MAL stood in front of the house just down the street, completely enthusiastic about having to see her friends. She adjusted the plate of cookies in her hand before knocking on the door.

The door opened a few moments later, revealing Alyvia with her phone attached to her hand.

"Hey!"

"Hey, Mal! I just got off the phone with my mum. She says hi by the way." The two girls went inside, making their way between the big boxes in the living room.

"Wow, this place is much better than the other one." Mal complimented as she took a look at the spacy living room before her, decorated black and white.

"I know, right! I thank your mums for this one."

"Me too! I'm so happy I get to see you guys every day. This is almost like a dream coming true," she smiled and hugged her friend.

"Where's Bj?"

"He said he was going to take some pictures of the neighborhood and try to buy us some groceries, but Teo is upstairs unpacking if you want to see him."

"Oh, thank you! I guess I'll see you when I come down."

Alyvia chuckled. "Bye!"

Before they could say anything else, Mal practically sprinted towards the stairs.

As she reached the top of the stairs, she stopped for a second to breathe, taking a look at the hallway in the process. It was a much prettier, lighter, and more cheerful one. She thanked her mother repeatedly in her mind, then went towards the only open room in the hallway. She saw Teo's figure as he got out of the room to get a few boxes set in the hallway.

He turned to look at her, then smiled sincerely. Setting the boxes down on the wooden floor, he ran towards her with open arms, hugging her as tightly as possible.

"Hey, Teo..."

"Hey, Mal," he muttered. They let each other go after a few, long minutes.

"Hey, I missed you," she spoke in a small tone, reaching up to kiss his forehead.

"I missed you too, baby."

She let him go gently, then wrapped her arm around his torso as he led her closer to the new, messy room.

"How are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm doing great! How about you?"

"Oh, me too. I'm so excited that you live by me now! Now we get to go out all the time."

"Me too, babe. Me too."

They paused for a few minutes, only staring at each other's features.

"By the way, you know how you promised to always believe me from now on?" Teo started with a small grin over his face.

"Yes, babe. Always."

"Good. Because I started hearing this weird tapping noise coming from the attic."

Mal stopped in her tracks. She turned her head to a fair distance, only noticing the door to the attic from the ceiling at that very moment.

The door was open. It had a small rope hanging from a metal knob. Mal stared a few seconds into the inside of the dark, dusty attic.

She could only imagine having someone staring down at them from the attic, and striking when they were sleeping or eating, or worse.

She was met by the sound of Teo's laugh of apology.

"Babe, I'm just kidding!" he spoke again, making her roll her eyes.

"Teo!"

THE END

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