As Eve drove through the city, she was concerned and in some discomfort, both in the mental and physical ways.  She was in a hurry, trying to get to her daughter before her friend go into any worse shape and before anything happened to Rachel herself.  The description Rachel had given her gave her some scary thoughts in her head.  Somehow the girl had gotten cut and was, for some reason, overheating.  How that could have happen puzzled Eve.  She couldn’t have done it to herself, could she?  There could have been someone around their house who had attacked the friend, and that deeply scared Eve.  Every second that passed gave injury one more chance of inching closer to Rachel.

As she let on and off of the pedal, she also was in discomfort of the physical variety.  Having been in so much of a rush, she’d forgotten to grab some socks and shoes on her way out the door.  She was pushing on the pedals with her bare feet.  Eve’s feet were long, greatly extending the length of the pedal, and the edges of it were starting to make them sore.  “I should’ve at least grabbed a pair of slippers on the way out” she whispered to herself as she came to a stop at a Red Light.

As she stopped, she pulled her right foot off the gas pedal and started rubbing it with her hand.  They’d become very sore and were not used to pushing on the pedal of a car.  Her desire for rushing was also making it worse, as she had been putting more pressure on the pedals than she normally would, worried about her daughter.  As she sat at the intersection, she started thinking about the situation with Rachel, and her impatience with this light.  “Come on.  Come on, my daughter might be in trouble!”

The whole situation gave Eve a terrible feeling in her gut.  She felt like something was terribly wrong with everything she was about to walk into.  Her Rachel had finally been able to move away from home, and something terrible happens to her roommate in less than 24 hours?  It was a very strange coincidence and it made Eve feel extremely nervous.  “This feeling…it was just like that day back then.  I need to hurry…before I lose Rachel, too.”

The feeling in her gut had only happened once in her life before this day.  It happened many years ago, when Rachel was still a little girl.  It was the day when Nathan, her husband, left the house, never to return again.  He’d left the house before, but Eve could feel a terrible aura in the air.  Rachel saw the happy father that was excited about coming home to spend time with her, but Eve knew that the situation was incredibly risky and could end badly. 

She and Nathan had been talking a lot at that point about a strange little girl who had been following him around town.  Eve didn’t know much, but she knew that the day he disappeared was the day he’d agreed to seek out this girl and get her to stop following him around.  Ever since then, she had a strange feeling about who this girl was and what had happened to her husband.  She kept these feelings bottled up so she could protect Rachel, but they were coming back into her head as she thought about the scenario she was about to enter.

“All those years ago, and the memories still refuse to leave my head.  Why is this feeling coming back?  Why today, of all days?  I…no, I have to focus on the here and now and stop worrying.  All that’s important right now is getting to Rachel as soon as I can.  She needs my help and I’m not going to let her down like I let Nathan down…I’m not losing anyone else!”

As she continued talking to herself, she heard a loud honking noise from behind her.  Realizing she’d lowered her head during her small rant, she looked up and saw that the light had changed from Red to Green and there were many upset drivers behind her.  Her face started getting red as she picked up her sore foot and softly pushed it against the cold, ridged gas pedal, moving through the intersection and further towards her destination.

~Meanwhile~

Rachel had completely dropped the phone after crying to her mother and asked her to come and help them.  Her arms were trembling at the sight of poor Samantha, still lying in the bathtub.  As she was kneeling in front of the bathtub, she looked into the poor girl’s face, drenched in tears.  They were full of fear as she’d initially come into the room, before she’d fallen unconscious.  She was frightened by something, or someone.  It frightened Rachel, and it made her sad, thinking that it happened to the girl because she left her alone for awhile.

She closed her eyes, ashamed of looking at the girl.  Dropping her head and thumping it on the side of the bathtub, she started whimpering and crying out to Samantha.  “I…I’m sorry…I never should have left you alone…I…”

As she was in the middle of her crying and whimpering, she heard a noise from in front of her.  She slowly raised her head up to take a look in front of her.  She wasn’t exactly sure what the noise was, but she was sure she’d heard something moving.  As her eyes began to open, she gasped.  Before her eyes was Samantha, eyes open and staring at her.  Slowly raising her arm, she moved her hand over Rachel’s wet cheek, feeling the tears she was producing.

“R-rachel?  Why are you…crying?” asked the weak Samantha. 

Rachel was in awe at the situation.  Samantha was the one injured and sweating, yet she was reaching out to Rachel, asking about her well-being.  Raising her own hand, she slowly grabbed onto Samantha’s arm, shaking both of their arms from the feelings that she was having at the moment.  Bringing the arm down, she looked into Samantha’s eyes, tears in her own.

Rachel then immediately reacted.  She jumped into the bathtub with Samantha and wrapped her arms around her.  She held herself above her stomach with her knees on the free areas of the tub, avoiding contact with the cut injuries as she held her.  Closing her eyes, she pulled Samantha’s shoulder into her face.  “I’m sorry!  This is all my fault!  I never should have left you by yourself.  I…I

She was slightly interrupted by Samantha’s soft, weakened voice: “Rachel, what are you talking about?  I…I’m alright.  T-this isn’t your fault…”

Rachel waited for her to finish, and continued her statements.  It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate Samantha’s gratitude and efforts to make her feel better, but deep down, she knew it wouldn’t have happened had she not made the excuse to leave and go to the kitchen.  As she continued, she held Samantha tighter, not realizing she was pulling the girl up and pushing against her stomach.

“It is my fault, Samantha.  You’ve been nothing but kind and caring to me this entire 2 days.  You’ve done nothing selfishly and have only wanted what’s best for me.  How did I repay you?  I denied your help, made excuses to go do something by myself, and now look at you.  You…you’re hurt, and it’s because of….me”

Samantha was weak and felt pain all over her body as Rachel hugged her.  The pressure on her wounds sent many jolts through her body.  She grunted in pain, but tried to keep it as quiet as she could as she thought of ways to stop Rachel’s depressive rant from continuing.  “Rachel…it’s not y-huh?”

She stopped as she heard something from beyond the bathroom door.  It sounded like footsteps…