"Black heart, black eyes, oh I feel alive. But there's chaos hiding in my eye."

ARIZONA | ARE YOU

• • •

Eden woke up at three in the morning.

As she did every morning for no apparent reason. It became the routine of the past two years to wake up at three, lay in bed and watch her ceiling, maybe check her instagram that she was so inactive on, and fall asleep exactly at four-fifty.

But she woke up to a sound.

On her street, most houses were tightly-knit but nonetheless different. All shapes and sizes. Some were one stories, two stories, or even three, but they were close. She heard a clammer and then a thud from next door.

Eden sat up from her single bed and searched around her dark room for the source of the sound. She pried open her blinds and was met with nothing but the obsidian streets and the faint glow of what she was certain was the Everett's garage. Who could possibly be awake in a garage at this time?

The Everett's house was about three times the size of her own, but the darkness it exuded at this time made it look a lot smaller than it was. Eden wondered what Smith's family looked like. She'd never seen anyone leave the house, but then again their jobs would explain that. Did Smith have siblings? A dog?

She continued to watch his garage and followed the shadow of the footsteps. A pulse of fear spiked her heart, was it a thief? Suddenly, the garage door slowly rolled open, but not mechanically but by someone's strength. Eden's eyes widened as she watched Smith slither under the garage door with an object she was too far away from to see.

He crawled out and ran out of the driveway and onto the road.

Eden whispered. "What the hell?"

• • •

She would've been lying if she didn't say that Caleb's girlfriend, Nash, didn't scare her sometimes.

Eden sat in her economics class, her head on her desk as she struggled to understand what possessed her to think that she didn't need concealer for the bags under her eyes. Meanwhile, Nash sashayed into class and instead of taking her regular seat at the very front, she plopped right next to Eden's seat by the window.

Nash tossed back her brown curls and her raven eyes twinkled with curiosity. "Hey," she whispered.

Eden sat up slightly. The last time she had spoken to Nash was freshman year of high school, and somehow the two found a way to never cross paths again.

"Hi," Eden said, reluctantly. She opened her laptop and typed away her notes, trying her best to ignore the jiggly spacebar.

"How are you?" Nash asked in a low voice, she knew that Mr. Jackson would have an aneurism if anyone spoke during his lectures.

"I'm pretty decent, you?"

Nash nodded, her gold hoops followed her head. "Same."

Eden despised small talk, so all she wanted was to end the conversation as soon as it began. Nash turned away from her for a brief moment, and then gave Eden a brief empty smile.

"It's so weird that we haven't spoken in what? Two years?" she wondered.

Eden hummed and looked away.

"I just feel like we should talk more, since you're good friends with Caleb I thought it only made sense," Nash continued.

"Caleb and I are definitely not good friends," Eden snickered. "What made you think that?"

"Oh, I heard you hung out at Braeden's so I just assumed." Nash flipped through the textbook, while she fiddled with her Cartier bracelet. The girl was from notably one of the wealthiest families of Acacia Bay, her parents were hedge fund owners apparently and she didn't shy from flaunting it. Sometimes, Eden didn't understand how Caleb had anything in common with this girl—what did they talk about?

Thirty minutes later and Mr. Jackson finally gave the class thumbs up to do what they want, as he always did. Naturally, Eden would step outside for some fresh air but she was distracted by Nash's sudden gasp.

"Wow, Eden look what I just found!" Nash anxiously tapped on Eden's arm and pulled her over so that she had a perfect view of a picture on her screen.

Eden stared at the picture on Nash's screen, ignoring the strange situation for the sake of it. She couldn't put her finger on it but it seemed vaguely familiar. It was taken at what appeared to be a party, Nash had just cut her hair which meant this was a picture of last year. Some teenagers were holding red cups and Eden recognized most of the old graduates in that picture. But where was she?

Nash laughed. "This was such a shitty photo but we were all wasted so we thought it looked amazing. Thank god Caleb wasn't there to see me. You were there right?"

Was I? Caleb was there, she remembered seeing him. But she wasn't in the picture either.

Eden remembered her mother having moved out in the middle of the night a week before that party. How could she forget being completely emotionally numb at that party and drinking a little more than she should have. She didn't have a drop of fun, and neither did Caleb.

"It's the only bottle left, so if I were you I'd hold onto it," he had said, handing her a bottle of water as they sat on the sidelines.

"Thanks." She had given him a dopey, slightly intoxicated grin.

"So," he said and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Why are we not the life of the party right now?"

"I'm taking a break from my duties. Can't say the same for you, you never were the life of the party."

"Ouch." Caleb pressed a hand against his chest. "You're actually speaking truths though." He raked his hand through his black hair. "No, seriously, what's bothering you?"

Eden pursed her lips. "Nothing. I'm fine."

He threw her a disbelieving look. "Sure you are."

The rest of the night had flown over her head and she spent a solid month after that party acting like nothing had happened at all.

No one needed to know.

Nash scraped a chair from across the room and positioned herself in front of Eden, tearing her away from the burdened memory of that night.

"I—I'm pretty sure I left early." Eden scratched the back of her head.

"Did you leave with Caleb?" Nash suddenly asked, her dark eyes stilled over Eden's and her lips pulled into a small, sinister smile.

Eden breathed through her nose and narrowed her eyes. Her heart suddenly pattered against her chest, but she wasn't going to let Nash see through any of her vulnerabilities. "No, I didn't. Why are you asking me this?"

"Nothing, just curious." Nash shrugged and swatted her hair away from her face.

Then the bell rang.

• • •

Eden walked into the aquatics center, her fists curled by her side and her cheeks fuming red. She was activated like a drone, zooming into Caleb Sommer's figure breaking through the surface of the water as he climbed out and pulled the goggles off his face.

He caught her sharp gaze and flashed her a quick smile. Eden's feet worked like air, speeding past the indoor pool until she reached him with swatting hands. He jolted back when her hand came in contact with his arm in a smack.

"Does she know?" Eden stepped back, her brown eyes set ablaze.

Caleb's eyes were wide with craze and his eyebrows were knit together, he rubbed his arm. "Ow! What the hell are you talking about? Who does who know?"

Eden looked around, realizing that the other members of the swim team were staring at her as if she was a schizophrenic homeless man that broke in.

She lowered her voice into a whisper: "Nash. Did you tell her about last year?"

His mouth fell open, a cackle trickling off his tongue. "The fuck? I'm not fucking insane you know."

"Caleb, I swear to God if you told anyone I'll chase you into the pool and drown you." She shoved a cautionary finger at him.

The swimmer rolled his eyes with a dismissive grin. "I wouldn't. And do you honestly think you'd be able to catch me in a swimming pool? I train here six times a week okay, I think at this point I can swim circles around you."

Eden scoffed and shook her head, she took a step towards him. Suddenly, it felt like her five-foot-six frame was comparable to his reigning six-feet. "Do you really want to try me? Clearly, you've never seen me with a goal in mind."

He folded his arms across his chest. "Actually, I have. You hit me with a book remember? Based off the memory you left me after my concussion, you seemed very determined."

Why did she even bother with him? Eden heaved in disappointment and turned on her heel, there were more things she needed to do with her time. Maybe one of them was get Birdie started on the Everett's garden.

Eden was halfway across the aquatic center when she heard someone call out her name and footsteps resonating off the linoleum.

"Eden! Wait!"

She whipped around to find Caleb running his hands through his hair.

"Look, these last few weeks were the first time you've talked to me since Halloween last year," he said.

"Yeah, and?"

"I know that whatever's over, and I'm just trying to get some closure. Look, I've gotta admit something," he raised his hands, "even if I knew we wouldn't be friends, I'd still do it again."

"Caleb, I'm sorry but I don't want to talk about it. I don't even want to think about that. Just please, keep Nash off my back."