K A D E N

"What's this?" Sam picked up the flyer I'd discarded on the table a while ago.

"Elsa gave it to me. Some festival going on." I murmured, distracted by the sketches I'd done over the last few days. They were scribbled all over my notes.

"There are some pretty cool artists here." I looked up to see Sam pointing at a list of tiny script.

"Don't get your hopes up. Tomorrow's the last day."

"And we're going, right?"

I raised a brow. "We?"

"Well, I need someone to drive me there." He stated as if it was obvious.

"Since when was I your personal chauffeur?"

"Oh come on!" He exclaimed. "What's wrong with doing something fun for once?"

I narrowed my eyes at him but he still kept talking.

"Man, you don't do anything. I mean you have this awesome place all to yourself and you still haven't held a party." He said more to himself since I was unaffected by his words.

"Still no." I deadpanned.

"How far up exactly is that stick in your arse?"

"Right." I declared, jumping up and pulling off my shirt.

"Dude." Sam cried out with alarm. "I know I'm irresistible but I'm totally straight."

"I'm not gay you idiot." I pulled on my grey hoodie from the arm of the couch and quickly ran upstairs to grab my bag. "Come on."

"What? It's two in the morning and you want to go out?" He pointing out the window. And it was true, the sky was still dark outside but it wouldn't be for long.

"Fine, stay here." I turned on my heel and after a while, I heard him exhale with his footsteps following mine.

"It's two a.m man." Sam groaned out loud making me roll my eyes at his dramatic tone.

"Why are you even here in the first place if you keep complaining? Does your gran know you're here?"

"I was bored at home. And I left her a note." He huffed out and then with less conviction, "Where are we going?"

I started the engine of the car and flashed him a smirk. "Wait and see."

Sam's complaining subsided for the fifteen minute drive we took to where I wanted to go and it was a nice change. Kind of unusual but nice still.

When he slammed the car door shut and jumped out, he squinted into the distance with his jaw open. "You're kidding."

"Am I?" I slung my bag over my side, the cans inside making a rattling noise. If Sam thought I was uptight then he was going to be proven wrong.

We found a spot in the deserted area. The crumbling buildings our canvas and the night our cloak. Sam was a little shocked at first but he soon regained his composure and caught one of the spray cans I tossed his way.

"I've never done this before."

"Good." I said. "First time to try something new."

"Isn't this like vandalism?"

I arched both arms on either side of me. "No one here to tell us so."

He grinned at that, accepting my logic and held the nozzle up to the wall. His finger was hesitant as it pressed down and produced a yellow spray. It dripped down the wall and he made a few more wobbly lines before standing back up to assess his work.

"What's that supposed to be?"

"A smiley face?" He said uncertainly. The yellow smudge looked like puke if I was completely honest but I didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"Practice makes perfect."

He snorted in disagreement and turned to my side of the wall in mild appreciation. "I see you've done this before."

"Once or twice." I admitted.

"So what, you're a pessimist by day, vandal at night?"

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you." I joked but then turned serious. "I come here when I can't sleep." Which was almost every day but he didn't need to know that.

"Why can't you?" The question was innocent enough but it was one that I'd never been asked before. I'd kept my insomnia hidden for so long that now I didn't know how to explain my condition.

"I just can't." I said lamely.

"What do you mean you can't?"

Running a hand through my hair I lowered myself onto the ground, kicking away empty cans with my foot. "I have nightmares."

"Like what?"

I contemplated whether to tell him or not and decided against it. Instead, I came up with a generic response. "People."

"Are you scared of them? The people."

"Sometimes." I shrugged, wondering if Sam and I would be friends if he knew the real reason behind my insomnia. But to be on the safe side I didn't plan on telling him. It was better this way. "It's random most of the time."

"Interesting."

"Okay stop. This is becoming too much like a therapy session." This was probably the most I'd confided in someone about myself since coming back. It was a strange feeling-having someone listening to what I had to say but I'd never have expected that person to be Sam.

"Gross." A look of disgust crossed his features. "I'm turning into you."

I laughed, shaking my head. "You wish you were as awesome as me."

"Please. It's my awesomeness that's rubbing off you."

"Whatever bloats your goat."

"The term is 'floats your boat'." He corrected.

"Where's the fun in that?" I dismissed his remarks with a wave of my hand, using the other to toss him a spray can with a grin. "Now, finish off mutilating that smiley face before we get caught."

-

Sam stayed over that day. Once we'd come back from our little trip, he all but collapsed onto the couch. Not feeling the slightest bit tired myself, I pulled a blanket over him and settled onto the floor with my fruit bowl full of apples and the work I had to do for the next day.

The living room was clear now after I'd tidied up the day before. The coffee table had four legs once again instead of three but it was leaning more towards the crooked side. I made careful to avoid my beanbag which I knew I should've thrown away but still keep for some unknown reason. The fabric had been badly stitched together from some needle and thread my mom had stored in one of my bags.

As for the apples, there were still five left in the fruit bowl and it wouldn't be long till they began to go bad. So I set myself up with the task of finishing them off, hating wasting food so I couldn't just chuck them away. I thought it would've been fine since I had Sam and what with his eating habits, I'd assumed they'd have been finished already but apparently he doesn't like the green apples.

I tried again when he woke up to go to school, casually tossing one into his bag when he wasn't looking. He came back from the bathroom and five minutes later discovered the fruit. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"What?"

"You put this in my bag didn't you?" I said nothing. "Did you get enough sleep?"

"I don't know how that got there." I lied, grabbing the apple from his hand and biting it. "Come on, we're going to be late."

Sam was right about one thing and it was that I hadn't got enough sleep. More than once I felt him kick my shin when we'd stopped for too long at a red light. When he'd done it for the third time, I snapped at him. "Stop it."

"I actually want to get to school without, you know, dying." He stressed.

"No one said I had to drive you there." I grumbled under my breath, not bothering if he heard.

"I heard that."

"Whatever."

We miraculously arrived at school in one piece even with my groggy driving. I sat in my seat even as Sam got out, blinking rapidly and trying to keep my head upright. Too focused on staying in a verticle position, I didn't notice Detective Johnson until he was right next to my car.

He'd been hanging around school a lot these past few days. I knew he was doing talks with the freshmen about keeping safe and whatnot, and I'd expected him to be gone after that but he wasn't. A part of me thought he was here to grill me some more about my past or what I knew about Dante but that was all due to my overwhelming paranoia.

"Sam." The Detective came up to us and did a hand clap fist bump thing with him.

I looked at the two of them in confusion. "You two know each other?"

"Yeah, man." Sam shot me a proud smile, the same he'd done that first day we talked in the Blitz. "This is my older brother, Callum."

I kept a blank face but inside I was beginning to join the dots. Johnson, Detective Johnson. It had been staring at me right in the face and I hadn't noticed.

"Cal, this is Kaden." He introduced with an excited look on his face. Like when you want someone to get along and like the other person.

"We've already met." Callum said but raised a hand nonetheless. "Good to see you again."

I pursed my lips but said nothing, briefly shaking his hand. I didn't know how this was going to affect things and honestly, I didn't want to know. He turned to his younger brother. "I'm going to be late home so tell Gran not to wait up, alright?"

Sam nodded, swinging his bag over his shoulder and looked at me. "You coming?"

"I just need to talk to Kaden for a second. You go on ahead." Callum cut in before I could reply.

It just then occurred to me last night's event. I'd taken a cop's younger brother out to vandalise a run down estate. I didn't think he would be too happy to hear about that. Then another thought occurred to me. Sam had asked me a lot of questions last night so did that mean someone had put him up to it? Maybe the detective knew more about me than he let on.

"Is there anything you need." I turned to the young man with a blank expression, still conflicted on what to think about Sam now I knew about his relation to him.

"I was wondering if you'd thought about what I'd said last time."

"I have nothing to say." I dug my nails into my palms, hating having to lie the way I was. It would be so easy to blurt everything out but I knew the consequences that followed would be anything but relieving.

"Very well." He said, stepping aside to let me pass. It surprised me how easily he had too. My suspicions intensified after that as did my sour mood.

The high point was when I opened my locker and found something taped inside of it. Ripping off the tape, a necklace fell into my palm. It was one I recognised with a silver chain and key hanging on the end of it.

I knew of a tattoo similar to it.

My heart went into overdrive as I searched my locker for anything else-a note or something to explain why the necklace was there in the first place but I came up with nothing. So I tried my classes, then the attendance office and even Elsa couldn't give me an answer.

There was no sign of Phoenix. And I remembered what Dante had said a couple nights ago.

You'll know when I'm threatening you.

-

I ended up driving Sam to the festival. I thought about my suspicions about him all day and finally came to the conclusion that Sam simply wasn't capable of being a spy. As harsh as that may have sounded, it brought me immense relief.

Sam wasn't the only one with me that day. Noah had decided to tag along too and I was much too distracted to object otherwise. A cup of my coffee sat between my thighs as I squinted at the screen of my GPS for the location of this place. I relied more on my hearing skills as the monotonous voice told me to turn left. It didn't help that Sam and Noah were bickering in the back seats.

"Are you even human?" Sam waved his hand back and forth in front of his eyes as he'd had his eyes trained on the book in front of him the whole time.

"Are you always this annoying?" Noah retaliated without looking up.

"I'm not annoying."

"Back me up here, Kaden."

I shook my head laughing. "I'm not getting involved with you two."

Their squabbling continued until I parked in the lot just a corner from where the festival was going on. The sky was dark even though it had barely reached eight. I shoved my hands deeper into my jacket pockets as we walked the short distance. Soon our footfalls were drowned out, the noise getting louder the closer we got. We paid the entrance fee despite it just being out in an open area and anyone could sneakily get in.

"You ever been to one of these before?" Noah's eyes roamed over the multiple tents dotted around the space and the stage cordoned off to one side from everyone else.

"A couple." I had gone to a few concerts in the past with Jane. That felt like a lifetime ago.

"I think that's Chloe." Sam pointed into the distance. I squinted at the direction but couldn't make out anything more than blurry shapes. And I just so happened to forget my glasses in the car. Too lazy to go back and retrieve them, I followed the pair as we weaved in and out of the tents and stopped at a blanket spread across the grass.

"Hey, guys." Chloe said with a smile once she'd noticed us.

Before any of us could reply, Elsa came bounding out, a camera dangling around her neck and Jay trailing not too far behind her. "You made it." She beamed. "Who's your friend, Kaden?"

"Noah." Noah said smiling and extending his hand.

The formality was something that made Elsa smile too as she shook it. "Elsa."

"What did we miss?" Sam asked, taking his place next to Chloe. "If it was any of the good stuff, then I blame Kaden's crappy driving."

"Good luck on finding your ride home." I retaliated in a dry tone, bringing up my coffee to take a sip only to realise it was empty.

"You should try this instead." A familiar voice said from behind. I didn't even have to turn to know it was Phoenix.

She came closer with a guy with dark cropped hair and a basket of some sort in her hands. She introduced the guy as Will. He lived in the next town over but had come to Stonecrest to play a set at the festival. Everyone seemed to get along well with Will.

Whilst that was happening. I watched Phoenix hand out the drinks. She didn't look hurt or out of place. If anything, she was in her prime.

When she stopped in front of me with the galaxy coloured liquid, I cupped my hand around hers as well as the drink to keep her still for a moment.

"Where were you?" I said, more roughly than I intended.

"Getting the drinks?"

"You weren't at school today." I explained.

She frowned. "I decided to skip a day."

"Well, don't do it again." I said lamely, catching her eye for a moment before looking away. My chest felt constricted all of a sudden.

She pulled her hand out of my grasp, moving on to Chloe. I watched the exchange with the two girls ill at ease but it was somehow less than it was before. Chloe caught my gaze but I looked away, focusing instead on my surroundings. We were a fair distance from the stage but that didn't stop the vibrations from reaching us. There was some kind of palpable energy in the air, giving a buzzed feeling.

"Group picture!" I heard Elsa exclaim before I was pulled in her direction. She began arranging everyone's positions: Jay was next to Chloe then Noah and me. Sam and Phoenix were in the front and once she was happy with the composition, Elsa handed the camera to Will before taking her own place in the group.

"Stop moving will you." I muttered to Phoenix whose hair kept getting in my mouth.

"I'm not moving." She defended but even then she was hopping from one foot to the other. I raised a brow to say otherwise. "I need to pee."

"Hold it in."

"I can't." She hissed, shuffling around even more so that more of her hair collided with my mouth. "How long does it take for a damn picture?"

"You just stay still. Like this." I demonstrated.

She glared at me whilst the flash from the camera went off. "Finally." She grumbled and shot off in a general direction. I shook my head, laughing when I felt something buzz in my pocket.

Seeing the caller ID as my mom, I wandered away from the group to somewhere a bit quieter.

I answered the call, walking further away from the noise and towards the parking lot. "Hey, mom."

"Hi, love. How are you doing?"

"I'm good." I made sure to keep my tone light as I talked with my mother. Knowing how easily she got worried, if she thought anything was wrong she'd jump back home on the first plane out. "What's it like there?"

"It's amazing. It would be so lovely if you were here."

I laughed, ignoring the pang in my chest. "I guess dad's enjoying himself too?"

"More than me."

"That's great."

"Are you sure you're okay by yourself?" She returned back to her worrying state.

"I'm fine, really. I'm actually out with some friends tonight."

"Really?" I couldn't help but notice the disbelief in her tone at hearing I had friends. "That's wonderful! Well, I don't want to keep you from them. They're good friends, right?"

"Yes, mom." I reassured with a chuckle.

I heard her shuffle around before saying. "Sorry love, I've gotta cut this short. Your dad and I've got a reservation in fifteen minutes. We'll talk later, love you, bye."

I said goodbye and slipped my phone back into my pocket. As I was doing so, I felt something cool slip over my fingers and pulled out Phoenix's necklace, reminding me that I had to return it to her. So I attempted to do that but when I returned to the main area of the festival, I saw that a band was playing and a large crowd had already formed. Lots of people, if not everyone had moved closer to the stage and were moving their bodies to the beat.

Finding anyone in there would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. So I chose the sensible option and waited. In that time, I finished off the galaxy coloured drink Phoenix had handed me from before. It tasted like strawberries and vanilla mixed together but it was the effect it had that made me get up in a confused rut.

The stage was glowing. I saw colours so bright they would have made my eyes hurt but instead, they widened. Like my expanding pupil, everything seemed to stretch, yet be so close at the same time. I had the urge to giggle uncontrollably but all that passed my lips was a hiccup.

Through the haze I managed to grasp onto one piece of reality: I was driving tonight. Rubbing my eyes to focus them, I stumbled in the direction I assumed to be the toilets. I was wrong. Instead, I opened the doors to one of the cabins on the edge of the large field. It was empty so I took the liberty of locating a dustbin before sticking two fingers down my throat and getting rid of my stomachs contents.

A sheen of sweat formed on my head as my back hit the wall behind me. My pulse was noticeable through my shirt, I'd long ago discarded of my jacket to stop myself from suffocating from the heat. I stared up at the corrugated wooden panels, wondering how it had escaped me.

The last time I'd taken drugs was almost two years ago. Getting hooked was the easy part. Getting off wasn't.

I don't know how long I sat there, waiting for my pulse to return back to normal. It could have been hours, maybe even five but when I finally got out of the cabin and into the smoke filled air, I saw it was only a couple of minutes. In that time, a new band had begun to play, the vibrations running from the stage to the ground beneath my feet.

Running a hand through my hair, I thought about leaving but then remembered about Sam and Noah. Somehow the responsibility had been dumped on me and I knew after that, I couldn't leave them alone.

When I returned to our spot, I found Phoenix sitting cross legged on the blanket. The galaxy coloured drink wasn't in her hand but instead a bottle of tequila. She offered it to me when I took a seat beside her but I shook my head.

"I have something of yours." I pulled out the silver chain and handed it to her.

She stared at it for a while, "Didn't even know I lost it." Before attempting to tie it around her neck. Her hands fumbled with the clasp and she let out a few swear words until I took the chain from her fingers and secured it in place. "Thanks."

I picked up the untouched multicoloured liquid between us and stared at it, as if it would tell me something.

"Ecstasy." Phoenix answered.

"Did you. . ."

She shook her head before I even finished, inclining it towards the tequila bottle. "I choose my own poison."

"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"Probably bad." She shrugged and we descended into silence after that.

The music still went on, the bodies kept swaying and the vibrations still spread. I closed my eyes to breathe it in, feeling my limbs loosen from all my days of exertion. I had the sudden urge to curl up and fall into a deep sleep right there but when I opened my eyes, I was awoken by Phoenix's intoxicated breath.

She was so close, I felt it fanning over the side of my face. "Can I tell you a secret?"

"Sure." I could feel her lips slightly brush my ear. One of her hands came up and fisted my collar, bringing me closer.

"I'm actually a unicorn." She whispered and pulled back with a grin, not realising how strong her poison actually was.

"Is that so?" I raised a brow in amusement, noticing the empty bottle sitting on her crossed legs.

"Yep. But you have to promise not to tell anyone." She raised her hand, pointing her littlest finger in the air. "Pinky promise."

It was too hard to keep the smile off my lips as I wound my own finger around hers. "I promise."

And the rest of the night wasn't so bad.