Venom

35

I'd slept in very late after staying out till about four in the morning playing laser tag with Dallas and a bunch of other twenty-year-old strangers.

Whilst playing, I was provided a temporary escape from what had happened with Ace.

But the fingerprint marks against my neck wouldn't let me forget.

When I woke up at five in the evening, Dallas wasn't home.

Everything seemed like a blur, a movie, a horrible, horrible nightmare. I felt delirious.

Ellie still had no idea what I'd just experienced and I was dying to tell her and pack a duffle and flee the country. I didn't want anything to do with Ace.

But that also meant having nothing to do with Dallas.

And despite my brain telling me not to, I trusted Dallas. We'd had a lot of gun laser tagging, too. It wasn't like he hadn't proved himself worthy of my trust either. He'd beaten up Carter, saved me from Tyler, taken me laser-tagging, acted as a chauffeur.

Maybe it's time to pull an Elena Gilbert and pick the other brother...

At the same time, Ace had let me live. He allowed me to leave his house in one piece. And he stopped the men in black from doing whatever they had set out to do in the locker room.

I was conflicted with so many thoughts and emotions.

My brain was fighting my heart.

Something told me there was some link between Ace and Venom.

There had to be.

It only made sense.

I still had no idea about my grandmother either. I was worried about her.

To clear my head and try to gain some focus on school work, I decided to eat breakfast, well, a late lunch, shower, and then stop by Ellie's to see how she was doing.

* * *

Veronica was away at Brad's again, so I expected Ellie to take her time getting to the door.

I knocked, waiting.

No response.

I knocked a little harder.

Again, nothing.

I called Ellie's cell, reaching voicemail.

What if she's passed out again? God, Ellie please be okay.

I prepared myself to knock down her door only to find it unlocked.

What?

As I stepped into the apartment I was immediately filled with a sense of dread.

Something isn't right.

The lights were all off. I switched one on and the blood in my veins turned into ice.

Ellie's apartment was trashed.

Chairs flipped upside down. Couches ripped. Books torn on the floor. Windows flung right open.

"ELLIE?" I screamed. "ELLIE? WHERE ARE YOU?"

I ran to her bedroom. It was even messier than the living room. As I crept closer to her bed, I noticed drops of something red on the bedsheet.

Blood.

I pulled out my phone to call the cops when my phone chimed.

A text from an unknown number.