“I said wait!” Lunette cried out. She was now chasing Silas out of the home and to the dark world outside. Silas showed no desire to slow down, instead, he marched his way out the door and onto the neatly kept lawn. The property was illuminated with various outdoor lanterns that stuck from the ground. Lunette struggled to put her jacket and bookbag back onto her figure as she sped to him.

Silas seemed to be irritated by the conversation he shared with Walter, taking his frustration out on the task he was expected to fulfill. He wasn’t in a particularly good mood and had no empathy for the girl. In fact, he didn’t really care how Lunette felt about the situation. Lunette wasn’t who he had pictured meeting and it annoyed him. His black, work-style hiking boots kicked into the earth as he walked.

Lunette tried to take in the scenery when Silas abruptly stopped on the driveway pavement. She backed away from the home and lifted her head up to look at it. It was a large, darkly painted home with stone pillars on either side of the entrance. It looked like a small mansion with white framed windows that were all blocked by long curtains. Lunette was surprised such a nice home could exist in Eastport.

She walked along the slate stoned path that led from the home to the driveway where Silas now resided. The asymmetrical grey stones pressed into the wet earth as Lunette walked across them, stopping right behind Silas, and observing his stature as he stood on the black pavement.

“Vera…” Silas muttered, looking at the empty slot in the driveway. He turned then to look at Lunette. “I was planning to bring you home the proper way, but you’re going to have to suck it up since you want to go back so badly.”

Lunette didn’t know what his words entailed until he grabbed onto her arm and pulled her. “S-Stop!” she struggled against his strength. He didn’t release her and instead yanked her limb harder. “That hurts, stop it!” She cried out, trying to tear her arm away.

He’s going to rip my arm off! Lunette thought to herself as she tried to free herself from his grasp, but the more she pulled, the tighter he held. Silas showed no exertion while pulling her to him and it scared her. It was as if he were pulling a feather towards him. It was effortless.

“I said suck it up.” Silas demanded. He then pulled her onto his back, forcing her arms to go around his neck.

“Let me go!” She yelped again and let out a squeak when his hands moved to her thighs to support her on his back. She was uncomfortable, and an aching feeling rose in her chest, alerting her that this felt wrong.

“Just hold on tight or else you’ll be dead.” He hissed, and then without further notice, he started moving.

Lunette lost her breath with the sudden speed their figures were traveling at. It hurt to raise her head and she could feel the skin on her face being pulled by the sheer force of velocity. She buried her face into Silas’ jacket and tried to catch her breath. She then felt their position rock and slow with a sense of weightlessness. It was as if being on the top of a rollercoaster before it plummeted. Lunette lifted her head from his back when a sudden drop pulled at her gut.

Lunette screamed as soon as she saw the two were in midair, descending back towards the ground, their speed catching up again. Silas had jumped into the air, high enough to where the lights of homes mirrored the stars above. It was no longer raining, which was good for Lunette. She was sure if it were, the rain would have ripped into her frail physique.

“Hush.” Silas scolded her. He was completely unphased by the speed they were traveling and didn’t seem to be bothered by her added weight. Lunette didn’t dare to look up again, and instead squeezed onto Silas, frightened she may be blown off.

She felt him leap into the air multiple times before his speed decreased. Familiar smells filled the air and Lunette finally tore her face from his back. Silas was now jumping across the roofs of buildings that lined the edge of Eastport. There was no one out this late in the night and it seemed surreal. Suddenly, they dropped down the side of a building and the sound of metal shaking and grinding filled her eardrums. Her body shook along with the alloy until it reached a stagnant halt.

She was stunned to see they were on the fire escape of her apartment building. Silas let go of her. Her body slowly tried to slide off him, but Lunette hung from his neck, unable to move. He coughed and straightened himself up further, causing her to slide until her feet met the ground. Lunette let go finally and stood leaning against the fire escape railing, trying to catch her breath. She pushed back her now stiff hair and inhaled. Lunette took some time to recover as Silas stood waiting by the ladder.

She glanced towards the apartment window that led out to the fire escape and hurriedly opened it, frightened to see it was unlocked. Lunette glanced to Silas; she was starting to suspect he had been here before. The window led straight into her bedroom right by her closet door. She entered the home and turned on all the lights in the room and hallway, illuminating the home.

“Tatianna? Grandma?” She called as she ran throughout the house. She looked around her grandmother’s room that was just off from the living area but there was no sign they were here. She stood in the living space for a moment before walking back upstairs.

Silas was waiting for her in her room, showing no sign that he would leave. Lunette eyed him as he picked up a small wooden box from one of her dressers. Her room was small and only fit her twin sized bed, a small closet, and two small dressers. Silas observed the many objects that laid across the wooden surfaces. Lunette particularly enjoyed collecting various items she found throughout her life. Some items, like the small wooden box, were antiques.

But none of that mattered now. Lunette eyed Silas and her brows lowered. “How did you know where I lived?” Silas placed the box back down. His eyes flickered over to her, but his mouth remained unmoving. “Especially where my room was…”

Lunette viewed his figure suspiciously, he was in her house now, and she wouldn’t let him leave without an answer. They stood in silence for a few moments before he finally spoke, “I’ve been following you.” He answered blatantly, and Lunette’s eyes widened.

“What?” A knot started building in her stomach.

“I had to, to make sure you were-” He stopped, his eyebrows twitched, and he then picked up a candle to inspect it. He clearly did not find anything wrong with what he was admitting to. “Well, I guess safe.” He concluded. He averted her gaze, and she could tell he was lying.

“How long?” She asked, her voice cracking.

Silas continued to ignore her stare, and stood casually in her room, examining her trinkets. “For a few days.”

Lunette backed away. “So, you’ve been stalking me.”

Silas raised a brow to her, now meeting her gaze. “Well, I wouldn’t say that–”

Lunette cut him off, infuriated. “You’re – You’re unbelievable!” She shouted, her hands stiffened at her side as she spoke, “You’re sick.” She remembered his strength, speed, and overall power. It was no different from the beast that tried to kill her earlier in the night. “Y-you’re a monster.”

Silas’ returned her feelings with an equal amount of rage. “Hey, I didn’t want to do any of this. If you just – Well if you were just who we thought, none of this would be happening.” There were those words again. They meant nothing to Lunette; none of it even made any sense.

“Well excuse me for not being what you wanted.” Lunette retorted sarcastically, her voice booming inside the room. “I don’t care what you thought, I want you gone, y-you’re a creep.”

“No, I need to –”

“Get out!” Lunette’s voice seemed to shriek in the room, loose pieces of paper and dust beginning to fly about. She squeezed her eyes shut as she screamed for him to leave repeatedly. It was as if a tornado flew about the room, papers and trash flew around and various objects were being knocked to the floor. Her hands balled into fists and squished against her thighs, she looked like a toddler throwing a tantrum.

When Lunette heard a shriek come from Silas, she opened her eyes. As if on cue, the wind had stopped, and everything fell to the ground. Her body jolted from the sound. She looked around in shock. Silas was gone and her room was now a mess.

The window that led to the fire escape was pushed all the way up and the metal steps shook like they had been hit by a bat. Lunette ran to the window and didn’t see any sign of Silas. She quickly shut and locked it, and then lowered the blinds. Lunette glanced to the other window that overlooked the street and then ran over to it too, repeating the process.

She ran to every window in the apartment, performing these actions until she was sure there was no way anyone could see into the rooms. She panted and spun around in the living room, double checking her work.

The sound of the front door lock being shook startled her. Lunette spun to face it, and backed away slowly, afraid it may be Silas.

“Lunette!” Her aunt screeched and Lunette softened. Tatianna moved past her mother who was fumbling with the key and hugged her frightened niece. “Where were you? We were looking everywhere for you!” Tatianna asked quickly as she looked over Lunette, her large hands raking over the dirt on Lunette’s skin.

“I knew she was safe,” Dalia spoke, smiling as she walked through the door. “Didn’t I?”

Tatianna rolled her eyes at her mother and looked back to Lunette. “Are you alright? We were about to call the cops we were so worried.”

Lunette looked to her aunt, unsure of what to say. Was she alright? That was the first time anyone had asked that question all day. She bit her lip and moved out of her aunt’s arms. In truth, she wasn’t okay, she was far from it. Lunette glanced at her hands and noticed how dirty they were. Her head had messy, stiff hair from the ride with Silas, and her clothes were covered in dirt and blood. She was definitely not okay.

“I guess.” She replied softly, unsure of her own answer. Tatianna eyed her suspiciously and then turned to her mother. They exchanged a few words in Spanish, something they did when they didn’t want Lunette to be a part of the conversation.

They never bothered to teach Lunette how to speak Spanish, despite her grandmother, mother, and aunt being fluent. In fact, all of her family encouraged the young girl to take up French, a much more common language in Louisiana.

“Well,” Tatianna began, “I’m glad your home. Do you want something to eat?”

Lunette shook her head; food was now the last thing on her mind. She felt dirty for a multitude of reasons. “I think I’m just going to take a shower. I’m sorry for scaring you two, I dropped my phone and it’s trashed so I just got lost.”

Tatianna smiled weakly at Lunette and then turned to her mother with a worried expression. As if Dalia could see, she comforted her daughter’s nerves. Tatianna never had children, and she wasn’t exactly the motherly type. She was unsure about her abilities to mentor Lunette, and it showed. But luckily to Lunette, Tatianna never persisted and nagged like a regular mother.

“We’re here for you to talk, you know that…right?” Tatiana held Lunette’s hand. Lunette nodded and gave her a weak smile, backing out of her grasp.

“Yeah, I know.” How could she possibly confide with them that monsters existed? Let alone that she was being pursued by them?

After returning upstairs, Lunette cleaned up her room as much as she could bear to. When picking up most of the trash, she grabbed a change of clothes and a towel, leaving her room and heading for the only shower in the apartment.

When Lunette entered the rest room, she shut the door and stood there. The overhead light illuminated the tiny space and revealed a small rectangular window near the top of the wall. Lunette bit the inside of her cheek and pulled out a few hand towels from the cabinet. She stacked them along the window until she deemed that it was properly covered

After some time trying to reassure herself, she began to shower. Dirt and blood washed away from her figure. Lunette no longer felt safe in Eastport. She felt like her privacy was invaded, and like she was on display for anyone to see. She felt disgust that she couldn’t wash away.

The shower lasted for an hour, but Lunette’s aunt and grandmother didn’t question. Instead, she could overhear them downstairs from her room planning for the next shipment of recycled plastic bottles to come in for their products.

Lunette entered her room with a fresh change of clothes and laid on her bed. She squinted to the windows, they seemed untouched, and the blinds hid her room. But she could still feel the sensation of someone watching her. She wasn’t sure if it was because she only recently learned of the Silas’ invasion of privacy, or because she felt like he was currently watching her.

It was an uneasy feeling that proved to interfere with her attempts at sleep. Eventually, the girl did fall into a deep slumber, her body and mind trying to heal itself. The faint voice of Tatiana echoing through her consciousness as she drifted off into sleep.

“Should we tell her?”