Skylar's POV

"Oh my God, Chicks!" I exclaimed in surprise.

Partly in absolute horror too.

How was one supposed to react if you just came back to your apartment after a long, tiring day of classes, and couldn't find your cat? Worried, yes. That's what anyone would be.

I tried calling out for her, scared that maybe, just maybe she'd jumped out of an opened window or something while I was gone. But then I heard a faint meow. And another one (a much louder one) from right above the tall kitchen cabinet.

I almost shat my pants. Jumped in fright too.

"How in the hell did you get up there?" I exclaimed, pressing a hand over my heart.

Chicken eyed me with her beady, innocent little eyes. There was no way she could've gotten up there without any help. Unless she somehow knew how to climb walls now.

"If you're somehow possessed by a demon, Chicken, I'm not touching you for the rest of your life," I told her. She mewled loudly in response.

"I'm kidding! Geez." I groaned and pulled one of the stools lining the tiny kitchen island in front of the tall cabinet. "You're the love of my life, come on. I wouldn't ever leave you alone. Not even if you get possessed."

Getting on top of the stool and standing on it, I reached out for her with my outstretched hands, beckoning her closer. "Come on, now. There you go--fuck!"

Chicken growled, which sounded more like she was pissed, and lunged right at my face.

What happened next must be pretty obvious.

I stumbled back, the stool rattled and gave way beneath my feet, and both Chicken and I tumbled down on the floor with a really loud thud.

"Aw shit." I moaned, closing my eyes shut at the pain in my back.

I heard a door opening and then closing. I didn't have to look up to see who it was.

"What the fuck just happened?" Nova, my not-so-nice roommate, asked. I couldn't blame her for her lack of friendliness though. As far as I knew, she had classes all morning and a part-time job the rest of the day. If I were her, I'd want an apartment all to myself too.

"Guess yourself." I groaned once again. Chicken, on the other hand, just licked my face as if apologizing for the little act she'd pulled just seconds ago.

"If I had a cat like that, I'd've dumped her ages ago." Nova pointed out before stepping over my legs and opening the fridge. She had her dark brown curls up in a messy bun that looked nowhere near messy to me.

I knew what messy really was. Which Nova really wasn't. She was beautiful. Especially with all that tanned glory and her honey-coloured eyes. She was just about my age, went to the same college as me too, and it had been kind of her to offer me a place in this apartment--however small it may be. I actually didn't care as long as I had a place to sleep.

This place was also a whole lot better than those crappy college dorms.

I did sometimes miss home back in New York. But sometimes I really didn't. The house back in Crestmont used to always be empty whenever I was there. At least here I wasn't alone twenty-four hour seven. Usually, that is.

Unlike Nova, I didn't have a part-time job. I did sometimes stay late at college to do a bit of tutoring once in a while. If anyone needed me to. Which, I guess, wasn't that regular. And if I ever got short on money, well, my parents were there for that exact reason.

I suppose I shouldn't always rely on them. Not when it had taken a lot of me and a lot of Mom to finally let me study something I loved more than something she did.

"I can't just dump her. Chicken's precious to me." I tried explaining it to her while she poured herself some orange juice and sat down on one of the other upright stools.

"I heard you're helping Josh with his photography project?" She asked.

I was surprised we were having this conversation. We rarely ever had conversations that consisted of more than two whole sentences.

"Yes." I sat up slowly, glaring at Chicken since she was still a bit too busy covering the side of my face with her drool. "And, just so you know, that has nothing to do with you breaking up with him like...a week ago."

"Six days." She corrected me.

I passed her a sympathetic glance. "Six days, yes. He just needed a little help. I wasn't trying to make things awkward."

"I don't really care, Sky. As long as you don't bring him here in the apartment." She waved it off. "I don't really care who you date."

I made a move to tell her that I sure as heck wasn't dating Josh, but she spoke up once again.

"Just don't go out late at night." She added. "That's what I meant to say."

"Why not?" Thankfully, Chicken finally perked up and went away.

Nova got up and placed the glass in the sink. "Dad told me about this one criminal on loose. And well, I've heard a lot about you attracting trouble."

"Excuse me?"

"No offence." She added with a shrug.

"How was that not supposed to be offensive?" I asked. Nova's dad was in the police department of the state. That way she knew a lot about some incidents that I'd rather just leave in the past.

"I don't know. It was just a bit of a friendly advice, okay?" She raised her brows. I rolled my eyes but nodded eventually.

"Anyway, your phone was ringing like crazy. Why don't you ever take it with you?"

I stood up and dusted off my coat, picking up the stool and pushing it back to its place.

"I forgot," I told her. "A little busy in the mornings, you know?"

"Whatever." She sighed, walking back to her room and pushing the door open. "Goodnight then." And then she closed the door shut.

Like I said, this was usually how our conversations went. Good mornings and goodnights were mostly it.

Shrugging off my coat, I went inside my own bedroom and flipped open the lights. Chicken followed close behind and hopped up on my bed. Which not surprisingly, was scattered with paints and paintbrushes and a whole stack of photographic films and negatives. It was a mess.

It wasn't any less messed up than my room back in Crestmont was. It also kind of showed my newfound love for photography.

Still so much better than Physics.

I pushed the rolls of photographs aside and sat down on my bed, picking up my phone. Switching it on, I saw a total of five missed calls. I rarely ever got calls from people other than Alex. It was a little heartwarming that he felt the need to check up on me almost every day.

More than my own parents. Or Caden.

Alex had moved to Pennsylvania just like me after my so much persisting. I couldn't bear the thought of leaving my boyfriend and my best friend behind. So I made sure to pull along one of them with me. And even though he was in a different college, with whole nicer dorms than they had in mine, I was still pretty glad I could count on him. Even when it hadn't felt like that for a while.

I opened the missed calls and was a bit surprised to see that three of them were from Caden. The rest, of course, were all Alex.

I called back Caden first. It had been days since I last talked to him. Crestmont wasn't that far, but Caden still seemed a little too far away. And I hated it. I wished he was here and not there every single day.

Placing the phone over my ear, I flopped down on my bed. From the corner of my eye, I saw Chicken jumping over my laundry basket and toppling it over herself. I suppose I should've made a move to rescue her. But I didn't. I was trying my best to hold a grudge over her for lunging at my face earlier.

It rang and rang on the other end of the line, and Caden didn't pick up. Frowning, I ended the call and rolled my eyes.

Why was it so hard for him to answer a single call? Which, I guess, was rich coming from me when I hadn't answered three of his. But still. Couldn't he just--dammit.

Caden hadn't applied to any college, unlike me. He wanted to stay there in Crestmont. Why he chose to still not let go of all those gang affairs, I don't know. I didn't. I tried asking him and all those times he'd simply wave off that topic like it didn't even matter. So I didn't press more on it even though sometimes I really wanted to.

I dialled Alex's number next. And he answered on the first ring.

"Left your phone behind again?" Was the first thing he asked.

A small grin formed on my lips. "Yup."

"Not surprised, Sky."

"You sound a bit grumpy. Why do you sound so grumpy? I should be since I was the one out doing chores all day." I told him.

He muttered something incoherent in response.

"Aw, Allie, you going through mood swings?" I teased him with a laugh. "You know, I sometimes wonder how Hanna puts up with you. I sure can't sometimes and I'm supposed to be your best friend--"

He cut me off,

"Did you know Caden's here in Pennsylvania?"

The smile on my lips fell in surprise. "What?"

"Yeah, he didn't tell you?"

I blinked twice in surprise. Caden was here? And he didn't tell me? "Are you for real, Alex?"

"Nope." He was the one having that smug laugh in his voice now. "I was just messing with you."

"Okay. Screw you, Alex." I grumbled, getting up and finally helping Chicken by picking the basket from the top of her. She mewled and licked her paw.

"Hey, who's the one with mood swings now?" I wanted to punch him. "That's actually not the reason why I called you though."

"Yeah?" I rolled my eyes. "I'm surprised."

"Well, I'm hoping Caden already told you about this--"

"I haven't talked to Caden in a whole week, Alex." I interrupted him in a rather gruff tone.

He coughed and a beat of silence passed by. "So...he didn't mention anything?"

"No."

"Not even Blake?"

"Who's that?" I made a face.

"Blake's--" Alex's voice was cut off when a loud, shrill scream resounded from his end.

A very horrifying one.

________

here we goooo ;)
CrystalXx.