So, her strategy was to hang out in the girlÕs room until the bell rang. Once the halls were empty she would go to the parking lot and hang out for an hour. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were still pretty puffy, but hopefully not too noticeable. The only real evidence of the previous night's horrors was an ugly black and purple bruise on her wrist. Maria was wearing a long sleeved shirt which covered it up nicely.

"Hey Maria. Where have you been hiding? I haven't seen you all day."

It was Liz. For once, Maria was not glad to see her. She knew that she would not be able to hold her cool around her for too long. Oh, how she longed to tell Liz all that had been going on, but how could she? Mr. Cooper said that no one would believe her. Well, maybe Liz would, but anyone else? She could'nt take that chance.

"Just the usual. Bio, European History. Now I'm late for Geometry. I can't afford to, um, fall even farther behind." Maria gathered her books as if she were about to leave. "Are'nt you late too?" "Are you alright? You've been kind of edgy lately. And why are you wearing long sleeves on a hot day like today? Usually when you wear something funky you are hiding something, like a hicky."

"Yah right." Maria hoped her snort sounded convincing. "It is just a new shirt which I was dying to wear today. Nothing wrong." It was quiet in the halls so she knew the coast was clear. "I'll see you later."

"Maria?"

She stopped walking. "Huh?"

"You're going the wrong way. I believe Mr. Cooper's room is on the left."

"Oh," Maria smacked herself on the head. "Silly me. I guess I am a little out of it today. See ya."

When she was sure Liz was no longer watching, Maria turned back around and walked towards the exit.

**************************

Michael felt like going to English class today. What the hell, they were reading Hamlet which he thought was pretty cool. It also gave him a chance to check out Maria without her jumping down his throat. He didn't understand what was up with her. He had tried to be friendly since she helped save him, but she wasnÕt buying it. What more did she want from him? He certainly wasn't about to apologize, especially since he hadnÕt done anything wrong.

He slipped into a desk in the back row. Class had already been going for 20 minutes but no one seemed to notice his late arrival. He looked around to find Maria sitting hunched in her seat.

Throughout the half hour Michael continued to observe her. She doesnÕt look too good today, he thought. She looked very pale and there was something funny about the way she held her head. She was sleeping. And her other arm was dangling down, slowly swinging. When it lost momentum, he noticed that she had some weird purplish tattoo on her wrist. When did she get that? No wonder she was wearing a long sleeved shirt. I would wear one too if I made an ugly mistake like that. Suddenly, it registered. That's not a tattoo, it's a very nasty bruise.

**********************

For a moment Maria was unsure of where she was. The bell had woken her, and it took her a bit to realize that she had slept through English. She saw that her shirt sleeve had bunched up enough to show her bruise. Quickly, she pulled it back down and headed into the hall.

"Maria, wait up." It was Michael.

"Well, well, well. Look who decided to come to class today."

"Hamlet is a pretty decent play."

"Figures you would relate to a guy who drove his girlfriend crazy."

"At least I was awake, which is more than you can say."

"Is that why you stopped me? Who elected you classroom monitor?" Maria could tell that she was getting to him because he was all red in the face. He would be walking away in the next second.

But he didn't.

Instead he said, "Let me try again. Are you OK? It's just that you don't look too good."

"Flattery will get you nowhere."

"It's true.Your skin is all pasty, and your eyes are bloodshot. Not to mention that bruise." Before she could stop him, Michael reached over and touched her wrist. She could tell by his startled expression that he had made a connection with her. She pulled her arm away, but it was too late.

"Somebody did this to you," Michael said in a suddenly steely voice.

"No, no."

"A man. Who was he Maria?"

"Nobody did it. I did it. Anyway, why do you care so much? I'm fine, I can take care of myself." She walked away before he could say anything else.

************************

"You guys notice anything weird about Maria lately?" Alex asked as he joined Max, Isabel and Michael over lunch at the picnic bench.

"You mean more than usual?" said Michael as he added some honey to his extra spicy taco.

"You know, I don't think she has been sleeping lately. She's got these dark circles under her eyes."

"She fell asleep in English class today."

"Michael in English?" Isabel gave him a poke in the ribs.

"Shut up. I like Hamlet."

"Doth my ears deceive me?," added Max.

"C'mon you guys, this is serious. I bet her behavior has something to do with Mr. Cooper." Alex continued. "The general weirdness all began after her mom started dating him. And get this, Liz told me that she saw Maria right before Geometry today. She made a big deal about how she was late for class, and how important it was that she do well. But the thing is, I know that she never showed up. Something is definitely wrong, but she won't tell us. How can we help when she won't talk?"

Michael stood up. "I've got it covered." "You?" said Alex. "How can you help? She can't stand you right now."

"I know what to do. Don't ask me any stupid questions."

********************

Michael knew he had some limitations as far as his paranormal abilities were concerned. However, dreamwalking was'nt one of them. He just did'nt do it as often as Isabel because he had no interest in the inner minds of humans. In this case, though, he felt it was necessary.

He took a old shoe-box out from under his bed. He rummaged around until he found what he was looking for, a picture of Maria which he had ripped out of Max's yearbook.

It did'nt take him long to find her. She sat rocking on her bed with a quilt wrapped around her. She did'nt seem to notice his presence, but just kept rocking, her eyes in a fixed stare.

She was mumbling something. He crept closer to the bed. "He might come back, might come back, might come back..."

"Maria?" Michael knelt down in front of her. "What are you doing?"

"...might come back, might come back..."

"Who might come back?"

She looked right through him.

Suddenly, there was a loud crunch on the other side of the door. Someone was using an axe to chop the door down. "Maria, that's right. Don't tell anyone about me, they would only think you were crazy. A crazy liar."

Michael gripped Maria's shoulders and tried to shake her into awareness. "Maria, listen to me. Is that Mr. Cooper? Is he hurting you? C'mon, you can trust me, I can help you."

"Can't tell. He warned me not to. Can't tell, can't tell, can't tell..."

"Ma-ri-a, is there someone inside there with you? I can hear him talking, you better not be saying anything to him." Chips of wood were flying into the room. There was now a hole in the door almost large enough for someone to fit through.

There was only one thing Michael could do. He leaned over and screamed directly into Maria's ear, "WAKE UP!!!!!!"