Brianna lay down on the couch as soft music filtered through the speakers that Nathan had set up. Her eyes watched Cat and Sia run around with ingredients, the girls laughing and teasing one another. The sight almost made her gag.

The way those two felt for each other was so obvious to everyone but them. Sia loved Cat but was convinced that Cat liked Nathan just because they were childhood friends. Cat loved Sia but didn't realize it. She believed that the one who set her free was Sia but that was a strange way for her to deny her real feelings. 

Of course, Brianna thought that was just bullshit but then no one cared about what she had to say anyway.

The way Cat felt for Sia was so strong that she was willing to play friends with Brianna. No matter how much the blue-haired girl tried to hide it, Brianna could sense her dislike from a mile away but she just never said anything about it.

It saved her the trouble of having to fight Nathan whenever she tried to make Ansyl more like her. He was an eyesore and she just couldn't wait for the day when that stupid couple broke up.

Brianna couldn't help but feel annoyed whenever she saw them together. It was almost as if they were purposely trying to show the world that they were so very happy together. It was as if they were the only ones who deserved happiness while everyone else had to suffer.

"Hey, no smoking in the house, Bri," Ansyl warned, breaking into Brianna's thoughts.

Brianna glanced at her hand that now held a cigarette and wondered when she even reached for it. She didn't remember taking one out but she wasn't surprised either. After all, smoking had become an impulse for her every time her thoughts began to stress her out.

Sometimes she wondered if she could rid herself of her pain with the smoke that escaped from her lips.

"Sorry, Ann," Brianna said, putting the cigarette away.

After giving her a smile, Ansyl went back to the kitchen and Brianna reached out for the cigarette again. Instead of lighting it, she ended up crushing it in her hands as she heard Ansyl laugh.

Even though Brianna hid it so well, there were times when her hate for Ansyl just got to her.

On the outside, she was the Ansyl's best friend forever. But on the inside, Brianna wanted to see her fall apart. She wanted her to fall into the darkness so deep that she could never escape.

The thing about the two girls was that they were so similar to one another and yet they were so different.

They both came from well off families, the ability to just buy whatever they wanted to make themselves happy because in reality, they had nothing. Both of their parents never had time for them since they were so busy working. Office meetings always came before a school event and there were always nannies to take care of other things.

There was nothing Brianna wanted more than for her parents to notice her just once, for them to love her the way any parent would love their only child. No matter how many birthdays passed, all she got was a card that wasn't even written by them.

Her childhood passed in the arms of a nanny who felt nothing for her. While other kids ran to their parents at night afraid of monsters, alone in the darkness Brianna befriended those monsters and called them family.

However, one day even her monsters left her behind and Brianna found herself doing whatever she could to get the attention of her only family. It started with skipping classes and getting bad grades. Then it escalated to drugs and finally one day, she jumped from the window of her bedroom, knowing that it wouldn't kill her, knowing that maybe this way they would finally remember her.

As she woke up in the hospital bed, she found a new nanny waiting for her with a new card in her hands, one that they couldn't be bothered to write.

They didn't care for her then. They didn't care for her now.

Now Brianna was used to living life without any fear. The darkness had embraced her and she didn't want to be saved. Parties, alcohol, drugs and everything harmful was what described her and always would.

She was perfectly happy with the way her life was until the day she met Ansyl.

Ansyl was the girl that was living Brianna's life but better. She grew up alone, she grew up ignored by her parents yet somehow, she lived in the light. She had friends and the love that anyone would kill for.

Most of all, when she smiled Brianna could tell that she wasn't faking it.

Everything about Ansyl just made Brianna realize how ugly she really was and she hated that so she did what she knew best.

She befriended Ansyl so she could slowly ruin her the way she had ruined herself. The only problem was her pesky boyfriend.

"You look like you could kill a bear," Kyle said, flopping down next to Brianna and snapping the girl out of her thoughts. "What's got you so upset, my devil?"

"Shut up," Brianna muttered, rolling her eyes at the boy and making him smile.

Watching him smile made something flutter inside Brianna. She couldn't explain that feeling because it was unlike anything she had ever felt. She did know one thing. That one feeling was making it hard for her to be around anyone else.

When she first started sleeping with Kyle, she had made it very clear that the relationship they would have from here on out would be nothing but sexual. She didn't need romance in her life because she knew that love could never last for someone like her.

The problem was, after being with Kyle, she couldn't be with anyone else. When he touched her, her skin felt like it was on fire but when someone else touched her, she didn't feel anything at all. When he kissed her, the world seemed to stop moving and her insides felt like they could melt but with someone else, she couldn't wait for it to be over.

That annoying feeling had made her stop seeing other people but she would never tell Kyle that. It would just inflate his ego.

"Did you get it?" Brianna asked, leaning close to him.

"Yes, ma'am. Rock salt, just as you asked," Kyle answered, patting his jacket.

"Good. They're going to start the party soon. Once everyone is all busy laughing, we'll go to the kitchen. You do your part and I'll do mine," she explained, reminding him the plan.

"Take that out of context and people will think we're doing the nasty," he said with a wink and Brianna gagged.

"You're a backup and always will be," she sneered at him even though it was a lie.

"Sure, I am." He smiled at her, showing off his dimple and she felt herself melt.

She never let it show though.

For some time, the two just talked, well mostly fought the way they always did in front of the others. Once Ansyl and Cat were done cooking, they turned up the music and the so-called party started. In no time, everyone was laughing and so involved in their discussions that they didn't notice Brianna slip into the kitchen, followed by Kyle.

Brianna opened a drawer and pulled out the candle that she had hidden while Kyle used the rock salt to make a circle near the counter. Nodding at him Brianna lit the candle and was going to start when Nathan showed up.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Nathan demanded.

Brianna glanced at Kyle and then looked back at Nathan, wondering how to get out of that one. Just then a realization hit her and she smiled. She had found the best way to break Ansyl.

"We were going to start the ritual," Brianna answered truthfully while Kyle stared at her.

"We agreed that we weren't going to do that," Nathan growled, keeping his voice low because he wouldn't want to bother his precious Ansyl.

"Oh, it isn't going to hurt anyone," Brianna shrugged but Nathan just glared at her.

"I don't think you know what no means," Nathan said and Brianna rolled her eyes.

"And I don't think you understand that I do what I want," she retorted. "Now either you join me or I can just force your little Ansyl to do something she doesn't want to do. You know I can."

"If you so as to try to make Ansyl do something dangerous, I will take her and leave," Nathan threatened, his anger visible in his eyes.

"And go where? You can't go back to your apartment after the break-in. You can't go to Cat's place. There's no way you can afford living in a hotel and as far as I remember, after Ansyl's parents got you both the apartment, you swore to never take money from them again. So tell me where you plan to go, Nathan?" Brianna asked, laughing at his threat.

She watched him flinch at her words, knowing that everything she said was true.

"It's just a stupid game, Nathan. Nothing is going to happen anyway so come join me and then you can return to Ansyl," Brianna said, holding out the candle towards Nathan.

Nathan looked at the candle for a while and then looked at Brianna, his face unreadable. Then sighing, he grabbed the candle.

"No one tells Ansyl about this," he warned.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Brianna sang but she knew that she would tell Ansyl the moment she found her alone.

She then looked at Kyle who didn't say a word to her. He just watched Brianna with his judgemental eyes and she knew that he did not approve of what she had done but she couldn't care.

Closing her eyes, Brianna then began to chant the words to start the ritual.

"I allow you to enter but I do not allow you to stay,
I allow you to play your game but I do not allow you to cheat,
Fair and square the game will end,
A winner will remain, you or us."

Opening her eyes, Brianna looked straight into Nathan's blue eyes that stared back. She then motioned for him to blow out the candle.

The hesitation on his face was clear as his eyes moved from Brianna to Kyle. He stared at Kyle as if waiting for the boy to say something but he didn't. Brianna knew he never would because if there was someone on her team, it was Kyle.

Then Nathan looked back at the candle. Taking a deep breath, he blew it out and that's where everything was supposed to end but for some reason it didn't.

The moment Nathan blew out the candle, the ground beneath began to shake and screams were all Brianna could hear until the darkness came for them all.