The Nightmare The sound of that fateful scream rang in her ears as 15-year-old Samantha Elizabeth Parker awoke, trembling and crying in her bed, remembering the horrifying nightmare she had been having for months now, every time on Friday the thirteenth. It had gotten to the point where she was afraid to go to sleep, especially on this night, for she knew how vulnerable a person was when he or she was in repose. The most horrible part of the nightmare for her was that it was like a scene from a bad horror movie that she would rather forget, only it was more than just a bad dream or horror movie; it was real. The whole incident began about a year ago, a lifetime in Samantha's mind, for in those days she was not all alone. She had an identical twin sister, Amanda, whom she admired and loved with all her heart. Amanda was the quieter of the two. She had an incredibly level head, and usually had to work overtime to try to keep her mischievous double out of trouble. Samantha and her good friend, Kevin Olsen, were both great practical jokers, and on October 9 they teamed up to put their skills to use as a means of getting back at the most popular girl in school, Sandi McNeal, though she did nothing to provoke them. In their minds, just being the most popular girl in school was reason enough for revenge. Naturally, being the most popular girl in school, she had to have a very envious boyfriend, so the plan was that Kevin would talk her into going to the store with him. He would accomplish this by telling Sandi he'd found a possible Christmas gift for her and wanted her input. Samantha would be positioned across the street with a pocket camera, and when she gave him the signal, he would kiss her right on the lips as she captured the moment on film. They would then threaten to show the photograph to her boyfriend, who just happened to be Kevin's brother, Jimmy. Spoiled as she was, Sandi just couldn't turn down Kevin's offer, and the plan went off without a hitch. The only problem that Samantha hadn't counted on was that the Metropolis bank would be caught in the picture. She simply couldn't avoid it and still catch Sandi's expression. Samantha didn't really consider this a big problem at all at the time. She gave Kevin the signal and shot the picture. All of a sudden, though, she noticed something that made her a little bit uneasy. Two figures in black ran behind Kevin and Sandi from direction of the bank just as she shot the picture. She just hoped that they wouldn't cause any trouble. She arrived home to find Amanda sitting at the kitchen table looking very concerned and very annoyed. "Hey, Mandy! Something wrong?" "Sami, where have you been? I was starting to worry that I might have to do the dishes and set the table on my own, though I'll probably end up doing them alone anyway." "Hey, I resent that. I was taking pictures in front of that store by the bank, if you must know." At this, Amanda paled. "Samantha, what were you doing there?" "Nothing, just taking pictures. What's wrong with you? You look like you've just seen a ghost." Amanda rose shakily to her feet and looked into her sister's eyes with sheer terror. "Sami, I just heard on the news before you got here that the Metropolis bank was robbed at about 4:30 this afternoon. Please don't tell me you were there." "Well, yeah, I was, but I didn't see any bank robbers." "Samantha, I doubt you could tell a bank robber by just looking at him or her, and if he or she saw you taking that picture..." At this, Samantha's expression became just as pale and terrified as her sister's. She suddenly recalled the two strange men she had seen running and had captured on film. "Um, come to think of it, Mandy, it's not really that hard to recognize a thief." Amanda's mouth dropped. "You mean..." "I think I have a pretty clear photo of him coming out of the bank." That little piece of information was all Amanda needed to know before she raced to the telephone. "Amanda! Wait! What do you think you're doing?" "Are you crazy? I'm calling the cops! What did you think I was doing? Ordering pizza?" "Amanda Marie Parker, hang up that phone! Have you gone crazy? You can't call the cops! Neither of us can! No way! We can't risk both our lives by getting involved in this!" "Whoa, wait a minute. Who says I have to be involved? You call the cops! You saw them, not me!" "Mandi, even though I hate to admit it, we are both way in over our heads. We're both involved in this, like it or not. They saw me. They probably even saw me snap the picture. Neither of them even know there's two of us, so if they see you, they'll go after you; and you won't even know it because you never saw them!" "I don't like this at all, Samantha. I still think we should tell. I mean, isn't this what they have police protection for?" "Police protection? Haven't you ever watched a cop show or action movie? Did you actually watch Eraser, or did you sleep through it? The good guys would've gotten creamed had it not been for the invincible Arnold Schwarzeneggar." "Samantha, they're gonna come after us whether we tell or not. I mean, if we tell, at least we'll have a chance to go into hiding or something so that maybe they won't find us. If we don't tell, I give one of us about three days left to live, and if we tell, at least they'll be able to find the culprit sooner." "Mandi, you have to pinkie-swear not to tell anyone, including Mom." "Sami, I..." "Jennifer Amanda Parker, if you don't, I'll...I'll never speak to you ever again!" "Okay, okay, but I'm telling you this is not a smart idea." Mandi conceded with a sigh. "Pinkie-swear." "Pinkie-swear?" "Pinkie-swear," Amanda reluctantly repeated, and the girls hooked pinkies, sealing the sacred bond. At about 5:00 five nights later, Amanda walked home from her best friend's, Nicole's, house. All of a sudden, she got the strange sensation that she was being followed. 'Can't wait to get back to my nice, safe, and secure home,' she thought. 'Wait a minute, maybe not so secure. The burglar alarm and my window lock are broken.' Amanda cast a fearful glance behind her but noticed no one. 'Oh, well. It's probably just my imagination. After all, today is Friday the thirteenth, and someone who doesn't know I have a twin is probably following me because of Sami's stupid picture. Gee, I wonder why I'm so jumpy.' Later that night, as she was trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep, she was conscious of the unusual shadows the night was casting in her bedroom. She finally drifted off into an uneasy slumber, and her window opened silently, allowing a soft breeze to follow Jack Mitchell, one of the bank robbers, into her bedroom, his knife glistening in the moonlight. Moments later, he jumped out of the same window, running for his life, as Amanda Marie Parker breathed her last. Samantha also had trouble falling asleep, and, all of a sudden, she bolted up in her bed, terrified. She rushed to her sister's room as if in a daze, but was startled back into reality when she saw a guy in black running across the grass and onto the sidewalk. The amount of time it took for her to turn around and focus her eyes on her sister's bed seemed to take an eternity. The sight of her other half lying on the bed covered with blood and the sound of her own pain-filled shriek were the last things she remembered before she hit the floor and slipped into unconsciousness. For months after, Samantha blamed herself for her sister's death. She stayed in the hospital overnight the night of her sister's death, suffering from shock. Samantha turned in the horrible picture, which had never left her desk since it was taken, to the police, and the criminals were caught within the week. Like both girls had said, the guys thought they had taken care of the problem by killing Amanda. They never even suspected that they had killed the wrong girl. About six months of therapy later, she finally managed to stop telling herself, "If only I had listened to Amanda and called the cops, she would be alive today," and began to realize that she was not the one controlling the knife. She also knew that Amanda would want her to just get on with her life and live for the both of them. "I do not want to try to go back to sleep again," Samantha told herself. "No way, not after that nightmare. Maybe I'll just watch some television. There's nothing else to do." Samantha grabbed the remote control and sat down on the couch, so glad that her nightmare was finally over. "Now for a late-breaking news bulletin. Jack Mitchell and Lex Luthor, the two robbers who held up the bank on October 9, have escaped from prison earlier this evening..." Or was it really just beginning?