The morning light shone through the windows, directly hitting you in the eye as you woke up to a shower that could be heard through out the house. Tom was taking a morning shower before his shift would start, and Maddie was preparing her yoga space for her morning routine. Ozzy was laying at your feet, he had spent the night sleeping with you. Out of the humans, it seemed like they were all active in the house, except you, you just stared at your ceiling for 30 minutes until you had mustered enough energy to get out of bed and get dressed.

As you started figuring out your outfit, Maddie walked in the house, yelling "Good Morning!", You could hear Tom finishing his shower as well. You quickly opted to grab whatever you saw and put it on, causing you to wear a mismatched outfit, which didn't feel right, but this was a safe place so it was okay. As you walked down the stairs and into the kitchen and living downstairs area, Maddie was finishing up making breakfast for you, Tom and her. 

She put the plate of waffles down in front of you and in front of her chair, and slipped a piece of meat to Ozzy before sliding into her honorary seat at the table, She brought Tom some donuts she bought yesterday. You meticulously made sure that the waffle had butter in every square hole before eating -it would feel wrong if it didn't have butter-, and Maddie ate hers with a little bit of butter. You ate in comfortable silence with each other. The air didn't feel thick, or like it was forced. It was a pleasant morning, and not much could be heard of the outside over everybody eating their breakfast.

There was knocking on the door, a polite knock like someone who knew that he was welcome, but still knocked anyway. It was Wade, as he liked to carpool with Tom while driving down into the town together. Tom gave a kiss to Maddie on the cheek and went out to the front door. You waved at Wade -it felt to uncomfortable to not be wearing the right clothes to greet someone further than a wave-, and yelled out a "Bye!" to Tom before he closed the door. 

"So what are you planning on doing today?" Maddie queried to you before taking a sip from her glass of water. "W- well, I was planning on going d- down to the library later today when I walk Ozzy, a- and maybe watching a movie or something." You said, still a little bit anxious about being in the wrong clothes to see people. "That sounds good to me, You feeling okay?" You felt a little off, like something big was going to happen, but that could be that you were going to school soon. "I f- feel okay. Just a little anxious cause' I was in the wrong clothes." 

She looked up at you in pitying eyes. Both her and Tom didn't know how to help when these things happened, and you didn't know how help yourself, so it was hard to know what to do for everybody. "Aw, I'm sorry to hear that. Are you going to be okay for now though?" You sat down the fork with the second to last bite on your plate, and replied,  "I think so, I don't want to bother you or anything. I'll be fine." She looked away and towards her plate, which was now empty. "Okay, if you say so." 

She got up and picked both plates up and took them over to the sink, where she asked you to wash the dishes while they were gone. "I'm going to go to work now, Have a nice day." You hugged her, and said "Have a nice day." She left, leaving you alone in the house with Ozzy.

You checked the time, 6:34. You could probably watch a few episodes before Ozzy needed to go pee, or you could get started on the dishes. You chose to get started on the dishes, that way you had free time for the rest of the day, and could watch without guilt. You then got changed into the correct clothes ,at around 7:12 you finished, which was good timing, because then Ozzy needed to go. You took Ozzy out for walk, and stopped by the library when you walked into town. You leashed Ozzy to the nearby bike rack, and walked into the library.

One of your favorite smells, the smell of old books and dust quickly assaulted your nose. The teen at the front desk looked up from her book and waved to you, the button that said He / She on his shirt reflected into your eyes for a moment as he waved. "Hey, came here to talk?" You walked over, and shook your head. "No, I'm here for a few books, Ozzy is waiting outside for me." He clicked her tongue, "Aww. You know I miss you, right?" You chuckled, "Of course, I'm awesome, Why wouldn't you miss me?" She rolled his eyes, "Whatever, what you checkin' out this time?" "I don't know, any updates on the series?" He shook her head. "No, unfortunately." You sighed, "What a shame, well I gotta go find the books and get going soon  or someone may steal Ozzy." "Alright."

You roamed around the library, checking out a few books that caught your eye, albeit you knew you probably wouldn't finish them in time. You checked out quickly, and unleashed Ozzy from the bike rack when you walked out of the library. In the corner of your eye you could see a duck with a bagel in it's mouth. Weird. You walked around a little bit, but you decided to go back to the house at around 9:23.

You and Ozzy walked up the gravel pathway to the house, a couple books in one hand, his leash in the other. You opened the front door and saw a flash of blue momentarily. You blinked a couple times but didn't see anything. Well, if there was something, you were sure that Ozzy would have barked or something of the sort. You unleashed Ozzy and he jumped onto the couch to lie down. 

You set the books down in your room, and you stared at them deciding which to read first. You decided to go for the one on the top, because it was the book that wasn't part of a series -or at least, you hoped wasn't- and finished reading both books at around lunchtime. You walked down the stairs and made yourself a sandwich along with some chips. 

You plopped down on the couch pretty hard by accident which woke Ozzy up, so you scratched his head in apology. You then, washed your hands again because you didn't want dog fur getting in your mouth. You turned on the television to Yes Man and ate your lunch. 

As you watched, you started to notice something in the window via the reflection of the television. You started staring intently, as it was some weird looking thing that was blue. What if that was the thing I saw earlier? You turned around to face it and momentarily caught some weird looking hedgehog thing. Ozzy got spooked when you got up quickly, suspicious of what was going on.

You ran outside with Ozzy in tail behind you, and could see the thing run away. You ran after it saying, "I SAW YOU!"  "NO! YOU DIDN'T!" You stopped running, out of breath from doing mostly nothing but sitting down all summer at the computer. Ozzy stuck by you, waiting for his owner to catch their breath. You decided to ask Tom or Maddie about what happened, depending on who came home first.

You waited for your nerves to calm down before trying to do anything, and decided that watching TubeYou was a good idea to get calmer. You got distracted by the talk of "Why Yandere's are bad and You shouldn't romanticize it ..." You fell down a rabbit hole of yandere content, which caused you to lose sense of time. Soon, you heard Maddie yelling about an envelope.

"Whoo! San Francisco police department wrote back!" You clambered down the stairs, wanting to know more. Maddie turned to you, "It's a small envelope, which means it's good, right? Or is that just college letters?" You smiled, infected by her happiness, "I think it applies to both?" She slapped the letter down on the kitchen island, and the announced to you: "I will go grab some cakes, tell him to wait if he gets back before me." 

She shut the door as she left, leaving you alone for a second time in the day. You walked over to the letter, interested. You looked it over, it seemed like this could change your life, was that the weird vibe I have been feeling all day? Did some part of me know that this letter would arrive today?

You mentally shrugged and sat back down on the couch, unpausing where you left off. Soon, you could hear Maddie getting back to the house. You ran outside to help her, where she gratefully handed you one of the cakes to carry inside. You put the cakes in the cabinet inside the kitchen island -so it would be a surprise for Tom- and Maddie got onto her laptop to pull up apartments in San Francisco.

You decided to ask her about the hedgehog thing that you saw earlier. "Hey, Maddie?" She hummed what sound like a yes, so you kept going. "H- Have you seen anything weird lately?" She titled her head to think about it. "No, I don't think so, Have you?" You started to fidget with your fingers, "W- Well, I saw this thing in the window, a-and it kind of looked like a h-hedgehog?" She turned to look at you better, "Hmm. I wonder what it was then, do you remember more about it?" "It was blue, and a little anthropomorphic, like it was kind of human looking, but it had too big of eyes, and hedgehog spikes in the back of the head." She tapped her lip in curiosity, "Maybe it was aliens?" She wanted to give you an answer, but that was the best she could do. "M -Maybe, it was." You joked, it hardly calmed you to know that she didn't know what it could be. "Let's ask Tom about it." She agreed, and went back to looking for places to stay.

You went and sat back down at the couch with Ozzy laying beside you, you mindlessly pet his head while reading fanfiction. After a few hours, and around ~6:21, Tom pulled into the driveway. The gravel was crunchy underneath the tires, and he could be heard yelling at the racoons. Ozzy jumped up from the couch to greet Tom at the front door. "Leave them alone, Tom. They're not doing anything." Maddie scolded him. Tom, feels differently about the racoons. "They are eating from our trash, you have nothing to say about that?" Maddie put her hands to her hips, "They have to, Tom." He held his hand up as if he was swearing, "I promise I will be nicer to the racoons, Okay?" She pursed her lips, "Okay."

She then showed him the letter that arrived earlier, "Open it Tom, We've been dying all day to know!" You closed down what you were reading, and greeted him with a hug. "Yeah, Open it." "It's small, is that bad?" Make a that's what she said joke. "No, I don't think so, Tom, think about college admission letters." You said to calm his worries.

He stood at the kitchen island -you all had moved to be more comfy-, and opened it. You drifted a little bit thinking of San Francisco, but you quickly stopped. "...Pending background check" You cheered along with Maddie who said: "You got the job, Baby!" And she flipped open the cake box to reveal a cake that had the Golden Gate Bridge on fire with the words "Forget those losers, San Francisco sucks!" "San Francisco sucks?" You giggled a little bit, which earned you a dirty look from Maddie. 

"Oops, Sorry." She brought out the other cake which said "I never had a doubt" and featured Tom as a San Francisco police officer. Tom gave her a little smirk, "Never had a doubt, huh?" She smiled back, "Nope, never had a doubt that you would be taken by the police department." Tom sat down at the table. "Pending background check." He pointed to her in defense. As she sat down, she said "Oh no, I hope they don't find out about the time you used the neighbors Wi-Fi." She said in mock concern, amused that Tom thinks that he won't be taken in. "Correction, Still using the neighbors Wi-Fi." You piped up, "Correction, We're still using the neighbors Wi-Fi." 

"Ah, that makes more sense now." Maddie said. A moment of silence happened, which caused you to think that you killed the mood, and then Tom announced "Well, this is cause for celebration. Olive Garden and Hot Fuzz?" You voiced your agreement, to the choices, and got your favorite food and drink from Olive Garden.  You watched Hot Fuzz and other action movies well into the night, enjoying yourselves and life.

Then, Maddie dropped the ball that she had to catch a plane ride to San Francisco in the morning, so she wouldn't be there when you woke up. You looked at her in shock, "What? Where will you stay?" She replied, "I'll stay at Rachel's with Jojo and her." Tom also looked a little surprised, but not by much, as he slightly expected this from Maddie. "Okay, what time do I need to drive you there?" "3 o' clock." You sat up in alarm, "O- oh, It's like 1 in the morning, you need to get packing Maddie." You got up quickly and started pacing from an overwhelming sense of dread. "You're right, and you need to go to sleep, do you want us to wake you up when I leave?" Tom stated and asked, "N- No, I'll see you again, it's not like we're going to be apart for a long time, unless you want me to hug you bye?" She laughed slightly, "No, sweetie, it's okay. You're right, we'll see each other again, so you should catch up on your sleep."

You hugged her before saying "Good Night." and heading to your room. You looked at the ceiling, anxious for what's to come of your life. You couldn't sleep with all of your intrusive and anxious thoughts, so you settled for tossing and turning all night. Eventually, however, you felt your eyes burn from exhaustion and you closed your eyes.

A flash of blue appeared, and there was a power outage, which you knew cause your nightlight turned off, Tom quickly ran in and assured you it was probably nothing and he was going to take care of it.

You closed your eyes again.

The 

        Last

                Thing

                        You

                                Saw

                                        Was 

                                                Vermillion.