Sarah stared at the ceiling, not really focusing on anything as she thought about something. Like one would expect, the event two days ago hadn't left her mind. She wanted assurance to her theories, which floated around in her head. But there wasn't much she could do as she didn't know where this guy had gone.

A groan left her lips as she propped herself up into a sitting position. She scratched her head with both hands, tousling her hair even more.

Her phone rang. Sarah looked over to the nightstand. Right next to a picture of her friends laid her phone. There were a few cracks on the display, but it still worked perfectly fine. Since a distraction was just what she needed right now, she reached for it. Someone had sent her a message and Sarah knew who it was.

"Hey, are you alright? You haven't texted at all."

The message came from Danny, one of her friends. Without even hearing his voice, Sarah knew how he felt about her not contacting him. So, she wrote a text back, meant to assure him.

"I'm fine. Just have a lot on my mind."

It took less than 30 seconds for him to reply, asking if he and the others should come over to play some games. Without hesitation Sarah sent a message back, stating she would be alright with it.

"I'll call Mary and Olive. I'll send you a message when we come."

Even though he couldn't see her, Sarah nodded. A smile crept on her lips and memories invaded her mind. She felt grateful for having such good friends. Whatever was on her mind, she could count on her friends to find a solution. Granted, sometimes she just wanted to talk and not having a problem-solving afternoon.

Before Sarah was able to dwell on her memories, a knock broke through the silence in her room. She turned her head. "You can come in." The door opened, revealing an Elijah with dark bags under his eyes. "Morning, sis." Sarah chuckled at that. Then she remembered, she most likely had woken him up with her grunts and groans. After all, his room was right next to hers.

"Couldn't sleep, huh?" The only answer to that was a yawn. She scanned his appearance. There were red stains on his gray shirt, coming either from pizza or some soft drink. It matched the colors of his boxer shorts. "Really, you should stop playing video games till 4am." His screams at that time had been the thing which had woken her up. And thanks to her circling thoughts she hadn't gotten any more sleep.

"Try to be a little less noisy", he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. Sarah laughed at that. "I could say the same thing." Elijah went on to explain, he finished the last few campaigns of his games' story mode. It soon escalated in him telling her every bit of detail of all those missions and Sarah pretended she understood. It wasn't unusual for him to do this. To be honest, Sarah liked that about her brother. He felt so much passion towards his hobbies. Whether that be ice-hockey or playing video games, she didn't care.

A grumbling sound interrupted Elijah's speech about how difficult to boss was to beat. "Shall I make breakfast", Sarah asked. "It would be nice. But I can make it on my own." Again, Sarah laughed. "May I call the firefighters in advance?" Her brother grumbled but soon snorted in amusement. Both of them knew how bad of a cook the blonde adolescent teen was. Neither of them would forget the one time he almost set the kitchen on fire because video games distracted him.

Sarah stood up. "I'll make some pancakes. Maybe more than usual." "I know, your friends will come over, right?" Her mouth gaped open, and she stared at her brother. Before she could ask him how he knew about this, he answered: "You seem uneasy, ever since you came back home two days ago. Seeing your friends distracts you from that." In times like this, she asked herself how her brother knew her so much better than she knew herself.

"So, wanna make me breakfast?" This hauled Sarah back to reality. "Of course. But it's lunch."

Both teens made their way downstairs. Once in the kitchen, Sarah took out all the ingredients she needed. Thankfully, their mother had done the grocery shopping or else there wouldn't be enough milk. "So, when will your friends be here?" "Dunno. Danny hasn't texted me back", Sarah answered. Of course, she connected the dots. Elijah wanted to join in on whatever they would be playing.

Silence descended over the room. Well, almost as the only sounds came from the sizzling of the pan.

While Sarah tried to concentrate on cooking, her thoughts wandered back to the words of the stranger. His last sentence caused her more than just confusion. He had sounded like the cut was a gift to her. Sarah didn't know what to make of this. Him being a vampire was a fact which didn't help either. If anything, it only spurred on thoughts which led to nowhere.

"Sarah?" Said girl jerked up, sending the panhandle which she held previously flying across the kitchen. She turned her head. "Wow, you don't have to throw stuff. What are you? A toddler?" Sarah pouted and went over to where the panhandle had landed and picked it up. After giving it a quick wash, she returned to the oven. "Don't scare me like that." "Sorry, didn't know your mind was somewhere else." She sighed before apologizing for her rudeness. Elijah brushed it off like it was nothing.

Then he asked her if something was on her mind. "Many things, Elijah. But don't worry, it's not that bad." Without looking at him, Sarah knew, he didn't believe her. "Your behavior says something else."

Just then a phone rang. Elijah immediately picked it up. "Oh, you wanna talk with Sarah? She's busy."

"I just wanted to let her know that we're coming right now." Sarah's eyes widened. She just heard Danny talk over the phone. But this couldn't be. The sizzling of the pan had drowned out all the noise before. Yet, in this moment she had heard Danny's voice loud and clear. Sarah turned her head. "I will tell her that", he answered before ending the call. Elijah looked over to Sarah. He cocked his head as he saw Sarah's open mouth.

She shook her head and returned her attention back to the pan.

The next minutes passed by in which neither teen said a thing. Alarming her brother wasn't a thing she wanted to do even though she knew, her behavior didn't help the situation. But she didn't know how else to react or what else to do. Instead, she focused on finishing the pancakes before her friends showed up.

In the end, the tower of pancakes was at least 9 inches tall.

As soon as Sarah turned off the stove, a bell rang. It sounded way louder than yesterday, and Sarah asked herself if she would have a migraine shortly or just because she was tired. Either way, she walked over to the front door and opened it. Familiar faces greeted her.

"Hi", the black-haired teen in front of her said as he walked inside. Two girls trailed behind him. Suddenly he gasped. For a moment Sarah asked herself what was going on until it hit her. "Oh my god, what happened?" "Got attacked by some asshole two days ago", Elijah answered in Sarah's place. Even if she were deaf, she'd still hear the spite in her brother's voice.

The redhead behind Danny asked Sarah if she went to the hospital. This time she replied: "Nah, it wasn't all that bad." "Not bad? Sis, you got assaulted. Of course we're worried." This was the reason why Sarah tried her best not to drop her assumptions. Otherwise, Elijah would fly over the moon with Olive not too far behind.

"It's okay. I'm alive and well. That's all that counts, right?" With that she tried to calm the situation down. Both her brother and Olive sighed. "Either way, do you want some pancakes? Made some for you." Sarah thanked her lucky stars when this caught the attention of Danny. "Yeah, why not?"

Sarah turned around and noticed Mary already eating one pancake. This cut off the tension as everyone laughed at the sight of a Mary with hamster cheeks. Danny took out his phone and snapped a picture.

"I'll share that on Instagram." The brunette stared at him as she swallowed. In less than a second, Mary tackled Danny on the ground, trying to get ahold of his phone. "You won't", she yelled while she snatched Danny's phone out of his hands. Olive rolled her eyes. But Elijah had trouble keeping a straight face. Sarah on the other hand laughed out loud.

"Mary, calm down. It's just a food picture. I think everyone in school has seen you with hamster cheeks", Olive tried reasoning with the other teen, "I don't think it will be as bad as you picture it." Mary looked at her, her ears turning crimson. Then she slowly got off of Danny and gave him his phone back. For a few seconds she avoided eye-contact.

Danny stood up and laughed the situation off. "Come on. Don't be embarrassed." He offered Mary a hand and helped her up.

"Now, let's eat something. Then we play something." "What do you want to play", Elijah asked the group. The look on Danny's face made Sarah snort out a laugh. But soon he snapped back. "Do you want to test your skill against me? You won't stand a chance." Laughter erupted from the group. "Yeah, of course. I'm way more experienced with video games than you are." One could see their gazes snapping at each other.

"Guys, before we kill each other over video games, let's eat. I'm hungry and surely you are too". Seeing that no one objected, Sarah prepared the plates and served each person their portion.

This was going to be a long afternoon.