After Alba, Andri, and Eryi arrived home, Alba placed Eryi on his mattress. The world outside was sleeping, but the storm inside Alba’s heart was awake. Yet, as he was about to blow up on Andri, he stopped in his tracks. Andri’s eyes were so dark they seemed to suck in the life around them. That night, Alba couldn’t get a wink of sleep, and he watched the sun rise through the frost covered window. Lumi arose from her bed and got dressed a few hours later, and after she did so, Alba got up as well. The garage door opened and both Lumi and Alba startled, but then they relaxed once they saw it was Andri holding a plastic bag. After Alba had placed Eryi on his bed last night, Andri said he would be out for a bit and left, but he never did return until now.

Lumi asked, “Did you never come back?”

Andri looked at Eryi, then at the two, and said, “Get out.”

Alba asked, “What?”

“You heard me, get out. I have things to discuss with Eryi after he wakes up, and I don’t want you two being loud and interrupting his sleep.”

Lumi scoffed and joked, “Fine, have fun with your boyfriend.”

Alba was shocked by her joke, as this wasn’t the best time for that! She should have noticed the ice in Andri’s eyes, she should have noticed the way he was holding himself. He was dangerous right now, a darkness was bubbling inside of him so strongly it was impossible not to see it seeping out.

“Funny,” Andri said, not sounding the least bit pleased.

Alba was agasp, and then Andri shoved Alba and Lumi out the garage without another word.

Lumi complained as soon as they stepped outside, “Ah! It’s freezing!”

Alba was still wearing his pajamas, which consisted of a hoodie, and plaid pants, both he stole rather recently. He didn’t have enough time to grab his beanie or sunglasses, so to Lumi, she was rather taken back by the way he looked. His pale skin shone like winter, and his white hair was utterly unique. His eyes were bluish purple, and they squinted at the brightness of the world. He rubbed his eyes, then looked down at Lumi.

“What are you gawking at?”

“Nothing. I just thought it would be cool to make a gun that looked like you.”

“What does that even mean?!”

Lumi laughed and said, “You’ll see it when I make it. Anyway, let’s go get breakfast.”

“Fine, where should we go?”

Lumi and Alba found themselves at a cheap restaurant that served breakfast only. It was open from eight till eleven. Yet, even when Alba and Lumi arrived at eight, the line to get inside was already wrapped around the building.

Alba asked, “Should we go somewhere else?”

“No!” Lumi said strictly. “We’ll stay right here. Their chocolate chip pancakes are the best in the city.”

“I don’t know how you can eat that much sugar.”

“You’re the weird one. Who hates sweets?! No wonder you’re so salty all the time.”

Alba looked at the grinning Lumi, who was clearly very proud of her joke, and couldn’t help but smile a little.

“That was bad,” he admitted.

“Oh, shut up.”

Lumi then paused and asked, “What exactly happened last night?”

Alba’s eyes widened as the screams from last night echoed within his brain.

“They were Bugs,” he said. “But, they weren’t what I thought they were.”

“What do you mean?”

“I thought they would be horrifying, but the only monster I could see was Andri.”

Alba looked at Lumi, who’s usually interested eyes glared over with indifference.

She asked, “You only realized now?”

“What?”

“Come on, it’s obvious. Andri is only using us to kill other things. Do you not remember when we weren’t allowed to go to his house anymore to hang out?”

Alba said with hesitation, “I do.”

“After he brought Joshua to his house, the next day Joshua came to school covered in bruises and claimed Andri was trying to kill him.”

“But, it was proven he was lying. They only got into a fight because of their hockey beef.”

Lumi looked at Alba like he was an idiot and stated, “That was a lie, Alba. Andri really did try to kill him.”

Alba was taken aback.

“We should run away,” he said, with much desperation.

“Either we’re going to become killers ourselves or he’s going to kill us!”

Lumi shushed him as people were staring.

“You can run away, but I’m not,” she said.

“Why?”

Lumi asked, “Where else can I make weapons where someone will use them?”

Alba argued, “Plenty of places. You can find people on the street who are willing to pay anything for them.”

“What if they sell me out? Andri wouldn’t do that.”

“I’m sure he would.”

Lumi’s brows furrowed and then they realized they were at the front of the line and people behind them were growing impatient. They both walked inside and a host asked, “Table for two?”

“Yeah,” Lumi answered.