Dynasty Boys

Chapter 3

Elle

As I drove home, I couldn't shake the image of his gaze. Those eyes, so hard to describe. The way he spoke, so casually, as if nothing mattered the world.

After everything that happened to my parents not long ago, I couldn't help but feel unsettled by his words. I knew I was probably being paranoid, but I was sure I'd heard him correctly. Right? Or had my mind been playing tricks on me?

"We should have killed his brother too. I hate this fucker, he's a piece of shit".

If I wasn't wrong, if my ears weren't deceiving me, he was talking about murdering someone. He talked like it meant nothing. Like it was normal to talk about murdering a person in the middle of a pharmacy late at night.

Could he really take someone's life away? What if they knew who killed my parents, what if they....

No! Elle stop!

So many ifs... I couldn't help it. I'd probably misheard them. I'd been blasting music through my headphones for the past month. Yeah, that was it... but even if I did hear them right, why would a group of teenage boys want to hurt my parents? I was just being irrational. This wasn't a movie. I needed to stop watching those Sherlock Holmes films, they were doing nothing for my mental health after everything that had happened.

I arrived home about ten minutes late, still a little shaken, but I pushed the feelings aside as I opened the door. I set my grandma's medicine on the counter and headed to my bedroom, taking two steps at a time. I knew I shouldn't be acting so distant, but I didn't have the energy to face my grandma right now. I just needed a warm shower to relax my muscles, crawl into my comfortable bed, blast some music through my headphones, and read. That always made me feel better. Some people turned to alcohol, drugs, or sex, but not me. I just wanted to bury myself in a good book and my music, and never get up again. Never interact with anyone again.

I wanted to shut my brain off.

After my shower, I brushed my teeth and walked back to my room, wrapped in a fluffy white towel, my long blonde hair cascading down my back. I slipped into my panties and grabbed an oversized T-shirt. I never wore a bra to bed, and honestly, I never understood why some girls did. Why suffer while you're sleeping?

About an hour later, I'd finished a few chapters of one of my favorite books, and I felt more at ease. I glanced at the time on my phone, it was 11:00 p.m.

I should probably get some sleep.

I had to be up by 7:00 a.m. School started tomorrow, and I needed to be in good shape. I was terrified, but I had a simple plan: stay invisible. Keep my head down, get my diploma. That was the only thing I could think to do. I still wanted to be a lawyer, that was all my dad ever hoped for me, and I was going to make him proud. It was the least I could do for him, the last way I could honor him.

I didn't want high school drama. No catty girls, no bad boys, no parties, and nothing in between. The library and the bathroom stalls would be my sanctuary. I missed Carla so much. She was my best friend, the only one who always had my back, no matter what. When I told her what happened, that I had to move, she was heartbroken. I could still see her beautiful face, bare of makeup, streaked with tears.

I shook my head, lost in thought. No one was going to stand in my way. I was fine with being invisible. It felt like being a ghost. Just like my parents, only they were at peace now, and I was still stuck here, suffering.

Just as I was starting to drift into the sleep I'd been craving, something caught my eye outside my bedroom window, and my heart did a somersault.

His eyes.

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