We both walked over hurriedly to see what was going on. Gently pushing past the gathering crowd, as we made our way to the person in peril

It was Maria, she was lying on the floor in a mess foaming at the mouth, her previously clear eyes were now looking bloodshot. Had she taken drugs?

"Oh my God! Maria!?" Melanie worryingly cried out, kneeling beside her.

"Someone call for a help!" I shouted out. But, by it was too late. She was already dead.

"What the fuck happened to her?" Mark asked, who was surprisingly and ironically right next to me.

"Jesus... she must have been drugged or something!" Melanie yelled in feae. This caused a wave of panic to usher over the crowd. Meanwhile, a nearby teacher was already on the scene of the crime. A crime which could have the possibility of being associated with me, should police be able to discover Tom's body.

"Everyone, go back home! The police have been called." He ordered.

He didn't have to ask us twice, we were all out of the ballroom faster than you could say. 'Hippopotamus.' Streaming out of the building into the cold, wet night. Some took to their phones, calling their parents and explaining the situation at hand. Others, me for an obvious example, got to our cars in order to get the hell out of there.

Grabbing my keys from my suit's pocket, I felt a hand touch my shoulder.

"Can I stay with you tonight? My parents are out on a business trip." A familiar voice sounded out. As much as it hurt me to say this, it was necessary. I had to leave Little Valley. I never thought I'd be sad saying that in my head. Yet the cops, incompetent as they are. Were coming very soon, I had to get out of this town quickly.

"I'm sorry Mel, I-I can't." I said, too embarrassed to even look at her. Especially since we just shared an intimate moment just a few minutes earlier.

Without another word, I just got into my car. I buried my head into my hands for a few moments, before backing out of the lot... leaving into the night totally defeated and out of hands to play. I was ironically outdone by my own self.

- A Few Minutes Later -

If only I hadn't come to this stupid prom night, perhaps Tom and Mark weren't even behind the break-in, I was probably just being stupid and skeptical. But what was done was already done, the police would be there any moment. They'd probe the entire floor for clues until they found Tom's body, and my skin under his finger nails. If they somehow didn't, than eventually the janitors would later and just call them back.

I quickly made my way back to my house, pulling into the garage and shutting the door. Maybe, one day I'll be able to come back here. But right now, I got to disappear. It's a conclusion that I've always wanted, yet don't want at the same time. The divorce between me and my lifelong home, but what would my dad say? He's probably not even here, likely back at that stupid bar again.

This is all just one big corporate kerfuffle of bad decisions, and I'm the guy in charge of this crap...

Just then, I heard something... coming from the trunk of my car. Surprised, I turned my head quickly to the back of my Fury.

"What in the?..."

The trunk suddenly flew open. My heart practically leapt as I yelled and backed away, accidentally tripping over a toolbox which had been left sitting there ever since my dad began drinking after mom died. Frightfully coincidental, thankfully I didn't hit my head too hard.

"I'm glad your dad installed a release inside the trunk." High heels stepped down onto the garage floor, dark brown hair was the second thing I noticed.

"How, how did you get in there?" I stuttered a little.

"Obviously, you were zoning out back there. It probably had something to do with poor, poor Maria..." Melanie stepped out of the trunk. "Made it easier to get in unnoticed, everyone else was minding their own business. After all, they did just see someone die."

"You're strangely unconcerned ab-..." I began, but paused as a surprising revelation came to fruition.

Melanie seemed to catch on to what I was thinking... she slowly smiled at me warmly.

"She wouldn't have died if she didn't try and take you from me." She eerily said, still wearing her prom dress, staring down at me with a slight hint of delight in her eyes. "Now, it's just us."

I couldn't believe it. She was just like me... Struck straight in the heart with Cupid's Arrow, feeling the brute force of it's effects. Intoxicated with the serene feeling of attraction.

"You, killed Maria..." I just said, out of the sheer surprise that she would even do something like that.

"Obviously, when we talked a few days ago. She told me something she didn't want to tell her closest of friends. Which was, the fact that she was interested in you. I was... just so furious, after all I had my eye on you ever since Day 1." That sort of threw me off, because i didn't exactly know what that meant.

"Day 1, you mean... The day we met?" She just shook her head at me.

"It's a long story. Would you like to discuss it over dinner?" She motions to the door out of the garage.

"I don't think my dad would allow visitors this late." I said, it seemed as thought he was at the bar. But I can't be too careful.

"That won't be too much of a problem." She said, jokingly.

"Why's that?" I ask in response.

"When was the last time you saw your dad?" She questioned.

Without a stutter, I answered. "Just a few hours ago, when I was leaving to go to prom. He was cooking in the kitchen."

"About that..." She paused, before sitting down beside me.

"What?" I was legitimately confused.

"It's gonna be hard trying to take this in, considering that you've probably blocked it right out of your mind. Your dad isn't alive anymore." Melanie said. "I came to your house, earlier this week. You weren't there so, naturally I looked around. Until I found a skeleton stuffed in one of the hallway closets, it definitely wasn't a Halloween prop. It felt too real."

"So, that's what has become of him." I said, mostly to myself. It would probably be different if, say a doctor had told me about my apparent hallucinations. But she was different, I trusted her. No matter what, because that's what true lovers do. No wonder he didn't talk to me as I passed him by, no wonder he never returned from the bar.

He was never there in the first place...

Now I think remember, the fractured pieces began to unite once more. After mom's death, Dad became depressed all the same. Yet what my broken, delusional mind omitted was the fact that he offed himself a month to two after drinking his whole life into the dirt. My guess is that I was just too shocked to accept the reality. Whenever someone would ask about him, which luckily seldom happened I'd just say he was on a business trip in his new job. Whenever I began to doubt his presence, my mind reassured me with a false conjuring. How I was able to still live like this throughout high school, I have no idea.

"That begs the question, Melanie... How did you know my address, when I never even brought you here in the first place? Were you stalking me?... too?" I curiously asked.