Our Life - Beginnings And Always - Yandere Cove 3 Steps

Step One: Prologue.

     I find myself squinting, struggling to open my eyes all the way. The sun attempts to blind me, and I stubbornly turn my back to it. I was trying to watch the sunset, but the sun apparently has other plans. I decide to dash back into my house to grab my Mom's sunglasses. She probably won't mind. But when my house is in eyesight, I see a man, sitting on the stairs leading to my porch. My heart leaps a little, I've never seen him before. Here, in Sunset Bird, there's rarely anyone I don't know. In fact, there's only 2 kids around my age that I even regularly see during the summer. But he was new. He couldn't be a tourist, because he's in the residential area. Maybe... maybe he's one of those dangerous strangers my moms and school always taught me about. My stomach dropped. How am I supposed to get past him?! As I stare at him, he glances up and catches my eye.
     "Hey!" He calls out.
      I'm frozen in place as he jogs over to my side of the road.
      "This is your house, right?"
      I continue to say nothing, debating how to spend my last moments alive.
      "Oh, aha! Sorry, I realize how this looks!" He gives me a sheepish grin. "I'm the new neighbor." He points to the house right across from mine. Sure enough, the huge 'FOR SALE' sign is gone. I breath a little sigh of relief, although I'm still on edge.
      "I met your moms, and they told me you're my son's age!" A kid my age? No way.
      "So," He pulls something out of his pocket. A crisp, green, 20 dollar bill. It flutters in the summer breeze. He grins.
      "Would you like to make a deal? If you meet my son, Cove and be friends with him, I'll give you this. Right now! You've just gotta promise, please."
     I raise an eyebrow. Do other parents really offer other parents money for friends? I found myself curious about this 'Cove'. Eventually, I open your mouth.
      "Okay, I can try." I say hesitantly. His eyes light up.
      "Wonderful!" He beams. Is Cove really that lonely? I suppose he did just move here, so it's kind of reasonable. After he hands me the bill, he leans in.
      "Alright, so, can I let you in on something?" I nod curiously. "He's a little upset about moving, and ran away to be alone somewhere. Could you look for him?" I decide to agree.
"Okay, I'll try." I repeat.
      Feeling uncomfortable spending anymore time around this strange man, I dash off to the hill behind my house. The sun has already set by now. Moonlight illuminates the poppies scattered across the hill. I take in the view as I contemplate what to do with all this money! I can't show Lizzie, she'll totally know something is up. My moms too. I'll have to use it in the shopping district, by myself. But what to spend it on?.. My mind drifts and my sight follows, leading me to a head of green hair. I jump. A boy, around my age is staring at me, nearly right next to me!
     "Eep!" I squeak, instinctively backing away.
     "Sorry!" The boy explains. "I just wasn't expecting to see anyone else here... Is this your hill?"
     "You can't own a hill," I say, although I'm not sure. It is behind my house...
     "Mm." The boy looks down. Suddenly, I realize something. I've never seen him before, either. If I put the pieces together...
     "Is your name Cove?" I tilt your head.
     "Uh, yeah? How did you know that?" He raises an eyebrow.
     "I met your dad." I explain.
     "Oh." He looks down again. I wonder what's so interesting on the floor. Just poppies.
     "He wanted to find you, I think he's really worried!"
     "I guess." He has one of the biggest frowns I've ever seen. But every time he looks up at me, it seems to waver.
     "What's your name?" He asks.
     "I'm Zoe! But everyone calls me Zoey. My house is right there!" I stick a finger at my house.
     "...Oh. That's a pretty name, Zoey." He mutters. I swear under the moonlight, his cheeks are red. Suddenly, snapping both of us out of the trance, I hear overlapping shouts. The first, from my Mommy.
     "Zoey!? Where are you Zoey, sweetie? It's getting dark!" The second I recognize to be the strange man's voice.
     "Cove? Cove, are you down here?"
      Cove's eyes look alarmed. He turns to me.
     "I don't wanna go." His eyes begin to water. I'm unsure of what to do, I only met him a few minutes ago!
     "It'll be okay! Sunset Bird is nice! You'll like it!" I ramble. Three shadows draw nearer.
     "Okay." Cove sighs. It's strange he's calmed down by my words. I don't think I'd take a strangers words.
     "There you are!" My moms, and the strange man exclaim in unison.
     "Finally!" Mom gasps. "Mommy, Mr. Holden and I have been looking all over for you two!" Mr. Holden?
     "What were you two doing?" Mr. Holden questions, hope sparkling in his eyes.
     "We were just talking. Cove didn't want to go home just yet." I explain.
      Mr. Holden seemed pleased enough with that response, while my moms expressions melt into something more proud.
     "That's sweet. It's time for bed now, though. You guys have all summer!" Mommy chuckles.      Something about Cove tells me I'll know him longer than just this summer. Mr. Holden blatantly picks Cove up and begins to haul him back to what is now their house.
     "Dad!" Cove whines. Eventually, his complaints fade into the night.
     "C'mon, sweetie." My mom takes my hand, and we all head inside. After I'm put to bed, I'm left wondering about this mysterious boy. I'm excited and curious to see more of him. Smiling, my eyes flutter shut.


      The next morning, I had finished breakfast so fast I had a tummy ache. My sister Lizzie had ran out earlier to play, but I stayed put. I had plans of your own. Specifically, plans my parents had organized. Cove-related plans. But I wasn't complaining! I was actually very excited. I hear the cheerful chime of the doorbell. Mommy walks to get it as I watch eagerly.
     "Hey, Rosemount family! Thanks for having us!" Mr. Holden boasts, sauntering in. Cove meekly follows after. His eyes light up a little when we make eye contact, though. Mr. Holden begins to chat with my moms in the living room, leaving me and just the new boy to figure out what to do.
     "Want to see my room?" I tilt your head hopefully.
     "Okay," Cove mutters. The edges of his mouth turn up, a little. We head up the stairs.
     "Let us know if you need anything!" Mom yells after us.
     "Be good, son!" Mr. Holden shouts.

      I couldn't help but feel proud of my room. Who wouldn't? I had a cool bed, with lots of stuffed animals, a large window, and my handmade drawings hung proudly on the wall. Cove peers closer to one of them. It's a drawing of me riding a dolphin.
     "I like this." He grins. I felt a little butterfly at his stamp of approval.
     "Thank you! I made it myself."
     "Cool." He continues looking around. I really hope he likes my room. I put a lot of work into it. Then his eyes land on me. We stare at each other for a second. It feels like sound disappears. New boy. My heartbeat speeds up. My breath gets caught in my throat. Blood rushes to my face.

       I break away, looking around my room for another topic of conversation. I spot your box of ocean things I've collected, and drag it out from under the table.
      "What's this?" he asks.
      "A hoard of stuff I found on the beach." I explain, heart still beating a little fast for comfort. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵?
       "Cool. Got any driftwood?"
       "Uh, wanna check? I'm not sure." I drag the box out, and dig through it. I feel his eyes on me. I don't check, so I don't know if it's an expectant stare or something else. I assume the first. My hand hits a sandy piece of driftwood.
       "Ah-ha!" I say, like my Mom does all the time. I yank it out from under shells, more sand, and other bits of things I found on the beach.
       "Neat. This is a cool collection." He says, earnestly. He really does think it's cool. Not just like Shiloh, saying things without any meaning. Oh! Shiloh!
       "Shiloh's coming over today! He should be here soon!" I raise your voice in surprise.
       "Shiloh?" Cove looks lost.
       "My sister's friend. He wants to meet you." Shiloh is the one other kid besides me and Lizzie. And well, Cove now too.
       "Do I have to?" Cove mutters.
       "He wants to see you! Please?"
       "Fine." Cove replies, with a small smile. I continued to show your shells off. The collection was so huge and varied I have funny stories to tell for each of them! Cove listened patiently, his eyes glued to mine.
      "Kids! Come on down to the living room!"
Cove's expression melted into something annoyed.
       "Mmph. I don't want to." He grumbled.
       "Come on. Shiloh is nice!" I say, grabbing his hand and heading downstairs. He froze under my touch, no longer able to resist. Once downstairs, the doorbell rang. Cove shifted uncomfortably.
      "I don't want to meet him. You're the only good person in this neighborhood." He muttered. Geez, he only met me yesterday.
        "You don't know that 'cause you haven't even met him yet. Plus you can't leave anyway, there's no other doors. So please?" I ramble. Cove glances around and sees windows.
        "We can go out the window."
        "We?" I tilt your head.
        "Yeah, we. We don't need Shiloh to have fun. We can just bring the shell box and go. No one will catch us for a while. Just us two." He looked at me. His expression was unreadable. Something made me feel like I had to accept.
        "Okay, fine. But we need to be careful."
      Cove nodded quickly, and with my hand in one of his hands and the box of stuff in the other, we both escaped the house. We land on poppy hill. It was basically my backyard. Cove brought me down the hill a little then promptly plopped on the ground. I stumbled down as well. With no hesitation, he kept looking through the box, humming to himself. It was weird. He caught me staring, and smiled. I nervously smiled back, then eyes darting back to the box, tried to focus on the task at hand. Suddenly, I heard a yell.
       "Zoey!"
       Shiloh. I was fairly excited to see him, but by the look on Cove's face, he felt otherwise. Shiloh came running down the hill and skidded to a stop once he reached the two of you.
      "Zoey!" He repeats, panting. "And, Cove?" He grins. I smile too. Cove however, just nods and gives him a kinda scary look. Shiloh is either too excited to notice or chooses to ignore it.
      "So what are we doing out here, anyways? We should go inside. Your moms say you weren't supposed to go outside, anyway..."  He drifts off. Cove smirks just a little.
      "Fine, we'll come with you. Lead the way, Zoey. It's your room after all!" Cove smiles. Excited to show my room off the second time today, (although Shiloh has already seen it) I march back to my house and into my bedroom, Shiloh and Cove trailing behind. Shiloh sits on my comfy story-telling chair, and Cove sits next to me on the floor. Shiloh begins to attempt conversation.
        "So... why did your parents move to Sunset Bird?" He asks. I realize I've only ever seen Mr. Holden and never Ms. Holden.
        "Parent." Cove corrects, unreadable.
        "Oh, sorry. Parent." Shiloh repeats, fidgeting with your desk drawer. He waits for Cove to elaborate, but he doesn't, so the "conversation" drops off. Feeling anxious, I try to revive it.
       "Um, Cove, do you wanna see the park near our house? It's really nice!"
       "Yeah, the park is really fun!" Shiloh adds onto my words. Cove moves his eyes onto me. His aquamarine eyes search me, to see what I want. Finally, he responds.
      "Sure."

       After getting permission and being hassled by parents to wear sunscreen, Shiloh, Cove and I are off to go to the playground. Lizzie, my older sister, always tends to hang around there. She thinks she owns it. Literally. So most people act like she does. We reach the park. A swing set of two, monkey bars, a jungle gym, and a few fake horses and cars. And swinging right on the jungle gym, is Lizzie, doing flips and other impressive tricks. She spins around and her ponytail droops down as she makes eye contact with me. Her eyes glide to the left, to spot Shiloh. She grins a little. To the right, she sees Cove. Her eyes widen and she almost falls off the jungle gym. Attempting to look graceful, she stumbles to her feet and comes over to the three of you.
     "I heard YOU'RE Cove." She announces.
      "Yep." Cove responds. He's so uninterested with everyone. Besides me, but that's just because I met him first.
      "Well this is MY playground, and you can't be here unless I say you can!"
      "Okay." Cove agrees. He kicks some sand around. Lizzie looks disappointed. She loves to bother people, so she won't give up 'till she finds his weakness. She begins to pace circles around him.     "So, you met Zoey first! Have you met the Lenetis yet?"
     Shiloh gasps. I roll my eyes.
     "Nope." Cove responds, still uninterested.
     "WELL. They're super mean. And they don't like kids like YOU!" She announces.
    "Lizzie, stop it." I say, unimpressed. Sometimes your sister could be really mean. But Cove looked like he couldn't care less.
       "They yelled at Zoey once, 'cause she was being dumb outside their yard."
Cove's eyes narrow. Now he's interested.
       "Seriously? Zoey isn't dumb. What makes you think you have can insult her?!" His voice raises. Lizzie looks startled. This is the strongest reaction she's ever gotten from teasing, and she doesn't seem to know what to do with it. I decide to step in.
       "It's okay, Cove. They did yell at me, but that's okay. It was a while ago. We just gotta ignore them." I try to smile comfortingly. Thankfully, that does the trick. Cove smiles back. He seems to notice Lizzie is still there.
      "Sorry, I guess."  He says insincerely. Lizzie seems to still be a little shaken.
      "Whatever." She attempts to put back on a confident face, and struts away, Shiloh trailing after her. I'm left with Cove.
      "Sorry, Lizzie is just like that. She likes to tease people, 'cause she's older. But you don't have to stand up for me." I try to explain.
     "I do."
     "What?"
     "I do have to stand up for you." His eyes narrow. It sounds less like a statement and more of a demand. He's staring into me.
     "...Okay." I finally agree. Anything to get back to normal Cove. His smile returns.
     "Can I push you on the swings?" He asks hopefully, changing the subject.
     "Okay! Let's do it." I quickly forget about the previous moment, and the two of us enjoy the day together...