Knee deep, at this point.

shelter me like an animal. a mean, feral dog.

"...you said every photo you took at that festival..."

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something about me wanted to stop being mean. to be kind. i dont want to do this. im not a mean person.

im just scared..

"why did you help me?"

i stared at them again. it wasnt an angry stare, nor was it cold or bitter. it was sad and confused.

"because why wouldnt we? we found you-" he was cut off by the sound of his radio.

"logan? why arent you on the roof? we're pulling up now."

they both walked over to the front of the store, and i could only see the very top of the black haired boy's head over the aisles since i was sat down and he was absurdly tall.. and then i saw the glass door open.

"come on, come on...." a boy's voice i never heard before... sounded like he was struggling against something.

and then i heard the clicking of a dog's nails against the tile.

"kassie?"

the noise of the clicks stopped, and immidiately picked up again. faster this time, getting closer.

and then i saw her. sweet little thing, she came to see me.

she then tackled me out of joy, something she liked to do. it was kind of a bad thing at this very moment.

"OW OW, KASSIE! AH-!"

i shrieked in pain. she accidently stood on one of my wounds, but immidiately stepped back after with an apologetic look on her face.

i sucked in air through my teeth.

"its okay... *its-*" it hurt a lot.

i looked up, and saw about three? no, four more kids than before looking at me. two of them looked very similar, perhaps twins.. one of those two looked done with everything, and the other looked worried.

one of the other two *also* looked done with everything, but she was covering her ears. maybe there was something wrong with her hearing? and then there was a blond boy, looking at her. he had a worried look in his eye, but there was a wide, maniac smile on his face that didnt show any signs of fading any time soon.

i coughed a little, and it hurt. one of those coughs that vibrate in your throat, and you keep doing it, and you cant stop, but it hurts so damn bad.

and i coughed some more. it sounded (and felt) like i was gonna vomit up a load of blood any second now. the sniper boy... the one with glasses, had tried to approach me.

"no, no... im fine. i dont need to owe you anything else. you can have my van, if it still works... and leave me here. thats all i have to offer. have everything thats in it." i put my hand up to try and stop the boy from walking any closer.

"you dont owe us anything! we just-"
"they owe us a favor-"
"wow! your voice is fuc-"

they all talked over eachother at once. all the noise made my (very likely concussed) head spin. their talking over eachother turned into arguing, giving me the worst migraine of my entire life.

"MY GOD. DO YOU GUYS EVER JUST SHUT UP?" the ginger one had spoken up. bless her soul, being able to shut everyone up in less than a second.

"i have questions for them. you guys need to go into another room, or something. cant go anywhere with you guys..."

i took an anxious sigh. i was scared. what did she want to ask me? i watched as everyone filed out into the back room, i got a sympathetic smile from the boy with the glasses. i smiled back, lightly.

i wanted to tell him i was sorry.

"so how did you get here? do you know?"

"no idea. ive been *seeing things* for a while, like shadows around the corner of my eye every now and again... but now they're entire nightmares."

"*seeing things?*" she questioned again.

"yeah, im not even sure if any of this is real. im not sure *you're* real. but, there was this one time i saw one of... one of those things... it slashed my face." i continued.

...

"so thats where the scar on your face came from." she added, after a period of silence. i kind of just stared at her for a little bit of time.

"...theres a scar?"

"yes. several. four, to be exact. right across your mouth." she explained. i was shocked to hear this. i brought a hand to feel my mouth, my hand was cold.

sure enough, as i traced my fingers across my face, there was a difference in the texture of my skin every-so-often.

half of me was surprised the scar was even there, and the other half was confused as to how it healed so quickly.

"what's your name? how old are you? where do you live?" she questioned on. it felt like an interrogation.

"my name..." i hesitated, because i knew i wasnt going to tell the full truth. i couldnt.

"my name is valentine. val for short." i sighed as i got the lie out of the way.

"im fifteen, a sophomore in highschool, and i live about fifteen minutes out from savannah."

she nodded, seeming to take the hesitation when i told her my name as anxiety rather than me trying to cover up my real name. the one i hated *oh so very much.*

she stood up from her crouching position and went to the back room, where everyone else went. i just noticed the sound of bickering from inside.

"how much time, logan?"

"about fifteen minutes?" the boy with the glasses was named logan. noted.

"their name is val. you guys can say hi if you want." she told the group, before grabbing the blonde boy firmly by his shoulder, whispering something in his ear. i was paying more attention to the four kids walking over to me to pay any attention to what they were saying.

the rest of the night consisted of ice-breakers i wanted no part of. i dont see any relevance to telling a group of six strangers my favorite color.

and then i woke up. it was dark.

and i was alone again.

thank god.

i pulled up my phone to check my notifications. 12:01. one text from ross.

"you think you can come to practice tomorrow, kid?" 6:07 pm.

i sighed. i accidently left him on delivered for six hours.

"sorry i didnt respond!" i messaged back

"ill be there!"

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