Knock. Knock. The knocking at his door was growing louder, pulling Braxton out of his sleep. “Who is he?” He groggily called out. After his dream about Khloe he had woken up and was unable to fall back asleep for a while even if he felt exhausted. Eventually, he was able to sleep once again, but that sleep wasn’t enough for he still felt like he needed more.

“It’s your mom.” He groaned. “Open the door.” Standing in his doorway was his mother, who had her hands placed on her hips. “It’s already noon, you need to get up.” He glared at her. “Alright, alright, I’m getting up.” Throwing the covers off of himself, he got out of bed.

“Happy?” Of course, he wasn’t expecting an answer. “If you want some breakfast I made some sausage and eggs, just make sure you do the dishes, yesterday it was your turn and you never did them.” Before he could speak she had already walked off. ‘Why did this have to happen first thing in the morning?’

Walking into the kitchen caused a feeling of dread, obviously not wanting to see what kind of mess was left for him. Both parts of the sink were overflowing with dishes. ‘Let's get this over with.’

Thirty minutes passed, and he was only a little over halfway through. ‘I guess this is what I deserve for putting it off for so long.’ He stared down at the bubbly water, a frown etching its way onto his lips. ‘Why did I suddenly dream about Khloe? I haven’t dreamed of her since the week after she died.’ He bit on his bottom lip. No matter how much he wanted to convince himself it was a dream, he had a nagging feeling that it wasn’t.

Once done, he left. ‘I think I’ll go see her and bring her something.’

Finally, he arrived at the city’s graveyard. Due to how small the city of Ember was, there were a few acres of land dedicated to a graveyard of residents that passed. If you grew up in or moved to Ember and passed away, chances are you would end up buried here, unless relatives planned differently.

It was hot on this day, with no wind to help keep somewhat cool. The graveyard had no visitors today, except for Braxton. Braxton walked up to a cross-shaped tombstone and bent down on one knee, putting down some sunflowers on the grave. “Hey Khloe, I went and bought you some sunflowers, I know they were your favorite flower.” Silence. “I… had a dream about you last night. You were trying to speak to me, but I couldn’t figure out what you were trying to say at the end. Silly, right? I know you aren’t here anymore but yet I dreamed of you.”

A sudden strong breeze came through one that could cut right down to the bones. “What the…?” He was beginning to shiver, unable to stop it. “What’s going on?” ‘Find her before it’s too late.’ “Who is that?” He practically shouted. However the voice didn’t sound as if it came from another person, it sounded as if it came from inside his mind. ‘You don’t have much time! You MUST find her Braxton!.’ It was Khloe’s voice. “You’ve got to be shitting me. I must be imagining things!” Quickly he turned on his heels, heading back to his car. Something stopped him in his tracks.

Off in the distance, he could make out a figure. It appeared to be watching him. This angered him, and he began to walk towards the figure. Before he could make it past his car the figure had suddenly disappeared in front of his eyes. “What the fuck?!” He yelled. “I just need to go home and get some sleep, I’m seeing shit.” Slamming his car door shut as he got on, he turned his radio up as loud as he could as he drove away from the graveyard, hoping to not come back for a while.

Along his way home, he caught himself driving close to the neighborhood that Khloe had lived in. Since she passed Braxton hadn’t gone by her house, not even to check up on her relatives. He got along well with her family, but he felt too ashamed to show his face afterward.

Unsure of what drove him to do it, he decided that he was going to drive by. As he approached the house he turned down his music. There was a huge moving van out in front of the house. ‘What the…?’ He drove closer, then he spotted Khloe’s younger brother. He looked exactly like his sister and he was carrying stuff and loading it into the moving van. ‘Maybe I’ll see if they need some help.’ He thought, pulling off to the side of the road and parking.

“Hey, Stephen,” Braxton said sheepishly as he approached the boy. The boy stared at Braxton and then smiled. “Braxton! Long time no see!” He was shorter than Braxton by afoot. His eyes were the same bright green as his sister’s and his skin tone was the same. They could have been identical twins if they had been born at the same time. “Sorry about that. I was just driving by and noticed you packing up this van. I thought you could use some help.”

Stephen nodded. “Always. Everything is already packed up, it just needs to be loaded up in the van. We have some stuff out by our front door so you can start there.” Braxton nodded and went and grabbed a box, as he picked up the box he noticed it was a lot heavier than it should be. “So,” he spoke as he loaded the box. “Are you guys going on some kind of vacation?” Stephen looked down at the ground at this question. “We’re moving. We’re going out of state. Since Khloe’s death, mama and papa haven’t been able to handle living in the house that their daughter took her own life in. It took a long time just to get her things packed.”

‘I should have been here for them.’ He couldn’t help but blame himself. “I’m sure Mama and papa would love to see you. We were going to come by your house later because we had some things we wanted to give you.” “Give me?” He was perplexed. “Yes, go talk to mama and papa and we can give it to you now.” He nodded then headed into the house that he once considered a second home.

“Oh, Braxton!” A woman called out from behind. Without having enough time to react, he was being hugged from behind. “Mrs. Tate, how are you?” He turned around to allow her to hug him properly. “Hanging in there.” He could only nod in silence. What else could he say? “My husband is going to be so happy to see you. We were hoping to see you sooner, but things have been crazy around here.” The woman looked fragile. The last time Braxton saw her, she was more full of life and had a healthy weight. Now she was close to looking like a walking skeleton. “I would love to see Mr. Tate.” He spoke softly as if he was afraid his words might knock her off her feet. “This way then darling.”

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They headed up the stairs and towards Khloe’s room. Standing in the doorframe Braxton could see Khloe’s father kneeled over a box, staring at a picture that he held in his hand. “Dear? Braxton is here to visit.” At the mention of his name, her father stood up. “Ah, Braxton, I’m glad you came.” The room was empty except for the one box. “I was in the area and wanted to stop by.” He rubbed at the back of his neck, regretting that he never came by sooner. Seeing the look on his face Mr. Tate patted his shoulder. “You don’t have to feel bad for not coming around after her death. Her death was hard on all of us and everyone has their way of handling their pain and sadness over losing a loved one. We understood and we were never upset. It’s good to see that you are doing well.”

“I’m still sorry, you all were like a second family to me and I never came around when you all needed someone the most.” He felt tears starting to well up in his eyes. “This box is actually what we wanted to give you. It’s some of Khloe’s stuff, we’re sure she would want you to have it. We’ll take it outside and let you spend a few minutes here until we leave. Alright?” Mr. Tate asked. Braxton nodded.

He was able to hold the tears in long enough for the other two to leave the room. His tears were silently rolling down his cheeks in streams, not stopping anytime soon.

“Khloe, I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for your family. I should have been here. Why was I not there?” His voice was barely a whisper. A small gust of wind caught his attention, he looked over at the window that had an overview of the backyard.

“It’s okay.” Startled, he turned around. There she stood. “Khloe?!” She was barely visible and he could hardly make out her details, but he could hear her voice clear as day. “Thank you for visiting my grave. It means a lot, as well as you coming by.” Quickly he wiped away his remaining tears. “Braxton before I have to go, I need to tell you, that dream you had wasn’t a dream. I’m not allowed to tell you much, helping you can cause a lot of trouble, but I can at least tell you hints that can lead you to the truth.” She walked by him, brushing his shoulder as she did. Her touch was cold as ice.

She stood at the window, looking out. “I loved this view. Remember? During the spring when mama would grow her flowers, it was beautiful. I wish I could still be here to see that again. I always took that view for granted.” She sounded sad as she spoke but then turned back around. “Enough of looking back though. Braxton, you need to know that this room wasn’t my death place. That’s all I can tell you.”

“Wait, then at your grave, was that you speaking to me?” He asked in a hurry. Her form had started to fade. She shook her head. “Be careful Braxton. Hopefully, I’ll be able to see you one more time after this.” With that, she was gone. “Come back!” It was too late.

“I’m sorry I took so long. Do you guys need help putting anything else into your van?” Braxton asked, emerging from the house. He looked around and it appeared that the boxes from earlier were gone. “No, we just finished everything except the box of stuff that we wanted to give you,” Stephen replied, holding out the box to be taken.

Taking the box out of his hands Braxton smiled. “You look so much like your sister. I miss her.” Stephen patted his back. “Me too. It was good seeing you again. Listen, if you need us for anything, let us know, okay?” With that, he was slipping a scrap of paper into Braxton’s pants pocket. “That’s our new number. Call anytime. For now, we have to get going, mama and papa are already in the car waiting to go.” Braxton nodded. “Be safe.” “We will.” Stephen hopped into the van and Braxton watched as they drove off.

He looked down at the box that was now in his arms. ‘Wow, this is heavy. I hope I can carry it to the car.’

Incoming call from Sammie. “Oh shit, why is he calling me now?” He had his car door wedged open with his leg, shoving the box into his passenger seat before answering the phone. “Hello? Sammie?” “Braxton, where are you?” Samuel sounded worried. He never sounded worried. “I’m about to head home. I stopped by the Tate family house. Why?” There was a brief moment of silence. “Something was delivered to the house for you. A letter. Some creepy old man showed up and wanted to give it to you in person and was wanting to wait around until you got back, it was a hard task convincing him to leave it with us.”

“I’m coming.” He hung up before his brother could say anything. He broke out in a cold sweat, speeding on his way home.

As he walked through the front door he was greeted by an envelope being shoved into his face. “Here, take it.” His brother seemed bothered. “Samuel, did something else happen?” Hesitation flashed in his eyes before he finally decided to speak. “When he left the letter, he wanted me to tell you something. He said to come to find him when the time is right. That you are the only one who can save the town. He wouldn’t say his name or give any other kind of info.” As weird as it was, he felt like he had been waiting for this.

“Okay, got it.” He took the envelope and headed to his room to read it.

‘Dear Braxton T.,

I hope this letter finds you well. You do not know me nor have we ever met, but soon enough we’ll cross paths if we did not meet when I deliver this letter. I shall not inform you of my name. Not yet. There is danger lurking in Ember City. As you are right now you cannot save anyone, but once the time comes you will seek me out, and you will have the ability to save this town or turn it into shambles.

With dearest regards,’

“What does this even mean?!” Frustration was boiling inside him. He couldn’t make heads or tails of the things he had experienced that day. ‘First, some voice tells me I have to save someone and then some strange man is leaving me a letter saying I’m going to save this shitty town? Fuck that!’ He crumpled up the letter and threw it onto his bedroom floor. “I should go ahead and bring that box in and go through it.”

Within a few minutes, he had somehow managed to get his ass back outside and had brought the box of Khloe’s stuff to his bedroom. “Let’s see what’s inside.” He mumbled into himself.

The first thing he saw when he opened the box was a picture. The picture was of him and Khloe working on something together, though he couldn’t recall what it was. He smiled fondly at the picture then placed it on his bedside table.

The next thing he had grabbed from the box was a letter. ‘What’s this?’ He turned it over to see writing that only belonged to Khloe.

‘To whoever finds this, when you read this you will have found my body,’ Suddenly it felt like the whole world stopped spinning. ‘It’s her suicide letter, but why did they give this to me? As payback?’ He thought bitterly.

‘I have decided that I’m going to take my life. The only one to blame for my death is Braxton Taylor. I was so in love with him. He strung along with my feelings like I was some toy to end up tossing me to the side. I have decided if I cannot have his love, then life is no longer worth living. As a result of rejecting my love for him I am taking my life, and maybe one day he will realize he loved me too.’

‘I heard in her letter that I was written as the cause of her ending her life, but all over not loving her back? But she seemed fine and acted like she completely understood when I told her I didn’t feel the same way!’ He felt anger boil inside of him. His whole body started to feel like it was on fire. Suddenly the smell of burning hit his nose. “What the hell?” He got up, and suddenly the smell was gone. “That was so strange.” He mumbled to himself.

Bzzt. His phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out to see a text from Willow.

‘Hey Brax, I was wondering if you would want to go hang out tomorrow? I just feel off and had the feeling I should see you sooner than our plan for shopping.’

‘Yeah, let’s meet up at the park tomorrow around eleven.’

‘Okay, see you then. Sleep well Brax!’

With plans with Willow made, he crawled under the covers, missing the new spot on his comforter where it appeared to be burned. Where his hand previously had been.