Everyone has heard that curiosity killed the cat. I truly believed in those words, especially the fact that the cat wanted to know something so bad, he was killed. My ass didn't want to be killed. I actually had a dream of being the longest living person and being killed would instantly destroy that dream. But for some reason, I risked that dream and almost the skin on my ass and toes because of a certain girl with fiery locks. At night. In a bush.

Let me just back this up for you so you can understand why I was in a bush without the use of drugs.

A gray sky hung over the school, invading windows to spread its darkness. It was a little chilly, but not as chilly as the night that was to come. But it was getting pretty cold in the school and I didn't have anything to cover myself except for the plain colored t-shirt that was like my other's one except it was pink. Trust me, I didn't want to wear it but it was one of the few things that weren't dirty or skin tight to my standards.

Mr. Louis's class was quiet that day, not only because we had a test that I'm sure most of the class failed because a lot of them didn't do shit in that class. I only the other hand, knew I passed because I actually paid attention. The test wasn't the only reason why it was quiet. A certain guy who had crawled up my window like some spider monkey on drugs wasn't there.

Yes, I'm talking about Thorin.

The whole almost murdering some guy must have taken up most of his energy and he didn't feel like going to school. I for one didn't mind it. There wasn't the weight of people's eyes pushing down on my chest like an elephant on my chest. Instead, I was free, out of site. Invisible.

Science was over in a blur. Mr. Louis sat at his desk, grading papers while I asked to use the bathroom but actually just walked down a few extra hallways before going to the bathroom and back. It wasn't like the bald man had anything else planned for us except for leaving him the hell alone at the moment so, in my opinion, it went by pretty fast.

Lunch was peaceful for the most part. My headphones were in as usual except when they were forced out because Thorin would try and talk to me. Luckily there wasn't anyone to force me to take them out.

I was wrong.

A piece of lettuce was in my mouth along with a sliver of a carrot that my teeth maliciously crunched on. It was only a few calories, I made sure of it, and was okay. The food was more on the "for bunnies" side than the "for human side" but hey, it was only a few calories. I felt the lettuce slide in between my teeth, creating itself a little home.

I eyed my surroundings before trying to get the bunny food out of my teeth. My fingers were pinched around the piece after minutes of playing with it. I was so close from getting the stupid plant out of my teeth and be on my way to the other pieces of the salad. It moved slowly out of the little crevice it had taken up. I was practically rooting myself on as I was getting the little pest out of my mouth. Too bad the slamming of multiple books caught me off guard and made me jump. The act made me jump and instead of getting the food out, my nail glided up my gums and created a created a wound.

The taste of blood is gross.

"Flora." Melody looked at me with worrisome eyes with the hint of 'I will fucking kill you' in them.

"Mel." I said back to her while the taste of metal was in my mouth because of her.

Her expression changed to a softer one like the red headed bad ass was about to cry. "I'm worried." She slumped onto her books that were for the class that she was supposed to be in.

"About what?" There was nothing to be worried about. I saw her almost kill an object that wasn't even alive, if it was someone being stupid then I knew she could handle it.

"Thorin."

Okay maybe not.

I rolled my eyes so hard, I thought I saw my brain for a second and let me tell you, it's kind of dark in there. "What has he done?" Besides sneaking out of his house every night to do only God know's what and I was fine with that. I didn't want to know, it was obviously something illegal because he wasn't doing it in the daytime.

"I think he's sneaking out at night."

As much as I wanted to snort and choke at the same time because bitch was right, I didn't. The poker face Daddy Dearest passed down to me came in handy and I remained calm while eating the rest of my salad. "Why do you say that?"

"I'm pretty positive that I heard the front door close one night when I couldn't sleep but when I looked out of the window, I didn't see anything." She looked down at her wrestling thumbs. As much as I wanted to tell her that her cousin was, in fact, sneaking out, I didn't. Snitches got stitches and I didn't want her to worry even more.

"Mel, you're overreacting. Do you really think that Thorin would sneak out in the middle of the night? No. He's too lazy, he didn't even come to school today." I waved my hands in the air, showing her the asshole was nowhere to be seen.

She looked at me with her deep brown eyes that she shared with Thorin. "I don't know Flora, you don't really know his past like I do." She tried to say that softly just to make sure she didn't hurt my feelings.

"I understand that," I spoke slowly. "but there's seriously no reason for him to sneak out at night." Not that I knew of unless he ran a drug business or was seeing someone at night. Maybe he actually had a sugar-mama and that's where he got all of the money and the guy that he beat up was her husband or something.

I felt a little twinge in my chest. Pretty sure it just was heartburn or something.

"Flora, I don't know. I just wish that I could somehow catch him." Mel slammed her fist, bringing the attention that her cousin usually brought to himself, to herself. The people at the end of the table looked at her, munching on their pizza while watching her like an animal in a cage. But she didn't give them much of a show when she went back to practically laying on the table.

"It's not like you can just watch the door all night long." I snorted, looking away and giving the people a sympathetic look before they went back to their own business.

She was quiet for a second, signaling she was thinking and not something good. The girl perked up in front of me like someone injected with coffee with a mixture of cocaine. "Flora! You're a genius! We'll watch the door tonight, just to make sure that nothing happens."

"Wait, we?" My throat became dry even as I downed my water.

"Yes we, we are friends after all Flora." She gave me a smirk that churned my stomach.

"But where are we going?" I heard the desperation in my voice and so did she. Didn't matter, she kept her smile while starting to get up from her seat.

"Text me." She pulled out a pen and proceeded to write on my arm without my permission. The pen stabbed at my skin, poking at the nerves and dying it with the blue ink. "I'll text you more information."

"Wait, Melo-"

"I have to go!" The pen stopped as she began to walk away from me. "I really need to get back to my class."

Sure.

So there I was, reading the text message that Melody had sent me. It took me awhile to finally text her because let's be real here, I didn't want to leave the warmth of my house. The weather was chilly, colder than it was during the day. As much as I wanted to stay inside, Melody needed my help though if I just told her the truth then my ass wouldn't freeze. But, I have to make things complicated and it would be awkward if I didn't message her.

It was kind of strange having to deal with these problems for the first time. Without having the friends, I didn't have to worry about texting someone.

Melody: meet me at your bushes.

I sighed. I knew what bushes she was talking about. The bushes in front of my house have always been there ever since we moved into the house. They were big, big enough for two girls to hide behind and watch the neighbor's doors. It's quite possible the people who lived in the house before my mom and I were nothing more than snoops that always watched people.

There's a lot of things I knew about my mom, how she liked her coffee, the fact that she doesn't like macaroni and cheese but I never knew how she was such a heavy sleeper. Probably because I never had to sneak out of my house in the middle of the night just to watch some door but at least I learned something.

I didn't even tip toe around, for the most part. In the beginning, I did with my sneakers which by the way, was kind of easy but after two seconds and squeaking a million times, I had to quit. My feet quietly thumped through the night so in case she did hear me, she would think I was some ghost. The black clothes that hung on my body and tried to keep any warmth I had were inspired by Thorin by the fact that no one could see him because of the darkness.

The door closed behind me with a muffled click of the knob. Melody was standing in the moonlight, letting her red curly hair shine through. At that moment, I felt a little jealous of her. She was pretty, prettier than me. I get it, a lot of people are prettier than me, but it still hurt a little bit. She was tall, going over my short frame and slim yet a little muscular that makes you know that she kicks ass. It was obvious that whatever good genes that are in Thorin's and her's bloodline, they got.

"There you are." She said in a harsh whisper. Her accent was becoming thicker. "Ready for a long night?"

"Oh yeah, totally ready." I said in a not so enthusiastic tone.

My body tensed as a wave of cool air pushed against me when walking out to the bushes. The hoodie did a lot for me, it was big and actually clean but it didn't matter, the wind was fierce and wanted me dead. But it didn't affect Mel, she actually stood calmly while the wind tried to push her down. Another reason why I was jealous.

"There's a few stones in an attempt to make a little pathway behind the bushes." I said, trying not to bite my teeth like some cartoon character. "We can sit on those instead of the dirt." Or go back to our houses and go to sleep.

"Awesome." I couldn't really tell her features when she was out of the moonlight, but I could sense a smile on Mel's face.

The stone was cold on my ass, sending ripples of pain not only from my butt but up into my spine and igniting a cold chill throughout my limbs. Mel acted like it was nothing and sat quietly while looking at her front door like a hawk.

"So..." I tried to fill the silence that was between us and the darkness. "Are you liking school so far?"

"It's alright." She shifted her body into a more comfortable sitting position with her knees up. "I'm not a fan of some of the people."

"You're not the only one." I snorted.

"Is that why you always have your headphones in?"

"I don't always have my headphones in." I felt myself automatically drop my head to my hands that looked blue.

"Flora, you never look back whenever I yell your name in the hall." Her voice sounded light but also a little annoyed. "I've thought about throwing something at you a couple of times just to get your damn attention." She laughed.

"Sorry." I gave her a nervous laugh. "I'll try to keep them out sometime just so I can hear you."

"Thank you because my throat is starting to hurt." Her tone sounded better.

We laughed once more before our voices dropped like a velvet drape at the end of a performance. It was nice, though, the little mini talk because I never fully got to talk to Mel mostly because we had different classes but it was heartwarming to know that she wanted to talk to me.

LoveFighter: Hey babe.

A vibration rang through my numb fingers as I got the message from Tj. I eyed Melody who rested on her knees while looking at her front door.

She was too busy with the door so I decided to continue with Tj.

Me: Babe?

LoveFighter: Yes?

I tried to not giggle but short puffs of laughter were coming out, instantly warming me up a little bit.

"Are you okay?" Mel said in a monotone voice.

"Yeah, I'm good, just trying not to cough." Fake coughs came out along with the laughter and somewhat worked.

Me: I'm so done lmao.

LoveFighter: Whyyy? What's up, Flora?

"Flora!" My shoulder was nudged, nearly pushing me off of the already tiny circle of stone that my ass was on. "Look at that!"

Melody pointed at the bedroom of her house that had lights on. A tall frame was standing behind the window blind that outlined his silhouette when standing close to it.

"He's up right now!" Mel continued her harsh whisper. "That little asshole, I knew that he was up to no good!"

"Hey," I pressed my hand onto her shoulder. The whole 'me touching her' part felt a little awkward because I never touched anyone, especially on the shoulder.

"Maybe he's just going to use the bathroom, people do that."

LoveFighter: You okay?

I sighed, I wasn't okay. I had this crazy girl who was about to go kill her cousin and her cousin was probably going to go kill someone else and yet all I wanted to do was talk to this guy.

Me: No, I'm currently stalking this one guy at the moment. His cousin thinks that he's sneaking out at night which he is but she doesn't know that.

LoveFighter: Why don't you just tell her?

Me: Hellll no. Snitches get stitches my dear, Tj. Plus she might kill me if she finds out that I've known this for the past couple of months.

LoveFighter: Smart. Is she watching him or something?

Me: Yeah, we're watching his window right now and his light is on. He's probably going to die either tonight or tomorrow lmao.

LoveFighter: Haha, well, I got to go. I'll talk to you later ;) Bye babe.

Me: Gross.

"I'm going to fucking kill him right now Flora." She tried to move from my grasp but turns out I was a little stronger than I thought I was.

"Melody, don't. You're overreacting. He's just up but he hasn't left or anything." We could tell that by looking at this window. His body quickly disappeared out of the window and with it, the lights. "See, he probably just had to use the bathroom."

"I'm so-" She stopped at the sound of footsteps that crunched and cracked broken twigs that laid on my front lawn.

"Melody, what was that?" My voice barely came out in fear. "Mel, please tell me that there's a twig underneath your foot."

"No."

Okay, I'm not the one for physical contact, I find it very suffocating. I hate it. But at that moment, I didn't care. My hand pulled Mel down towards me and basically wrapped her with myself out of fear. She didn't mind either and actually embraced me as well.

"This is how I die. Trying to stalk some asshole." I nearly wept.

"I'M SORRY FLORA. WE'RE GOING TO DIE BECAUSE OF ME." She actually full out cried right there and got some of my hoodie wet.

The footsteps were coming closer and closer towards us, each crunch of a twig made my heart race faster. It was more than two feet, it sounds like there were a thousand people marching straight toward us. They ignored the mini branches, letting us know our death was about to come. "Come on Stacey." A person said in a hushed voice.

Great, I was going to be killed by a Stacey.

"Oh shut up Matt, you're the one who doesn't give a shit and stepping on all of the twigs. We're supposed to be quiet."

For people who were about to kill us, they were pretty loud and normal sounding. But it didn't matter, the time had come. Their piercing beam of light they used to navigate their way through my lawn was shot at us. I looked back at the people, trying to see who was going to murder us.

"Girls, are you okay?" The woman said.

"Please don't kill us!" Mel and I squeaked.

They laughed while Mel and I unwind from each other. "We're not going to kill you."

"Then why are you here?" I spoke up.

"We saw you guys through one of our window's and thought you were trying to rob the place. We just thought you guys were taking your time behind these bushes." They took their flashlight off from us. Slowly, their faces showed a little bit better. It was a couple. The man was tall and built while the woman was shorter and on the bigger side. That didn't matter to her, she still wore tight clothing that showed off her figure and obviously the guy next to her liked it.

"Wait, are you the Stevens?" I said slowly.

"Yep." They said in unison. The woman smiled while wrapping herself on Matt's arm. His very buff arm.

The Satanists. Alright.

"Oh, hi." I held out my hand. "We never met but I'm Flora, I live here." They each took their turn shaking my hand.

"You girls need to go home now, it's too cold out here for you."

Mel and I agreed and waved them goodbye. I also waved goodbye to Mel who walked back to her house while wiping the tears out of her eyes which is understandable. We thought we were going to die. Sneaking back in was as easy as it was sneaking out and I went back to my warm bedroom.

A tiny squeak came out of my bed when I pushed myself onto it with my back. Along with the squeak was a little laugh that came out of my mouth. It felt like I had taken a risk and cheated death even though I was nowhere near dying. I was about to go to bed right there but I couldn't, my hoodie was still wet from Mel's tears.

I stood up, taking off my hoodie while looking into my window that was direct across from Thorin's. The darkness that filled the room made me laugh. He must have seen us like the neighbors did and turned on the light just to have fun with us. He was such an asshole. I continued to look at his window like a creep and thought about the darkness of it. That was until it turned it back on.

He was such an asshole. I mentally flipped him off as I saw his silhouette once again in his window. His body turned to the side, showing me the dark outline of where his ribs should be. I couldn't help but to furrow my eyebrows in curiosity. There was no reason for him to be up and standing in his window anymore.

I watched as his arms cross at the hem of his shirt and pull up the cloth that was covering his bare chest. It was getting really creepy as I couldn't look away at the outline of his body. I'll admit, I kind of wanted him to lift the blind but I held myself back.

But I had to draw the line when I watched his gray body take off its pants.

Heeey long time no see. How are you guy's doing? Sorry for the long ass chapter but it's getting things rollin. I hope you enjoyed it :) Remember:

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