My alarm finally went off. I was having sleep paralysis again. My mind was awake, but my body wasn't. I struggled to move, to scream, anything. I was so scared that I wanted to cry. I felt as if I was choking, and I felt the demons beside my bed. Of course, there were no demons, but I just had that feeling that I was being watched. That's just what sleep paralysis does to you. I have been sleeping like this for the past few nights. Ever since I was... violated. I kept on dreaming about that night, their hands all over my body. Then I woke up partially, and experienced the paralysis all over again. I was shaking every time, and afterwards, I took a shower, trying to clean myself. I washed myself so much more often than I did before. I washed my body like the fair Lady Macbeth washed her hands, both of us trying to rid ourselves of a man's deed. It was an itch, than a burning sensation, my skin on fire, tears streaming down my face as I begged to forget, begged them to stop. I threw up once more, my throat burning from the stomach acid, and washed myself once more. I checked to see what time it was. 11:30a.m., Saturday. I went into my living room and turned on the TV, and flipped channels till I found the news channel.  

    "News... There has been an uprising of crime recently... Sports... Are you ready for the big game?... Weather... Heat index will increase in the coming weeks... This is Channel Five News," the news narrator said, giving a short recap of things the news people were going to talk more about.

    "Good Morning Slowsilver City! My name is Jim Richman. There has been an uprising of crime recently. Many convenience stores, gas stations, and ATMs have been broken into in the past few days. It seems that the villain Knifeslinger is the cause of all these crimes. Why he is back to petty crimes the police have no suspicions, but the Knifeslinger seems to be back to his violent ways. In this cellphone footage, you can see him at Redi Go Food Mart," the anchorman said and flipped to a video. In the video, you could see Knifeslinger in his costume, holding a knife to the throat of an employee. The video footage didn't have any audio, but you could see that Knifeslinger was yelling at the second employee behind the counter, who was filling a bag with money. 

    "As you can see here, the villain has a hostage and is demanding for the money. As he always does, he then took the money, left his signature mark, and disappeared. There is more footage on our website. If you or someone you know has any information on the whereabouts of this villain, please contact the number shown on the screen... Now, over to sports. Phil?" the anchorman said, and the camera than flipped to the dude that talked about sports, but I didn't pay attention to that. I was just sitting on the couch stunned. As much as I wanted to convince myself that the stranger that saved me was not some psychopath villain bent on world domination or whatever cause he had, I had the feeling that Knifeslinger saved me. 

    "Why did he save me? Was it an act of kindness? Or did he have some other purpose for me? Those poor orphan kids... having to live off that villain... Are they poor orphans though? Or are they just some kids he is training to be a killer like himself? And should I go to the police? Report what I have been through? Tell them about the kids, how they rely off of this crook? If I do that, they can catch him, put him away for his crimes... oh God, what do I do?" I thought and asked myself. I kept a hold of these thoughts for a while, wondering and wondering, until I was jolted out of my thoughts by the doorbell. 

    "I wonder who that could... Oh SHIT! It's Leonard! OUR SCIENCE PROJECT!" I thought to myself. I had forgotten we had decided that we would work on our project today at noon. I then sprung up from my couch, ran to my door, and swung it open. 

    "Hi!" I exclaimed, panting and holding the door open. Standing at the door was Leonard, who seemed to be amused. He was wearing a light jacket with a black sweater of sorts, nothing too baggy, and it hugged his body well, and it almost seemed like a long sleeve shirt rather than a sweater. Along with the sweater and jacket he had some dark blue jeans and a brown leather messenger bag in which I assumed he had his schoolwork in. 

    "Hello," he said, almost smugly, and scanned me up and down with an odd look.

    "You look nice today!" I said. 

    "You look like you just rolled out of bed. You also don't have pants on," he said with a slight smile. I was confused for a second, and then I realized he was right. I looked down and I only had a big, long, ratty old Hip of Enraged band t-shirt on. I blushed furiously, and tried to pull my shirt down over my knees. 

    "I am so embarrassed," I told him.

    "You're all good. Here, take my jacket, it might help," he said, taking his jacket off and handing it to me. I took it gladly, and covered myself up more.

    "Well, welcome to my house," I said, leading him inside.

    "Thanks... It's a nice house," he said, looking around.

    "Yeah, it was passed down through generations, or so my dad says," I said.

    "Gothic Revival I'm guessing?" Leonard said.

    "What?" I asked, taken aback.

    "The house. It's style... I believe it is Gothic Revival. I can tell by the pointed arches, the steeply pitched roof, and the front facing gables with the delicate wooden trim," Leonard said.

    "...Oh! I didn't know that!" I said with surprise.

    "I took an architecture class a few semesters ago at my old school," he said.

    "Interesting... well I'm going to get changed into something more appropriate," I said.

    "Okay. I don't mind the way you look now though," he said with a chuckle.

    "Don't get any ideas wise guy," I said blushing.

    "Don't worry about me love. I'll wait till the idea comes to you," he said with a wink as I walked away.

    "Jesus, I have a guy in my house who's seen me at my worst in my pajamas... and he is kind of cute... God whose idea was this project again?" I thought to myself, as I ran up to my bedroom. Once in my bedroom, I went over to my closet, and looked at my clothes.

    "What to wear, what to wear..." I muttered to myself. I had a wide variety of clothing to choose from. After about five minutes of debating, I went with a pair of dark denim skinny jeans, a black t-shirt, and a dark tan cardigan. Comfy, but stylish. I then went over to my mirror. My hair was in a serious mess and I had no makeup on at all. 

    "Ohh noo! I am a slob! No no no no no! It's just like in the movies and the books!' I exclaimed. I then brushed my hair like there was no tomorrow, throwing in a spritz of hairspray here and there. Then I pulled out my makeup bag and razzle dazzled myself all up. A little eye shadow here, touch up my lipstick, make sure my foundation matches my skin tone, cover up my blemishes, all that good jazz. After I was sure I didn't look completely hideous, I went back downstairs to Leonard.

    "Well about time!" I heard him say as I was about to go around the counter.

    "Sorry," I said bashfully as I went to the couch across from him. He sat there silent, his face showing no emotion except thought.

    "What?" I asked with a slight smile.

    "Nothing nothing..." he said, still pondering something.

    "Oh come on, you can tell me!" I said playfully. 

    "Fine fine. I was just thinking that you looked really nice," he said. 

    "Thank you, Leonard," I said, and I could feel my face reddening.

    "Yeah, no problems. Now, let us get focused on this project," he said, snapping out of the trance he was in. We then worked on the project for a while. I kept on expecting him to look at me the way he did, but it didn't happen. I tried to catch his eye every now and then, but I didn't see the look again. I was beginning to think that I had imagined it, but a look like that you don't forget. It was a look of sorrow, of pain, but of love and caring also.

    "All righty then! We got this project all done and over with now," Leonard said, standing up and stretching, then started heading to the door.

    "In a hurry? Why don't you have lunch with me?" I said.

    "Well I don't know... I'm kind of busy for the rest of the day," he said, checking his watch.

    "Come on! Don't be rude now! I'll make some ham sandwiches; we can sit and chat. There might be some leftover cheesecake from dinner last night," I said.

    "That does sound lovely... How about another time? Next Friday I'll take you out to dinner or something... I just have something important going on right now," he said. 

    "Yeah that sounds good," I said, opening the door for him.

    "Have a nice day," he said, then gave me a kiss on the cheek, and walked out.

    "You too," I said, holding my cheek where he kissed me as I shut the door. Well that was awkward. Wait a minute... are we going to dinner next Friday? Jesus am I going on a date next Friday? Well, it's not a date exactly... it was just making up for rudely declining my lunch invitation... if it was a rude... oh I don't know anymore. Well, now what do I do? I sat there thinking (something I'm starting to do a lot more often) when the doorbell rang. I went over to the door and opened it, to find Tristen and his mom.

    "Why don't you come to lunch with us? I have a proposition." Mrs. Ambrosone said.

Hey guys, it's been a while, you know how school can be. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I got more coming up! Tryparatest