“You’ll look better in the red one.”
“No, the black one with the red heels.”
I sighed and slipped the bookmark between the pages before I closed the book. I couldn’t concentrate on what I was reading with my sister and her friend’s loud giggles and the conversation regarding what they were going to wear.
My lovely sister had been invited to a frat party.
Hopefully, they’d leave soon and give me my peace and quiet back.
She’d introduced me to them when they arrived but I couldn’t remember their names. They were just as bubbly as Eva.
“What do you think, Ari?”
I looked up at my sister and studied her attire for the evening.
“You’re showing too much skin,” I muttered.
Eva rolled her eyes. “Then it’s perfect.”
“Why do you ask for my opinion when you—”
“Here, Eva.”
I pursed my lips and stretched my legs out in front of me as I leaned back against the pillows. Eva always made the wrong friends. My eyes darted over them as I silently watched.
They looked beautiful but I didn’t like the length of their dresses or how much skin they were showing. It always attracted bad attention.
As Eva turned to sit on the edge of the bed, my eyes locked onto the healing tattoo. For a moment I wondered if Dad knew about it.
“Why aren’t you dressed yet?” She looked over at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Because I’m not going.”
“Yes you are.” Eva got up and walked over to my bed. “Yes you are because I invited Lucas.”
“And I’m supposed to care, why?”
She grabbed my arm and pulled me up. Without saying a word, she threw clothes into my arms and pushed me in the direction of our closet.
“Five minutes, Ari. If you’re not dressed by then, I’m forcing you into that dress myself.”
***
No matter how hard I fought or what excuses I made, Eva forced me to go with them. I tried to stall by refusing to dress but it only ended up in Eva force-dressing me. She was too strong for me to fight off.
Dressed in a tight black dress and shoes I could barely walk in, Eva dragged me behind them as they walked across campus to the frat house where the party was being held.
At least I was spared from wearing make-up but Eva had pulled my hair out of my usual braid so it fell in messy waves down my back and over my shoulders.
“Stop dragging your feet,” Eva ordered over her shoulder. “Do you want to be known as the boring sister who would never do anything fun?”
“Yes,” I answered without hesitation.
“Believe us, you don’t want that to happen,” one of my sister’s friends said.
What was her name again?
All thoughts flew from my mind when the sound of faint music reached my ears. We turned the corner and the house came into view.
“Eva—” I tried one more time but she completely ignored me.
Humans. They were everywhere.
On the front lawn, holding cups or beer bottles, swaying to the beat of whatever song was playing. The stench of alcohol, sweat and something else filled my nostrils the moment we entered the house. I winced when we passed the speakers.
My anxiety was starting to creep up on me. Icy shivers raced through my body as we moved deeper into the crowd. Their skin brushed against mine.
“Here.”
Eva pushed a red cup filled to the brim with clear liquid into my hand. I stared at it for a few seconds before I glanced around. We were standing in the kitchen which thankfully had a lot less people around.
“Drink.”
I choked when Eva forced the cup to my lips and tipped it back. She stared at me with narrowed eyes. I had no choice but to swallow or risk choking.
My stomach revolted as the burning liquid settled in it. Unable to take another sip, I pushed the cup away and ended up spilling the drink down the front of my dress.
“Now look what you did,” Eva hissed. “If it stains then you’re going to buy me a new dress.”
“I don’t fucking care about your dress! You—”
“There’s a bathroom upstairs,” one of her friends interrupted me again. “Up the stairs, the third door on the left.”
I glared at my sister. “We’ll talk at the dorm.”
Pushing Eva aside, I stormed off. The anger coursing through my veins made it easier to forget where I was. Following the directions, I easily located the bathroom. There were no towels or toilet paper. So basically there was nothing I could do about the dress.
I stared at my reflection in the cracked mirror above the dirty sink. The light made me look even paler than I was.
I’d memorized the map of the campus before we arrived. All I had to do was get out of the house and then I’d head back to the dorm room. Eva wouldn’t even notice me gone.
I rubbed sweaty hands down my thighs and walked out of the bathroom. Turning towards the stairs, I froze as my eyes locked onto a familiar figure. He glanced up at that moment and looked right at me.
I’d never felt so repulsed by someone before. Every instinct in my body screamed at me to run which was exactly what I did.
He blocked my exit and there was no way I was going to take the risk of running past him. I tried every door until I found one that was unlocked. Stumbling into the room, I made sure it was empty before I turned to close the door.
But it was pushed open, forcing me to stumble backwards.
“We meet again.”
I’d seen him on campus from a distance which made it easy to avoid him. Thanks to Eva’s sudden spot in the ‘in’ crowd, I’d learned that his name was Oliver and that he was as popular as my sister.
“Get out,” I ordered.
Oliver’s smile widened. Kicking the door closed behind him, he reached back, turned the key in the lock and then pushed it into his pocket.
“I knew there was something familiar about you that day when we met.”
He stepped forward and his smile faded. If I made a run for it, he’d catch me before I could escape. He’d locked the door so there was no hope of me escaping through it.
“I couldn’t put my finger on it at first,” he muttered as he took another step forward. “And then it hit me.”
My body jerked from the sudden loudness of his voice. Oliver was slowly moving forward and making me step back. My fingers brushed the wall. He was trying to trap me in a corner.
I couldn’t let him do that.
My lips parted.
“You can scream all you want, we both know that nobody will hear you.”
I swallowed the scream that rose because I knew that he was right. “W-what do y-you want?”
Oliver chuckled but didn’t answer.
My eyes darted to the right and then to the left. A bathroom was only a few feet away. I could hide in there but I had no clue whether the door had a lock or if I would be safe in it. He could easily kick the door down.
An idea hit.
I sucked in a breath and launched for the bathroom. It made him move too which left the door unguarded. Changing direction, I made a run for it.
My fingers only brushed the cool metal of the door handle. A scream fell from my lips when his arms wrapped around my waist. My feet left the ground and in the next seconds I was airborne.
The air was knocked from my lungs when I landed on the bed. He was on top of me before I could get up.
“You never fucking forget the eyes of a killer,” he hissed through clenched teeth.
Gripping my arms, he turned me onto my back and wrapped a hand around my throat. My eyes widened when they darted to the hand he raised. Oliver held something in his hand only a few inches from my face that made everything inside me freeze.
“Where’s your family now, little bitch?”