"You know Ryan, you remind me a bit of myself when I was a young boy", Stanley chuckled.

"How comes?", I asked.

"I was extremely shy, had barely friends, wanted to stay on my own", he said.

"I'm not alone", I said, starting to feel annoyed by him.

"Really? I just see you talking to yourself in the middle of the street", he said, stepping closer, "don't be ashamed now, it's ok, I don't judge."

"I was talking to someone on my phone", I lied.

"If you say so", he mumbled.

Then it was silent again. I avoided any eye contact with him, I felt uncomfortable out of sudden.

I felt his eyes focused on me, but I tried to ignore it. Suddenly he began to chuckle, causing me to look up.

"Oh, I nearly forgot! I think I have to do homework for Monday and it's pretty much, I think I should go now", I said, wanting to stand up, but Mr. Stanley shook his head.

"It won't be long, you can still do your homework afterwards", he said.

"Uhm, it's pretty much to do", I said, standing up.

"Well, if you say so, but please drink your tea. It's not nice leaving without even drinking or eating something", he said, smiling.

"I'm not thirsty", I said, but his face became cold.

"That's disrespectful", he said, taking a few steps forward.

"I'm, sorry, I'll go now", I said, now making my way to the door, but Mr. Stanley was faster. He walked straight to the door and took the key out of his pocket to lock the door.

"Actually", he started talking, "I thought that you wouldn't be a problem."

"Wh-what?", I asked.

My heart began to beat faster and faster, my hands were starting to tremble and I felt adrenaline rushing through my veins.

"Let's start new I guess", he said, "I would suggest you to play along."

I gulped and looked at the key in his hands. Maybe I could grab it quickly and run away.

"Don't even think of it", Mr. Stanley demanded, "anyway, I think you wanted to drink something, right?"

I just stared at his face, which was litarally forcing me to listen to him.

I nod and sat down on one of the chairs, my hands still trembling.

"Isn't it a good feeling, knowing that everything is going the way you want it to work?", my neighbour said, smiling.

I nod again, my eyes focused on the cup of tea in front of me.

"Don't act like that, you knew what your destiny was", he sighed, " you can talk, you know?"

"Ok", I answered, my voice breaking.

"The tea is getting cold", he said, pointing at the cup filled with the brown liquor.

I didn't want to drink it.

I didn't want to do anything.

I just wanted to run away.

I wanted Brendon To be here with me.

Why didn't I just forgive him? He was sorry and he would be here with me by now, but no, I was so stupid and scared him away.

"Ryan", Mr. Stanley said, "I said the tea is getting cold."

I carefully lifted my hand and stretched my long fingers out to grab the cup. I was trying not to spill the tea from my trembling hand, which was getting hard.

I moved the cup to my lips, licking with my tongue over them and took a sip.

The cold liquor was making it's way down my throat. It was tasting like normal tea, but I knew something was up with it.

"See, wasn't that bad, right?", Mr. Stanley asked, causing me to nod again.

Then I felt my head getting dumb and everything around me was spinning. I heard a crash from the cup of tea, which fell down.

My eyes wandered across the room, finding a small window and I didn't know if I was hallucinating or if Brendon was really waving at the window.

His face was blur but I could recognise him from everywhere.

He mouthed something, I couldn't quite catch.

But it didn't matter anyway, because the last thing I remember was the floor coming closer under my feed before I felt pain in my side.

****

Badadammmmmm💥

It may takes a bit for the next chapter to be published, because I'm slightly stressed, but I'll definitely have time the next days to write

<3