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"No! No! Bring back my bra!" I screech wildly, as I chase my dog down like a madwoman through the hall where he is sprinting away

Please don't eat it!

The beige color on the walls became a blur as I run through the house. I turn a corner sharply, almost slamming into the wall but I somehow manage to keep my balance. Which is a first.

"Ah-ha!" I gasp loudly and pant from being out of shape. I spot my rather large lab starting to shred my poor bra to pieces.

He is pulling on one of the straps, a puddle of drool forming at his feet. I grimace as strings of saliva drip from his mouth. The bra strap slowly began to rip according to the sound of the fabric tearing.

"No! Give it back Oscar!" I yell, panic evident in my voice. Fear and determination settle in the pit of my stomach.

I somehow catch his attention. He stares at me with his big brown eyes that show no guilt. It takes me a few seconds before I decide to lunge at him with full intent of retrieving my precious apparel.

Before he could turn to flee, I was quick enough to tightly grasp his blue-collar. I forcibly pull him to my side to keep him from running away anymore. I feel proud as I hear him whine in defeat.

"Give it back!" Using my free hand, I tug on the strap that is hanging out of his slobbery mouth.

In an instant, he lets go of the strap and the bra drops to the floor. I lean down and pick it up, holding it in the air victoriously. But victory is short-lived when I see the drops of drool come from it.

"Ew...gross," I chuckle, as my face twists into a grimace at the half-soaked bra.

Oscar whines once more and I glance down at him. He pulls to try and get out of my grip. I sigh and reluctantly let him go. He flees the crime scene rather quickly.

"Saige, what on earth are you yelling about?" My mother's voice comes from behind me.

I slowly move my body in a half-circle to see her standing behind me. She is staring me down, irritation showing in her eyes. If I wasn't in trouble before, I was in for it now. I must have accidentally disrupted the boss's work.

She stands under her bedroom doorway with her arms folded across her chest and with a give me a reason not to punish you look on her face. I gulp, feeling anxious about having to explain why I was being so loud. It must have looked hilarious though.

"Er...uh...well you see..." I briefly glance at the wet bra I am grasping. My face turns red from the embarrassment of being caught.

My mother sighs before uncrossing her arms and strolling over toward me. As she gets closer, it is more obvious that she is shorter than me by only a few inches.

Her medium length, brown hair now has a few highlighting strands of gray. She stares at me with her round, chocolate brown eyes. They are gentle, yet held a woman's fury you don't want to mess with.

I wish I had inherited her eyes instead of my father's. I unfortunately received his icy blue color. Besides the genetics, I've haven't received anything else from him. Not a single card in the last three years since he walked out on us.

"Well you see, I was trying to pack all my clothes and I didn't see that Oscar had come into my room. I had most of my stuff put away, but he managed to grab one of my uh...bras that were laying around. I chased after him, yelling for him to get it back. I finally caught him and—"

"Saige," my mother interrupts me with a serious tone. I pause mid-sentence, my arms still flailed in the air.

"Yes?" I ask slowly, afraid of the answer. My arms lightly fall down from the air and to my side.

My mother's stoic face suddenly lights up with a gentle smile, "stop talking, you sound like an idiot dear. We need to leave soon."

Leave it up to your mother to tell you how much of an idiot you are. No punches pulled here. My face turns red with humiliation. Sometimes I think she does it on purpose.

"Fine," I grumble, slightly upset at her insult. I can easily finish packing.

I brush past her and onward toward my room. Pushing open the white door, I step into my mostly barren room. What is left are scattered clothes on the floor and the full-sized bed frame. Besides those items, I had done a good job of cleaning and packing up.

I had finished up my last week at what I would now call my old school. It is Saturday and my mother said we would spend the weekend traveling to our new home in the Midwest.

In a sad but good kind of way, I wasn't leaving behind a lot of friends or memories. Since my family fell apart I spent the majority of my time picking up the pieces. My old friends moved on and made new friends. I didn't really fit in anymore.

But that could have been expected. I got relatively excellent grades. I had plenty of time to study since I wasn't socializing anymore. Though there were a couple of slip-ups here and there.

That does remind me of that one time when I—

Shut up Saige.

I shook my head, trying to rid of the tiny voice that was telling me to be quiet. I step over various items and toward the last box I had left to pack up. I drop the wet bra in it. Gross. Grabbing the tape, I seal the cardboard box closed.

"Saige!" My mother's voice rang from downstairs.

"Yes?" I jump up from my crouching position and stick my head out the door.

"Oscar has your underwear too! I think it's the pink ones?"

My cheeks begin to burn from the overwhelming embarrassment. Ugh, now the underwear? Seriously?

"Don't let him eat it! The pink ones are my favorite!" I whine as I sprint out of my bedroom.

I hop down the wooden stairs two at a time and almost slip on the last step because I'm wearing my favorite fuzzy socks. Turning into the empty living room, I see that Oscar is hiding behind some of the larger boxes with pink sticking out of his mouth.

"No! Not the pink ones!" I screech and lunge at him. His eyes widen in terror.

"What is the town called again?" I ask mindlessly, stuffing a few fries in my mouth at a time.

I had begged her to stop for some food halfway into our moving trip. I lick my fingers and look up toward my mother for an answer. She stares ahead of her, keeping her eyes on the road. Her lips are pursed together, which makes me all the more curious.

"It's a town called Wintercrest. It's smaller, you should like it." She says and turns the wheel simultaneously.

"It sounds interesting," I say. Something about that name seems familiar. I brush away the feeling.

My mother's job transfer isn't the worst thing to happen to us.

Suddenly, yellow blur from the side mirror catches my attention. I laugh and instantly felt better when I see our lovable ball of fur acting like a complete goof.

Oscar has his head out the back seat window, clearly enjoying the ride. His pink tongue is sticking out as he tries to bite the air. His yellow ears flop back and forth. I smile as I watch him. He can be very entertaining when he isn't destroying everything in his sight. My bra and underwear for example.

"Maybe you can make some better friends this time?" She asks hopefully.

I snort and she instantly frowns at my reaction, "Saige, you need to try. Just because some friendships didn't work out doesn't mean you can't have new ones."

I try to understand her perspective but her tone irritates me greatly. "What's the point?"

"You know, it all starts with your mentality. If you think positively, good things will follow you," Her eyes sparkles.

"But—"

"No buts Saige."

I sigh in defeat.

She smiles at me before turning her attention back to the road. The empty road. As I observe the world outside of the car, I find nothing. Absolutely nothing. A frown forms on my face.

Where were all the buildings? Stores? Houses? Gas stations?

Hell, where were all the people? I mean, we had been driving on an open road for a while now. That could mean one thing, and one thing only.

"So, where is this town supposed to be? There's nothing out here," I say slowly, fearful of the answer I knew I was going to get.

It's been nothing but desolate forest and fields. I wait nervously and catch the slight movement of her biting her lip. The panic starts to settle in.

"Remember I said it was a smaller town," She begins, knowing how bad I was going to react.

"I didn't think it would be middle of nowhere small!" I groan, slamming the palms of my hands into forehead.

"I'm sorry, you know I didn't pick the company I'd be transferring to. From what I've heard it's a nice and quiet town. The school you'll be attending is a private academy," She tries to make it sound better than what it really is.

"A private academy? Like for snobby, rich people?" I ask with disgust laced in my voice.

"It's the only school in the town. They even have cute uniforms."

The only school? Uniforms? This was beginning to sound more and more awful by the second.

"Fine, whatever," I grumble unappreciatively.

A few moments of silence pass as I watch the trees fly by. An ancient sign came into view and I could barely read the scribbled writing on the chipped wood. After I figured out what it said, dread-filled the very bottom of my gut.

Wintercrest.

The familiar feeling from before returned to me and gave me a bitter taste in my mouth. Cold shivers ran down my spine. I wanted to scream at my mother to turn the car around, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. I silently concluded that I'm going to hate it here.

"This is the town. See? I told you it was going to be a quick ride." My mother chirps quite happily.

If you believe a twelve-hour drive is considered a quick ride, then sure. We drive past a few petite stores and I observe them in awe. To my surprise, it seems to be a quaint place. Everything was close by, within walking distance it appears. Each building has cute handmade signs and unique names. No large brand name stores that I was used to seeing.

Unfortunately, the roads were narrow and very deserted. We turn left and come upon a zig-zag road that leads into a neighborhood. It is tightly knitted together with large homes.

More like small mansions.

For a small town, they have some very nice houses. They were similar to Victorian style and I couldn't stop admiring them.

"Which one is ours?" I ask starting to get impatient, eyeing all the beautiful homes.

My mother glances back and forth, searching the rows of houses. I watch as her eyes light up when she sees one in particular.

"It should be one of these— ah! It's this one," She sharply pulls into the driveway of a cream-colored Victorian-styled house.

She stops the car and turns the key, shutting off the ancient somehow still alive engine. In one swift movement, she opens her door to step out.

I open mine and hurry out, approving of the lovely house. I shut the door and walk to the back of the van where a mountain of boxes is waiting. My mother opens the trunk and pulls out a box labeled Kitchen in sharpie.

I search through the pile until I find one labeled in red marker Saige's Room. I pick it up and walk toward where my mother has already unlocked the old-style front door. We step inside, the hardwood floor immediately creaking underneath our feet.

The walls have pale-colored wallpaper and the trims are a bit chipped with age. I stroll down the hallway, everything unfamiliar and new. I turn a corner and find the stairs.

I glance behind me but my mother isn't there. So I call out, "Is my room upstairs?"

"Yes, it should be on the left when you reach the top." She responds from somewhere inside the kitchen.

"Thanks!"

I start walking up the steps, making it to the top in less than a minute. I turn to the left and opened the first door. White and black tiles greeted me, along with more wallpaper. Nope, this must be a bathroom.

I try the next door down, this time it creaks when I crack it open. Pushing it further, I take a quick peek inside. This must be my room. Compared to my old one, this one is kind of boring. A shade of pale blue wallpaper and dark-colored hardwood floors. The previous owners must have liked wallpaper.

As soon as I set down my box, I realize Oscar hasn't slobbered on any of my stuff yet. Where could he have gone? Perhaps he was sniffing the grass outside?

I slid out of my room and jogged down the hall. I hopped down the stairs and out the open front door. I stepped onto the wooden porch and jumped down the three steps. Before I could even take a second to look around, I was instantly tackled to the concrete ground by a furry mess.

"Ew gross! Ugh! I love you too Oscar!" I stutter out as he licks my face to death.

He jumps off of me and scurries to go inside. In a second, he has completely disappeared. Leaving me behind to wipe all the slobber off my face. I can finally breathe.

I giggle at my silly dog and stand up, brushing off my dirty jeans with the back of my hand. Out of nowhere, I get the feeling that someone's gaze was on me. Like this fire is burning through me.

A shiver runs down my spine and I instinctively look toward the house across the street. I couldn't tear my eyes away from a silhouette as it moves across one of the front windows. I wipe my eyes to make sure I was still sane and not imagining things.

Someone is definitely standing at the window. The curtains slowly close, hiding any view I can get from my front lawn. They've hidden themselves before I can get a good look.

I feel my face turn red at the thought of someone watching me get attacked by my giant furball. I stand frozen before I finally shake the creepy feeling away. I grab another box from the back of the van.

Wintercrest. Such a strange name for a strange town.

I could swear that I have heard the name before.

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★ @within_days

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★ : @within_days