Hey guys, I'm in a strange writing funk.

OKAY SO LOWDOWN : This guy I THINK asked me on a date? Idk tho becuz at this day and age we could just be hanging out as friends??? Or he's trying to "netflix and chill" IDK THOUGH BECUZ LISTEN HERE GUYS

I'm kinda friends with his ex who I believe is still very much in love with him and I'm kinda stuck here cuz we're going to grab sushi tomorrow (me and boy) I'M NERVOUS OKAY 

wow such good grammar up there. 

***

I wrote that the night before the "date-thing" that's what we're going to call it at least, because it was both a date and a thing so I DON'T KNOW OKAY

all I know is I had really good time. Like, I had a lot fun, laughed a lot, and felt pretty good. I'm excited about it all, kinda nervous, but I gotta think positively. Anyways..

So today I'm going to throw in a "Game Of Thrones" reference - YOU'LL ONLY GET IT IF YOU HAVE WATCHED SEASON 4-5 SORRY NOT SORRY OKAY 

"Are you kidding?" I was about ready to pull out my hair. My landlord was refusing to pay for the window. I told her the entire story, telling her that some random girl had been skulking about in my room and had broken it. 

I gave a very detailed explanation as to why that wasn't my fault, then she swung it around on me. She claimed that it's my fault since my doorknob is broken, granted the intruder came from the damn window! What the hell is that?

"I'm Sorry, Ms. Sarard but-"

"Skaarsgard," I hissed, clenching my fists at my side. Will had come over the next day to help me clean up the mess, and upon confiding in him what had happened, he immediately told me to call the police. They took my statement, and said that no one else seemed to have seen any suspicious activity.

The police officer who wrote down what I said gave me an dubious stare with a raised eyebrow, only adding to my frustration. Now, this dimwit of a landlord was giving me a hassle about paying for the shattered window. 

"Right. We understand your financial situation isn't quite up to criterion however that doesn't mean we can pay for the window seeing as it was under your intensive watch and care and we entrusted this building to you."

"Okay, but it's your building."

"And you are renting it. Remember, Ms. Skaarsgard, that we allowed you this apartment under great circumstances due to-"

"I don't need a reminder, thank you," I cut her off with venom clouding my words. The landlady narrowed her wrinkled blue eyes at me and crossed her arms before shaking her head.  

"We expect you to have this situation handled by the end of the week."

"It's Friday!" 

"Better hop to it."

She was just clearly a hedonist -- note the sarcasm there. 

And with that I ushered her out of my apartment, and slammed the door on her the minute she turned her back. Once alone, I could shake the feeling of paranoia that someone was watching me. I turned my head both ways and stared at the broken window to my right in my room. All I could for now was put up some cardboard and a curtain. 

My eyes raced to the closet, and I couldn't help myself. I grasped the sliding door, and slid it sideways so it could meet with its partner on the other side. All I saw were clothes had been laying in stagnancy for a while.

Shivers raced down my spine followed by a tremor. I shook my head, knowing I was acting like a child. Granted someone had just broken into my apartment through my bedroom window rather than the door - which was open since it was always broken.

I never thought twice about the broken doorknob that led to the inside of my home, until now. I look back at it and think, how could I have been so inadvertent?  Granted before, the malfunction of my door would have been seen as innocuous before, I could only slap my hand on my forehead in sheer irritation due to my cursory way of getting it handled. 

Once the lady had left, I sat down on my couch and tried to get my mind off things by taking a nap. I would soon come to regret the idea. 

It's the same dream again. The one with my mom, Chicago, the rain stricken streets and the dizzying lights that illuminated the roads. But we were on the dim road, again. The one road where the lights couldn't reach. It was just far enough to be cast into a dim, orange hue.

"Please don't make me do it," I began to cry more, and I feel my mother's frustration grow.

"He will weigh us down even more than we already have to ourselves. He's just trouble, Venus." I remembered how cruel she had once been when things didn't go the way she wanted; which was everyday. 

"You don't even know him, it's not fair!" I balled up fists, the feeling of my nails digging into my skin now numb due to the previous rainfall from today. The weather decided to play copycat, and match the demeanor of my mothers. 

"I don't need to know him, and neither do you. Now get in the damn car," She spoke with such an impassive tone that it struck my heart and only caused my anger to rise. 

And, much like a child, I crossed my arms, spread my legs apart, and glared at her. "No."

The cab was growing impatient, I knew it. But so was I. I was so impatient, and hell I had deserved to feel that way. Mother's hands gripped the yellow passenger door, squeezing until the top digits of her fingers had gone white. Her eyes, wide and full of disbelief, stared at me as though I'd grown a second head.

"No?" She questioned, her tone growing lower, her eyes narrowing; as if to dare me, dare me to disobey her for the first time in my life. 

I puffed my chest, stood up straighter and raised my brows. 

"No."

I had somehow woke up without a jolt or a rush of adrenaline. Instead, my cheeks were stained with damp streaks that I knew my dream had been the cause of. I wiped them off immediately, surprised by my body's reaction to the dream. The immutability of my dreams and nightmares continue to surprise me. 

One second I think I've left my past where it should be -- in the past, then my head hits the pillow and the past becomes my present, but only for a little while.  It seemed as though the dreams and nightmares were incisive on causing me stress and frustration. 

Each time I woke up, I'd be left feeling what I swore to keep locked away, but it didn't belong. It didn't belong here, in this time zone. It belonged where it had germinated once before, in the past. The fear, anxiety, sleeplessness, anger, resentment, sorrow. It was painful to feel them all again right when you think you've forgotten them all. 

-

"You alright?" Will asked after I had just gone done serving a table. Tonight we'd been a bit busier than usual, considering it was a Friday night and teens wanted to go out later than usual with friends and grab a bite to eat before heading off to their usual routine of shenanigans that their parents most likely weren't aware of. 

"Yeah, just didn't sleep too well," I told him, rubbing my eyes for emphasis on my claim. He frowned. "You want to go home and get some sleep?"

My eyes absentmindedly traveled to the windows where the world had been cast in black. It was night now, and as Melisandre from Game Of Thrones had once said, the night is dark and full of terrors. I couldn't help but wonder what was lurking out there : who was lurking out there. Would someone up and break into my house while I was gone?

I hadn't had the money nor time to fix the handle, so I came to work on edge and stressed out. And it now seemed that my incorrigible acts of walking home at the dead of night didn't appeal to me like how it once did. 

"I'm good. I'll even work graveyard if  you want, but you'd have to do something in return for me."

Will cast me a sideways glance, picking up a tray of fries and leaving the kitchen. I sighed, and set my palms on the counter to keep myself up. I could feel the erratic beating of my heart all day and it was beginning to piss me off. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and held it for a moment longer before releasing. 

I could do this. I'd been doing this. I couldn't let one dumbass breaking into my house through my window get to me. This was a small town, and muggers weren't amiss in the equation. Thinking of muggers, I'd reminded myself of the first time Demetri had come to my rescue.

Wilson, Diego, and Tyrese. By the looks of how things had ended up, Demetri could easily beat Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan, and maybe even Tom Cruise from one of his many famous action films. I still had never gotten the answers I'd wanted that night about what had happened, and who the man on the phone had been. Demetri knew. I was certain of that.

As if on cue, the phone began to ring to my side, causing me jump in shock. My heart began to thrum against my chest, causing me to take a deep breath to keep myself composed.  The sound of the ring caused me return my attention to the phone attached to the wall. 

Annoyed, I reached out and brought the phone to my ear.

"Yes?" 

"Venus?"

Immediately, I dropped the phone on the ground, which landed with a clatter. I stared in horror at the phone that I'd dropped. The voice, I'd heard it before. The person held a British accent, one that I could recall almost all too well. 

I could hear a faint laugh coming from the phone. I looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was around, then peered to my right and left. No one.

With a shaky hand, I grabbed the phone and brought to my ear with caution as thought the plastic could burn my skin.

"H-hello?"

"Ah! Yes, though it might be you."

I bit my cheek and waited.

"Silent treatment huh? Isn't that something you're only supposed to do to Demetri?"

My assumption had been proved right when the Devil's name came slipping from the other line. 

"What do you want?"

Tyrese laughed on the other line. 

"That would be the question of the hour. Anyways darling, I hear you've gotten quite close to our Demetri. So much so that one may say you are, what do American girls call it? Dating?" He asked as though he were really clueless. I frowned, unsure as to how I should be feeling about this conversation.

"Did you break into my apartment?"

The other line began to laugh again, a maniacal laugh that made reminded as to why I'd been feeling on edge. 

"The work of a talented Peacekeeper I'm afraid. That's not what this is about."

"A Peacekeeper?" I muttered to myself. Again, I looked over my shoulders again to make sure no one was listening in. 

He didn't seem to have been able to hear me as he continued to talk of other matters.

"Do tell me, what do you think of Demetri?"

"What I think has nothing to do with you."

"Feisty, much unlike that night I ran into you...you were crying, sobbing actually. Then in comes Demetri Williams."

"Get to the point or I'll call the police."

"Maybe I am the police."

"W-what?"

"Kidding of course. You really think I'd wear such a distasteful uniform and shove donuts down my throat all day? Give me a fucking break," He howled, his accent coating his words. I said nothing.

"I just feel as though it is in our best interests, you know, the enemy of my enemy is my friend kind of thing to perhaps think of our dear Demetri Williams. I mean, you being his girlfriend you must know everything there is to know about him."

"Even if I was, I would't tell you."

"But what if I told you I'd kidnap you? Slit your throat? Cut off your fingers? Hang you by your hair until I heard what I wanted?" He spoke with such nonchalance that it made me falter. All I could was swallow the lump in my throat as a sense of fear enveloped me, causing my skin to crawl.

"I bet you're trembling right now. I don't blame you. But I just want you to think very carefully Venus Skaarsgaurd, which basket do you plan on throwing your eggs into? I'm sure Demetri's is nice, but with all the pretty design you may not be able to see into the dark depths of lies and betrayal." 

His purposeful use of melodramatic words seemed to stun me.

How was I to reply to something like that? In fact, how was I even having a conversation with someone who held me against my will with a knife on my throat?

"Who says I'll put my eggs into any basket? Who says I have any eggs at all?"

"Clever girl. But if you truly are clever, you'll put your eggs in my basket. The one with clarity, and a sense of safety."

"Your knives lead me to believe your basket provides none of the above."

"Good day, Venus."

And the line went dead. I stared at the phone in my hand in pure disbelief. The image of the night in the alley began to replay in my mind like a movie stuck on repeat. 

"Hey!"

I dropped the phone and glared at Will who was laughing with Brooke as the two walked in with dirty plates. 

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