I just wanted to start off by saying thank you to all the feedback i'm getting on this story (: I pretty much gave up on it a few months ago after major writers block, but my best friend urged me to keep writing, so here we are :P. This chapters dedicated to herr (Jesus I sound mushy). I love all of youu...

Has anyone tried the "No-Cry" Challenge? It's a youtube thing where you watch videos and you can't cry. Well, I made it to the ninth video before breaking down when a soilder walked in on his three year old daughter who went, "Daddy?" With a bewildered face, started grinning, and said, "I missed you a lot, Daddy."

How can anyone make such a cruel game?

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Sitting in Gabriel's truck, I played with my hands and looked out the window. How could I ever go back to that place? The institution was my hell, not my saving grace. I don't know how I could survive another minute in there.

Kira had been picked up by her parents, who embraced and worried over how skinny i'd gotten. I'd just nodded and smiled, although I felt as if I would throw up from the pain in my stomach. Luna needed to go back to work, and Sam left us with our thoughts, leaving my only option to get home.

I felt a warmth on the back of my neck and glanced behind me to see his arm around the back of my seat, the skin from his arm poking through the gap between the seat and the head rest. Laying my skull on the back onto the head rest, I glanced at the trees rushing by.

How could I do this again? I couldn't pretend not to have hallucinations. It was a part of me, as much as I hated it. There had to be something I could to to stop it from triggering. . .

"Alexxa," Gabriel said, in a way that made it really want to be my name. I turned my head to face him, saying nothing but my eyes telling all. His expression was a mix of concern and pity, the last I wanted to kiss off. Nobody should pity me.

Wait, did I say kiss? No, I had no feelings for him. I'd rather punch it off than press my lips to his soft, perfectly pink ones. . .

"Dammit," I muttered, realizing I truly had it bad.

He ignored my sudden outburst, raising a brow and pulling the car to a stop at the red light. "I meant it, you know." His voice was soft. "You can tell me anything."

He was silently pleading for me to tell him what went on in the hospital room. I couldn't, though, not yet. It would ruin everything we had already, as he would deem me a freak and leave me behind to see Kira. It was all my fault I had hallucinations, I decided. If I fixed it, I would tell him. But until then- I couldn't. He couldn't force it out of me.

" I know," I mumbled, a troubled feeling passing through me.

What if he could help me?

I doubted it. He was a teenage boy with a bad past, not the reborn son of Christ. He couldn't do anything to help me, even if he tried. We sat in silence on the way back, glancing at each other from time to time. It wasn't awkward, just a little tense from the unknown information I hadn't had the nerve to tell him.

When he stopped the car outside Luna's house, I immediately unbuckled my seat belt. "Thanks for the ride," I said quietly, opening the door and walking up the stairs. I never heard the truck drive away, though, so I turned to see what was going on.

He leaned on the driver's side door, a cocky smirk playing on his lips. "Aren't you going to invite me in?"

I rolled my eyes, giving into his look with a sigh. "Fine." I said with a tint of annoyance, letting him in first before closing and bolting the door shut.

"So," He wiggled his eyebrows, teasing me. "What do you wanna do?"

I shrugged. " I was going to sleep. . ."

He clapped his hands together. "Stellar. Well, let's get to it, then!"

He was being so childish for me that I laughed. I knew it was because I was hurting, and he could see it, so he used little acts of immaturity to cheer me up. I headed up the stairs, surprised to see him following me. "What are you doing?" I questioned.

He rolled his blue eyes. "Sleeping with you, of course."

I sighed. "Don't you think that's a little unethical?"

His smile faded and he closed the door behind him. "What do you mean. . ?"

I sat down on Luna's bed. "I mean, with you and Kira. You clearly have something going on." I commented, shrugging.

He bit his lip, kicking off his shoes. I rose a brow at the neon orange fabric covering his feet, taking off my combats and throwing them under the desk before pulling the blankets over me. He climbed up onto the bed, leaning against the wall. His body was close to mine, legs resting on top of my own.

He frowned, finally answering my question. "Friends can do this stuff, right? I mean, we've done it before. . ."

I blushed madly, glad that it was dark and he couldn't really see me. "That was all accidental," I muttered.

He smirked smugly. "Let's watch tv." I nodded, picking up the remote and turning on the television. Nothing was on, except for re-runs of My So Called Life. Smiling slightly, I pressed my face to the pillow and stared at the screen.

Eventually my eyelids grew heavy, so I sat up to stay awake. There was no way I was falling asleep with a hormonal teenage boy in bed beside me- I mean, the things he could do were endless. Not that he would; his past has matured him. "Say something," I mumbled, yawning.

He smiled, and shuffled a bit closer to me. "Like what?"

I shrugged, laying my head on his shoulder unconsciously before realizing the mistake I made. With a jolt, I leaned against the wall. "I don't know. Tell me a story."

He chuckled softly. "A good one, or a bad one?"

I didn't hesitate. "A good one."

His face contorted into a dreamy look after a moment, and his arm brushed mine. "Back in Ireland, when I was five, we all used to go camping. It wasn't really a campsite, more like a trailer park, but we brought tents and made it into our own wonderland for a few days." He started, sounding distant. "It was me, my dad, mum, and my three little sisters. There was a bike path not too far away, where I would ride my trike. When I turned six, we celebrated by going there, and I went off on my own for a little while.

"My trike was pretty sweet," he smiled. "It looked like something out of Spider man, all red and white and blue. I thought I attracted all the girls with it. So I saw this girl, a pretty blond. She was maybe eleven, and I was head over heels for her." I couldn't suppress a laugh at that one, feeling drowsy again.

"So, naturally, I rode by her on my sexy spider man trike and muttered in the deepest voice I could, 'Hey', before losing my balance and riding right off a cliff."

I scoffed. "No way!" A bubble of laughter escaped me as I imagined a smaller, cuter version of Gabriel, rolling off a cliff at the sight of some little girl.

He nodded, blushing slightly in the darkness. "They had to call an ambulance to get me out of this tree I was stuck in. Broke my nose, damn thing."

I leaned forwards to examine his nose. "I always wondered why your nose was a little crooked." I muttered, deep in thought. Who would've thought Gabriel, school rebel and tough guy, had a broken nose due to a tree incident when he was six years old?

Something warm pressed itself on my forehead. I looked up abruptly to see him lean back, a satisfied look on his face. "What?" He said defensively. "Friends can't kiss other friend's foreheads?"

I rolled my eyes, laying back down in the bed. "Goodnight, Gabriel." I muttered, punching his shoulder lightly before resting my head back on the pillow and falling into a light slumber.

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(Prepare for a slight confusion :3)

The moment I woke up, I knew something was off. A pair of unfamiliar arms wrapped around my stomach, tugging me closer. Dawn was breaking through the trees of Luna's house, but I couldn't remember why I was there.

Mom would get so mad if she found out I hadn't told her I was staying over.

"Who the hell're you?" I muttered, shrugging off the arms and standing. There were no new messages from my phone, just a missed call I took to be my parents'. Sighing, I pulled shoes on over my sweatpants and grabbed a sweater. It was cold outside, as it was November already.

Luna was nowhere in sight. I searched every room, every corner and even the backyard, but she wasn't anywhere. Huh. Maybe she went out drinking last night. . .?

Hopelessly confused, I wandered back inside the house. Whatever- That guy in bed with me would probably give me a ride home, right? Who was he in the first place? "Um, hello," I muttered awkwardly, seeing him sit up straight.

Christ, he took my breath away. with brown hair and stunning blue eyes, his tan brought out his inviting pink lips and slightly muscled figure. I bit the inside of my cheek- Did I get lucky with him last night? God, I hope so. "Alexxa?" He questioned.

I rose a brow. "What do you mean ? I'm not my mother," I rolled my eyes, placing a hand on my hip. "Look. . . I don't know what happened last night, but could you give me a ride home?"

He looked insanely confused. ". . . You live here," He said slowly. "Where's 'home'?"

I picked up a set of keys off the counter. "45 Bloomington Ave. You know it?" He nodded , lost, and put on his shoes before grabbing a jacket. "Thanks," I smiled, walking out behind him. He typed something on his iPhone as I stared in wonder at the gorgeous black truck before me.

It was huge, but I loved it. Climbing into the seat eagerly, I wondered why I didn't have a headache. Was I drunk last night, or did I just not remember anything? "So what do you know happened?" I asked him casually, taking out my box of Pink Elephant and lighting one.

He looked bewildered. "Um, yesterday?" I nodded. "You got emitted into the hospital because of something you refused to tell me, and we left to go back to Luna's and you fell asleep." He summed up.

I was curious. "Why the hell was I in the hospital?" I questioned.

He gave me a concerned look. "You passed out, or something. Kira and I only got there in time to see you wake up."

I grinned. "Was Kira there last night, too?" He nodded, and I leaned against the leather seat. The streets became more familiar as he drove onto Bloomington, scanning the houses for numbers until he came upon a empty looking, one story bungalow.

"This is it," He said. "Why do you want to be here? This isn't where you-"

"Thanks for the ride, um . . ." I bit my lip. What was this guy's name? "Man," I settled with. He watched me as I got out, walking up to the front door and unlocking it easily. As I wandered inside, I couldn't help but notice how untouched everything looked.

"Mom? Dad? I'm home. . . " I called out, voice drifting off at the echo starting up. There was never an echo before, so why now?

There was no response. "Chris?" I said, louder. The living room was a bit dusty, but not dirty like it usually was. There were no shoes underneath the wooden table, no magazines lying on the arms of the couches. The fish tank was gone, and so was the television.

Oh, God. Were we robbed?

I panicked, running through the kitchen. Everything was in place except for the microwave, which had suddenly disappeared. I looked in the fridge, only to find nothing but a bottle of mustard wedged into the corner of it.

My bedroom was untouched, the familiarity of it calming me. I walked over to my hamster's cage, but Lee wasn't in it. Confused, I shut the door slowly, running my fingers over my gray bed sheets and looking out the window. Why was the truck still there?

Shaking it off, I stepped out and headed down the hall. My footsteps echoed in the corridor loudly, making me shiver. What the hell is going on? Chris's door was unlocked, as it usually was when he had his friends over. But this time I couldn't hear him weaving stories, or even friends talking, for that matter. Pushing it open with my shoulder, I peeked inside.

His bed was unmade, clothes from his bureau hanging over the edge. The fan sat still on the ceiling, a pencil on his desk suspended mid-roll down it. I glanced down at the rug, startled to find patches of dried crimson splattered in places.

What. . ?

I backed away. "Chris?" I tried again. Nobody answered, but this time I only half-expected one. My breathing got ragged as I shut the door, running down the hallway again to my parents room. "Mom? Dad?" I banged on the door, tears coming to my eyes. Are they okay? Did something happen to them?

The door finally swung open, but only by force I had inflicted upon it. I rushed in, taking in the same queen-sized bed, lamps and bed tables on each side, and full length mirror. But the mirror was stained in the same red splatters as Chris's carpet was, these ones larger and in more places.

I swallowed hard, backing into something. "Dad?" I whispered, meeting a pair of blue eyes.

He shook his head. It was the boy from outside, the one who gave me a ride home. There was something familiar about those eyes. . . "Alexxa, are you okay? Who lives here?" He asked.

I shook my head. "I'm not Alexxa!" I whimpered, looking around. "Have you seen my family?"

He shook his head, a realization coming to his eyes. "Oh, God," He muttered, running a hand through his hair and using his free one to grab mine. "We need to get you home. . "

"I am home!" I cried out. "Now where are they hiding? Is this some kind of sick joke?"

"I don't think you understand-"

"I do, though! Where the hell did you take them? Did you rob us!?" I exclaimed, punching his chest and jerking away from him. "Leave me alone!"

He looked torn. "Please, just come with me," He begged quietly.

I wouldn't give into those eyes. A name came to me, something that made my mind warm and stomach flutter. "Gabriel?" I questioned.

He let out a deep breath, smiling slightly. "Yeah?" He asked, calming down a bit.

"Oh. So you are Gabriel, then." He nodded.

I realized we were getting sidetracked. "Wait!" I muttered. "That doesn't exclude the fact that you kidnapped my family, you dirty son of a bitch! Tell me where you took them?"

His eyes widened. "No, you don't get it, Alexxa, this isn't what you think-"

"For the last damned time, my name is not Alexxa!" I shouted, feeling the house vibrate with my words.

"Sweetheart!" A familiar voice called. I let relief wash over my face, running up to Luna and hugging her to me. "Gabriel texted and said you were acting off, I just wanted to see if you were okay going to your old house by yourself. . ."

"My old house?" I was so confused now.

She nodded. "Do you want me to find you something to take home?" She asked.

"Home. . This is my home, though." I muttered. "And that Gabriel guy took my parents and Chris!" I exclaimed.

Her face fell, and she grabbed my hand. "This can't be happening again," She whispered, pulling me out by my wrists just as everything rushed back to me.

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Confuse you enough?

The song is Candles, by Daughter. It's a pretty song about confusion about friends with benefits kind of stuff. Just something I thought would go good with this insannee chapter.

Pollllllll ^-^

What do you think is going to happen to Alexxa? All thoughts and ideas will be considered c:

Why was she so confused?

Is Gabriel worth trusting?

xxx.