"Wait"

Broken days with droning hours,

Ignore, still, the milk that sours,

Do not move, or flinch or speak,

Just sit there, mute, and wait for me,

Break like the days, who fall away,

But never you; You will stay,

Forget who walks; attempts distraction,

Remember, only minute reactions,

Close your eyes; your only movement,

Escape the waiting; Escape the torment,

Dream of me and no one else,

Wait for me in your own hell,

Don't question when I will arrive,

Just sit, and wait, and stay alive,

For all you know I could be dead,

But you will wait.

"Wake the fuck up, sunshine!"

I sleepily tried to block my face from the assault as Hayden jabbed her fingers into my forehead, slapped my face, and shook me like she thought change would fall out.

"Come on, up, up, up! I am sick, of listening to this shit every night. I might be dead, but you can still piss me off! GET UP!" She gave one last violent shake before I spazzed, fully aware of what was going on now. I scrambled to the other side of the bed, trying to calm my near heart attack.

"I'm up, I'm up!" I screamed. Thankfully, she stopped and crossed her arms instead of flailing them. "Jesus, Hayden, what the hell?"

"All damn night that's all I'm hearing is 'Oh Tate I love you', 'Oh Tate you're amazing'," I grimaced at the poor falsetto she used when she mimicked me, holding her hands together by her head and batting her eyelashes. It was better after she dropped her arms and stopped acting, "Seriously though. Either screw him already or get over him, I can't stand anymore of this."

That was two separate residents that had woke me up complaining. By this point I was sure Tate knew, so I asked her to be sure.

"Oh he knows alright. He sits there and watches you sleep like a creep, just soaking up the affection like a damn sponge, it's disgusting."

"So what's the point of telling him if he already knows?" The look she gave me was probably meant to be condescending. It just pissed me off a little.

"Uh, so you can be quiet for once."

I just raised my eyebrow, wondering how the hell that was supposed to help anything. She gave an aggravated huff and sat down on the bed next to me. "I screwed a therapist. What excuse do you think got my foot in the door? If you talk about stuff in your sleep, the same stuff, apparently it means you need to get it out. Look, just do something okay? Or I'll gut you in your sleep, so that you never sleep, got it?"

I sighed, inhaling the whispers as they returned. What was it with everyone here thinking that I was even the least bit concerned as to whether or not I died? As long as it was in this house, I didn't care.

'I can still do it you know. Kill you.'

Okay, maybe I cared a little about how I died at least. I replayed the memory in my head as I slowly fell back to sleep. Maybe, when he'd said that, he was thinking about all the times I had called out to him in my sleep. I sifted through the whispers, fighting my way to the newest memories that the house had stored. There, in the memory, I saw him.

He would sit in the corner of my room, on some of my boxes that I had just never bothered to unpack. His hands hung limply in his lap as his head rested against the wall. Occasionally, he would sigh and close his eyes, breathing in deeply as he listened to me ramble on about my affections in my sleep. It was like he was trying to get high off of the moment. When he would open his eyes, they would be dark. Eerily dark, as he smiled at me.

'Coming onto you,
The hell you got me through,
What would I have to do to kiss that frown...'

I pushed my body hard as I danced, my music so loud on my stereo that I could barely hear my own heavy breathing. My arms twisted in rhythm to my jerking torso, I jumped and spun, thinking only about how I would move next.

' ...I know whats wrong with you
That fucked up part of you
Is gonna bury me under ground...'

Don't think. Don't think. Don't think.

'...Now I'm awake
Been stuck in a place I really hate
And it's not fate
Everything's just fine...'

I felt a cramp building in my side already. Sweat poured out of me but it didn't matter. I wanted to keep going until I collapsed. My emotions were so bad that I wanted to run, but I didn't. What if I ran into Liam and whoever he was with now? I couldn't take that chance. They weren't bad enough for a mini freak-out, but I couldn't pent it up that long, not if I wanted to be sane enough to be with Michael. So I forced my energy out to my music. I got lost in it, pretending I was truly alone, in a cold, empty basement.

'...So why must it be
Chaos Lives in Everything
Trapped inside a dream
It all comes back to me...'

All at once the music shut off, leaving me gasping for air in silence. I stumbled at the sudden loss of rhythm and fell, exhausted, onto my knees. I looked around for whoever might have turned it off. I wish I hadn't. I wish I had run instead. Far, far away from here.

Liam stood there with an amused grin as he walked over to help me back onto my feet. When he stuck his hand out, I eyed it cautiously. Why was a part of me excited to see him? Why did it leap with joy at the sight of him here, and smiling? Even if his smile was...off.

"You never told me you liked to dance." He noted, walking with me as I sat on my bed. I scooted away a little as he sat right next to me.

"Yeah...it's kinda part of that, crazy part of my brain." I muttered, not allowing myself to look at him directly. I was scared that if I looked into his eyes, I might forgive him. I was too happy without forgiving him. "What are you doing here, Liam? I figured you had made your point pretty clear when you disappeared for three weeks."

He laughed at me, putting a hand to my chin to try and make me look at him. The part of me that had missed him, started to allow the motion, but then I forced myself out of his grasp and focused my eyes back to the corner of my CD shelf. In the partial glimpse I did see, it was like something had flashed in his eyes for a brief moment, but I had looked away too quickly to know what it was.

His voice was still sweet, if not even sweeter than it had been before, "That's fine. You don't have to look at me, Cherie. You made your point pretty clear when you didn't come to find me. You know where I live, you could have come by and made things okay again. And you didn't."

"Tch." I scoffed, "Are you serious? After how you acted? How you made me feel? Why the hell would I want to seek out someone who made me feel like a monster."

All of the anger from the past few days oozed out into the hateful look on my face, and I wanted him to see it. The renewed rage had built a wall between the me in control, and the weak, lovesick part of me. Defiantly, I looked him straight in the eyes, muffling the tiny flutter that my heart had attempted.

"A monster? No, I never thought you were a monster." His eyes were too innocent for the look of surprise he tried to convey. No, something was definitely up, but what was it?

"A freak then? What do you want Liam, to make up and pretend it never happened? I wont pretend to be some do-good normal girl who isn't crazy. I gave you a chance to accept me for who I was, a chance you wouldn't willingly give me, and you ran away like I was the plague."

Again, he laughed. His face bright and happy as it had always seemed to be. "Make up? Oh god no. Is that what you think I'm here to do?"

He leaned in closer to me, grabbing the back of my neck hard when I tried to pull away, and whispered harshly, "I refuse to leave loose strings, Cherie. And I will have no one finding out who I am. So long as you're stuck in this house, I don't have to worry about that, then, do I?"

Before I could react, his hand slid to the front of my neck, slamming me onto the bed while he crawled on top of me. The other hand wrapped with the other one and he squeezed, increasingly harder until I could feel my eyes trying to bulge out of my head. I struggled, managing to kick him between the legs and tried to get away, but he was dragging me back in mere seconds.

"Tate!" I screamed the first name that came to mind, just before my oxygen was cut off again. This time he tightened his grip and shook me around so hard I was sure my neck would snap. My arms stretched out on the blanket, clinging for something, anything. I succeeded only in balling up the cloth in my hands.

"Oh, right. Call for my brother to help you! After all, he only wanted to help them, didn't he? He wanted to help when he tried to kill my father! When he killed all of those people! Why wouldn't he help you? Right?" He shook me again, "RIGHT?"

A loud thud sounded above me. I barely heard it as my vision faded for a split second, my head feeling like something was closing around it as blood pounded in my ears. Then all at once I could see again, feeling light-headed. Someone was laughing. Others were rolling on the floor, hitting each other and yelling back and forth.

I swung my head around to where the most commotion was, noting that the laughter had stopped and I could think straight again. Tate sat on top of his brother punching him even though he was now unconscious and possibly nearly dead.

"Tate, stop!" I cried suddenly, running over and grabbing his arm as I knelt beside him. "If you kill him, we're stuck with him here. Let's just get him out of here and make sure he doesn't come back."

The look in Tate's eyes was empty. I could see that his darker self was in control at the moment. I wished I could take a few minutes to soak it in and enjoy the way it made me feel, but I couldn't. Slowly, he turned his head back towards Liam, looking down at him with disgust.

"What if we cut off his legs...?" He asked, serious.

"As much as I would love too, we don't have time for that. He might wake up before then." I moved around Liam, lifting him from his torso. "Come on, just help me drag him off so that if he does die, it's not here."

"Nonsense"

As Daylight waits, the Darkness cries,

Beg for release—,

Forgiveness lies.

Random words spoken so soft,

Almost unheard and almost forgot,

Dream your alive, then fear that your dead,

You loudly cry awake in bed,

Losing sanity,

With no grip on reality,

Curses;

Profanity,

Forgiveness lies.

Tate held me for a long time when we got back. Both of us just stared off into nothing. The mere presence of him kept me calm, but I wasn't scared. I was vehement. Liam had better be alive, and back at his apartment. I closed my eyes and rubbed my cheek on the arm that Tate had wrapped around my shoulders, shifting my legs just slightly. They were sprawled out over his leg, while the other was behind me, and his back rested against the headboard of my bed.

I wanted Liam alive, so that I could go back, and kill him myself. No one laid a hand on me without regretting it. Marie Walters was the only other person who knew that. Liam didn't. And obviously if he was capable of murder, there was no 'scaring him off'. No...selfish, worthless human waste was meant to be disposed of, especially if it's violent.

While I fantasized in the many ways I planned on disposing of my now definite ex-boyfriend, I allowed myself to enjoy the moment. There was no telling if this would ever happen again. For all I knew, he was simply making sure that I felt comforted and wouldn't hide away where Micheal couldn't see me again. But maybe, just maybe, he might have been there, because he intended to stay there. I rolled around the memory of the house, where he had watched me night after night, calling for him in my sleep.

Maybe he really could—or even did—care about me, more than he had let on.

And there it is! I apologize for any typos, I am about to go and pass out for the day. If there's anything misspelled or oddly worded I will go over it as soon as possible but I felt I should go ahead and post it so that you can read it.

Thank you everyone for all of your reviews! Goodnight!