The next morning, or should I say noon, I woke up feeling pretty fresh. I'm surprised no one woke me up as I thought Americans are big on getting up early, I was sure someone would've barged in to wake me up for breakfast. I got dressed and went down from the loft and entered the kitchen. Jake's mom was reading some article at the table and noticed me walk in: "Sleep well?"

-"Yes, very well. Thank you. I don't suppose Jake's around?"

-"He went to get me something from the store, he should be back any minute now"

I slightly nodded and slowly walked over by the fridge to see if I could eat anything real quick, feeling awkward while doing it. It feels like a taboo going through people's fridge at a house you've never been to before. Not having anything to eat since last night's dinner, I was pretty hungry and couldn't bother with it.

-"Need anything?" she asked me as I opened the fridge.

-"Oh, no thank you, I got it."

You could hear my stomach crying out to me, shouting 'feed me' ever since I woke up. I don't know why, but I always try to cover it up. It just feels weird making sounds from your guts. Anyway, I made myself a sandwich real quick and excused myself from the kitchen. Just as I walked out, Jake came in through the front door: "Oh, look who's up. Did you make me anything?"

-"I'm the guest here, if anything, you should be making me sandwiches."

He smirked and said: "Touché, pansy. Anyway, wanna head out later?"

-"Uh, sure man. I'm up for an adventure."

-"Alright, sweet. Let me just drop this stuff off and I'll be right back."

Jake went into the kitchen while I was moving around the house eating my sandwich, minding my own business when I overheard a noise from the living room. Mr. Ritz was watching the television so I slowly edged over by the door to hear what's going on.

"…a man was found deformed, lying on the floor in an alley in Yorkville, Chicago, state of Illinois, last night at around 2AM . The victim has suffered severe injuries all over the body, but most affected area is the neck and the face, as well as the hands and forearms, which leads to belief the victim was attempting to defend themselves. The victim has been identified as Miles McMillan by the driver's license he had carried in his valet, which was, along with other valuables, intact, which leads to believe this was not a robbery. Furthermore, the first clues show bite marks all over the victim's body. It is still uncertain whether the bite marks were made by stray animals or perhaps it's an act of cannibalism. One thing is certain, the wounds inflicted by teeth were carried out before the man had deceased. We will know more details after the autopsy. The family and friends mourn and are in disbelief how someone could do something so barbaric. In other news…"

After hearing that story I suddenly felt sick and couldn't carry on with my sandwich. I'm squeamish when it comes to eating and watching something disturbing. I gave what was left of my sandwich to Jake as soon as he came back.

-"…what'd you do to the sandwich?"

-"Nothing man, I'm just not hungry anymore. I just saw the news. Some guy got bitten to death in Chicago. Pretty ruthless."

-"You mean beaten?"

-No, I literally mean bitten. Dude had his whole face bitten off, they couldn't even identify him without the driver's license."

At this point even Jake felt nauseous and decided to throw the sandwich: "Come to think of it, I'm not that hungry either."

Some five minutes later we finally got out of the house and decided to go for a little drive and have some fun. We picked up Kylie and some other folks and decided to get alcohol and have a small private party at a park a bit . By the time we all grouped up there were three full cars of us. Not exactly what we were thinking but it didn't matter. We arrived and set up in the middle of the green field in a mid summer day, rays of sun shone through the leaves like a shower. How very poetic, I thought.

Not long after, the music started playing. I couldn't tell what song it was but it didn't matter, people started fooling around, dancing, the alcohol was being consumed restlessly. As the sun started shining brighter and the day got hotter people started taking off their shirts. Now, I can't be the party pooper can I?

"Someone's been working out."- Kylie noticed as I took off my shirt carried by the moment. "Well I couldn't show up at your doorstep looking like a slob. How would you want me then?"- I quickly replied, without a thought, clearly still influenced by the wild atmosphere of youth. She looked at me with a slight smirk but as if she was hurt by what I said: "Is that what you think of me? That I'd only go for you for your looks?"

-"Well, that and clearly my personality."- I tried to get myself out of the sticky situation, and by the look of my face I was clearly in an awkward position. Good thinking, Ted. You idiot- I though to myself.

She smirked and said she's kidding, which was a major relief. At that point I felt a cold slimy thing hit my back and ooze down my back which creeped me out in an instant. "What the hell?"- I said as I looked back to see what it was, trying to take a look at my back, and noticed Jake in the back and two other guys laughing their shoes off. "Seriously? Mud balls?"- I asked in a disgusted manner. "Alright then. An eye for an eye. Kylie, help me out here"- I quickly remarked as I leaned over to where a small mire area was, bellow some tree. "You're on."- responded Kylie promptly, taking a handful of mud herself, while the guys scattered towards other mud areas to 'replenish'. In the matter of minutes it turned into an all out mud fight with most of us involved.

Once it all settled about half an hour later, only because we were out of mud, we sat down to have some drinks and rest a little from all the running around. "Alright, Ted. Even Steven."- said Jake with a nice mud ball stuck right above his left eyebrow.

"You got a little something, here."- I said, pointing at my own face, taunting him. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, pansy. Good shot though."- he replied removing the mud off his forehead.

"Thanks for saving me back there."- said Kylie- "You took one for me."

"Oh, no problem. Any time."- I replied looking her directly in the eyes. I was actually trying to run away from Jake and took that one by accident. But she doesn't have to know that- I thought while smiling. "Who knew Jake would be such a terrible shot. I thought you used to play baseball, pansy."- I continued to ridicule him. "No man, it's just you're so short I couldn't adjust my aim that low."- he fired back. I laughed and accepted it.

As the party went on, more and more people showed up. It was turning into a big party in the open. This reminded me of my final days of High School when every day was like that. My generation from school would come out to the town park and party 'til late hours from noon. I suppose it was some sort of a tradition of our small town. It was the best week of my life and I thought I'd never experience it again. So I distanced myself from the party a bit and sat down to observe it from outside trying to remember it and enjoy it. The day soon turned into the night. We've been out here partying for hours without any concerns. This is our day. Our summer. We are appreciating our youth as much as we can, creating memories and friendships.

Around 10PM Kylie came up to me and asked if I'm okay. "Yeah, I'm great! This is great."- I replied with a lot of ardor. "I can't remember the last time I had this much fun. I have to say it was worth it to stop fooling around and finally study for real to experience this. I've been too much focused on having fun and doing nothing but dreaming about having the time of my life but not investing myself into achieving it and not willing to sacrifice any of my time to actually study."

"Yeah, I know what you mean."-she said as if she understood. I looked at her astonished with a smile "What are you talking about, you always studied. That's why I got to talk to you so rarely."

-"Well yeah, I guess I know how to organize better. You could learn something."- Kylie was now taunting me, but she did make a good point. I can learn something from her. She's been hard working ever since I met her. Total opposite of me on that part. "Alright alright, whatever. But you're putting yourself too much into it, I think. After all, you didn't earn yourself the nickname Bookworm for reading books on invertebrates."

Kylie glanced at me as I said the most stupid thing while barely holding back her laugh: "Wait what? Bookworm? When did I get that nickname."

-"Oh you didn't know? Totally my idea. I thought it suits you. It's how I keep myself calm. I put overachievers down to feel like I'm not so bad being a procrastinator.". She chuckled a bit at my goofiness and stood up. "Where are you going?"- I asked her as she arose from the ground brushing off the dirt from her bottom. "I think I'm heading home. It's been a long day. I didn't think I'd stay here this long in the first place."- she replied. I stood up myself to walk over with her towards Jake.

"It was a good day today. Glad you came along."- I told her while we slowly approach the ongoing party. Just as we looked over to look for Jake, we saw him instantly, making out with some girl. I looked back at Kylie and she looked back at me a bit awkwardly. "Uh, hold right here, I'm gonna go get him."- I told her. I walked over to the two and nudged Jake slightly as he turned his face towards me, squinting his eyes trying to tell who it is. He couldn't tell because the fire behind me made a shadow of me. "Bro, we gotta get going. Kylie wants to head out."- I said. "Oh it's you. Dude, I'm in the middle of something."- he replied slightly leaning his head towards the girl and back with his eyes looking at her at the same time. "Dude, come on. We're going home. We've been here long enough. I hate to spoil the fun but we've been out here since this noon. I'm hungry man. I haven't had anything to eat since then. Half a sandwich. HALF."- I emphasized how much I wanted to go back. He gave in and decided to ditch the party.

On our way back we stopped at Kylie's place so she can go. "I had a great time today. See you tomorrow you two. Drive safe."- she said as she got out of the car. "See ya tomorrow, Kylie."- Jake and I replied, with an exhausted voice.

We got to the Ritz residence and made our way in to the house. "Dude, I am exhausted."- I told him with clearly visible bags under my eyes. I looked like I was falling asleep.

-"Yeah, you smell exhausted too."- he replied.

-"It's those damn mud balls, you idiot. Why'd we even have a mud fight, there was nowhere to wash it off. Stupid."

-"I don't know, but it was sweet."

-"Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna go take a shower and eat something."- I told him.

-"Alright man, don't use up all the water."

I looked up at the stairway whining. What a drag. I have to climb this now? Really? I made my way up supporting on the fence and finally reaching the bathroom.

About ten minutes later I walked out feeling fresh as ever. There's just something about taking a shower that wakes you right up. So I got down to have something to eat and Jake was there. "Mind making a sandwich for a bro?"- I asked with audacity. He laughed. The he pointed at the fridge: "Food's right there, pansy. Help yourself out."

-"Some bro you turn it out to be."

-"Call it even."

So I made myself something to eat as Jake finished his stuff, while most of the Ritz family was in their rooms by this time. It was about 11PM. "Man, I'm gonna go take a shower now."- he replied as he cleaned up behind him and climbed up the stairs.

I got bored of eating in the kitchen so I made my way to the living room to turn on the TV.

I kept changing the channels looking for something good. No wonder no one watches TV here, there's nothing to watch- I thought as I went through channels. I came across a news channel and decided to halt for a second to see what's going on. That incident from earlier today that I overheard suddenly came to mind as I was interested to find out more on the topic.

…reports are coming in from all over Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa with similar mysterious murders like the one from last night when a man was bitten to death by an unknown perpetrator. It would seem whoever it was is not acting alone. The police had restricted access for the media to the crime scene and there are no given explanations for this. There have also been reports of US military taking interest in the murders which has lead to many people speculating about the incidents. It is unclear whether there are serial killers on the loose acting together. The autopsy conducted on the first corpse showed the bite marks were indeed made by humans. It would seem cannibalism is on the rise…

"Oh god, come on. Every time I eat I hear something like this. What the heck is going on in this world?"- as I said that Jake came down to see me sitting on the sofa eating while watching TV. "What's up?"- he asked me looking at the news himself. "That murder from last night. Turns out it was a cannibal attack. And not only that, there have been more cases all over the mid west."- I replied sort of worried. "Well. Let's hope there's not a Silence of the Lambs sequel."- he replied as if it was nothing.

"Dude, Illinois isn't that far. And It's clearly spreading. And by the way, there are sequels to Silence of the Lambs, already."

-"Relax pansy, the cops will get them. Besides they're spreading west. We're good. And really? I should get down to watching that, I loved that movie."

-"Yeah, I guess I'm being a little dramatic. I mean, what are the chances? Right?"