𝕯𝖆𝖒𝖆𝖌𝖊𝖉 ☽ 𝕒𝕙𝕤

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕾𝖎𝖝

𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 - 𝚋𝚎𝚊 𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛

☽

I once again go straight up to my bedroom when I get home from school. I throw my bags down and slump down on my chair.

I hear someone shout 'Boo!' and feel a tap on my shoulder. I whip around quickly to see Adelaide smiling at me her eyes squinted mischievously.

'Addy... you scared me,' she smiles, 'um... what are you doing in here?'

'I wanted you to make me a pretty girl.'

'What are you talking about?' I look at her surprised.

'I wanna be a pretty girl - like you, Evie.'

'You are a pretty girl, Addy.'

'That's not what my mom thinks...' she says, hanging her head sadly.

'Oh... I'm sorry...' I sigh, 'Well then I guess we're just going to have to show her just how pretty you are then,' I smile at her as she looks up again excitedly and giggles, inviting herself to sit in my chair.

I pull some of the little makeup I own out from one of my drawers and walk over to Addy.

'Tate thinks you're a pretty girl,' she says as I do her makeup.

'He does?' I blush.

'Yeah - I can tell he likes you. I've never seen him so happy.'

I smile and look down, blushing even harder.

I add a little bit of red lipstick to her lips and the makeup is complete.

'And... done,' I say, stepping back as she turns around on the chair to look in the mirror.

Her face lights up in excitement as she sees herself.

'Thank you so much, Evie,' she says, jumping up to hug me suddenly and tightly.

'Anytime,' I say, smiling.

'Anyway, I'd better go so you can go and meet your boyfriend,' giving me a not-so-subtle wink as she makes for the door. I look at her confused and she points to my blackboard.

Meet me in the basement - T

I look back at her but she has already disappeared down the hallway.

✧

'Hello?' I shout into the darkness, 'Tate? Are you down here?'

I walk to the bottom of the stairs and squint against the blackness. Dust hangs around in the air, not really moving, almost as if it's frozen.

Taking me by surprise, a latex covered hand comes over my mouth just as I try to scream. I can see the rest of the rubber suit that belongs to the hand as the figure pushes me back against the stair railing.

I struggle against their grip, but they're far too strong for me.

I prepare to scream as loud as I can, but they release their grip on me. They step back and start to take off the latex mask. I'm not sure what's going on, and I'm too stunned to run.

As soon as I see curls of dirty blond hair poking out of the unzipped mask I know who it is.

'What was that for? You scared the hell out of me,' I punch him on the shoulder. We both laugh.

'I thought you might need cheering up,' he says.

'What? And that's supposed to cheer me up?' I ask, raising a quizzical eyebrow.

'No... but this is.'

He puts his hands on the staircase either side of me and leans in until his face is next to mine. I can feel his warm breath on my neck and his lips lightly touching mine.

I drape my arms over his shoulders and lean back into him. He wraps his arms around my waist and kisses me, pulling me in tighter every movement.

His kiss fills me with warmth, and I find myself forgetting about everything else. It's like we're the only two people that exist.

Before today I didn't even realise I had feelings for Tate, but I guess I did. I've never felt this before, and it feels great.

I haven't known Tate for very long, but I might as well have known him for forever.

I reluctantly pull my lips away from his, resting my forehead on his.

Neither of us say anything for a while, we just stand there in each others' arms, taking it all in.

'Wow...' I whisper, trying to break the silence after a while of saying nothing.

Tate stands back.

'Was that a good or bad wow?' he says worriedly, like a nervous puppy desperate to please his master.

'No, no. It was good.'

'Oh,' Tate smiles with relief.

I grab hold of his hand.

'Tate, there's something I need to talk to you about.'

'Anything,' he nods.

I slump down against the wall and sit with my knees up against my chest and Tate lowers himself to the floor opposite me.

'Ever since we moved here, something has felt... off. And I've been wanting to talk to someone about it but if I tell my parents they'll just think that I'm crazy.'

'I won't think you're crazy, trust me. If anyone's crazy here, it isn't you.'

I smile back at him.

'The first night we moved here, I got really angry and started yelling at my dad. I felt so strange and then my bookshelf crashed to the ground. I've been trying hard to find an explanation for it... but I can't. It could've just been a coincidence but something doesn't feel right.'

Tate shuffles over until he's next to me. He wraps an arm around my shoulders and I bury my head in his neck.

'And I've been seeing things. I know they're real - I know I'm not crazy. Doors opening and closing, weird sounds. Then I had a strange nightmare about a demon baby thing with fangs and claws. And then a woman. She was dripping wet in a nurse's uniform and she just kept saying 'look what he did to me'... I know how that sounds but I'm not crazy.'

'I know you aren't,' he moves around so his arms are on my shoulders and he is looking straight at me. He lets out a deep sigh, 'There are things that you can't understand yet, and I wish I could find a way to tell you but... I don't want to hurt you.'

✧