𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐃

28

HER PREDATOR

Me and Casei somehow ended up at my house eating the Arby's, chilling on my couch while some soccer match played.

Casei was trying to argue that Argentina was better than Mexico when something loud fell down somewhere in the house. Casei immediately paused the TV and we both shared a look.

We had both changed into something more comfortable and she was wearing another set of my clothes from upstairs; just some sweats and a t-shirt; and was all bandaged up wherever she had any cuts or scratches at. Honestly, Maeve ain't really have a chance to touch her. Shawty looked way worse off than Casei did.

"You gonna go check onnat?" Casei asked me.

"Rule number one: Never split up," I recited.

"This ain't no horror movie," Casei snapped, but she still followed closely behind me, tugging on the back of my shirt as I walked to the side of the house that I heard the noise from.

We heard the sound again and my ears pinpointed the area. The sound was coming from the basement.

I gestured to the couch, "You can go back. I know what it is. There isn't a serial killer with a cleaver about to attack," I told her, trying to play at casual.

She stood with her hands on her hips. "No way I'm goin' back now. Stick together, remember? What if it isn't whatever you think it is."

I didn't want to plead with her not to go down there but at the same time I did want to.

"Casei, it's cool. Let's just sit back down," I suggested. We were barely at the couch when we heard the same noise again.

"You just gon let whatever that is keep fallin' or are you gonna go and check on it?" she asked me, sitting back down.

"You stayin' here?" I asked, gesturing to the couch.

"What does it look like I'm doing, Lowen?"

I fumbled with my necklace a little, glancing back one time before going to the basement entrance.

"Lowen!" Casei called out all of a sudden.

"What?" I asked, a little annoyed as I went back up to the first level.

"I gotta piss," she announced, "You never told me where the bathroom was," she then added seeing my expression.

"That way," I pointed up the stairs, "The one on the first floor gotta be fixed."

"What, you blew the bitch up so bad it stopped workin'?" she joked.

"Nahh, more like my dad flushed some co-

"I didn't ask," she called out, jogging up the stairs.

I sighed, heading back to the basement door. I quickly went inside, closing it behind me and looking around with my flashlight on my phone. The crates were just shifting and I moved them back to a better place.

Mystery was obviously decaying and I was made about that. I hadn't had a good opportunity to explore her, and it seemed like I'd never get the chance. She'd be covered in maggots before I experienced any excitement.

I went back up from the basement, wiping my dusty hands on my pants and closing the door behind me.

Casei was still in the restroom, so I went back on the couch. A few minutes later, she came downstairs, a blank look on her face as she sat next to me and hesitantly reached for a French fry.

"You wanna keep watchin' this or watch something else?" I asked.

"Actually, uh, my mom text me while I was in the bathroom and told me if ian at work I needa carry my lil tail home," she told me slowly.

"Oh, sure. I can take you back," I stood. I gathered up my trash and threw it away. Casei was still eating on her food, so she folded the top of her bag over and held it in her hands. "Lemme get something from my room right quick. Here's the keys," I tossed them to her.

She went outside as I jogged upstairs to my room.

I frowned, noticing that my door was cracked a little, but I figured it was because of the air cutting on and pushing my door open a little. It tended to do that, so I brushed right past my doorway, and went over to my desk. I was getting a pen to put into my car since that was something I had been meaning to do for months. Hey, you never know when you might need one.

I was taking a black pen with me when I realized that my little jewelry box was open. I stared down at all of my homemade necklaces, shifting through each to make sure that they were all there. I glanced around my room, knowing that Casei had been in here.

I closed the box, and went to look under my bed.

Everything there was nice and in order. I mean, a couple of animal necklaces wouldn't raise an alarm with her, now would it? I stopped in my steps. But more than twelve different, mostly cat claws, would. How would I play off that whole 'memorializing my pet' thing when people typically don't have that many pets.

I left my room, with my pen, and went locked up the house before I got into the Jeep. The car was already running and Casei was staring out her window in the passenger seat as I got in.

"You went in there, right?" I asked her.

She lifted her cheek up off of her hand. "Yeah, I did. I thought it was the restroom, but I saw your little box open."

"So you went over and decided to...invade my privacy?" I asked her quietly.

My car was still idling in the driveway.

"Yeah. I thought the necklaces were pretty. I was going to ask you about them, then..."

"Then, what?" I asked.

"How many pets have you had, Lowen?" she asked me, turning my way, and sitting up straighter as she searched my face. "I asked you if you were an animal person, and you said-

"That I'm not either a people person nor an animal person, Casei," I sighed. "They're just necklaces to remember them by. That's all, that's it."

"Alright, Lowen," she sighed tiredly.

"Home?" I asked.

"Yeah. And pronto. My mom's bitchin'."

I tried not to look over at her as she said that, pulling out of the driveway, and making my way onto the street. Did her mom really want her home so bad, or was she a little afraid of me now?