I had on my black sneakers, ripped jeans and green jacket with a white tank. I didn't dress for the cold weather, which was stupid of me. I should've known Oscar wouldn't answer his phone. I had depended on him for a ride back home, which was, again, stupid of me to assume.

It was okay though. The city wasn't bad or anything; I loved the view and the nighttime atmosphere. But the cold...that wasn't enjoyable. It was August, but it felt like zero degrees outside.

I shivered as I walked down the sidewalk; the tan, marble buildings towered over my head, almost as if it was never ending. The streets were unusually silent, which made the trip back home feel even more eerie.

I made to the alleyway behind our neighborhood, and walked down. I knew it was a bad idea, but it was the quickest way back to the house, and I couldn't stand the cold any longer...

My gate was coming up, leading to our backyard. The closer I got to the gate, I began to see our roses, intertwined with the metal bars. They were fine in the morning, beautiful and red, but now they were dead. It must've been the cold weather, unfortunately.

I opened the gate slowly, but didn't go through. "Rosie."

I turned around, and saw Oscar. I smiled, but it immediately faded. He was shaking, his hands, his feet...he wouldn't look me, and his eye kept... twitching. "Are you high?" I asked, walking a step closer to him.

He immediately jumped back, laughing an awkward, forced laugh; I froze in place, staring at him in worry. "Rosie, you should go back inside."

"Oscar?" I stepped back, my back hitting the gate. "You're scaring me. What did you do?"

He laughed again, his eyeballs almost bursting right out his skull. "I'm telling ya! You should get in the house, and stay in your room. And whatever you do, don't touch the mirror."

"What?" I shook my head, fumbling for the gate handle. The mirror? My mirror? Why did he even care? "Oscar, you need to come inside with me. We need to take you to Dad, you're not well..." I shook my head. I didn't know exactly what was going on, but I knew his friends had to have something to do with it. There were five of them, always five of them. They were scary, I never liked to be around them. I didn't like Oscar being around them...

He laughed, and then started to scream and ran at me, pressing me against the gates. "Get in the house, now!" He screamed in my face. My hands were shaking. This wasn't him at all...

"Let me go then." I insisted.

"Too late..." He sighed. I turned and saw his friends all staring at us, all surrounding us like a hungry pack of wolves. "She doesn't know anything, I promise..." Oscar began to plead with them.

"Actually, just being here she already knows too much." His friend with the blonde hair and scar on his right eye smiled. "Either one of us can hold onto her, or you can. Your choice."

Oscar nodded, trying to hold in laughs.

"Don't worry, Oscar; the laughs will wear off soon. After a couple of days...you'll feel alive." His other friend smiled, nodding approvingly.

"Oscar, what did you take?" I gasped, my arms shaking. What the hell were they talking about? Oscar grabbed my wrist tightly, almost making it hurt.

"Shut up! Just shut up!" He growled, spitting uncontrollably, which made me shake more with fright. Then they started walking further down the alley, and I was forced to follow.

We walked for a long time; more and more dead roses with their vines appeared, and fog started to creep at our feet. Were we even in our neighborhood anymore?

"Oscar, where are we going?" My body shook frantically but I tried my best to stay calm. He just tried to hide his chuckling. Everything about this frightened me, made me feel on edge. I needed to leave.

"Wait here." The blonde one said to Oscar, and the five of them disappeared into the fog.

Oscar was trying hard not to burst into laughter, and he just kept shaking and twitching. This was all wrong, everything about this was wrong. "Let me go, please." I began to cry, I couldn't help it.

"Shut up, Rosie! Just shut up!" He began to shake me, violently. "Don't you understand?! You're ruining everything!"

My neck began hurting and my head felt dizzy the more and more he shook me. "Stop it!" I screamed, my neck on fire. Then he threw me and I fell down. I hit my head, hard.

"Rosie! I... I didn't mean to!" I saw Oscar's face above mine. He looked scary, frightened yet delighted at the same time. It was hard to stay awake; I wasn't sure if I was dreaming or not. I knew I heard screaming and yelling and...growling. And Oscar had left me, screaming something I couldn't understand. And then I saw blue eyes, soft and pure, and then I closed my own.