Night befell quickly with the winter air approaching a week away. With it, a cold draft snuck into the house in the dark. It flowed through the house, but to my own misfortune, it misses my bedroom entirely. The room was stuffy tonight. The same night the blasted firefly boy decided to sleep in my house. I stare into the dark entrance of my room, unable to drift to sleep. The heat bugged me. Luckily I was not sweating, but the mere warmth of the room made it uncomfortable to move or close my eyes for long. The heat wasn't the only thing keeping me up. In the distance of the winter night, I could faintly hear the rustling footsteps and whispers of the dead night. It was past midnight, at this point, and while I casually looked to my phone to read a few chapters and paused to rest my eyes, sleep escaped me. Sometimes the rustling was too close to the window, it shook and made the metal bars groan. The open door to my room didn't help either. In pitch darkness unnerved me more than I'd admit to anyone, I held my covers and looked to the ceiling. Any small noise could be a signal of my death. Whispering to my conscious, I stayed still in the warm room. There really was no place to escape to. My death could be tonight or the following night. I tightened my eyes shut. I had to get rid of my virginity. I have to and soon. The beating of my heart pounded in my ears as I think not the obvious need to have someone touch me and enter a world, I didn't completely want to be indulging in. The only knowledge I had on the subject was middle school sex ed. My mouth scrunched distastefully. Middle school led my mind to something I was told a few hours ago-an offer I'd made back in middle school. In those times, none of the teenagers truly believed our lives would end so quickly. It was much more relaxed back then. A few deaths and scary encounters with creepers and haunting faces. Similar to the rumors the upperclassmen would taunt the fresh meat of the school with, the whispers were thought to be just harmless stories. Many years and naive lives have passed, I held onto those memories as I schemed a way to bargain for more days to live in this forsaken town. I sneered at the thought; my sore eye bags stinging quietly from the years of sleep deprivation, I preferred that idea. In the midst of my thoughts, I found relief in knowing out of all the grubby perverted bastards I knew, Derek was someone who would take the bait.

It was foggy out when my eyes opened from the dreamless sleep. Moving slowly off the mattress, I held my head as I felt it pulse from the restless sleep I had. My hair fell in front of my face as I reached forward to the entrance. My chest crashed into someone who yelped and I fell back with a painful tumble. WIth my sluggish vision, I looked at the hard floors before me, I could feel my heart begin to pick up in speed. I was not ready for another encounter with the magical shitlord yet. My patience drains from me as I see two leather boots stepping back from me. In a glare, I stare at him.

I growled once I stood in front of him. Dodging him on my way out, I headed to the bathroom. I shut the door and quickly gathered my things to wake myself up. After finally washing up and drying off the water from my face, I opened the door to a quiet home. I looked around in suspicion. I knew I was alone with the boy. My parents must have left earlier in the morning to their work. Without any more hesitation, I rushed to my room to escape as quickly as I humanely could. Picking whatever was first in my closet, I tossed on the clothes, slipped my feet into shoes, and grabbed my leather jacket to put over the hoodie I wore. In no time, I held the keys in hand and locked the front door.
I walked feet away from my house when I felt someone staring at me. A shiver ran down my back. There were enough creeps around in the daytime to put me on edge. While the shadows were dangerous at night, the day was full of deceiving javelinas. Any other day and I'd run to my destination, today was a day that fear was overwhelmed by my determination. I touched my pockets and felt the metal handle.
I caressed the knife my grandmother had given me and continued my way out from the neighborhood to the main streets. Commuting by foot, I would avoid having an accident, a common death trap for most in the day. On one hand, I was exchanging one way to die for another. I was just about to cross the railroads when a voice spoke next to me.
"How about we make amends with one another?" I yelped and shoved my way from him. The moment my eyes landed on the oddly blue hair, I frowned to myself. When I didn't reply, he huffed and moved some of the gravel with his shoe "I apologize for mistaking you for a foe of mine, I understand I have a lot to make up for-"
"Save it, stay the fuck away from me" I hissed with finality. I didn't have time to lose. I needed to reach the drug house before noon. I turned my back to him and passed the rails to the small hill towards the old auto lot.
"Excuse me?" he breathed. His boots crunched the gravel behind me as I continued to look forward. Time was a very precious time today. I was a woman with a mission. If I didn't lose this boy soon, he would waste my time even more than he already has.
"How about I say it like this since it seems that dye has fried your brain," I stopped momentarily and dramatically turned his way. I moved my face toward him. A soft scent of soap surrounded him as I neared, but my mind focused on his creased eyebrows. The poor boy was confused, how cute.
"go fuck yourself," I said sweetly with a bitter smile before purposefully tossing my hair to his face. I caught a glance of pink shading over his cheeks. Inwardly I chuckled, the poor boy won't survive for a day here if he kept this up. The thought made a haunting shiver run down my back, the smile was no longer on my lips as continuing down the abandoned graffiti alley from the lot.
The crunching gravel echoed off the walls. The boy seemed to be running from behind as he sighed. He had finally reached me again, but I was acutely paying attention to him. He grunted at my lack of acknowledgment. He finally spoke up when I pushed away a large dirty trash bin. "Why are you being so hostile?"
I immediately replied, "Didn't I just tell you to leave me alone?"
Hesitantly, a hand touched my shoulder. Quickly my hand grabbed his and I twisted it off and away from my body as I glared at him in the eyes. He shuttered before letting go altogether. He hissed and checked his hand as if my touch had burned me. I continued watched as he shook his head "You did, but-"
"Then fucking leave me alone!" I yelled. The echo bounced the sound through the alley. We stood together in a dark alley leading to the main streets. The wall littered with old deserted furniture and boxes of clothes covered in sewage sludge. I didn't want to stand here for much longer, yet he irritated me to the point I didn't care. The rancid odor touching my nostril violently, I just wanted to gag everytime I accidentally breathed me.

"I can't" he whispered. His nose scrunching at the scent. I rolled my eyes in response.
"And why is that?"
His face looked in shock. A pink hue over his cheeks. I bitterly narrowed my eyes as the silence seemed to settle in. I cursed more and shoved my bag over my shoulder ready to continue my way from him. It was then he spoke.

"This land is unfamiliar to me and you seem to be going out alone, allow me to escort you."
"What about 'go fuck yourself' don't you understand?" I deadpanned; looking his way. My long hair covering one of my eyes, but I was too lazy to shove it away.
"Please my lady," his blue eyes looked into mine. A sapphire fog within his eyes encaptured my body from moving away. A warm comfort over my chest holding me in a soft embrace. On a cold day like today, it was warm and comforting; an anomaly in this freezing hellhole. A soft whisper begging and compelling me to trust it, to trust the boy. It was rare to have such an embrace. I'd only received few, but that's when the rational part of my mind woke up, there was always a price. No one gives these deceptive touches without a high cost. Unblinkingly my tense muscles tensed after being relaxed, and I grasp the boy's shirt. A familiar humming of a speeding car unraveled the thoughts as I blinked and stepped away from him. He blinked with rosy cheeks; it took a moment for him to realize I'd been glaring at him for a minute.
My fist hit his cheek. Tumbling down, he looks at me in shock. My foot itching to plant him into the hot concrete. The shade of the tree offering me to see his bright eyes as light in the darkness. My fist returned at my side.
"So that's what you did to convince him. For a moment, I was ready to believe you were just a guy from outside the border. An idiot with poor fashion, but then the fireballs and stupid glitter shit," I whispered menacingly. It had to be this skill that convinced my father, why else would he let a stranger stay. We'd experienced so much to lead death right to our own home. Something as powerful as him is bound to be a beacon for trouble. I already felt the presence of the creepers and shadows. Their overwhelming presence that clawed at the window bars and slithered through the cracks in the house. It wasn't safe anymore at home. I was not about to trust someone who "accidentally" shot at me.

"What kind of freak are you?"
I spat and turn myself around away from the guy. He irritates me. His very presence unnerves me, he was the cause of yesterday's lack of sleep.

The fact he was some kind of alien or supernatural being appalled me. I was nothing more than human. Humans were scary on their own, I didn't need someone or something else other than creepers to show me who weak I truly was. I hissed at my thoughts. My eyes looking at the guy as his hair stuck out in soft curls upward. "Are you like a fucking Harry Potter?"

He shifted off the floor. A disgusted look crossing his face as he realized he had spilled into some sewage water. With a distraught scowl, he just had to open his mouth, "Such vulgar language for a lovely woman."

"Oh fuck you," I hissed. I moved through the small river of black water. My head shaking in disbelief. Right at the end of the alley, I turned. A fire was lit within. I'd usually only act completely hostile towards a very drunk Derek, but today stupid wizard head was pushing it. "Go tell someone who cares you dumb shit wizard. Are you a motherfucking-"

"Enough! My ears have been violated enough by your horrendous word choice. For your information, I am a mage soldier of the Aelian army. Second in command to my father, Varius." He announced. His feet dancing with grace over the waters to me. A grace that was simply inhuman. He held authority when he spoke, a clear baritone voice that could possibly be dreamy in some other dimension. He was a range of qualities that spelled trouble. My mind had been so distracted in the ways he would die today, I was taken aback when he clapped his hands in front of my face. "Have you heard of him?"

If he meant Varius whatever I could say no and be done with the conversation or I could be an ass. "Does it look like I have? Tell me can you read this face and say I give a flying shit or even understood a fucking word"

"Your language..."

The scowl on my face will be forever engraved thanks to you. "Your hair is an insult, playboy. Don't see me attacking it now do you, now if I gave a shit about what you thought, I'd stop. "

"You are terribly rude" he grumbled under his breath. I snorted in response. I was finally close to my destination. My eyes look around at the littered alleys and filled trash cans, I grinned realizing how the pretty boy was about to have a blast finding his way back home. I began to walk off to find the group of druggies by the dealership. A smile growing as I hear the shuffling of feet.

"Exactly, all the more reason to fuck off. Hope you enjoy you stay in Feral. I doubt you'll be staying a while though" I turned my back to him and continued my way away from the bastard. I have never been much of a people person. As much as I hated it and would prefer to be isolated in my room, I could not make a routine in Feral. Someone would know, and I'd be dead. I'm sure I was beyond paranoid. If a psychologist came into Feral, they realize just how mentally screwed and wrapped teens my age were. Many extremely unstable neighbors were gone now, but they still lived in the papers' scattered around the city. Their voices are written down as haunting prophecies.
A fleeting thought of regret and worry continues to eat at every thought and echoes loudly when a hand gripped at the back of my jacket.

In the midst of mourning for my own short life, I didn't react as I had a few minutes ago. All the fight had drained out of my body. Blue boy must have noticed as his eyes continued to shine with a glimmer of hope. His head tilting at my distant look before my eyes held his. A soft gust of wind blew my hair into my face, I'm sure it would be tangled into a nest by the time I reach Derek. I turned away without a word. He whispered so close to my ear, I flinched and stared at him again. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that." I look behind me to see his shining eyes filled with guilt, "I come from a very different world from yours. I really mean no harm to you, I wanted to convince you-"

"Stop blabbing." I stared at his glowing blue eyes. They were so fucking pretty, it almost hurt to crush his confidence. Almost. "That's not what you really want to say to me. You're not sorry." I turned to face him. My head tilted to the side as I scrutinized his attire discreetly.

"I'm sorry?" his expression closed up in confusion.

It was too perfect. I smirked and stuck my middle finger at him. "Fuuuuck you" I replied without hesitation. His cheeks glowed red although with his eyes. A cute combination may I add, he was a blueberry type of cute.
He huffed out an exhaustingly met my glance "Fine. Allow me to accompany you."
"Didn't I just punch you in the face because of that exact reason?" I looked down the empty streets. The fog was clearing up significantly.
"You did, but I'd follow you either way so either allow me to or I'd do it even if you refused," his eyes sternly said, "It's up to you, we can either make the best or worst of this situation."

"See if I care" I grumbled. If he followed it's not like I cared. It's not like I can save him from his ultimate doom. If he saw something that will destroy his feigning innocence, I was doing him a favor. The innocent and the wicked don't live very long either way. The thought immediately hit me as I turn the corner to the gang's hangout spot. What does he want? I neared the spot before I heard an enormous yawn. My eyes looked to my obnoxious stalker as he stretches his toned arms to the sky. He met my glance and smiled sweetly. I rolled my eyes and bit the inside of my mouth. Great.

"Other than galloping around town causing havoc what is it you do?" The idiot spoke just as she was getting used to the comfortable silence. I had no intention to speak to him. My pace quickened past him, but like all things, the boy followed after.

"Oh you know, summoning people from other worlds to be imprisoned here" his eyes widened as she smugly shoved her way in front of him. Idiot. The closer I walked to the dilapidated front yard, I could hear the yelling and laughter. The smirk fell off my face. Today was not a day for self-control, I just needed one wrong move and I wouldn't hesitate from punching. The boy hadn't said anything else thankfully.

"Vivi! Aye" a guy yelled from the porch. From his stumbling stupor, I could already tell my patience would be tested. I didn't know this guy meaning he was a newbie to babysit. A boy who turned a year older and realized that he's fucked like the rest of us.

Then I noticed everyone's eyes turn to the body standing next to me, fuck. I forgot I had to make an excuse. I pieced a good lie just when we stand before Derek.

"Hey bitch, any idea where Damien went last night?" His eyes watched the boy next to me as he asked me. The boy plainly stared back, a hard look on his face. I was just hoping he didn't go shitless as he did in the basement.

"No" I replied with caution. The group of younger boys were laughing away in the front yard. Obnoxiously the smell in the air was a good indication why they were cheery, they had no idea or wanted to pretend they had no idea what had just happened. Then I noticed the small shudder in one of the girls. She shivered before her sniffles came over her. She sobbed her hands reaching for someone, anyone but everyone stared at her emptily. Those closest to her holding her head in comfort and looked my way. My face didn't flinch as I realized. Damien was dead and they had no idea where.