When no one replied she began to get even more frightened. She counted to three and quickly turned around and ran towards the direction of the center of town. She ran for a few minutes without looking back. She finally looked back when there were cars and people around but no one was there. She looked around for a minute making sure some one was watching her because she still had the feeling that some one was. When she couldn�t see anyone she turned around and walked into a nearby diner that was still open. Marlena sat down in an unoccupied booth. The dinner was quite crowded for this time of night. She recognized some people from school but tried to ignore them. �What ya want?� a waiter came over and asked. �Oh well I haven�t looked at the menu yet, what would you suggest?� Marlena asked. �How about this, I�ll come back in two minutes all right?� the waiter replied and walked away.
Marlena wonder why everyone seemed so edgy in this town. She was looking at the menu, thinking about what to get. She finally decided on what she wanted and tried to flag the waiter down with no luck. Marlena put her fist on her chin and put her elbow across the table waiting for the waiter. �So do you always go to diners at night alone?� a man asked from behind. Marlena turned around. �Oh, John� she said with a half smile on her face. He went and sat down across from her. �You know I never got your name earlier.� John told Marlena. �Oh, it�s Marlena.� Marlena said finally making that half smile a full smile. �So I�m guessing you�re new to this town. It takes time getting used to but you learn to love it.� John told Marlena. �Really, well I hope I do!� Marlena told him, looking down at the table. �Well, I can�t stay to chat, I�m meeting someone here but I�ll see you in school.� John said while giving Marlena a cute wink.
John got up and walked over to another table, standing by it. When the diner�s belle rang, Marlena turned around to see who it was. �Oh, no.� Marlena whispered to herself.
It was Cindy. She knew who she was here for; she was here to meet John, her boyfriend. She can�t stand it; the one person who talks to her is the person going out to the meanest girl to her. She got up to go leave but was stopped by Cindy. �What are YOU doing here?� Cindy blurted out to Marlena.
The whole diner filled with her classmates stopped and watched them. Marlena hated this, what was this girl�s problem. Marlena didn�t reply at first.
�What are you a mute, answer me.� Cindy demanded �I�m just here for the same reason everyone else is Cindy!� Marlena said with an attitude. �Oh, what you giving me attitude now?� Cindy said right up in Marlena�s face.
Marlena didn�t care to take it, she was better than that, so she just walked by her and left. Marlena could feel the tears swelling up in her eyes. She hated this, why were people so mean, why did people feel to pain her more. She�s had a rough year already with her parents dieing, and now she has no one to console in with her feelings. She walked around town for a while, she had no where to go, she felt like she could have just wandered forever with no end. She decided to go to the grave yard. Though her parents weren�t buried there, she felt close to them, to their souls. While walking there she felt that shiver up her spine again. This time she was certain that some one was watching her. She looked at her watch; it was 11:48, almost an hour and a half after leaving the diner. Could some one still be watching her now? She was beginning to feel really creped out. Then a car drove by, spotlighting the section where she thought she heard a rustle from. She saw the shadow of a man. It reminded her some one but she couldn�t put her finger on it. She decided to face her fears and step closer to the figure, trying to get a closer look but when she started to move towards it, it jogged backwards. She knew now that it was a man. She wanted him to know she wasn�t scared, so she tried to chase after him but he ran away. She stopped when she saw him run away, could it be some one she knew? She knew no one though, so she thought it must have been a stranger. She was too creped out to go into the cemetery now so she started to walk home. While walking home she was kicking through some falling leaves. She loved the essence of fall, it was her favorite season. She loved the thought of a new school year starting; at least she used to like the idea of it until this year. She didn�t want to have her favorite season ruined though, so she decided to try to make the best of it, not let people get the best of her. It was 12:23 on her watch when she walked in the door to her house. She held on the railing exhaustingly while she walked up the stairs. She walked into the room happy to be there but still felt sad. She missed her old room, her comfy bed. Her room now was cold and had a depressing feeling to it. She toke off her shirt and walked over to her dresser and toke out a pajama shirt and slipped into it. She then toke off her jeans and slipped into bed. She stared at the ceiling for a while, thinking about what could she be doing back in Colorado right now, she could be hanging out with her friends, and back with Jacob. She toke a big sigh in before she finally got comfortable and fell asleep.