𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐒 𝐌𝐄

─ ❝ act xxiii ❞

⎡ act xxiii - intrusion ⎦

┊❝ Did you seriously think we'd leave you
alone? ❞┊

── HAPPILY smiling to herself as she pulled into her driveway, (Y/N) barely registered the empty black car parked on the side of the the road near her house, too caught up in the memories she had made with her newfound friends. If anything, her entire surroundings were but a blur to her, her eyes constantly drawn to the bag dangling from her fingers which contained her new dress.

Her smile then wavered.

Her heart still ached at the thought of losing her mother's old dress, the one thing that she had left behind other than distant memories.

Pausing outside of her front door, her eyes dimming of their once joy, she let out a small sigh before inserting her key into the lock and turning the knob. Since her father's car had been vacant from the driveway, she didn't bother to yell out a greeting, nor did she bother to glance around her house as she made an immediate beeline up the stairs to her room. Due to her skin feeling slightly sticky from the humidity of the weather, winter slowly transition to spring, she decided to take a quick shower before starting on any homework.

After discarding her bag on the floor, she scooped up her pajamas before entering the bathroom and stripping of her old clothes. The moment the warm water of the shower streamed down her skin, she felt instantly rejuvenated, something she reveled in for as long as she could before the water slowly started to turn cold. Toweling herself dry and clothing herself, imagine her surprise when she re-entered her room only to find Dylan and Ian inside.

She dropped her clothes in shock.

"Oh, there you are," Dylan smirked as he glanced up from his phone, sitting lazily at her desk with his feet propped up. "You sure took your time in the shower. You weren't doing something you weren't supposed to, were you?"

(Y/N)'s eyes narrowed at his insinuations.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded, forcing herself to remain calm. "And what makes you think you can just break in to my house like this?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ian sighed.

"Yes, isn't it?" Dylan continued with a biting edge to his tone.

"I already told you," (Y/N) shakily breathed out, the safety that she once felt in her own space—her own room—slowly dwindling into a sweet, distant memory, the darkness from both Ian's and Dylan's oppressive gazes like a viper constricting her until she snapped. "I don't care anymore if you release those photos or that video. Do what you want, but I'm done. So get the fuck out of my house before I call the police. Now."

Dylan scoffed, as if he found her words amusing.

"What?" She snapped.

"I thought you were naive, but not this naive," Ian smirked, those calculative silver eyes of his holding a dangerous shimmer to them that made her shudder, though she forced herself to still to not give him the satisfaction of her reaction.

"We're not here to threaten you with those flimsy ties," Dylan hummed as he pushed himself upward to approach her, his eyes practically glowing due to the shadow that fell over half of his face, the look as predatory as it could get, especially with the way he trapped her against the wall by leaning against it with his arm above her. "No, we're here to talk about those friends of yours: Shariah Seele, Kira Ahmad, Alina Ahmad, and fucking Sawyer Penson, correct? I mean, how easy would it be to have them removed from school entirely? How easy would it be to completely decimate their chances of getting into college or getting a job at all? Hell, might as well make their life as fucking shitty as possible since just looking at them makes me irritated, right, Ian?" He then leaned down even closer to (Y/N) to whisper into her ear, "Right, (Y/N)?"

Though absolute terror coursed through her veins, (Y/N) didn't hesitate to shove Dylan away, looking up at him with disbelief and anger flaming in her (E/C) eyes.

"Hah..." Ian chuckled. "How cute."

"What is wrong with you?" (Y/N) stared in disgust between the two boys. "Just leave me alone!"

Ian and Dylan gazed at her blankly.

Her glower deepened.

"You're right, Ian," Dylan smirked with curved eyes, looking down at (Y/N) with amusement as if she were designated to entertain him. "She is cute." Tilting his head to the side, he continued, "Honestly, (Y/N)... did you seriously think we'd leave you alone? After what you did today... I don't think such a ask is possible for us. I told you: we'll have fun with this. And that means doing whatever you're told to do until we're done. It's really not that hard. Yet... you had to go and fuck everything up, didn't you?"

(Y/N) grit her teeth, her jaw tightening.

"We'll be talking soon," Dylan uttered as he brushed past her, purposefully hitting her with his shoulder so hard she stumbled backwards.

"Very soon," Ian added on, his hand falling onto her shoulder briefly before disappearing just as quickly, as if wanting to leave a lingering touch on her body.

Finally, when (Y/N) heard the door slam behind them that signaled they had left, she collapsed to the floor, her entire body trembling. The thought that they could easily enter her house without her knowing sent chill after chill crawling up her body, and she knew that even if she asked her father to change the locks, he'd immediately deny her request as it wasn't beneficial in any way—to his knowledge, that is. Even if she confided in him about Ian and Dylan's sadistic bullying and manipulation, she knew he'd just chalk it up to her being far too paranoid and far too imaginative.

He couldn't be bothered.

She knew this.

Wanting to cry yet her eyes being far too dry for some reason, she instead just pulled her knees to her chest and allowed herself to sink into darkness.

It was the only thing that could comfort her.

__________________________________

To be continued...