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The party was going on somewhere near the woods, at a large wooden house which looked more like a cabin. It really wouldn't be that bad if I didn't have a thing against woods. And since it was nighttime by now and I was practically freaking out, I really didn't feel like getting out of the car once Luca stopped in front of the house.

Tall trees surrounded one side of the house, mainly the backyard. The other side led towards an alleyway, which I'm sure must've led to the woods one way or another.

Not surprisingly, guys and girls crowded the yard as music blasted from inside the house. I eyed the surroundings warily before slowly opening the car door and stepping outside. Luca followed my actions before coming over beside me.

I really wished I could go back to my house. For some reason, something was nagging in my gut. I wasn't getting a good feeling about this, any of this.

"You should zip up your jacket." I told Luca. It clearly would be a fucked up sight if he went inside with his bloodied shirt.

He passed me a small frown but nonetheless, zipped up his black jacket. "And you stay by my side." He gave me a pointed look as if I loved the thought of getting lost in such parties.

However, before I could've replied, he started walking towards the house. I quickly unfroze from my spot and ran after him, trying to catch up with his long strides.

I wasn't surprised when the strong smell of alcohol and perfume hit me just as we both entered from the wide opened doors. Some of them were indeed passed out on the wooden porch, red solo cups and beer bottles trashed along the yard.

"Do you know where she is?" Luca's voice broke me out from my panicked thoughts. "Your friend?"

I looked around once again, not sure where Alice could even be between these many people. All I knew was that she had been wearing a light blue short dress. And really, that wasn't much help.

"I'll call her." I told him before taking out my phone from my pocket and dialing her number.

She didn't pick up, though. Which just increased the panicky feeling inside me.

I ended the call and faced Luca, not even caring how close we were standing at that moment. "She's not picking up."

He raised his brows and looked away from me, his eyes searching along the crowd. I did the same, really hoping that I find her. I really hoped that she was safe.

Furrowing my brows, I pushed back my hair away from my face. As if sensing my dread, I felt the sudden warmth of Luca's hand enveloping mine before he started walking further into the dense crowd, pulling me behind him.

I followed him, trying my best not to slam into drunk guys and girls who really looked like they gave no shit about absolutely anything. I envied them for a second, but then thought otherwise.

I needed to make sure that Alice was safe. We needed to get out of here as soon as possible.

It took us almost a whole minute before he pulled me into a room which looked like the kitchen. Thankfully, it was less crowded and I found myself exhaling the breath I had been holding onto.

I once again started looking around in search of the only person I came here for. Luca still didn't let go of my hand as I called Alice again from my phone. Just like before, it just rang and she didn't pick up.

And I tried my best to push down the overwhelming feeling inside me.

"She's not picking up." I looked back at Luca, worry lacing my voice. What if something happened to her? Would that be my fault? All I could think about was the time she had taken that car hit just because of me, and she hadn't even known the reality behind that.

If they really were Burner's men, they must've come here for something.

"Don't freak out, Rose." Luca spoke up, his eyes slowly moving behind me; searching. "She must be here somewhere."

I nodded out of instinct and found myself looking out of the two big glass doors overlooking the backyard. I was about to look away when I spotted someone in a vibrant blue dress.

My eyes widened the exact moment. "I think I found her." Not breaking my gaze away from her silhouette, I tugged on Luca's hand and started heading for the glass doors.

Soon enough, we were outside and I almost breathed out a sigh of relief when I spotted Alice along one corner, frowning down at her phone.

I pulled my hand away from Luca's and ran towards her. "Alice!"

She looked up immediately and a wide grin formed on her lips. "God, what took you so long?" She stumbled forward drunkenly before throwing her arms around my neck. Since she was drunk and wearing very high heels, she was practically draping over me.

And then she let out a giggle. "I couldn't find Noah, you know. I tried asking him for another dance but he just disappeared. And then I tried calling you but my phone's battery died and I had to stay here all alone because you scared me on the phone and–"

"It's fine. I'm sorry. Did...you see those guys again?" I asked, gripping her bare arms as I pushed her away.

She blinked and frowned. "What guys?" And then her eyes trailed behind me and she squinted them even further. "Wait, you brought him along?" She whispered –which really wasn't a whisper– with another huge grin.

I glanced behind my shoulder and noticed Luca regarding Alice with one of his frowns. I really couldn't blame him.

"Did you both kiss–"

"Alice." I cut her off with a panicked glare, really not wanting Luca to hear what she was about to say.

She smiled sheepishly at that and thankfully didn't say anything further.

"You told me about those guys dressed in black, remember?" I asked her. "Did you see them again? Did you see them leaving?"

She blinked and frowned. "Oh, yeah! They...they were just right there." She pointed off towards the other hidden side of the backyard which looked completely dark under the night sky, tall trees surrounding it.

I gulped and looked back at Alice. "You didn't go over to them again, right?"

She just shook her head. "Why? What's wrong?"

"We should get going, Rose." Luca spoke up behind me.

Alice gave him a look of confusion. "Rose? Who's Rose?"

Instead of answering her, I gripped her wrist and turned towards Luca. "Yeah. We should leave."

Alice didn't complain even once as I dragged her behind me, following Luca out of the party. Once we were outside the house, I was more than glad to leave that loud atmosphere. I stopped in front of Luca's car when his phone rang. He stopped too and took it out, eyeing the screen exasperatedly. Still, he answered the call.

Not wanting to eavesdrop on the conversation, I looked around us. The tall trees and the woods at some distance did not look welcoming at all. Alice stayed behind me, looking a bit sick.

When Luca ended the call, he seemed frustrated and maybe even angry.

"Don't you think this is a bit...odd?" I spoke up the obvious question, breaking the silence around us.

Alice didn't respond behind me while Luca just looked at me. "What do you mean?"

"I-I don't know. It's just...if they really were Burner's men, they wouldn't have left so easily." I replied in a lower voice even though I knew Alice would be asking me about this once she'd be out of her drunk state.

Luca ran a hand through his hair, pushing back the curls. "Maybe they weren't his men."

That didn't settle well with me either. What was Burner even planning to do?

"Yeah. Maybe." I said, although my voice sounded unsure. "We should probably get going."

He nodded before his eyes moved behind me, towards Alice. And then he frowned. "Where did she go?"

I turned around abruptly to find no one where Alice had just been standing. My eyes widened in horror as I looked around. She really had just disappeared.

"What the hell?" Luca murmured behind me, sounding surprised. "Wasn't she just here?"

I started walking towards the small alleyway which seemed like the closest place to the driveway where we had just been standing. Either Alice went inside the house, or she went towards that alley.

"Alice!" I shouted, looking around. "God, where are you?"

It was just the sound of my footsteps until Luca came behind me, seeming even more irritated by now.

I was about to shout out her name once again when I heard her voice, somewhere along some distance, "I'm here. Ugh, I feel sick."

And soon enough when I spotted her in a narrow alleyway, she was clutching her stomach with a really sickly look plastered on her face.

"Alice you can't just–" I stopped abruptly when the sudden stench hit me. Something a bit familiar.

The smell of blood.

"I know. I'm sorry. I just felt like I might throw up and I didn't want to throw up in the middle of that driveway. So I came here." She murmured with another groan.

I blinked and looked away from her, deeper into the dark alleyway. The smell was coming off even stronger now. It really did smell like blood.

I turned towards Luca and saw his eyes trained over the same direction where I had just been looking at. "I think we should go." He said. And the way he was clenching his jaw didn't go unnoticed by me.

"What? Why?" Alice started looking around before scrunching up her nose. "Wait, what's that smell? It's too strong."

I didn't stop her when she started walking further into the alleyway. I couldn't have when my chest felt too tight and my throat was constricting too painfully.

"Rose–"

Instinctively, I followed Alice only to hear her gasp out loud. "Oh my God."

And then I saw it and my heart almost, almost stopped.

There was blood almost everywhere. The trail of blood seemed almost too familiar except that it wasn't between the woods this time. My eyes followed the blood and froze at the body lying on the ground, just few feet away from us, unmoving.

"Oh my God." Alice repeated, her voice coming out strained as her hands flew over to her mouth.

Luca came up behind me and I heard him take in a sharp breath. All the while, my eyes were fixed on the body. On him.

"Is that—Oh God, is that Fraser?" Alice sounded horrified. And maybe she was crying, I didn't know.

I really didn't know. All I knew was that a boy –a boy that looked so much like Fraser– was lying right in front of us, on the ground. There was blood everywhere around him and he was unconscious.

"No, no, no." Alice was shaking her head frantically. "The ambulance. Grace, the ambulance!" She clutched my arm tightly, almost begging me.

But I didn't know how to help her. He wasn't moving.

"I'll call the ambulance." I heard Luca behind me.

Yet my eyes were still fixed on him, on Fraser. I could hear Alice trying to stifle her cries with her hands as she leaned back against the nearest wall, trying to back off from the blood. I could hear Luca talking over in his phone, sounding urgent and maybe even scared.

I just didn't–I couldn't understand why they were even trying.

He was dead.

And maybe I shouldn't have decided on that so quickly. But then my eyes trailed over towards the small black petals curled beneath his bloodied hand, and my stomach clenched painfully.

He was dead.

"Grace." It was Luca's soft voice, his hand on my arm as he turned me around, towards him, his eyes darting between the unmoving body and a horrified Alice. "It's fine. It'll be fine." But we both knew it won't be anywhere near fine.

A small shudder escaped my lips as I closed my eyes shut, wanting for it to just go away. I tried focusing on Luca's arm around me, but the smell was still there. And I could hear Alice's sobs. And I could hear people coming around from inside the house, their gasps of horror.

This was not fine. This was not fine.

I opened my eyes and tried forcing the bile down my throat. I wished I could go beside Alice and comfort her. But I didn't know how. I didn't know how to react.

My eyes flew over towards Fraser once again as I pulled away from Luca. He was still there. It really was him.

At that point, almost everyone from the party had crowded over. I could hear the sirens somewhere around the house. Two police officers rushed towards the scene. I heard them shouting something towards the crowd as the ambulance pulled up. All the voices blurring into the surroundings.

I blinked and a small shudder escaped my lips. That's pretty much when I noticed a crumbled paper lying in front of me, going almost unnoticed in this chaos.

I quickly picked it up, something twisting horribly in my chest, and stuffed it in my pocket.

A cold breeze swept past me, the familiarity hitting me out of nowhere. The shocked murmurs around us. The faint sound of the sirens. The light rustle of the trees against the night air. Everything blurring together.

Fraser was dead. Killed.

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Crystal 🌿