The date is Friday, December 3rd when the air gets cold and time moves much slower. Emery Wilson walked through the doors of Riverview High School with her friend group laughing and screaming, ready to start the day. Emery was a freshman in high school this year and was already excited for it to be over. Emery’s first class was literature, which she hated because of the way her teacher, Mr. Calaway, would talk for hours on a random subject unrelated to the class. Emery felt as if time was a snail and class would never end. It finally did and Emery got her bags and headed for her locker. Emery grabs her books and shuts her locker and as she is turning head to her next class Seven a boy a couple of years older than her stops her. “Hey Emery,” he said. “Hi seven,” she said in a quiet voice. Emery had known Seven since the 5th grade but always thought he was a bit strange. Seven was known in the school for being the star of the XC track team. Seven could navigate his way through any forest, mountain range, and valley you threw at him. Emery also knew him because her dad had briefly worked with Seven's dad. “So I heard you're pretty good at chemistry,' Seven says.” You could say that'' says Emery. “ I was wondering if you could help me with my Chem homework later?” Seven says. “You know I work late every day right?” says Emery, “Oh crap ya I forgot how’s your brother doing by the way?” “He’s doing pretty good but my mom freaks out every time something is just slightly off with him”. “ Damn well, I gotta run to class but keep me updated about your brother and chemistry,” Seven says as he hurries off.  Emery heads off to English class. After sluggishly getting through the rest of the school day, it comes time to leave school and go to work. Emery worked ten minutes away from school at a supermarket. Everyone at school thought it was horrible to have to do what she did but she liked it. She loved seeing all the people walk in and out happy and satisfied. The supermarket closed at nine-thirty but she had to stay longer to clean and lock up. Time must have flown by because before she knew it was 10:30 and it was just her and her manager Martha. “Sweetie, you are here too much, go home and get some extra rest,” said Martha. “ I'll be fine, I only have 30 minutes left,” says Emery. Martha walks over and grabs the mop out of Emery’s hand. “ Young lady go get some sleep”, seeing the serious look on Martha's face, Emery decides to comply. “ I guess I could finish early, " Emery says. As Emery is walking to her car she remembers that seven needed help with chem. Emery sends him a text telling him that if he still needed help she would be available but she needed to run home first.

Emery arrives home and sees her brother Jason in the kitchen grabbing a glass of water. Emery works at the supermarket because 4 years ago Jason was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, which she has to help pay for. It is just Emery, Jason, and their mom Carol. Their dad passed away from a car accident a year after Jason was diagnosed. Emery walks into the kitchen after putting her bag down and jumps on her brother which causes water to go everywhere. “ HEY NOT COOL! ” said Jason. “ Sorry,” Emery says with a laugh. Emery then goes into the near bedroom across from the kitchen to find her mom. “ Hi mom,” Emery says. “ Hey Em, how was your day?” says Carol. “It was good actually,” she says. “Hey mom, would I be able to go help a friend?”. “Yeh that’s fine just be back before midnight,” Carol says. Emery grabs her chemistry book and bag and heads out the door. She looks at her phone to see a text from seven that reads “hey em, whenever you're ready we can just meet by the local running trail and walk to my house”. Emery finds this a bit strange but decides to go anyway. She figured that he must have wanted to go for a walk since he was a runner. Emery gets to the trail, parks her car, and hops out. She sees a black figure in the distance moving closer and closer to her. Finally piece by piece she starts to make out that it’s seven and starts walking towards him. “Hey so which way is your house?” Emery says. It had been a while since she had been over to his house because his parents were pretty religious. “We're not going to my house just yet, “follow me,” seven, says with an expressionless face. Emery follows seven deeper and deeper into the woodsy trail when all of a sudden she sees a bright light. It was candles surrounding a big oak tree that was unfortunately dead. Seven turns around and says “ Emery there is something I have to tell you”. “ “shoot,” Emery says. “Emery, I have been watching you ever since I first laid eyes on you. You are everything I have ever wanted and we HAVE to be together,” he says. With a shocked look on her face Emery blurts out “ NO! I MEAN WHAT?”. Seven with a confused look replies, “Emery, I know you haven't had much dating experience but I can assure you will be safe with me”. Now in an offended tone Emery says “ Seven I barely even know you and even if I did you're not allowed to because of your parents”. “ I don't care about what my parents say, Em I want to be with you,” says Seven. “NO!” says Emery, not noticing Seven pick something up. * THAWACK*. Emery’s visions start to fade.

Emery wakes up dazed and confused. As her eyesight starts to slowly come back she can feel something restraining her but she couldn’t quite put it together what exactly it is. She tries to feel around and feels something bumpy and rough. As she runs her hands up and down she pieces together that it's a tree. She decides to shut her eyes again and wait to see if her vision comes back. Emery wondered if she would ever see the light of day again. After what felt like ages but was only 20 minutes Emery opened her eyes and could see. She saw herself tied to the oak tree with a beaten-up rope. Emery doesn’t see any sign of seven anywhere, which she was grateful for. She decides to shimmy herself underneath the rope. After breaking free she runs out of the woods to her car which she was surprised was still there. She was even lucky enough to have a spare key always under her license plate. Emily flees home and runs through the door. “EMERY IRENE WILSON,” Carol says, not looking happy at all. “ MOM MOM MOM I WAS IIII'' says Emrey, barely being able to make out the words. With a less mad but more concerned look Carol replies “ what’s wrong?” “ Someone grabbed me and tied me to a tree”. “ WHAT?” Carol says looking upset again. Then noticing the big red bump on Emery’s head Carol says “wait, did you hit your head?”. “Yes mom,” Emery says. Emery knowing if she revealed anything about seven would stress her mom out even more and decided to just go along with a fake story. She decided to say that the chemistry went great. It was on her way back that she stopped at a park to check a rattling sound in her car and that’s when she fell and hit her head.