runa's father was a cold-hearted man. she had known this her whole life.
when she arrived home from school each day, she would find him either passed out on the sofa, or in the shed in the backyard where he drank but never admitted it to her.
today, it was the latter. she could hear some kind of rock music blasting from the radio he kept in the shed. she decided to avoid him this time. as per usual, there was no reason for them to even speak to each other, so she walked in the back door, through the kitchen, and down the narrow hallway into her room.
she slammed her door shut and threw herself down on the mattress, recalling the day's events.
—
"so you're friends with that psycho kid?" the blonde girl asked, trying to sound threatening.
"no," runa mumbled. the blonde, runa thought her name was ava or anna or something like that, moved closer to her, backing her into the wall at the top of the stairwell.
"liar! we saw you talking to him before fifth period. you know he's a serial killer, right?" anna snickered to the three girls standing behind her.
"what? no he isn't," she spat. she almost felt defensive of him. she barely knew the kid.
"five years ago," one of the other girls chimed in, "his entire family was killed and the house was burned down. the one at the end of Cretin, yknow? the police found him covered in blood by the creek behind the house. they say he killed them, but nobody believed it since he was just a kid."
this was all news to runa. adrian seemed like a genuinely nice person.
"yeah, thanks lucy, we know," anna scoffed.
"what does that have to do with me?"
"don't play dumb, witch. it's obvious you two are planning something against us. he followed me home yesterday," anna's voice suddenly got quieter, though it still echoed off the tile walls,
"that wasn't... i didn't tell him to do that. i don't talk to him, like, ever," a wave of anxiety fell over runa's body.
anna was a bully, but that was no reason for adrian to stalk her. runa hadn't given him a reason to defend her.
she clutched her leather book bag closer to her chest.
"i'm sure you don't," anna rolled her eyes and shoved runa against the wall, "you freaks better back the fuck off. are we clear?"
runa nodded, "crystal."
