I had the dress on. I loved this dress, and I felt so fancy and pretty wearing it. This was a new for me, seeing as I never think I'm pretty or beautiful. At least not until Carson and Cannibal came along.

I kept smiling, walking cheerfully down the street, making my way to Carson's house. I arrived and stopped where the walkway began to the front door. I stared at the house. I always seemed to do it every time I came here. It was so beautiful, it needed to be looked at.

As I was looking, I looked up to the window looking into Carson's bedroom. I saw him, sitting on the inside of the window ledge, an acoustic guitar in his hands. He seemed to be playing a song, he looked so lost in it.

He did one last strum before he smiled and looked up. He looked at me and looked shocked for a second. He quickly tossed the guitar to the side, and he disappeared. I laughed lightly while I walked to the front door.

I was about to knock when Carson threw the door open. He stood there, staring at me, a look of awe in his eyes. I smiled and walked closer to him, putting my arms around his neck, and giving him a small peck on the cheek. He seemed shocked by the gesture and he stiffened slightly.

I gave him a confused look and dropped my arms, "What's the matter? I've kissed you before."

He shook his head slightly, "Yeah, but not like that. That was a kiss that you'd probably give your boyfriend of three years. That was so.....serious feeling. Where did you get that dress?"

I smiled and looked down at it, "Cannibal bought it for me. Isn't it pretty?"

He nodded, but kept a serious look on his face, "What else has he bought you?"

I shrugged, "Just this really. We had dinner last night and he took me shopping in Chicago."

He looked at me, bewildered, "You were with Cannibal? All day!?"

I flinched back, his rising tone scaring me, "Um.....yeah. Don't you remember when you got shot last night?"

He looked at me even more bewildered, "I got shot!? When!?"

I looked at him, even more confused, "You really don't remember?"

He starting breathing heavier, until he grabbed my hand and dragged me into the house. He dragged me upstairs and into his bedroom, slamming the door. He pushed me onto the bed and roughly sat next to me.

"What else have you done with him? You need to tell me everything you've done."

"Carson, you're scaring me. What's wrong?"

"I need to know everything! Tell me now!"

I flinched back and began telling him, how when we'd first met we'd had sex, how he had taken me shopping and to dinner. How Cannibal had killed the police officer and how Carson had been shot. How I took him to my house and kept him from bleeding out, until Cannibal could regain his energy.

Carson listened intently the entire time. After I'd told him everything, he sighed and put his head in his hands.

"He's latching onto you."

I looked at him, confused, "What?"

"He loves you Carmen, and when he says it he means it. He's trying to push me out."

I put my hand on his shoulder, "Carson, there's no way he'd do that," I paused and then looked back up to him, "Would he?"

Carson nodded, "He tried before, but it failed miserably. Cannibal, you see, he's not been with a girl for a while. The last girlfriend he had was when I was sixteen. Her name was Marcie and she really liked me, but Cannibal didn't want it to be me she liked. He completely scared her one night while we were hanging out. That was the first time he'd ever taken over my body. I thought I was having an anxiety attack. She kept comforting me, telling me to relax while she called 911. Well, it didn't go well. Cannibal came out and confessed his love for her, and she immediately left and got help. He then killed her a few nights later, saying how he had betrayed her. Now, he's-he's got you."

I listened carefully, trying to process everything, "Wait, sometimes you do know what's going on though, right?"

He nodded, "I know some things, but other things Cannibal can make me not see. He erases them from my memory, but he still knows."

I nodded, "So....Cannibal is latching onto me, and you're afraid he's going to hurt me, or even kill me."

He let his head fall, sniffling. He looked back up to me with a few tears in his eyes, "I don't want you to get hurt like Marcie did. I know Cannibal is brutal when he does his usually killings, but when someone he cares about betrays him, he's ten times worse. You will literally be tortured. I know because he made me remember all of it. I saw everything happen, and I couldn't do anything."

I sighed, reaching my hand up to wipe his falling tears, "I don't want to have to see that happen to you either. I care about you too much to see that happen, and I don't think I would be able to handle watching the same thing happen again." he finished, wiping his face.

I reached over and held him in a hug, "It's going to be okay. I'm not going to betray him......or you."

I felt him smile against my shoulder, "You're weird you know that?"

I pulled away and gave him a confused look, "Weird how?"

He shrugged, "Most girls would think you're insane for liking Cannibal. He's a fucking monster! I just think it's weird you like him."

I shrugged and smiled. He smiled back, then he winced in pain. I reached forward and pulled him closer to me, "What's wrong?"

He gasped for air, "Who do you think?!"

I pulled him closer till he was resting his head on my shoulder. I starting rubbing slow circles on his back to help him relax, "It's okay. I actually wanna talk to him, and get some things set straight."

Carson nodded and started to calm down, Cannibal taking over. I just kept sitting there, rubbing his back, before he pulled back to look at me.

Cannibal smiled, moving closer to give me a kiss. I flinched back, putting my hand on his chest to keep him from doing it. He opened his eyes, looking confused, then he sat back and kept staring at me.

"What's the matter, sweetheart?"

I shrugged and looked down, not wanting to make eye contact, "Nothing. Carson was just telling me some things."

Cannibal rolled his eyes, annoyed, "What? The whole 'he's latching onto you' thing? Don't listen to him. He's just jealous of me, that's all."

He tried coming in for a kiss again, and I stopped him, "Would you cut it out? You don't have to kiss me every second I'm with you."

He sat back again, a frustrated look in his eyes, "What's wrong? Why are you acting so different now? You had so much fun with me yesterday, why are you being a bitch?"

I looked at him, frowning in anger, "Don't you call me that. Ever! If you love me then you will respect me and what I want! I just want you to know something. If what Carson says is true, that you're trying to push him out of his life and take over, then I will put a stop to it! I'm not going to let you take over. Carson deserves a good life, and you've been ruining it for him ever since he was little! Why can't you share?! You're so selfish!"

I pushed him off of me and grabbed some of Carson's clothes. I stomped into the bathroom, put Carson's clothes on, and walked out with the dress in my hands.

"You can have this too! You piece of shit!" I said while throwing the dress at him.

I stomped to the door, about to open it and storm out, when Cannibal grabbed me. He threw me against the wall and pinned me there, his hand clenched around my neck. He was in my face, growling angrily. His fangs looked bigger, glistening from the sunlight coming through the curtain. His eyes were glowing, and I knew I'd made a big mistake.

"Don't you ever yell at me like that! Don't you think you have the authority to disrespect me! I haven't disrespected you once! I've been nothing but nice, but if you can't see nor understand that, then I might as well kill you now!"

I was gasping for air, feeling the tears about to fall. I'd never heard him use that voice before. I knew he meant business.

My eyes watered, and the tears ran down my cheeks, coating his hand around my throat. I felt helpless. I didn't want to die, and I did love him. I knew I did, and I was about to throw it all away. If making him happy meant making Carson's life better, then I would do it for him. No matter what I felt or wanted. All I wanted was for him to be happy.

I started bawling now, his hand slowly tightening around my throat. His face softened and he released his hand. I fell to the ground, my knees weak. I coughed, my chest heaving, begging for air.

Cannibal knelt down beside me, grabbing me and pulling me into a hug. I just continued sobbing, my chest burning and my entire body aching.

"Carmen, I love you. Okay? I do, I really, really do. I just want you to know, if you do betray me and leave me, I will have no choice but to kill you. I don't want to have to do that. I won't be able to control myself."

He began running his fingers through my hair, "Please just try to understand. Just, at least pretend that you love me."

I calmed myself a little, enough to look up at him and speak, "I do Cannibal! I do!"

I starting crying again, burying my head into his chest. I didn't need to pretend. I loved him, and that's all I could think and know.