A suicide, secrets, and a new love.
It's the last day of her junior year abroad, and Serafina Benham couldn't be more thrilled. For three years, her family had been going to New Orleans without her to celebrate Thanksgiving with their family friend...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
My eyes open at night due to thirst. This is what happens when you just drink one glass of water the whole day, people. I remember one time I set an alarm on my phone to remind myself to drink eight glasses of water every day. Did It impact my habit? No. I just ended up turning it off.
I pick up candy cane from the floor, Sky's Bear plush. We named it that because it has a red and white striped scarf around its neck. Also, we were just six. There was my plush tiger too, namely Raja. But that got lost, unfortunately. I'll have to look for it in the morning.
Putting on my slippers, I step out of the room and make my way downstairs. The whole corridor is dark. I don't even know the time but a glance out the window tells me it's midnight.
I should congratulate myself for not waking anyone up. That's an achievement, for me anyway.
A loud noise from the kitchen crashes through my proud moment. I frown when I enter the lounge. The kitchen's light is...on? That's weird. I know for a fact that Josie switches off all the lights at night so she couldn't have forgotten it.
Oh my God, someone broke into the house. I can't go and wake everyone up, the dude will easily escape that way. For the want of a better weapon, I grab a Jimmy Choo.
High heels had never served me well in the past but I wasn't above using one to batter a burglar now.
"Today you're gonna die!" I say aloud, brandishing my weapon as I go in. Hey, confidence is the key.
"Jesus, woman!" a velvety voice–which I'm all too familiar with–hisses. Robbers don't have a sexy voice.
I open my eyes slowly, still holding the shoe. What was that tip? Never lower your guard. I think that was it.
Well, would you look at that. I guess I wasn't right this time.
"You?" I'm staring, incredulous as I lower the stiletto slowly.
Blaine rolls his eyes, "No, it's Slenderman." he drawls, "Were you expecting anyone else? I nearly dropped a plate because of you."
"I thought–I thought–" My mind struggles to come up with a proper sentence. He's leaning against a counter, wearing a dark apron over his black attire. A stray lock of light hair falls in his eye, begging me to brush it back.
Snap out of it. The voice in my head screams at me.
"You scared me!" I say finally, and he arches an eyebrow.
"Ha-ha, what are you doing up anyway?" he questions, opening a cabinet above.
"Water." I reply, "And, huh." I pause when I take a deep breath—a delicious aroma of jalapenos and garlic wafts around me. I shut the fridge door and turn, the bottle in my hand.
Blaine's standing by the stove now. I make my way to him and spot a saucepan over medium heat. He adds some honey to the pan while I whistle, blinking.
