Chapter 6

I didn't even get the chance to start classes before I came to the decision that I wanted to go back home and never leave again. I didn't want to go home because I missed my family, or because I had to be alone. Hell, its not that I even wanted to go home, Florida sounded nice, maybe even further than that, Africa sounded good.

Anywhere but the ally I stood in now would have been fine with me. Any place on earth was better than the mess I was in now. Blood smeared a cross my clothes, dead stranger at my feet, knife in my hand. I didn't kill him, I swear.

You probably don't believe me though, I don't blame you, I wouldn't believe me either. I really didn't kill him though, not me personally anyways, others would argue that I was very much the reason he is dead. Others are a*s holes though, you will meet them soon enough, though, if I were you, I wouldn't want to. I didn't want to meet them, I still didn't want to meet them, they wont leave me alone though. Persistent b******s.

Lets rewind a bit though, if I just start telling the story from here nothing will make sense and I will have to back track to explain anyways. So lets see, rewind past the dead stranger in the ally, the coffee shop, back before the sun set and the Halloween costumes came out, all the way to this morning. Here we go, picking up where we left off from last night. After everyone left I pretty much locked myself up in my bed room, curling up in bed and let my tears lull me to sleep.

I woke up to the pleasant feeling of warmth caressing the side of my face and down my shoulder. I had left the balcony curtains open last night, and now the sun was shinning brightly through, basking my bed with its rays. Part of me insisted on going back to sleep, not wanting to face the loneliness of being away from my family just yet. There was no point in putting off the inevitable though, the quicker I faced it the faster I would become used to it.

A scalding hot shower, fresh clothes, and a cup of coffee later I was feeling a million times better. Sitting in one of the recliners in the front room with a few of the other girls. April was there, who I had met last night, and today I was getting the chance to meet a few of the other girls I would be living with.

Danny had a room a few doors down from mine, and was someone I was looking forward to spending time with. She was a photographer like myself, and she reminded me a lot of Sam. The personality was all there, though Danny was a bit more refined than Sam, but in looks they were polar opposites.

Danny was lithe and toned, and just about as small as I was. Her wispy black hair was cropped short to her chin and was as straight as a pin. She had the darkest, longest lashes I had ever seen that framed pretty green eyes. Her nose was delicate and a narrow jaw, with creamy pale skin. Dainty was the word that came to mind when I looked at her.

Then there was Cloe, who looked rather average with her brown hair and blue eyes, a spray of freckles on her face and her thin lips. Her personality though, was far from average. She was loud, and cherry, pure rainbows and butterflies was laced in her every word. You couldn't talk to her without smiling, she was contagious, I couldn't imagine anyone who wouldn't like her.

Thea and Thora were both twins and both artists. Thea had black hair with blonde tips where Thora had blonde hair, with black tips. They had strong, sharp features, and soft green eyes, and piercings. Metal gleamed in Thora's lip, and Thea's eyebrow, both had about four studs in each ear. I am embarrassed to say that I couldn't help but let my gaze wander, and sure enough there was a little imperfection right about where Thea's right n****e was, and Thora's left one.

We made up an odd group, each one of us quite different from the other, even the twins had clashing personalities. No one had really gotten the chance to meet everyone in the house yet, we had all been busy getting our room set up and saying good bye to our families last night to make proper introductions. Now that everyone was settled in, and we had a few days till classes started there was talk of having a Halloween party. Partly to get to know one another, and part to let loose and have a little fun before it was time to knuckle down for classes.

There had also been talk about there being no teacher or parent supervision out here, we were all on our own. Not just us either, there were three more buildings just a hop and a skip away. At first, I had thought that there were just a bunch of girls staying out here in the cottages. Come to find out that while Danny and Cloe had gone door to door this morning letting everyone else in on the Halloween party they had found out that two of the cottages were filled with women, while the other two were strewn with men.

Oh boy, had that news got all the other girls worked up, and I have to say, it was a very nice thought. On campus there might be women and men alike, but there were strict rules about boys and girls dorms staying separate. A guy couldn't even go to his girlfriends door to pick her up for a date. Out here there were no such rules, and though I didn't plan on have any flings in the near future, it was always nice to know that I had the choice.

Soon enough we had girls and boys alike coming over from the other houses to discuss details for the party tonight. Which house should we have it in, was it possible that it might be warm enough to do it outside? What kind of decorations did we want, who wanted to handle getting the decorations? What time did we want to start so everyone could make plans to not have plans tonight? Was everyone okay with there being alcohol, what did everyone want if they were?

I had offered my help in putting up decoration, but they had different plans for me, seeing as how my car had the most space inside I was voted to be the one to get the decoration. Which was fine by me, and even more so that Danny offered to come with me. Thea and Thora made of list of what we needed to pick up while Danny went to get dressed. Cloe was in charge of music, and a few of the guys, Adam, Ryan, and Tim took charge in figuring out who liked what to drink and going out and getting it. While everyone else took charge in making sure everyone else knew about the party and setting up decorations.

I was surprised that before everyone took off they started throwing down money on the coffee table, everyone pitching in a little bit for Danny, the guys and I to get decorations and drinks. Then everyone taking off, Danny in the passenger side of my Jeep counting out our half of the money. We were on a mission to gather enough decorations to fill the entire quarters of one of the mens cottages with three hundred bucks; And thank god for the blessing of the party not being at our place because that meant I didn't have to worry about noise when I wanted to go to bed, or the clean up in the morning.

By three o'clock Danny and I were stuffing my trunk and the back seat of my Jeep with bags full of decorations. We got everything from streamers, to fake spider webs, we got a small fountain that spilled out raspberry sauce to make it look like blood, various hanging skeletons and witches, zombies. There were giant fake spiders, and jack-o-lanterns, stuffed black cats with their spines hitched up that hissed when you walked by. We loaded up on strobe lights and picket sign that said things like 'enter at your own risk' or 'the point of no return'.

We bought brand new white table sheet and fake blood to smear a crossed them, as well as plenty of candy, balloons and other nonsense. Not to mention we had gone out and bought ourselves costumes with our own money. Danny had gotten a red vampiress costume, while I was going as an old time saloon girl that was a little bit more racy than I would have liked but it would do.

We had bought as much as we could with about fifty bucks left over with the money we were given, and by the time we got back home and started setting everything up we found out that we had bought too much. There were streamers and spider webs every where, including on the outside, balloons were floating about here and there, fake spiders were nestled in the lawn and on table and shelves in the house. Strobe lights flashed wildly and cats hissed every five seconds. Skeletons were handing from the ceiling and zombies were lounging on the couches.

By five thirty we have crammed every inch of the house with wicked decor and my trunk still had bags that had not been touched. Girls were running about in the kitchen making little treats to snack on and the guys were loading beer, Bacardi and whiskey into the fridge and freezer. By six thirty we had given up with the rest of the decorations and some of us were heading off to get ready.

Currently Danny and I were out on my balcony, sipping glasses of wine the men and been kind enough to buy and chatting with curlers in our hair. It had been warm enough out tonight that we could have hosted the party outside, but it was too late to start moving everything outdoors now. In fact, I am pretty positive that there are a few people who were starting the party without everyone else.

Sure enough, by the time Danny I had finished getting ready and headed over to the party music was blasting through the open windows and the strobe lights were casting scattered shadows of partiers inside; And so, as we opened the front door and joined in on the fun, it was the short start to a very long, and very bad night.

My camera had been flashing with pictures as I danced and sipped on my wine, taking picture after picture of the drunk smiles plastered on random faces. As well as sober smiles of course, because there was a far share of people who were not drinking, guys and girls alike. My glass was still more than half full and it had been the only glass I had poured myself all night.

I liked wine, but I also liked being in control of myself and tended to only casually drink, and by casually I meant taking little sips every half hour or so; Then eventually giving up on trying to actually finish my glass and pouring it down the sink. It had been a fun night so far, I had joined many of the other girls on the dance floor, partook in a silly string fight, and had been capturing many memories with my camera.

The night was young, and life was good, until Thora had slipped from a little too much alcohol and busted her head against the fireplace. Thea was no where to be found and though I was sure I was not the only sober one around I couldn't find anyone else who didn't smell like liquor. So I regrettably pulled Thora away from the chaos of the party and into my Jeep, hoping she didn't bleed all over the place. It was just a small gash on her forehead, and she seemed perfectly fine; But it was bleeding pretty bad and looked kind of deep, no doubt she would need stitches.

It took me about twenty minuets to find the hospital once we got into town, and as we were pulling into the parking lot Thora asked me for my phone number so she could call me to come pick her up later.

"Its okay, I'm just going to go inside with you," I told her as I unbuckled my seat belt.

"No way, I am underage and they will no doubt bust me for drinking. None of this is your fault and I am not going to risk you getting in trouble because I was reckless."

I made a face for a second, about to argue, but the look on her face told me I wouldn't get anywhere doing so, "Alright, but I am going to stay in town for a couple hours, text me if you think it will be longer than that or if they release you."

That was that, she was heading through the front doors and I was driving off to find myself a nice hot cup of coffee. Its funny how the smallest decisions map out our fate, if I had argued and gone inside with Thora, or even found a different Cafe my life would have been drastically different. I didn't argue though, and here I was, walking out of Carla's' Coffee holding a steaming cup. Ditching my car on the side of the road to take a walk and window shop.

Just as I stood outside of a bakery, seeing the most delicious brownie I had ever seen I heard the strangest sound, coming from the alley at the side of the building. At first, it had sounded like someone was laughing, then I turned the corner to take a peek. The cup of coffee slipping from my hands, hitting the pavement and sloshing its hot contents all over my bare legs and the skirt of my costume.

There, by the dumpster lay a man, knife stuck in his throat and blood spilling from his lips. The sound came again as he clutched at his neck and tried to yell, blood bubbling from his mouth and down his chin. I rushed to him, falling to my knees by his side ready to help him. I had no idea what to do though, did I leave the knife in or take it out and try to stop the bleeding? I took it out, letting it fall in my lap and quickly clamped my hand over where it had been.

I knew to apply pressure to stop the bleeding but there was so much blood, he was still trying to speak too, his lips trying to form words but nothing coming out but more blood. I sat there, kneeling over him in a numb state of shock; Watching with horror as his body went still and his eyes turned glassy, he was staring right at me in his death. There he was, looking to me, but there was no one home in there, his eyes were empty and I knew he was dead.

Its natural to clamp your hands over your face to stop yourself from screaming, or vomiting at such a sight. I was glad I still had enough sense in me to realize that my hands were covered in blood still. Mechanically I tried wiping them off on my costume, then realized I was only getting blood on more of myself. Thats when I stood up and began backing away, grabbing the knife in my hand as I did so to stop it from falling to the ground.

Thats when they came, one walking out of the shadows and into the light, his storm gray eyes boring into mine, sweeping his gaze over my costume, the blood, and the knife.

Then the other came, "Valery," He spoke my name softly from behind me, and I turned to see him spotting the blood and knife as well.

I was not sure which I was more afraid of, witnessing death, or being potentially blamed for said death; Or, as a third option, dying myself. Because these two men sure didn't look like they were the comforting type, or the arresting type. Nope, they sure looked like the killing type to me.