I regret wearing my jacket the moment Mom and I step outside. The sun's rays are scorching against my skin, and I soon begin to pant from the heat. For only being three hours away from my home, the climate has changed drastically. I'm used to cooler days and jeans, not extremely warm days and shorts.

As we walk, there is no chatter like I had thought there would be. My shoulders slump after a while, realizing that she isn't going to bust into a long speech about Laura or--him. Lord only knows that I cannot handle that at the moment.

The sun is still coming up over the mountains that surround the small town, even at eight in the morning. It's the only thing I can focus on besides panicking about that fact that I'm outside. I hadn't really been out in the open for the past week, so this is nerve-wracking. Even though I'm wearing a coat, I still feel exposed.

I glance around warily, waiting for the moment when I see the hooded man staring at me, maybe even coming for me. I know for a fact that my mom wouldn't be able to fend off a full-grown man with her height of only five-seven if the opportunity was there.

"How much longer do you want to walk for?" Mom asks, finally breaking the silence. I shrug, turning my head toward her.

"However long you want to go for."

It's quiet again after that.

As I walk, I think about telling my mom about that rose for the second time today. I would have already if I wasn't worried about her freaking out. Fighting myself for five minutes, I finally decide to tell her. Only, just as I'm about to open my mouth to speak, she cuts me off.

"I'm going to the washroom," she announces, nodding to an outhouse standing alone in a park we're passing by. My eyebrows furrow in alarm. There's no one there, so if she left me alone standing outside and he came...

"Are you sure--" she cuts me off, once again. "--don't worry, I'll be less than a minute. Just stay right here and don't move."

I swear, if I'm murdered while she's taking a piss, I'm going to blame her.

"Fine," I mutter. She gives me a small smile, as if reassuring me, before heading off. I fight the urge to follow her, but I decide to stay. Mom wouldn't want me hovering by the outhouse.

I watch her step inside and lock the door. My shoulders slump down as I turn, sighing loudly.

That's when I get plowed into by a boy with shorter black hair and dark green eyes, who I find out later had been listening to music at full blast and not paying attention to where he was going. As I fall, the boy makes a grab for me, and nearly misses. I grip the sleeve of his jacket with my sweaty hand--which isn't all that attractive--but instead of pulling me up, he falls too. The least graceful part of the whole thing is that he falls right on top of me, which almost knocks the air out of my lungs.

Just for a second, we lock eyes. I swallow slowly as I think about the intimate position we're in--with his leg in between mine--and how close his face is. I feel an instant pull to him, and I don't know why. Maybe it's hormones?

The connection finally breaks after what seems like forever when he jumps off of me and says, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!"

I shake my head of the daze I'd been in as I accept the hand he extends to me. He pulls me to my feet and puts his other hand over my upper arm. Electricity seems to shoot through his fingertips and I find it harder to breathe. His dark eyes analyze my face quickly before he says, "Are you all right?"

I squeeze my eyes shut and try to clear my muddled thoughts. "I'm--I'm fine."

Quickly, I shake his arm off, glancing back to the outhouse where Mom has just exited. She looks infuriated, and I don't blame her. Where had this boy come from anyway?

I switch my gaze back to the boy, who sheepishly stuffs his hands into his coat pockets. "I'm sorry."

I bite my lip and cross my arms over my chest. I can't help but notice that he's a good few inches taller than me, yet he seems the same age as I am. "It's alright."

"Me--Skylar!" I hear Mom yell from a few feet away. I run a hand through my hair and shrug at him.

"Sorry, I have to go."

He nods understandingly, running a hand through his hair just like I do when I'm nervous. "Alright," he pauses. "Is there a chance I'll see you again sometime?"

My heart skips a beat. I nod quickly, a small smile flickering over my lips. "Yeah, maybe."

"Skylar!"

I sigh loudly. "I'm coming!" Then I say to him, "See you around."

He smiles as well, and I turn away, walking up to Mom who looks beyond pissed.

"Who was he?" She asks sharply when I join her side. I don't answer her because I don't know myself. I never had gotten his name, but he probably knew mine because of my delightful mother.

"Skylar?"

"I don't know," I shrug my shoulders. "He did seem nice though."

Mom looks at me like what I said was insanity. "Skylar," she hisses. "You do realize that could have been--"

A pang of fear erupts in my chest as I catch her hint. What if he was my stalker? He seemed too nice to be...but maybe it's all an act. I mean, he could be trying to ease my mind so I'd lower my guard.

I shake my head, pushing away the thoughts. "No. He was just a boy who I bumped into on accident."

Mom gives me a worried look, but doesn't say anything after that.

•••

The rest of the day is uneventful. For a lot of the hours, I sit in my--Skylar's room, thinking about the boy. My heart would race and do a gymnastics routine every time I would think about him. It seems I already have an attraction to him after only speaking with him for five minutes. What would Laura say?

Nothing, I think. She's dead.

Finally, I go to bed after wasting the day. The bed is, once again, creaky under the weight of my body. To say it's annoying is an understatement.

I twirl my finger over the rough bed sheet that is pulled up to my neck as I try to fall asleep. I can't seem to, partly because I'm afraid of getting another rose, and partly because that boy I had met earlier this morning is still imprinted in my mind. I don't think he'll go away anytime soon either.

Just as I'm about to shut my eyes, something flickers across my window, like a shadow. My finger, which had still been dancing across the sheet moments earlier, freezes. The room turns so quiet that the only thing I can hear is my own breathing. My eyes stare at the window, looking for whatever caused the shadow. I sit there for around five minutes, waiting.

Eventually, I relax. I must have just been seeing things. I am paranoid after all. Flipping over onto my side, I close my eyes, letting the tendrils of sleep pull me into their steel grasp.

Little had I known that my stalker was waiting patiently outside the house, ready to slip through the window to my room and give me yet another small gift that I will surely destroy in the morning.

________________________________________________________________________

A new character...what was your first impression? Do you think he could be Melanie's stalker?

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