"Oh, cheese balls?" Wyatt repeated with a cocked eyebrow.
I nodded slowly, my voice only a squeak. "Yeah. Oh, cheese balls."
All five of us were frozen in place. Here I am, someone who literally barge into the Big Four's home or something. They all must be so mad at me. That I had the guts to stumble in here after what I have done.
I wouldn't be surprised when they'll kick me out of this place, or even drug me to bot remember any of this. But not before they'd torture me like spies who are held captive in the movies.
What were they waiting for? Grab me by the collar and toss me-
"Autumn!" Luis exclaimed.
I heard wet footsteps bounding towards me, I only had time to turn to see him coming at me with arms out opened. I felt like a deer in headlights. Will this be the end? Will he pin me down and-
I yelped when he collided to me, pulling me into a huge bear hug. I gasped, I wasn't expecting this. even f it was Luis, I would have expected a look of disgust.
"Oh, Autumn!" Luis cried. "I've missed you so much! We've all miss you so much!"
I was able to have a gasp of air to reply. "Y-you have?"
"Of course we have!" Dean cried, dropping all of his snack on the floor and giving me a hug too. But Luis pushed him away to have him all for myself.
"It's so lonely without you!" Dean continued, giving the finger to Luis. "Nothing's fun anymore when we stopped hanging out!"
I didn't know what to say. "I-I."
Then I just cried. I didn't know why. Just a couple of seconds ago I was so scared that I wanted to wet myself, and now streams of tears were running down my face. Luis automatically let go, and backed off.
Cyrus punched his shoulder, hard. "What the hell did you do to her?"
"Nothing! I swear, I didn't do anything!" Luis said, raising his hands up in defense.
"Well you did something!" Wyatt growled. "She's crying buckets!"
"No!" I exclaimed, having all four of them turn to me. I did my best to wipe my tears, but was still sniffling. "Their tears of joy. Don't worry. It's just, I missed you guys so much!"
"See!" Luis exclaimed.
"I'm really sorry," I said, wiping my face with my jacket sleeve. "I was stupid and a crybaby. I didn't have the right to freak out like-"
"Shut up."
I blinked. "What?"
Wyatt narrowed his eyes at me. "Shut up."
He was still angry. I should have known. I should just leave, just leave them alone.
"I-I'm sorry, I'll just go-"
Wyatt rolled his eyes. "I don't mean it like that! I mean- we're the ones who's sorry." Wyatt said, struggling hard to admitting it.
Cyrus elbowed him, and gave him a look to continue.
Wyatt sighed. "What I mean to say is that, we-" Dean threw a bag of chips at his chest- "I mean I shouldn't have been so angry at you. You are, after all a girl, a good girl. And you had every right to freak out when seeing a gun and those... drugs."
Although the words were touching, all I did was stare at him blankly.
"You rehearsed that, didn't you."
Wyatt was taken aback, and glared at the guys. "See! I told you guys she'll see right through it!"
Cyrus pinched the bridge of his nose. "Wyatt's ego has always been very... big."
"Not only thing that's big," Wyatt muttered with a smirk forming. "If you know what I-" Dean threw a bag of chips right at Wyatt's face this time.
Cyrus continued talking as Wyatt and Dean wrestled to the ground. Snacks and drinks flew in all directions and were used as weapons. Luis was no help and just cheered on the one who was getting the upper hand.
"But what he said was pretty much from the heart. He'd deny it if you'd ask him, but he was the most guilty as the rest of us combined. He'd spend weeks locked up in his room, writing up speeches of apologies and have the courage to tell it to you in your face."
I was touched. Though I was still worried about the fight that was happening right next to us. Right now Wyatt is stuffing powdered donuts into Dean's mouth.
I nodded. "Yeah, I get it."
He nodded. "Cool." Suddenly, a can of soda his his back, and he slowly turned around.
"Alright!" Cyrus screamed. "You've asked for it!"
He grabbed a package of cookies and joined into the fight. The fight lasted a couple of more minutes, food flying all over the place. Luis and I, the neutrals, had to duck or hide behind furniture to not be caught into the tornado of food. Such a waste, I might add. But finally Wyatt claimed to be the winner of the fight. He put his foot on top of soda drenched Cyrus and powdered face Dean.
"Mwah ha ha! Wyatt laughed.
I smiled, blinking back the tears. I've missed this, I've missed all of this. The laughs, the playful fights, their boyish ways. I'm missed them. I've missed my brothers.
"And as the victor, what is my prize?" Wyatt demanded, playfully.
Dean coughed powder. "My fist."
Cyrus spit out soda. "My foot up your ass."
Luis laughed. "I don't know about you, but I know what my prize is!"
He came towards me and pulled me into another bear hug. I was getting used to these hug attacks by now. I looked at Wyatt to see that he was glaring at Luis for some reason.
"Oh Autumn, Autumn, Autumn!" He cooed. "Promise you'll never change."
But that was when I heard something drop on the floor. And the thing was, it sounded like a wet towel. Luis froze in place, chuckling nervously with his face blushing bright red. With the same blushed face, my eyes automatically went up to the ceiling.
Look at the ceiling, such a pretty ceiling.
"So what is this place anyway?" I asked, looking around.
Luis, who was now fully dressed after that (cough) incident, grinned at my question. "Welcome to the Big Four hideout." He announced, his arms spreading wide.
"Wear all your dreams come true," Dean added with a chuckle.
My eyes widened. "Really? This is the your hideout?" I asked in disbelief.
Wyatt propped his legs on the table. "Why? What did you expect?"
I shrugged. "I don't know, an underground bat cave. Maybe even a butler."
All four of them looked at each other, then burst out laughing.
"Sorry to disappointment you, Autumn." Wyatt said. "But this is what we call home."
"Home," I repeated, smiling at the thought.
"We've known each other years back when we just stupid, reckless middle school kids." Cyrus said, laughing like he was remembering good memories.
"Remember the time when we all rode on that shopping cart at the ice rink?" Luis asked.
"Or how about the time we poured Kool-Aid into the public swimming pool?" Dean reminded, giving everyone a high five.
My jaw dropped. "You guys did that?"
I vaguely remember having my summer ruined back when I was in middle school when the school was closed for cleaning. And the rest of the summer the Los Angeles air smelled of Kool-Aid.
"Yeah we did!" Wyatt said, proudly. "Though the rest of the week we smelled like fruit punch."
I laughed along with them. I wished I knew them back at middle school, my childhood would have been a blast.
"Anyway we decided to have a hide out," Dean said. "We were running from the cops and stuff, and we thought that having a hide out would be pretty cool."
"So there we were," Luis said, putting an arm around my shoulder and waving his hand on the air like he wanted me to imagine. "We were running from the cops, we stink bombed the library at downtown."
"You guys did that?" I asked again. "That whole month, they closed down my favorite library and I was stuck reading books from the school library instead. And I have already read all of the good ones."
"You're such a nerd, Autumn," Dean said, pinching my cheek. "Sorry about ruining your childhood."
"Back to what I'm saying," Luis continued. "They were right on out heels, so we all ran into this abandoned building to hide. The cops gave up searching and went away. And a good thing too, my mom would have murdered me if I got caught again."
"So we decided to wander around the place," Wyatt said, as he calmly lifted Luis's arm off my shoulder. "Imagine walking in a dark corridor with three other sweaty idiots, man did they stink." He waved his hand over his nose, maybe remembering the stench.
"We stink?" Cyrus asked incredulously. "You were as bad as the three of us combined!"
"Please," Wyatt said. "I was the smart one to use deodorant while the rest of your guys thought you smelled, and I quote, "awesome"."
Cyrus, Luis and Dean automatically looked down at their shoes. Dean cautiously took a whiff of himself, and recoiled.
"Then we found this place," Wyatt said, waving his hands around the room. "We hung out there after that. And then I officially bought the place. We kept the outside the same, but the inside was our man cave. A true masterpiece."
"Though I still don't get why you keep on turning down my idea of having a water couch." Luis muttered.
"Because it's stupid." Cyrus stated.
"I think a water couch would be pretty cool. I always wanted to have on one." I said.
"-That none of us have ever thought of it before," Cyrus pretended to finish his sentence. I had to bite back my lip to keep from smiling.
"Though this place would need some cleaning." I offered, looking around.
All of the guys nodded in agreement.
"Us boys are not much of the "cleaning type"." Luis said, making quotation marks with his hands. "And having a maid for the hideout would not be a good idea. She might give up our location, I mean we do have a bounty on our heads with other gang... members..." He started to trail off.
I knew what he meant. "So you guys don't trust me. I'm endangering the location of your hideout. I'm sorry, I should have known. You guys can use any drugs that will make me forget what happened-"
Wyatt laughed. "You're kidding right?"
I blinked. "I'm actually kind of serious I mean-"
He shook his head. "Princess, we're not going to drug you and all that stuff. We trust you."
"But-"
He cut me off. "No buts."
"But-"
"How about this?" Cyrus said. "Autumn, lift up your right hand."
I obeyed and lifted my hand up.
He cleared his throat. "Autumn Griffin, do you solemnly swear that you would keep the secret of the Big Four hideout as long as you shall live?"
"I do."
Cyrus smiled. "Then there you have it. You're bound the the Big Four oath. Breaking it will receive the punishment of-"
"Making us lunch."
"Cleaning this place."
"Waterboarding."
I looked at Wyatt, "What's waterboarding?"
Luis raised his hand excitedly. "Oh, oh I know this one! It a kind of water torture. You restraint the person, then place a towel over someone's face and pour water over it."
"That's it?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, besides the fact that it feels like you're drowning. You don't get hurt or anything, unless the people who are doing that to you go to far. There's other tortures like water cure or the Chinese water torture."
I shuddered. "You're going to do that?"
Wyatt laughed. "Of course not."
"So you never did that to anyone?" I asked hopefully.
Wyatt stopped laughing. "Of... course... not..."
Cyrus went back to the subject. "No, none of that. The punishment is... tickling."
"Tickling?" I asked, shocked.
"You have been warned." Cyrus said slyly.
I chuckled, "I promise I won't tell. The last thing I want is to be tickled to death, the tickle torture."
They four of them joined in laughing with me. Then I realized that it was probably 7 at night, and I completely forgot to call my mom.
"Could I use one of your phones?" I asked them. "Mine died."
Wyatt tossed me his phone. Luckilly I memorized my mom's phone number it, and dialed it. Then I motioned the guys to be quiet.
"Hello? Mom?"
"Autumn!"
"Hey," I said nervously.
"Where are you? Why didn't you call back?"
Well I obviously couldn't tell her I accidentally took a nap on the bus. She would ground me for life and would never let me ride the bus ever again.
"I'm sorry, I guess I lost track of time."
She sighed. "I'm just glad you're alright. Where are you?"
"I'm at the same friend's house."
"Oh, would she mind if you can sleepover again?" My mother asked hopefully.
Do my ears deceive me? "Excuse me?"
"I got a call from the hospital, they're low on staff and I'll be taking the night shift. Your brother is over at a friends, and you might as well stay where you are."
"I uh- could you give me a second?"
I looked at the guys who got a bit bored and started to play thumb wrestle. Wyatt was in a winning streak, and the guys made quiet cheers everytime he won.
"Do you think I can stay over here?"
All of their faces brightened. Then they all turned to Wyatt asking for his permission or giving him Bambi eyes. So I also gave him Bambi eyes.
He shrugged. "Sure, why not?"
I went back to the phone. "She said it's fine."
"I'm not a she," I heard Wyatt mutter.
"Oh good," my mom said with a sigh of relief. "The last time you were in the house alone with only your brother, you got both a nosebleed and had your time of the month. I'm just getting worried..."
"It's okay mom. Good luck on your work, bye." And I hung up before she could say bye.
"So I guess I'll be staying." I said happily.
"Then what should we do?" Dean asked.
"I know, let's watch a movie!" I offered.
I got up from the chair and walked over to the flat screen TV. I took out a box that was filled with movies when-
"No!" All four of the guys yelled in unison.
I was so startled I dropped the box on the floor. "What's wrong?"
"Don't look into those!" Cyrus said.
"They're uh... bad!" Dean said.
"Yeah, they're scary movies!" Luis joined in. "The kind that even gives me nightmares."
"Just put back the box slowly-"
"I don't see why you guys are making such a big deal out of a box of movies." I said, rolling my eyes.
I looked into the box as the guys held their breath. They watched my expression as it became a blank look. I took a deep breath and sighed. I then got up and dropped it onto the coffee table in front of them and calmly closed my eyes.
"When I open my eyes," I told them. "This box of stolen and other very Rated-R movie, which I do not, and I say do not want to know where you got them, better be gone."
I opened my eyes and Luis and the box of movies were gone, the door was swung wide open. I glared at the remaining three.
"Buying illegal copied movies are bad. And watching those kinds of movies are worst. Let that be a lesson to you all."
"Yes Autumn," they all said, making me smile.
Luis came into the room, out of breath. "The deed is done, Auttie."
I stiffened at the sound of that name. "What did you just say?"
Dean chuckled. "Auttie? What kind of name is that?"
Luis shrugged. "I just thought Autumn would use a cute name like that."
"Well I prefer princess," Wyatt said.
"Do you like the name Auttie, Autumn?" Cyrus asked me.
I blinked, I haven't been called that since-
"Hey Auttie!" A voice called out to me in the distance.
I looked up from my chapter book. My parents are really proud of me that I'm already reading big kid books when I'm only in first grade. I saw my best friend, sitting next to me. He wore his usual slick back hair with gel and his bright green eyes looked at me.
"Hi Gio." I said, my eyes brightening at the sight of him.
"Watcha' doing?" He asked me, looking at my book.
"Just reading a book." With a small shrug. "Look, I'm already on chapter seven!"
"Wow, that's great Auttie! I bet you'll be a really good reader when you grow up."
"You really think so?" I asked hopefully.
"Of course I am! Do I ever lie to you?"
I giggled. "Well there was that one time when you said you finished a big, boring adult book."
"Well-"
"And also the time you said you washed your hands after your went to the bathroom."
"But-"
"And how about when you told the other kids you watched a scary movie?"
"I did too!" He protested, crossing his arms. "I closed my eyes the entire time, but I still could say I saw one."
"Don't worry Gio, I believe you." I said, honestly. "Even when everyone stops believing your stories, I'll always believe them. No matter how strange or fake they sound."
Gio's frown turned back into a grin. "I believe you Auttie. You always keep your promises."
I nodded. "What's the use of a promise if you can't keep one?"
"Let's go play at the swings." Gio suggested, pointing at the playground. "I'll push you."
"You sure you can?" I asked, looking at the swings then at him. "You have to be really strong-"
"I can lift elephants with only one hand!" Gio told me proudly, assuring me that he can push me on the swings. "So of course I can push you."
"I believe you, Gio." I said.
"Always believe me, Auttie."
He offered his hand and I took it. We raced to the swings, holding hands. And the forgotten chapter book was left to let its pages flutter in the wind on the bench.
"Don't call me Auttie."
Luis blinked, with a confused smile. "What?"
I put on my best fake smile and looked at him. "I'm sorry but... can you not call me Auttie?"
"I-I'm sorry," Luis said, taking a step back. "I didn't mean to. I just, I just thought you'd like-"
I shooked my head. "No it's not that. It's fine, really. But I just don't want to be called Auttie. I like my name, and princess is a good nickname too," I said, coming up with the lie in my head.
"Y-yeah sure," Luis said, not sure what just happened.
There was an awkward silence for a couple of minutes. Luis was muttering to himself about how much of an idiot he was, and the guys were helping.
I clapped my hands together. "You know what, we should try again and watch a movie."
"Yeah, and let's order a pizza," Cyrus offered.
"How can you order a pizza when they'll have to deliver it to your address?"
Wyatt smirked. "We got that problem solved years ago. There's a smaller building connected to this one. We use that for deliveries."
I nodded in approval. "That's smart and convenient."
"I was the one who thought of the idea," Dean said.
Cyrus snorted. "Yeah, if you think sending the pizza guy to a different place then stealing the pizza is a good idea."
I smiled and turned on the TV. Wyatt and the guys fought over the phone, wanting to order what they want on the pizza. I felt bad for the poor pizza guy who's trying to write down the pizza order and only hearing random ingredients and threats. I sighed and grabbed the phone out of the pile of boys and ordered a everything pizza with double meet and cheese.
I hung up the phone and looked at the guys. "Now, was that so hard?"
"No Autumn." They all said in unison.
"Now may we all watch a movie?"
"Yes Autumn."
I flipped though the channels.
"Boring," Wyatt said.
"Seen that," Dean yawned.
Luis barely even glanced. "She dies in the end."
"Not good for you," Cyrus said, quickly changing the channel.
I threw my hands up in exasperation. "You guys are so picky! You're just as picky as girls trying to pick clothes in a mall."
"We do not!" All four of them exclaimed.
"You do so!" I retorted. "You guys take as much time picking video games as us girl pick clothes."
"We do not!" Luis exclamied.
"Actually, she does have a point," Cyrus pointed out.
"We do so!" Luis corrected himself.
There was a distant buzzer. All four of them looked up.
"Pizza's here," they all said in unison.
"Seriously, do you guys rehearse this or something?" I asked.
"So who's going to get it?" Wyatt asked.
"I did it last time," Cyrus said.
Luis got up and headed towards the room calling out, "Can't! I gotta pee!"
Dean followed right behind him. "Me too!"
Wyatt sighed. "Those idiots do know that only one person can use the bathroom at a time, right?"
"What's the big deal of getting the pizza?"
Wyatt shrugged. "The address we always give the pizza guy is the building next door."
"So you guys are just too lazy."
Wyatt's lips pulled to a lopsided grin. "I like to call it being very motivated to do nothing."
"I like calling it conserving energy!" Dean called out, waiting outside the bathroom door.
"This is just my energy saving mode," Cyrus said, leaning back against the couch.
I rolled my eyes. "Fine." I said, getting up from the couch. "I'll get the pizza."
Wyatt frowned. "You sure, Autumn? I mean we're lazy and all but-"
"The pizza will get colder the more we argue who'll get the pizza."
"Okay. Just take a left and you'll have to go to the corridor that connects to the two buildings. Then you'll see the front door from there." Wyatt said, as he tossed my his wallet.
I nodded and followed his directions. When I was in the corridor with only a small lightbulb for a source of light, I looked into the wallet. I know, what is wrong with me? Looking into the Wyatt Matthew's wallet, the leader of the Big Four. But I was curious, and it was right there. He could have just given me the money. But mtaybe his laziness or his "motivation to doing nothing" made his just give me his wallet.
There was a lot of money in here, a couple of hundred dollars and a twenty for the pizza. Hidden between the packets was this small package, but it was dark and I couldn't read what it said. There were also a bunch of credit cards and ever a library card. I smiled, I didn't know he could read. Okay, that came out wrong. I didn't know he likes to read. Then I took out his student ID card.
Wyatt Anthony Matthews. I didn't know he had a middle name. Then again, I never asked. I looked at his ID picture that you take every year when you get a new card. The same picture would be use in the yearbook. I looked at the picture and didn't see the Wyatt Anthony Matthews I knew. Instead I saw a guy with a bored yet itimidating look on his face. Though he had the same tousled jet black hair and dark grey eyes but the tint of green didn't show in the picture. And there it was, that faithful leather jacket slung over his shoulder. It was only shown at the corner of the picture, but it was there.
I smiled, I knew that before I would have turned to the next page if I saw his picture. Maybe because I was loyal to Brooke and saw him as a rival for her. Or the look in his eyes itimidated me and so I moved on to another fimiliar face. But now I that I know him, I wouldn't have to do that. When I see the picture, I'll smile and say that's Wyatt Anthony Matthews, we were friends. And I hope I'll be able to say, we still are.
The door buzzer rang again. I followed the sound and opened the door. There stood the pizza man who was impatiently waiting at the front of the door. He looked pretty pissed off for waiting for so long, but when he saw me a smile pulled the corners of his mouth. He had messy ginger hair under his pizza boy cap. He was tall and was a bit striking for a pizza boy. And he had bright green eyes glinted mischieviously.
He leaned against the door ledge, pizza box at hand. "Hey."
"Um, hi," I said. "So how much was it again?" Looking into the wallet.
He grinned. "It's free for you, beautiful."
My cheeks flushed red. I was only wearing a pair of shorts with a simple and my hair was tied to a messy bun. Beautiful is the last word I'll describe myself at the moment.
"So, you're going to eat this pizza alone?"
I chuckled nervously. "Actually, no. I have some friends-"
His eyes brightened. "You have friends? Even better. Mind if I come in-"
"I-I don't think-" Put he stepped into the building anyway.
He frowned. "This is your place? No offense, but it's a bit of a dump." He said, looking around the abandoned building. "So where are your friends?"
"They're at the other building," I said.
He smirked, placing the pizza on a table. "So I guess we're alone, huh?" He took a step towards me.
I took a step back. "No, my friends are just in the other building."
"But either way, we're alone, in a building." He said as he took another step forward.
"Um... yeah, I guess so." I took another step back but found myself against the door.
He trapped me against the arms with each arm on either side of me. I could feel his hot breath on mine, he smelled like pizza and dough.
"You smell nice," he muttered. "Like flowers and-"
"That must be my new cologne, I'm glad you're able to notice," a voice said behind him.
He stiffened and was suddenly yanked away from me.
"Wyatt."
He smiled. "You were taking a long time getting the pizza. I thought either you got lost or you got somewhat... occupied." He growled the last word, glaring at the guy.
"Wait, this is your friend?" The guy asked in disbelief.
"And she's got three more," someone called out.
I looked and saw Cyrus, Luis, and Dean coming into the room.
"H-hey, I know you guys. You guys are the Big Four." The guy said. "My little brother is in the same year as you." Then he blinked and cursed to himself.
Dean smirked. "So I guess you know the rumors about us."
The guy looked back at me. "These guys are your friends?!"
I gave him a friendly smile. "They're my best friends you could say."
"Aw, we're her best friends. We're honored Autumn." Luis said.
"Your welcome."
"So what did you seem to be doing to our best friend?" Wyatt demanded with a calm and controlled voice.
"Well you see, I was just-"
"Autumn, take the pizza and go back to the hideout." Wyatt ordered, not glancing at me. "And be sure to turn on the TV nice and loud."
"Wait, this is your hideout?" The guy asked.
All four of them gave sly smiles to each other.
"Big mistake." Cyrus said. "You should have played dumb while you still had the chance."
"But shouldn't we pay for the pizza?" I asked as I picked up the pizza off the floor.
"Oh don't worry. He'll be doing the paying." Dean said, cracking his knuckles.
I frowned. "You guys aren't going to do anything bad to him, are you?"
All of the guys burst ouf laughing.
"Of course not Autumn, don't worry." Luis assured.
"We only just want to have a guy to guy talk." Wyatt smirked.
I shrugged, not noticing the guy's silent pleads to me. "Okay, but I'll be starting the movie without you. Don't take too long."
"Okay Autumn," all of them sang in unison.
I got back into the hide out and flipped through the channels. I finally found a good movie Jackie Chan's Rush Hour. I remembered Wyatt's request and turned the volume really high. Then I crossed my legs and ate a slice of pizza.
My laughter and the high volume must have helped because little did I know. There were lots of screams and begs of mercy happening only at the other building. There were snide remarks and laughing, as there were crashes and thuds. But I was too busy watching the movie and enjoying my pizza to notice.
I slowly opened my eyes, blinded by the light of the TV. The guys were back from their talk with the pizza guy. The pizza box was empty, probably raided by their hungry stomachs. They were all snoring at the other end of the couch. I noticed that a huge blanket was wrapped around me. I smiled and snuggled into the fluffy blanket.
But then I looked back at the guys and my smile got even wider. I had a small hint of what they had done to the pizza guy. I just hope the poor guy is alright. Although he did earn it, he doesn't know what rejection means. I pried the remote out of Luis's hand and turned off the TV.
I got up and draped the blanket over them. All of them snuggled into the blanket, small smiles brought onto their faces. Maybe it's good I'm here. They need someone to be a "big sister" to them sometimes. Like how Wendy is to Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. They're boys and they need to know the limits. Guys can be reckless, and get easily injured especially this certain gang. All I want to do is protect them. Of course I wouldn't be like bodyguard protective. Obviously they would be the ones being the bodyguard type protective. Just motherly protective.
There was a small space between Wyatt and Dean. I crawled into the gap and got into the blanket. I placed my head over Wyatt's shoulder, and tucked my legs onto the couch. It was like a giant sleepover, just a little girl and her big brothers.
I sighed and stared onto the ceiling.
Auttie.
It wasn't that I didn't like the name. No, I love it. It really fits me, Auttie. He told me that it's a pretty name and that I should always answer to it. But the name just brings back so many memories. Some happy memories, but mostly painful ones. So I promised that only he will be able to call me that.
No one else.
The guys were already sound asleep. Luis was drooling on Wyatt and Dean foot kept on kicking Cyrus's face. I chuckled and closed my eyes, saying the one name I haven't said in years. It was the name of the person that I missed since forever. It was his name. His.
"Gio, Giovanni."
Whoa, what was that? Oh snap! It was a flashback attack!
I wonder, is this memory somehow related to the... sequel to this book?! Hmm, maybe, maybe not. Time will tell. Time will tell.
Be sure to check out my new book, How Fate Binds Us. It's completed, and a horror short story. I put it up for the Watty Awards for short stories. I know it's not likely for me to win. But maybe I'll be noticed, y'know?
RubixCube89201