“No! You said you wouldn't go, you said you would never leave me,” Cico yelled as she held Adrian lifeless in her lap. “Come back to me! You can't go!” she cried as she covered her body with her's as tears fell on to his face and into his long pale hair. Someone came up behind her and reached for her shoulder. Cico jerked away from the hand and stood up with Adrian still in her arms.
“Cico, honey, I'm sorry but it's the way of life,” a women Cico had never seen before said as she reached out for her. “People come and go, you can't avoid death.”
“I can try! He said he wouldn't leave me! Everyone leaves me and he said he wouldn't!” Cico cried looking down and into her arms. She dropped to her knees and laid him back down. Pushing his hair out of his eyes Cico kissed him on the lips before putting her hand over his heart.
“Cico! No! You can't do this, it's time for him to die!” the women yelled running forward before a wave of light came out of Cico's hand, sending the women through the air and into a wall. When the light came back to where Cico's hand laid, Cico held her breath until Adrian sucked in a lung full of air. She threw herself at Adrian and cried even more than she did when he had died to save her.
“Cico, what did you do? How did you do that?” he asked as color came back to his face and hair. He reached up and placed his hand on the side of her face and moved it to the back of her neck and pulled her in for a kiss of his own. “You are one crazy girl, and you're mine.”
Cico shoot up in bed right as Adrian had kissed her and wanted to kick herself for ending the dream so soon but something outside had woken her up. She sat in her bed trying to catch her breath and listened some more. Slowly, Cico got out of bed and reached for the small gun she had in her bedside table. From all of the time she has been on her own, she never felt safe so she got a gun license when she was old enough to have one at 18 and kept it in her bedside table.
She didn't know what she might find outside and grabbed the house phone as she walked out into the living room and listened. There was a soft bang outback and someone muffled something. Cico stopped where she was. There was someone outside trying to get in. Cico didn't want to use the gun but if it came to it she would have to. She slowly walked towards the glass sliding backdoor and began to open it.
“Don't shot! I'm not here to hurt you!” a girl yelled holding up her hands when Cico pulled the gun on the girl who was hiding in some bushes. The girl stood up from behind the bush and slowly walked over to Cico with her hands still up in the air. “Please put the gun down, I hate guns.”
“Well you should have thought about that before you began to sneak around my house in the middle of the night,” Cico said still holding her gun. “So I'm sorry if the gun scares you, but it makes me feel safe.”
“Well, okay Animal but please do something about your hair before you kill me. I don't want the last thing I see is someone's crazy hair,” she said stopping a few feet away from Cico.
“Animal? What?”
“You haven't seen the Muppet? Animal has crazy hair and if you haven't seen yours right now, you look just like him,” she said trying not to laugh.
“Well I didn't have time to brush it when I heard someone outside. You woke me up from a great dream I was having by the way, now tell me why you are here,” Cico said.
“Put the gun away and let me sit and I will explain why I am here,” the girl said as she pointed to a chair on the back porch. Cico thought about it and looked down to Adrian's house. If she needed help she would just yell for him and hope he hears her. She lowered the gun and put on the safety as she sat it down on the table with her hand still on it.
“One move and I'll shot, don't even try me,” she said, hoping she wouldn't have to. They sat down and the girl across from her pulled out a piece of paper. When Cico looked closer she realized it was actually a check. She gave the girl a confused look and waited for her to explain.
“My name is Abby and I need your help. I should have waited until it was day time to come to you for help but I couldn't risk being seen in day light. I'm in trouble and I need a place to stay. I know you have no reason to believe me but I am telling the truth. I know you have your own reasons for living here a lone. Not trying to sound creepy or anything, but I have been watching you and know you could help me. I'll pay my part of rent and here is the first two months rent and extra for food,” she said pushing the check over to Cico.
Cico was speechless and didn't know what to say. She looked at the girl who called herself Abby and looked down to Adrian's house from the corner of her eye debating if he could hear her if she did call for him. She didn't want to shot the girl. She seemed harmless but she did creep her out. She had been watching her? For how long?
“I'm sorry but no. I can't just let a random stranger move in with me. I live by myself for a reason,” Cico said reaching for her gun.
“Please, just give me one night. I'll leave tomorrow. I have no where to go and I'm not safe out by myself,” she pleaded with Cico. Cico sat back and let out a heavy sigh. Could she really risk taking her in? It was for one night. Nothing could happen to her if she stayed one night. Right?
“Fine, you will have to sleep on the couch tho. I only have one room but the couch pulls out a bed,” she said standing up. “You can stay tonight but have to leave tomorrow.” Cico and Abby went inside and as Cico locked the glass sliding door Abby looked around the house.
Cico got her some sheets a blanket from the closet in the hallway and went back to her room. It was about 3 in the morning and if Cico didn't get her sleep then the morning will be hell. The one thing no one should ever do to Cico is mess with her sleep. She was a bitch to deal with when she didn't have her sleep.
The smell of grilled cheese sandwiches woke Cico up at 12 that afternoon. She rolled out of bed and landed on her back. The wind got knocked out of her and sent Abby running into the room to check on her. “Are you okay?” she asked as she helped her up.
“Yeah, just still trying to wake up. Had a late night,” she mumbled as she rubbed her shoulder blade. She walked pass Abby and into the kitchen and turned off the stove before the sandwich got burned. Cico reached up for a plate and moved the sandwich from the pan and to the plate.
As Abby walked in Cico handed it to her without saying anything. She wouldn't look or say anything to Abby, and even if she would she wouldn't know what to say. What do you say to the girl that you found outside of your house in the middle of the night?
“How did you find me? All of the people I have ever known are gone,” Cico said with her back still to her.
“A friend of a friend. I just need to find a hotel for tonight and I'll be gone,” she explained picking at her food. Cico turned her head to look at Abby as there was a knock at her front door. Abby looked over at the door and back to Cico. The person continued to knock but Cico didn't move to answer it. “Uhm, are you going to answer the door?”
Cico looked away from the window over the sink and let out a heavy sigh. There were reasons why she liked staying by herself. She hated having to deal with people. Pushing away from the sink she went to the front door and opened it to find Adrian with her movie but his expression changed when he saw Cico.
“Are you okay?” he asked reaching out to her. Cico didn't know what he was talking about but looked down at where his hands were. He let go and stepped in and closed the door behind him. “Tell me, what is wrong? I can tell something is on your mind,” he said taking her back to the couch, like last night. Cico looked into the kitchen to see Abby gone. “Cico? What's wrong?”
“Had a crazy night, sorry. How was the movie?” she asked changing the subject. She didn't really want to talk to anyone. She wanted to go back to being left alone. If she kept seeing Adrian then she wouldn't be able to go back to being alone.
“Don't change the subject, what happened?” Cico looked up and didn't know if she should tell him. If she told him that she let a stranger that she found sneaking around her house stay here last night, he would freak out on her.
“Had a nightmare and then got freaked out by noises, nothing big,” she half lied. She looked away, not wanting to give away that she was lying.
“Is it the dream that has you looking worried or what happened afterward?” he asked reaching for her hand. When she tried to pull it away he wouldn't let go. She looked down at his hand and up to his face.
“It's nothing, don't want to talk about it,” she stood up and pulled her hand away and started to head for her room. “I'm not worried, I just want to go back to being by myself. I knew what would happen next but now I don't and I don't like it.”
Adrian didn't say anything but sat on the couch and watched as Cico went into the kitchen. She tried to busy herself but Adrian wasn't leaving anytime soon. He got up and walked over to the table and handed her the empty plate that Abby had used for her sandwich. Suddenly the shower in Cico's room turned on. There she was, Cico thought as she finished the dishes.
“Who's here?” Adrian asked surprised. It's too late now, she had to tell him or he won't drop it.
“That is the afterward that I mentioned,” Cico said, not making eye contact.
“The afterward is a person? I thought you didn't have friends or family,” Adrian said surprised. “Why didn't you tell me you had company?”
“I thought she was gone, she was only staying the night, was leaving soon and didn't know she was going to grab a shower,” she said looking over finally. When she had opened the door to him he knew something was wrong. Her eyes had the look of someone who had a lot on their mind and it wasn't good. “She's not a friend or family, a stranger actually,” she said rubbing the back of her neck.
“What?” he snapped, standing up. “You let a stranger stay in your house? Why didn't you come over to me? Tell me what happened,” he said getting mad. Of all people, he knew Cico was smart. For someone who stayed to themselves, she should have come to him when a stranger came to her door.
“I was woken up by a dream I was having and heard something outside. I grabbed my gun...”
“You have a gun?” Adrian yelled surprised.
“Yes! Now shut up if you want to know what happened!” Cico waited to see if he was going to say anything else before she finished her story. “So I grabbed my gun from my bedside table and got up to see what it was. I know how to take care of myself. I found a girl in my backyard who said that she needed a place to stay and she had come to me. If she was trouble I was going to yell and hope you would hear.”
“Wait, you were going to yell and hope I would hear? Are you crazy!”
“I also had a gun! If you didn't hear I would have shoot her! I know how to shot, I had to practice before I could even own a gun,” she said getting mad as while.
“Do you at least know her name?” Adrian asked taking in a deep breath, trying to calm down.
“Yes, Abby. I don't know her last and I don't care. She'll be gone soon so I don't care,” she answered as the shower was turned off. Adrian stood by the table as Cico lend against the sink and waited for Abby to walk out. Five minutes later the door opened and Abby poked her head out.
Adrian looked from Cico and to the door when he heard it open and nearly lost it when he saw it was Abby, Death's daughter!