AkumaQuil

He inches closer, a single finger roaming her heated skin. Breath mingling with breath. 

A loud bang vibrates through the room, so thunderous as if god himself was furious.

Slowly he looks up staring out the large glass windows to the backyard, 

"You have a visitor." His rasps calmly.

"Who?" Rose quickly fires, feigning ignorance. She knew well enough who it was. Her nightly visitor has arrived.

Surprising, He only visits when she is alone.

"One who comes out at night. Lurking in the shadows, in the darkness... just like its intensions."

He looks down still leaning on top her, once more pinning her with his intense gaze.

"Are you afraid?" His voice dead serious, eyes going back to look outside.

And Rose lied, "No." 

But is it a lie when her fear was never really rooting enough to make her run the other way but instead often getting mixed with exhilaration.

"You should be."  

He leaves her staring wide eyed on the sofa and goes to stand before the glass panes.

"It's not happy to see me here. I can see the raging pits of fire in it's gaze. Ready to burn me right where I stand." he chuckled, sounding most sinister, "It definitely wants to rip my innards out."

"You should take off your shirt." He suggests casually.

"Excuse me?"

"Let's see if it riles him up even more to shatter instead of just slamming the windows like a wuss." He rouses under his breath, his excited provocative tone not escaping Rose's attention. 

What the hell is he up to?

"This isn't funny." Rose sputters out, standing up from the couch.

"I'm not trying to be." He faces her again, sporting a deadpan face. 

"Whatever. You think I'm one of your stupid fan girls to take my shirt off just because you want to rile someone up? Besides, there's probably no one outside and you're only making it up to see my boobs like a pervert."

His eyes roams her from top to bottom, there was distaste evident in his gaze.

"When he comes at night and leaves a little something for you, maybe then you take off your clothes for him... like a slut." Rome stared into her eyes with nothing behind those icy orbs to show for a lack of meaning behind his words. Because he means every single thing he says to her.

"Get. Out. Now!" Rose boomed furiously. 

"Whatever, I was leaving anyway. This has become boring." He walks towards her front door.

"Wait. How do you know he comes at night and leaves something?" her eyes narrow.

"Because I've seen it before."

"You saw him? It is a real guy?" Rose wanted to confirm, for some reason she thought otherwise.

"I never said I saw him. I've only seen it happening to someone else." 

"Whom?" 

"You don't need to know." He closes off.

"Then at least tell me what happened to her? Can I meet this person?" 

"You can't." Refusing calmly he was almost out the door when Rose pleads against hope.

"Please."

"You can't because she disappeared." Those were the words that finally did it. Brought her racing heart and buzzing head to a sudden halt. "Never to be seen again." 

 "When he stops visiting, that's when you should be most afraid." His words rang like a siren in the silence of her mind as he left.

Now she felt true fear for the first time.

==

In the embrace of her ancestral town, Rose seeks refuge from the echoes of her past. 

Little does she know, her return to her roots will awaken dormant shadows, shattering ordinary her existence. 

For when the darkness falls over the town, from the pitch black rises a shadowy figure that haunt her nights. 

In the darkness he sweeps her off the ground in terrible fear and the allure of sinister intrigue.

And once the sun comes, a man with a god awful attitude, haunts her in the broad day light. Causing her to swell with pure disdain. 

With each passing night, it draws closer to Rose, casting a chilling spell that both terrifies and exhilarates her.

Thrust into a labyrinth of mysteries can she navigate the treacherous path laid before her, or will her nightly visitor consume her whole?

He Comes At Night

After Leo dropped me off, I walked straight inside without so much as a glance back. The front door might've slammed behind me—actually, I was pretty sure it did. Though, for Leo's sake, I hoped not.

I didn't invite him in for water or even mutter a quick thanks. And no, I'm usually not that rude, but tonight was an exception.

Maybe it was the realization that I could ever be on the receiving end of such sheer hatred, the kind that didn't just scratch the surface but cut deep—deep enough to make me question why.

Don't get me wrong, my head isn't in the clouds. I know people are entitled to their own opinions, even if those opinions are about me. But I am not used to being despised. Not like that. Not with such raw, unfiltered loathing.

What did I ever do to him? Kicked his favorite toy or something?

I still don't understand why his words had hit me so hard, why they got under my skin like a slow-acting poison. But they did. And because of that, I wasn't myself.

Not even close. My back was still pressed against the front door like I had just sprinted away from a crime scene, hands clenched into tight fists by my sides.

The house was silent, eerily so, and yet, my mind was anything but.

Unfortunately, Leo ended up on the receiving end of my misplaced frustration.

He had tried to comfort me, reaching out as I stepped out of his car—his touch meant to be reassuring, warm, grounding. I can see that now.

But back then? Back then, the warmth felt suffocating. Like a weight I wasn't ready to carry.

Instead of appreciating it, instead of acknowledging that he had been nothing but kind to me all night, I yanked my hand away and snapped, "Don't touch me without my permission."

His expression had faltered, flickering with something I didn't have the energy to decipher.

But before I could take in the damage I'd done, I shut the door between us, sealing him outside and myself in. I didn't look back. I couldn't.

The moment Aria found out what had happened, my phone rang like an alarm bell at the end of a war.

"Tell me what I can do." Her voice was sharp, demanding. She was already prepared to go to war on my behalf. "I swear to God, Rose, if I am able to find this bastard I'll make sure he never has the audacity to speak again."

Safe to say, Rome Dracken had narrowly escaped a one-way ticket to a black eye, considering Aria spent the rest of the night scouring the party for him before finally giving up.

Not that she was giving up entirely.

"The moment I see that bastard on campus," she had sworn, her voice unwavering, "he's going to wish he'd never been born."

I chuckled at her antics, if only to sound somewhat normal. To convince her that I was fine. That she didn't need to come after me.

I love my best friend, but right now? I just wanted to be left alone.

As soon as I pulled the phone away from my ear, not even caring if she was still on the line or not, it slipped through my fingers, hitting the floor with a dull thud.

61. When I let It Go