"Do you want to come over to my house for dinner?" asked Nino, on the same day he sat down next to me for the first time at lunch. 

Though I was a little taken aback that he'd just randomly invited me to dinner, I accepted his invitation. 

I did not want to spend another dinner at Natalie's house. I didn't want to watch her and my Dad smile at each other and having the time of their lives chatting to their heart's content. I knew that Natalie was only trying to make my father and I feel welcome and was trying to be friendly, but I couldn't help but feel an aching sensation whenever I was in her house. 

I wanted everything to go back to the way it was, the way before we had to spend several nights eating chicken Alfredo at Natalie's-- when my family and I would take strolls in Time's Square and go to movie theaters almost every weekend. When we would joke around and cheer at baseball games and have photo-shoots in Central Park.

   Nino and I agreed to walk home from school together, the fall wind blowing our hair in all directions and almost made Nino's bright red cap fly off his head. Most of the roads were only dirt ones, and weren't paved or concreted. People mostly used farm trucks to drive around, and as I walked with Nino, I spotted several kids and even some adults riding bikes. 

We didn't talk much at first. I tried to think of something to say to get a conversation going, but so far my mind was blank. We stopped by my house so I could change into a fresh shirt, drop off my book bag, and grab my phone charger before we left my house and continued on our way to Nino's house. It wasn't until we were passing by Natalie's that he finally spoke. 

Natalie was actually sitting in her porch swing and saw us walking toward's Nino's house. "Hello, Adrien!" she called.

Nino jumped as if someone poked him, his eyes wide. "Oh my god..." he breathed. I turned and saw Natalie waving to me from where she sat, and I decided to wave back just for the sake of being polite. 

"Guess what? I found some old piano sheets from my attic," said Natalie with a warm smile. "I was hoping we could try to play a duet when you and your Dad come over tonight."

"I'm actually going to Nino's for dinner," I told her, relieved that I had an excuse. 

Natalie's smiled dropped instantly. "Oh..." she replied uncertainly."I see. Well, hope you boys have a good time. And maybe we'll play that duet some time this week?"

"Uhh, yeah I guess." I started to continue walking forward, not wanting to keep up the conversation any longer. "Come on, Nino."

"Dude!" He gasped. "Why did you tell her my name?"

I turned my head to face him with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well," he explained, his chocolate brown eyes shooting a worried glance back at Natalie's house, as if to see if she was watching us. "Ever since she moved in like a month ago, I noticed she's been acting really strange."

"What do you mean as in 'strange'?" I asked, completely baffled. 

"Well, for starters, did you notice that she doesn't have a husband or anything?"

"Yeah...but I don't see how--"

"She and her husband both moved together in that house a month ago. But after 3 weeks of them living here, he suddenly disappeared. And when my dog ran into her backyard and I was trying to catch him, I saw an axe leaning against the back of her house. And the worst part? There was blood on it."

I gasped, my eyes widening with shock. "Are you serious?"

Nino's head bobbed rapidly as he nodded. "Yes! Do you know what I think? I think she murdered her own husband and buried him herself."

"But why would she do that?"

"I don't know," he told me as we bonded up the wooden porch steps to his front door. "But that's why I don't mess around with her. I'm so scared that one day she'll sneak into my house and slice my throat while I'm sleeping."

  We walked into the house and found Nino's mom frosting a chocolate cake in the kitchen. On marble counter along with the cake there were two opened boxes of chocolate cake mix. My eyes immediately caught sight of them, my chest tightening in an odd way as I stared. 

"Welcome home, Nino," said Mrs. Lahiffe with a smile as she wiped her forehead with a hand covered in cake batter. "And you must be the new boy who moved here. Would you both like some cake? It about finished baking."

She caught me staring at the boxes and asked worriedly, "Is something wrong? If you don't want cake I have cookies you might like..."

"No, no" I said, quickly snapping myself out of my daze while also feeling bad for making her feel uncomfortable. "It's just that I have allergies, I think."

Her eyebrows gathered in curiosity. "To chocolate?"

"Uh, no. Not exactly..."

The truth was that my mom used to always make chocolate cake for me and my father, and seeing the cake boxes reminded me of her. But for some reason I couldn't tell Mrs. Lahiffe that. 

Nino placed his backpack on the hook beside the front door, and we both sat down at the round kitchen table. Mrs. Lahiffe cut two slices of cake before placing them on two separate glass plates and serving them to us. She then asked us how our day had been. 

Later, in Nino's room, as we were doing our homework, Nino had said, "I really think you should stay away from Natalie, bro."

"Are you really sure she could have murdered her own husband?" I asked him skeptically. Now that I had tossed around the idea in my head, it sounded more like a silly horror story. 

"Yes!" Nino replied without hesitation. "Even her name is a sign that she's a muderer."

"What do you mean?"

"Her full name is Natalie Cadavre. Do you know what 'cadavre' means?"

I actually didn't.

"It means 'dead body'," Nino shuddered. "You can even look it up if you don't believe me. And do you know what she does for a living?"

No I didn't. But then again I didn't really care either.

"She's a nurse," he answered. "And worse, she's a nurse with a name that means 'dead body'. Don't you think that's a little...strange?"

"I mean...I guess?" I said, rubbing the back of my neck with my hand reluctantly. 

"And did you notice how her eyes are so lifeless, and how she's always moving so stiffly? And her voice...it's so dull and monotone."

I didn't know how or why, but Nino somehow made me want to believe all this, even though it was all really stupid and far-fetched. But from that day on, Natalie's voice did sound dull and her eyes did look lifeless. 

All of these things made me dislike her even more, and I was perfectly fine with that. 

I definitely didn't want to like her at all. 

(A/N):

Bonjour my awesome readers! 

Thanks so much for stopping by and reading this new chapter. 

I so glaaaaad I was finally able to finish it. Between school going insane (no surprise there), Amino madness, and anime marathons, I've been busy. 

Well, kinda.... I guess? I don't know. 

And also, I've really been feeling down lately with dealing with low self-esteem and family issues. Sheesh, it's been rough. 

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chap! Let me know by commenting down below! Don't forget to click that cute little star up top and share with ur friends!

Welp, that's about it. I'm outta here. *grabs a jet-pack and flies off*

SEE YA NEXT CHAP AND STAY MIRACULOUSSSS!!!! <3<3<3