So, our date does not end as either of us planned.We get some fried chicken from a fast-food joint near the late and invite Laurent the driver to join us, but he graciously refuses. Instead, he takes us back to the little park near the lake and watches over us from afar, giving us our space and keeping an eye on us because there’s still an unsavory character capable of murder prowling about, and we have no idea if he will strike us or not.Coraline and I have something of a good time, I think, eating out from a bucket while being sprawled over either end of a bench, listening to each other’s voices mingled with the soft lapping of waves on the shore, talking about anything and everything. Her feet are on my lap, and I gently massage the soles of her feet with the hand that’s not holding my food.It feels so nice to be able to be open with someone like this. I’ve not been a fan of reading much, but from the few stories that I have read, I’ve learned that the best kind of person to fal

The pale sun rays of the morning filter into the bedroom through the slivers of the heavy curtains hung over the windows and illuminate the warm presence that is pressed next to me.I can only stare at her, lost in admiration as I take her in.Coraline. The covers have been pulled up to her chest, and her head is pillowed by my shoulder. Her hair is in a disarray, resting all over the bedspread, luminously blonde against white. Her mouth is open slightly, and her cheek is mushed against my arm. There must just be a bit of drool dribbling from the corner of her mouth. Her makeup is smudged, a good amount smeared on the bed cover and pillowcase we seem to be sharing. It makes her look like she’d attended a Halloween party dressed up.It might not be the perfect image. But to me, she looks as beautiful as ever.I hope I’m not being too much of a creep watching her while she’s sleeping, but I can’t seem to help myself. She just looks so perfect, here by my side, and the very feel of her s

I do not have experience with letters.In the digital age where it’s so much freakin easy just to send someone a message through some app or social media or even an email, people do not tend to send each other letters unless they’re trying to adopt some sort of quirky aesthetic to their life, be old-school or are some old companies that still believes in sending clients their bills by paper.No one really sends letters these days, in fact, I can’t remember the last time I got a letter in the mail, with stamps and an envelope and all.So, imagine my surprise when one of the members of my father’s security team comes to me as I’m walking to the door hurriedly slinging my school bag over my shoulder, knowing that I’m bound to be late for my first class if I get stalled. The blame for this tardiness lies squarely on my shoulders, of course, it does, because I’m the idiot who forgot I had class today because I was too busy with my girlfriend. The only reason I even remembered I had class w

“Jace, my parents did not suddenly turn into flesh-eating monsters since the last time you saw them, “Coraline insists as the car parks right in front of her parent’s property, a fairly large area of land complete with a beautiful garden and a sophisticated looking brownstone. Mr. Granger’s vintage automobile is parked near the garage, which must be sheltering Mrs. Granger’s much more modern car for the night. The couple takes turns parking their car in their one-car capacity garage and I can’t help but think that’s the cutest compromise ever. The older couple has a nice relationship between them as well, a very loving partnership that had endured through the decades. Coraline is their only child, and they had her quite late in their lives, in their late thirties. So, by now they’re in their sixties, and her mother suffers from hypertension while her father is a diabetic, so Coraline is sometimes worried about them. Which is why she’s not too invested in moving out of her parents’ hou

The movement erupted all around me as I raise a hand to my temple and lightly press it to where it hurt. A hiss rips through my lips as my fingers make contact, and the skin starts to feel wet.‘Oh’, I think, knowing exactly what the wetness means, ‘did I just get hit in the head? By what, though?’I look down at the ground, and that’s enough to make my head feel like it’s been twirled from the inside. Suddenly, my balance is compromised, and I lean on the counter for steadiness and support.Through the din in my ears, I hear a very familiar voice say, “we heard a glass shatter and then you cried out. I thought you had an accident with the porcelain, but it’s clearly not! What’s going on, mom, why is Jace bleeding?”Well, guess that confirms one thing. But what really did happen? Glass shattered; Mrs. Granger screamed. My vision slowly stops being hazy amongst the noise, and I shake my head a bit. This action catches the attention of everyone else, and suddenly they’re crowding me.“J