Her smell

16

The morning light appeared earlier than usual. It hit Cassys' face which felt weirdly warm on her cheeks and locked eyes, as if it had given her a warm morning hug. She slowly opened her eyes but immediately squinted to the sight of the sun right above of her. It shun brighter than usual.

Cassy had been sleeping outside with Noah the whole night which made her worry that her parents might have been out looking for her the whole night, if they now noticed her absence. And if they found this place it'd just be bad for Noah.

She stood up and turned around to see Noah still in his animalistic form. It was still too early for him to turn human again.

Cassy couldn't waste another second with him. Despite still feeling half asleep she carried herself up and started making her way back home, running the last bit. She had been sneaking out from her window and hopefully her parents hadn't notice it.

Once Cassy made it to the front door She grabbed the doorknob and tried to open it as slowly as possible without making a sound. She successfully did and then did the same with closing it behind her. She tiptoed towards the stairs but it was just too good to be true when a chuckle was heard coming from the kitchen.

"Welcome back sweetie!" She said in with a bright tone. Cassy caught up fast and realized she had been caught red handed. She closed her eyes in frustration and let out a sigh. Not even a minute later she appeared from the side of the wall with her head lowered down in shame.

"Sorry for sneaking out" Cassy said before giving her parents a word to say. She knew they would find out, one way or another. They were hunters after all and had a good sense of movements.

And since both their bedrooms only have a wall between each other upstairs, there was a high chance that they heard her open the window to sneak out.

There was a moment of silence when her dad decided to speak up.

"If you snuck out to meet that guy again, I suggest you stop before things get worse" he bluntly said and continued chopping the vegetables.

She rolled her eyes. Cassy wasn't stupid. She knew very well that there was something going on that she didn't know about which is why she went to meet Noah.

"Well if you don't tell me what's going I'll just go find out myself" she crossed her arms and talked back to Rick, her own father for the first time.

Cassy was raised to never talk back and always behave, but as she grew older she grew curious about the outside world and was not liking the isolation anymore.

There was a tense and uncomfortable silence between them three.

Cassy saw disappointment in his eyes that said enough for her to get the message. She let out an annoyed hmph and turned around to take her leave, up to her room where she hoped she could spend some alone time.

Things were after all new to her. She still had to find out pieces of her past that her parents didn't want to mention. Or more like..

her past with Noah.

She opened the door and closed it behind her before taking a deep breath and running towards her bed, throwing herself onto it with her face landing on the pillow.

Lily, who was ready to sneak out and look for Cassy, was by the window and noticed her already laying on the bed. She let out a loud scream which sounded more like a mumbled noise against the pillow.

"Um.. you okey?" Lily asked while running down the small stairs from the window that she built herself. No words were exchanged between them for almost 10 minutes when Cassy suddenly spoke up.

"Lily, why is life so complicated? What are they hiding from me that is such a no no for me to know?"

Lily had no good response to that. She swallowed and just patted Cassy's head.

"Sometimes parents do things because they want to protect their kids. But they might not realize that you're almost an adult and have the right to know" she sat down beside Cassy's head and held her knees.

Cassy let out a long sigh knowing that it wouldn't really matter. She was already missing Noah and was hoping he didn't mind her leaving without saying goodbye.

"Don't feel down now, Cass" Lily said, trying to make her feel better. Cassy's pain was felt inside Lily as well, it was painful. Having the only people close to you hiding something that they were too cowards enough to tell.

It made her feel lonely, left out. Just like at school.

After the incident which caused her to lose most of her memory, made her the outcast at school. She did not remember anyone so on the same day she returned, everyone turned their back on her.

Rumors about her were spread, bad ones. School was a challenge in life which she wanted to give up on many times. But it passed by faster than she had imagined and soon after summer vacation came.

It was the time she could finally be by herself and rest. Collecting all her pieces she had dropped over the past few years.

Suddenly one image popped up in her head. A girl, she cut Cassy's hair and said she'd use it for a project because it looked unnatural. Her parents had complained about the girl and after that she was moved to another class. But it didn't make school easier for Cassy.

She loved hanging out in the library by herself to either study or read webtoons. After school she's always get dragged behind the school by a few girls who gave her all their homework for Cassy to do for them.

Her power to say no was completely gone. She was another victim at her school, all alone without a memory left from her past relationships she had with her classmates.

Hopefully life would get better soon.