Laconic » a.i

1.9

//cooper//

When I woke up, I wasn't in Luke's room. I was still laying my head on someone's chest but it wasn't Luke. The arm laid around me was too tan to be Luke's. He must've flashed us back to the motel.

I lifted my head and saw Calum sleeping. Ugh, there had to be someone who was awake but it seemed to be just us in the room. Maybe everyone else was in the other room we'd rented. But I didn't want to get up and wake Cal up, he really needed his sleep.

I let myself slowly fade until I found myself on the other side of the room. Calum hadn't moved at all. I smiled to myself, proud I actually did something right, before quietly leaving the room and knocking on the door of the next. Jeremy was the one to answer.

"Thanks for running off last night," he said sharply as his greeting. I just shrugged and walked passed him into the room. "Don't even play this off as no big deal. We're being hunted by a group of ghost hunters and you're running off back to Luke's and our old house without saying anything to anyone. Bridgette, you could've been exterminated or whatever the hell it is they do to us!"

"Exterminate," Luke confirmed. "Although, I heard the term 'erased' a couple times. I think that sounds better."

"Don't care," Jeremy sang before focusing back on me. "Look, I understand you're upset and possibly suicidal, but I already lost my best friend who used to be my only friend that I could confide in. I refuse to lose my sister too. From now on, you tell someone where you're going and when."

Yeah, tell someone.

"You'll tell me." Luke said, reading my thoughts.

I just rolled my eyes. Fine, can I go back to Westfield Drive now?

"She wants to go back home." Luke told Jeremy.

He narrowed his eyes at me, "Keep your phone on you and answer when I try to contact you. Promise?"

I nodded.

"Fine; go."

-

"It's weird how things can change so quickly, I guess," I mused as I walked down the street with Ella. I kicked a pebble as we passed a tree. I looked up to see it was where Ashton's house used to be. I felt a pang of sadness and nostalgia. I peeled my eyes off of it and continued to stare down at the concrete sidewalk below my feet. "I used to be completely normal and fine and then it went all wonky after I made my first friend here. And I was so worried about turning into a cliche when I moved here. Is this a cliche?"

"Some sort of sick, twisted, horror movie cliche," Ella scoffed. "So, can I ever like, meet these friends of yours? You said they're nice, so I figured I could use the company."

I scratched behind my ear, "Um, they'd kill me again if they found out I was actually talking to someone and told them everything. This is all supposed to be a secret."

"You're a really weird character. Nice, but weird." Ella nodded.

I chuckled, "Yeah, tell me about it. But Luke also reads minds, so I can't be as weird as him."

"Who's the one that sends thoughts and controls people?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat, "Um...A-Ashton."

She looked up at me, sadness and remorse clear in her big, brown eyes, "Sorry."

I shrugged it off, not saying anything. I jammed my hands in my back pockets and kicked at another pebble, sending it far down the street. Ella's eyes followed it until her body went rigid. I looked to her, my eyebrows pulled together, "You okay?"