42"Alex?" her mom called from the kitchen
"Uh... yeah?" Alex said annoyed.
"Come in here! Where did u go?! You don't just run off like that! You could get killed!" Her mother yelled.
Alex rolled her eyes, "Killed in this town?" she thought. She walked into the kitchen and stood before her mother on the opposite side of the counter.
"You look like shit. Your eyeliner is to heavy, you look like your dieing, from AIDS!" She sneered. "And you so pale! What's wrong with you?! You shouldn't put on make up until you learn how!" She scolded again.
"I'm going upstairs!" Alex yelled.
"Where were you?!" Her mother screamed back.
"Ravyn's!" Alex yelled as she ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her room.
She slammed her door but she could still hear her mother yelling up the stairs, though she couldn't hear the words. She flopped down on her bed and turned on her cd player to AFI, a punk band she had recently found to her liking.
She took up the book in her lap and sat up. She turned on a light next to her bed and started to read it.
"Stage 3?" She murmured. "No, stage 4."
Suddenly she heard something bang against her window. She thought she heard the window crack.
"What the fuck?" She whispered as she jumped from the bed, the book landing on the floor.
She drew back her heavy curtains and could see the red sun over the horizon. It painted her room and shined off the wax paper of all her posters back at her. She looked down to the street. From her room it looked like a black river. The red of the sky beaming against it making it come alive. And there, Mike D stood in the middle of it.
She opened her window slowly. She stuck her head out and Mike smiled.
"Your going to get hit by a car." Alex yelled out the window.
"I'll take my chances." He yelled back, "Are you coming out?"
"Maybe." Alex flirted.
"Maybe? Why not?" He said taking a step forward.
"Why should I?" Alex smiled.
"Because I want you to?"
"Oh that makes the biggest difference!"
"It should!" he all but screamed with anger.
She stammered back from the window. She was shocked at how he screamed. She stuck her head out the window again. She looked at him puzzled. His face flashed anger for a moment then back to delight and flirty.
"I'll come out." Alex said softly.
"Good, I'll be waiting." He smiled.
She smiled too. But her smile faded. She could see the white of his skin and the pale blue of his eyes, he was to slim. He was shrouded in black, he had circles of gray under his eyes. His jacket was pure black, it flowed around him softly in the wind, but there was no wind.
She could hear in the back of her mind, soft screams of a man, lost somewhere. She couldn't hear what he was saying, but it wasn't coming from Mike, his mouth was shut and not moving. The sun was going down faster. She sighed and nodded.
"Be down in a minute." She said.
He nodded and she left the window. She felt her hands were dry and cold. She looked at them and they were black, as if she had been playing with charcoal. She whipped them off on her black pants and walked down the stairs. She quietly avoided contact with her mother again and walked outside.
It was cold, and she hadn't grabbed a jacket again. She looked at him, he was all but towering over her in height. She felt so weak, so helpless and vulnerable for the first time in her life.
"Mike?" she said as he stood next to her in silence.
"Hm?" he said as he put and arm around her and started walking towards his house.
"What are we doing?" She asked softly.
"I got a new stereo system, I want you to look at it." He said softly with the same dark smile as he gave her in the window.
"O-ok..." Alex said. Her voice shuttered and you could hear her fear as the k came out as a quiet squeak.
She shivered a little bit and he stopped walking. He looked at her and his eyes became soft. She could see the beautiful blue eyes she had seen the other night. Not the sick icy pale ones she saw through the window.
"Are you cold?" He asked.
"A little, I forgot my jacket again." She softly laughed, but stopped in an instant.
"You want mine?"
"Well, no you can use it. I'll be fine."
"No, I'm cool. here take it." He took it off and helped her into it.
"Thanks." She said.
Just as before, the jacket dropped down to her knees and it was warm and inviting. She hugged it around her, then something poked her finger.
"Want to walk?" He asked her.
She nodded and felt what had hit her finger in his pocket. She felt her way through it slowly as he put his arm around her and started walking. She felt a smooth cool blade in his jacket. She moved her finger down it and she felt the skin being cut softly and she could feel the warm blood seep out of her finger.
It stung and she winced for a moment but quickly hid it.
"Are you ok?" He asked softly.
"Yeah, fine. Stomach ache." She lied.
"Oh poor thing." He rubbed her stomach softly.
She saw his bare arm. It was whiter than paper, and glowed in the now black surroundings. She saw the underside of it, the black blue and red slit down his wrist. She gasped. It was at least 5 inches long. It was recently cut, the scab was new. She could feel the pain of his flesh when he did it. She looked at his other arm, it was placed around her shoulder. She saw the identical cut.
Her veins in her arms pulsed with fear, the blood in them burned in her. She felt an cid make its way up her throat until it came into her mouth. She swallowed it quickly, but she could still taste the reek of it, she could feel the burn in her throat, she could feel the pain.
She looked at his neck suddenly, she saw a small cut under his chin. It was not a cut per-say anymore, it was now a scar. It was a deep pink color, already faded into his skin, done a while ago.
They had now reached his house. He opened his garage door, to reveal a total DJ sound system package. She didn't know whether to be excited about the great music system, or worried that there was a knife in his pocket, one on a counter next to his stereo, and a large black couch in front of a TV with all scary movies in a shelf behind it.
She could see a hockey mask hanging from a nail on the wall, and a small baseball bat under it on the floor. On the opposite side of the room she saw a dart board with black and red darts. She saw several lighters on the ground, with beer cans and cigarette butts.
"I think I should go home..." She said.
"But, you just got here." He smiled.
He walked away from her and sat on the couch. The back of the couch was facing the door. She walked around the side of the couch and stood in front of him. He laughed suddenly and pulled her into his lap. She was sitting on him and his arms were locked around her. She felt herself being weak and helpless again. She didn't enjoy this fear.