It was weird at first, sitting alone in the dark after sending Melody away. But now, I found some strange comfort within the silence surrounding me, which indicated both, the absence of monsters and any other scavengers we might run across. But now, right this second, I felt at peace, even though I stood all alone in the kitchen on the lower floor.

With my feet on top of the table and leaning back on the chair in an exaggerated manner, I stared outside, waiting for anything that may happen. I patrolled through the rooms for quite a while, so I saw no reason in rewarding myself by taking a seat once I was certain there were no immediate threats in our vicinity. Thankfully, there haven't been even the slightest of twitches in the dark. Even Melody went to sleep, I assumed. I hoped she slept well if that was the case.

Not knowing how much time had passed since I had been awake, I took out my phone. Its light was enough to blind me for a second. Although I've always kept it on ringtone, I should've taken care of its brightness beforehand. A foolish mistake if you were to ask me. What if someone spotted me?

Once I took care of the brightness, I instantly took another peek outside, but there didn't seem to be something to be worried about.

"Let's see..."

I should wake up the others, I thought, judging by the late hour I saw displayed on the screen. There was something other than the current time that grabbed my attention just as I was about to close my phone. Although there wasn't any signal within this district, the message sent by Reyna still remained on my notification list.

[Took care of him]

She probably figured out I didn't want Connor to trouble me, as I hoped she would. I was thankful she was so understanding of what I wanted without me having to spell it out, unlike her brother. That didn't mean I was annoyed by his brazen attitude. We've been friends for a long time, so I naturally learned to accept it. As a matter of fact, I considered it a part of who he was, and I'd rather not have him change that about himself. Connor wouldn't be Connor otherwise.

On the tip of my toes, I walked upstairs and glanced at my party.

Logan, with his limbs sprawled all over the sofa, snored louder than ever before. I sent my condolences to Ava. I could bear with the sound for one night, but she, on the other hand, will have to deal with it for the rest of her life.

Even though Lucas didn't match in volume, he certainly was a sight to behold in his own right. He slept comfortably in the same exact position as before, cheek smashed against his arm while saliva kept pouring out of the corner of his lip. I averted my eyes, pitying them to a certain extent. I believed that not mentioning either of their bad sleeping habits later would be the right thing to do.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The only ones that seemed decent were Edward, who was sleeping on the couch with his arms crossed around his crossbow, and Mara, who I could see through the doorframe leading toward another room, curled on the bed. She was the only one that slept normally compared to the other freaks, or I would have said that if it wasn't for the sheathed saber that was within her reach. Not only that, but I was glad to see she was breathing properly once again. Maybe we should be a bit more considerate when we're picking our following resting place. Despite my complaints, I hoped that I may be able to sleep as soundly as the rest of them. I doubted that day would ever come, though...

"Wake up," I nudged Logan's shoulder, but to my dismay, it didn't work.

A sudden idea rose into my head as I reached my hand toward his face, or to be more exact, his beard. All that was left was to pull as I muttered: "This should do the trick..."

"I'm not in the mood, Ava..." he grumbled, blinking numerous times as reality took a hold of him as I drew my hand away before shaking it. In the mood for what, you dumb barbarian? No, I don't want to know. Crap, I don't even want to consider it. For the sake of my mental health, I'd rather not learn what you mean by that sentence. Let's not imagine Logan and Ava as anything other than an irking barbarian and the extraordinary owner of the grocery store I worked at, okay? "Oh... You're not Ava."

"I'm a man if that's what you're wondering," I spat out in contradiction to his obvious disappointment.

"Screw off..." He shoed me away. "Let me nap for another minute."

I rolled my eyes and moved on to my next target, wondering which method of torture would be more appropriate.

"Don't bother," said Edward as he took his glasses from the coffee table and put them on. "That idiot woke me up already."

Seeing the barbarian rise up the second after, I couldn't help but say: "Thought you were going to sleep for another minute."

"I need to take a piss," yelped Logan in his deep voice, dragging his large frame around. It was grumpier than usual, but who cared? Definitely not me. I was too tired to give a damn. "Is there any toilet around here, or do I have to walk outside?"

"Figure it out on your own," I muttered, dumping the problem onto my glassed companion as I stole the warm seat on the sofa. It's mine now. Don't even think about taking it back later. Got it?

"Then don't use the bathroom in this building," hissed Edward at the barbarian. "I'd rather use this place for a while longer than be forced to leave due to some foul stench."

"Whatever..." he answered, scratching his bum as he got out of the room. "More hours of sleep for me then..."

My nose wrinkled for a moment when I saw Logan's gesture. Pretending not to be aware of it, and assuming I'd soon forget that distasteful image, I closed my eyes. Unfortunately for me, that instant remained imprinted on my retina like some kind of curse. I tried to shake it off, to think of anything else, but couldn't. Not even the happy memories I've had with those siblings were enough to override it. Against my will, my tired mind would return right back to it.

"...screw you, Logan..."

Only he could manage to ruin my entire night within a single second.