Graduation was steadily approaching, almost a day away.

And I guess that was when everything started to go wrong.

I was chowing down on some carne asada when the doorbell to my house rang. I knew I was the only one home, except for Anthony, who was currently showering. I narrowed my eyes in curiosity and suspicion, making my way over to the door, and I pulled it open. I wondered who was on the other side. Probably pizza delivery or Amazon.

Heh.

I was wrong.

"Hey, Eli," Standing in my doorway with a smile on his pale face, blonde hair almost covering his dark eyes, one Cameron Rasputin appeared. "Cam, not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?" I beamed at him, knowing that I didn't attend school today for the reason being that I didn't have to go and I had to work.

"You weren't at school today, but I had to talk to you," He rubbed the back of his neck, and I took in his attire. He was wearing too many clothes as it was borderline 90 degrees out right now, and he was wearing black skinny jeans and a leather jacket. "Yeah, you're here now. Is something wrong?" I questioned with concern, pondering if someone was being mean to him at school or something.

He shook his head with a chuckle, relief settling in my bones. "I came to give you this, you know," He held out his hand and I opened mine, wondering what he was giving me. "What is it?" In my hand was a silver cross with glass on the front, tiny diamonds embedded on the outline. I looked closely to see that the interior of the cross was filled with water, and I had half of a mind to assume that it was holy water. "Didn't peg you for a religious guy," I teased and he shook his head.

"No, of course not. A guy like me wouldn't be allowed on church grounds," He snorted to himself and I tilted my head, wondering what he meant by that. "Nah, it's just that a friend of mine told me to give this to someone who I wanted to protect," He shrugged and I felt flutters of gratitude pool up in my stomach. "And since you're the only one I could think of, I just decided to give to you."

I didn't think anything of it because I knew I was the first person that Cameron met when he transferred to East Ravenwood at the start of the year. I took him under my wing since he was super quiet and aloof, so I felt appreciated and grateful that he thought of me like this.

"O-oh, would you mind putting it on me?" I held up my one hand, wiggling my fingers. "I have food grease on my fingers, so," I smiled and he nodded, giving me a fond stare. "You got it," With shaky fingers, he grasped the silver chain, grimacing as if he was in pain as he motioned for me to turn around. He threw the chain around to the front, pulling it to the back.

"Ooh, your hands are extremely cold," I mumbled and he chuckled, fastening the clasp around my neck as the silver fell against my neck. He felt so cold like he slept in a freezer every night. "I guess my body just runs cold," He explained curtly, stepping back when he was finished. "Thank you. I appreciate it," I threw him a big grin and he pointed at me, all evidence of joking gone. "Make sure that you wear it all the time."

I was confused, but I complied nonetheless. Might as well wear it 25/8 then.

He seemed pleased with himself as he threw me a wave, signaling his departure. I looked around my driveway, seeing only my car and Anthony's truck. I bit my lip, thinking about how he got here, to begin with. It wasn't like East Ravenwood was far, but it was quite a way if you didn't have a car and the last I checked, school just got out almost four hours ago.

Hm.

"By the way, Eli," Cameron paused in his stride, looking at me over his shoulder with an odd look. "Yes?" I replied, furrowing my brow. "You wouldn't by any chance have any garlic around here?" He asked and I watched as he itched as his forearm, wincing slightly. "Yes, my mother likes to grow her own fruits and veggies," I pointed to the garden that outlined the entire house. "She has a garlic slot in every corner of the house," I smiled softly and he nodded slowly, giving me a tense smile.

"...keep them there."

I blinked in incertitude, watching him walk off down the street in the opposite direction, nothing else but the vast trees of Devil's Tombstone forest greeting him. Maybe he wanted to go scope out the scenery, who knew?

I shut my door, going to clean up in the kitchen. Once I was full and content with life, I decided to go take my brother his uniform since he left it draped over one of the seats. "Anthony?" I called out, knocking on his door. I could hear the shower running from his bathroom, so I just entered. Dark green walls greeted me as I waltzed in, hearing him sing Manuel Torizo as loud as he could.

"Hm, while I'm here, I'll get my missing airpod from him," I stated, pleased with myself as I threw his uniform on his bed, walking towards his nightstand. I remembered seeing him throw it in here, so this would be a good place to start.

I yanked open the drawer right when the shower stopped, moving around the items of condoms, gum, earring studs, receipts, and whatever, pure shock rendering me frozen as my jaw fell. I felt let down as I picked up the mini bags, staring in absolute horror. No, no, no.

"W-what is this?" My hands were trembling as they held the few tiny bags that had pieces of green grass and little balls, the scent unmistakable as its pungent stench slapped me in the face. "No, no, no, no, no...." I whispered to myself, realizing that our promise had been broken. Not Anthony, not my brother.

"What in the—" The bathroom door opened with a swing and I clutched the bags in my hand, whirling around to face my brother as he came out. "Oh, squirt, it's just you," He sighed, cracking his neck as he stepped out of the steam. "What's up? Why are you staring at me like that?" I shook my head in disbelief, hoping that this wasn't the truth, that I was just imagining things. "Anthony," I spoke hollowly, afraid of what I was going to get in response. "What is this?" I held up the bags and all of a sudden, he stormed towards me faster than I had ever seen.

"Mind your fucking business, puto!" Anthony hit me on the head with his elbow and I recoiled back with a muffled groan. My head was ringing in pain as he snatched the bags from me with one hand, using the other to hold up his towel. "I ought to beat your ass for going through my stuff!" He threw the bags back into his drawer, shooting me a sharp and irritated glare as he shook his head.

I was utterly appalled beyond what words could say.

My older brother was someone that I looked up to for a reason. He always told me to keep my head in my books, to stay away from suspicious people that looked like they would lead me astray, to focus on nothing but success. He preached it all the time growing up, even taking his own words and doing right by them, at least until now.

"Tell mom and I'll kill you."

His tone was dark and menacing as he jabbed his index finger into my chest, causing me to stumble back towards the door. I didn't recognize the feral look in his eyes like he hated me and wanted me dead. I didn't even recognize the person before me because the Anthony Mattias Velacruz I knew would've slapped me to Mars with a chancla for even thinking about getting into drugs. He would've ratted me out so quickly to Isobel before giving me the most lengthy lecture I could ever have. Coming to find out that he went back on his own word— I felt betrayed.

"Now get out," He growled lowly, rolling his eyes at me when he saw that I was about to cry. "I don't want to see you right now," His words were stabbing directly into my heart, destroying everything. "Don't be such a little baby and leave," He pushed me out with extensive force, slamming the door behind me, the sound resembling a gunshot in my ear.

I blinked at the closed door, wondering if I was imagining things. There was no way, there just couldn't be. I gritted my teeth, this moment shattering all memories that I had of Anthony. My hands were shaking as I heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

"D-dad..." I called out to the tall man, decking black hair and amber eyes, getting a hiss in response. He threw a hand up to my face, pushing past me. "Vete!" He shouted abruptly at me, telling me to go away, rolling his eyes with a heaved sigh. "I don't have time for you!" That was the most anger that Enrique Velacruz had ever expressed directly towards me and I couldn't lie, a pool of agony started to pull me in from my foot. "I just...I'm sorry..." I lamented, letting my eyes fall to the ground as I clenched my fists.

Why was he being this way to me?

I nodded to nothing in particular, sniffling as I headed to my room. I had an endless pile of work to do, but I wasn't even in the mood to do it. Nothing was going right at the moment, and I just wanted someone to confide in, someone to be my shoulder.

I needed someone to talk to, but Michelle wasn't responding to my texts and Hunter wasn't answering my calls. The debate vice-captain didn't call me back earlier, and my teammates were too busy having the time of their lives, now that school was ending. There was no one, it seemed, which was odd and sad all in one because I was always surrounded by people.

I just laid down on my bed, staring at the glass screen from my balcony, a throbbing pang on the side of my head. Somewhere along the way, the beautiful sunset from earlier turned into a starry dream, the sky almost darkened with dots of silver. I stared through the curtains, hating how miserable I was beginning to feel.

Through all of the hurt and the rejection I was feeling, I couldn't miss the intense sensation I got as if someone was scraping my body with their hard gaze. It was like someone was trying to read my entire soul with that penetrating leer, goosebumps prickling all over my arms. I looked around my room, trying to figure out where it was coming from, but I couldn't find a thing.

"What in the hell?" I murmured to myself, falling headfirst into my pillow. The hairs on my body were standing up straight, a chilling air filling my room all of a sudden. The air wasn't on and the windows were tight shut, but it still felt cold. Soon enough, the staring was making me feel so uncomfortable, but I couldn't tune it out because of how strong it was. So instead I just focused on the heavy feeling weighing on my heart.

I bit my lip to stifle a whimper, the burning sting in my eyes reminding me of how emotionally weak I was. I didn't understand what I was doing wrong or what was going on. I wanted someone to just tell me that everything would be okay and that today was just an off day, but as usual, there was no one.

What did I do wrong?