in alarm, the teen grabbed her backpack up from the grass and hugged it close to her chest. whoever it was, she just hoped they weren't some serial killer. for a moment, she felt like a female side character in a cheesy slasher movie, one that was destined to be killed off; a girl that would foolishly call out, "who's there?" when she heard a strange noise. as if some homicidal maniac would reply.

the reasonable part of her assumption that it was a groundskeeper or an animal. she hoped that it was just an animal because if it were a groundskeeper, she'd have some explaining to do. they would surely kick her out or even ban her from returning. she couldn't bear to lose the place she felt most comfortable.

salem's ears perked up. the feline glanced up at her, his eyes sparkling eerily in the moonlight. the creature stalked forward, much like he would when attempting to carefully catch a mouse.

suddenly, salem lunged forward into the bushes. the puzzled teen could hear the sounds of a struggle and salem hissing at whoever it was. it appeared a catfight was occurring just beyond the vegetation. a cry of stress cut through the tense air as the young girl waited for salem to re-emerge.

"ow! bad cat, bad cat!" a voice, seemingly masculine, yelled in pain.

the teen slowly crept forward and shrieked as a figure stumbled from the bushes, salem clinging to the stranger's dress shirt with his claws. it was an odd sight.

"get off!" the unfamiliar individual struggled to get the feline off of him.

"that's enough, salem!" the teen declared, rushing over to pull salem off of him. she placed her hands atop of salem's paws and tugged his claws off the material.

salem stared down the stranger with an icy glare, from his place in his friend's arms.

"are you okay?" the alarmed teen went to check on him.

"no, a cat just tried to claw my eyes out," the stranger responded sarcastically. he panted a bit, his hands resting on his knees as he bent over and attempted to catch his breath. thick curtains of his hair swept over his face, so the girl couldn't properly see what he looked like or if his face went unscathed.

the boy wiped the sweat off his brow with his sleeve and stood straight. it was then that she saw his face, reddened from the attack. he did have a small scratch spanning from under his lip, towards his chin. but despite his unruly appearance, she had to admit that he was pretty attractive.

"i'm so so sorry, salem's usually never like that. i don't know what came over him," it was her turn to glare at the cat in her arms. salem simply looked at her with big, innocent eyes.

"it's whatever, just try to keep that monster from hurting anyone else," the boy recommended. salem must've not liked what he called him, because he hissed once more.

"i will," the girl nodded her head quickly, "what were you doing? were you. . . watching us?"

the boy's eyes widened at her question. his mouth opened and shut like a fish out of water, shocked at the suggestion she made,

"what? no! i was just trying to enjoy a walk,"

"in a graveyard?" her brows raised.

"what about you? you're here too," he fired back, his tone irritated.

"touché," she sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck with her free hand, "again, i apologize for my cat trying to kill you. why don't we start over?"

"fine," the teen sighed, "i'm wednesday, wednesday addams. and you are?"

she smiled brightly, "i'm (name) and this little demon here is salem. nice to meet you,"

.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・．