Mariana was staring at her wall, bundled up in blankets. Her hair was a mess, matted and hasn't been brushed for two days. It's Monday, she should be at school. But a part of her thinks that Carl hates her. That's why she couldn't show her face.

He hates her for talking to Luke. He hates her for hugging him. He hates her for just being, well, her. Of course, none of this was true, but Mariana thought otherwise.

There was a knock at her door. "Ana? I brought you breakfast." Danny walked in, softly setting down a bowl of special K, sitting at the edge of Mariana's bed. Danny was used to this, Mariana staying in bed or at home for long periods of time, not doing anything.

"Carl hates me." Mariana croaked, her voice scratchy from not speaking in two days.

"What makes you say that?"

"He just does, Danny."

"No he doesn't."

"Yeah he does. Because Luke. I was hugging him and talking to him. And Luke got me gifts, and he called me princess. And Carl said I was his girlfriend, and I didn't know." Mariana was starting to get heart palpitations, which often happened when she had anxiety attacks.

"Mariana, calm down. Eat your cereal. I'll start a bath for you. Then we'll go to the mall and pick out something nice. We'll go eat at a diner or something. Talk it out." He patted her bed and got up.

Mariana slowly sat up, placing the bowl of cereal on her lap, turning on her tv. Her body ached from staying in the same position. She turned on her phone, dozens of notifications popping up.

Mariana just sat there, she never knew what she was doing. Sometimes she'd just think real hard, about ridiculous things. She would be in this state of dysphoria of sorts. She'd feel insecure of her decisions, what she wore, how she looked.

Mariana would never leave the house. Never get out of her room, only got up to go use the bathroom. But all of this was in her head. She'd turn little things into big things, make everything feel like it was her fault. That's just how her state of mind was.

Mariana continued to watch spongebob as she ate her cornflakes and freeze dried cereal medley. Her eyes puffy and droopy, she looked like a wreck.

***

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" Carl shouted, pacing back and forth in his room. He had to keep Mariana away from Luke at all costs.

Who knows what would happen if Mariana was alone with Luke. She could end up dating him, or get pregnant! Each thought drew Carl more and more into being obsessively paranoid.

He got a gun and shoved it into his pocket. He took the keys from under his mattress and walked to his car. Carl just needed to get out of the house.

He drove towards the mall until he saw a familiar Range Rover, seeing it parked in front of a house with a sign reading "SOLD". Luke had actually bought at house a few streets down from Mariana. What the hell was he up to?

"What the fuck?!" Carl whispered to himself, hopping out of the car, hand on his pistol. The house was a pretty two story, gray with a scenic front yard. One of those flipped houses, gentrified and shit.

Carl banged on the door, almost breaking it in the process. Soon enough Luke opened it, wearing a backwards SnapBack and sweatpants. His smile faded a bit, somewhat disappointed at this uncalled for visitor.

"Can I help you?" His voice had clear irritation in it.

"No, but let me help you by giving you a little tip. Stay the fuck away from Mariana." Carl tried to hide the gun, he didn't need it just yet.

"And why would I do that?" Luke scoffed, he felt as if Carl had no right to control him or Mariana.

"Because if you don't," Carl spoke with certainty, pulling out his pistol pointing it straight at Luke,"I'll shoot your brains out."

"Okay, sure, whatever. Now if you don't mind I'm going to fix my new house up."

"You better stay away from Mari. Don't talk to her."

"I won't be able to talk to her when she's screaming my name later tonight."

Now that—that angered Carl. He pulled his gun out, pistol whipping Luke on the left side of his forehead. Luke fell down, blood trickling from his new injury.

He touched the gash, looking at the red blood. She chuckled, "If you think you scare me, you don't. And don't expect me to stay away from Mariana. I'll get her one way or another."

Carl spat on him, walking away from the guy laying down on the floor. Carl sped off, heading to an empty parking lot. He parked the car, just sitting there. All he wanted to do was keep Mariana to himself. Now that he had her, is he actually going to be able to keep her?