Chapter nine - track marks and a stolen kiss

Rose’s point of view

TWO WORDS FOR YOU. EASTER. HOLIDAYS. I’m finally free for three whole weeks, and it’s too cold and rainy for me to go outside (thanks, England), so you’re in for a whole lot of updates.

In other news, my girlfriend and I broke up last week. (((Sad vibes.))) Seven months, we had a good run. Still kinda upset, but yeah.

OH, but this means that now you can all start collectively dating me! Or exclusively if you catch my eye ;)

Anyway. Heh. On with the story.

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Julian lay on the grass, staring at the sky. We had been at the park a couple of hours now, and it was a little cloudy, but it didn’t look like rain was coming soon, so we stayed. The earth was warm and our new puppy friend seemed very content rolling around on the floor, sneezing occasionally when she accidentally rubbed her nose on a flower.

“C’mere,” I said, and the little creature scampered up to me excitedly. I ruffled the fur behind her ears and she leaned into my hand, snuffling. “You really are a little sweetie, aren’t you?”

“Sweet Pea!” Julian suddenly exclaimed, sitting up.

I raised an eyebrow and turned to Julian. “What did you call me?”

Julian scrunched his face up. “No, the dog,” he said, as if it was obvious. “We should call her Sweet Pea.”

“Oh,” I laughed. “I guess that is a pretty cute name.”

“Of course,” Julian said, rolling his eyes. “I came up with it.”

I shook my head but laughed all the same. Julian reminded me a lot of Papa.

A raindrop landed on my cheek and I blinked. The sky had darkened a little, and the slivers of blue had been overwhelmed by charcoal clouds. More droplets splashed onto us, and Sweet Pea shivered. “Damn it,” I said. “We should probably go before it starts chucking it down.”

Julian hummed in agreement and hauled himself up off the ground. I knelt down to pick up the dog, but all of a sudden, she flinched and darted away into the bushes. “Fuck,” I hissed.

“Shit. Sweet Pea!” Julian called.

“You idiot, it’s only been twenty seconds, she won’t know her name yet!”

“Uh– dog?” he yelled. “Dog!”

We went running after her, but she seemed to have disappeared into the thicket. I rustled the bushes to try to flush her out only to stick my hand in a spiderweb. Shuddering, I brushed the tangled threads off my hands onto my jeans, and jogged after Julian to the trees. A boy stood at the edge of the trees, completely still, staring blankly at the ground. Sweet Pea was bouncing about excitedly at his feet as if she was waiting for him to play with her. But he just stood like a statue in the rain, eyes fixed on the ground. His white hair was swept over his eyes in a perfect fringe, unaffected by the rain, and his clothes were pristine and clean. He didn’t look at all like a kid at the park should.

Julian approached him tentatively and scooped Sweet Pea up off the ground. She yipped in confusion and squirmed for a moment, then settled in Julian’s arms. “Hey, uh,” Julian said. “Thanks for distracting our dog.”

The boy turned his gaze to Julian. “That’s fine.”

“Yeah, I really thought we’d lost her for a moment there,” I half-laughed.

“Lucky you didn’t then,” the boy muttered.

“Yeah,” Julian said. “So are you from around here?”

“No, I’m just… dropping by. Visiting an old friend. Sort of.”

“Right,” Julian said, a little uneasily. This kid was obviously creeping him out too. He looked like a fucking vampire. His body was abnormally toned for someone our age, and his eyes were cold and emotionless.

“Well,” I said, trying not to let my discomfort show through in my voice. “We better go. Our parents will want us home by now.”

“Yeah,” Julian mumbled.

We hurried away, Sweet Pea in Julian’s arms, and didn’t turn back. “That kid was fucking weird,” Julian muttered once we were out of earshot.

“I know,” I said. “He looked like a vampire or something.”

“And did you see the track marks in his arms?”

“Track marks?” I spluttered. “But he looked– he looked our age.”

“Fuckin’ shifty, right?”

I shook my head. “Shifty,” I murmured.

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It was late. I should probably have been in bed, but instead I was mooching around the kitchen, gnawing absently on a cracker. Dad and Papa were out, on a date again. Ever since they’d deemed me old enough to leave alone at night they’d been going out every Friday and Saturday evening. God only knows what they got up to. I certainly had no intention of finding out.

I was starting to wonder when they were coming back. Ordinarily, I would watch some TV, maybe have a few coffees, and be out by about midnight. I just assumed that they normally came back a couple of hours after that. But it was four in the morning and there was no sign of either of them. I didn’t let myself get worried about them, they were probably just passed out at Mikey and Ray’s, covered in paint and jell-o shots. The thing that was bugging me was the fact that I was alone.

Or I was supposed to be alone.

Something was setting me on edge. I kept getting this weird feeling. A sickening shiver down the back of my neck like my body was trying to tell me something.

You’re being watched.

I tried not to think about it, but the feeling just kept getting stronger and stronger. It was really putting me off, so I made my way upstairs to bed in the hope that I would feel safer in my room. I did, marginally, but I was still a little on edge. I told myself that it was just because it was late, and your mind plays tricks on you when it’s late, but then I could see something moving in the corner of my bedroom window and I nearly screamed. My heart was racing, and I was frozen on the spot. I pretended I hadn’t seen anything and forced myself to sit on the edge of the bed, but my mind was screaming for me to turn around and look out the window again. Fuck, next time dad and papa were out, I would shut my curtains before they left.

After several minutes of sitting still on my bed, shaking like a leaf, my fear had dulled a little, and I managed to start breathing properly again.

That was when my bedroom window was prised open and someone climbed through. I had to force down a scream as I scrambled back against the wall, but it was like my nerves had been cut. My coordination failed me. The invader advanced on me, remaining impossibly tense as he walked, and suddenly something clicked in my brain.

Fuck. It was the boy from the park.

I felt like my lungs were full of sawdust. I couldn’t breathe. Everything was a blur. It almost didn’t feel real when the boy lunged at me, trapping me in the corner and pinning me against the wall. I sobbed weakly, desperately hoping that papa would suddenly arrive, but my pleas weren’t fulfilled. The boy clutched at my shoulders, smiled slyly, then crashed his lips to mine.

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lol wtf am i doing with my life

love ya pretzels

xoxo