" It was around the third month into their rocky relationship that Adius had begun to experience something strange. When he was around her, it was like a dream. And they weren't always good ones.

He was also beginning to take notice of the obtuse changes in his girlfriend. While she had tried, in vain, to hide them from him, he was as perceptive as ever.

It was a cold Friday afternoon, and Adius was frustrated from the hours of practice that he had just come from. Coach had worked all of the usual backup dancers to the bone trying to perfect the school's biggest group piece of the year. That was the dance that all of the understudies, the one's that only signed up for the class because they needed that one credit, were forced to participate in while all of the real dancers got their first true break of the year.

Hope had left before him and had promised to come back so that they could ride to her place together. Adius was wiping at a little bit of sweat steadily pooling around his neck when Hope's car had slowly inched up to him. He had peeked in through the closed window and the expression on Hope's face made his heart beat at a speed he knew was unhealthy.

Something was wrong, something was terribly wrong. He had knocked on the door and received no reply. Hope just sat with both of her hands grasping the wheel, a thing she would never dare do because it made her look like a "ninety-five year old granny". They were clutching the wheel in such a way that her arms were forced to bend and her chest was pushed forward.

Her wild hair was pulled into a tragic high ponytail and if the strand that was haphazardly moving was anything to go by, she was shaking.

But it was her face that had really made him anxious. There was something dangerous in it. Something cold. Something... harmful. "Corrina, what wrong?" He had asked as he had started knocking on the window. Again, she had ignored him. "Hope!" Finally, her eyes had snapped to meet his.

Adius stumbled back.

Something thick and dark was dripping from the inner corner of her left eye. Her face screamed for help, her cheeks bruised as if they were recently punched. Dropping his bag, Adius raced back to the car and started pulling on the handle. "Let me in! Hope, let me help you!"

Her mouth had opened, the corners turned down in a permanent frown, and she cried out, "There's only one way. Adius... do it!" Confused, he'd traced Hope's eyes and found that she was staring at his hands.

His mouth fell open and his eyes fell shut.

It was everywhere.

The blood was everywhere.

Hope screamed and when Adius opened his eyes, he saw the body of his girlfriend in his arms.

Her skull was cracked.

Her eyes were dull.

Her mouth was open.

Her blood was on his hands. "