in a year when every house disappeared, when the dead came out of their graves, and when humans were turned into ghosts.

This year, we didn't notice them at first—too content with chewing our candies and talking about our costumes—until the deadly whispering spoke to me first. They were little voices in my ear, saying things I couldn't comprehend. It was just whispering, I'd thought, until I saw the vines choking everybody within their reach. Caelum was the first one the vines...

Honestly, it would have been better if any of that happened. Instead, I was sitting idly on a couch in the living room staring at the drunk, sweaty teenagers.

"Daesyn," I heard Clara's voice over the loud music.

Groaning silently, I turned to look at her. "Yes?"

"Can you get more drinks from the basement?"

I spluttered. "What? No!"

"Please," she said. "I'm on my knees. Not literally, of course."

I breathed out a laugh. "Fine."

"Thank you!"

"But." I rose a finger to silence her.

"But?"

"I can't go alone."

"I can't go with you either."

"Well, why?" I asked.

"I have to make an important call," she said. "Tell Caelum to go with you."

"No!" I shook my head furiously. "What about Wyatt or Emery?"

She rubbed her eyes with her hand, sighing dramatically. "I didn't see them, that's why I came to you."

"Okay then, you can go make your call," I said. It was either I looked for Caelum to go with me or go alone which wasn't happening.

I spotted Caelum leaning against the wall in the kitchen, a bottle of alcohol in his hand. I had no idea he drank but then again, I only knew what Caelum wanted me to know. He kicked off the wall when he saw me, placing the drink on the counter.

"Why won't you just leave me alone?" he asked.

I eyed him. "Who said I came here to meet you?"

He cocked his head to one side, crossing his arms. "Don't try to act smart with me," he said. "We both know you came here to see me."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Not."

"Too."

"Come with me to the basement," I said, blinking a few times at how close we were before awkwardly stepping back.

It took a while for Caelum to process my words. Because when he did, the look in his eyes made me regret my decision to take him to the basement with me.

He looked around before pursing his lips and returning his attention back to me. "Never," he muttered in a voice that sent shivers down my spine. "Never, in your entire life speak to me about the basement. Are we clear?"

You know that moment when you're like 'oh shit?' Yeah, oh shit.

"I—"

"Are we clear?" he repeated.

I nodded. "Yeah."

He uncrossed his arms and turned to take his drink from the counter but he couldn't. His hands were trembling. When I said trembling, I meant it was literally impossible to take anything. It looked like he had no control over his hands and that surprised me.

"Let me help you," I said softly. The double meaning behind my words took me by surprise too but I couldn't take it back.

Caelum finally picked the drink from the counter which slipped almost immediately and shattered on the hardwood. "Fuck!" he yelled.

"Cae—"

"Shut the fuck up Daesyn, and leave me the fuck alone!"

I flinched at his tone. I couldn't count the number of times Caelum had said something rude or distasteful that really affected me, but this was different. It felt like I'd just gotten my heart broken and I didn't know what to do next. I watched as he fled out of the kitchen without sparing me a glance. That hurt badly.

"Oh my god, Daesyn," Emery said, rushing towards me. "What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Shit," she swore. "You have to tell me what happened."

"Caelum is really mad at me," I said, narrating the whole thing to her as we left the house.

"The b-basement?" Emery stuttered. "Jesus!"

"I didn't know he hated the basement," I promised. "He just got mad and it was like I—"

"It's not your fault Daesyn," she cut in with a sigh. "The basement is just a touchy subject."

"Did something happen to him?"

She raised her hands in surrender. "It's not my story to tell."

"Why won't you tell me?" I asked, frustrated. Sure, I made a mistake by talking about the basement to Caelum, but how was I supposed to know he had issues with the basement? It wasn't like he ever wanted to talk about things with me. All he ever did was act closed-off and mysterious, and now it looked like I did it on purpose.

"Because it's not my story to tell!" she exclaimed, walking towards the direction of the car.

"Fine," I yelled and went back into the house.

I picked my candy bowl from where I'd earlier kept it in the living room and went back to sit in the kitchen. I mean, this was meant to be a peaceful Halloween party but things were already getting out of hand.

"Daesyn!"

"What?" I groaned.

"I've been looking for you all over the house," Clara said. "What happened?"

I shrugged. I was honestly not in the mood to discuss anything. "Is it time to leave?"

"Emery's waiting for us," she replied.

I stood, picking my candy bowl and following her out of the house. Emery was leaning against the driver's side of the car, so I assumed she was driving us back home and Caelum was already sitting in the passenger's seat. How was I going to survive two hours in the same car with him?

Ignoring my rapidly beating heart, I clutched my bowl tightly and swiftly opened the door to the backseat. I avoided any form of eye contact as I said a quick prayer and sat. My eyes were solely focused on the candy bowl on my lap but I could feel Caelum's eyes on me.

"Daesyn," Emery began when she entered the car. "Whatever happened back—"

"I didn't know, okay?" I cut her off. "I wouldn't have talked about it if I knew anything."

"Look—" Caelum tried to cut in while I shook my head frantically without looking at any of them.

"I completely understand now and I'm really sorry," I apologized, wanting to desperately end the discussion. "Can we just go home?"

Emery sighed as the door opened, completely putting an end to the conversation. I had a feeling Clara also sensed the tension in the air because no words were said throughout the ride.

It was probably past one when I woke the next day. I stretched my arms wide as my eyes fluttered open, a cool breeze brushing over my bare stomach. I groaned, tugging my shirt down and rubbing at my eyes. I stared at the light streaming through my open window as the memories of last night came rushing back.

I was still mad at Caelum for yelling at me for something that was clearly beyond my knowledge, and Emery for not...I was just mad at Emery for not wanting to fill me in. I completely understood that it wasn't her story to tell, but I didn't think I cared.

After my morning routine, I picked my phone up from my nightstand and checked for any missed calls or messages. There was one from Emery and an unknown number.

The unknown number was Melanie. According to her, she had fun at the party she had gone to and she was never mad at me. I let out a small smile at that and sent a quick 'I'm glad' to her. At least one of us had a great night.

Emery sent a 'hi,' and I did the same. Even though I was still mad at her for no reason, it felt right to apologize, so I added an apology text as well. She returned my text with her multiple winky emojis and how sorry she was too and she hoped I understood that she couldn't just spill the beans on Caelum. It was his secret, and only he had the right to tell me. Anyway, I was relieved to know that I still had my best friend intact.

Mum's behavior was a tad bit weird when we were sat together at the dining table. She kept fidgeting and hiding large grins under her coffee mug. I eyed her warily.

"Mum?"

She hummed, dropping the mug. "Yes, baby?"

"You're acting weird," I said. "Like really, really weird."

"Okay, so," she said, the grin resurfacing in full force. "This really cute boy, Caelum, came to our doorstep this morning, wanting to see you."

My mouth dropped open. "What?"

She scrunched her nose at the cereal in my mouth. "Close up," she said. "So, I was surprised you didn't tell me about him, but I realized how things had been lately so I'm not going to yell at you for keeping secrets from me."

"What did you tell him, mum?"

She shrugged. "Just showed him some pictures of little Daesyn."

"Jesus Christ." My mouth dropped open once again. "Nor or Bar?"

She bit her lips, not taking her eyes off of her cup. "Nor?"

"You're lying."

"Okay, okay," she said with a small sigh. "Bar."

I squeezed my eyes shut with a large groan. Mum had two albums of me: nor and bar. Nor contained absolutely normal extremely cute baby pictures, which looked pretty amazing. I was proud of those pictures, and I wouldn't mind sharing them with even the teachers at school. Bar, on the other hand, was filled with naked extremely embarrassing photos of me.

Growing up, clothes and I weren't exactly besties, so I spent seventy percent of my childhood naked. And Mother being Mother had thousands of photos of naked me.

"I didn't show him all," she said. "Just my favorites."

"I don't want to hear anymore," I told her, standing and placing my bowl in the dishwasher. "Please."

Mum's favorites were the ones she'd taken when I was striking various poses. The kind of poses a little child would strike when fully clothed, except I was naked.

"My head hurt," I said, placing a palm on my forehead. "I think I should go back to sleep."

She turned her eyes away from me, suddenly finding the World Best Mum on the cup very interesting. I narrowed my eyes at her. "Is there anything else?" I asked. "Anything else I should know?"

The doorbell rang almost immediately and she gave me that I-was-trying-to-tell-you look. I sighed, walking towards the door. I couldn't avoid him forever. Better now than never. I grinned internally at my rhyme.

"Hi," he said when I opened the door. I glanced up at him. Caelum was easily one of the most handsome persons I'd ever seen. The way his dark curls and eyebrows contrasted with his smooth light brown skin was a sight for sore eyes. He offered me a small smile as our gazes met, but I didn't return it.

I'd tolerated a lot with him. It was like when we moved a step forward, he always had something annoying to do or say that took us a thousand steps back. I could understand if he had a shitty childhood, but really, it wasn't an excuse to act like a shitty person. I couldn't put a flower in an asshole and call it a vase.

"Hey," I said. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry," was all he said.

Damn it. It was pathetic how badly I wanted to forgive him. I wanted to be mad at him. I wanted him to understand exactly how I'd felt every time he said shit to me and I just brushed it off, but it wasn't possible. My heart was already reaching out to him, leaking through its weak walls at the sound of his voice.

That apology... it was no longer for the incident. It was far past that, and he knew it too. Caelum was reckless and confusing and beyond what my poor heart could take, but I succumbed. Once again.

I gave in, walking forward and leaning against his chest because it was so damn easy. With Caelum, it was so easy and very difficult. Just a word from him could melt every wall I'd built up to prevent myself from falling.

"You should be," I said. "Because there really is only so much a girl can take."

He didn't say a word, and even if he did, I didn't hear him.

-

Honey, bear with me (damn, did you see what I did there). Secrets will be revealed in due time ;;;)))

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Thank you for your patience 🖤