✓ | WELCOME TO DEADTOWN → original

fourteen

                    AIDEN WASN'T EXACTLY THE NEATEST PERSON AROUND, BUT YOU WOULD BE WRONG IF YOU THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO LET THINGS PILE UP INTO A MESS. So, when everyone had dumped their paper plates and soda cans on the table after the first movie of the night, he couldn't sit there and stare at it for long.

"Aiden, what the hell?" Gen asked loudly as he began to gather the trash into his hands.

"What?" He asked, looking back at her.

Kayden had a hand over her mouth, grinning, and Aiden said again, "What?"

Reed snorted. "Why are you taking all our trash in one go?"

Aiden's face flushed. "Because, Bodner, the table was messy."

"So?" Gen asked, and Aiden flipped her off. "I don't like shit lying around, okay? It's gotta be clean."

"Okay, if that's the way you feel about it," Reed shook his head, a smile lifting the corners of his mouth. "There's trash bags underneath the sink, but we moved our garbage outside where the truck can get it."

Kayden's face paled, and she looked at him nervously. "Don't go outside this late."

He checked his watch, which read 3:21 am. He sighed, looking back at Kayden. "It'll be two seconds, Kay. No one would come all the way here to kill people."

Gen laughed nervously, shooting Kayden a look, which she ignored. The talk the two had had earlier had shook her up more than she let on, and she had no idea what to do.

"Aiden," She said. "It's devil's hour."

"Oh, fuck," Reed began to laugh, putting his head in his hands. "Not this ghost shit again."

"I'm serious!" Kayden said. "I play the board, I know what goes on at 3 am and trust me, it's not good."

"Kayden, I don't have a board with me," Aiden said exasperatedly. "Nothing's gonna mess with me, I promise."

She sat back, folding her arms. "Fine. Do what you want."

He narrowed his eyes. "Fine. I will."

There was an awkward silence as the two glared at each other, and Gen looked between them both, saying hesitantly, "Hey, by the way, has anyone heard about the girl's body? Do we know who it is?"

Reed shifted his arm, which was draped around her shoulders. "I got an alert about 45 minutes ago. She was raped and then someone cut her throat open. They haven't identified the body yet."

Kayden shivered, tearing her eyes from Aiden. "That's disgusting."

Aiden stared silently at the wall in front of him and didn't answer her, getting to his feet and heading towards the kitchen. "I'll be right back."

Kayden bit her lip and then said in a rush, "I can— I can come with you. So you don't have to be alone or— you know—"

"I'm fine, thanks." Aiden cut across her, his shoulder blades stiffening. Kayden swallowed and then sank back against the couch as he headed out of the room without another word.

The trash bags were right where Reed said they would be, and Aiden dumped the trash into one of them, opening the screen door and stepping onto the porch. Goosebumps appeared on his arms as the chilly autumn air hit his bare skin, and he spotted the trashcans over by the shed near the woods.

He stepped off the porch, the leaves crunching beneath his feet as he approached it. He flung open the lid, throwing the bag in with a satisfying thud. He dusted off his hands and prepared to go back inside when he heard a cracking sound behind him.