Chapter 1

"Nathaniel! I will not have you disturbing my class yet again! Move over here," the teacher boomed, pointing her finger at the empty seat at the front of the class room.

"I don't want to sit at the front of the class with her!" Nate whined, rocking back on his creaking chair. The frustrated teacher closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I wasn't asking for your approval Nathaniel. Please move or I'll send you to the principal's office," she threatened. Begrudgingly Nate stood up and made his way to the empty seat, the seat that just so happened to be next to my own. Yes, the main reason why Nate didn't want to move seats was not because he'd have to sit at the front of the room and away from his best friend and partner-in-crime Lucas, he was seemingly used to doing so as a consequence of his poor behaviour in class. The main reason he didn't want to sit at the front of the room was because that meant sitting next to me, which would probably be seen as punishment by most of my classmates.

 I don't think I'll ever understand why teachers think that moving a bad student next to a good one will magically straighten them out. It's not as if I would willingly speak to them anyway, I prefer to keep to myself, especially when it comes to trouble makers. Things have been hard enough on me lately, the last thing I need is to be stuck next to my grade's most notorious trouble maker for the rest of class.

 Nate threw himself onto the seat beside me, he rested his hands on the back of his head and leaned backwards. He'd look like a tourist sunbaking on the beach in the peak of summer if it weren't for his bored expression. I decided to pay him no attention, scribbling down some class notes in my notebook even though I most likely wouldn't need or even use them. The situation wasn't so bad to deal with until he decided to take out his pen and started tapping it on the table. He's going to drive me insane, I thought to myself as I tried my hardest to ignore it, but it became too much for me to handle.

"Can you not? I can't concentrate when you're tapping with that damn pen," I muttered to him, trying to keep my voice low so that the teacher wouldn't call me out for talking over her.

"Tch, nerd," Nate rolled his eyes.

"Jerk."

"Teacher's pet," he retorted with a faint smirk. We probably could've exchanged insults for the rest of the class if we tried, but I decided to cut it off before things got too nasty. A cracking sound came from the pencil I was writing with as the lead snapped. Ignore him Holly, he's not worth it. You know that.

 "I've had enough of this class!" our teacher exclaimed, instantly grabbing everybody's attention. "It isn't long until your senior year! You are supposed to be setting an example for the younger kids. I want all of you to write three paragraphs about respect, you won't be allowed to leave until you hand it in to me."

 The classroom was suddenly silent, with only the sound of pencils and pens against paper. The silence was disrupted by a loud knock on the classroom door. Our teacher calmly walked across the room and answered the door, only opening it enough to be able to see who was outside. Out of curiosity, I looked away from my work to see who it was, but I couldn't see a thing.

"I'll be back in a moment. If I come back to find anybody misbehaving I'll have them writing lines in their break times tomorrow," our teacher threatened. I couldn't help but smile faintly, that was a threat I hadn't heard in a long time. It must've been pretty effective though, the class remained silent even when she nowhere to be seen.

 Nate leaned closer to me, obviously trying to get a good look at what I was writing.

"That's too long! Write it for me and we'll call it even," he groaned.

"What have I ever done to you?" I asked, legitimately curious.

"You haven't done anything," he admitted. "You're just naturally annoying."

I decided to ignore him once again. This wasn't the first time I'd been stuck sitting next to him, I knew that he'd only worsen my mood if I let him. He had a habit of acting this way when nobody was paying attention to him, and I wasn't about to fall into his trap, especially since the eyes of the rest of our classmates would be on us. Nate got a kick out of making me look like a fool in front of everybody else.

 Somebody's phone vibrated. Unsurprisingly, Nate pulled out his phone to confirm that it was his. I glanced his way, momentarily distracted, and caught a glance of the message he had just received.

 

If you really want to get to her, mention you-know-who. Taylor xo.

 

I froze up, wishing I could erased what I'd just seen from my memory. I understand that Taylor hates me, but its barely been six months, how can she joke about it like that? Taylor was sat amongst the rest of the 'cool kids' at the back of the classroom. I had once been friends with her, I had once considered most of the 'cool kids' friends, but I'd recently discovered that it was very much one-sided. I could generally handle whatever her and her minion friends threw at me, but this was on a whole other level. This was something I never would've thought she'd say.

I noticed Nate typing a reply, I couldn't help but watch it unfold. I was paralysed.

 

I know I may be an asshole, but don't you think that's a little much? Nobody would want to be reminded that their boyfriend is dead.

 

There was nothing wrong with Nate's response, it was actually surprisingly reasonable and decent, but my eyes stung with tears. I could feel my face growing hot, my pulse was racing. I was trying my hardest to not let the tears fall from my eyes. I knew it wouldn't be long before somebody noticed. I clumsily dropped my pen from my shaking hands and buried my face in them. Stop… stop. Calm down. You can't do this again. Not here… not now. They'll all judge you.

 "Really? You're crying again?" Nate raised an eyebrow. "You were reading my messages over my shoulder weren't you? How rude."

"You're such a hypocrite!" I snapped. "How many times have you read my quiz answers over my shoulder?"

"I only do that if I don't know what to do! It's not my fault that the teachers can't teach!"

"That's because you're dumb Nate, not because the teachers are bad! You never know what to do! You never listen in class!" At this point the words were just spilling from my mouth. It became apparent that I'd certainly hit a nerve, Nate's brows practically knitted together and his eyes were wide.

"Not everybody has to be a perfect student like you Holly! To be honest, I don't want to be! You wonder why you have no friends now that Oliver is gone? It's because without him, you're just a stuck up bitch! You look down your nose at people like me who struggle to get good grades!" Nate stood from his seat, shouting down at me.

"When have I ever done that?" I asked, feeling quite helpless and confused.

"Just shut the hell up Holly!" Taylor yelled from the back of the room, her friends encouraging her involvement. "Have your mental breakdown elsewhere! Everybody's sick of the sight of you crying, just get over it already!"

"I've been trying to move on, but how can I? Every day I am reminded that my best friend was killed!" I sobbed, Taylor rolled her eyes at me, looking away. Her friends just glared at me.

"You're not the only victim! I was close with Oliver once too! Quit acting so fucking down about it all the time, you look pathetic. Everybody else is moving on, and yet here you are still playing the victim," Nate pointed out, earning a few claps from a few people in the room. I kept my eyes on the ground, feeling beaten down. He's right.

 "That's enough!" the teacher burst through the classroom door, obviously having heard the yelling. "Holly, Nathaniel, both of you go outside right now!"

"Hell no!" Nate protested. "If you think I'm going to apologise to her you are mistaken!"

"Out! Now!" the teacher commanded, raising her voice even further. "Nathaniel, I'll deal with you first. Holly, go for a walk and calm down."

 Nate stormed out of the classroom, slamming the door shut behind him. I timidly stood from my seat and made my way out of the classroom. I headed for a block of classrooms nearby that were soon to be demolished so I knew that I'd at least be alone there. I sat myself against the grubby brick wall, something I might not have considered if I were thinking straight. For the first time in a while I allowed myself to just sit there and cry. Once I had managed to calm myself down a little, I pulled out my phone to look at my lockscreen picture. It was a photo of Ollie and I, the last photo we ever took together. I couldn't clearly remember what day it was taken or why we took a photo together in the first place, so it must've been a normal day. We were both smiling and still dressed in our school uniforms, Ollie had one arm around me and formed a peace sign with his opposite hand. Looking at the photo hurt, but not as much as it had a few months ago.

 Ollie… why are things so difficult without you around? Everybody's changed… when I was with you I had so many friends. They've made it pretty clear that they have no interest in talking to me anymore. I wish I had somebody with me who understands. You always understood, sometimes even without words.

 "Holly? Could I have a moment please?" The teacher asked, drawing me out of my thoughts. I quickly stuffed my phone back into my pocket and stood up, brushing myself off. She didn't look angry as she had back in the classroom, she looked more sympathetic, but I knew that didn't mean I wasn't still in trouble.

"Look, I understand that you must still be going through a rough time, and that's fine. It's completely understandable, everybody was affected by what happened. However, no matter how much you are provoked, you can't take your grief out on others. Even though Nate acts stupid, that doesn't mean he really is. Your words really hurt him, so I'd like you to apologise to him before you both return to class," she instructed me. I started to feel guilty about what I'd said to Nate. I had obviously misjudged how much my words would affect him.

"I understand, I'll apologise," I bowed my head. I kept my eyes on the ground. I couldn't look at her, I felt too embarrassed about my behaviour. I never got in trouble, and now that I had, I never wanted to get in trouble ever again.

 I followed the teacher back to the classroom. As she walked back inside, I noticed Nate standing outside the door waiting for me. I felt another wave of embarrassment.

"Nate… I'm sorry about what I said about you, I realise that I was wrong--"

"Don't waste your breath, it's not as if you really care anyway," he snapped, his eyes still burning with the same anger as before. "I'm done with you," he added, walking back into the classroom. There was no point in being persistent, I knew it would only lead to another argument. I followed him back into the classroom feeling completely drained and ashamed. There was no way I was going to get anything productive done in the mood I was in, and the last thing I wanted was to be stuck sitting next to a pissed off Nate for another thirty minutes so I decided to approach the teacher.

"Please excuse me, Ms Johnson. I'm not feeling well," I informed her, still not meeting her eyes.

"Okay, go to see the school nurse," she sighed. "Don’t forget that you have an essay due tomorrow."

 After quickly gathering my things, I made my way out of the classroom. As soon as I was out of the sight of my classmates, I felt like I could breathe again. Unfortunately, it didn't erase my dark mood. Screw going to the school nurse, I'm going home. I didn't live too far away at all so walking wasn't going to be an issue. This was my first time skipping out on school, I might've felt nervous if I were in a better mood.

 I walked around the back of the school near the farms where the agriculture classes were taught. I knew that the chances of anybody catching me there would be pretty slim, and I was right. The only life lurking the green, weed-riddled paddocks were the chickens and cows. I still tried to keep my distance from them despite the fact that they were highly unlike to dob me in for skipping class, I didn't have many good experiences with any sort of animal. I followed the dirt track around the side of the school hall and to the school gates. Luckily for me, nobody was hanging around the front of the school which made me escape a lot easier.

 I walked the nearby streets until I came across the dirt track that I usually took whenever I was walking to or from school. The dirt track led through some woodlands and my house was just on the other side. It wasn't the only route home, but it was definitely the quickest. I decided to take the dirt track because it was the safest way for me to get home fast and without getting caught. Walking down the dirt track I felt myself grow more at ease, it was a beautiful place to be when it was warm outside and the sun was shining. The harsh sunlight made the leaves look an extremely vivid and beautiful green.

 I was lost in the beauty of it all until I heard somebody talking in the distance. I wasn't alone.

"Quit trying to sell us your lies and just come clean. I hate seeing your face just as much as you hate seeing mine, once you come clean we don't have to keep meeting like this," I heard. I looked around myself and eventually notice a group of boys standing in a clearing to my left. I stop walking, scared that I would somehow alert them of my presence. As I stare at the group unsure of what the hell I was supposed to do, I noticed a familiar face. I would recognise that blonde hair and those leaf green eyes anywhere. Ollie? No, of course it's not, it must be Cruz. Cruz was Ollie's twin brother, I'd known him just as long as I'd known Ollie. I'd known him long enough to consider him family. Recently I'd been avoiding him, mainly because of just how identical he was to his late brother. Yes, I felt guilty about avoiding him, but my parents had been encouraging me to do so for a long time. They claimed it was unhealthy to hang around him whilst I was mourning. I do admit that it was hard seeing him and being around him, but I couldn't even begin to imagine how hard it must've been for him of all people.

 "I've told you before, and I'm not going to tell you again. I'm not lying to you, I know absolutely nothing. I can't understand why you think I out of all people would know," Cruz replied coolly, his face unreadable. One of the boys with dark brown hair with bangs that swept across his forehead like a curtain stepped closer to Cruz.

"Isn't it obvious?" the boy said. His voice, I could now confirm, was the one I'd heard before. "You've always seen me as competition. You'd do anything to get under my skin."

I examined the boys surrounding him, trying to identify another familiar face. Who are these guys? I've known Ollie and Cruz almost my whole life and yet I've never seen these guys before. I carefully crept behind a tree trunk and continued to watch the group. I had no idea what was happening, but I was concerned for Cruz.

"I honestly do not care about you enough to go to such drastic lengths to get under your skin. I don't know where he is, end of story. Go back to crying over Lana, you're wasting my time here," Cruz shot back coldly. The boy he was speaking to grew visibly angrier. His face turned very red and his chocolate brown eyes grew black. He clenched his fists and struck Cruz across the jaw. Cruz fell to the ground from the force, blood dripping from his nose and the corner of his mouth. I gasped, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Cruz was a good guy, he was never the type to get into fights with people. This, of course, led me to believe that he was not the one in the wrong. The boy braced himself to hit Cruz again.

 Time seemingly stopped for me. I couldn't watch any longer, but I couldn't just walk away. I couldn't let Cruz get hurt anymore he'd been through enough. Ollie wouldn't have hesitated to save him. Ollie wouldn't have wanted this. Before I knew it, I was screaming.

"Stop! Don't hurt him!" My words attracted the attention of everybody in the group before me. Everybody froze and just stared at me in shock. They obviously weren't expecting to be caught by somebody. Cruz's eyes widened and his gaze met mine. The boy who had been furious before, suddenly relaxed and shot me a smirk.

"Who do we have here?" he asked, seeming strangely satisfied with my presence.

"What are you doing here? Run! Now!" Cruz yelled. Yet, I remained frozen in place. My heart was pounding, but it was like my mind had completely shut down. The smirking boy approached me slowly, like a predator sneaking upon its prey in the wild.

"Don't mind us, this is none of your business. Just go!" Cruz added.

"Now, now. Don't be rude she only just got here. Give your little hero a chance to save the day," the boy mocked. Oh god, what have I gotten myself into?

 "Leave him alone," the words practically fell out of my mouth. The boy in front of me seemed amused.

"Why should I? Do you know what he's done to deserve this?" the boy questioned me, his leather jacket straining as he folded his arms.

"Chase…" another of the boys growled. This one had shorter light brown hair and looked a bit older than the boy standing in front of me. The boy before me, Chase must've been his name I assumed, raised his hand, silencing the other boy.

"Let her answer, I'm curious," Chase instructed him.

"No, I don't know what he did, but he doesn't deserve to be hit. I know him well, he's a good guy. He's been through enough already so just let him go. Besides, isn't 4 vs 1 a bit unfair?" I replied, trying my hardest to sound reasonable.

"But now you're here to save the day, that evens out the odds a little, don't you think?"

"Leave her out of this! This is between you and me," Cruz cut in.

"You don't have to let them hurt you if you've done nothing wrong like you said. You should run, they won't hurt me, they probably wouldn't hit a girl," I pointed out. Chase laughed in response, his laugh gave me chills.

"I've never met somebody so naïve," he said, earning disapproving looks, even from his friends.

"That's enough Chase. Let's get out of here, this is a waste of time," the light brown haired boy suggested. He clearly wasn't afraid to stand up to Chase. Chase rolled his eyes.

"Fine. Looks like you really did save the day after all," he said, ruffling my hair with his hand. I shuddered under his touch. He then began to walk away with his friends trailing behind him.

 Once they were out of sight, I ran over to Cruz and offered him a hand since he was still on the ground. He shot me a look of disgust before slapping my hand away. I was stunned, this was a side of Cruz I'd never witnessed. The Cruz I knew was a really kind and easy-going guy. Perhaps he was just acting like this because he's been having a rough time.

"I don't need your help," he spat, picking himself up off the ground.

"Excuse me?" I cradled my stinging hand, still in shock.

"Why didn’t you run like I told you to? They would've hurt you without even flinching."

"I was just… I was just trying to help you! I hate seeing people getting ganged up on like that, and you're like family to me. I couldn't just stand by and watch," I explained, hoping my words would calm him down a little, but they seemed to have no effect.

"They're more than just a group of playground bullies! These guys are serious!" Cruz exclaimed, his eyes were starting to resemble Chase's when he got mad. I could feel my hands start to tremble. I never thought there would come a day when I was afraid of Cruz. He must've sensed my fear, he took a deep breath before calmly speaking again. "Run home before you get yourself into more trouble and stay away from me."

As we both parted ways, the same thoughts kept running through my head. In all the years I've known him, he's never been like this before. He's usually so kind and polite… but I guess losing his twin brother has changed him. Maybe he's angry because I've been avoiding him. Even as I arrived home and got changed out of my uniform, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I couldn't stop thinking about how angry he was, and how intimidated he made me feel. I thought that maybe I'd be able to help somebody for once. I couldn't save Ollie, but I thought that I had a shot at helping Cruz. Clearly I was wrong. I'm just a burden.

Chapter 2

 

"So let me get this straight," Jenny pushed her strawberry blonde bangs out of her face. "You just happened to stumble upon Cruz having some kind of showdown with a bunch of shady guys in the woods. I'm sorry, but this all sounds rather ridiculous. Are you sure this wasn't some kind of weird-ass dream?" she asked.

 We were making our way out of class at the end of school the day after the incident with Cruz. I decided to confide in Jenny because she was the closest thing I had to a friend at the time. Jenny was one of the people I'd known since primary school, she was always nice enough to me to my face at least. She had always been way more popular than I had ever been. The other girls envied her beautiful shoulder-length wavy strawberry blonde hair that always seemed fit for a photoshoot. The boys chased after her because of her bubbly personality and runway-ready body. Despite her popularity she had never aligned herself with Taylor and her hoard of minions, Jenny was one of those nice popular people, she was rarely nasty to anybody. She was often open to conversation with me because our Mums were close friends.

 "I know it all sounds a little far-fetched Jenny, but--"

"Cruz isn't that sort of guy," she cut me off mid-sentence. "He would never act the way you said he did."

"Look, I really can't explain why he was like that either--" I started again.

"Also, even if all of this were true, why on earth would you just willingly throw yourself into a situation like that? Do you have a death-wish?!" She exclaimed. I cringed, hoping that none of our classmates nearby had overheard our conversation.

"I don't know," I sighed. I expected her to start ranting again, but she didn't so I seized the opportunity to defend myself. "I was already having a terrible day, I had Nate and Taylor causing me problems in class and then I made a fool out of myself in front of everybody by reacting. My day couldn’t have gotten any worse and I couldn't just stand by and watch, he was getting hit," I added, images of Cruz and his bloodied face flashed through my mind again. I did the right thing, didn't I?

"Even so, getting yourself involved in something like that is never a good idea. You should've ran back to school and got somebody to help," she pointed out. I couldn't argue with that, she was absolutely right.

"I guess so… but then I would've got in trouble for cutting class."

 "Wait a second," Jenny stopped walking, I also stopped and turned to look at her. "This all happened when you were cutting class? Since when have you been cutting class?" she interrogated me. I instantly regretted even mentioning it. That was another thing that separated Jenny from the rest of the popular people, she didn't think it was cool to break the rules.

"Yesterday was the first time," I explained. I kept my eyes on the ground as I spoke. "It's not something that I'm planning to get into the habit of doing. I just needed some space."

"Holly, maybe you should get some help. Perhaps you should visit the school counsellor again for a while," Jenny suggested. I know she didn't mean it in a malicious way, but I couldn't help but feel a little offended.

"What? This has nothing to do with that. I'm fine, really," I reassured her, hoping she'd change the subject. I could tell by the serious look on her face that she wasn't going to.

"You're not fooling anybody. You're not dealing with this properly if you're letting your grief get in the way of your life. It's concerning now that you've started putting yourself in dangerous situations."

"I'm okay. I'm fine. Really," I snapped, feeling quite irritated by her persistence.

"I'm sorry about bring this up but you need to know that this is not something Oliver would want to see you doing," she continued, much to my annoyance. "I know he often encouraged you to get out of your comfort zone and to go after guys but I'm sure he wouldn't have sent you after a bunch of sketchy thugs."

 "I wouldn't say that Cruz is a sketchy thug," I pointed out. "And I think that if Ollie were in my place he would've intervened as well."

"No, Cruz is not a sketchy thug, but he has obviously had some degree of involvement with these other guys," she stated, resurfacing my confusion about the whole situation. Cruz, a guy I thought I'd known quite well and had known almost my whole life, was somehow involved with those guys. What was bothering me the most about the whole situation was that I did not have a clue why he was involved with them and I had no idea what they were fighting about yesterday. From what I could gather, Chase and his friends were looking for somebody, but who? Were they looking for Ollie perhaps?

 "And if Ollie were in your place, would've at least been able to defend himself. Would you have been able to defend yourself If they'd turned on you?" Jenny asked. Now that she'd pointed it out, I realised that the prospect of having to defend myself had not even entered my mind yesterday. I was obviously too worked up to think clearly.

"No, I don't think so… I guess you're right," I gave in.

"Just be more careful, alright?"

"Alright," I sighed. We started to walk again. "Hey, are you busy tonight? I know you were talking about struggling with the maths homework so I was thinking I could come to your place and help you study."

"Ah, sorry my boyfriend is taking me out tonight," she replied. Strange, I could've sworn they broke up a week or two ago.

"Oh… well how about tomorrow then?" I suggested, hoping she'd accept the offer. I needed a distraction.

"Sorry, I'm very busy at the moment, I'll call or message you if I struggle too much with anything," she told me, pulling out her mobile phone. She pressed a button to bring up the lockscreen. Her lockscreen photo that was once of her and her boyfriend was now a picture of the lead guitarist from her favourite band. "Anyway, I've got to go, my bus will be leaving soon. I'll see you later," she smiled as she began to walk in a different direction.

"Sure thing. Bye!" I waved to her. I watched as she bumped into another one of her friends and started enthusiastically talking to them. I wondered if she really was going to catch the bus or if she just didn't want to bother talking to me anymore. If she doesn't want to hang out with me she could at least have been honest with me about it rather than pretending to be busy all the time.

 I continued to walk on my own, so many questions about Cruz and Chase continued to plague my mind. There were so many other things I probably should've been thinking about, and yet I was stuck on them. What if this Chase guy had some kind of problem with Ollie and was now looking for him? No, I would've known, Ollie never hid anything from me. If it was Ollie that he was looking for, wouldn't Cruz just tell him the truth? But if he isn't looking for Ollie, who is he looking for?

 There was a tap on my shoulder, jolting me out of my thoughts. I looked to the side of me to see Cruz smiling warmly at me just as he always did, as if he had completely forgotten yesterday's events. Now I was even more confused.

"Hey, would you mind if I walked with you for a while? I need to talk to you," he said, his eyes glistening like peridot in the sunlight. It was a stark difference to the eyes I'd seen yesterday, I couldn't help but feel slightly dazzled by them. Strangely, his face didn't show any signs of being hit by Chase. I want to say no… after the way that he treated me yesterday I should say no. Didn't he tell me to stay away from him?

"Uh… sure, go ahead," I replied, my curiosity getting the better of me. Maybe I could find out some more information about what went down yesterday.

"So, how has your day been," he asked, cocking his head to the side like a puppy. "Good? Bad?"

"Uh… average. How about you?"

"My day has been pretty good for once. There's nothing like catching up and hanging out with friends at school, don't you think?" he gushed. I winced, surely he'd heard that I wasn't doing so well in the friendship department at the moment. "I haven't seen you hanging out with your friends for a while now, did something happen?"

"School isn't always so enjoyable for some of us," I pointed out, he frowned at me. I wasn't sure if he was feigning concern or if he was being sincere. "It became pretty clear to me recently that my so-called friends only liked me when Ollie was around."

"He definitely was the kind of person that people were drawn to," he reflected, his voice soft as he stared ahead.

 For a moment I forgot all about the incident that'd happened the day before. Cruz was seemingly back to his old self, and it made me realise how much I had missed his company. If I wanted to, I could just act as if nothing had happened. If I chose to forget it all, could I go back to thinking of Cruz as a brother to me? But what had he done to deserve getting hit by those boys? It made me wonder if I should even be talking to him or if I should keep my distance.

"Sorry for putting this so bluntly, but what exactly do you want from me? Last time I checked you wanted me to stay away from you," I broke the short silence. I expected some sort of drastic reaction from him. I expected that maybe he wanted to act like it all never happened. His expression remained calm and composed.

"That's actually the reason that I came to talk to you. I just wanted to apologise for the way I acted yesterday. I'm grateful that you tried to 'save me' but you misjudged the situation. I had it under control, there was no need for you to get involved," he stated.

"Right. So what you're really trying to say is 'thanks but no thanks', am I right?" I retorted.

"No, I did just say that I was grateful. It just wasn't necessary, especially for a girl like you," he said. I don't think he was aiming to get on my nerves, but he certainly had. Had he always been like this?

"A girl like me, huh," I shook my head. "Look Cruz, I don't really have time for this and you're sort of making everything worse so I'll see you around," I told him. I tried to walk ahead of him, but he caught my arm, stopping me. His hand was cold.

 "I truly am sorry about the way I acted, but you got yourself involved in something… beyond your understanding," he explained. He should've just kept his mouth shut. Now that he was insinuating that I was dumb, I felt even more annoyed.

"Please, leave me alone," I sighed, trying to keep myself calm. "I get enough trouble from everybody else, I don't need you talking down to me and acting as if I'm some naïve little girl."

"But you are!" he snapped.

"Excuse me?" my mouth hung open in surprise. He closed his eyes and sighed, gathering himself before speaking again.

"You heard what I said, I meant it, and that's precisely the reason why I need to talk to you. You could be in danger. I'm trying to do you a favor," his grip on my arm tightened as his spoke, and his expression darkened. He was becoming the other Cruz again.

"As far as I'm concerned the only danger to me is you. Let go of me," I instructed him. My words were completely ignored and seemingly had no effect on him whatsoever.

"Those guys I was with, they know your face now, and they know where to find you. If you ever see them again, run," he warned me. I didn't care for his words, I just wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

"I said let go of me."

"You don't understand me at all, do you?" he scoffed, "You wonder why I call you naïve and then you start acting like this. They won't come for you as long as I'm with you. You're safe with me."

"You're not making me feel safe at all. I got myself involved yesterday because you're like a brother to me, I thought you were the better person. I thought I knew who you were but suddenly I'm seeing a whole other side of you, and it isn't a good side. I can see now that I was wrong, maybe they're the better people. Maybe you deserved to be hit," I said. Cruz was left stunned by my words. I pulled my arm out of his grip and left him behind. I looked behind me once I was a fair distance away, and he hadn't moved an inch. He remained frozen in place.

 As I walked, I examined my arm which was now red and sore from where Cruz had grabbed me. I was sure I would probably wake up with a bruise the next day. It wasn't until my legs started to ache that I noticed I'd been walking pretty quickly and that my heart was still pounding from my encounter with Cruz. I took a deep breath and slowed my walking pace. It was over now, there was no need for me to be frightened anymore. I quickly checked my surroundings, just in case Cruz did in fact happen to be around. He wasn't, the only sign of human life was a small black car that pulled up to the curb ahead of me. As I approached it, I wondered if anybody was going to get out of the car, but even as I passed it nobody did. That's kind of odd, I thought to myself.

 I continued on my way, up ahead I could spot the entrance to the dirt track that would take me straight home. I took a sigh of relief, feeling slightly more at ease. A mobile phone chime rang through my ears. Instinctively, I pulled out my phone to check why it had chimed. I pressed a button, expecting to see a notification on my lockscreen, but there was nothing. Nobody else is around, if it wasn't my phone, whose was it? Maybe my phone just had a glitch or something. I tried to reassure myself, but the paranoia that Cruz had stirred up before was now coming back to me again.

 I checked over my shoulder, expecting to see nobody again. This time, there actually was somebody. There was a man walking a few metres behind me, dressed in a black hoodie and matching black pants. They hung their head low, making it near impossible to identify any of their facial features. I watched as they stuffed their mobile phone back into their pocket. I looked back ahead of me before they could notice me staring at them, I felt extremely intimidated by this person and I didn't particularly want to get on their bad side.

 I wondered if they were following me, or if it was just a coincidence that they were walking behind me. Maybe I should pretend to be on the phone to somebody, just in case they are following me. But then again, I'm no good at acting, especially in a situation like this. I could picture myself attempting to pretend that I was talking to somebody, but failing miserably as I stumbled over my words under the pressure. Yeah… I would definitely not be convincing enough.

 The dirt track was only a few metres away from me now, I decided that taking it was probably the best option. If I take this shortcut I can confirm for sure if this guy is following me or not, nobody uses this pathway. If he does follow me still, I'll run. If I run fast enough I should get home before he manages to catch up to me. There was a certain degree of risk with my plan. Yes, it would mean getting home quicker, but I was also walking into a reasonably secluded place. Obviously, if this guy was really following me, I could've been playing right into his hands. However, I reassured myself that I was probably just being paranoid and that the guy would not follow me.

 I turned onto the dirt track and began to listen out for anything that could signal that the guy had followed me. There were a few moments of silence, with only the sounds of leaves rustling in the trees and the distant chirping of birds. I began to settle down and relax. I heard the crunching of the dead leaves on the ground from behind me. Without even checking behind me first, I ran as fast as I could. As I ran my mind was completely blank, it was my body had switched to auto-pilot mode. It was amazing that I didn't trip over anything as I ran.

 I was running short on breath when I spotted the light at the exit. Judging that it would probably be the safest time to check, I looked over my shoulder. They guy dressed in black was nowhere to be seen. I came to a stop, feeling like a complete idiot for letting my paranoia get the best of me. So he wasn't stalking me after all… I just embarrassed myself yet again… great. I turned back around to face the exit again, and came face to face with the person I wanted to see the least. My heart stopped.

"You…" I gasped, tentatively stepping backwards.

"Yes, it's me," Chase smirked, stepping closer. The only thing running through my mind was what Cruz had told me earlier.

 

They know your face now, and they know where to find you. If you ever see them again, run.

 

Yet, my legs no longer knew how.

 

"What do you want?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly.

"You're quite perceptive, I'm impressed. I've only uttered three word and you've already figured out that there's something that I want," he said. I was unsure whether he was being sarcastic or not. As with the day before, he seemed amused by me, and it scared me. "All that I want is some information. That's it. And if you give it to me now, I can leave and we can all go home."

"I don't know what information you could be talking about. I don't know anything," I assured him. I wished that I knew what information he wanted so I could just tell him and he could leave.

"But you do know Cruz, right?" he cocked his head to the side, his chocolate brown eyes boring into me. "I don't see why you would've risked your life for him yesterday if you didn't at least know him."

"Well… yeah I know him," I answered, feeling extremely confused. Chase smirked again before turning his back on me.

"Thank you, that's all I needed to know. Come on Levi, it's time to go," Chase called out. I had no idea who he was referring to until somebody grabbed me from behind. It was the guy dressed in black who'd been following me earlier. Suddenly it all made sense, he had been luring me into a trap, making sure I did exactly what they wanted me to. Chase began to walk towards the exit of the woods. I was dragged along in the same direction by his friend Levi.

"Wait!" I yelled, starting to panic. Were they trying to kidnap me? "I thought you said that I could go home after I told you what you wanted to know!"

"You misinterpreted my words," he said, his back still to me. He turned and flashed me a smile. "I said that we could all go home, I never meant your home. I meant mine of course."

"No! Please! Let me go!" I begged, tears beginning to roll down my face as I panicked.

"Levi please deal with her, I already have a headache," Chase sighed, his face now serious.

 

The last thing I could remember was his friend placing his hand on the top of my head.

Chapter 3

My eyes fluttered open and I was staring up at the roof of a darkened, unfamiliar room. I was lying down on what appeared to be an old wooden bed. The mattress springs creaked under my weight as I sat myself upright. I examined my surroundings, the room was lit only by a small lamp on a cabinet next to the bed. The room was quite small, the only other furniture in the room was a wooden dresser, a small coffee table and an antique arm chair. There was one small window that was covered by some curtains, there was no light shining through them. My head ached as I wracked my brain, trying to remember where I was and why I was here. I'm still dressed in my uniform, so I guess I didn't make it home, I thought to myself.

 After giving myself a few moments to adjust, I stood up from the bed. I slowly made my way over to the door. I tried to twist the door handle, but it was locked. I hit the door, trying to force it open but the door remained shut. I began to panic, where am I? Who is behind this? Why am I trapped? My eyes drifted towards the window. Maybe the window would be my only way to escape. I ran across the room and tore the curtains open. I brushed my fingers across the window frame, feeling for the latch to open it. I pushed the window open and was greeted by an icy breeze. I stuck my head out, trying to adjust my eyes to the darkness. Although I couldn't see all that much, I could see light coming from a window below. Not being on ground level made me question the window as an escape option. I guess if there's no other way…

 The door burst open with a boom, in an instant my attention was completely taken away from the window and the possibility of an escape. With the flick of a switch, the room was suddenly illuminated. I blinked, now attempting to adjust my eyes to the light. As soon as everything came into focus, I remembered. Chase, who was standing in front of the doorway must've noticed my sudden realisation, he smirked. Behind him stood two of his friends with their arms crossed. I recognised them both from the first time I'd encountered them, when they were interrogating Cruz. One of them was noticeably paler than the other, making his rather short jet black hair stand out against his skin tone. His eyes were a mesmerising ice blue, they were so pale that it seemed unnatural. The other guy was more muscular and had extremely dark brown eyes that looked almost black in comparison to his dark brown hair. They were both fairly intimidating.

 Chase eyes settled on the open window, he dashed across the room at an inhumane speed. If I hadn't seen a blur of motion, I probably would've thought he'd teleported. He couldn't really have run that fast… could he? I'm most likely hallucinating. He slammed the window shut and without even glancing at me, grabbed me by the elbow and threw me into the armchair across the room effortlessly. My eyes must've been bulging from their sockets at this point. A part of me had already accepted that I wasn't going to make it home, that I might possibly die here.

 Chase sat himself on the coffee table in front of me. He stared at me, his eyes lit with curiosity. His eyes grazed over every inch of me, he was studying me as if I were some kind of foreign species. His gaze was so intense and unwavering that it made me feel uncomfortable. My cheeks began to burn.

"How strange, you don't seem like Cruz's type at all," he said, breaking the silence.

"Cruz's… type?" I repeated, feeling quite baffled. "He's just a close friend."

"Of course," he sighed, shaking his head with a faint smile. "I'm sure you'd say just about anything to get out of here right now, but we're not letting you go just yet. We need you."

"For what?" I asked, my voice weak and unsteady.

"Leverage," he replied, now distracted by his mobile phone. I made eye contact with the other two who were just standing behind him. They were both expressionless, they almost looked bored. Is this something they're used to doing?

 "I have something that belongs to you," Chase said, drawing my attention back to him. I was confused for a moment until I noticed that he was now on the phone to somebody. He pulled the phone away from his face and turned the phone on speaker so we could all hear what was happening.

"Whatever it is mustn't be that important, I'm not missing anything that I particularly need or want right now," a voice said from the phone. It was a voice that I recognised, it was Cruz. Whatever Chase wanted, he was obviously planning to use me as leverage to get it.

"Think again, I'll give you a few clues. Blonde, blue eyes, short," he described me briefly.

"You're insane," Cruz laughed. "Lana is long dead, are you hallucinating? You know, you really should get some professional help for that," he added. Lana… that's the name that sent Chase crazy last time. So whoever she is, Lana is dead. No wonder Chase snapped at Cruz for mentioning her.

"Get fucked," Chase said, his expression now dark. He looked over at me, my heart began to race and my blood ran cold. He's going to hurt me, I'm sure of it. "Speak," he commanded me.

"Cruz," my voice broke. "It's Holly. I'm so sorry, I should've listened to you."

"Now that we have your girl, tell us what you know about Emmanuel and we'll let her go," Chase told him. "If you don't, we'll kill her."

"She isn't my girl, do as you'd like with her. I know nothing, leave me alone," Cruz responded boredly, hanging up on Chase.

 My heart stopped. How could Cruz do this to me? Tears slid down my cheeks as I sat there frozen in shock. Chase looked absolutely furious about the whole situation. His friends looked confused rather than angry.

"If you're not his girlfriend then what are you to him?" Chase asked, his eyes dark and staring at the ground.

"I… I'm just a close friend, or at least I th-thought I was," I stuttered.

"What are you?" He asked. His question left me even more confused. I was speechless. What am I supposed to say? A high school student? A seventeen year old girl? Your next victim?

"You know, she could just be human you dumbass," the pale guy cut in, rolling his eyes. Just human? What does that mean?

"No, her scent isn't quite human," Chase shook his head, standing up from the coffee table. I felt slightly more at ease now that he wasn't right in my face.

"She smells human to me," the muscular guy added. Chase shook his head and began pacing around the room, seemingly deep in thought. His expression had eased a little, he wasn't quite as terrifying as before and yet, I was still paralysed by fear. I wanted to tell them that I was of course human, but my body just wouldn't respond. I felt like I was going crazy. Maybe I was. Maybe this was all some kind of weird dream as Jenny had said.

 Chase suddenly walked back over to where I sat, he held out his hand.

"Give me your hand," he instructed me robotically. Not knowing what to expect, I slowly offered him my trembling hand. I looked up at him and watched in sheer terror as his canine teeth grew into fangs. He grabbed my hand and bit into my wrist with no sign of hesitation. I cried out as I felt his fangs pierce my skin, even more tears leaking from my eyes. At first the pain was intense, but after a moment or two I felt numb. A soothing sensation swept through me, I almost felt at peace.

 He dropped my hand and it fell to my side, blood dribbling down my hand from the fresh wound. Chase wiped the blood from around his mouth. Now he too looked confused. His friends just stood there looking at him, waiting for an answer.

"She tastes human," he announced. He turned back to me. "What are you?" he asked again.

"Chase, I'm pretty sure she's human. I mean, look at her," the muscular guy replied, motioning towards me. "She's petrified."

"We're so screwed. Did you really have to bite her? Now she knows what we are!" the pale boy exclaimed, he looked pretty annoyed about the whole situation. "What the hell are we going to do with her now?"

"I did say I would kill her," Chase responded, sending a chill down my spine. He placed his fingers under my chin and tilted my head up at him. He studied my face. I didn't meet his eyes. I didn't try to push him away or fight back, I knew it'd be no use. He was a monster. A vampire. Tears continued to slide down my cheeks as I stared into space, waiting for my end to come.

 After moments of waiting and nothing happening, I looked up at Chase. His dark expression had softened, he almost looked like he felt sorry for me. As soon as my eyes met his, he let go of my chin and turned around, running his hand through his hair.

"Take her downstairs," Chase instructed his friends. They looked about as stunned as I felt. "Get one of the girls to patch up her wound. Make her feel comfortable. I'm going to call Odie and ask her what we should do," he added, walking out of the room.

 The muscular guy walked over to me, he slowly knelt down in front of me, as if he were scared that making any sudden movements would scare me away.

"My name's Hunter, and his name is Aiden," he said gently, pointing towards the pale guy. "What's your name?"

"I'm H-Holly," I replied.

"Holly, I'm so sorry that you got dragged into all of this. Don't worry, we won't hurt you. We're sorry that Chase did but he's been extremely… on edge lately," Hunter explained. For some reason I felt like I could trust this guy, I was still unsure about the other guy, Aiden. "Come downstairs with me, Aiden will go fetch our friend Lily who will patch you up."

"I don't know if I can stand," I admitted. "I feel really tired and sluggish."

"That's just a side effect of the venom from Chase's bite. It'll fade soon enough," he informed me, standing up straight again. He held out a hand. "Here, I'll help you up," he added. I took his hand and he carefully pulled me up on my feet. My legs trembled beneath my weight as I followed Hunter out of the room.

 He led me down a narrow hallway, the walls were plain and aged with no decoration at all. I knew the house must've been pretty big since it was at least two stories high. These guys are pretty young, I wonder how on earth they managed to afford a place like this, I thought. Then again, I know that Chase at least is a vampire. He could be a lot older than he looks. We shortly reached a large open space at the top of the old wooden staircase. To my surprise, I could see across from where we stood that there was another hallway full of doors to other rooms. This place is practically a mansion. The wooden stairs creaked as we made our way down them. They led down to what I assumed was the main foyer. We walked into the first room on the right. Inside there was a large vintage couch accompanied by a couple of matching arm chairs either side. They were facing a basic wooden coffee table and a big flatscreen television. I couldn't help but notice the Xbox connected up to the television. So even vampires play Xbox, huh.

 "Take a seat," Hunter said. I sat down on the edge of the big couch, he sat himself in the closest armchair. I expected that we'd have to sit there in an awkward silence for a while waiting for Aiden to come back with Lily, but they arrived moments after we had. Lily looked nothing like I expected her to. She appeared to be quite a few years older than me. She reminded me of snow white with her pale complexion, rose lips and extremely dark hair that fell in waves around her shoulders. She was dressed in a simple white collared shirt and light blue jeans, but even so, she looked ready for the catwalk. Her appearance made me feel quite self-conscious about my own, especially with how I imagined I would've looked in that moment. My school uniform was crumpled and now covered in blood. My face was probably puffy and red from all of the crying I'd been doing and I didn't even want to think about what sort of tangled birds nest had formed in my hair.

 Lily sat herself next to me on the couch, placing the small first aid kit she'd been carrying on her lap. Aiden remained in the doorway, watching us as he leaned against the door frame.

"Aiden, told me your name is Holly. I'm Lily," she introduced herself with a smile. "Would you mind letting me taking a look at that wound?" she asked. I held my wounded arm towards her, I was still trembling a little bit even though I had started to calm down a little. She gently held my arm as she examined the wound. "He really wasn't gentle with you, huh?"

"Are you like him too? Are you… a vampire?" I asked out of curiosity. I'd find it difficult to trust her to tend to my wounds if she was. Her pale skin was the main thing that made me suspicious of her.

"Oh, no. Don't worry, I'm not a vampire. I'm a shapeshifter. I won't bite, I promise," she answered.

"Not all vampires are assholes like him though. Please don't assume I'm just as bad as him," Aiden cut in. Ah, so he's a vampire too.

"What about you?" I asked Hunter.

"I'm a werewolf," he replied. My mind was reeling from everything that I was learning all of a sudden. I felt uneasy at the thought that I was probably the only human in the house.

 "It must be a lot to take in, we understand that," Lily said, starting to clean my wound with a damp cloth. I let out a small yelp as the wound began to sting. "Sorry about the way that Chase treated you."

"Is he always like that?" I asked.

"No, not always," she answered, examining the two jagged tears in my skin where Chase's fangs had pierced me again now that she'd cleaned them. "I know that it doesn't excuse his behaviour, but he has been through a really tough time lately."

"Is it to do with this Emmanuel person he's looking for?" My question prompted Lily to look towards Hunter and Aiden.

"Just tell her, she already knows too much anyway," Aiden sighed.

"Yes, that's part of it," Lily explained, now wrapping a bandage around my wrist. "Emmanuel was our leader, and a couple of weeks ago he disappeared. All of us have been on edge since he disappeared but Chase has been especially on edge. He's know Emmanuel a lot longer than the rest of us and so he obviously cared about him. But Chase also has the burden of being our leader until we find Emmanuel again."

"Why does Chase think Cruz knows something about Emmanuel? I'm certain Cruz is just a human, we practically grew up together," I told them. Lily frowned and shook her head.

"Cruz isn't human. He's… a special kind of creature. He's a hybrid of an angel and a demon. It's an extremely uncommon occurrence so he's one of only a few in the world. Chase and Cruz have history, and so Chase has a lot of distrust for Cruz. Cruz is the leader of a clan that could be considered our rival clan, so Chase assumes that Cruz had something to do with Emmanuel's disappearance," she informed me.

"I also kept hearing another person being mentioned," I changed the subject, not ready to process what I'd just learned. "Who's Lana?" I asked.

"She used to be a member of our clan," Lily said. I got the feeling that since her response was so short, it was probably something she either didn't want to talk about or felt I didn't to know about. I decided not to push for more information. Besides, I was already feeling overwhelmed as it was.

 In the corner of my eye I noticed Aiden suddenly move out of the doorway to let somebody in. Chase walked into the room looking a lot more relaxed than he had before. Hopefully this will be good news, hopefully I can just go hope and forget that this all ever happened.

"I just got off the phone with Odie," Chase announced, standing in front of us all with his arms crossed. "Unfortunately we can't let the girl go--"

"The girl has a name. It's Holly. Use it. Don't be rude," Aiden cut in, earning an eye roll from Chase. There was clearly some bad blood between these two, I was curious as to why.

"Fine. We can't let Holly go for two reasons: she knows what we are and she has venom in her system," Chase informed us.

"I thought you said that the venom would wear off quickly," I turned to Hunter, feeling a little bit betrayed.'

"I said that the side effects would wear off quickly. It'll take a few days for the venom to wear off in your system," Hunter defended himself.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means that if you were to die within the next few days, you'd turn into a monster like me," Chase said. "Not only that, but you'd become my responsibility permanently. I don't think either of us want that."

"Why can't I just go home? The odds of me dying are pretty slim, don't you think. Please, I just… I'll forget everything I've heard, I'll act like it all never happened. Just please, let me go home," I begged. Lily frowned, she appeared to be the only person in the room that actually felt sorry for me. Maybe Hunter too, he seemed like a nice enough person.

"I cannot afford to take the risk, no matter how slim the odds are. You'll stay with us for a few days and then we'll let you go home, but even then don't think that means you'll be rid of us," Chase warned me. "Since you know about us, it is our responsibility to keep an eye on you and make sure that you don't go around screaming about vampires and such. So, I've decided that until I feel that I can trust that you won't mention a word of our existence to anybody, you'll work for us."

"Work for you? What kind of work?" I demanded. For some reason the first image that popped into my head was of me having to work as their maid. I shook myself, ridding the thought from my head, hoping that I was wrong.

"You said that you are a close friend of Cruz's right? Your job will be to spy on him for us for a while," he told me.

"Spy on him?" I repeated. "I don't know what kind of information you're expecting me to be able to find out about him. We practically grew up together and I didn't know that he wasn't even human. He's obviously a talented liar."

"Are you going to question everything I suggest? You're getting off quite easy, you know that right?" Chase raised his voice, clearly becoming quite frustrated with me. I bit my lip, starting to regret picking a fight with him. "I already have enough responsibilities to deal with without having to deal with some bratty teenaged girl who clearly doesn't know how to keep herself out of trouble! Unless you'd prefer the job of being a walking blood bag I'd suggest keeping your mouth shut!"

"Alright, Chase. I think she's had enough threatening for the day, don't you think?" Lily said gently.

"If I've heard everything that you have to say, I think I'd like to head back to that room I was in for the night. I'd like to be alone for a while," I said.

"I'll escort her back to her room," Aiden offered, surprising me.

"Fine, " Chase sighed. "Don't even think about trying to escape either, because when we find you again the consequences will not be as kind," he added. I nodded and slowly stood myself up, following Aiden out of the room.

 "You don't have to worry so much about Chase, you know," Aiden said as he led me up the stairs. The fact that he was speaking to me, and speaking politely, surprised me.

"I think that I do," I replied, keeping my voice low. "He's made it pretty clear that he's higher up on the food chain."

"If I've learned anything about Chase through the years, it's that he's all talk. He'll threaten to do terrible, unthinkable things to get his way, but he'll never actually do them," Aiden smirked, shaking his head. "If he truly wanted you dead, you'd be dead already."

"You think so?" I asked.

"I know so," he replied. We came to a stop as we arrived at the door of my room. "If he bothers you again, I'll step in, so don't worry."

"But he's your leader," I pointed out.

"Just because he's our temporary leader does not mean I agree with the things he does," he answered. "I'm determined to prove to you that not all vampires are shitty people," he added as he began to walk away.

"Good luck with that," I muttered to myself.

 As I walked back into the room I'd woke up in, I switched off the light again leaving the room just as dark as it had been before. I took off my shoes and tie before throwing myself face down on the bed. Sleep would've been great, but I already knew that it wouldn't come easy. My mind was plagued by the things I'd learned, I was stuck in a house full of creatures who could quite easily kill me and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop thinking about Cruz. How could this guy that I'd known my whole life be half angel half demon? Did this mean Ollie wasn't human either? Was he the same?

 I felt my mobile phone began to vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out, and lifted my head from the pillow I'd buried it in to have a look. I'd been expecting it to be my parents, but it wasn't. It was Cruz. Is he checking up on me to make sure that I'm not dead because of him? I wondered. I pondered whether I should answer or not, would Chase get mad if he knew I had my phone and was talking to Cruz? That's right. Why should I bother? This guy left me for dead, I reminded myself. I decided to let him suffer for a while and so I placed my phone on the bedside table. I ignored its near constant vibrating as I tried my hardest to fall asleep.

Chapter 4

The sound of knocking on the bedroom door woke me from my sleep. The strange feeling of waking up in an unfamiliar place hit me once again, it took me a few moments to remember where I was and why I was there. As I pushed myself up and off the bed, my wrist began to ache where Chase had bitten me the day before, serving as a reminder that in this house I was not safe. I cradled my bandaged wrist as I slowly made my way over to the bedroom door, praying that Chase was not on the other side. I swung the door open to reveal Aiden standing before me holding a pile of clothes, a hair brush and a tooth brush.

"Good morning," he smiled, holding the pile of items out to me. "I thought you might need these."

"Oh! Yes, thank you," I took the pile into my arms, suddenly feeling self-conscious once again about the fact that I was still dressed in my bloodied and wrinkled school uniform.

"Meet me near the front door when you're ready," he replied as I was about to close the door. I paused, almost fooled into thinking that he might take me back home. "I thought you might want a bit of a tour around the place since you're going to be stuck here for a couple of days."

"Sure," I said, my voice sounding more disappointed than I'd intended. "I guess it'd be nice to know where to go to avoid bumping into Chase."

"I definitely could give you a few recommendations," Aiden chuckled. "Alright, I'll see you shortly then."

"Okay," I sighed, closing the door as he began to walk away.

 

I lay the pile that Aiden had handed to me on the bed and began to sort through it. He'd given me a pair of jeans that were one size too big for me, a plain black t-shirt, a basic set of white underwear, some socks, a hair brush and a tooth brush. It was enough to get by, and I was grateful to have a clean set of clothes to change into. As expected, everything fit alright except for the jeans. Whilst they were just small enough to stay up, they were still quite baggy, particularly around my legs. My lanky figure was to blame, as always, it was making things difficult for me. Whilst I wasn't particularly tall, I was ungracefully skinny. I had always been the kind of skinny that compelled my friends' parents to put extra food on my plate whenever I visited their houses. Even though there was nothing wrong with me, other people had made me feel as if there was something terribly wrong with my health.

 

After I finished dressing myself, Aiden directed me to a bathroom. I brushed my teeth and just about ripped all of my hair out trying to brush out all of the knots that had formed. I examined myself in the bathroom mirror, I looked more like myself again even though I was clearly exhausted. My complexion was somehow even more pale than usual, almost as pale as Chase and Aiden, and dark rings hung below my eyes. Even though it seemed rude, I searched through the bathroom drawers and cabinets until I luckily managed to locate some concealer that just so happened to be close enough to my shade.

 

Once I was satisfied that I looked more alive and awake, I left the bathroom to find Aiden patiently waiting for me right outside the door. He flashed me a welcoming smile, I found it strangely comforting.

"Wow, you almost look human now," he joked, I granted him a tight smile in return. He began to lead my down the hallway, I assumed that this was the beginning of his little house tour.

"No thanks to you guys," I sighed.

"Since you'll never get an apology out of Chase, I'll apologise on his behalf. I'm sorry that Chase dragged you into this shitty situation Holly," he said. His apology sounded genuine, it put me at ease a little bit. "It's now become very obvious to us all that Chase was nowhere near ready to be a leader."

"Why didn't somebody else take the role instead?" I asked.

"Emmanuel treated Chase as if he were his own son, it was obvious that the role would fall to Chase if anything were to happen. Those two have been around a lot longer than you and I have, they've known each other for over 200 years," Aiden explained. He smirked when he noticed the shock written all over my face.

"So… if they're that old, how old are you?"

"I've been alive for 23 years, but physically I'm stuck at 17," he revealed as he led me downstairs.

 

Now that we were standing in the main foyer, Aiden stopped walking and turned towards me.

"Alright, so here on your right is the lounge room," he motioned towards the room. There was no door leading into the room but an archway instead, allowing me to see enough inside to realise that I had been there before. "Basically this is where everybody hangs out now and then, we always invite guests into this room for a chat and we also tend to have our clan meetings in here sometimes too. You probably remember it from last night right? That's where Lily treated your wound."

"Yes, I remember now."

"Whilst we're on the topic, how is your wound?" he asked.

"Uh, still sore but I haven't really had a chance to get a good look at it yet," I admitted. "Do you think it'll scar?"

"Afraid so," he frowned, guiding me towards the next room. "Vampire bites always leave a scar on humans, and the scars are usually used as a way of marking somebody as your own. If another vampire sees that scar, he'll most likely leave you alone to avoid a fight with Chase."

"Hold on a second… Chase… he marked me as his," I paused, letting the unpleasant thought sink in.

"Yes, but I assure you it was completely unintentional," he stressed. "Anyway, this room right here is the room I think you'll like the most."

"Why's that?"

"It's the place that you're least likely to bump into Chase: the library," he smirked, ushering me into the room.

 

It wasn't quite as grand as I expected it to be, but even so, there were more books in that library than I'd seen in my entire life. Shelves stacked with a variety of books, old and new, lined each wall. In the center of the room sat an ornate arm chair that was probably worth more than my house. In the back corner of the library sat a chair and a desk that appeared to be coated with a thick layer of dust.

"Why would it be unlikely for me to bump into Chase here?" I inquired, running my hand gently along the carved wooden frame of the armchair. It was only after I pulled my hand away that I noticed that it too had a substantial layer of dust on it.

"Chase wouldn't be caught dead reading a book, but in fact, nobody really uses this room anyway," he explained, his eyes scanning the room as if it'd been a while since he had been in there too.

"So if I needed an escape, it would be okay for me to come here for a while?"

"Absolutely," he smiled. His frost coloured eyes became entrancing when he smiled, I'd noticed. "Feel free to come here whenever you'd like."

 

Aiden led me across the foyer next, to a room that I could quite easily identify without being told, it was the kitchen and dining room. A man with short, light brown hair that seemed faintly familiar sat at the mahogany dining table with a bowl of cereal. Next to him sat another guy with short blonde hair and eyes like princess-cut emeralds, I recognised him as the guy who had followed me on my way home and led me straight into Chase's trap. I was pretty sure his name began with an L, but I couldn't quite remember what it was.

"Ah!" Aiden exclaimed. "I don't think you guys have met properly. Holly, this is Lily's fiancé Dominic. He's a shapeshifter just like her," he explained. As Dominic stood from his chair I remembered that he was the one who had convinced Chase to back down during the confrontation with Cruz. I could remember him quite clearly since he seemed like the only member who wasn't afraid to stand up to Chase when he took things too far.

"Nice to meet you Holly, though I wish it could be under better circumstances," he smiled politely.

"And this over here is Levi," Aiden added. Levi made no efforts to give me a warm welcoming, his eyes flicked up to meet mine briefly before returning to the half-eaten slice of toast in front of him. His blank, almost pissed off expression gave him an intimidating aura.

"Come on Levi, it doesn't hurt to be polite," Dominic sighed. Just like his girlfriend, he seemed like a genuinely lovely person. In fact, at this point, just about everybody except Chase and Levi seemed like nice people. I could to some degree understand why Chase hated me, but I couldn't understand why Levi seemed so bothered by my presence. I didn't let it get to me though, he didn't seem like the sort of person I wanted to associate with anyway.

"What’s the point? She won't be around for long," he rolled his eyes before leaving with his slice of toast, much to Dominic's dismay.

"Sorry about that," Dominic apologised, running a hand through his hair. "He's always like this, even with us."

"I guess that's another person I should learn to avoid," I muttered, fiddling with the hem of my t-shirt.

"Who knows, he could warm up to you eventually," Aiden offered a warm smile. "Come on, you'll really like where I'm taking you next."

 

Back in the main foyer, Aiden gestured to the next couple of doors, simply stating that one was a door to the basement and the other was a bathroom. Ahead of us were a set of ornate dark brown double doors, I suspected this was our next destination. Aiden flung the doors open, the room ahead was so bright in comparison to the rest of the house that it took my eyes a few moments to adjust. Aiden stepped aside, allowing me to enter the room before him. I moved without a thought, feeling drawn to the room. I couldn't help by stare in awe as the room opened up around me, it was the most breathtaking room I'd ever seen.

"This is the ballroom," Aiden informed me from behind. Now it all made sense--the marble floor, the carved pillars lining the walls, the glistening chandeliers, the golden swirling pattern adorning the roof--it all looked like it was taken straight from a fairytale.

"This is amazing," I smiled. I closed my eyes and twirled, picturing myself dancing in a ball gown surrounded by hundreds of guests. I opened my eyes to find Aiden gawking at me as if I were acting odd. My cheeks grew hot as I realised that I must've looked like a complete weirdo. "Sorry," I blurted.

"It's alright, I guess you haven't seen many places like this before," he replied. I shook my head.

"No, I haven't. I haven't ever travelled that far so I've never seen a place like this before. I've never seen a house like this before, it's practically a mansion!" I exclaimed, following Aiden back into the foyer.

"Most other clans live in mansions like this. It's better for us all to live in a big house, at least everybody gets their space. We probably would've killed each other by now if we had to live in a tiny house together," Aiden joked. Or at least, I assumed he was joking.

 

I was led upstairs next, Aiden forewarned me that there wasn't really a lot to show me upstairs because obviously, nobody would want their bedrooms being shown off to a complete stranger. Basically, there were three hallways once you walked upstairs. The hallway to the left led to Aiden's room, and right next to it was a guest room, which was currently my room. The hallway to the right led to Levi's room and another guest room. The last hallway, one opposite the stairs, was the longest. Lily and Dominic's room was the first on the left, and Hunter's was the first on the right. Aiden suddenly came to a stop outside the next set of doors, I almost bumped into him before I noticed.

"Now, these rooms are important so listen carefully," he said in a hushed voice. I nodded, moving closer so that I could hear him. "The room to the left is Chase's. He doesn't like anybody going into his room or touching his stuff. He'll get angry, alright? And I mean, really angry."

"Alright, got it," I replied. Of course, I would never even plan to go to Chase's room or touch his stuff, quite frankly I wanted to be as far away from him as possible. I took a mental note anyway, just in case I ever considered doing something stupid.

"Chase also doesn't want anybody to enter this room to the right," he added.

"Why?" I raised an eyebrow. Aiden quickly scanned the hallway, clearly checking if anybody else was around.

"It used to belong to somebody very important to him," he said.

"Lana?" I asked, accidentally letting my voice ring quite loudly. Aiden's eyes widened and his finger flew to his lips.

"Quiet," he warned me. "And yes, it did belong to her. Be very careful when bringing up her name. You can't just carelessly throw her name around at the moment, especially not around Chase. You'll end up getting yourself in a world of trouble."

"Put yourself in my shoes, I'm finding it very difficult to understand why I shouldn't mention her because I have no idea what on earth happened with her. Can't somebody just tell me what is going on?"

"The only person who has any right to explain is Chase, and I wouldn't exactly suggest that you ask him right now either," Aiden retorted.

"You don't seem to respect him that much anyway, so why can't you just tell me?" I asked, beginning to feel frustrated.

"Because what happened is none of my business," he snapped.

 

Our banter ceased immediately as we heard the door to our left creak open. Aiden's eyes met mine, he looked just as panicked as I felt. I knew Chase was standing there to the left of us, but I was too afraid to look. I shouldn't have pressed Aiden for information, we should've just left, I thought to myself. It was no use now, surely we were screwed.

"What the fuck are you guys doing here?" Chase demanded. I slowly turned to look at him, bracing myself for the furious expression he was most likely wearing. However, I was caught off guard. He didn't look all that angry, he just looked exhausted. He was dressed in what I assumed were his pyjamas, a plain white shirt and black pyjama pants. His usually pale complexion was almost a light shade of grey, and the bags under his eyes matched my own from this morning before I'd concealed them. Once I met his eyes, he looked frozen in shock. He was gaze was so intense that it gave me goosebumps. He seemed to snap out of it after a moment, he shook his head and looked to Aiden.

"I was just giving Holly a tour of the place. You know, so she knows where she can and can't go," Aiden replied.

"Right now I don't want either of you where you are right now," Chase sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I feel like shit right now, alright? I don't need you two arguing right outside my door."

"What are you talking about? You can't get sick, its physically impossible," Aiden narrowed his eyes at him.

"Yeah, well that's what I thought too, but ever since I bit her I've felt like death," Chase shot me an accusing glare.

"I guess that's what you call karma," I muttered under my breath. Chase's expression darkened even further.

"Could you guys just fuck off?" Chase exclaimed. "Odie will be coming over tomorrow, she's going to try to help me get rid of… whatever this is that is happening to me. Until then, I don't want to hear or see either of you."

"Whatever," Aiden rolled his eyes. He took a step towards me and grabbed me by the wrist. "Come on Holly, let's get out here."

"Sure," I sighed, shooting one last look at Chase. He'd already turned his back on us and had begun to close his door shut behind him.

 

As Aiden guided me away from Chase's room, all that I could think about was the look on Chase's face when he'd met my eyes just before. The way he looked at me… it gave me a strange feeling. I desperately wanted to figure out what on earth was going on with the clan, and what had happened with this Lana girl. Even though it wasn't my business, it felt as if I were involved somehow. It frustrated me to no end that nobody was willing to tell me anything about Lana. All I knew about her was that she used to be a part of the clan, she died and now her room was off limits to everybody but Chase. Something awful must've happened to her, and I wanted to find out what.

Chapter 5

"I really don't understand why he wants me to be there," I pouted as I begrudgingly followed Aiden to the lounge room. Chase had requested that everybody, including me, meet there. Since it was very obvious to me that the clan liked to keep things from me, it made no sense to me why I would need to be involved in one of their meetings. A part of me suspected Chase just wanted to bother me, particularly since I'd spent the majority of the previous day hiding away in my room and had planned to do the same today.

"His friend that came to visit would like to meet you apparently," Aiden informed me.

"Is this the same friend that is supposed to be helping him get rid of his sickness or whatever he has?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied as he walked down the stairs. "Hopefully they've already dealt with that so Chase will be in a better mood," he added.

"I find it very hard to imagine Chase in anything but a sour mood," I pointed out.

Aiden and I were the last people to make it to the lounge room. Dominic, Lily and Hunter were seated on the couch whereas Levi occupied one of the armchairs. At the front of the room stood Chase, looking a less cadaverous than he had the day before, and a woman with long platinum blonde hair, heart shaped lips and ocean blue eyes. Her porcelain skin matched Chase's, prompting me to assume that she too was a vampire. I found it hard enough to believe that Chase had friends, I found it even harder to believe that this angelic looking woman was just his friend. Her eyes met mine and she greeted me with a warm smile, catching me off guard.

"You must be the girl I've been hearing all about," she said, her eyes glimmering with curiosity. "It's Holly, right?"

"Yeah, uh… that's me," I stammered, feeling quite self-conscious in her presence.

"I'm Odette, but everybody calls me Odie. Lovely to meet you Holly," she smiled. I gave her a tight smile in return, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear. Just when I expected the room to lull into an awkward silence, Odie's hand swiftly met the back of Chase's head with a distinct thump. My jaw fell open, yet I was the only one surprised. Chase scowled at Odie, cradling the back of his head with his hand.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Why would drag such a lovely young girl into this mess?" Odie exclaimed, earning an eye roll from Chase. "You made her sound like a complete brat when you were talking to me on the phone."

"Just because she's pretty doesn't mean she isn't a brat," he pointed out.

"So that's why you didn't kill her, because you think she's pretty, huh?" Odie teased, placing her hands on her hips.

"Quit messing around we have more important matters to deal with," Chase scowled. Odie cracked a smile and shook her head as she sat herself on the arm of the armchair that Levi was sitting on. He was clearly less than impressed by this.

"The first thing I want to discuss today is how we're going to deal with Holly," Chase announced. I felt my heart begin to beat faster, as if I already knew somehow that I wasn't going to enjoy what he had in mind. I swallowed and tried my best to maintain a neutral expression, the last thing I wanted to do was give him the satisfaction of frightening me again.

"I thought we'd already figured that out. She's sticking around here for another day or two, then she goes home and she spies on Cruz for us," Aiden recapped.

"Yes, we did decide that," Chase agreed. "However, after speaking with Odie we've come up with another option. Basically, Holly has two choices. We can either stick with our previous plan, or--with Holly's permission--we can get Levi to erase her memories of the last few days after the venom is out of her system and send her back home."

"Why can't we just erase her memories and send her home without her permission? Why give her the option to be a burden to us?" Levi asked, his emerald eyes boring into me accusingly as he spoke. Despite the fact that he was being an asshole about it, even I had to admit that he had a point. They didn't seem like the type to ask for permission.

"Because now I'm involved too, and in case you've forgotten Levi, I'm a huntress now. I can't just let you use magic on a human against their will. In fact, you should be grateful that I haven't reported all of you for exposing your identities to a human," Odie pointed out, the warm tone of her voice had now become icy. Levi folded his arms and rolled his eyes, Odie narrowed her eyes at him.

"What's a huntress?" I asked Aiden, keeping my voice low. He opened his mouth to answer, but Odie beat him to it.

"Hunters and huntresses are basically like the police for the supernatural. Our job is to hunt those who break the rules and risk exposing us all to mainstream human society. I bet that makes it a lot clearer to you why I suggested for Chase to give you the option to have your memory wiped," she explained.

"Yeah, it does," I admitted, unable to say much more.

My mind was running in overdrive. Here I was, presented with the option to make it as if the last few days had never happened. Yet, I didn't feel that it was the smartest decision. Although it had been a terrifying ordeal to be kidnapped by a group of dangerous creatures who could end my life with the flick of a wrist, I'd also learned that Cruz--somebody who I'd once considered almost family--was also a dangerous creature. Not only that, he'd also been willing to let me die at the hands of a vampire. Now that I was starting to come to terms with it all, I was only growing more curious. I was curious of Cruz's abilities. I was curious as to why he could act like two entirely different people. But above all, if Cruz was a hyrbid of an angel and a demon, I was curious what Ollie had been, and why Cruz hadn't used his abilities to save him. I wasn't naïve, I knew that curiosity was a dangerous thing, but I didn't want to go back to knowing nothing of all of this, to being lied to.

 "So Holly, what are we going to do?" Chase asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. His eyes met mine, daring me to suffer the consequences if I didn't give him the answer he wanted to hear. I knew even before opening my mouth that he wasn't going to like my answer.

"I want to keep my memories," I announced. As far as I could tell, I'd stunned everybody in the room apart from Odie. Chase's eyes were clamped shut, his eyebrows knitting together as if he were trying to wake himself from a bad dream.

"Stupid girl," I heard Levi mutter from across the room.

"I know how stupid I am for making this decision, but now that I know what Cruz really is and what he's really like, I don't want to go back to believing his lies. For all I know, blindly being friends with him could be more dangerous than choosing to be your spy," I explained.
"I think you've made a bad judgment call--"

"That's enough Chase," Odie cut in, placing herself between Chase and I. "She deserves to have a choice. Quite frankly, I don't blame her for not trusting people like us after what you put her through. So rather than whining and arguing about it, take responsibility for your actions and figure out your next move. Have you thought about what you're going to do once it's time for Holly to go home?"

"I've already contacted her parents. As far as they're concerned she's been on a school trip that she forgot to tell them about," he replied, leaving me feeling quite puzzled.

"But… how on earth did you contact them? You don't even know where I live," I pointed out, narrowing my eyes at him. I honestly shouldn't have been surprised as I watched him pull my phone out of his pocket. There was no mistaking it, I doubted Chase would ever use a pink polka-dot case on his own mobile phone. He held it out in front of him by his index finger and his thumb, as if it harboured some contagious disease.

"I just happened to find this so I decided to send them a few messages on your behalf," he smirked.

I clenched my fists as I felt my cheeks begin to burn. I couldn't remember feeling like this angry at anybody before. I could handle him messing with me, but the thought of him messing with my family too lit a fire under me. I wasn't going to let him walk all over me anymore, even if it meant getting hurt.

"I think what you mean to say is that you stole it," I corrected him.

"Label it however you'd like, it doesn't matter to me. For now, I can't guarantee the safety of everybody in this house if you have a phone," he replied. I took a mental note as he slid my phone into the front left pocket of his black jeans. I had no plans to steal it back just yet, but it was reassuring to know where it was just in case it seemed worth risking my life for eventually. "Besides, if you didn't want it to be stolen, you should've done a better job of hiding it. You just left it lying there next to your bed."

"Safety? This isn't about safety at all!" I exclaimed, taking a step closer to him. Odie gently placed her hand on my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks.

"Please try to understand Holly. They're placing a lot of trust in you to keep their secret already, and we're not just concerned about humans finding out. If any nearby clans find out about you, it could complicate things even more. Most clans don't approve of humans hanging around people like us unless they're a walking blood bag," she explained. 

The thought of somebody choosing to be a blood bag for vampires upset my stomach. My gaze drifted down to the bite wound on my wrist and I began to recall the soothing sensation I'd felt as Chase drank from it. Perhaps that feeling was what those people sought, perhaps they'd become addicted to it. I wondered, if anybody saw my bite wound, would they assume I was like that too? It was a repulsive thought, I was going to have to find a way to hide the wound, I'd decided.

"We'll take Holly home tomorrow," Chase announced, startling me. "And since she's so concerned about our standards of safety, we'll have somebody keep an eye on her at all times. That person will also be responsible for collecting any information that she may have for us. Does that sound fair to you, princess?" His last few words were dripping with poison, and whilst his expression might've seemed blank at first glance, there was a certain darkness about his eyes. He was willing me to agree to his plan, daring me to challenge him once again. A shiver ran down my spine, I took a deep breath and tried to maintain my brave face.

"It sounds fair," I agreed, my voice weak. "I only have one condition."

"Of course you do," he responded in a monotonous voice, folding his arms across his chest.

"I'd like Aiden to be the one to keep an eye on me, I feel I can trust him the most," my words acted as a catalyst for surprise throughout the room yet again. I glanced at Aiden behind me, even he seemed caught off guard. Was I asking for too much?

"Fine," Chase replied curtly, his gaze avoiding mine. He wasn't angry, I'd seen him angry often enough to know what it looked like, but he seemed off. He seemed rattled, uncomfortable, maybe even upset. I wasn't sure why choosing Aiden had affected him as it had, and at that moment, I really didn't care. I just felt relieved knowing that Chase or Levi weren't going to be the ones lurking around me in the shadows. "Now we have more important things to talk about. Things that you aren't welcome to hear. Go and keep yourself occupied for a while," he added, his condescending tone mimicking that of a parent telling their child to go play whilst the adults talk about adult things. Despite this, I wasn't going to argue with him this time. I left the room without another word, I needed some time alone to process everything.

I retreated to the library. After plucking a random leather-bound book from the shelves on my way inside, I threw myself into the armchair and began to read. The world around me seemed to dissolve as I became completely immersed in a book all about different species of birds with fascinating abilities. It wasn't a topic I'd usually be interested in, but I found myself becoming quite intrigued. Who knew that there were small innocent looking birds that were capable of killing and eating small bats!

I wasn't sure how much time had passed, but I closed the bird book after my stomach began to rumble. Throughout my stay at the mansion I'd always had food brought to me without me even having to ask. Whilst I was completely capable of preparing my own meals, I had no idea where to start. After carefully sliding the bird book back into its spot on the bookshelf, I left the room in search of somebody who could help me out with some food. To my surprise, it was already 4pm according to the clock in the foyer. I found it hard to believe that I'd managed to preoccupy myself with a bird book for several hours. Surely the clan meeting would be over by now, I noted.

I tip toed towards the lounge room, just in case by some coincidence I was wrong and consequently still unwelcome there. I peered around the edge of the archway leading into the room to see Chase and Odie sitting side-by-side on the red velvet couch. Chase was leaning forward and staring down at his intertwined hands that were resting on his knees. Odie was facing at him, staring at him with an expression that radiated sympathy. I recoiled from archway, retreating further away to ensure that I wouldn't be seen. I felt as if I'd witnessed something too personal. Maybe I was right that Odie was more than just his friend.

"I know it must be hard and confusing," Odie spoke in a gentle voice. "But her world just got turned upside down too, the poor thing has no idea what she's gotten herself into."

"I know, but I can't help but feel irritated by her," Chase responded.

"She didn't exactly choose to bear a resemblance to Lana," Odie pointed out. My hand flew to my mouth to muffle a gasp.

"I thought that I might be able to let go, but now I just feel like I'm being haunted with her around," his voice drifted off.

I slowly made my way upstairs, careful to not make a sound with every step that I took. There was something that I had to do, and I needed to ensure that I wasn't caught. Getting caught could quite literally mean death, but I had to do it. I had to know. At the top of the stairs I checked down the hallways to the left and the right, nobody was around. My heart began to race as I made my way down the hallway ahead of me. My mind was screaming at me to turn around and go back to hiding in my room. I stopped when I reached the two doors at the end of the hallway. I turned my back on the door to Chase's room, it wasn't Chase that I wanted to learn more about but rather the owner of the room opposite his. The room I was warned never to enter. The room belonging to Lana.

I placed my hand on the door handle. I knew that what I was doing was wrong. I was invading Chase's privacy, there was no denying that. The only way explanation I could give to justify my actions was that he'd invaded my privacy first. Yes, it was petty, but after overhearing the conversation between Odie and Chase I felt that I had the right to know about Lana. I wanted to know more about the girl that I supposedly looked like.

The door open with a slight squeal, startling me. I took a deep breath and stepped into the room. I was surprised to find that the room was actually full of light. The curtains had been left open, allowing light to flood in through the two large windows to the left side of the room. The room looked as if somebody was still living there, the bed sheets were in disarray, sleeves of clothes were hanging from half-opened drawers, and there was a faint floral scent lingering. The only way that you could tell the room had been abandoned was the light layer of dust that covered the furniture.

Despite all the sunlight, the room felt quite cold and almost eerie. I made my way around the room making sure to not touch anything, I didn't want to leave any evidence behind. As I passed the vanity table covered in a colourful assortment of perfume and makeup bottles, a photo frame across the room caught my eye. An ornate black photo frame sat on the bedside table, I approached it cautiously and crouched before it so that I could take a closer look. The photo inside was of a person I didn't recognise with their arm around who I assumed to be Lana.

I could now see the resemblance between the two of us, and it was a lot stronger that I could've imagined. Her hair was the same shade of blonde, but her hair fell down in ringlet curls to her lower back whereas I kept mine trimmed just past my shoulders. Her facial features were very similar, the only differences being her arched eyebrows and her lips that were slightly more heart-shaped than my own. The thing that struck me the most were her eyes. They were identical to my own, so much so that it sent chills down my spine.

 I had no idea what kind of relationship Chase had with Lana, but it no longer surprised me that he found me difficult to be around. I knew the feeling, it was the same feeling I experienced whenever I was with Cruz after Ollie passed away. Maybe Chase and I had more in common than I thought.

I reached out to wipe the layer of dust from the glass of the photo frame when I felt a hand grab my shoulder.

I'd been caught.

Impressum

Texte: P A Webster
Bildmaterialien: P A Webster
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 09.07.2016

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