Nightfall

Chapter 7

The sound of Thea's even breathing filled the room with tranquility. Everyone was out. She didn't know where. And she honestly didn't even care. She was finally alone. She finally had some peace.

The empty canvas before her was too plain. It was one of her over the summer assignments that she was getting a head start on. But she just had no inspiration. Somehow, she was supposed to create a masterpiece for her senior profolio.

But she had no ideas what so ever.

She had been able to register for the Performing Arts School due to her locally famous talents with a pencil or brush. Thea was an exceptional artist. But it was her mother, Celia, who had inspired her at the age of 7 to become one. So ever since she was a sophomore nearly a year ago, she had been gradually sinking academically in that class. And the only thing now she had to look forward to, was to have a spectacular senior profolio that she believed would set the mood for the entire year.

Of course...this couldn't possibly be true. But it was all Thea had.

"Having trouble?"

Thea whirled and her heart jumped a few beats in a moments terror. When she realized it was Xander, she let out a breath and dipped her head relieved.

"Expecting someone else?" he asked, leaning against the door frame, flawlessly flaunting his appearance with some zest he thought he had.

Thea shook her head. "I just thought that no one was home. Don't you have band practice with that juvenile delinquent? What's his name again?"

Xander rolled his eyes as if it was ridiculous for his baby sister not to remember. "Zaccheus, remember? I met him a 8 months ago at the Staind concert and we became a - "

"Oh!" she cut him off. "That Zaccheus."

Xander chuckled humorlessly and looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. "What am I gonna do with you, Thea?"

Thea snorted. "You won't have to do anything. At this rate, I'm gonna be out of here before you go to college."

"Whoa," he held his hands up in surrender. "Don't get all judgy on me. I haven't seen you for a few days now. You're barely home."

"Well you barely talk to me," she shot back.

"Well you're never here. How the hell am I supposed to talk to you when you're always working? You don't come down to eat, I never even know you're here half the time because you're so damn quiet. I mean seriously, Thea, you don't even say hi to me anymore."

It was quiet for a long moment. Thea knew her brother was right. Even though she hated to admit it, she had shut everyone out that lived in this house. And now she had her brother fooled into believing that she doesn't even care about him anymore.

"I know I've just made things harder for you," she began slowly. "But...I can't. I can't pretend like everything's alright. Because it's not. But I do care about you Xander, and that will never change."

His face seemed to soften somewhat at the edges and Thea knew that he trusted her.

"Besides," Thea shrugged and grinned. "You haven't tried to call yet."

Xander scoffed and rubbed his eyes with his forefinger and thumb. "See ya around, Thea."

"Not likely!" she said loudly right before he closed her door. She turned back to her empty canvas and leaned her cheek against her hand, frustrated. The one time she actually wants to draw something and she can't think of anything to draw.

Ding-dong.

"Who the hell is it now?"

Thea sloppily got to her feet and shuffled downstairs at her own pace defiantly. The person outside rung the doorbell another ten odd times before she finally reached the door.

"This better be..."

Thea stopped mid-sentence in surprise. She defiantly wasn't expecting this.

"Good?" Ash finished and shrugged, looking bored. "Not really I suppose."

Thea frowned. "What are you doing here? I didn't think that this part of the neighborhood was good enough for Mr. Popular."

Ash raised an eyebrow as if to say, really? "Really? Mr. Popular?" he smirked. "That the best you could come up with?"

Thea lifted her chin and glared at him. "It was the only thing I could think of on such short notice. So why don't you just explain to me why you're here."

Ash held up his hands and made a face that said he was innocent. "If you wanna get to the chase, fine, I'll play along to your certain speed," he leered and it made Thea wrinkle her nose in disgust. "Anyway," he changed his tone. "I just came by to tell you that your best friend's in jail and she wants you to stop by for a visit."

Thea's eyes widened. "What?" she exclaimed. "Bonnie's in jail?"

"Or," he went on. "whenever you have a chance. No rush."

For a moment, Thea's mind raced a million miles per second. Bonnie was in jail? Impossible!

"You're lying," she stated, uneven.

He shrugged, a devious look in his eye. "Maybe. But if you don't come with me right now you'll never know."

"What do you mean? I can drive down to the police station myself and see her."

He rolled his eyes, impatient. "Trust me, you do that, you'll never see her."

"Actually," Thea sneered. "I don't trust you for a rat's ass. Now where is Bonnie?!"

To Thea's horror, Ash actually laughed. Before Ash could say any more, she reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone. She pressed Bonnie's speed dial and waited for the ring. But there wasn't one. It went straight to voicemail.

"If this is a prank Ash, I swear I'll kick your ass so hard that your damn grandchildren will feel it. What did you do to Bonnie!?"

Ash only laughed. This was familiar territory for him. He was in his domain of using things against people to get what he wanted. And Thea didn't know how far he was willing to go. Sure, she heard about his pranks here and there. She was even victim to one of them recently. But she didn't really know.

"Oh," he sighed, almost blissfully. "It most certainly is a prank."

Thea managed to calm herself enough to say, "What do you want?" She was gratified that her voice didn't shake.

"Hmm..." he grinned crookedly, and to some girls it would've been sexy, by to Thea, it was just... wrong. "Well that's the million dollar question, isn't it?"