Chapter 12 - 3

Danny's POV

It was bad.

It was very bad.

I almost fell into the toilet in desperation as I hastily locked the door to the tiny bathroom that I'd deemed my new temporary safe haven. The cramped lavatory was so small that if I outstretched my arms in any direction I'd hit a wall, but at that moment it felt as if this tiny room was the most space I'd had in hours.

I thought I'd expected the worse when considering what this party would entail. I had visions of teeth and howling and bloodshed, with little old me stuck in the middle with only my Xannax to protect me. But never, in my wildest fantasies, did I expect them to be so...

Friendly.

And I'm not talking about polite stranger on the bus friendly. I'm talking overly comfortable neighbour who opens your mail kind of friendly.

I'd never been introduced to so many people in such a short amount of time in my life. It had been fine at first, with Yvane introducing me to a couple of her friends on our way to get Grace with just a few friendly questions and hellos. But it was as if the moment people realised that someone was talking to me, the dam burst and I was suddenly thrust into the arms of about fifty individuals and/or couples. Some were tame enough, but the majority had been so overwhelmingly familiar that all my anxiety had quickly morphed into borderline annoyance.

I'd been passed around like a rag doll for almost an hour and at some point Grace had begun to cry in the distance which caused Yvane to disappear shortly after, leaving me in the lovely company of Mrs Morris. A short, elderly woman-- she was kind enough to spend an inappropriate amount of time showing off all five of her children, fifteen of her grandchildren and three of her great grand children (all of whom had a small photo each dedicated to them in her conveniently portable photo album).

Trust me, there are only so many variations of ooo's and ahhh's you can do to twenty three almost identical blonde kids.

So with some miracle, I managed to weasel myself out of any more introductions for the time being by claiming I had to go to the bathroom. It took a hot minute, but I eventually escaped back into the house and practically dived into the thankfully vacant downstairs bathroom.

I collapsed onto the closed toilet with a deep groan, running a hand through my hair and wincing lightly at the slight snag on my stitches. I knelt my elbows against my knees and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as I ducked my head low and practically tucked it between my legs. This is exhausting--

The sudden jiggling of the doorknob had me bolting upright, the thought of being caught by another member of the herd filling me with dread. My entire body froze as I tentatively watched someone try to come through the thankfully locked door.

There was a light knock, followed by a familiar masculine voice asking, "Anyone in there?"

Eyes wide, before I could even think to blink I bolted off the toilet and unlocked the door, yanking it open to find a startled Rover on the other side.

"You!" I seethed, grabbing the front of his shirt and roughly dragging him inside the cramped bathroom, "Get in here!"

"Jesus, ow!" He exclaimed as he whacked his head on the low doorway in the process of stumbling in. He hissed lowly and rubbed his forehead with a scowl as I reached behind him and struggled to shut the door again, "What the Hell, Danny? Careful."

"Lock the door, lock the door!" I hissed, tapping his arm aggressively as to try and make him listen.

There was a light click as he shut the door fully and tried to shy away from my aggressive taps that had at this point slowly developed into incessant slaps, "I have, ow!"

"Shh!" I shushed, squeezing his arm tightly and freezing in place as what sounded like a gaggle of women wondered by the bathroom happily giggling to themselves. Once they'd passed, I waited a moment to ensure that they were a good distance away before releasing a breath I didn't know I'd been holding.

"Um, could I have my arm back?"

Realising I was still latched on to Chris' forearm, I quickly let go as if it had burnt my open palm. Awkwardly clearing my throat I took a small step away only to find myself further pressed into the wall, "... Sorry.

"What are you doing in here?" He questioned, as I sat back down on the closed toilet pan with an exhausted sigh. The bathroom that was barely the size of a cupboard was beneath the staircase and had a slanted ceiling, only just big enough to house a toilet and a small sink. It had been tight with just one person, so you can imagine what adding a second did to the leg room. Leaning my forehead against my palm to try and rest my head, I appreciated that sitting down at least gave us a tiny bit more space to work with.

I looked up at him from my slouched position, "Hiding."

He seemed to accept our new found arrangement and made himself more comfortable, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning his hip against the sink. His body was still slightly hunched over as to accommodate for his height, but as I was sat down he at least had a bit of wiggle room. He cocked his head to the side and asked, "... From?"

"Who do you think?" I groaned in disbelief, dropping my hands against my lap before aggressively gesturing towards the door, "Them!"

His eyebrows furrowed in concern, "Why? What happened? Do you need to tap out?"

"Tap out?!" I cried incredulously, thinking back to the past hour of interactions and almost shuddered at the thought of going back out there, "Chris, I have had ten introductory hugs in the last hour from complete strangers who keep congratulating me and showing me pictures of their grandkids.

There was a long pause before he awkwardly asked, "... so no tapping out?"

"No! I mean, I don't know," I exclaimed, trying to wrap my head around what I'd just experienced, "What is going on? Why are they like this?"

He paused with a wince, "They're just friendly?"

My face fell. I don't care how hot he'd gotten, this is weak. Even for him.

He sighed and grimaced apologetically at my expression, scratching at his jaw line, "They're intense I know. I'm sorry. But in my defence, I did warn you."

"You said they could be a lot, Chris. I thought you meant, howling at the moon and wanting to eat me, a lot," I seethed, gesturing wildly at the door for emphasis, "Not, 'when is your next menstrual cycle?' a lot!"

His face dropped in a mix of disbelief and disgust, "Someone asked you that?"

"Yeah, they did."

"Jesus, okay. I'm sorry. They obviously took it a bit too far," He said, running a hand through his hair with wide eyes and a genuinely shocked expression on his face.

My eyebrows rose in shock, "A bit?"

"Okay, a lot too far," He corrected, dropping his hand down clumsily to his side with a deep breath, "But, hey-- at least now you know they don't want to eat you!"

You are kidding me.

"This is somehow worse," I muttered, glancing away for a moment before turning back with a new found ferocity, "By the way, where the f*ck have you been?"

Even though he said he'd grab a drink with me and keep me company, I hadn't even caught a glimpse of the tall guy since our little chat at the foyer. And it's not as if his height made him stand out either, as almost all the men I'd encountered at the party were either my height or taller. The Hell were they putting in the water around here?

"Sorry, I shouldn't have left you alone. I didn't realise it would be this bad."

"Yeah, well it's a bit late now," I muttered bitterly, gesturing between the both of us, "They know the situation, right? They know this isn't-- what this is?"

He paused before eventually looking away and nodding a little too curtly, "They know the general situation, yeah."

"General?" I repeated, red flags starting to rise as I cautiously stood up from the toilet to full height and narrowed my eyes in suspicion, "What do you mean general?"

"They know, English. They're just... excited," He reassured, bringing his hands palms up as if to shield himself from my encroaching figure, "I wasn't the only one who was surprised when I found you."

I rolled my eyes at his lame excuse, throwing my arms up in protest as far as the walls would allow, "Why because I'm human?"

"... Yeah," He repeated slowly, "Yeah, because you're human."

"Alright, brill!" I exclaimed sarcastically, completely missing the hesitancy in his reply, "Well, surprised or not you're going to have to explain it again to a few of them."

He nodded reassuringly and dropped his hands of defence, "I'll have a word with them."

"Good," I replied, bringing a finger up to point accusingly, "Because if I get one more middle-aged woman in boat shoes asking me for a hug; I can't guarantee I won't deck--"

The sudden yank of the bathroom door opening caused us both to jump violently, Chris once again banging his head on the ceiling and hissing lowly as we turned to see an equally wide eyed Mrs Morris stood on the other side of the door, "-- Oh, I'm sorry! I thought it was free, I didn't mean to interrupt!"

As Chris continued to rub the back of his head to try and lessen the pain, it took us a moment to realise how close the cramped bathroom had made us; and what the situation looked like to the little old lady who was smiling a tad too much at our expense.

"--oh, no no no-!" I frantically denied.

Just as Chris began, "-- No, it's not--!"

"-- You two carry on, I'll go upstairs," She interrupted, completely ignoring our panicked explanations as she closed the door with a small wry smile curled on her lips.

The moment the click sounded to indicate that it was in fact once again shut, our explanations died in our throats as we both stood completely still to bask in the awkwardness that had been Mrs Morris.

The silence was long, but eventually I licked my suddenly dry lips and quietly asked, "... I thought you said you locked the door?"

"It's a dodgy lock," He murmured in clarification, equally as muted.

Knowing that Mrs Morris had most probably already told the rest of her squad of old cronies about how she'd just found me and Rover, I knew this misunderstanding was going to double if not triple the amount of uncomfortable conversations I'd hoped to avoid for the rest of this party. If I thought they were bad earlier...

"Where's that drink you promised me?"

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, spurring from his frozen position as he dropped his hand from his head and replied, "Come on. We'll brave this together."

I grimaced at the thought of facing all those people again, "I don't know..."

"They'll listen to me, trust me," He said.

"Fine," I eventually conceded after much reluctance, "But wait thirty seconds after I leave before coming out."

"Why?" He asked in with furrowed eyebrows, my deadpan expression enough for him to catch on, "Oh, right."

"Men," I muttered, rolling my eyes before quickly opening the door and popping my head out to make sure the coast was clear. After making sure that Mrs Morris wasn't about to jump out and side tackle me to the ground, I hastily exited the bathroom and made my way into the kitchen to wait for Rover. He better not leave me again...

"Hey guys, how's it going?" The bearded man with tongs asked with a warm smile and southern drawl as Chris and I stepped up to the grill; plates in hand. True to his word, he hadn't left me alone since the bathroom fiasco. We'd had our beers, and after being caught by a not too happy Yvane I was once again back on the lemonade per Doctor's orders; pointing out that drinking on top of medication was perhaps not the best of ideas.

But in a surprising turn of events, I actually found that Chris was pretty good company. He helped out with the introductions and people seemed to be a lot more chill. Not once had anyone tried to hug or touch me in any way past a friendly handshake, and I could've sworn that they didn't take half as long as they'd done previously. I couldn't tell if I'd just had a bad batch of the really intense people earlier on, or if Chris was just really good at moving people along. But it definitely seemed a lot more tolerable when he was there.

Eventually we'd joined the line for the barbeque, and that's how I found myself being introduced to the southern man serving everybody hamburgers. He was older, I'd say in his fifties, with a full head of slowly greying hair and a thick beard to match. Despite his age, he seemed to be in good shape and had a strong masculine air to him. If my husband looked like this when he was older, I would not mind...

"Danielle, this is Joel. Our resident chef for today," Chris said with a warm genuine smile on his face as he placed a hand on the older man's shoulder, "So be nice."

"Now, I'd hardly call grillin' enough of a call for a title like that," Joel replied, his laugh lines becoming more prominent as he returned the smile wholeheartedly.

"Nice to meet you," I smiled politely.

"Well, likewise."

"Hey, Chris!" A distant voice suddenly called, all three of our attentions turning to a guy with dark hair calling Chris over to a bunch of men working on a broken speaker, "Can we borrow you for a sec?"

He turned back to look at me as he put his plate down by the grill, "You good?"

"Yeah, I'll catch you in a bit," I smiled tightly, nodding for him to go over as I turned my attention back to Joel and the food. That does smell good...

"Look after her for me, Joel!" Chris called as he began walking over to the group of confused men.

"Will do!" He replied, as he turned his charming smile to me once again.

I stepped forward to get a closer look at what was available, scanning the rows of burgers, sausages and ribs to look for anything edible, "Anything on here that isn't meat?"

"Hm, well... We've got some corn?" He suggested after a moment of scanning the layers upon layers of impressive barbeque.

I pursed my lips and nodded, fully used to the life of a vegetarian at this point and accepting my fate of a limited menu. That potato salad is looking more and more likely, "I'll take some corn."

"Corn, comin' right up," He declared, taking my plate and placing two charred corn on the cobs on top, "So how are people treatin' you so far?"

"Yeah, they're good," I smiled, balancing the cobs as to make sure that they didn't just roll straight off as he handed me back the plate, "Very friendly."

He chuckled and knelt back against the side of the grill, "I'll admit; we can get a bit enthusiastic.

"Just a little," I said with a tense polite chuckle. He seemed nice at least.

Before the conversation could continue any further, a young woman with light brown hair who couldn't have been older than her late twenties appeared next to Joel with furrowed eyebrows. She had a rather concerned look on her face as she kept her eyes peeled across the crowd, "Hey, Joel? Have you seen Jimmy?"

"Yeah, about ten minutes back. Ran off with Michael, talkin' about some galactic war," He replied, turning his attention solely to her as she placed a hand on his arm and huffed. They seemed to be stood a tad closer than what people would consider 'friendly', so my first thought was that she must be his daughter.

"Well, that sounds peaceful," She sighed sarcastically, eventually tearing her gaze away from the party and turning to him with a smile. Once their eyes were locked, he hooked an arm around her waist as she looped hers around his neck. They smiled at each other lovingly as the woman leaned in for a long kiss.

Not his daughter. NOT HIS DAUGHTER.

She eventually pulled away, still smiling at the older man who kept her close. She turned and blinked in surprise as she finally noticed me, her smile turning apologetic as she took in my awkward attempt at staying polite, "Oh, sorry! Hi, you must be Danielle."

"Danny," I smiled, clambering back to reality as I got over the shock of the age gap, "That's me. It's nice to meet you...?"

"Hannah. Sorry, I tried to come introduce myself earlier but there was a bit of a line," She teased, holding out her hand to shake.

"It's all good," I replied with an awkward laugh, taking it and shaking politely, "I guess I'm just popular today."

"Well, I've heard nothing but good things so keep doing what you're doing," She reassured, "How's everybody treating you?"

I noted that they'd both asked the same question and chuckled internally, "Good. Everyone's very friendly."

"Have you met Mrs Morris yet?" She asked with a glint in her eye.

Unfortunately.

"I have, she's um... enthusiastic."

She scoffed with a small sneer before surprisingly muttering, "She's a nosy cow, I'd say."

"Hannah," Joel scolded immediately, turning to look at her with a light-hearted scowl as I tried to hold back a laugh at her bluntness, "She's an old woman, leave her be."

"She's an old crone. Has she shown you her portable photo albumt?" Hannah asked mischievously which I couldn't help but snicker lightly at.

"She has," I answered with a nod, fighting back too large of a grin.

"Ugh, I swear to God some of those pictures are just repeats of the same kid and she just hasn't noticed," She claimed, rolling her eyes as she mentioned the dreaded album, "Don't feel bad if she quizzes you later on and you get it wrong. Chances are she won't even know which one it is herself."

"Alright, that's enough. Leave the woman be, she's just excited to meet our new guest," Joel once again intervened, obviously used to her antics, "I'm sorry, Danny. My wife has obviously been enjoyin' the party so much that she has completely lost her manners. Please forgive her."

"Shut up," Hannah scowled jokingly but ultimately sighed in agreement, "Sorry, Dan. If you can't tell, I'm not exactly her number one fan."

"Don't worry," I joked in reassurance, "I can see where you're coming from."

"Well," She declared, leaning back to get a better look at Joel, "I better go look for this Galactic War. Any idea which direction to point me in?"

"That I don't know," He admitted.

"Right well, wish me luck," She said, kissing him lightly once again before fully pulling away and turning to address me, "It was nice to meet you, Danny. I'm sure I'll bump into you again at some point."

"I hope so," I replied, waving as she made her back into the party, "Good luck with the war!"

"Thanks!" She laughed, returning my wave before turning and greeting a familiar face as she walked past, "Oh hey, Lucy."

"Hi," The Australian replied, smiling politely as she made her way into the gazebo and towards Joel and I, "There you are! I've been looking all over for you."

"Hey," I greeted, relieved to see a familiar face, "You okay?"

She nodded, "Yeah, fancy eating lunch with me?"

"Sure," I replied, offering one last polite smile to the Southern grill master whilst lifting my plate carefully for emphasis. "Thanks for the food, Joel."

"No problem, and good luck!" He called jokingly, as I gave one last wave and followed Lucy out into the crowd towards the direction of the tables. Half way across the lawn, I spotted the buffet and decided to make a pit-stop to refuel before I was thrust into another hoard of overzealous party goers.

"I'm just going to go grab something else to eat, I'll be right with you," I declared, gesturing towards the long table of various food items with a nod.

"No, rush," Lucy acknowledged, before pointing behind her to a table where I saw Tinsley was sat with a couple of other unfamiliar people, "We're sat over there."

Ugh, brilliant.

"Cool," I replied reluctantly, nodding to confirm that I'd heard her. Thankfully there wasn't much of a queue to the food, and I was left pretty much un-approached other than a couple of friendly smiles and waves. The fact that I'd kept my eyes mostly glued to the ground was most probably to thank for that.

I scanned the rather impressive spread with a careful eye, looking out for anything that looked meat-free. Nothing was labelled or had any allergen information, so I was going on face value alone. And by the looks of it, almost everything had some sort of meat product involved. Wow, these people do love their meat...

I eventually found myself at the end of the table with very little options left, and with a reluctant sigh I scooped up some of the dreaded potato salad that I had been so fervently warned against trying. Yvane had obviously tried to keep it away from the main food selection, as it had been placed in the corner and was covered with cling-film which I had to gingerly peel away with grimace. Are those raisins? Who puts raisins in a potato salad?

"...Why do you keep provoking him like that, Yvane? I've told you time and time again, you can't--" A hushed voice began nearby, momentarily halting my food expedition at the mention of the familiar name.

"-- Keep your voice down! You can't keep saying stuff like this, mom. What if people overhear?" Yvane interrupted with an equally as hushed yet sterner tone, both women not realising that someone was within earshot. I surreptitiously glanced in the direction of the voices and saw Yvane stood holding Grace behind the bouncy castle a few feet away, conversing rather seriously with an older woman who bore a striking resemblance to the doctor.

She was shorter and a tad rounder than Yvane with dark skin and short bleach blonde hair. I couldn't look for too long for fear of being caught, but from what I could tell she looked livid, "Then they'd understand. You need to be careful, Honey. What if he gets angry? What if he--?"

"--Mom, stop. We've talked about this. I'm his doctor and his friend," She interrupted, her tone firm yet distinctly annoyed, "You're being ridiculous."

I returned my attention back to the potato salad, trying my best to pull focus and not eavesdrop on Yvane and (evidently) her mother's conversation. I bit my lip as I returned the scoop to the bowl and re-covered it with cling film. Why do I keep walking in on people's private conversations?

"How can you say that? After everything you've seen?"

Yvane groaned audibly in annoyance, "Can we not, please? It's Grace's birthday. Just leave the man alone and go enjoy the party, before you say something you're just going to regret later on."

She walked off in my peripheral, and by the time I'd mustered up the courage to glance up fully, her mum had also disappeared back into the party. I was left alone to stew over what I'd overheard and as much as I tried not to be drawn in by such stupid things, I couldn't help but be intrigued about whom they were talking about. Did Yvane have a dodgy patient or something?

"Ooph!" A voice suddenly exclaimed from down by my feet, the sound causing me to shriek and jump back in surprise. Momentarily forgetting all about the gossip, I became transfixed as a small person tumbled out from beneath the table and came to a halted stop at my feet. I blinked in confusion and shook my head as I watched the small figure in disbelief. What the Hell?

Of all the things I could have imagined that would crawl out from beneath the tablecloth, I can honestly say that an astronaut wasn't even in my top ten of most likely possibilities. Heck, maybe even top fifty. Yet there it was-- tumbling out and struggling to get to its feet. I staggered back further in bewilderment as the helmeted spaceman fully crawled out, eventually stumbling to a stand and turning to finally acknowledge me.

"Oh, God," I muttered in surprise, watching as it straightened out its oversized helmet, "Hi."

"Hello," The astronaut greeted, "I'm Jimmy."

All of a sudden it clicked in my mind and actually began to make sense. This must be the galactic war attendee.

"Hi, Jimmy," I greeted in return, scanning the little boy who couldn't have been older than eight. He wore a pair of tan cargo shorts which hung just above his scrawny knees and a forest green t-shirt with a little embroidered rocket on his breast pocket. He had some pretty beat up canvas sneakers on his feet and most notably; a giant oversized astronaut helmet on his head, the glass so tinted you couldn't even see his face, "I'm Danny. I like your helmet."

"Thanks, my step-dad got it for me," He explained, as he turned and looked at the buffet table which had obviously been his intended target all along. There was something rather comical about how he had to stabilize the giant helmet as he turned, and as the little boy went on his tippy-toes to look at the available spread I smiled in amusement.

"Cool," I replied, thinking back to what my step-father gave me as a child, "My step-dad gave me trauma."

The little astronaut pulled back and cocked his head to the side in confusion, "What's trauma?"

"Nothing," I laughed, pleased with my own little dark humoured joke that I really shouldn't have told a kid in hindsight. Jimmy however seemed unfazed and shrugged it off, going back to his struggle with the buffet table and attempting to reach for one of the juice-boxes, "You need a hand?"

"No thanks. I'm playing hide and seek," He replied, his answer obviously enough of an explanation in his mind as he stretched his hand out and barely grazed his fingers against one of the many cartons of arranged kiddies grape juice.

I nodded and continued to watch in amusement, "Ah, you seeking or hiding?"

"Hiding," He grunted, "I just want some juice."

Eventually taking pity, I reached across with the intent to nudge the juice box just a tad closer to the little man so that it was within his reach, only to be stopped by a pretty firm protest, "No, I can get it!"

"You sure?" I asked, pulling away and raising one sceptical eyebrow as he continued to try and reach for his beverage. He made a confirming 'mm-hmm' noise and soldiered on, his determination commendable but ultimately detrimental to his juice box cause.

Comical as it was, it did reach the point where I began to pity the struggling little spaceman. As he was busy stretching out against the table, I amusedly leaned a hand against the table and waited for when he'd pull away. Subtly I tugged the paper table cloth just a tad closer, the results being that one of the cartons finally came within reach and he grabbed it with a triumphant exclaim, "See, I told you!"

"You did."

"I'm gonna go hide now," He declared, grabbing the juice box that I'd so graciously helped him obtain and turning away from the table in the direction of the bouncy castle none the wiser, "Bye."

I involuntarily laughed at the kid, watching in amusement as he wondered off in a world of his own, "Bye, nice to meet you Jimmy."

Shaking my head, I finished off my plate and looked down at the rather sad selection of corn, potato salad and ready salted crisps that stared back at me. Sighing loudly in defeat, I grabbed a glass of lemonade from one of the jugs that had been put out and made my way back towards Lucy. It didn't take long for me to find her and Tinsley sat alone at the end of the table, both on their phones and blatantly ignoring each other.

Oh, God. Here we go...

"Hey, I'm back," I announced once I was within earshot, putting down my plate across from where Lucy sat with a tight smile.

"Oh, hey! Get anything good?" She replied, putting away her phone the moment I appeared. I smiled and sat down, deliberately avoiding eye contact with Tinsley as I honestly wasn't sure how I was going to react. On the one side, her whistle-blowing was the reason I was even able to leave the house in the first place, but I highly doubt her intentions were to obtain my freedom in doing so. Something in my gut told me to keep her at an arm's length for now, and as a result my attitude had definitely soured towards her.

"Yeah, it's quite the spread," I lied.

She scanned my plate of food in interest before unsubtly grimacing, looking up sceptically at my tight smile to which I just shrugged in return. She pursed her lips but said nothing more about it, instead turning her attention to below the table and smiling approvingly, "I'm a fan of the shoe change."

"Oh, well thanking you," I replied, lifting my foot to the side and rolling my ankle as to show off the tortoise shell pattern in its full glory.

"Okay, be honest. How much was this pair?" Tinsley suddenly interjected, an overly exerted smile stretched across her face. My eye twitched slightly as I turned to finally look at the attractive woman in front of me. She waited for an answer expectantly, the smile not quite reaching her eyes as she didn't even bother to put away her phone. Butter wouldn't melt at the equally as passive aggressive smile I sent back, as I looked back down at my shoes admiringly.

"These weren't that bad, they were on sale," I waved off, deciding to keep pleasantries for now to save face.

"How much?" She repeated, her smile still plastered in place.

"... About: two sixty-ish?" I eventually admitted after a moment's thought, the responding eye bulges from both blondes taking me by surprise, "What? No! Come on, that's really good. These are YSL."

"FML more like," Lucy muttered, before sighing and shaking her head, "You have more money than sense woman."

"But they're so cute..." I pouted, looking down and admiring my modest purchase.

"Hey guys, mind if I join you?" An excitable voice suddenly cut in as a new member sat down next to Lucy with a plate of food in hand, "I want to meet this mysterious millionaire."

She was a young, strikingly pretty South-East Asian girl who couldn't have been older than twenty. She had short dark hair and a distinctively more alternative style to her peers', with multiple piercing in her ears and nose which complimented her notably darker in palette fashion sense.

"Danny, this is Frankie Yun. Her family own a couple of restaurants in town," Lucy introduced, smiling warmly at our new table buddy.

Frankie reached across the table and held her hand out to shake, her nails painted black and almost each finger adorning a silver ring of some variation, "Hi, nice to meet you."

"You too," I replied, taking her hand and shaking it firmly with a polite smile. I took what I could make of her outfit and admired the oversized black jacket she had on, "I like your jacket."

"Thanks, I like your shoes," She returned without missing a beat, nodding down to my feet approvingly before sitting back down in her seat, "Wow, potato salad. You're brave."

I laughed awkwardly and grimaced as she noted my rather beige lunch, "Yeah, bit of a limited menu for the veggies."

"Oh, well if you don't mind a bit of heat you should try the tteokbokki my mom made. It's at the end in a red dish-- It's like spicy rice cakes with cheese," She recommend, piercing cylindrical cake covered in orange sauce on her plate for emphasis, lifting it up to show before popping it into her mouth, "No meat and its delicious."

"No shit," I noted in genuine interest, cursing that I'd missed the dish whilst I was at the buffet. The idea of cheese and spice was a lot more appealing that what was currently on my plate, "I'll give it a go next time I'm up, thanks."

We continued chatting for a bit, and I found myself actually getting on with Frankie quite well. The three of us fell into comfortable conversation, and Christmas Tree thankfully went back to texting with no arguments from me.

"So where are you from, Dan? I like your accent," Frankie eventually asked, popping another rice cake in her mouth as I finished chewing my last bite of corn.

I swallowed and took a sip of lemonade to wash it down, "England."

She lit up at my response, "Oh cool! I have a friend in London; you might know her-- Margaret Ahn?"

I didn't have the heart to tell her that I'd never even lived anywhere near London, let alone knew more than a handful of its inhabitants. The town I'd grown up in was actually a six hour train journey away from the capital, in a town called Falmouth on the Cornwall coast. So I politely replied with a small amount of amusement, "Um, doesn't ring a bell. Sorry."

"Shame, she's lovely," She replied earnestly, which made me glad that I'd pandered to her London fantasies just from how genuinely sweet she seemed, "So what brings you to the US?"

"Work," I replied, popping a salted crisp into my mouth as I leant my elbows against the table, "My mum is American. So I thought I'd make the most of that dual citizenship, you know?"

"No way! So you can just, go back and forth like whenever?" She asked in awe, her mouth open in disbelief before a large beaming smile took over, "That's awesome."

"Yeah, it's pretty cool," I agreed, smiling at her enthusiasm for my immigration status, "I actually live in New York."

She leaned further forward in interest, "Oh, is that where you met Chris?"

"Y-yeah," I replied, my smile faltering as I thought back to Chris and I's introduction for the first time in a while. The alleyway where I had ran into Rover felt so long ago, but I still caught myself grimacing at the memory. At the back of my mind I felt a small, rising sense of hesitancy for where the conversation was going, "Yeah, it is."

"... So?" She pressed expectantly, her eyebrows raised with a small, wry smile on her lips, "How'd you meet?"

Suddenly, I felt all eyes on me as the three women looked up expectantly for an answer. Even Tinsley had pried her eyes away from her phone in interest. I silently gulped as I tried to think of what to say, debating whether or not to divulge into the mistaken mugging story or not. As absurd as it was, I felt embarrassed. That day had been a low for me, and I wasn't entirely sure whether or not I wanted to admit to it.

Yes, of course it was terrifying. It had been my first introduction to the supernatural and I'd reacted in my mind as any sane person would. However, that didn't make it any less embarrassing to discuss in hindsight.

Staring back for a moment in nervousness, I finally managed an awkward chuckle and tried to blag my way out, "It's kind of a long story."

"Oh, come on. Please?" She begged, drawing out the please as a child would which highlighted how young she actually was.

I felt my mouth open and close slightly in a grimace as I debated whether or not to tell her the truth. Eventually, the pressure of their gazes became a tad too much as I reluctantly muttered, "... I kind of broke his nose."

"No!" Frankie gasped, straightening in her seat at the same time Lucy chocked slightly on her drink and coughed out, "You did?"

I bit my lip and awkwardly replied, "Yeah..."

There was a pregnant pause as the ladies absorbed what I'd told them, my eyes scanning their shocked expressions nervously as I waited for a response. Again, the growing sense of embarrassment continued to crawl up my body. Nobody wants to admit to someone that they punched their brother...

"That's hilarious," Lucy eventually got out, blinking through her shock with raised eyebrows and wide eyes as she began to laugh, "I had no idea, Holy Crap! How did I not know that?"

"Now, that's a story!" Frankie agreed, chuckling in almost disbelief as she relaxed her posture and went back to leaning against the tabletop. Tinsley turned back to her phone silently wide-eyed, the response of the table allowing me to release a breath I didn't know I was holding. Watching the two women continue to crack up, I couldn't help but let a small smile tug on the corners of my mouth before Frankie unceremoniously added, "Ugh, I do love an 'enemies to lovers' arch."

What?

It was as if a cold bucket of water was thrown over me as Frankie sighed out such a flippant comment after a moment more of laughter. My smile quickly disappeared as I straightened out in my seat in panic.

"Wow, hey. We're not lovers," I quickly corrected, locking eye contact with her as to convey how serious I was, "We tolerate each other at best. I'm just here for a little bit whilst we figure some stuff out. That's all."

Her smile also dropped in apparent confusion, her eyebrows furrowing together as she cocked her head to the side and asked, "Then, what were you doing sneaking around in the bathroom earlier?"

I hate you, Mrs Morris.

Lucy turned to her in confusion, "Bathroom?"

I opened my mouth to hastily reply with even wider eyes but was beat to it by Frankie replying, "Yeah, Mrs Morris caught them like making out in the downstairs bathroom. Didn't you hear?"

My jaw just fell to the floor at that point.

"What?!" Lucy, Tinsley and I cried simultaneously, all eyes suddenly on me as the entire table turned to look expectantly for my explanation.

"I thought you said you and Chris weren't a thing?" Tinsley asked with narrowed accusing eyes.

"Wow, wow, wow-- hold up!" I argued, putting both palms down on the table and looking at Frankie pointedly, "We were not making out in the bathroom, this is--"

Frankie brought up her shoulders as if to shrug and brought both hands up in defence, "--Okay, maybe not making out. But Mrs Morris said they were all over each other--"

"--No, we weren't! We weren't even touching, we were literally talking and she barged in," I cried, my voice just a tad too shrill to be considered calm at that point. I cursed the old crone for her gossiping, vowing to have a word with her later about how inappropriate this was.

"Seriously?"

"Yes!" I repeated, pressing my argument to clear my name.

There was another pause before Frankie clicked her tongue disappointedly, "Ugh, well that's boring."

With a shake of the head I practically deflated back into my seat, the feeling of Tinsley's eyes burrowing into the side of my skull almost tipping me over the edge, "So you and Christopher aren't getting together?"

"Jesus Christ-- no!" I exclaimed for what felt like the umpteenth time, my annoyance building to the point of anger as I threw my hands in the air in frustration, "How many times have I got to say it? I don't like Chris!"

A familiar masculine voice suddenly cleared his through behind me, the sound causing me to freeze in place and grimace in disdain. I closed my eyes and cursed at how quickly the conversation was turning into shit city, taking a moment to gather my thoughts and control my anger as Rover asked, "You good?"

"I--" I began, biting back my frustration before turning to finally acknowledge him, "Yeah, sorry. I'm fine. What's up?"

He smiled down politely which didn't quite reach his eyes, "Can I borrow you for a sec?"

Looking for any excuse for the ground to swallow me up whole and take me away from this table, I obliged after a moment of hesitancy with a tight smile on my face, "Sure."

Getting up, I stepped out of the bench and waited for Chris to lead the way, spotting Frankie in my peripheral making not too subtle suggestive faces behind our backs. Narrowing my eyes, I turned and leaned in with a pointed finger before quietly declaring, "I take it back, I hate your jacket."

"No take-zee back-zees," She replied smiling without a beat, blowing me a kiss as I stuck my tongue out childishly and swiftly turned to follow Chris who'd already begun walking away. Thankfully, getting away from the table really helped bring my anger under control, and by the time we were a decent distance away just outside the crowd, I was calm enough to take a deep breath and deal with whatever Chris was going to throw my way, "... What's up?"

"Nothing, you just looked like you were ready to punch someone," He shrugged, picking up a plate of food from the buffet table that he'd seemingly left behind to come and find me.

My face fell in distaste, "Charming."

"I'm serious. What got you so worked up?" He asked light-heartedly, listening expectantly in what seemed like genuine concern. I scanned his face to look for any sign of mockery only to come up short. It took a moment of debate, but I eventually decided that it was more trouble than it was worth to bring up the Mrs Morris gossip and sighed in defeat.

"You know what? I don't even want to talk about it," I defeated, breaking eye contact and waving it off. I crossed my arms and felt my eyes begin to wonder into the crowd, spotting a familiar duo conversing a ways down the garden and without thinking blurting out, "Hey, who's that woman talking to Yvane?"

Turning in curiosity to my request, it took a moment for him to find who I was referring to, "Err, that's... her mom. Mrs Wilson."

"Oh..." I mumbled, already knowing the answer but still feeling the need to confirm it for whatever reason.

He turned back with a slightly puzzled look, "Why? What's she said?"

"No, nothing," I replied truthfully, shaking my head and returning my attention to him, "It's just... getting weird vibes, you know?"

"Weird vibes?" He chuckled with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, Christopher. Weird vibes," I repeated, fully intending to elaborate further before all arguments became lodged in my throat as I finally noticed his overflowing plate of food, "I -- Oh my god, have you ever heard of portion sizes?"

He seemed taken back at my sudden tonal change, turning his attention down to his plate with furrowed eyebrows, "What about them?"

"Rover, you've got half a dead cow on your plate. Think of you cholesterol!" I scolded, staring at the unappetising pile of food in his hand. I'll be the first to admit that meat can look and often taste delicious at times, but the miscellaneous pile of blood and barbequed carcass in front of me was probably one of the most unappetizing things I'd ever seen. Like a cardiac arrest ready to happen.

"It's not that bad."

"Trust me, yes it is," I countered, pointing down to his plate to make a point, "Show me one thing in that mountain that isn't meat."

He rolled his eyes, taking a moment to scan the pile before smirking slightly and pointing amusedly at the tiny wooden skewer that was pierced through one of his cocktail sausages.

"That's a tooth pick," I replied deadpanned, a small smile eventually tugging at the corners of my mouth at his lame joke that he knew he'd lost, "You're going to have a heart-attack and die young."

"Oh, come on, English," He chuckled light-heartedly as I shook my head, "I'm barely thirty. I don't think I should be worrying about my cholesterol just yet."

"Yeah, well I--"

Mid way through my sarcastic rebuttal, I was cut across by the sudden and sharp distant sounds of screaming. The party chatter began to die, as unlike the continuous screeches of delight and laughter that had filled the back yard all afternoon; these screams were distinctly fearful and were emanating from the forest that lay just beyond the garden.

Are those children?

Everyone seem to almost freeze in place as a blanket of frightened silence fell across the crowd, all heads turning to the direction of the dense forest with bated breath. For a moment nobody could react, and we all stared at the tree-line with wide eyes and heavy chests as the party music continued to play in the background. It was as if every part- goer was debating internally whether or not what we'd heard what we had, but when another set of terrified screams pierced the air for a second time, everyone's worse fears were confirmed.

"Oh my God, that's Michael!" A woman suddenly cried from amongst the crowd, several eyes now whipping to her panicked form as she began pushing her way through the party and taking off towards the screams, "Michael!"

I watched wide eyed as parents began looking for their children; another layer of uneasiness settling in once you took into account that there was definitely more than one scream coming from what sounded like a fair bit into the woods.

"Jimmy? Jimmy?" A loud, panicked Hannah began to cry, my heart doing a small summersault in my chest at the sound. I hurriedly scanned the crowd of panicked faces until I found both her and Joel frantically searching by the gazebo, "Jimmy?!"

"Oh no," I muttered in dread, the heavy feeling in my chest worsening as I also began hurriedly scanning the party for the little astronaut but came up short. I watched as whom I presumed was Michael's mother quickly grabbed Hannah's arm whilst running past, both women disappearing into the woods shouting for their children with Joel quickly following. As suddenly as the screams had begun, they fell to nothing after only a few seconds. However, the sheer terror alone was enough to shake the air even after they'd diminished. A low growl erupted from the man in front of me, my eyes snapping to the back of his head in response. What in the...?

"Stay here."

I stepped forward in protest as he dumped his plate onto the nearby table and began making his way towards the forest, "Chris--"

"Stay, Danny. I'm serious," He ordered, his tone so stern it stopped me hesitantly in my tracks. He picked up his pace and joined a large group of men that hurriedly descended into the woods, disappearing and leaving the rest of us behind. They began to call for the children, but their shouts eventually drifted into silence as they were too far away to be heard; the party music still playing eerily in the background.

"R-Right everyone! I think...I think it best if we all went home now. Alpha-- C-chris has gone to sort it out," Yvane eventually declared worriedly, taking Grace from her mother's arms and cradling her protectively to her chest. Everyone rather reluctantly agreed, the looming threat of their children ending up like Jimmy and Michael being too much of a chance to take.

Eventually the party goers had trickled out, leaving behind the large garden in an eerie state of disarray. Half eaten plates of food and drinks littered the tables, the barbeque still lit but unmanned as the massive array of meats began to slowly burn. Music was still playing from the speakers that had been dotted around the area and balloons which had become loose from their restraints were now strewn randomly across the lawn.

Shakily, I made my way towards the grill and turned off the gas as to not cause a fire, Lucy having figured out the sound system in the meantime. Once the music had been disconnected, the silence was almost worse as it was one of the heaviest I'd ever experienced. Not an animal or a bird could be heard from the dense forest, and even the breeze that had been gently blowing through the garden all afternoon had all but disappeared; leaving everything unnaturally still for several seconds at a time.

We both returned to the middle of the yard to where Frankie was stood, my new acquaintance having obviously decided to stay behind and not join the crowd. She anxiously chewed her nails but watched the tree line diligently; Lucy and I coming to a stop and joining her.

"I babysat Michael for years... What do you think happened?" She asked quietly, as shaken from the screams as we were.

"I don't know..." I trailed off, the forest looking much darker and gloomier than it had in previous days. I sighed and lost patience with the situation, Chris' command from earlier not making enough sense in my mind, "We should be out there helping."

"That forest is huge, we'd only get lost," Yvane suddenly contributed, returning from seeing off the guests. She'd given Grace to her mother to take back home, and so the only people left at the house to my knowledge were the four of us, "Have they found them?"

"Not yet, they're still looking," Frankie answered, not taking her eyes away from the trees.

I turned to her in confusion, "How can you tell?"

"Telepathy-- all shifters have it," She replied, tapping the side of her head for emphasis but not breaking concentration.

"Right," I blinked, suddenly reminded that the people stood with me weren't exactly human, "Forgot about that bit."

I crossed the my arms and continued to watch anxiously, keeping an eye out for any of the kids just in case they stumbled back into the clearing looking to get back to the party. I chewed on my lip and glanced up at the trio who were with me, Lucy seemingly as lost as I was. Yvane and Frankie continued to focus in on the trees, and after a moment; they both breathed a small sigh of relief and blinked back into reality for a moment.

"Oh, thank God," Yvane muttered, placing a hand on Lucy's shoulder but keeping her eyes ahead with a furrowed brow of worry, "Is he okay?"

I looked at her expectantly, "What happened?"

"They found Michael," Frankie replied in relief instead, "He's okay...Cuts and bruises."

"And Jimmy?" I asked, not allowing myself to be too relieved as the little astronaut was still lost.

She shook her head, all the happiness and excitement that was earlier such a prominent part of her personality now transformed into fear and worry, "...No sign of him."

I should be out there. I should be helping.

"What shook them up in the first place?" Lucy asked, looking with concern over the tree tops. That thought had been swimming around in my mind as well, thinking that maybe they'd ran into a bear or something whilst playing, "Rouges?"

"... No, definitely not Rogues," Yvane replied, grimacing as she squeezed Lucy's shoulder in both worry and slight frustration, "Michael's gone into shock so they can't get anything out of him."

Rouges?

Before I could even open my mouth to question them further, Frankie only a moment later began to sniff the air a tad more aggressively, her nose scrunching up in distaste after a few whiffs, "Do you smell that?"

As if off on cue, all three of us took a large intake of breath through our noses, nothing but burnt barbeque and sickly sweet birthday cake filling my nostrils. I tried again a few times but found nothing new or out of the ordinary, turning to watch the rest of their reactions to see if I was missing something. In the back of my mind I recalled how they said they had a pretty good sense of smell. Like dogs, I remember thinking. And obviously they'd smelt something more than I had as they all looked at the tree line with confused grimaces, "What is that?"

"Why? What do you smell?" I asked, still trying to get past the potent barrier of the barbeque alone.

"I don't know..." Frankie replied vaguely, either to my or Lucy's remark. A few second passed, and her eyebrows furrowed even further as she quietly uttered, "... There's something out there."

I silently gulped as I turned to look back at the tree line in an almost warped sense of anticipation, the stillness and quietness seeming so much more unnatural than before. The more I stared the darker the trees seemed to become, and the longer I watched the more the air began to grow tighter and tighter in silent anticipation; as if something was about to happen.

And boy, was I right.

Standing with bated breath for a few seconds longer, it was as if the forest knew we were waiting as an unearthly sound suddenly screamed from deep inside the forest, causing us all to jump in fright. It was the loudest sound I'd ever heard in my life, louder than any gun I'd ever shot and ten times the volume of the initial screams that had alerted us in the first place. It pierced the air with what sounded like hundreds of shrill screams, the sharpness of it enough to cause me to throw my hands over my ears and squeeze them tight in an attempt to muffle the pitch. It was the most frightening noise I'd heard to date, and after only a few seconds of the ungodly scream it died as quickly as it had arrived; my ears still reverberating from the sudden assault.

"What the Hell was that?!" Lucy cried grasping onto Yvane's arm for dear life as all three women stared in pure fear with mirrored stances of hands over their ears. Yvane was physically shaking and Frankie looked to be at the brink of tears, but that god awful noise which would haunt my dreams for years to come became the trigger that was so desperately needed as I began to stumble backwards.

"F**k this..." I muttered, swallowing multiple times in an attempt to alleviate the ringing in my ears as I turned to hastily make my way back up the garden.

"Danny? Danny, where are you going?" I vaguely heard Lucy begin to cry as I hurriedly made my way towards the house and away from the trees, not even glancing back to the trio as I broke out into a run towards the stairs, "Danny!"

I didn't care if they followed, instead concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other as I whipped up the stairs as quickly as I physically could. I landed on the porch and within a second had entered the kitchen and made my way towards the front door; barely acknowledging the disarray of food and scattered dishes as I passed.

Once in the entry-hall, I beelined past the door to use the staircase banister for momentum and haul myself up the second floor as quickly as I could; taking three or even four steps at a time in some cases. I reached the landing in under five steps and almost threw myself into my bedroom a few doors down, the door banging loudly against the wall as I clambered inside and went straight for the cupboard where I knew I'd stashed it; hauling massive storage boxes aside and chucking out two heavy blankets before finally finding the bag I was looking for.

By the time I'd re-emerged into the garden with my bow in hand, the trio were stumbling back towards the house in panic-- Lucy being the first to spot me with a shriek of surprise at my weapon in hand, "Jesus Christ, Dan!"

"Danny, what the Hell is that?! Where did you get a bow?" Yvane cried in disbelief, all three of them pausing in their tracks as I finally reached the bottom of the stairs and began jogging down the garden back in the direction of the trees.

"You're like dogs, right?" I asked urgently, completely ignoring their questions as I continued down the garden.

"What?"

I paused and turn to look back at them impatiently, knowing that every second we stood here was one less second where we could be helping to find Jimmy, "You any good at tracking?"

"I mean..." Frankie replied hesitantly, turning to glance at Yvane and Lucy, "I guess?"

"Danny, you can't Chris will--" Yvane began, before I cut her off.

"Right now, I don't give a damn what Chris will do. There is a kid out there with God knows what, and I am not standing by like a good little woman without at least trying to help," I declared, before pointing at Frankie and asking, "Could you find them? The group?"

The young girl visibly gulped, biting her lip momentarily as she once again looked to Lucy and Yvane before eventually admitting, "...Yeah-- Yeah I think so."

"Great, lead the way," I nodded, once again turning on my heels and starting back towards the tree line with Frankie now close on my heels.

"Wait, you can't just go!" Yvane cried, beginning to follow us into the trees.

"Yvane, get whatever you need ready. I doubt those kids were screaming that loudly because they just saw something. If they're hurt they're going to need you to be ready, okay?" I called over my shoulder, now only a few feet away from breaking through the tree line. I adjusted the strap of my quiver and in the process pulled out an arrow ready, clipping it into the bowstring but keeping it low to the ground, "Lucy, stay here and help her!"

"But--"

Whipping around just before we reached the forest, I locked eyes with Yvane who was stood a few feet away before stumbling to a stop, "Yvane, I've got this. Trust me."

She stared back in frustration and fear as her eyebrows furrowed and her lips pursed, Lucy stood just behind her with a purely frightened expression on her face. It took a moment, but she must've decided that I was telling the truth as she reluctantly nodded,"... You come back to me, you hear?"

Offering a weak (even by my standards attempt) of a reassuring smile, I turned back on my heel and motioned for Frankie to follow, stepping into the undergrowth and finally entering the dense woods for the first time. I kept my bow low but ready, as the moment we were a few paces deeper into the woodland it was obvious that something wasn't quite right.

It was too quiet.

There was no breeze or birdsong or even insect noise. If we'd thought it was silent back at the garden, it was nothing compared to how wrong it felt inside the forest. And I had a feeling whatever had caused those unearthly screams were the cause of it.

"This way," Frankie lowly directed, taking the lead with a surprising amount of bravery as we ventured deeper and deeper into the forest. I relied purely on her from then on, ducking beneath low hanging branches and stepping over exposed roots as we made our way through. At some point I glanced behind us to find that the garden was completely out of view, with only dense trees stretching out for as far as I could see. I absentmindedly agreed with Yvane's earlier point of how easy it would be to get lost in here; and thanked the fact that Frankie was with me as a guide, otherwise I'm pretty sure there would've been no hope of me finding my way back.

"Anything?" I asked after a few minutes of brisk walking, catching her up as she slowed down her pace. I was slightly out of breath but not by too much, the adrenaline keeping me focused as I made a point of keeping an eye out for any potential threats.

"The scents stronger, but they're blocking me out..." She trailed off, sniffing lightly at the air. She had the same focused look she'd had with her telepathic episode in the garden, but this time she seemed a tad more confused as she gathered her bearings, "Come on."

She motioned for me to follow and we began to jog north. I was yet to see any movement other than our own, let alone whatever had made that dreadful noise earlier. Never the less I continued to diligently keep an eye out, both of us wondering around for a few more minutes before I suddenly bumped into her paused figure, "Listen."

Complying, I tried to focus my hearing and listened out for whatever Frankie was talking about. I couldn't see her face, but she waved for me to follow slowly once again as we began walking towards a particularly dense part of underbrush. The closer we got, the louder I began to hear what Frankie was talking about.

Oh, and how wrong I wished I was.

We broke through the undergrowth and remerged into a large clearing, the group of men who'd left to go search for the children all stood just a few feet inside the tree line to our right-- Chris included. They were all silent, faces varying from horror to anguish as they all stared at something in the middle of the clearing a good ways away. I straightened myself out and had my bow ready, following the sounds of sobbing as I took a few steps forward with Frankie following closely behind, the back of her hand pressed to her nose in disgust.

Hannah, who had earlier been full of nothing but flirty smiles and mischievous jokes, was now collapsed to her knees in front of the group; Joel right behind her with his arms wrapped around her sobbing figure with tears running down his face. They were both staring in the same direction as the men, and following their gazes, I finally came across the ghastly sight that had caused so much heartbreak and would scar me for the rest of my days.

In the middle of the clearing, about a hundred feet away, was a small, gaunt figure. It had long, greasy matted black hair and pale, almost translucent paper thin skin. It was a diminutive thing, with the size and posture of a chimp. But it had claws that stretched as fingers would, which were currently ripping out various pieces of flesh and intestine from the small mangled body beneath it and bringing them to its gnarled mouth.

The body with the helmet still secured to his head.

I felt my stomach drop as I watched the scene in front of me with warped morbid focus, unable to look away as I felt my skin begin to crawl with an amount of unease I hadn't felt since being in an active warzone. I somehow managed to hold back vomit; not many from the group were so lucky.

"Oh, my God," I muttered in horror, Frankie gasping loudly and throwing her hands over her mouth in dismay once she saw it.

The whisper that escaped her lips was so quiet that I could barely hear it. But after a few seconds of processing and putting the pieces together, a violent shiver went up my spine to a degree that I'd never felt before.

Suddenly, everything in my world shifted to a degree that I never thought was possible. It was as if in that second, everything supernatural that had ever been a doubt in my mind became real. The situation I was in with Christopher become real. Any worry of the danger I was in became real. The minute that whisper came out of her mouth, my perception of Earth changed forever, and I would never be able to go back.

"Banshee."