Hayes’ voice slithered into the cold room like a draft sneaking under a locked door. Lorraine blinked hard, trying to steady the spinning carousel in her skull. Her throat felt as dry as a burnt matchstick and somewhere in the midst of it all, she felt really thirsty but she knew it’d be of no use to request for a glass of water not when Hayes was already preparing himself to make her go through the worst torture of her life.Hayes then walked in a slow circle around her, hands behind his back, boots clicking against the concrete with a rhythm that set her nerves twitching.“I’ll start with something simple,” Hayes said, his tone clipped, almost bored. “Why did you betray me?”Lorraine kept her lips sealed. Her heart thrashed in her chest like a trapped bird, but she said nothing.She knew there was no point in saying anything as it wouldn’t in any way change Hayes’ mind. She just wanted him to do his worse and let her be as it was what was going to happen anyway.Hayes lifted a brow.

It's been over twenty-four hours since Andrew had promised Hailey that he’d help her look into the skull badge that she had talked about, and how it could be of any help in helping her look for older sister, Vivian.But ever since the time that she told Andrew about the little fragments of her past which she could remember, it had almost become ad though her mind had been entirely on that part of her life. There had been that burning desire to find out what happened to her parents and how she can find her older sister, Vivian again.And so, on this particular fateful night while she sept, Hailey drifted into a deep sleep the way petals fall into a pond, slow at first, then swallowed whole by the dark. Somewhere in the depths of her mind, she had carried parts of the memories from her past into her sleep, and some of them had decided to follow her into the world of dreams weaving her past into her dreams and taking her back to the time when her family was still whole and together.In t

Jackson stood near the exit of the hospital, watching as Evans and Celestine stepped out of the hospital for the first time in weeks. The loneliness he now experienced even with the servants around to serve him, was swallowing him whole, and he just needed someone to be around him to keep him company.He had thought that Mr. Copper would change his mind and just return to surprise him, but it was already appearing to him that the old man had really been offended by him, and had decided not to come back again.At first, he had thought he could live fine without Copper or any of his friends, but only now had reality begun to dawn on him that he needed them much more than they needed him.The morning sun was warm, washing everything in soft gold. For once, the world didn’t seem so heavy.Evans inhaled deeply, his chest rising with quiet relief. “Fresh air,” he murmured, smiling faintly. “I’d forgotten what that even felt like.” With the fact that his memories were already coming back, h

Before Bella could say anything else, there came three sharp knocks on the door.Nancy looked at Bella, unable to hide her surprise. “Did you order food?”Bella shook her head. “No, I didn’t.”Just then, another round of knocks followed, louder this time.Nancy stood, brushing her palms on her jeans. “Okay, that better be a neighbor and not some creepy—”She pulled the door open, and then came the shout that startled her.“Surpriiiise!”Andrew, Hailey, and James stood shoulder to shoulder in the hallway like a trio of very unserious superheroes. James had a ridiculous grin on his face, Hailey was holding a paper bag of snacks, and Andrew, for once, looked oddly proud of himself.Nancy was still trying to regain herself as she hadn’t seen the surprise coming at all, when the trio moved past her and strode in as though they owned the place.Bella blinked. “Wait— what… what are you all doing here?”Nancy, who had finally regained herself, turned towards James as though she was just reali

It took nearly an hour, though figuratively as James had predicted before Bella finally stepped out of her room dressed in something simple yet breathtaking: a soft cream top tucked into a pleated skirt, her hair loosely curled, her eyes lightly touched with makeup courtesy of Nancy and Hailey.“Perfect,” Hailey said, clasping her hands together.“Gorgeous,” Nancy added.Andrew gave a small approving nod. “Movie-theatre appropriate.”James whistled dramatically. “Jackson who?”Bella swatted him lightly on the arm, but she smiled for the first time, genuinely. But even with that she couldn’t deny the fact that the group wasn’t really complete without Jackson, and that’s not because he was her boyfriend but because there was something about his presence in the group that seemed to make them all feel invincible in the same way that James was in always having something to say to make everyone laugh.Within minutes, the group piled into James’s car and drove across the city. The sun was di