I need to talk to you. Can we meet somewhere?

Tori had been staring at the text for at least 5 minutes, her heart doing back flips in her chest as she wondered what Jade possibly wanted to talk about. Does she want to get back together with her? Stop it Tori! You'll just get disappointed! But…what else could she want? Wow, she didn't think a person could feel so pathetic. How could she want to get back together with the person who completely shattered her, who told her that she just used her for sex? Just her considering to get back together with Jade made her completely crazy… right? Tori takes a deep breath and with shaky fingers, she types in a reply.

Why? I don't think there's anything we have to talk about.

She presses "Send" and bites her lip, anxiously waiting for Jade to text back. Where is the point in meeting up with her? She made herself pretty clear when she told her she didn't love her and saying… well, everything else. That surely hasn't changed in just a week, right? Her phone buzzes in her hand and Tori sees a new message from her ex-girlfriend.

Please Tori. It's really important. I wouldn't text you if it wasn't. Meet me at my dad's house?

Tori's eyebrows move downwards as she reads the text from Jade. At her father's house? Is this some kind of joke? This is just getting weirder and weirder, Tori thinks and is about to type in that she won't be meeting up with her, when her phone buzzes again.

I know it's probably really confusing for you but please trust me on this. Tonight at around 7 at my dad's house. You got the address right?

She sighs and scratches the back of her head. It seems important. And no matter what Jade said or did, she was still Jade and Tori was never able to resist her. And maybe there really is something up. What kind of person would she be if she just ignored this?

You're just looking for excuses to see her.

Tori sighs again and quickly goes into her list of contacts and scrolls down, tapping Jade's name. It rings and rings, but Jade doesn't pick up. Tori hangs up again and weights down her options: She could go and see what Jade wants which will either cause her to feel better or even crappier than she already does. Or she could stay home, go up to her room and cuddle herself into her blankets, avoiding getting her heart possibly even more broken. Groaning, she throws her head back, before deciding to type in a text message.

Yes I do. I'll see you later then.

What harm could it do?

When she arrives at Jade's dad's house, Tori doesn't see Jade's car anywhere but the lights in the house are on so someone must be home. Tori hesitates. Should she ring the bell or wait for Jade to arrive? Well, it is pretty cold and it gets dark already… She shakes her head and just goes for it, ringing the doorbell of the West household. While she waits, she takes a look around the neighborhood. The house of Jade's father is noticeably the biggest, and Tori wonders what exactly Jade's dad does for a living. She had asked Jade once but she had just furrowed her eyebrows and responded: "I don't really know to be quite honest. He works in some office of some huge company that produces computers or something." Well, Tori muses, he must be getting a good salary there. Tori had already been here and the house is just as big and fancy on the inside as it is on the outside.

The door swings open and Tori turns, looking into light blue eyes. The person in front of her smiles and Tori's eyes widen, before she lets out an uncomfortable laugh. "Oh. Hi Aiden."

"Hey Tori. What a pleasant surprise."

Tori nods and creases her eyebrows, smiling uncomfortably him. "Uh, I'm sorry but…Jade texted me to come here, I thought…" She trails off when Aiden nods and steps aside, motioning with his hand for her to come inside. "Oh yeah, yeah. Come on in." Tori smiles in thanks and enters, Aiden closing the door behind her. She turns to face Jade's brother and sees him looking at her from head to toe. It sets her off a bit and she clears her throat. "So, um…is Jade here or…?"

"I'm sure she will be here soon. Why don't you wait with me until she arrives?" Aiden grabs her shoulders and Tori hesitates for a second, but then lets him lead her into the kitchen. Aiden guides her to the kitchen island, patting a stool for her to sit on and sits on one across from her. Tori shifts and wrings her hand together. She looks over to Aiden, who smirks and just sits there, staring at her. Tori shoots him a reluctant smile. He freaks her out a bit, if she was honest, the way he's just sitting there without uttering a word. She really hopes Jade will be here soon.

Very soon.

"So Tori," Aiden starts, creasing his eyebrows, "I thought you and Jade broke up?"

He has a bewildered smile on his face and Tori slowly nods. "Yeah, we…we did but…I don't really know what Jade wants. She just texted me and said it was important, so…" Aiden begins to laugh and Tori confusedly shakes her head, trying to find the humor in her words. "What's so funny?"

Aiden shakes his head and fixes his eyes on Tori. She nearly flinches at the intensity in his eyes and can't help but feel queasy. "Oh, actually, nothing's funny. It's just," Aiden narrows his eyes but the smile on his face still doesn't fade, "what did you expect when you got Jade's text? That you could be friends after your break up? Or that you could possibly get back together?" Tori swallows, her throat feeling like sandpaper, and moistens her lips. "I…I don't really think that's…I think that's something that should stay between me and Jade."

A humorless laugh escapes Aiden's lips and he stands up from the kitchen stool, shaking his finger at Tori. "See, and that's where you're wrong, Tori." He steps closer to her. "Because Jade is my sister. And I want her to be happy. But she isn't, Tori. She isn't happy." His face is only mere inches away from hers, and Tori tries to shift back a little bit, her hands tightly gripping the edge of the bar stool. She swallows again – loudly, she's sure about that – and shakes her head. "I really didn't mean to make her upset but…she broke up with me. I wouldn't have…"

Aiden steps back from her and Tori lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding. He smiles and raises his eyebrows, Tori risking a glimpse behind her, to look for any sign of Jade.

What takes her so long?

"Let me tell you something, Tori." His voice is almost taunting as he sits back down on his stool. He rests his elbows on the surface of the counter, staring intently at Tori. "Ever since Jade was a little girl…me and her had a strong bond. That didn't change over the years. That is…until you stepped into the picture." He pauses and Tori furrows her eyebrows. His smile slips but his expression stays friendly as he narrows his eyes at her. "I don't really want you to get back together. She's been treating me like dirt lately. And you know what I think? I think it's because of you. In fact, I think you are a bad influence on her."

Tori feels her heart speed up. She doesn't know what to do or say, all she knows is that she wants to get away from Aiden. She stands up, fumbling with the strap of her bag. "Listen, I should probably go now. I don't think Jade is-"

"Oh, so you want to let my sister down? Imagine her face when she comes and I have to tell her that you went home because you were sick of waiting for her. Don't think that will make her very happy."

Tori frowns. What is he trying to do? Aiden creeps her out and all she wants to do is run out the door and go home, but something inside of her tells her to stay. What if Jade really comes and she isn't here? She'll be so disappointed in her. Tori reluctantly sits back down and puts her bag onto the counter, her eyes never leaving Aiden's figure.

Aiden smiles contently. "Good." The smile drops from his face and he seems to be in deep thought as he looks down onto the counter. He looks up again and a curious expression takes hold of his face.

"Hey, can I show you something?"

A distant ringing sound pulls her out of her light slumber and Jade groans, scrambling to her feet. She slumps down the stairs and walks into the living room, her phone buzzing and ringing on the coffee table for the millionth time. She doesn't bother to look at the caller ID and answers. "What?"

"Yeah, hey, it's Trina."

"Trina?"

"Yeah. I've been calling you over and over. Thanks for ignoring me, goth lady. Can I talk to Tori for a second?" Jade's eyes narrow. Wow, can Trina be any more insensitive? Jade is pretty sure that she knows that they are broken up so why the fuck is she calling her? "No, you can't, Trina. Tori and I broke up, remember?"

"…Yeah? I know that. But Tori told me she'd be with you and she doesn't answer her phone so-"

"Wait, what? Why would she say that?" Jade really couldn't think of a reason why Tori would tell Trina that she is with her. Not after the way she treated her. So what is going on? An impatient sigh sounds from the other end of the line.

"How would I know that? She got a text from you and told me that she would see me later. So what's the deal now? Is Tori with you or not?"

A text? She didn't send Tori a text. Why on earth- Jade's eyes widen when a thought crosses her mind. There's only one reasonable explanation. Aiden. Her phone had been lying here, he could have easily...

Jade runs up the stairs, phone still pressed to her ear. "No, she isn't. But did Tori tell you something else? Anything?" She pushes open the door to Aiden's room but her brother isn't there.

"No, just that she would meet up with you. I think she said with you and your dad or something like that."

"My dad…" Her father isn't in town for the entire week. He and his wife are at some congress so that is complete bullshit. But Aiden knows that their dad isn't home and that the house is empty for the time being, so that means…

"Well, I'm hanging up now. Bye."

Jade doesn't bother to say anything back and when Trina hangs up, Jade quickly checks her text messages, but there aren't any there, just the last ones from Cat. She dials Aiden's number next but it goes straight to voicemail and Jade curses loudly, while putting on her jacket. She storms out of the house, running to her car and she tries calling Tori too, but the girl would just not pick up. "No, no, no!" She starts the car and dials one last number, the only person who could help her. After the third ring, she hears a confused voice filtering through the phone.

"Jade?"

"Beck. I need your help. Something's wrong."

Tori's wide eyes can't seem to look away from the shiny blade in Aiden's hand, Aiden intently looking at it and carefully running his fingers across it. He seems so engrossed in this knife that Tori considers running out of the house, hoping he wouldn't even notice. She is seriously getting scared now. She hadn't thought that, when he asked her if he could show her something, she would end up seeing this. Tori thought he would show her an old picture of Jade and him. Or a painting Jade had drawn for him when she was little. But she certainly didn't expect him to show her this…fancy knife which looks really dangerous in her opinion.

"You know," Tori flicks her eyes to Aiden's face, this being the first words since he took the knife out of his pocket, "this is my favorite knife. It's so beautiful, don't you think? And you wouldn't know what it already saw in its short existence." He chuckles and Tori feels her throat tightening up. Her eyes keep flicking from Aiden's face to the jackknife in his hands and she comes to the realization that Jade surely hadn't texted her. Her ringtone suddenly sounds and Tori slightly turns her head to look at her bag but before she can make a move, Aiden grabs her bag and rummages through it until he finds the vibrating object. He looks at the display and smiles. "Oh it's Trina. Friend of yours?"

"My sister." Her voice sounds so foreign to her own ears and she clears her throat to stop the lump in her throat to grow even more. "Well, I hope it's not important because you obviously don't have time for her now. We'll just let it ring, shall we?" He grins brightly and Tori fights the urge to throw up at his calm behavior when, obviously, he had some kind of problem with her. The ringing stops and Aiden puts the phone out of reach for Tori. "You don't mind, do you?" He motions to the phone and laughs. "No, of course you don't."

"Why are you doing this?"

Her voice is quiet, her soft brown eyes staring at him as if she would find an answer by looking into his eyes. Aiden raises his eyebrows and holds up his hands. "What are you talking about? I'm not doing anything."

"Well, then you surely won't mind me going home now." Tori stands up but quickly takes a step back when Aiden holds the knife up and gets closer to her. "You're not going anywhere," he growls, "Sit. Down." Tori obeys immediately, her body slightly beginning to tremble. Aiden lowers the knife again and she feels tears welling up in her eyes. "What do you want from me?"

Aiden sighs loudly, the hard look disappearing again as he shakes his head. "I thought we already established this. But alright. I guess I didn't make myself clear enough. Wait, I haven't really…" He trails off and frowns before he laughs loudly. "I'm sorry. I'm a little rusty at this. Okay. So what I want from you…" Tori bites down hard on her lip when Aiden comes closer to her, the knife dangerously close to her throat. "I want you to…stop being such a damn bad influence on my sister. I want you to," Tori gasps at the feeling of the cold blade hitting her cheek, Aiden carefully running it along her jawbone, not yet hurting her. "stay away from Jade. But that won't work if you're alive, my pretty girl."

Her phone goes off again. Aiden groans and takes the knife away from Tori's skin, turning his back to Tori. "Man, you sure are popular this evening, aren't you?" He isn't prepared for what comes next. "So, where wer-" Aiden lets out a scream as his eyes burn from the contact with the substance Tori sprays into his face and he stumbles and falls to his knees, rubbing at his eyes, trying to stop the burning.

"You little bitch!"

Tori runs to the front door, silently thanking her father for making sure she always had pepper spray in her purse and tries to open the door, but fails. She rattles and pushes at it but it just wouldn't open. "You won't be successful with the door, sweetheart. You need the code to open it up," Aiden shouts from the kitchen and Tori looks around, trying to find a way to escape. Tori runs up the big staircase, hearing Aiden coming closer and rips open a door to a random room, slamming it close and locking it behind her. She breathes heavily and stops for a moment. She can't believe this is happening. It couldn't be happening.

"Oh! So you wanna play a game with me? Alright, fine with me. But I can tell you princess, it won't help you much."

Aiden's voice is getting closer and closer and Tori panics, her eyes frantically trying to find an exit. Her eyes stop at the window. It's her only choice. She runs over, ripping the window open and looking out. A tree is located directly in front of it and Tori looks down. She gulps. It's pretty high, she could hurt herself pretty badly.

Well that's better than dying, you idiot!

"Tori…come on! Don't be such a party pooper! Where are you hiding?"

She has no other choice. Without really thinking about it, Tori climbs up the window sill and takes a deep breath, before jumping onto the big tree. She laughs, even though she doesn't really know why, and holds onto the tree for dear life. Tori pushes out a breath and uses the protruding branches to climb down, praying that they won't crumble under her weight. She almost reaches the ground when she hears a loud crash from inside the house. Tori jumps and lands harshly on the ground, letting out a pained hiss when her ankle twists itself. She scrambles to her feet, despite the pain, but feels her heart stopping when someone harshly yanks her around.