Pretty Dark Nothing by Heather L. Reid

Grabbing his phone, he scrolled through his contacts and pressed SEND. It rang once, and he hung up.
    Chicken. Frustrated, Aaron tossed the phone to the floor.
    He needed to focus. Jenna would be annoyed if he didn’t bring a new song to tomorrow night’s rehearsal. Jenna. Now there was someone he should ask out. She was perfect: feisty, gorgeous, and witty. And she’d been hinting for weeks now that she wanted to be more than friends. Aaron enjoyed flirting with her, but that’s as far as it went. Singing softly, he worked through some possible lyric to go with the new melody.
    To pick them up again and again,
    when the whirlwind comes again and again,
    and there’s nothing left for me to mend,
    or my life is at a bitter end.
    Tell me why I can’t get this song to end!
    Why can’t Quinn be my new girlfriend?
    Quinn. Great, she wasn’t just taking over his thoughts, but his music too. Why did every thought revolve around her? She was just a girl. Did they even have anything in common? At least he and Jenna shared a love of music. Not to mention, Quinn was clearly still hung up on someone else. Someone who could never make her happy. Not like he could.
    Aaron picked up the phone and dialed again. One ring. He thought about what he would say when she answered. Two rings. He wiped sweat from his palm and shifted the phone to his other ear. Three rings. He resisted the urge to end the call. Voicemail. Relief and disappointment washed over him as he waited for the beep.
    “Hey, Quinn, it’s Aaron. Um, Reese gave me your number. I hope you don’t mind. I wanted to make sure you were okay, you know, after what looked like a really crappy day.” He winced at his own words and wished he could delete the message and start again. “Anyway, you’ve got my number now. Feel free to use it if you need anything.” He paced as he talked. “Get some rest. See you tomorrow.”
    The second Aaron ended the call, small, electric shocks crackled through his brain, and a wave of fear swept through him like a tsunami. What the hell? Aaron reeled as the electric shocks grew to a hammering pulse—a siren of sound and feeling. He gripped the bedpost, steadying himself, but the strength of emotion overwhelmed him, and his knees buckled as the vision engulfed him.

CHAPTER NINE
    The lake shimmered golden blue in the sun. Quinn relaxed on a pink blanket on the thin strip of beach. She stretched and took a deep breath. The smell of honeysuckle floated on the breeze, warm and intoxicating.
    She closed her eyes and listened to the lake lapping the shore, at peace for the first time in months. She stood and kicked off her flip-flops, letting the cool waves wash over her toes as she waded along the shore. Gentle swells caressed her knees, and she raised the hem of her yellow sundress to keep it from getting wet. Content, she stopped and closed her eyes, wiggling her toes in the squishy, sandy bottom of the lake. A fish brushed the side of her leg, tickling her until she giggled.
    She opened her eyes to take in the last few moments of beauty, the sky turning from pink to fiery orange, to the purple of dusk within seconds. As the sun slipped beneath the glass surface of water, she tried to grab control of the dream, to force the sun back in the sky, but the darkness had slipped past her defenses and overpowered her.
    Nightfall had stolen all the light in the world, leaving the sky pitch black. No moon. No stars. Strong currents churned around her legs, and goose bumps covered her flesh. She hugged herself, rubbing her bare arms in a futile attempt to keep warm as the bitter wind bit her face and whipped her hair into a million dancing strands. The joy drained out of her, leaving a dark pit of hopelessness.
    She stood still, blind in the darkness, and willed herself to wake up. Would her mother be home by now? Maybe if she called out, someone would hear her and shake her from the nightmare. The chilled waves pounded her thin legs, creeping past her