Luis's head turned back to me with confusion riddled on his face. I grinned as I walked toward him, my wet state still noticeable as I moved, but I hid it from my face. I looked him up and down. Why was he here?

"Hi" he smiled kindly. I didn't respond. I just watched him shift. "I-uh, I wanted to make sure you were okay"

"No, you didn't. You want to ask me something?" I corrected. His face slightly reddened. He cleared his throat with a sly smile.

"Okay, yes, I do want to do that. But I do also want to know if you're okay. Telling, by the way, he dragged you out and now left. I'm guessing you guys didn't talk it out." I smirked at that.

"Why do you want to know if I'm okay? I almost killed your friend."

His face hardened slightly, but the kind smile stayed.

"It didn't look like it was intentional, you sort of blacked out and acted it looked" He searched my eyes. I lifted my head at that.

"I did space out," I admitted.

"Did you mean to-"

"Yes, I don't have negative feelings towards him. I just wanted to break something. Any of you would've done it" I turned walking back into the room. "It doesn't matter to me. I want to kill all of you" I turned sitting on the bed as he made his way in. He hesitated before closing the door.

"I don't understand"

"You're not supposed to" I squinted at him. "Why are you so curious?"

He took in the room, the broken chair, the blood, and frowned.

"I want to know if there's anything we can do to help make it better here for you" He looked at me, but I didn't respond. "Trying to kill us won't help that," He said gently. Kneeling down in front of me. He was handsome, very handsome, but I didn't get the same urge I had with him as I did with Pirate.

"Aren't you worried I could kill you right now? You came alone with no weapon, I can tell." He looked confused at my observation. "The way you're walking," he huffed.

"Well, I hoped not. I don't want you to feel like a prisoner"

"I am"

"No, you're not. You're dangerous, but only because you let yourself be." He lifted his hand and tapped his finger on my temple. "This is beautiful. You just gotta let yourself show us those parts, too."

My chest ached slightly. My father used to say something like that.

"Why" It slipped out before I could stop it. He smiled at it.

"There's a kid somewhere inside of us, that just wants people to see how good we are. Our environments and the people we come across push that kid deeper into the shadows but they leave" His kind green eyes were filled with hope. I didn't know if I wanted to crush it or listen. Who the fuck is this guy?

"That kid was never there, to begin with," I said coldly.

"Yes, it was," He reassured. His eyes went to the painting pirate liked on my wall. "May I?" He stood going to it.

"I read your report. I know about your art and your father"

I huffed. Of course, he put those parts in.

"So what, you wanna tell me how I failed him, too?" I glared. He turned around with a frown.

"Is that what he said?" He looked disgusted. Why?

"That's not true. Clearly, he loves you."

"Loved."

"Loves, Novia," He asserted. "A person's love never dies with the body; it stays with us. It's just hard to remember that sometimes" His eyes scanned the painting again. I studied his frowns and amused expressions. His confusion and admiration were clear as day. "What does this one mean?" I stood, and he took a step back.

"You got your answer. You don't have to stay and try to make me feel 'better' about something I do not regret or feel anything towards"

He studied my face.

"Have you had someone to just sit and talk to in a while?"

"Don't pick at my brain because you're fascinated with the serial killer. I have a therapist for that now." He chuckled.

"I don't mean like that. Like a friend, someone to talk about your hobbies or interest with. "

"I don't need friends, nor want them." I walked to his face. "They all end up dead"

He looked back, his kind smile didn't waver. Soft, caring eyes stared back.

"You're not going to scare me off."

"Why, when I could just kill you and make sure you go away permanently?" He chuckled.

"Why do you want me to go away?"

"Because you're playing a fixer. You can't fix it"

"Tell me about your painting, please."

We stared at each other, my challenging one slowly dropping at his kind and determined one. I told him; he paid attention and gave his comments, which I ignored.

"So your painting was your outlet" He nodded leaning back against the front of the bed. I sat in front of him on the floor. "Did your dad teach you?"

I huffed. Why was talking to him about this? I'm not a closed-off person, but I couldn't stop myself. He reminded me of my dad. I missed my dad.

"No, I was self-taught. They started off as just splatters of rage until my dad started watching. I wanted to make it clear to him what I felt, and how I saw the world. I knew he begged to know in his heart, words weren't enough"

"Do you have any other talents?" he grinned.

"Music, I play the piano. I'm kind of decent on a violin."

"Can you sing?"

"Yes," I whispered at the memories.

"I used to sing to my brother and father when they couldn't sleep. When they would worry about me and think I went too far. To pull me back, they'd hum a song I created. It was a poem my father and I wrote together. He was better with lyrics than me" I smiled.

"Could I hear it?"

I wanted to say no, but this comfort he brought. I haven't felt it since my father. As much as I wanted to throw Luis out, I wanted to keep my father closer. I got up, going for the book. The soft leather of the cover made my heart ache. I stood there staring down at it.

"𝒲𝒽𝓎 𝒹𝒾𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝑔𝑒𝓉 𝓈𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝒶𝓃 𝑜𝓁𝒹-𝒶𝓈𝓈-𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀?" 𝐼 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝓅𝑒𝒹 𝓊𝓅, 𝓈𝓃𝒶𝓉𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝓉 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓂𝓎 𝒻𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇'𝓈 𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓈.

"𝐿𝒶𝓃𝑔𝓊𝒶𝑔𝑒 𝒩𝒶𝓉," 𝐻𝑒 𝓈𝒸𝑜𝓁𝒹𝑒𝒹 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒶 𝑔𝓇𝒾𝓃. 𝐼 𝓈𝓂𝒾𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝓊𝓅 𝒶𝓉 𝒽𝒾𝓂 𝒶𝓈 𝓌𝑒 𝓇𝒶𝓃 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒾𝒶𝓃𝑜. 𝐼 𝒻𝓁𝒾𝓅𝓅𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝒶𝓇𝓀 𝓅𝒶𝑔𝑒𝓈. 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓋𝒾𝓃𝓉𝒶𝑔𝑒 𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝓌𝒶𝓈𝓃'𝓉 𝓈𝑜 𝒷𝒶𝒹. 𝐻𝑒 𝓈𝒶𝓉 𝓃𝑒𝓍𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝑒. 𝐻𝑒 𝓈𝓂𝑒𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝑜𝒾𝓁 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒹𝒾𝓇𝓉 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒿𝑜𝒷. 𝐼𝓉 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓅𝓅𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒶 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝓁𝑒.

"𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓇𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝑒𝓁𝑜𝒹𝓎 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒸𝒶𝓂𝑒 𝓊𝓅 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓁𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉?" 𝐻𝒾𝓈 𝒹𝒶𝓇𝓀 𝑒𝓎𝑒𝓈 𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀𝑒𝒹 𝒹𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝒶𝓉 𝓂𝑒. 𝐼 𝓃𝑜𝒹𝒹𝑒𝒹 𝑒𝓍𝒸𝒾𝓉𝑒𝒹𝓁𝓎. "𝒞𝒽𝑒𝒸𝓀 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓂𝓊𝓃𝒸𝒽𝓀𝒾𝓃,"

𝐻𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝑔𝒶𝓃 𝓉𝑜 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝓎 𝒾𝓉, 𝓂𝓎 𝑒𝓎𝑒𝓈 𝓈𝒽𝓊𝓉 𝓁𝒾𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝓀𝑒𝓎. 𝐼 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒸𝒽𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝓎 𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓋𝒾𝒷𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝒾𝓉 𝒶𝓈 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓋𝑜𝒾𝒸𝑒 𝒽𝓊𝓂𝓂𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝓂𝓎 𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓈, 𝓈𝑜𝑜𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇 𝑜𝓇 𝓈𝒶𝒹𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝐼 𝒻𝑒𝓁𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝒶𝓎.

"𝑜𝒽, 𝓂𝓎 𝒹𝒶𝓇-"

"ling, sweet girl, everything will be just fine. Don't let the darkness slip in front of your light. Your beauty shines brighter than a supernova. I know eventually darkness will fall over. Don't be scared. It's a part of you. Its beauty can stand right next to you. Hold it, control it, let it know you're not scared anymore. Daddy will always hand you his strength when you can't hold it no more-"

"Stop," I breathed, opening my eyes. I felt a single tear dropping. His voice cut off as he looked up at me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"I haven't read that since they killed him" I shielded my voice from my emotion, and took the book back from him. I didn't even feel him take it. It was in the back of the book he wrote.

"How do you feel?"

"You said you weren't going to pick at my mind" I looked at him.

"I'm not asking as a "fixer" I'm asking as a friend"

"I'm not your friend," I stated coldly.

"I'm yours" He smiled softly.