Shadows of Darkness

~Chapter 11~

"Morning sleepyhead." Ethan greets as my eyes flutter open.

"Morning." I yawn back.

"I hope you enjoyed your last night sleeping in your car. It's seriously uncomfortable in here, so I'm taking you somewhere else tonight." Ethan says with a wink.

"Oh really now? Where are two 16 year old run aways going to hideout?" I say sarcastically.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out." He teases and jumps from the front seat into the back seat. "You may need to shower and eat, I haven't seen you eaten once." He laughs. As he laughs I notice he has dimples. I'm a massive sucker for dimples.

"Where am I supposed to shower?" I ask, confused but delighted at the thought of a fresh shower.

"Pool change room showers, I do it all the time. Personally, it's not even that bad." His answer is simple. As he speaks it look likes he has planned out every word perfectly, I really like it.

So we drive. We drive to the pool and we both take showers. After about 20 minutes were out and he is already trying to find a place to eat.

"Let's have McDonalds!!! I haven't had that since I was like 6." I demand like a child.

"Sure Cassandra, whatever you want." He politely says as we pull into the carpark.

I order a large cheese burger meal and he does the same. We got into talking about where were from, what are likes and dislikes are, and so much more.

Ethan was originally from New York, but moved to California when he was 10. He plays football and guitar and is a great singer. His pet hate is when people snore, he said he 'seriously can't stand the sound of thunder being released from people's nasal cavity.'

He has one 16 year old twin sister who he hasn't seen in 6 months due to her running away. Apparently when he was in high school he was very intelligent, always receiving straight a's. He had a girlfriend but they broke up when his mum went into hospital.

"Ethan, why didn't you just call the cops on your dad?" I asked.

"Because of this." He murmured as he pulled up his right sleeve to show a massive scar going all the way down from his shoulder to his elbow. "My dad cut me with a butchers knife so I wouldn't tell anyone."

"Ethan... I'm so sorry." I spoke with a voice full of sorrow and surprise.

"Look it's fine, it happened ages ago. I need to show you were we are sleeping tonight." His voice lights up as he says that last sentence.

We get back into my jeep and Ethan drives us to an old, boarded up house. Pavements were missing from the pathway, tiles from the roof, and the ugly baby blue paint was chipping off.

As we get out of the car Ethan walks straight up the door, which is off its hinges, and knocks a weird combination which contains 4 different knocks. Some girl with long, auburn hair and piercings covering her face comes to greet us.

"Hey Eth. Who's your friend?" The girl frowned.

"This is Cassandra, she is in the same position as everyone here. Cassandra this is Imogen, I came here a few months ago, it's pretty good."

"Mmmmm, another teenage runaway aye? This shall be fun." Imogen smirked and gestured for us to come in.

The house was putrid. There was filth everywhere. We entered in what seemed like the lounge room; it had a small tv next to a giant staircase. There were 2 other people inside. One was an extremely skinny girl with bleach blonde hair and a lip piercing, Imogen said her name was Paige. The other was a boy, he had light brown hair, big blue eyes and perfectly tanned skin. His name was Cameron. Apparently everyone here was 16. Imogen call it the "Runaway House."

"We are restricted to this one section. Our bedrooms are upstairs and that's the only other place we are allowed. DO NOT EVER go into that room there." Imogen ordered, pointing to a door in the far right corner of the lounge room, which seemed to lead to another room in the house.

"Why can't I go through that door?" I questioned. Why wouldn't I be able to go through a stupid little door?

"It's not your place to know, your just a newbie. But I will guarantee you if you go through that door you probably will never come back." Imogen stated. "Come with me, I'll get you a bedroom."

And so I leave the lounge room with her and I walk up the stairs, having no idea what awful things would happen that night.