Killer

Chapter 2: The Boy Next Door

After school was done for the day, I did not want to ride the bus home since it was going to be the same thing again. I ended up walking home rather than taking that route, which meant being away from those guys. The walking distance from the school to my house was around thirty minutes as I took a shortcut through a series of trees on a dirt pathway that led to a playground near my neighborhood in this shitty town. My white sneakers were getting wet from the low creak, but I did not care. I knew it was not safe to walk home by myself in the woods, but I did not care either. I just wanted to get home, crawl into my bed, and cry to myself as usual.

I lived in a small house that some rich person in a silver Mercedes drove past and considered junk. It sat far away from Tanglewood High and almost at the edge. The wooden fence has been chipping away piece by piece ever since I moved here. Dead leaves sat on the unkempt grass as the early evening sun cast long shadows on the pavement. I couldn't really recall when the last time we did actual work on this hideous yard was—probably back in June when it used to rain a lot, but not recently. At least the painting of our house wasn't chipped like the fence, nor were the concrete steps gashed open like some of the other houses on this side of town.

As I was walking up the steps to the front door. I heard the rumbling noises of an engine and the sound of loud indie music coming from behind me. I turned around to see a shiny blue Chevrolet truck reaching for my street around the corner. It pulled up in the spare driveway next to my house. For the moment, I couldn't see who was driving that truck because of how dark and rolled up the windows were. Plus, my throbbing eye didn't make a difference.

Suddenly the engine stopped, and I looked in a bit closer. Five years ago, a man used to live in that house. His name was Todd, and I remembered he had a German Shepard. He used to try to talk to me about the birds that were in his backyard. They used to be very odd conversations—not exactly a time to be alive. The next thing I knew, Todd relocated, and I've never heard from him since. That house has been vacant until now.

The door slammed shut as whoever took my breath away. He was a tall, olive-toned-skinned guy with a toned body. He looked like he played every sport you could think of or the kind you'd see in a Calvin Klein magazine. I watched for a long minute, analyzing his stance and his appearance. He was hot—really hot. I felt my insides crumpling up at the sight of him. I didn't think he realized that I was watching him as he pulled out a brown box filled with things from the backseat.

Then, out of nowhere, he paused and turned his body slightly toward me. I gasped and stared back at him. His facial features were out of this world. It looked like he was two races blended into one. He had sandy-colored curly hair and piercingly light eyes. He was absolutely gorgeous, from the face down.

That made me wonder, who was this sexy man? Was this my new neighbor?

"Uh, are you okay?" He asked.

I jumped like a weirdo. "Y-Yeah."

"What happened to your eye?" The guy tilted his head off to the side, inspecting me.

"I-I f-fell down the stairs."

Really, Sunny?

He looked a bit worried. "Do you want a pack of frozen greens?"

"N-No," I was literally acting so weird toward him. "I-It's fine!"

I hurried, jabbed my key into the door, and rushed in. I could hear the guy saying something more as I shut the door. My heart was pumping so fast inside my chest. Nobody has ever cared for me as much as that guy did just now. The feeling was something I was never used to.

I looked around the scruffy house to find out that my mom still wasn't home. I settled into my bedroom, took off my school clothes, and collapsed into my bed. I considered this place my sanctuary away from everything, not even bothering to start on any homework as a matter of fact. I was so exhausted from what happened at school today. I figured I could ease the pain I was feeling on and off by falling asleep. The last thing I could see before I closed my eyes was my half-opened window.