I yawned, trying to stretch but for whatever reason couldn't seem to. Slowly, I opened my eyes and realized it was due to four other forms fighting for space on the bed.

Dwayne laid facing me, David behind me, Marko was wrapped around like a cat in the middle and Paul laid spwarled out next to him, arms everywhere, lightly snoring. Crazy night I guess.

It had to have been because I can't remember much of it. There's not hurt in trying at least.

There was the drink they gave me and then we went into the main cave... We were dancing and there's a few more blanks... we went for a ride? For food? Then to Hudsons's bluff? Why?

Then David's words came back to me. "Want to learn how to fly?"

Flashes of the lighthouse's light took over, replacing the blankness.

"So what are we doing out here?" I ask, holding David's hand.

"Cliff diving. It's just like flying,"

"Is it safe?"

"Not if you don't do it right,"

"I've never done it before,"

"It's scary at first but it feels like you're flying,"

"Okay... Promise everything will be alright?"

"I promise. Just pull up,"

"What do you me-" and I was cut off by David pushing me backwards off the cliff.

I could hear Dwayne, Marko, and Paul laughing after me. And suddenly they appeared beside me.

"Pull up princess,"

"Come on babe it's simple,"

"You can do it Angel,"

And suddenly David appeared over me. He caressed my cheeks lovingly, "Be one of us doll."

And they disappeared and I could hear the crashing waves getting closer. I panicked and began hyperventilating and crying as I fell fast. Someone in me pulled up like they said. All too quickly the sound of water was farther away. Opening my eyes, I was indeed flying, back up to the top of the cliff.

I touched the ground lightly, afraid it wasn't real. That maybe I'd died on impact against the water. I didn't. The rocks under my feet were real and so was the air and the light from the lighthouse. I was shaking and crying hard. I attempted to take a step away from the edge but my legs shook and I tripped. I cut my knees in the rocks and pulled myself away from the edge. I brought my knees to my chest and cried. It was only me up there, the boys weren't in sight.

"You're one of us doll. You'll never grow old and you'll never die." David appeared out of nowhere and was wrapped around me suddenly. An arm around my waist and a hand on my cheek, sweetly caressing me again.

"Promise?" I sniffed.

"We'd all die again before we let anything happen to you," and a chorus of agreement followed.

I was slowly but surely surrounded by the four and it all seemed to fade in my mind the closer David's lips got to mine.

If the film like memory is real, then David has some real expalining to do. Hell, they all do! I'm not sure what I'm more pissed about, getting pushed rather than jumping off the cliff, or actually being able to fly. How the fuck is that possible?

The more I thought about it, the angrier and angrier I got. I almost forgot I was in bed with them. My anger nose, more than I thought possible and I started squirming. Those touching me tightened their grip. I wiggles in David's arms and kicked the covers off of us. Whichever way I wiggled, up or down, his grip wouldn't let me escape.

I groaned, still emensly pissed off but raised my leg before kicking Marko in the back of the head.

"Ow what the fuck?"

"Get him to let me fuck go."

"That's why you kicked me?"

"NOW," I screamed, pushing my nails into David's bare forearms.

"Ow! Mother of fuck!" David pulled his arms away, little crescents littlering his arms.

"That's what I would have said last night if I couldn't fucking miraculously fly! Fuck you! Who the hell pushes their friend off a cliff?" I raged, standing slowly.

"Hey-"

"No! You don't get an excuse! I don't care if I could fly or not! I don't care if you would have saved me if I couldn't do it! You put me in the situation in the first place! You pushed me off the fucking cliff, you stupid dick!" I screamed as I jumped over the mass of bodies, feet hitting the ground roughly.

"Hey! That's enough!" David said and I glared at him through the dark.

"What the hell gives you the right to act like this is okay? It's not okay David. You pushed me off a fucking cliff! You promised I'd never get hurt, don't you understand I'm fragile?"

"Princess, we were there the whole time. We wouldn't have let anything happen to you," Dwayne tried reason, as I slung my bag over my shoulder.

"You are what happened to me! I got told it would be like flying but I got pushed off! You guys can't save me from everything! How could you even save me from falling off the cliff?" I asked cautiously as I noticed Dwayne was blocking my exit and Paul was behind him as backup.

"That's something we need to talk about angel," Marko called, he was sitting next to David, holding the back of his head where I'd kicked.

"What is there to say? Something isn't right about you guys..." I paused as I saw Dwayne reach for me.

I grabbed his hand and slipped under his arm, twisting that hand behind his back before kicking him away from me. I also noticed Paul coming after me next, I throat cropped him and dove past him to the hallway entrance.

"And I'm getting the fuck out of here. Friends don't lie," I ran into the sunlight hallway which burned my eyes. I didn't hear the boys run after me so I made my way to the main room once again.

I quickly dumped the night gown for a soft pair of black cotton shorts, my black velvet bell sleeve top, a pair of black thigh highs, a black duster kimono, and my trusty Doc Martens. I felt sad leaving Star and Laddie because I felt like I'd also made friends with them and Laddie was like my kind of small adopted child. But what they did wasn't okay. So with that I hiked my happy ass out of the cave while the afternoon sun was still alive.

-x-

It didn't take me long to get to the boardwalk, I knew the way well by now. Although with moving faster, I was exhausted, more than normal anyway. It was nearly sunset when I found my way to VideoMax.

I peeked in and there was Maria, chatting up the few customers who were in here.

"Are you coming in for your shift?"

"I need to talk to Max," I stated as I pushed past her and towards his office.

"He's not coming in tonight, it's supposed t be Jake's night to be manager."

"Why even put him on the schedule if he hasn't shown his face on the boardwalk for almost a month now? We all know he's either dead or split town," I sighed, slight sadness pulled at my heart for her.

It was no secret Maria was in love with Jake, a former employee. He managed our store when Max decided to take off the night every once in a great while. Nice guy, shame he's gone. He had the looks for a surfer. Even tan, blonde hair that shined in the sun, tall, and built from the surf. Like I said, nice guy and nice to look at but Maria was so deeply, stupidly in love with him. She didn't see past the book smart to see how street stupid he was.

I remember the night he disappeared clearly.

I'm sitting in the shop minding my own business. Only other person here is Jake. I'm not bothering him and he's not bothering me. It's about 3 hours before closing. There's a couple of people in the store still looking.

Jake's "friends," ,well surfer nazi fucks , wouldn't bother me. They just sat outside the store and hung out. Everything was going fine until I noticed the laughing outside the entrance ceased.

"Sandra, take the front desk please," Jake called, the tone of his voice had tightened up considerably. I pushed my cart to the back quickly, only catching parts of the conversation.

"No need for this to get out of hand," ... "I'm sorry but my boss has informed me I can't allow you in the shop," ... "I'm sorry you feel that way. Do think it's because you tend to harass our customers and staff?" .. "have a good night gentlemen. Please don't come back,"

And when Jake came back he looked exhausted. More so than even before. It's what surfing all day then working all night does to you.

"What was that all about?" I asked and over the sound of Surfer Nazi chatter I heard the roar of motorcycles. So they weren't allowed in the shop and rode motorcycles.

"Don't worry about it. It's just some people, Max made clear to me,weren't allowed in the shop," Jake paused rubbing his eyes before looking back to me, " You can leave early if you want. Just beware of some assholes on motorcycles on your way."

"Thanks Jake,"

"Welcome, just stay safe." And I nodded in return and walked out the front door.

I made it home quickly, as back then I had a home. An appartment at least. That next night, Maria told me how she come to find the door unlocked and some shelves knocked over. Nothing was missing, not videos or money. It was a message. Don't get yourself into situations that aren't your business.

And after that, the Surfer Nazi's outside the store front disappeared and Max hadn't taken off a night since. Which was what surprised me now. After a few months, why take a night off now? Why schedule someone we all know is dead? That's just putting the salt in the wound for Maria.

"Any idea where he would be?"

"Not a clue. Not sure what Max does in his free time,"

I growled in frustration before turning and walking back out the front door. "Thanks Maria."

-x-

After hours of searching for Max and not finding him anywhere, I found myself in front of my last resorts. The Frog Brother's shop.

Now don't get me wrong. I like them and I like their comic shop. I don't care too much for their crazed paranormal obsession. And I know they'll be upset with me. You know with the hanging out with the boys and all. They don't like them, and it's probably for good reason but that also means they're going to accuse them of being some kind of monsters.

I took a step inside the doors and the bell above the door rung.

"We're closed,"

"Even for me?"

It depends,"'Edgar glared as he appeared from behind a comic shelf, "are you one of them?"

"Uh no?" I was confused, one of them? What's he mean? Does he means a teenager? A late night partier? Or some kind of paranormal bullshit monster?

"No garlic allergies?" Alan asked, coming from the hall.

"Not as of lately," I replied.

"Bad breath," Edgar asked.

"I hope not," I sighed.

"Fast nail growth," Alan again, like a fucking checklist.

"Not any faster than normal,"

"Thirst for human blood?"

"Nada. Hasn't happened yet and I never expect it to."

Edgar and Alan looked toward each other and Alan nodded. Edgar didn't.

"So you say you're not a vampire?"

"I never said I wasn't a vampire but now that's it's been brought to my attention, I'm not a vampire,"

"How do you know," Edgar asked as he walked around me, "You look a little paler than normal."

"Because? How do you even become a vampire anyway?" I asked, turning to look at Edgar.

"Drinking the blood of another vampire is one way," he replied leaning in.

"Any other way? Because I'm pretty sure I haven't been drinking blood. It's not really my thing," I rolled my eyes.

"Being bitten by said vampire," Edgar replied as lifted up my dreads and looked at my neck.

"I'm not a vampire Frog," I glared as I pulled my dreads back into place.

"There's no way to be sure," Edgar said as he backed away, "why'd you come here?"

"Maybe because I considered you guys my friends and was hoping for some help? Because the shelters are already closed, I can't find my boss, and because the kids I've been staying with are real douche bags?" I shrugged becoming irritated.

"Like I said, no way to be sure. I don't think we can help you. Your best bet is to keep looking for somewhere safe," Edgar replied, arms crossed before turning and walking upstairs.

"Wait here! I'll talk to him," Alan said before rushing up the stairs behind his brother.

"Don't bother. I'll see you around sometime if I don't die tonight," I called before turning and walking out.

-x-

I went to a bench and sat down. It was almost closing time on the boardwalk and I once again had the shittiest luck. Sighing, I closed my eyes, listening to the sound of the waves against the beach. It was soothing I suppose because I started to fall asleep.

I was startled as I felt a pressure on my back and shoulders before reaching my hand back to figure what it was.

"Look who I found boys?"

"Just the girl we were looking for," another laughed.

Revised: 4/ 13/18