She Never Left

hidden in the dark.

The pounding on the door continued. At first, Kevin hesitated to answer, but it was getting very annoying. He ran downstairs to answer the door, surprised to see Roman and Valeriya on the other side. As soon as the door was open, Roman rushed inside with his sister behind him, startling Kevin.

"You're not safe," Roman said worriedly. "I'm not safe. We're not safe."

"What?" Kevin asked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"I promise I'll explain later. But I need your help with this. I'm doing this for you and I. Come on, let's go."

Kevin followed him outside, locking the door behind him.

"Ivan and Malakhov," Roman continued, as they were walking. "They're going to try and use you next. I don't want you falling into their trap like I did," He paused to take Valeriya's hand.

"Did... did they have to do something with Lani's death?"

Roman stopped, almost causing Valeriya to trip. He so desperately wanted to tell Kevin the truth, but he doesn't want to make him angry by telling him that he fired the gun. If he did tell him, he would get mad and be unsafe - in Roman's mind.

Roman swallowed. "Yes," he replied. "They did."

They eventually arrived at Miss Hart's house. Roman tested the door. Luckily, it was unlocked. All three of them walked into the house. From the looks of it, everything was cleaned up. Roman wished that he hadn't dropped the gun. If he hadn't, he could have used it to protect himself from Ivan and Malakhov.

"I'm going to stay here for a while," Roman said. "I suggest you do too, to stay away from Ivan and Malakhov."

"What if the police come in?" Kevin asked.

"That's when we sneak out, then come back in. If they do end up coming, they should only come and go once. We'll be fine."

Kevin nodded. He had informed his mother that he was 'staying with a friend for a while to ease stress.' It was a long process to convince his mom to stay, but it all worked out.

They went upstairs, into what used to be Alina's room. "This used to be her room," Kevin said. "Alina's."

Roman nodded slowly. "She seemed nice. Sad to see her go like that."

Trying not to let a tear escape, Kevin quietly said "Yeah."

"Hiding." Valeriya said softly. Roman gave her a nod.

"Let's hope for the best." Roman said.

-----

About a week passed, nobody showed up to the house. Kevin has been walking in and out of his house, letting his mother know that he would be okay. All week, the guilt did not fade from Roman. He needed to let the truth slip, otherwise this whole plan would be useless.

"Kevin." Roman said.

Kevin looked at him. "Hmm?"

"There's something I'm not telling you..."

"What...?"

Roman took in a deep breath. "The reason Lani and Kaylin were both found dead is because Ivan and Malakhov made me do it."

Kevin stopped what he was doing completely and froze. "Made you..."

"I... I didn't mean to kill Lani... They..." Roman shook with fear and guilt. "They wanted me to kill Kaylin. They even took Valeriya as an exchange for doing it."

Expressionless, Kevin sat up and put his hand on Roman's shoulder. He ignored the fact that Roman shot Lani, and now she's dead. "Then what the hell are we doing sitting around in this house?" he asked. "If you want justice, we need to bring it. I lost three of my friends this summer, and I'm not just going to let it slip. We need to stop them."

"But how?" Roman asked. "The police found my gun and confiscated it."

Kevin held out a finger and reached into his bag, then placed something in Roman's hand. It was a handgun.

"Wha... where did you get this?" Roman stuttered.

"I found it in my dad's old stuff. To be honest, I was going to shoot myself. But I'm not going down without making things right." Kevin smiled.

Roman smiled back, and quickly hugged Kevin, then drew back just as quickly. "Oh, I'm sorry-"

"No, no, it's fine," Kevin said. "Just..." He looked into Roman's eyes, and they both leaned in and kissed. Neither of them apologized for that action, as it was prompted by conflict.

Valeriya walked into the room quickly. "People! Door!" she shouted.

Sure enough, there was knocking at the door. Roman ran to it first, keeping the gun Kevin gave him in reach. Roman opened the door.

"Did you miss us?" Ivan said. He was with Malakhov.

"What do you guys want?" Roman asked, angrily.

"Don't try and hide from us, pal," Malakhov said. "This is the end for you. Your friend too."

"No!" Kevin shouted. "You two are the reason why this all happened. This is the end for you!"

Ivan laughed. "Funny," He drew a gun, the same time Roman did. "Oh, maybe you are smarter than I thought. What a shame."

"I'll give you five seconds to get the hell out of my life. Or it will cost yours." Roman was furious now. Valeriya stood behind her brother, as angry as he was right now. Kevin watched each and every one of their movements carefully.

"If we can't agree on good terms," Malakhov said. "You die for it."

Valeriya screeched and charged Ivan, the one who was holding a gun. She was too quick for him to shoot at her. She was holding a knife from the kitchen and stabbed him in the chest numerous times. Roman swiftly took shots at Malakhov, hitting all four of them. He fell down quickly. Valeriya stood up off of Ivan, breathing heavily.

"Jesus Christ." Kevin said.

"I need to get out of here. Kevin, get back home quickly." Roman began to rush out of the door.

"Where will you go?"

Roman stopped. "Back to Russia. Back to my family. I can live with the problems. They're not permanent."

"Wait..." Kevin said, stopping Roman once again. "That means I'll never see you again."

Roman turned around to face Kevin. "I guess this means goodbye," he sighed in between thoughts. "I'm not a bad person. I did everything I can to make my life better. But it all fell apart in the end. So get this," Roman paused again. "If you ever have doubts about your life or who you truly are, know that changing it might not work. Stick to who you are. Don't ever try and change everything. You can't be someone you're not. And I learned that the hard way. Don't make the same mistake."

Kevin didnt know how to respond to that. He agreed completely, but he was sad that another person in his life was leaving. But in the end, things don't always go the way you want them to. Roman and Kevin learned that the hard way - especially Kevin.