Chapter Five

It had been his first funeral, but it wouldn't be his last. Terra hadn't had one, and perhaps that was a good thing. The wind whipped his face and carried leaves across the cemetery. Beast Boy pulled his coat over his suit. He'd never worn a suit before. He'd never really planned too either. He gazed at the many tombstones around him, ordered in a haphazard way inside the heavy iron fence. He looked through it. A few small houses lined the street, most with a pumpkin or two on the doorstep. There was even one that had an ugly masked dummy, with fake, ketchup blood, holding the orange vegetable. Beast Boy found no humor in that. He looked around again, but did not dare look at Raven's grave. Some others had birthday balloons and flowers, and unlike the others, one in particular was raked neatly of all leaves so that only the browning grass of autumn was left to blow carelessly in the wind. The bare trees' branches cast eerie shadows around the cemetery. A woman could be seen across the land, mourning over the death of someone. Three children, most definitely hers, were climbing around the other plots, laughing and screaming, and joking around. The mother ignored them and if it weren't for the fact he could barely speak, Beast Boy would've probably said something. But he didn't. he just stood, alone and, well, afraid. Afraid of some unknown force that had swept over him the other night.

"It'll be okay," Robin was saying from behind Beast Boy. Starfire was crying into his shoulder, and Robin was doing everything he could to comfort her. "I promise."

"Robin, why is this happening?"

"I'm not sure Star, I'm not sure."

Star. That's mine! Find your own nickname for her you fool! Beast Boy clenched his fists. He was about ready to punch him. You can't afford a black eye, but there isn't much stopping me from giving you one! Beast Boy calmed down a little. His anger was almost beyond boiling point, but he tried to hold it in. It was last night, that's all, Beast Boy tried desperately to remind himself, last night is getting to me and there's nothing more to it. I'll get through it, it'll pass...But he wasn't that sure.

He turned and walked out of the cemetery. He wouldn't take it anymore. It was too much, standing in a cemetery, people all around him, screaming, crying. Maybe he'd be crying too if it wasn't for the fear that had taken over him. He continued walking. Down the street that surrounded the cemetery on two sides, was a patch of woods which was, not too long ago, a popular teenager hangout. But about two years ago, the mutilated body of some little boy was found. What was his name? Gabriel...Gabriel something... Well, that had been the last of the "teen dream hangout" and the cause of the boy's death was never determined. And that was never really forgotten by the locals. But, truth be told, Beast Boy couldn't care less if some unknown, undiscovered murderer had been lurking there. He walked right in. He continued on a little way until he reached a small patch of dirt that lay awkwardly in a sudden clearing. He looked at it for a while before kneeling down beside it. He grabbed a dead twig and snapped it off a fallen branch. He began to draw in the dirt. It was relaxing and it took his mind off most everything, drawing there in the dirt. He hadn't been too sure at what he was drawing at first. Just some stick figure scene with a bunch of people kneeling with closed eyes, frowns, and little tears falling. Then he'd drawn something else. Some sort of creature with fangs, dripping, probably dripping blood. It was then that he realized what he was doing and quickly swiped it all away. He'd had enough of this nonsense with blood and monsters. He had to get over it sooner or later. He had to. He stood up and brushed the dirt off his clothes. Now he had a few grass stains on his pants that would probably never come out. He didn't really care though because he hadn't planned on wearing that ever again anyway. He started to walk away when he felt a strange gust of wind sweep through him. It wasn't normal like the wind he'd been walking against all day. It was colder; much colder. And Beast Boy didn't like it one bit. And as he hurried out of those woods, he suddenly had the feeling that something was there, not far behind, following, watching, stalking. And he didn't like that either. He sprinted out, but nothing ever happened. Perhaps it was his imagination. He sure hoped so.

It was a month or so after the funeral, and things were starting to seem almost normal again. Beast Boy had cleared a third floor room and claimed it his own without any argument by his fellow Titans. Robin and Starfire were growing closer together and, to Beast Boy's disgust, were spending much more time with each other. Cyborg was usually busy working on some big project, and Beast Boy stayed alone. His new room had no windows, no light, no shelves, no lock, nothing but spiders and cobwebs and one old mattress on the floor. But that's where he was most all of his time, and he could almost say that he liked it. But then again, he hadn't really felt like himself lately. Not one bit. And Starfire had been acted strangely too, around Cyborg and Beast Boy at least. She seemed to be hiding something, but Beast Boy wasn't sure exactly what it was. But all of his questions would be answered come Christmas Eve. Because they were all about to get a very surprising Christmas present.

It was sort of like Robin and Starfire's little secret, or more like a BIG secret. Beast Boy was on the couch drawing in a notebook, chewing his pencil deep in thought. Cyborg was taking his time attempting to stand the Christmas tree, a tad bit late, may I add. Hopefully, Starfire entered the room, slowly, but proudly, Robin, even slower, behind her. But her joy was soon faltered by her friend's reactions, once she had spoken.

"I...am to have a child..."

Beast Boy nearly choked on his pencil as it snapped in half with a sick, cracking sound between his teeth. Cyborg came extremely close to losing his balance and dropping the Christmas tree on top of him. Starfire looked fairly confused. Robin smiled, weak and nervous, aware that his friends were not happy for her as friends should be. Cyborg gave a smile too, but it was worse and a great deal more fake than Robin's.

"Uh...con...gratulations...Star..."

Robin sighed and Beast Boy remained speechless and still, staring at Starfire with widened eyes. He moved them only once to glare at Robin. Starfire stood there, her head turned awkwardly to look at Robin, and he stared blankly at the wall in front of him. And that's how they stayed for a very long time.

"Uh...Merry Christmas...?" Beast Boy looked around. Nobody was in the room.

The living room was dark and quiet. It was much colder than usual. The Christmas tree was toppled over. The alarm had been shut off and there was absolutely nothing normal about it. Beast Boy felt a cold gust of wind and turned to face nothing but the strong urge to run. He backed into the kitchen and reached an unsteady hand into the knife bin. He felt a blade slice along the side of his hand. He tried to ignore the dripping blood and took hold of one of the knives. And somehow, he didn't feel at all like he was getting too carried away. He switched off the kitchen light as he heard the tower door slide open. A shadow danced on the wall for a few seconds before disappearing, but it could've been anything. He tried not to doubt that. He heard footsteps. They came closer. Closer, and closer, and closer...

And he jumped. Leaped onto whatever it was in front of him. She screamed in agony and dropped to the ground as Beast Boy's knife pierced into her heart. The light switched on. It was Robin who had done that. And Beast Boy found that it was Starfire who lay, bloody and dead, on the floor. Dead. Bloody and dead. Dead...

But no. if anyone was dumb enough to conjure that up in their mind, it was Beast Boy. But that one thought was exactly what kept him from actually jumping out. What if it was a Titan? What if it was Starfire? The footsteps were in the kitchen now. Whoever was there knew he was too. Whoever or whatever. He was doing it again, thinking up stupid, horrible thoughts. They were horrible alright, but were they really that stupid? He held his breath and stood as still as he possibly could, which wasn't that still, considering his knees were shaking so hard now, he had to lean against the wall to stop himself from collapsing. He didn't feel right. This wasn't a normal criminal. This wasn't anything he was used to. He didn't have to see to know for sure. He realized that he'd cornered himself. Shit! He could hear its breath, no; he could feel it and it smelled strangely of carrot, in its own sick way. Beast Boy held the knife, point out, close to his chest. It wasn't a Titan. It was not Starfire. He threw the knife clumsily and it disappeared into the darkness only to slam into the wall. And that was undoubtedly the worst thing he could have done. He let himself slide to the ground. It was right in front of him. Right there, but he couldn't see it. It was ten a.m. on Christmas and all he saw was darkness.

"Get away from me!" And it stopped. It was gone. Just like that, it just...disappeared....

"Beast Boy?"

The light switched on. Starfire looked at him awkwardly. He stood up again. From behind her, Robin had his eye on the knife, which pinned a piece of blue wool to the wall. Its handle dripped Beast Boy's blood.

"Nooo!" A scream arose from down the hall and echoed throughout the tower. Then, there was a giggle. But it seemed that only Beast Boy heard that. One last gust of cold wind and the smell of carrot clung in the room.

Beast Boy didn't go to the second funeral. It was too hard on him. He grabbed the knife and pulled it out of the wall. It left a nasty mark. A marker to the memory of Cyborg's death. He took the knife to Terra's room. He lay down on the bed and stared at the knife long and hard. He threw it at her wall. He got up and pulled it out. He shifted over a little and stabbed the wall with it. Pieces of paint chipped off and flew in his face. He shook them off. He pulled the knife out again.

"I hate you!" He shoved it into the wall again, even harder than before. "You deserved it, Terra! You deserved to die!"

But he really didn't believe that, did he?

I skipped around a little and skimmed through a lot 'cause if I added to many unnecessary events, it would make this even more confusing than it already is... I'll try to make the next chapter more solid.