Laughter in the Dark

"Laughter is the tonic, the relief, the surcease for pain" -Charlie Chaplin
Kiara came downstairs from her room and walked through the living room to the kitchen. On her way there she stops, when she hears the news playing on the T.V. Listening she hears it says that there is a serial killer in her area. He wears a navy blue, and grey striped hoodie, goggles, black jeans, and boots with a black striped mouth guard. It also says he carries an ax. With an unshocked look on her face, she rolls her eyes and goes into the kitchen. Kiara isn't really worried about the serial killer because it is kind of a common thing in her area.
After making popcorn, movie theatre butter, of course, she trudges into the living room and plops down on the couch. She changes the T.V to Netflix and starts to watch her favorite movie: Bad Trip, from where she left off. You might be thinking why Bad Trip is her favorite movie. It's a prank/joke movie that makes her laugh a lot which distracts her from all her life problems and makes her temporarily happy. What is she distracting herself from you might ask? Well, although she may look perfect to other people, in reality, her parents are fighting every night. They started about 7 months ago. All of a sudden she hears a "CRASH!" Kiara hurls her popcorn into the air and all over the living room. She then turns to find out where the crash came from but while examining her surroundings, her eyes jolt to a stop when she sees something... or someone. Standing at the entrance of the kitchen is a man. The same man as described from the news standing there staring at her with an ax in hand.
He starts to chuckle when Kirara bolts for the front door but is stopped when the intruder reaches it first. Fearful she turns to run to the stairs. As she reaches the first steps the intruder tackles her and throws her to the ground. He then turns around and while laughing maniacally pounces up the stairs. Kiara follows to warn her parents about the psychotic man in their house, but when she turns the corner she sees her parents dead on the floor, with the murder standing over them. The ax dripping with blood and the holder laughing. He slowly moves her into the corner of the room and raises his ax into the air. Kiara closes her eyes and waits for the impact but it doesn't come. She opens an eye and looks at him with confusion. The man just stares at her but then tries to swing again, but stops a few inches from her head and holds his position. Kiara looks back at him again and the guy looks down to the floor and back up at her. Hesitantly he raises his ax again and tries to swing it but he just moves it back and forth a little. Finally, he gives up on killing her and slowly lowers his ax, putting it back into place on his belt. He then lunges at Kiara but doesn't get a good grip on her arm. Kiara bolts down the stairs and out the front door into the street.
She turns around to face the front door to see if he followed her out but she didn't see him. But when she gets the sense that someone was behind her she slowly turns to see that the guy is standing directly behind her. He grabs her and tries to walk but is heaved back when Kiara tries to escape. The man says, " Kiara, I'm not going to hurt you" with a little relief and confusion Kiara stops fighting and starts to walk with him towards Hollow Forest.
After 20 minutes of walking Kiara notices that they are deep into the forest and way past the forbidden fence. After a little more walking a cabin comes into sight but Kiara starts to slow down. The guy then feels a yank on his arm and when he turns to see what is going on he realizes that Kiara has stopped walking. He looks at her face to find that she isn't scared by the cabin but very sleepy looking. "What's wrong?" the guy asks with a low evil chuckle. Kiara answers, "I don't know... I suddenly feel... ti-" before Kiara could finish her sentence she passes out but the guy catches her before she could hit the ground. The guy knows exactly what is happening, the forest mentally and physically drains people it doesn't recognize. The guy picks up Kiara and takes her inside.
When Kira wakes up she notices that her surroundings have changed drastically. She gets up and saunters over to the door but before she could open it she's pushed back by it getting opened by someone else. When she looks to see who opened the door, she sees that the guy from last night is standing in the doorway. "Oh good you're awake." the tall man says. Kiara, swirling with anger and confusion, gets up and raises her voice a little, and asks, "Where am I?", "Who are you?". The guy who has an annoyed look on his face says, "Well I guess I should tell you." and gestures for her to follow him.
They go into the assumed living room where Toby takes a seat on the couch and Kiara sits in the chair next to it. "Well, I'm guessing you have a lot more questions other than who I am," he says as he turns to Kiara. "Where am I?" Kiara asks her first question. "My home" the guy answered. Kiara asks another question, "Who are you?", the man answers, "Toby, Ticci Toby. Any more questions, Detective Prescott?" Kiara with a confused and disgusted look on her face raises her voice and says, "That! How do you know my name?" the man now Toby answered, "Probably cause I know you, " "How?" Kiara asks, "I don't know you." "I know you don't" Toby answers. "What?" Kiara says with an uncomfortable confused face. Toby just shrugs his shoulders. "Anything else?" Toby asks with an annoyed tone. "Why?" Kiara asks as tears start to form in her eyes. "Why what?" Toby asks back. "Why me?! Why did you do it?" Toby just stares at her while thinking about what he is going to say. "I didn't deserve it," Kiara says as tears start to run down her cheeks.
After a few seconds of science, Toby sighs and looks away from Kiara and down to the floor. Toby gets up and starts to walk over to Kiara. She looks up to see that he's kneeling in front of her. "I know you didn't," Toby says. "I know you won't understand but your parents are to blame for this" Toby adds as he wipes the tears from Kiara's cheeks.
Toby's P.O.V:
"Wait! What am I doing?" "Is this...remorse?" Do I feel...sorry?" I look into her eyes and she into mine. When I break eye contact with her, I start to have a panic attack. I get up from off my knee and start to walk back and forth breathing hard. Kiara asks me what's wrong but I don't answer. I can't. She comes up to me and grabs my arms and looks up at my face.
Flashback:
*cough cough, "Are you ok little brother?" my sister asks, "Tobz?" "Toby?!"
End flashback
I come back into reality to her Kiara yelling my name. Full of anger I threw her off me and onto the floor, scaring her, but instead of helping her I yelled, "I'm fine!" She looks up at me with a terrified face. Angered by what I just did I yell, "Go back to your room and don't come out until I tell you to!" She gets up and slowly walks to her room without even glancing at me once. Filled with rage and regret I sigh and look down. When I hear her door close I somber over to the couch and sit down with my hand on my head thinking about what I just did.
Your P.O.V:
Kiara is sitting on her bed bawling. She starts to ask herself questions. "Why did he hit me?"  "What is he hiding from me?" "Why am I here?" "What is he going to do with me?" With the questions coursing through her head, she starts to tire herself out and falls asleep. About 30 minutes later Toby cracks the door open to check on her before he goes to bed himself. With Kiara being a heavy sleeper she didn't hear him open the creaky door. Seeing that Kiara is breathing and asleep Toby closes the door and goes into his room. closing the door behind him. The next morning Toby wakes up at 6:00 AM. After his shower, he changes into a clean "uniform" as he calls it which is just his news description... Striped hoodie, black pants, black boots, striped mask, and goggles. Before heading for the kitchen he checks on Kiara. Opening her door he finds that she is still sound asleep. Closing the door he goes into the kitchen and makes himself some breakfast. He stops and thinks if he should make Kiara something but that thought quickly ends when he decides that she can wait.
Kiara's P.O.V:
I wake up to realize that I am still in the maniac's home and that it wasn't just a bad dream. I slowly get out of bed and go to the bathroom. When I entered the bathroom I realized that Toby put stuff in here for me. After I'm done cleaning up I make the bed and when I'm about to open my door I hear the front door open and I carefully let go of the knob and put my ear to the door to listen. I know I shouldn't but under the circumstances, I don't care.
Toby's P.O.V:
After cleaning my dish from breakfast I walk into the living room, when I sit down I turn t.v. The news comes on and it's talking about two murders that happened at a house last night. I chuckle with how much I impressed myself and say, "Wait till the others hear about this." Hearing a knock at the door I immediately turn around and take out my pocket knife. I steadily walk over to the door. Upon opening it I loosen the grip on my knife and let out a sigh of relief.
"My God Ben! You scared the crap out of me." I said when I saw Ben at the door.  "Oh really? I'm glad I did" Ben sarcastically responded. I roll my eyes and ask, "Why are you here?" " Jeff was driving me crazy" He answers as he starts to walk in, "So I thought I could crash here for an hour or two until he leaves," Ben says and he throws himself onto the couch. "I don't want any visitors right now Ben," I say, trying to get him out before he realizes I have someone here. "Why?... Hiding something from me?" he starts. The one thing I hate more than anything is when people make accusations against me even if they are true." No" I say getting a little frustrated, "I just want you gone" Ben gets up and starts to walk to the door but suddenly stops."You know I can smell the scent of a girl from a mile away"
"Too late," I thought to myself. "I'm going to kill her so don't get any ideas," I say trying to defend Kiara. "If you're going to kill her then why did you bring her here?" Ben asks. I respond with "You know I like to mess with my victims before they meet their maker" Ben chuckles and walks completely out. Before he continues he turns to me and gives me the see you later hand signal we do and teleports back to his house.
Kiara's P.O.V:
While listening to their conversation I hear a guy now named Ben talking to Toby. I listen in and out cause it kinda got boring. But my attention was snatched back when Ben said, "You know I can smell the scent of a girl from a mile away" my eyes widened at the thought of one of Toby's creepy friends knowing that I'm here. But what dismayed me was when I heard Toby say, "I'm going to kill her so don't get any ideas" I could believe him. He lied to me. And it didn't help when I told Ben the reason I was here. He said and I quote, "You know I like to mess with my victims before they meet their maker"
I wanted to bolt but I didn't know where the other doors lead and I wasn't about to get caught sneaking around or get lost in this massive cabin. I gave the sneaking-out idea a little thought and decided since I'm going to die anyway I should at least give it a try. So when I heard the door close I sneaked out into the hallway and decided to go left instead of right, into the living room. After a couple of turns and open and closed doors, I finally admitted to myself that I'm lost.
Toby's P.O.V:
After Ben left I let out a massive sigh of relief. But my relaxed state of mind is short-lived when I sense peace and silence...Too much of it... I quickly walk over to Kiara's room to see if she is alright but when I open the door I come to find that her room is empty. I look through the open bathroom door and still don't find her. I walk out into the hallway and go left. I open the door to the stairwell but can't decide to go up or down. "Kiara!" I yell. No answer. "Kiara?!" I yell again this time with a little distress in my voice. I decided to go downstairs to the den/basement. I have a feeling that Kiara was trying to escape, but was completely wrong because I specifically designed my house to be a maze with only one way in and one way out. As I open the door and walk through I get the feeling that someone is down here, but not the person I'm looking for. "Kiara?" I yell questioning who is down here with me. Then out of the shadows, I see a small figure appear.
Kiara's P.O.V:
As I try different doors I finally take in, I'm just getting myself more lost. As I'm about to give up I hear Toby's faint voice yelling my name. Although I want to get away from him, I'm desperate to get out of this maze that I've gotten myself stuck in. As I start to scurry to the sound of Toby's faint voice. I sense that someone else is down here with me. I hear the door open and Toby yells my name again. As I turn the corner I see a light at the end of this dark hallway. I run towards the light and turn to see Toby in the back of the room near the door. He quickly reaches for something from his back pocket when he sees my figure in the shadows.
Toby's P.O.V:
When the small figure emerges from around the corner I reach for my pocket knife, but I hesitate before I take it out. As the figure starts to walk towards me I slide my knife back into place when I realize that it's Kiara."Did you really think I would make it that easy?" I sarcastically ask. She rolls her eyes and looks away from me with a mad face and looks back. I gesture for her to go back upstairs and she complies. But before I follow I turn back to look into the room. I shake my head to get rid of the idea that there is someone else and close the door. Walking up the stairs I think to myself, "It isn't possible for someone else to be down there...right? I shake my head with a confused face, "I must be going crazy"..." Oh wait, I've already done that" I chuckle a little. Kiara looks back at me with an annoyed face but quickly turns back when I wink at her.
Kiara's P.O.V:
I walk towards Toby and see him put the thing he was grabbing back. I look at him with a mad face. He gestures for me to go back upstairs and without any choice I do but as I reach the stairs I turn back to see if Toby was following and he wasn't. He was just staring into the room. He shakes his head and turns to face me. I look at him, but then turn around and start walking up the stairs. Questioning what Toby was doing, I thought to myself, "Why was Toby just staring into the room?" "What if he also felt that someone was down there?...wait, does that even make sense?" My thoughts are cut short when I hear Toby chuckle behind me. Annoyed by his chuckle I turn my head back to face him with a 'what are you doing face' but quickly turn back when he winks at me. I start to blush and get butterflies.
Mystery P.O.V:
I put my knives into the back of my pants. The girl and my one chance are both gone. Thanks to Ticci. I work myself around the rest of the maze and open the door to follow them. I hear them go onto the roof so I go onto the 4th level and chill until they come back down. But I'm very impatient so I might just kill her right in front of him.
Toby's P.O.V:
"Next one," I tell Kiara before she reaches to open the door to the 3rd floor. "Why," she asks. I answer with, "Because" "Because why?" she asks as she starts up the second flight of stairs, "Because" I answer. She lets out an annoyed scoff and continues to climb the stairs. As we reach the 4th-floor door I say, "Next one" again. Kiara lets out an annoyed grunt but continues on the next flight of stairs. As we reach the end, Kiara sarcastically asks, "Next one?" I answer with, "Do you see any stairs to continue?" She says, "Shut up" with a little laugh in her voice, and opens the door, I chuckle as I start to walk in behind her but am cut off by the door closing. "Rude" I jokingly say. Kiara chuckles. I smile and walk onto the roof. She turns to me and says, "Is this where I meet my maker?" My eyes widen as I close the door. I turn to her with a regretful face and say, "You were awake...Look I didn't mean that. I was trying to get Ben to leave". She stares at me with an upset face. "You also said you wouldn't hurt me". I look at her with a sly face and say, "You should never trust what a killer tells you" At that Kiara gets a concerned but defensive face. "I'm joking" I quickly say to make her at ease, "Kinda" I add a few seconds later with a little grin. She looks away shaking her head with a soft smile.
Your P.O.V:
"I brought you up here because I want to talk to you," Toby tells Kiara. "Wait!" Kiara interrupted, "Before you say anything, I just want to tell you that I'm sorry for trying to escape" "It's ok, honestly I understand why you did it" Toby turns to Kiara and adds, "But you also have to understand why you can't go back" As he says this Toby looks into Kiara's eyes with deep affection. I sigh and say, "I work for this guy, and my job is to kill people for him. I didn't kill you because I couldn't. When I looked at you I felt...peace and innocence. Your eyes...when you looked at me I felt my insides tighten and my hand start to sweat. Kiara blushes and looks away with a smile. "But the main reason I couldn't kill you is because..."While saying this to her, he gets closer and leans into a kiss as he starts to close his eyes..." I-I lo-" before he could finish Tobys' interrupted by the sound of the doorbell being rung. Slowly he lifts his head, opens his eyes, and looks up with an irritated face. Kiara lowers her head and opens her eyes, but looks down blushing. After a few seconds, Toby hesitantly whispers, "I'm sorry" before turning to the rooftop door. Kiara stays behind trying to process what just happened.
Mystery P.O.V:
I hear the rooftop door open and someone coming down the stairs. I run-up to the door to hear who it is and come to find that the person in the stairwell is Ticci. The sound of his voice faintly echoes as he talks to himself going down the stairs. When I can no longer hear his voice I open the door and go up the stairs to the rooftop. I open the door and find the girl standing and giggling about something. I come into her view and her happy face immediately turns into a scarred face. Seeing her reaction to me I take out my knives and charge towards her.
Toby's P.O.V:
"I am going to kill whoever is at the door" I quietly say to myself as I quickly walk down the stairs skipping a few steps on every flight of stairs.  As I reach the door I take out one of my axes from its place on my belt. I reach for the door with my left hand as I hold my ax in my right to let the person know that they won't live to knock on another door. As I open it I find Ben waiting to be welcomed again. "Ben, you just interrupted something, so this better be good"
Ben's P.O.V:
As I wait for Toby to open the door, I start to feel sweat form on my forehead. "How am I supposed to tell him what I did? What will he do to me?" "I know Toby can get extremely mad and do things he normally wouldn't do to his victims, but I also know that he wouldn't kill me...I think." My thoughts start to succumb when I hear the door handle rattle, twist, and then watch as the door opens. I look to see the opener giving me a very deep and focused death stare. I notice the ax in his right hand and start to panic a little. Toby breaks the silence by saying, "Ben, you just interrupted something, so this better be good" I accidentally off by saying, "I know you don't want me here nonetheless I have something very important to tell you, but you can't get mad" Toby answers with, "Ben, you better tell me now or else I WILL get mad" Hesitantly I start to say, "Ok, ok, I may or may not have... accidentally... told Jeff... you had a girl here" At that, I notice Toby clench his ax in anger. His face turned from an annoying face to an infuriated face. Toby finally breaks the tension when he furiously asks, "You...did...what?" At that, we hear a loud clang come from the side of the mansion.  We both ran to see what made that clanging sound come from.  Halfway towards the end of the house, we see a knife on the brick paving. I pick up the knife and turn it over and find that it's engraved with the initials J.K standing for Jeff the Killer. As soon as Toby sees the initials he turns to me and says, "I'll deal with you later" at that, I warily turn away and teleport back to my mansion.
Toby's P.O.V:
As Ben picks up the knife and turns it over I see the initials on it saying J.K and immediately fill with rage and concern for Kiara. I turn to Ben and say, "I'll deal with you later" and bolt around the corner and head towards the door only to find it closed and locked.
Kiara's P.O.V:
When I hear the rooftop door close I start to giggle and blush. Thinking of what just happened I can't help but feel the same way. "He was about to tell me that he loves me before we were interrupted and I think I love him too. I say I think because of our history. Like he did kill my parents, try to kill me, and hit me. But he did apologize for all of it and tried to explain why I'm here and what my parents had to do with it...But the way he looked at me when he cornered me back at my house. He wouldn't kill me...he couldn't kill me. And I didn't understand why, but now I do. Because he loves me" I think to myself as I blush. "I mean, how could I NOT fall for him. He's cute, has crystal blue eyes, the best brown curly hair, and he's nice...or at least to me." My thoughts are shot out of my head when I hear the rooftop door getting flung open. I turn around in fear about what threw it open. My shivers run down my spine when I see what opened it...or who opened it. Standing less than 10 feet away is a man, He's around 6ft tall, very pale, has black hair, and eyes as dark as coal. He wears similar clothing to Toby but all black, he also carries alchemy potions and shots in a sash that runs across his chest. He closes the door and takes out two knives from behind his back. He then turns to me and lets out a demoniac laugh and slowly starts walking towards me with his head tilted slightly towards the ground but eyes locked directly on me. Knives in hand he lunges at me and tries to cut my stomach and head, but I duck down and trip him. He falls to the ground and I kick away one of his knives. It slides across the roof and stops and the very end with the blade hanging over.
Your P.O.V:
The dark guy runs over to it and tries to grab the knife before it falls but he doesn't make it in time. After listening to the sound of the knife slamming onto the ground the man turns around and is dumbfounded that he's alone. Realizing that Kiara had ditched him on the roof, the man then fades into a shadow form and teleports himself down to the front door where he shuts the door, locks it, and breaks the key inside the lock. After that, he teleports onto the 2nd floor where he can smell Kiara hiding from.  After finding Kiara within seconds hiding in Toby's room the dark man then grabs her and sings his knife at her only to have his hand caught by both of hers. The man pushes harder toward Kiara's body hoping to make an impact but is pushed back by Kiara. Getting fed up the man then grabs Kiara's waist and starts to drag her out of the room and into the hallway. Kiara starts to kick and scream and he takes her into the hallway, trying to shut her up. The man cups his gloved ones over her mouth in an attempt to muffle her yelling. It does but Kiara bits his hand so he lets go. As soon as her mouth is uncovered Kiara screams, "Toby!"' Before Kiara can say another word the man's gloved hands come back over her mouth but this time he pins her against the wall and injects Kiara with a sedative from his alchemy sash. Kiara, getting weak and sleepy stops fighting and tries her best to fight the sedative.
Toby's P.O.V:
I try to push the door open but can't. Realizing that something is wrong I kick the door continually but it doesn't bust down. Hearing Kiara screaming I use my axes to cut down the door but for some reason, nothing is happening. When Kiara yells my name I back up and run into the door ripping it from its hinges and onto the ground. Racing through my house and up the stairs onto the 2nd floor, I turn the corner to see Jeff pining Kiara to the wall. "Jeff!" I yelled furiously at what he did to the girl I love. I charge forward but before I could reach him, he turns to shadow and teleports out of my house, letting Kiara fall to the floor. I fearfully run towards Kiara to see if she's alive, but when I get to her I come to find that she isn't moving and barely breathing. Her breathing quickens a little which means she isn't dying, so I pick her up and I take her to a room that can be seen from the living room. I walk in and I lie her down on the bed and pull the cover over her. I turn and leave the room without closing the door so that I can see her from the living room in case she needs me.
Kiara’s P.O.V:
I start to come in and out of conciseness. As the sedative starts to fully wear off, my vision starts to get less blurry and fuzzy. I start to become acquainted with my surroundings and find that I don’t exactly know where I am but what I do know is that I’m still in Toby’s house. I try to sit up but my side where I was injected feels like I was stabbed over and over with his knife instead. After trying to sit up I gasp in pain and lie back down on the bed “Toby?” I say weakly, but loud enough for him to rush in after hearing me call his name. After trying to sit up I gasp in pain and fall back onto the bed out of exhaustion.
Toby’s P.O.V:
Rushing into Kiara’s room I see her fall back to the bed and my heart stops for a split second. As I enter the room I come to find her awake but very lethargic looking.  Getting closer to the bed I ask her, “Are you ok? How do you feel?” Before I could finish my stream of questions, Kiara puts her hand on mine and smiles. My alarmed face turns into a face full of vehemence, as she feebly beamed at me. I help her sit up so I can give her some fresh water and a pain pill.”Why do I need a pain pill?” Kiara asked me as I handed her, her water. “Jeff’s sedatives have strong side effects. The main ones being overuse syndrome, and fatigue. 
Your P.O.V:
About 20 minutes later Kiara can breathe without gasping in pain and move her side a little better. A couple of hours later Toby is done searching his house to see if Jeff stayed and Kiara was starting to walk around. Jeff is gone, but Kiara can now walk upstairs without suffering pain from her side. Around 9:45 PM Toby helps Kiara get ready for bed by bringing her the things she needs. Toby takes a bag from the side of the bed and takes out some of Kiara’s clothes and hands them to her. “When did you go back to my house and get some of my clothes?” Kiara asks me in surprise with a small grin forming on her face. “After I had my panic attack. I felt terrible so I thought I would make it up to you with some clean clothes.” Toby answers. “Thank you,” Kiara says to Toby, “Of course. If you need anything just let me know '' Kiara smiles which gives Toby butterflies. He lives so that Kiara can change and go to sleep. It’s 10:00 PM and before he goes to bed himself, Toby does one final check of his house to make sure that Jeff is still gone. At 10:53 Toby is finally done checking his house and goes to bed happy that no one else is there.
2 weeks later
Toby finally decides to try and tell Kiara that he loves her and hopes there will be no interruptions this time. Around 7:45 PM and Toby takes Kiara to the roof...again. This time Toby set up a little Sun ń Stars date. As Kiara walks through the rooftop door she softly gasps and starts to blush a little… ok a lot. Toby comes from behind her and places his hands on her shoulder and slowly moves them to cross each other like a hug. Slowly Kiara turns around to face Toby. He looks down at her with red across his face and enchantment in his eyes. Kiara looks up at him with light pink across her face and desire in her eyes. 
Toby’s P.O.V:
My thoughts start swirling through my brain. But I manage to choke out, “Before I was interrupted I was about to tell you something” and Kiara starts to chuckle a little. I continue saying, “Kiara sometimes I wonder how I was so lucky to have you. To be honest I can’t believe you have stayed this long. I haven’t been able to wrap my head over the fact that you are staying with me - a killer. But I finally figured it out. You’re a beautiful, amazing woman who doesn’t judge people on their actions or their appearances. You judge people based on their personality and by seeing how they are underneath. You managed to look past my actions and see me for who I truly am. You found how broken I was but then you took the time to fix me bit by bit. That is what I love most about you, from the first time I met you I knew you were the one for me. That is why I love you” While saying this to her, he gets closer and leans into a kiss as he starts to close his eyes. As I lean down to kiss her I start to feel her breathing against my lips. As we kiss, I place my hands on her face and she places her over my neck. After we kiss I lead her over to the edge of the roof to sit down and watch the sunset over the mountains and lake. While walking to the edge of the roof I started to get nervous and think, "OMG! OMG! What am I going to say? How am I supposed to tell her about everything that has happened? The reason I did what I did. What leads to me doing it and what's going to happen now." My thoughts are terminated when Kiara wraps her arm around mine. My eyes widen and I look down at her from the corner of my eye. I get nervous but start to smile.
Upon reaching the end of the roof I turn to her and I take a deep breath and start to talk. "I need to tell you something." I tell Kiara and she turns to me and answers with, "Ok", I continue saying, "I know you are questioning me about what I did and I think I've been hiding the reason for too long." Kiara looks up at me with melancholia in her eyes. I continue saying, "When I had my panic attack yesterday and I lashed out at you. It wasn't because of you, it was because what you were saying to me made me think of my sister. There was a fire at my house about 7 months ago...I was the only one to get out...After several months of searching for who started the fire, I found someone who told me everything. How my family did something to make someone upset. They also told me that...Your parents were the ones who started the fire." I took out my phone and showed Kiara the surveillance the person found. It showed her parents staring at the fire and then running away. Upon watching the surveillance footage Kiara lets tears fall from her eyes. "The night before I came to your house I approached them during a walk and told them what the person told me. They weirded out and ran back towards your house." Kiara starts to sob uncontrollably and I pull her to my chest to try and comfort her.
Kiara's P.O.V:
"I can't believe my parents would do something like that. I thought Toby was just some evil guy on a rampage, but after finding out what my parent did to his family, I realized that he was just hurt." While hugging Toby I pull away and say, "The night it happened they came home arguing. I heard them talk about someone knowing something and they had to do something about that person." Toby looks down at me and says, "They tried to blame me for the fire after they found out I was the only one who survived...Kiara, I am so sorry what I put you through but it was the only way not to be hunted and killed for a crime I didn't commit." Looking up at him I start to shake my head and say, "No, no you hat you had to, to survive. After everything they did, I don't know what they were expecting. To not get caught for multiple crimes. I'm so sorry my parents did that to you." Toby comforts me by saying, "Don't apologize, you had nothing to do with it."
Your P.O.V:
Toby and Kiara just stand there and hug for a few minutes. After their long and much-needed hug, they sit down and watch the sunset. They stay on the roof for a few hours comforting each other and laughing. Throughout the starry night, they had the 'conversation that never ends' Kiara and Toby were laughing and having a great time getting to know each other. They distracted each other from the conversation they had earlier, and they also distracted each other from reality. On the roof star gazing, everything was perfect. Each of them was with someone they loved and someone they could relate to. They were each other's tonic from the pain they felt deep inside themselves. They were each other's relief/distraction from the reality they lived in. And they were the source for each other's problems and challenges.
Toby was Kiara's laughter and Kiara was Toby's. Together they were full of laughter and happiness but apart they were transported back into reality. Toby and Kiara shared something that most couples don't. They were each other's savior from dark times. In this dark place, they found laughter. It was laughter in the dark.