A few minutes after leaving Michael tugged on your shirt's sleeve, forcing you to stop before gripping your wrist tightly. "What...?" You tiredly huffed, "What is it...?"
The silent stalker whipped out his notepad and scribbled down his reply; plainly aggravated by something. "YOᑌ ᑭᖇOᗰIᔕEᗪ TO ᔕᑭEᑎᗪ TOᗪᗩY ᗯITᕼ ᗰE. IT'ᔕ ᕼᗩᒪᒪOᗯEEᑎ, ᖇEᗰEᗰᗷEᖇ?" [A/N: "YOU PROMISED TO SPEND TODAY WITH ME. IT'S HALLOWEEN, REMEMBER?"]
"Of course I remember. But I've missed a ton of classes and if I keep ignoring my friends, then they're going to grow suspicious." You pointed out sternly, wanting to show reason and rational at the same time.
"TᕼEᑎ ᗯᕼᗩT ᗯIᒪᒪ YOᑌ ᗪO? ᗪOᑎ'T ᒪEᗩᐯE ᗰE. YOᑌ ᑕᗩᑎ'T. I ᗯOᑎ'T ᒪET YOᑌ." [A/N: "THEN WHAT WILL YOU DO? DON'T LEAVE ME. YOU CAN'T. I WON'T LET YOU."] Michael wrote down obsessively - his cold words forcing chills to run down your spine.
"We're still spending today together." You hurriedly reassured him, turning around to face him whilst trying to calm him down. "So please don't worry! How about...once my classes end, we decorate the house with Halloween things?"
Michael merely tilted his head to the side, clearly a little confused by what you meant. "You know, like other people do to celebrate? We could put up false spider webs, place a couple of gravestones here and there, even carve pumpkins together!" You planned with excitement, your aggravation fading as you lost the earlier exasperation.
The stalker brightened up at your ideas; definitely seeming to like that more than you simply doing your psychology classes. "But we'll need supplies and such - so why don't you go and get them, while I catch up on my studies. Then we'll meet back at home. Sound good?" You decided in a calm tone of voice, wanting to pacify Michael and also get to class.
With a slow nod, the quiet killer pulled you into a possessive cuddle and hugged you tight; nuzzling his white-masked face into the top of your (h/c) hair as he began drawing attention to himself. "I love you too." You told him with a roll of your eyes and a smile - your heartbeat becoming uneven as you grew more and more flustered. "But you should really go. People are going to notice."
Once you'd said that, Michael broke away and almost vanished into thin air - acting incredibly excited about what the two of you had now planned. A faint laugh escaped your lips whilst you watched him leave your side, finding his behaviour to be unbelievably sweet and cute. Still though, you had to get to your uni class - because otherwise, your psychology teacher and friends would definitely become suspicious about how little you'd been attending classes. Amber would yell and demand answers, Laura would feel frustrated, and Cadence...Cadence would most likely just feel betrayed. With a sigh, you approached your university and tried your best to blend into—
"(Y/N)—!!" Amber's angry voice shouted through the large swarm of students, her dark-brown hair - which was dip-dyed pink at the ends - flying behind her as she made her way fiercely towards you.
"Oh, Amber! Hey there..." You awkwardly greeted, flashing her a sheepish smile and praying she wasn't too mad. "How um...How have you been...?"
"Don't you "How-have-you-been?" ME!" She snapped with clenched fists, her sapphire-shaded orbs glaring directly at you. "We've all been worried SICK about you!"
"Well...it's just—"
"I mean, you promised a Skype call explaining everything - like three days ago - and we never got anything! Where have you even been!?"
"(Y/n)! It's so good to see you again." Cadence's voice cut through the crowd next, her coffee-coloured eyes shining with warmth as she brushed past Amber and wrapped her arms around you affectionately.
"I'll say, it was like you'd turned into a ghost or something." Laura chipped in coldly, appearing out of nowhere and playing with a stray strand of her curly black hair.
"Or TURNED on us." Amber added, placing a hand on her hip while attempting to regain her temper. "I mean honestly..."
"Stop being so dramatic you two. She probably just got caught up with her new boyfriend or her new roommates - y'know, something along those lines." Cadence mocked mischievously, clearly amused by your actions.
"My new...boyfriend...?" You blankly repeated, feeling horribly embarrassed once you realised what your teasing friend meant.
"Wait, what...?"
"Oh, nothing." "Just wondering what you're doing hanging out at the local library with a guy."
"Hold on, hold on, wait a sec, it...it isn't like that!"
"Sure it isn't."
"It's really nice to meet you." "Please excuse them. My name is Cadence, this is Amber, and that's Laura."
"I hate you both."
"The pleasure is all mine. My name is Dr. Hannibal Lecter - but please, just refer to me as Hannibal."
"So are you two like, dating?"
"Laura!"
"Or perhaps this is one of the roommates you were telling us about?"
"Yes!" "He is! We were just-I mean-he just needed to pick up a few things, so—"
"Come now, mi amore, there's no need to be so embarrassed~" "Do you really intend to hide our relationship from your friends? Oh my, I certainly didn't expect you to be so unfeeling towards them."
"You were hiding this from us!?"
"No, I wasn't!" "I-I'll explain all of this through a Skype call later, I-I promise you guys!"
"You'd better!"
"That's not where I've been at all!" You panicked wildly, growing worried whilst you wondered how to explain.
"Then where have you been, huh?" Laura pushed pointedly, raising her eyebrows as she waited for a reasonable response.
"Um..." Biting your lip, you held either side of your arms and faced all three of them - trying to decide on a good enough reply.
Fortunately for you, it turned out that you didn't need to. "Oh, that sounds like the bell. We'd best be on our way!" You anxiously spoke, flashing them a fearful smile before hurrying towards the university's entrance.
"You'd better explain yourself after class! You hear?" Amber yelled after you in frustration, Laura also looking immensely irritated.
Crap. How exactly were you meant to make it up to them? Between your psychology class, spending the rest of Halloween with Michael, keeping your other boyfriends happy in the meantime and making sure no more conflicts crawl out of the shadows - what were you supposed to do!? This stressful scenario was proving to be more and more difficult with every passing day. Not to mention almost everyone you interacted with was mentally and emotionally exhausting. Flopping down at your desk, you tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear and took out your textbooks, guilt washing through your veins as you saw how annoyed Amber and Laura both looked.
"So Rose..." You struck up a conversation under your breath faintly - trying not to interrupt the class in any way, shape, or form.
The girl in front of you facepalmed and turned around, raising her eyebrows in amusement. "Didn't you say last time you asked me for something that you "really owed me one"?"
"I know, I know, but I have no idea what I've missed! And if it's on the end of year exam, how will I know what to revise!?" You complained unhappily.
"You're lucky I like you, (Y/n)." Rose shook her head and smiled, flipping open her notes from a few days ago. "Okay, so the last couple of classes have resided around how not only can physical abuse from parents hurt a child - but emotional and mental abuse can hurt just as much, if not more. Very um...Very dark stuff, I suppose you could say."
"You're telling me." You agreed with a weak laugh, relief flooding your thoughts when you wrote down what to study and catch up on. "Thanks for putting up with my crap and telling me what I missed, Rose."
"I swear, if I get sick one day, you're going to be so screwed, now aren't you?" She playfully commented - grinning before turning back to face the front properly.
"Uh huh..." You mumbled to yourself, thankful that Rose wasn't annoyed with your constant inquiries like you thought she'd be.