"Woah, wait." I furrowed my brows. He slipped his turtle neck on and stared at me.

"What?" He questioned.

"We are going to kill Gomez?"

"Well, if you're not, I am."

He began walking down the stairs. "Are you coming?" I opened my mouth, but he interrupted. "That wasn't an option." I closed my mouth.

I got up and hesitantly followed after him. He walked down to the living room and peeked out the blinds. Police were inspecting Luther's house and my abandoned car. He walked towards me and grabbed my wrist, pulling me with him.

"We're leaving out the back and making a run for it," he instructed

"Luther," I asked. "Why are you doing this?"

He froze in his tracks and suddenly whipped around, causing me to slightly stumble backwards.

"What makes you think you can question my motives?" he rasped. "Hm? You're so inferior to me. You have no right."

He turned back around and started back towards the sliding glass door. Tears poured from my eyes for I knew that he was right. I was inferior to him. He had me completely under his thumb. I was his puppet and he was my master. I couldn't do anything unless he said so.

God, I prayed. Please send someone to help me.

Luther furtively opened the sliding glass door and slid the two of us out. We sprinted across the park behind my house and made it into the next neighborhood over.

"Where is Gomez?" I asked.

"His house," Luther replied. "Just down the street a little ways."

I lifted a brow. I had no clue that Gomez lived so close to Luther and I. Well, that certainly would explain why he was "out and about" the other night before Luther forced me to come over.

"W-why do you want to kill Gomez, Luther?"

"Because."

I rolled my eyes. "Because why?" I asked him, like a child.

"Because he calls me Lex. And he won't shut up."

"Luther, that's not any reason for you to kill somebody!" I exclaimed.

He flashed his sad green eyes at me. "It's more reason than I've had for some."

I shuddered. A boy who killed just for sport was gripping my wrist, wanting me to kill someone with him. The reality of the situation suddenly hit me, causing my head to swell.

"Let go of me!" I screamed. A sudden rush of adrenaline took over my body, causing me to convulse and struggle.

His grip on my wrist tightened. "Shut up, Ava!" he shout-whispered.

"Help me!" I screamed, hoping the cops would hear.

Rage seethed through Luther. I could tell. His face, however pale that it was, was beginning to redden with fury. He suddenly punched me right in my temple, causing me to go unconscious immediately.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I awoke in a darkened room, full of candles. The house reeked of weed. I cringed at each breath I took. It took a while to get used to the smell of pot.

I must be in Gomez's house. I thought. I suddenly shot up. Does that mean that Luther went through with it?

I sprinted for the door and opened it, only to run into a tall, muscular figure about to enter the room himself. I let out a small shriek at first, but then a sigh of relief.

"Gomez..." I whispered. "You're alive."

He let out a sarcastic chuckle. "Barely. If I hadn't turned around a millisecond sooner, I would've been a deadman."

I cocked my head to the side. "What happened?"

He motioned for me to go back into the room and sit on the bed. I gave a half nod and did just so. He closed the door behind him and came to stand before me.

"About an hour ago, Luther rushed over with you in tow and requested that I helped him. I agreed. He said that something happened to you at school so he took it upon himself to do something...I don't know. He babbled on and on about it. Anyway, I knew that you hadn't just hit your head. I could see the small ring mark on your temple. The same ring that Luther wears. It wasn't too much of a mystery."

"Have the cops come yet?"

"Not here. God, I hope not here." He licked his lips. "Anyway, while I was trying to bring you in here to lay you down, he suck up behind me with a knife. I could sense him there, so I turned around just in time to duck out of the way. I eventually got the knife out of his hands and locked him up."

I nodded slowly. "So...any reason as to why he would want to kill you?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No...he has the reasoning of a five year old. He doesn't know what he's doing or who he's hurting."

I rose up from the bed. "May I see him?"

He lifted his eyebrows. "Are you sure? He's kind of beaten himself up."

"What do you mean?"

Gomez sighed. "Come with me."

He led me out of the bedroom and down a staircase to a basement. The door to it was locked, and you could hear a great commotion from within. Gomez motioned for me to look through the key hole.

I kneeled down and peeked through. Luther was throwing chairs and slamming himself up against walls and all sorts of things. He looked...possessed.

"Gomez, he's going to kill himself," I whispered to him, bringing my eye away from the hole.

He rolled his eyes. "Trust me, he won't."

I brought my eye back to the key hole, only to see Luther's big, green eye staring straight into mine. I let out a gasp and took a leap backwards. He let out a sinister chuckle.

"Hello, Ava."

Gomez leaned down next to my ear. "Go upstairs," he whispered. "I'll take care of this."

I nodded, got up, and walked quickly up the staircase. I could hear Gomez beginning to talk to Luther in the basement, but all that I could hear the was muffled rumbles of Gomez's voice.

I looked around. I was in the kitchen. Every surface was covered in marijuana stuffed ziplock bags. I rolled my eyes. I looked out the window. There was a greenhouse in the backyard, an overabundance of weed growing inside of it.

Still looking outside the window, I noticed how dull it was outside. Before Luther had abducted me, I had noticed that the sky promised rain. Now, the tiniest droplets of water splashed onto the window glass. Everything about this place and the situation seemed...demonic. I couldn't shake the eerie feeling that someone was watching me.

The sound of Gomez's and Luther's voice were definitely coming from deep within somewhere. I could hear it coming out of somewhere more vividly than from where I was standing. Curious, I followed the source of the sounds. My ears lead me to a heating vent, which was turned off (no wonder the house was so cold) to which I put my right ear to.

"Luther," I heard Gomez say. "This is absolute madness. It has to stop."

"What?" Luther questioned. "You've never stopped me from killing anyone before. Why should this be any different?"

"Ava is a special girl, Luther. I think you know that."

"Of course I know that!" he snapped. "That's why this has to work."

"What has to work?"

"You know!" he exclaimed. There was a pause. He spoke more quietly the next time. "To make her...love me."

I pulled my ear away from the vent. He wants me to love him? The thought utterly repulsed me. If anything, he was making me hate him even more than I already did. What sort of person kidnaps and threatens to make someone love them? A psycho, that's who. Oh wait.

I put my ear back to the vent, and listened further.

"Well, you're not doing a very good job of that, you know."

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" he burst once more. "I've never loved anything in my life more than her. In fact, I've never loved anything in my life except for her."

"And you think I have experience in this field? Jesus Christ, you don't know me at all, do you?"

"I don't know what to do."

"Okay, well...how about you tell me what you're thinking. What were you thinking when you first figured out you had fallen in love with Ava?"

I could hear Luther let out a long sigh. My heart beat faster as I tried my hardest to swallow. This was the moment of truth.

"I thought about my life. About, how I am sick of existing. I want to live. I want even the darkest pieces inside of her. I want to kiss the sorrow off of her skin. Isn't that what love is? Isn't that what this beautifully constructed torture feels like?"

"Well, I mean...I guess..." Gomez paused. "What else did you think?"

"I thought that I want the same for her. The power hungry part of me wants something in return. I want her to love even the most monstrous parts of me. I want her to love me for the madman that I am."

"Luther, just because you love somebody, doesn't mean that they will love you back, no matter how much you try and force them to."

"No." Was all he said in reply.

I rose up quickly, my head spinning and aching from perhaps the blow to it, or the information that just was injected into my mind. Luther loved me. This was simply how he showed his affection. How was it...I was growing...a soft spot for him?

The reality of everything suddenly hitting me for the second time that day, I quietly snuck out Gomez's house and sprinted across the street and into my neighborhood.

I stopped to catch my breath at the yellow swing set at the park near my house. I layed my hand on it, but it slipped off, due to the wetness. In that simple action, it reminded me of how fast my childhood was slipping away from me.

With being reminded of that fact, I sat in one of the soggy swing seats and sliently cried in the rain, for a monster was on the pursuit of my innocence and my life.