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After I tuck him in I feel something slide out of my shirt and I
check to see the front page of the essay Shana wrote in my name has fallen.
    “Oh right, gotta copy this,” I say reluctantly. I chuckle to
myself. If I'm too lazy to copy it, then I'd have had no chance to write it
myself. Where would I be without Shana? My little moment of humor leaves me as
I see the despairing topic she wrote about; The Salem Witch Trials.

 
7: The Tree
     
     
     
     
     
    I don't like how melancholy Shana's essays are. The first
time we were discussing the project the mood was cheerful, but when I look at
these essays I feel saddened. It feels like Shana really does have ghosts
haunting her, almost dictating what she writes. Our roles in the Salem Witch
Trials are very different. She's one of the women accused of witchcraft, and
gets executed for it, but I am a woman who only sympathizes with the witches. I
feel like that plays into what happened when she lost Denise, and I kept Adam.
She's not jealous, but she's been hit harder than I have.
    The story tells about how she's accused and I work hard to
protest and defend her, but in the end I'm hanged as well. Is she trying to
tell me something with this? Is that why she wrote the essays so
diligently? Is this her way of telling me not to help her? It's ironic, I can
figure out that something supernatural is going on around here quickly, but I
can't read in between the lines my best friend has written.
    I almost don't want to turn these essays in, but if I care
about our grades, then I really have no choice. Beggars can't be choosers, as
my Bubbe likes to remind me when I’m being picky. I'm walking from the bus to
the school with Shana's essay, and my copied version, when I see something.
There is a cop questioning one of the students at the school. I get closer and
recognize the officer as Deputy Yew, the policeman who drove Shana and me to
the hospital.
    When I enter his field of vision he looks up at me and waves
me over. I walk up to him and catch the last phrase of his conversation.
    “...then let me know if you hear anything. Thanks...
Alyssa,” he says.
    “Good morning,” I greet. He didn't cut himself when he
shaved this morning.
    “I'm afraid I have some more bad news,” he said. Bad
news? About who ? It can't be Adam or anyone in my family because I saw them
not thirty minutes ago. Wait a minute. Shana!
    “Is she alright?” I ask immediately.
    “She? Who? This is about Mr. Douglas, and some missing
students,” he says.
    “Oh, go on,” I say, relieved.
    “We've received reports of some missing children, teenagers
mostly. We can't launch a formal investigation, but all of the missing teens
are related to some of the deceased,” he explains. I nod.
    “Alright, now one of those missing teens is Jason Larch,” he
says.
    Jason is missing, that doesn't sound like bad news to me. 
    “Jason had a court date this morning that he missed, even
his parents showed up. They assumed he was with a friend,” he continues. Well
that's what you get when you don't raise your kids right.
     “It just so happens, that Mario Douglas was reported
missing from the hospital around three in the morning last night. The hospital
staff say Mario was about to be released as he had some relatives ready to take
care of him, but he disappeared,” he says.
    “So you think Jason and the others had something to do with
this?” I ask.
    “Yes, and we're hoping maybe you've seen any of these kids?
Jason is the only one in your grade, but do you recognize the other two?” he
asks. He shows me pictures of Jason and two girls that look a little older than
me. There is a fourth picture in his hand, but it's of a chubby boy that looks
like he might be in the fourth or fifth grade. Jason looks like the only one
that would be interested in murdering Mr. Mario, but I guess you can't judge
people by their pictures.
    “I'm sorry, Jason is the only one I recognize, and I haven't
seen him since