstabbing bitch, and I inhaled deeply to keep my cool as I saw her just went inside the girls' restroom. Gotcha!

"OJ, where are you going?" Grace called out to me when I hurried inside the room to follow and confront the girl. How dare she steal someone's boyfriend just like a damn candy? Didn't she realize that there are hundreds of other guys out there and in this academy? Or maybe she just did it on purpose to mess with me? Hmm, probably. And, she is definitely not getting away with it.

"OJ, OJ, OJ, girl, get back here!" I heard my friend panicking while trying to pull me and back out from my plan in making a scene, then I slammed the main door of the restroom open and closed as I walked in with my very furious aura.

When I saw the girl at the sink, I gritted my teeth, and some of the students in here noticed me and made way for me. This bitch has nowhere else to go, and she can never deny this shit that she has done to me. She needs to pay.

"Roswell!" I called her, which made her head turn to me, and the sound of my right hand meeting her left cheek was heard inside. Yeah, I just slapped her. It's actually the first time that I have laid my hands on her. Words just hurt less or more. I just want her to feel my wrath right now.

Shock and surprise were clearly written on her face when she turned back to look at me.

"What the f*ck, Hunters? What the hell is your f**king problem?" She cursed and belted as she looked at me with disdain, and I thrashed the pictures in my hold at the counter near the sink.

"My problem? Is... you!" I hissed and saw that she took a deep breath and closed her eyes like she is trying not to get angry. Well, I want her to show me how much of a bitch she is.

"How dare you snatch someone else's boyfriend? Don't you have anything else to do with your boring life, rather than getting on my nerves? What the hell did I do to you for you to treat me like this? Are you that desperate in trying to bring me down and---" I blurted out with all my contempt towards her, and she cut me off with a loud scoff.

"Hold on a damn freaking second, Miss Defaming Biatch! Did I hear it right? Me, stealing someone's boyfriend? Like who? Well, I presume yours, according to these pictures, and because you just barged in here slapping faces. And, for the f**king information for your dumb accusing ass, I have nothing to do with your concern. Is this your only proof that I have been working on bringing you down? Making your boyfriend cheat on you? Well, with all of my truth, even if you won't believe it, I have nothing to do with your asshole boyfriend." She countered sharply and grabbed a few pictures to look at them, and she snickered.

"Deny all you can, Roswell, but you are not getting away with---" I asserted, but the blonde bimbo has been having fun in cutting me off.

"Believe all you want, Hunters. I don't need to explain myself further. It's between you and your pea-brain to think about this humiliation that you just did to me." She contended, and I was about to spat at her when she tossed the pictures in her hold at my chest and rolled her eyes at me before heading out of the place with her minions. I swear I will never go easy on her. She declared war, and war is what she will get.

When I noticed that the girls in here have been looking my way with their knowing stares, I glared at them, and that made them avert their attention to something else.

"Girl, do you think we need to ask your boy about this if it is true? Well, I know he might deny, but we need to, right?" Grace asked me after picking up the pictures on the floor, and she might be right. I need to know what these pictures are all about. I was just so angry at seeing that blonde.

"Yeah, I will ask him," I answered as I walked out of the restroom and dialed Harvey's number on my phone.

"Where are you?" I asked the boy on the other line sternly as he picked up the call, and I kept on walking in the hallway till I reached the locker area where my other friends had been waiting for us and looked so worried.

"Babe, hi! Umm, I'm here at the field. Our practice game is about to start. Are you okay?" He answered, and I hung up as I turned around to go in the opposite direction. I will talk to him now because I can't disregard it. I need damn answers.

---

He smiled widely as he jogged near me and stopped, then greeted me, "Hey, what's the matter? You could have told me that you are coming here. Is everything alright, Babe?"

"No, nothing is alright. Answer me at once and with the truth, Harvey. Have you been cheating on me?" I began with venom in my voice that made him baffled as he opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"Are you cheating on me?" I repeated sternly, and he shook his head in response.

"No. I would never. What-what made you say that?" He replied and looked so uneasy since he never saw me in this mood before.

"And what is the meaning of these sh*ts? Isn't it you and a damn girl? Not just any girl but the girl whom you knew I never liked. How will you explain it? Am I just a joke to you? Am I just a damn toy that if you can't get what you want, you would just creep behind me to look for someone who can?" I asked, which shocked him as he saw the pictures that Grace handed him, and he turned to look at me with his face in turmoil.

"What? No. I am not... I... I don't know where you got these, but this is not true. And, no, f*ck, I would never cheat on you, Liv." He reasoned out, but I just let out a sarcastic laugh.

"Isn't it why you and Isabelle broke up, too, before you have set your eyes on me? You freaking cheated on her for weeks with Jacqueline. I thought you wouldn't be doing the same thing on me, you jerk. You are surprised that I knew? Oh, I just openly talked with your exes before and the other girls that have been involved with you. I should have known that you wouldn't treat me like her, and I should have cautioned myself. Well, I guess once a cheater would always be one. Almost all of you, men, are just full of flattery and promises." I let out when I remembered what the cheerleader, Isabelle Sanchez, had told me a week after I became this bastard's girlfriend. He may not know everyone on the campus as a playboy, but he did cheat on his past relationship. And he is not the first guy that cheated on me, too.

"No. Liv, please, listen. I swear, it's not what you think it is. Believe me." He begged while his teammates were looking our way, and some were murmuring something.

And I inhaled deeply before I spoke to tell him what I came here for.

"Believe in your lies, Harvey. Well, maybe you would do good with Sydney. I just wish you the best, and I hope she treats you well." I told him, and his eyes widened when he heard it.

"Liv, don't do this. I already told you the truth. Please." He uttered while looking so worried, but nothing can change my mind.

"No. We're done, Harvey. I am just not the one for you. And, you, either, to me. I'm sorry." I affirmed and let out a sigh before I walked away to leave him looking so broken.

---

I walked to the parking lot of the academy, and I never noticed that Grace was still following behind me.

"If ever you need someone to talk to, I will be just one call away, OJ. Remember that. Okay?" She told me as I stopped in front of my car, and I turned to look at her.

Then I nodded my head in response and didn't say a word, and she showed me a reassuring smile.

"I will. Thanks, Grace. Tell the girls I need to go home early. I'll just see you whenever." I replied as I opened the car door to get in, and she bid me goodbye while giving me a way to drive out.

My tears finally fell from my eyes as I drove on the highway halfway through our house. And when I arrive there, I need to let go of all these burdens that I feel in me. I need someone to talk to that could make me feel alright. I need my Mimi. She knows exactly what to do to make me feel better. She may not be someone who is related to me by blood, but she treats me as her daughter-more than how my stepmother for a decade does.

I have been driving at a reasonable speed while I wipe the tears that stream down my cheeks, and I try not to sob. I just can't believe what I am experiencing. What did I do in my life that is so bad to deserve being cheated on twice? He was my third boyfriend, and I thought he would be different. But can I blame him or... I think I need to blame the girl. She really could have done it to see me suffer and lose focus on my studies. What a damn sick strategy. She could have done something worse. Well, if she dared to mess up with me like this, then she better wait for my vengeance. She just has to wait because a storm is coming her way.

When I noticed the traffic light in the distance turned yellow, I accelerated to pass through the crossing while it was still not red, but then I heard a loud honking sound on my right. And as I turned my head to look at the commotion, a fast-running cargo truck was driving uneasily. I speed up, not knowing that there is a white van from the other lane that has stopped on my route when its driver sees the out-of-control truck that is about to go our way, and I have driven through the vehicle before me.

What I did next is... I just closed my eyes until I heard a clash.

*Sydney Roswell's POV*

---

"What happened to your face, Syd?" Kevin Ramirez, my only gay cousin who is sitting on the driver's seat and waiting for us to arrive, asked with his raised eyebrow in curiosity, and I didn't bother to answer him as I go halfway around his car to sit shotgun.

"Don't ask her, Kev. She's not in the mood." Answered Vidia Logan, the academy's women's swimming team captain and my best friend since diapers, and she went inside the backseat with Emma York, my very nice neighbor.

"When was she in her mood before? Well, anyway, I will just ask her face. Hey, face, what happened to Sydney?" Kevin muttered, but I heard it clearly, and he asked while examining my rosy left cheek that definitely still has the handprint of the meanest person in the universe. The gorgeous goddess, Olivia Jillian Hunters.

I just don't know about her claim that I have stolen her boyfriend from her behind her back. I mean, damn, that was unexpected-the hand. I could not block it because that was the first time in my whole life that she attacked me. F*ck that person who made up stories about Ferrer and me! They could have replaced my face over some others and made the girl believe it. I don't like him, not because he is OJ's boyfriend, but also because he is a damn dude who thinks that he is a heartthrob and the campus crush. Like, who-what the heck are they kidding?

"Don't you know, Kev, that your cousin got assaulted for the first time by---" Emma began but was cut off by the gay.

"OJ? Is she the one? Oh, my goodness! She is so dead to me. When are we gonna do the job, Syd? It's going to be the perfect time to steal Daddy's taser. Why the hell would she slap you, bitch? Should we do it now? I really really will not go easy on her even if she has the silkiest and fanciest raven hair and pretty face, even if she looks nice in her red dress today. I'm gonna steal that outfit right after we do the job." He let out in frustration and babbled some absurd threats to the person who they knew that I never had good terms with, since forever.

They hate her like how they know that I do. She treats me nasty, and I treat her back nastier. I just don't know how to be nice to her if she never was one to me. She sees me ever since we met as her opponent in every aspect of academics, extracurricular activities, and now, including her dumb-ass boyfriend. And for this nerd's sake, I am gay AF. Well, fine, closeted, since I knew the meaning of the spectrum back in my primary days. No one else knew, and no one should. Not even these people that I am with right now. It's only me, my dog, my dark closet, and the attic knew about it.

When my cousin didn't get any reaction and answer from me, he turned his attention to the girls sitting in the backseat. And Vidia answered him, "OJ has some edited pictures of Sydney and Harvey Ferrer together. And one of them is where they were kissing. Ew! And, OJ thought that Syd stole her boyfriend. What is it called, Em?"

"Cheated? Crept? Betrayed?" Emma responded with the best she knew, yet it is not in any of them.

"Oh, yeah, right, framed up. Someone had used her face. Maybe because they want our Sydney here to get mad... madder than ever towards OJ, or... So that OJ will be making a scene, and it really happened in the restroom earlier, or... They want OJ and her boyfriend destroyed. Yeah, it's either of those choices, Kev." Vidia enumerated, and she got some good points there. I just don't know who was the person behind it all.

When Kevin has sunk in the information in his twisted nervous system, he belted like a mad man, "It's a horrible crime! The person behind it should be peeled alive and be sprinkled with salt and vinegar, and be dried under the sun, then be fed to the hungry Gila Monsters. We deserve justice for this, girls! Sydney, are you not gonna do something about it? Your name and reputation are in grave danger. Do something, you b*tch!"

"Why don't you just start the engine of your rotten car, step on the gas, drive, and drop me home? That will make me feel better, Kev. Just stop talking about this bulls**t that I am in for now? All of you? Okay?" I finally spoke out about my burden that made them all shut their mouths, and the guy went to do what I told him to. I am just tired of it, and I badly want to go home and eat.

"If Olivia will ever attack you again, we should not ignore this issue, Syd. There is something that must be done. I know you are innocent. And the innocent should amass the justice they deserve." He uttered while keeping his focus on the road, and I just sighed in response as I look at the time on my phone.

It's still early, but I am sure that Wendy is already home and cooking some good dishes for dinner. It's Valentine's Day, and she asked me to help her with her garden date with her husband, my older brother, Adam.

I just don't care much about the issue because I know my truth, and it is up to that girl if she will discern it. I know she is smart enough to know what she should do. She was just mad earlier and mad people do something stupid. Though she was never nice to me or I do to her, I truly don't hate her, and I don't get mad at her. I just enjoy every bit of the time that she is treating me differently from everyone else that she knows. Yeah, I am the only one who she treats like how she does. And I kinda like it. I feel special. I think it's something that would make you call me a mild masochist. Well, I just invented that term about me. Fine, I deeply know that she is the reason why I knew I am into girls. Yeah, she is. Is it weird to treat your crush rudely? Or is it weird enough to crush on someone that hates you so much? Like, damn, who can't like her? She is definitely a charmer that draws you near her, and you will fantasize---alright, I better stop right there.

But honestly, I don't know what everyone else would think if they knew that I am not straight. I'm scared.

---

"Are you sure that you are alright, Syd? You could just knock on our door or wave at me from your window, and I will always be available for counseling. Yep. But I charge... food." Emma uttered when we stepped out of the car, and we waved goodbye to my cousin and Vidia, who just drove away.

"Yeah, sure, I will, Ems. Thanks, by the way." I replied and headed straight to my brother's house that is just beside the Yorks' residence. I have lived here ever since the day we sold our late parents' house. We need to because Adam was in debt at that time, and our parents have some, too, before they got into a road accident one rainy night, which took both their lives six years ago. Thankfully, Adam's wife for two years now is a very nice woman.

When I stepped inside the house, the smell of the sauteed garlic lingered in my nose, and I yelled and asked the pregnant woman in the kitchen, "I'm home, Wendy! Has Adam mentioned when he will arrive?"

"Hi, Syd! No, but hopefully, he won't be held by his boss for overtime." She answered while getting a cup of water to put in the pot, and I went to get my water bottle inside the fridge to drink some cold water.

My twenty-seven-year-old brother works as a mechanical engineer at a small car rental company in the city, and I help pay bills whenever I can get part-time jobs on weekends. Well, I am often hired by our old neighbors to trim their grasses and paint their fences or walls, tutor some kids, and some jobs are mine to keep. No, they are not illegal. I just don't let many people know. I need to save up for my education in college because no one will. Though I aim to earn good grades for scholarships, I don't think I will get to the highest rank when we graduate because of someone. Yeah, that girl, who comes from one of the elite families, thinks I am competing with her at school and about everything. It just sucks to be me.

"He better not because I would end up devouring all that we'll cook. Oh, hello, my little peanut nephew, you helped your momma here, huh?" I answered and talked to the unborn baby in her womb.

"Mhmm, now what happened to your left cheek, Syd? Toothache?" The woman asked when she noticed the red spot on my face, and I went to think of the perfect excuse.

"Oh, this? Umm, no, I just... A mosquito has bitten my cheek, and I... You know, I slapped it. Slapped it real good. It still has a mark." I told her the perfect alibi, and I hope that she is convinced.

"Okay. Did it die?" She asked curiously, and I nodded my head just to make this conversation end. I don't want her thinking about my problem because it will stress her out, and it's gonna be bad for her and her baby.

"So... Wen, I will just go upstairs and change clothes, dump this bag, and I'll get down, so I can begin cooking the pasta," I told her as I headed out of the kitchen to go to my room.

---

After I slipped in my house clothes, I went down again and wondered why Vidia is calling on my phone. I really don't wanna talk if it's going to be about OJ again.

"What's up, Vid?" I greeted the person on the other line as I stopped in the middle of the stairs, and I waited for the girl to respond.

"Syd, you better turn on the TV and watch the news. Hurry!" She uttered that puzzled me, but I continued to go down and headed to the living room.

"Why? News? What is it ab---" I asked her but didn't finish when I turned the TV on with the remote in my hand, and what I saw made me freeze in place.

"OJ Hunters got into a car accident, Syd. Are you on it? Sydney?" I heard my best friend's faint voice, and everything around me seemed to be in slow motion.

Gosh, no. It can't be.