Gen Three- Chapter Thirty Six

My eyelashes fluttered, and the sun creeping up through the window flashed light into my vision. I stirred, blinked several times before deciding to keep my eyes closed, and wondered of the weird angle of the intrusion. The sun never struck me right like that.

     "Good morning." Arbor mumbled a lazy, whispered, slurred greeted as his arms gently wrapped around my core embraced me a little tighter.

Oh. Right. I wasn't in my bedroom.

     "Have you been awake long?" I asked, my voice no more eloquent than his.

     "Not too long. About fifteen minutes, I think. I've just been enjoying this."

He snuggled closer still as if he was a young child and I his teddy bear, but it made me smile.

     "Do you know what time it is?"

     "Somewhere after nine."

     "It doesn't look that late."

     "We're high up, so I guess the sun hasn't hit us as much as normal."

     "Makes sense." I yawned.

Neither of us said anything more. I'm sure thoughts of mentioning that we should get up and get going danced in the back of Arbor's brain as it did mine. However, neither of us wished to give up the freedom we'd claimed. Even with sending out parents warnings, they likely wouldn't be pleased at the vague answer and delayed return to our homes. Arbor and I had to soak in what we had while we had it. With a few more hours to go before we had to check out, I saw no reason to prod us up. In truth, I also needed time to contemplate as the two of us lay there, skin on skin, the exhaustion of the previous night still clinging in the deep parts of my muscles. I felt and probed for a difference. Logic told me there was nothing about being with a person that should have any affect on who I was, and that logic was right. The only change I could find was that my embarrassment at being exposed to Arbor was gone. The night left me falling deeper in love, and with that the boundaries that caused hesitations on being close were shattered.

Gen Three- Chapter Thirty Four

I cringed as Branch glanced at me. I'd done it again.

     "That makes twenty two." he added to the tally that'd begun once we set foot inside the comic and cafe shop.

     "Aagh," I whined, "I can't help it."

     "Sigh all you want, Dia. If you make it to forty, I'll buy you a cream scone." Rich promised.

     "I'm not counting to annoy her. I'm counting to distract her." Branch explained.

     "And I do appreciate it," I shook my head and grinned back, "But I think you're getting a little too much glee out of annoying me."

     "I have no idea what you're talking about."

     "Look. That smirk right there."

     "What smirk?"

     "Seriously..." I sighed, "Wait-"

     "Twenty Three."

     "Damn it."

     "In any case," Rich rolled his eyes in amusement, "Are we actually going to study?"

     "It's been half an hour. I suppose we can start." Branch teased.

     "Just remember, you're the one who needs the help with the test- not us."

     "Yeah." Branch pouted, unable to even joke about it.

He gave me a light punch of the arm when I chuckled. All in all, despite the light irritations of the friendly goading, Rich and Branch were doing well at keeping me distracted. Goodness knows my brain was on the verge of exploding from a week of intense stress.

Gen Three- Chapter Thirty Three

I blinked hard and let several good, long seconds pass in order to give the figure before me a chance to disappear. Me just imagining the whole situation felt like it would be a lot easier to handle, although then I had to worry about my mental health again. However, the girl remained. The silence grew thick with tension as she awaited my response while I couldn't understand how in the world I was supposed to handle something like this.

     "Have you been hiding out in my brother's room?"

Best to start simple.

     "Yes." the girl mumbled quietly.

     "How long?"

     "A-About two months now."

     "So you're the one who knocked over the lamp. Merlot was probably lying about his music player being broke too."

     "Yes," the girl hung her head, "Merlot gave me a printout of everyone's schedule so I could know when I could come out safely, but you kept being home at unexpected times."

     "Come out? Come out from where? There's nowhere to hide in here."

     "For the first few days, I hid under the bed. Then Merlot lied about needing space so he could he could get the wardrobe for me to more easily duck inside."

     "How can you hide under the bed though? The sides are way too low. I saw Merlot stuff the wardrobe full too. How is there room?"

     "Here."

The girl led me over to the bed, and, with a great heave, tilted it enough for me to see what I'd never known before. The sides did drop low, but they were only buffers. There was enough space for someone the girl's size to squeeze in. Then she took me to the wardrobe where she opened the doors to show me how now only the high top shelf contained my brother's stuff.

     "The bed worked temporarily, but it's too difficult for me to lift up and roll under with any sort of speed. Merlot only filled up the wardrobe to trick everyone into thinking it was full so no one might think it being a hiding place if they started to suspect someone was around. He just filled it up with empty boxes."

Gen Three- Chapter Thirty Two

A deep churning of fire burned my stomach almost as much as it ravaged its way up my arms and down my legs. The amount of weight I was using for my workout was nothing compared to what Gilly and Confetti could handle, and even then I had to take a heaving break between each rep to make sure my body wasn't falling apart. Perhaps it made more sense to decrease the weight further, but with how pitiful the number already was I really didn't want to admit defeat. I realized bitterly that I would have to stop soon anyway lest I be useless the rest of the day.

    "Oh, it's you over here," mom spoke as she suddenly approached from the arch, "This is new. Not even Gil gets up this early to workout."

    "Exercising is best done in the morning, and I have to head out earlier than she does." I replied.

I held my breath to create the illusion the strain on my muscles wasn't absolute agony. However, the sweat on my skin and that my lungs refused to be silenced broke that immediately. Mom gave me an amused, studious look that caused me to cringe.

     "You wouldn't be trying to get more fit to look better for a certain someone, would you?"

     "No," I refused firmly and stubbornly, although my cheeks already burned brighter, "It's just that...you remember the reason Arbor gave when he had me start running before he left. That I'm healthy but mostly coasting by on good genetics. I have to put more focus on maintaining myself, so I thought I'd pick up the habit of trying again."

     "Yet it is only once he's here again that this motivation has returned?" mom prompted knowingly with a giggle.

     "Think whatever you want." I replied with a little too much bite.

Mom's expression softened instead of hardened, and, thankfully, she let the teasing stop as she took my snap in stride.

     "You do seem happier now that he's back though. It's good to see."

Gen Three- Chapter Thirty

For the first time in several weeks, Apple and I arrived at my house on time. It'd never been so hard as it had been this past semester to be punctual. The difficulty of my college courses meant I had to wait long amounts of time after class in order to be able to ask my professors questions while my classmates also tried to do the same, and Apple, as dad's apprentice at the bookstore, had a never-ending list of things to do. Since we almost always carpooled nowadays, that meant the severity of our lateness increased even more. One would think the arrival of winter break would make the whole thing easier. However, I naturally took what classes I could during the holiday season as well. I'd gotten some rest around Christmas, but now that it was the new year I was right back at it.

     "Ah, looks like your mom and dad got around to taking down the Christmas lights." Apple easily noticed while we trudged towards the front door.

     "Yeah, but it also looks like Merlot once again couldn't be bothered to shovel the walkways like he was told. That boy has gotten so unmotivated as of late." I sighed.

     "Teenagers, huh?" Apple chuckled.

     "I was never like that when I was his age."

     "But you're you, Dia. No one can match that."

     "Well, he can at least try."

Apple shrugged in amusement and grandly opened the door for me in order to make up for my brother's lack.

Gen Three- Chapter Twenty Eight

Reality sunk in more after the police left. Gilly hadn't been able to stand listening to the report, so that made it mom, dad, and me hearing of the travesty while Blaze did his best to console my sister. I heard and understood every word the police said, yet at the same time I hardly listened. As soon as they offered to show us the pictures of Mirage and Tappy and I said yes, I was gone. They hadn't been strangled or tied up with rope. No, the killer had taken it to a new level. Mirage's head had been cut off and sewn on Tappy's body. Tappy's head had been cut off and sewn on Mirage's body. Then their paws had been stitched together as if holding hands. According to the report, they'd been left quite far in the woods. It took all that time and a lucky, or perhaps unlucky, pair of hikers to find them. It made the police wonder if the killer was the same as the cats usually ended up being found in much more populated areas, but the killer could also have wanted more space between the crime and time of discovery. The city had grown so alert about the situation that the murders had become more and more sparse over the past several months. The majority of the stray cats had been rounded up, and everyone watched their owned pets.

     "Dia, I'm so sorry."

The tears must have come rolling down. I thought I just sat there. Motionless and heartbroken I thought I sat, but I didn't feel the wetness cascading from my eyes until dad knelt before me and gently wiped it away with his thumbs. Then he gathered me a tight embrace as mom scooted over to wrap my back and hold my hand. 

     "I just hope this is the last time. If something from this helps them find the killer, I could accept that." I mumbled hopelessly.

     "They have to be catching the person soon." mom encouraged.

I nodded miserably, even though the whole city had been saying that for months. 

Gen Three- Chapter Twenty Six

I'd known it was inevitable, but I still dreaded its happening. Mom and dad were, needless to say, once again incredibly surprised to find me home earlier than normal. I'm sure my face looked a mess after all the crying, and there was no way I could lie to them anymore when I admitted I hadn't come home because I was sick. Dad's eyes narrowed more and more as I told my parents about my outing with Arbor, what we had done, and his actions today. My story had hardly finished before dad dove for his phone. I bet Mr. and Mrs. Thicket regretted giving him their phone number. Still, my curiosity drove me to stick around for the call. Whether to help comfort me or give me a snack for the show, mom permitted me and her free range of our ice cream. Not that I found the stomach to eat much.

     "Yeah, well that's what he said last time!" dad stomped around irately, "How many times has he had to apologize now? We keep giving him the benefit of the doubt, and every other week it's something new he's putting Dianthus through!"

I wished I could hear the other half of the conversation. Dad's protectiveness was reassuring, but not knowing completely what was going on wasn't overly satisfying.

     "If he actually cares about what he did, put him on the phone already! Those words don't mean anything from you!"

There was another pause. Dad at least let whichever one of Arbor's parents on the other end finish their sentences.

     "What nonsense! He's an adult now, right? That's what Dia told us. You hiding him behind your back is probably half the reason why he has the maturity of a five-year-old brat!"

     "Coal." mom rebuked.

He frowned, but got the message.

Gen Three- Chapter Twenty Five

Much to my surprise, Arbor and I ended up deep into the city. My plan for hanging out with him naturally hadn't been thought out with great depth. Dancing and hanging out at the festival brought Arbor out of his shell in a way I hadn't expected, but keeping that shell open proved to be the challenging part. He closed back into his general apathetic attitude even though he remained receptive enough to my prods and encouragements. When I asked if there was somewhere he wanted to go, he went ahead and answered without hesitation. Arbor wanting to get ice cream from a particular shop was was took us into Berrybrook's heart, and it was where I learned that he had a strong preference for all things pistachio flavored. The weather was too nice to stay inside, so the two of us wandered here and there until we approached the Twilight North's branch campus. Arbor was willing to walk even long after our treats were devoured.