The setting sun lazily set the orange frosting haphazardly among the sky. Quite a good bit went to waste.

She was there, sitting cross legged while typing away giddily on her phone. Theo was sitting as well, not typing away at his phone, which was instead nestled softly inside the tender depths of his right pants pocket.

At that moment, Theo's phone decided to scream.

I, the master of all farts, do stand as testimony that Theo jumped 19 feet into the air. I swear this under penalty of perjury that this is how high he jumped. Besides, it's better that way- right?

As Theo came back down to Earth and scrambled for the insect inside of his pants,

"Who's calling you?"

It was an unknown number.

Her nose was less than a fraction of a quarter of an inch away from his own, her eyes were glued to the number on the screen for an even smaller amount of time,

"You should just ignore it!"

"You should just ignore it!

Your cute girlfriend is right in front of you, and you're just gonna answer the phone?!?"

Her tiny, fragile, lithe finger lithely pressed the red button before Theo could make a choice.

"It's not important!"

Lily once again took her delicate finger and this time placed it firmly upon his cheek.

She firmly grasped it.

Her hand pulled his gaze towards her soft pouty face. She released him after a minute or four.

She turned away with a soft "Hmph!".

Before he could do anything, his phone screamed again but in a much more quiet way akin to a buzz.

He turned down to it for a second to see a picture of an open envelope. New mail had been delivered by the electric mailman.

In that split second, he noticed the title sitting quietly next to the picture.

"Notice of Expulsion"

His mouth fell lower than the dirt beneath his bum.

He scrambled to open the email, failing to open his phone three times.

> Did you forget about your punishment? You have five minutes to be in my office.

"IVEGOTTAGO" his feet were up and off to the races. Make your bets now people.

DududududududdudududududdududududududududududududududuTHUDdududdududududududududdu.

Even after falling at least five times, he managed to make it to the office. Only 5 minutes. After the original five minutes.

His clothes were haggard and covered in dirt, his cheeks scraped and bleeding. He was extremely out of breath.

Also, anyone who bet he would make it in time has just lost said bets and owes me.

The door was closed.

He raced inside like a bulldog named princess chasing a small child.

"Finally. Let's get to your expulsion shall we?"

She was sitting at her desk, not even looking at him.

"Glad we are on the same page."

"No! This is unfair!"

"Unfair? I have been beyond fair, Mr. Barnes."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"How is this fair! You can't just expel me! Not now! Not after I finally got a girlfriend!!!"

She turned towards him, dumbfounded.

"Fraternization. Your misconducts just keep growing higher."

Suddenly, violins. A smile grew high upon her face like an oncoming train wreck. Her hands typed faster and faster,

but the impact never came.

"Through the endless mercy in my heart, I know what you can do Mr. Barnes."

The hands on the clock swiped left and right like a cat toying with a pathetic meal.

"And Mr. Barnes, before you leave. You already know. We would hate for anything to happen to your mother, Lauren. "

"Aren't I right Mr. Barnes?"

"Yes ma'am"

"Good. Good. Do not be late tomorrow morning."

Theo scurried out of that office for exactly three steps.

On the fourth step, he crashed with an immovable object.

Lily was standing directly outside the office, waiting for him. The pair went down faster than stock from a certain tech company.

Her face was a couple of inches from his own. Her eyes were soft.

"My aunt gave you a hard time huh? There, there."

His vision blurred and at this point in time it was far too late to stop what was coming. Tears rolled down like tears. Wet. They're water and some other bodily fluids.

The corners of her lip curled up into a slight smile, a very restrained aw face.

The pair got up and brushed off.

"Come here"

She led him outside to a bench by the side of the building.

"My aunt's always been like that. She always just does whatever she wants and expects everyone else to just play along.

It's worse, she always takes and takes and yet no one says anything about her. Every time something happens she talks her bullshit and somehow it always ends up like this."

Theo just stared at her.

"Ah. Hm. I guess you're really easy to talk to Theo."

Her eyes drooped.

The tower bell rang it's toll. The sound caused her to jump up a bit, before slinking back into her seat,

"Come on, I got something I want to show you." She stood up and held her hand towards him.

"o-Okay" He took her hand.

Together, the pair walked hand in hand through the near barren campus. There was a lingering chill in the air. Each step stuck to the ground like glue.

Eventually, they came to a place all too familiar to Theo. The alleyway.

"Hey Lily we can't be here"

"I wanna show you something special Theo..

As a sort of apology for today."

"Something special?" His feet had stopped dead in their tracks.

Her spiny hand tugged at his own,

"Y-yeah. Something real special. A once in a lifetime experience." Her cheeks were more red than her hair by at least four reds.

"Trust me Theo, tonight will be a night you'll never forget"

His cheeks blushed with the brightest heat so bright that the sun had to put on sunglasses.

"okay I trust you"

She winced and her eyes drooped again. Only for a fraction of a moment.

Thus the two walked. Right to the door. It was open, with a staircase descending down into the depths below. Icy fog wafted up through the air like an old man walking up stairs.

They walked down and down, further and further.

At the bottom, there was a large chamber. The walls along the chamber were filled with sections frosted glass, like some kind of giant freezer. It was damp.

"This way Theo" She tugged him across the barren floor.

At the other end, there was a pedestal. Three people stood around it in robes.

"It's past meeting time." A very masculine voice spoke from the robe closest to the alter on the left.

"Yes, there was a complication. It is no matter." Lily's voice had changed. She spoke in complete monotone.

"...Fine. Begin."

The other cloaked figures ran straight at him.

They drove a knife right into his heart.

They tackled him. They gagged him.

They pulled out the knife and stabbed him again.

Theo was losing blood quickly.

One of their hands was on his head. They dragged him to the altar.

They banged his head against the stone. They released their grip on his head, moving instead to grab his left wrist. They tore at it, quickly bringing the flowing fluid to their lips.

They drank his blood.

Finally, they pushed him to the stones behind him. He fell to the ground.

His vision was quickly fading.

There was a second thud.

Screaming.

Yes, she was screaming. Theo could hear her screaming. The look of pure terror spread across her face. Lily's eyes glued straight into his.

She screamed into his soul.

Theo died.