Oscar lets himself out of Jade's apartment just as Carter, Yumi, and Pierre walk past the place. He stops, his friends doing the same.
"Hey," he greets. "How was breakfast?"
"It was good," Pierre tells him, pulling his boyfriend in for a kiss. "How was the intervention?"
"It was fine. No one is too hurt from this, but maybe a little tension."
Carter sighs and looks down, shaking her head.
"I should probably apologize, shouldn't I?" she asks defeatedly.
"I'm not your dad so I won't tell you what to do. What I will warn you is that if you value your friendship with Jade, you might want to try to become friends with her soon to be girlfriend."
"Are they really that serious?"
Oscar nods, looking towards the door again.
"By the way, what are you painting red in your apartment?" Yumi asks him.
"What?" Oscar asks.
"You have red paint on the carpet right outside your apartment."
He turns around, surprised to see that she's right. He approaches his apartment and checks to make sure his apartment is locked. Once he knows he locked it, he grabs his keys and lets himself back into his place. When the door is open, he instantly freezes, looking around at the massacre that looks like it happened in his apartment.
There's blood splatter on the walls and floor of his entryway, leading into the hall.
"Can someone come in here with me in case something bad happens?" he calls out.
Pierre and Carter come to the door but Yumi lingers behind in the hall. Pierre follows behind Oscar as he follows the blood trail. Pierre holds onto his boyfriend's arm as he follows him, a lump in his throat and a sinking feeling in his stomach.
As the boys round the corner, they find the source of the blood. Oscar's cat is in the middle of the living room, fileted and bleed dry. Pierre immediately pulls Oscar against him and uses his hand to force Oscar's face into his shoulder. But Pierre can't look away. The amount of blood makes it seem like Arlo was slaughtered nine times over and over again.
"Come on," Pierre whispers, telling that Oscar still hasn't quite grasped what happened.
Pierre forces Oscar out of the apartment as quickly as he can, trying to keep Oscar from looking at the mess. Once they are in the hall, Pierre releases him and pulls the door shut. The girls are both shocked when they see how pale Oscar is.
"What happened?" Carter asks.
Before Pierre can explain anything, Oscar screams and turns to the wall, sending his fist into it. Pierre reacts immediately, putting himself in front of Oscar and pulling him into a hug. Oscar clings to Pierre desperately, sobbing into his shoulder. Jade and Hensley come out into the hall, startled by Oscar's yelling.
"What happened?" Jade asks as they approach their friends.
"Arlo," is all Pierre is able to say.
Oscar shakes his head and looks up, turning to face the group. He takes off his glasses and wipes his eyes, tears streaming down his face. He keeps one arm around Pierre, leaning his head down on his shoulder.
"I'm okay," he lies.
Jade steps forward and pulls him off of Pierre into a hug. He slowly puts his arms around her, trying to keep his cool.
"Come on," she tells him. "I'm going to take you back to my place and make you tea to help you calm down."
She instantly starts off towards her place with Oscar in tow. She looks back at her friends and Pierre gives her a thumbs up and a nod. She nods and takes Oscar inside her place. As soon as the door shuts, Pierre sighs.
"Anyone know how to clean up blood?" he asks.
"Probably all of us," Carter jokes. "I have disposable gloves at my place. I'll be right back."
She turns and starts off towards her own apartment. Pierre turns to Yumi.
"Do you want to go to Jade's to help her calm down Oscar?" he asks.
"Do you want to? He's your boyfriend."
"Yeah well all of you are too short to clean up everything so I'm going to help here."
She nods and walks over to Jade's apartment and lets herself in. Finally, Pierre addresses Hensley.
"Are you open to the idea of helping us and are you okay with blood?" he asks her.
"There's not one girl in the world who can say that she's not okay with blood and of course I'll help," she tells him. "I just need more details about what happened."
"Someone got inside and killed his cat. There's blood everywhere. It's not pretty. I don't know what to say about it that you won't see when you get in there."
Carter leaves her place, gloves in hand. As she gets close to Pierre and Hensley, she tosses each of them a pair.
"I hope you guys are ready for this."
He opens the door and leads the girls inside. Instantly both girls are halted.
"Holy fuck," Carter mutters under her breath.
"How is this even possible?" Hensley asks.
"Okay. I'm going to go get the bleach from the laundry room and we should probably get started," Carter offers, walking off.
"Mix one part bleach to nine parts water," Hensley calls out. "Best combination for cleaning up blood without fucking everything up. If he has white carpets, I would recommend we do that with a stronger solution."
Pierre turns to her raising an eyebrow.
"Do I want to know how you know that?" he asks her.
She shrugs and walks into the kitchen. She looks under the sink and pulls out a garbage bag, heading for the living room. Pierre follows behind her, not quite sure what she's doing. She approaches the animal carcass before turning back to him.
"Do you want to pick up the body or hold the bag?" she asks Pierre.
The way she says that sends a chill down Pierre's spine. He takes the bag from her, swallowing hard. She picks up Arlo and drops him into the bag, causing Pierre's arms to tense. Everything about that whole situation makes Pierre feel sick. Hensley sighs and leans her head back, shaking her hair out.
"Fuck I should've put my hair up," she mutters, stepping to the hall. "Hey Carter, can you help me? I forgot to put my hair up and my gloves are bloody."
Hensley walks down the hall, leaving Pierre alone in the living room. He tries to move but is muscles are locked in place. He looks into the bag for one minute before closing the bag, breathing heavily.
"What the fuck?" Pierre curses to himself, setting the bag down on an area of the floor without any blood on it. "What the fuck is happening?"
The memory of meeting Oscar flashes in his mind. First week of their first year. The boy in apartment eleven opened his apartment door with arms full of groceries just as Pierre was leaving his. Arlo ran out past Oscar, running down the hall. Pierre only realized the cat was running towards him when Oscar yelled for the cat. He managed to catch Arlo and brought him back to Oscar, meeting the man that would eventually become his boyfriend. If it wasn't for Arlo, he might not have ever met Oscar. Now, the idea of coming to Oscar's place and not having Arlo there just feels wrong.
Carter and Hensley come back into the living room, bringing the cleaning supplies with them. Hensley grabs a bucket and cloths, heading for the main entryway. Carter starts to reach for a cloth but Pierre puts his hand down in her path, stopping her.
"Carter, you need to listen to me for a second," Pierre whispers, barely audible to even Carter. "I know we're supposed to be making peace but she knows something. She's acting weird. Something is happening that we're not supposed to know about. I get that she doesn't have the same attachment to Arlo that the rest of us do but her level of apathy is beyond what even seems human."
Carter turns, looking over in the direction that Hensley went. She sighs and turns back to Pierre.
"I'm not going to dismiss you because I get those same vibes from here but maybe she views death a little differently than you or I do," Carter offers. "Jade mentioned something to me about Hensley's relationship with the end of life so we can't assume that she's just acting heartless. But know that I hear your worries and I don't think you're wrong."
-13-
Yumi slowly stirs the teapot, listening to Oscar and Jade talk. Oscar's significantly calmer but anyone can tell that he's not doing super great emotionally. Yumi rubs her eyes, feeling gross about the whole situation.
The door opens, drawing Yumi's eyes. Carter, Pierre, and Hensley come in. Pierre leads Hensley towards the living room while Carter comes into the kitchen with Yumi.
"How did it go?" Yumi asks.
"Good. Hensley surprisingly knowns a lot about cleaning up blood," Carter jokes.
Yumi cocks an eyebrow, not sure how to respond to that. Carter shrugs and grabs some spare mugs while Yumi picks up the teapot. They head for the living room. Pierre has Oscar pulled into his chest, peppering him with kisses as he tries to pull away. Hensley is next to Jade and the latter is leaning into the former with her arms around her waist. Carter scrunches up her nose momentarily as she looks at the two girls but returns to a neutral look as they come into view.
"Can someone please save me?" Oscar begs.
"No," Jade laughs. "It's adorable. Why would we stop that?"
Carter laughs and starts separating the boys. As soon as they're far enough apart for her to fit in, she drops down, forcing the two boys apart. She puts her arms around them, pulling them into her.
"Words can not express how grateful I am for you right now, Cart," Oscar tells her, wrapping his arms around her. "And that better be your phone and not a vibrator going off in your pocket."
She laughs before getting up, pulling out her phone. She walks towards Jade's room to take the call. Yumi immediately takes her spot, protecting Oscar until the blonde comes back. Jade adjusts her position, turning more towards Hensley and leans her head down on the other girl's shoulder. After a minute, she comes back, rubbing her eyes.
"I guess I'm heading out," she tells them. "My peer mentor is in the city tonight and with her schedule, it works better to meet tonight than try to figure something out when school actually starts back up. I need to get changed and then we're going out. If I don't come home tonight-" She pauses, putting her phone out again. "The girl I'm meeting with is named Roselyn Jaspers."
She blows a kiss at her friends before leaving the place. Pierre clears his throat and gets up, extending a hand towards Oscar.
"Hey Baby," he says, slurring his words as if he was drunk. "What do you say about me taking you home tonight?"
Oscar laughs and takes Pierre's hand, getting up. He holds his hand out, telling Pierre to lead the way. As soon as Pierre passes him, Oscar swings, hitting his ass. Pierre doesn't get the chance to turn around before Oscar wraps himself around him, making him keep walking. They lead Jade's and Pierre guides Oscar over to apartment fifteen. They head inside, Pierre making sure to lock the door behind them.
"Are you okay?" Pierre asks.
Oscar sighs and shakes his head, looking down. Pierre pulls him into a tight hug, rubbing his boyfriend's back. Oscar holds onto Pierre, not wanting to say anything. After a minute, Oscar turns and presses a kiss to Pierre's cheek. The latter immediately starts pulling his boyfriend towards his bedroom.
"Come on," Pierre urges. "Let's go have some more fun and get your mind on a different path."
-13-
Jade locks the door behind Yumi, stretching as she comes back into the living room. Hensley adjusts her position, trying to get more comfortable. Jade sits next to Hensley, twirling her hair as she watches the other girl.
"Hensley, can I talk to you about something?" Jade asks.
"Of course. Is something wrong?"
Jade sighs and looks down, debating if she should really tell Hensley what Yumi had been telling her and Oscar earlier.
"Just, have you had any weird dreams since you moved into Apartment Thirteen?"
Hensley raises an eyebrow, confused.
"Define weird."
"Pierre and Yumi both had dreams that wrapped them in their worst fears," Jade explains. "And when they woke up, their nightmares seemed to have real-world consequences. Pierre called Oscar in his dream and the message he left was actually left on Oscar's phone. Yumi got attacked by some wires there were marks on her neck this morning. I don't know. They think Apartment Thirteen is doing something to them."
"Really? Why? That's so stupid. Why does everything think my place is evil?"
"Because it has an evil history. I think they're getting worried, especially with those nightmares now."
"Is that why Carter hates me?"
Jade is taken aback by Hensley's words. She takes her hands in her own, pressing them to her lips.
"Carter doesn't hate you. It's just that all of this is overwhelming absolutely everyone right now. Give her some time and she'll warm up to you."
Hensley shrugs, doubting Jade's words. Jade reaches up, pushing Hensley's hair out of her face. Hensley suddenly leans into Jade, pulling her into a kiss. Hensley crawls on top of the other girl. Jade doesn't push her away, starting to cling to Hensley as well.
"Well I can make you this promise," Hensley mutters, breaking the kiss. "If I have any power in this, I will keep you safe. I think I love you, Jade."
"And I think I love you, Hensley."