A Whole Year Later...

A whole year... It had been a whole year since the town of Lincoln was erased from the world...

No one from the outside could enter, and no one from the inside could leave.

Parents that had left the town just for the day, had never been able to return to their children...

They never had to see what became of their children...

Everyone had changed in some way; each with their own curse, each with their own burden.

Jim Hawkins had ran from his home that night when he witnessed his brother turn into a werewolf.

He never went back.

He watched everything from a distance, staying in the school...

He had been sneaking into the library, when the librarian wasn't there, trying to find a way...

...A way to break the curse he accidentally unleashed on everyone.

He tried finding his teacher who gave him the sphere on that Halloween, to see if she knew anything about it.

But he couldn't find her.

He couldn't even find Kayley... She had been missing ever since that night...

He checked everywhere for her, hoping to see her. She never even made it home...

Now, as the year finally came full circle, Jim Hawkins rode up on his (okay, "borrowed") motorcycle up to the "Welcome to Lincoln" sign. He sighed as he stared at the graffiti covered sign. He looked out over the distance, able to see freedom, but having never been able to make it.

He sighed when he saw a car coming, it's lights shining brightly. He didn't move from his spot as the car came directly at him. He closed his eyes as he felt nothing as the car passed right through him. Once the car had passed, he looked over his shoulder at the car, watching it turn transparent, almost as if it was a ghost car.

"Nope, no change...." He muttered, to himself, having almost hope that the curse would only last the one year.

He turned his motorcycle back on and drove on past the city limits, only to end up on the other side of town.

He speed through the streets, coming into downtown Lincoln. He headed straight for the forest, hoping to discover something new this Halloween about the curse.

It was once again Halloween. Milo had gathered from his curse that he only changed during the fullmoon. That made him a werewolf. Well atleast Rose was able to keep him in check. He had not seen Jim in the whole year. What trouble had that brat gotten himself into? But it was sometimes like he could sense he had been somewhere. Milo knew his scent had gotten somehow better.

He had decided to take a late night walk, pondering their blight. How on earth could they escape this hell? Or rather how could he take control over it.
That was when he felt it again. A much stronger scent of Jim, going by. He watched the boy speed off to the distance.
He narrowed his eyes, deciding to follow the little brat. Maybe do a little catching up.

As he reached the forest he couldn't help but to wonder what was he doing here? He decided to shadow him for a while, sneaking behind the trees, keeping his eye on his little brother. 'Alright brat, let's see what you are up to...' He thought in his mind.

Jim left his motorcycle behind, not in the mood to try and maneuver it through the thick woods. He tired to follow the path that he took last year.

Why does Nature have to change things so much? He thought, knowing the path had changed some, even though he tried following it every day he could.

He paused at one point and glanced around behind him, almost feeling someone following him.

He kept the knife he got from his dad in his pocket, ready to take it out if needed.

He continued moving forward, mentally thinking it was taking longer then it did last year to find the place.

"Come on... where are you?" He asked, under his breath.

It seemed Jim was looking for something important. But what. Milo tried keeping a good distance awway from his brother, it seemed he was on his guard.

(and here comes Kayley )
The young woman wandered the woods, she had started to memorize the path back home....what was home? She wished she knew where she was. And yet....se felt like she was missing something, like the weird scary dreams she had every night. Some of them were people that seemed to be her own age and yet she had to watch as every single one of them died. She froze though when she heard someone's voice and shrank back doing her best to hide herself in the darkness. Who was it?

Jim sighed, before sitting down on the ground, leaning his back against a tree. He took out a granola bar out from his pocket and began eating it. Last time he ate was yesterday morning.

"I gotta get more food..." He said, to himself, as he laid his head back and closed his eyes.

His head snapped up when he heard a noise behind him. "Who's there?" He called out, reaching for his knife in his pocket. He kept his hand around the knife, not bringing it out of his pocket.

He slowly stood up, still leaning against the tree.

Jim stopped. Was he lost, or was this it? He followed his moves for a while, maybe peeking a bit too far from the shades of the trees. When Jim seemed to get on his guard he quickly hid behind the tree again.
Had his brother finally caught a wiff off him? He thought it best be quiet, and wait. Though in the air he could smell someone else around here.

The young woman let out a soft whimper which she hastily stifled as she backed up once again, she couldn't be seen, not by anyone!

Jim turned around and pulled out his flash light. He shined the light into the dark and notice a girl cowering in the dark.

"Whoa, hey, it's all right... I'm not going to hurt ya..." He said, trying to get her to come out. He was still on guard, knowing how the town had changed, so who knows what the girl was capable of doing.

It seemed the girl had caught Jim's attention. He carefully moved a bit closer to hear better what they would say.

The young woman had flinched away when the other person had shone the light on her...she slowly turned around to look at the other person with a degree of interest. He...seemed different....she slowly moved towards him almost timidly as she kept her head lowered.

Jim watched her come towards him, giving him enough time to look her over.

As she started coming closer, his mind started recognizing the clothes under the dirt.

He stared at her with mouth gaped open as the realization slowly started to hit him. He didn't even realize that he dropped the flashlight.

"K...Kayley?" He asked, softly, not wanting to wake up if it turned out to be another dream.

He frowned. Didn't Jim have a friend with that name? He leaned closer to listen in what they were up to, those little brats.

The young woman backed away when he spoke....that name.... she shook her head and then bolted, she didn't know where she was going as tears fell down her face. Why was she crying? It wasn't like she knew him She was scared...somehow seeing him made her scared about something....what though?

"Wait!" Jim shouted, chasing after her. He left his flashlight behind, but didn't lose site of her.

Didn't she used to be able to run faster? He thought, briefly to himself as he ran after her.

"Kayley! Stop! It's me! Jim!" He shouted, trying to get her to stop.

He had been worried about Kayley hating him for causing this mess, Kayley angry at him, mad at him, sad at him...

But scared?

"Please! Let me talk to you!" Jim called out, desperate. He had been looking for her for so long and the idea of her running away from him made him feel worse then he had all year.

The young woman tripped and fell, a little cry left her lips as she landed and she cowered on the ground as the other person approached her. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" She cried, her voice hoarse and dry with disuse, "I...I'm not who you think I am." She said as she kept her head turned towards the ground.

Jim stared at her as she curled on the ground. "Ley..." He said, softly, before kneeling on the ground beside her.

"What makes you say that?" He asked, pretty sure this was his Kayley...

(his Kayley? )
"I...I don't know who I am...I just...I just woke up...who are you?" She asked as she slowly looked up at him still frightened, she wanted to trust him...but she didn't know him. "Who am I?" She asked almost desperately as she slowly sat up and stared down at herself. All she knew were her dreams but even they didn't reveal who she was.

Jim stared at her in shock. "You.. you don't remember?" He asked, slowly.

"You-your is Kayley Riddle. We grew up together. I-I'm Jim Hawkins..." He said, his mouth not wanting to form the words.

"You-you just woke up?" He asked, trying to process the whole thing. "Do you know where you were?" He asked.

The young woman shook her head, "W..where am I?" She asked softly as she slowly raised her head to look up at him with a sad desperate look in her eyes. She wasn't sure about the name Kayley it seemed...so different....and this Jim he seemed sad about what had happened to her? She wasn't even sure anymore and she looked down again suddenly feeling overwhelmed.

"You're in Lincoln... where we grew up..." He said, watching her expressions.

"Hey, it's all right... we'll figure it out, okay?" He said, the moment he saw her face give a look of panic.

"If you want, I can take you back to your house? We can get you some fresh clothes and I can get you something to eat..." He said, trying to get her to relax and come with him.

He had to know what happened and he wasn't going to let her out of his site again.

She stared at him nervously before she slowly nodded, "Ok." She whispered quietly and slowly got up, she was scared that he would say her name again. She wasn't that person....she was her own person right? She was so confused and so tired she knew all of her emotions were showing but she couldn't care.

Jim stood up and stood close to her, wanting to make sure she didn't fall.

"I'll fill you in on everything and everything you want to know. All right?" Jim asked, wanting to let her know that if she had any questions he would be more then happy to answer.

Milo rolled his eyes at the lovey dovey scene. The girl seemed really messed up, and it seemed he would not get any valuable information out of theses two.
Milo leaned against the treetrunk, crossing his arms over his chest. He could leave, if he wanted to, but he wanted to know why he hadn't seen a hide or hair of his little bro for a whole year.

She nodded, "Um thanks." She said softly and then looked down at her feet, "So can you tell me more about you?" She asked curiously,she was after all trusting a stranger.