𝗨𝗡𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗬 𝗕𝗨𝗟𝗟𝗬

013. 𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗞𝗬 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗟𝗢𝗨𝗦

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN TRIGGERING CONTENT, IMPLIED USE OF DRUGS, INVASION OF PRIVACY ANF VIOLENCE.

The night extended, and slumber didn't lure her into sweet dreams.

She kept jerking up from her disturbed leisure gawking at the palest sound, the dusk scarier when she's alone and it's opaque, noiseless, hyper-aware of her drawn breaths. A dull shine radiated from outside her window procuring some luster into the darkroom, she paused, shutting herself in her coverings, arduously laying her unquiet thoughts to sleep. She stilled.

Eventually, the birds began cheeping and her pounding chest was subdued.

Wariness plunged her slow-blinking eyes seeing herself in the mirror whilst she brushed her teeth, she could only close her eyes for two hours before she woke herself up, uncertain and frightened. It felt like she had only blinked and reopened her eyes.

Lowering her face first by the staircase she peered into the hall, gingerly climbing down and taking in the view. The unfinished fries abandoned to fester with the air, a few chip crumbs broken into tiny chunks, her water bottle left unsealed. It was just the way it was when she fled to her room.

She checked every door.

Clasping a bat she cautiously stepped out to the truce breeze straining her eyes to pin out anything out of place thinking she would be vigilant enough to notice, glancing at the intersections of the house, she looked up at her home.

What if he hadn't really gone? What if she just dreamt of his arrival? She wasn't in a sound space to distinguish and she knew it, halting before the entrance and she stepped inside after finding nothing of implication, just a perfect garden and the seeds her mother had sowed as it was the first she saw.

For some reason.

She didn't trust her eyes.

A FEW MONTHS EARLIER.

With the alluring sound of nature, greens, and thin branches raffling to the wind, two footsteps made their way to the architecture, a young man in his early 20s, blonde, tall, sturdy toned arms, board shoulders, sullen glare monitored the diffident location. The older man accompanying him wore a precise grin, guiding the person to the house they were about to view, a quixotic stunning home.

"The house is newly furnished, polished, just finished the preparation a few days ago, and is supplied with basic necessities, you won't have a problem here." The man assured palms open and looking at the boy who listened along, his red eyes low-lidded and an ever-present frown adorning his lip. Coming across as unemotional, and irascible.

The man didn't seem bothered, professionally handling himself and his business explaining most things as they ascended the stairs, letting the door unfasten as the two stepped into the smell of fresh paint and adhesives, the wood lowly creaked, the white and black walls of the place designed beautifully, a hand politely pointing the facilities, rooms and specific mentions and cautions of the owner as they further into the territory

"If you are to make a purchase, the house will only be on sale for a month more. There are other houses you could see, but they might lack what you want, this is the most secluded and quiet place I could find." said the man with a slight nod, maintaining eye contact.

"And what about the last place we saw?" stolidly questioned the blonde lifting his lip and pulling his brows inwards, the man glib, saying, "That place got rented a long time ago, the owner told me one of my friends had surprisingly brought it." He enunciates before thinking.

He scowled, taking his hand out of his pocket and raising his voice, "Did you sell it off after I made it clear I was interested!?"

The man quickly puts up his hand, answering, "No, the owner hadn't told me, usually, homes get booked beforehand with a little compensation, you hadn't quite made it clear to the owner so he sought it off." he shuts his mouth, nervously smiling at the irritated customer.