“Sabina?” No response. “Sabina, where are you?” why isn’t she answering me? “This isn’t funny!” It truly isn’t. She was here next to me five seconds ago and now she’s gone. “You know how scared I get!” Actually now that I think about it, I am outside…alone…at night.”Sabina, please!” now my nerves are truly on edge. I hate scary jokes and she knows that! She is so dead once I find her.

“Oh no.” the words were lower than a whisper. This isn’t some sick joke, this is real. I may not even have the chance to give her a hard time. Because at this point, who knows if I’ll ever see her again? The tears instantly started to roll down my face. “Sabina?” instead of calling for her, the words were more of a hopeless, quiet cry.

Just then, a horrible, ear-piercing scream came from the forest. About thirty feet from where I am standing. Run. That’s all I know how to do, run. I want to scream myself, but I know that won’t help anything.

I have to find someone. It’s about midnight but there has to be someone. At least one store is open on this street. With all my energy I bang on the glass of the window display. “Help! Somebody please help me!” no lights are on. In fact, as I look around, no store lights are on. None of the stores are open. A sharp pain picks at my heart. But I can’t stop. I can’t give up. Not now.

I run up the street. The street with no cars, no people, nothing. Only the street lamps and a hysterical teenager running all over the place to find someone who isn’t there. I bang on another glass window. Only this time, my hand aches from the force of my hand against the glass. “Please! Please!” I scream. Quieter this time, “please.” I fall to my knees, my hand sliding down the ice cold window. “Please.” “No one will help me. Or Sabina. Or the person who screamed.”

Just then, I see a movement from the corner of my eye. I cup my hands around my face and peer into the closed store. A person moves inside. They are facing opposite of me, slowly walking-limping even-toward the back entrance. My heart jolts back to life. “Hey! Hey you! Help me please! I need help! Now! Can you hear me!” the person stops. Their head slowly turns behind their shoulder to look at me. A full, long ten seconds passes by. My heart slowly dies down as they turn back and move in the opposite direction. “No!” but it is useless, he/she is gone.

I look up. I never thought I’d be so grateful for a streetlamp. The only thing that makes any sense on this abandoned, ghost-like street. The last remaining item from my once safe, reasonable world. Then, slowly, one-by-one every street light went out. I didn’t think my heart can sink any lower. But it sank with every flicker of every lamp post.

I can only stare at the dark street lamp above me. Why? My heart makes another jolt as I hear the voice I’ve been longing to hear. “Sarah?” her voice is quiet...weak. She must be hurt. “Sabina?” a woman with long hair turns the corner. I can’t even see her face; the moonlight is my only light now. But I know it’s her. “Sabina!” the muscles in my legs turn to jello. She walks over to me like an injured turtle.

“You have no idea how glad I am to see you!”

“I am too, Sarah.”

Nothing could prepare me for what happens next. The moon catches Sabina’s face. Her once beautiful, long, honey blond hair is matted. Matted with a red, sticky substance. Her clothes also covered with the liquid. A long gashes cuts across her chest. She’s dead. She’s simply dead.

My best friend pulls out a long knife… about the same length of her gash…also covered in blood. She’s slowly takes another step toward me. Except this time, I notice she’s limping. Now everything comes together. Sabina screamed. Sabina was the person in the store. Sabina was murdered. And now, for a reason unknown to me, I was about to end up dead, murdered, just like her.

In movies, you always see the girl have a mental breakdown. She falls to the ground and screams. She reminds the old friend of all the great times they’ve had together. Hoping it will somehow work. Sometimes she even tries to run. Not me. The tears stop. My eyes feel dry. My heart is no longer up or down, just numb. I can’t move any part of me. I can’t even scream. My eyes don’t move away from the long knife in Sabina’s cold, pale hands.

“Best Friends Forever” said Sabina.

I know now this is how I will die, in the hands of my best friend. All I do is close my eyes and wait. But nothing happens. I slowly open my eyes. I know I’ll see her there, the knife raised, about to plunge into my heart. My eyes open and I see…

My ceiling fan. My head turns to my alarm clock, its 6:30 a.m. confusion, and then relief as I hear my sweet mother call my name. “Sarah, time to get up. Oh, and Sabina called.”