Skylar's POV

My mouth fell open in surprise as I stared at him.

Caden?

He was the last person I was expecting to see here, and threatening that girl with a gun to her forehead? On cue, my eyes darted to the gun in his hand and my stomach lurched.

Judging by his barely masked surprise, he hadn't been expecting to see me here either.

That was a distraction enough for the girl to roll over and stand up on her feet. It took her mere seconds to dash and disappear into the darkness. Caden frowned at the way she had disappeared off to but surprisingly, he didn't go after her. Almost as if he was deciding whether to confront her first, or me.

I started panicking. Confrontation with him when he looked so murderous, not to forget the pistol in his hand, seemed like the worst option at the moment. Before he could've turned back towards me, I stumbled back and ran the way I had just come from.

He was just about to kill someone.

Caden was just about to kill someone on the school grounds!

I wasn't just surprised, I was horrified. When he had said gangs, I don't know why but I hadn't expected this. I probably should've. I should've expected the worst.

I came to an abrupt halt near the school wall where I had left Alex. Except that this time, there was no Alex there.

"Fuck." A whisper escaped my lips as I frantically looked around. Where the hell did he go off to? He'd been drunk. I had left him here, hadn't I? Where did he...Oh God, where was he?

I didn't get the chance to look around for him either when a hand shot out and grabbed my arm, whirling me around in an instant. My heart skipped a beat when I saw a furious Caden right in front of me.

"What the hell, Skylar?" I didn't even try struggling out of his grasp. I was frozen in fear. "What the hell are you doing here?"

I blinked and my eyes frantically travelled down to his hand, the same hand which had been holding a gun before. Ready to shoot someone. It wasn't there anymore though. He wasn't holding a gun anymore.

"Let me go. I swear..." I trailed off as my eyes found his cold, hard gaze. "I swear I won't tell anyone about this, Caden." There was no mistaking fear in my voice. I sounded terrified. Almost as if I didn't even know him.

I didn't, I told myself. I sure as heck didn't know what was wrong with him.

Alex had been right. And now I couldn't find him and I was trapped here with Caden.

Caden's frown deepened, his dark brows pulling in together. My own eyes widened when I noticed the way he was clenching his jaw. He jerked me closer by my arm and I flinched.

"I don't fucking care about that, Skylar. That's not what I bloody asked you." He snapped. There were just a few inches between our faces and I think I was kind of hyperventilating. "What are you doing here?"

He wasn't calling me Anderson. And it shouldn't have scared me as much as it did right then.

I swallowed. "I-I don't know."

He was scaring me. I hadn't ever seen him so furious. Heck, I had only ever listened about his anger issues--rumours that flew in and around our school hallways.

This all had happened because of my eavesdropping. I wouldn't have gotten trapped in this situation if I hadn't felt the need to listen to their conversation. And now I didn't even know where Alex was.

Darn my habit of eavesdropping.

"Dammit!" He growled in frustration, dragging a hand through his hair and letting go of my arm. I exhaled the breath I had been holding onto and stumbled back, away from him, trying to put as much space as I could've between us. I was about to run away, dash out of here when a deep voice spoke behind him.

"Frustrated, aren't you, brother?"

It was almost comical the way Caden stiffened so abruptly, turning around in an instant, pushing me behind him and out of view. Everything about him, about Caden, screamed tense and dangerous. Whoever it was, Caden certainly hated him with every fibre of his being.

I slowly peeked over his shoulder to see a blond boy standing a few feet away from us, near the school gates. There was a smirk on his lips, his eyes dancing from Caden and to me. He seemed to be enjoying this. Whatever this was.

For one brief second, I thought he looked a little familiar. But the sense of familiarity was gone just as quick. Not when my head was stuck at that one word. Brother. He had just called Caden brother.

I shouldn't be here. I really shouldn't be here.

"I knew you were involved with this." Caden's voice was like venom.

I looked back at the blond boy and noticed a girl now standing beside him, the same girl who Caden was about to kill just moments ago. She was tall, but the blond boy was taller; both of them were dressed in the same black gear.

"And oh, the beauty is here too." The boy spoke again, this time looking at me directly. I didn't fail to notice how his smirk widened at that, almost as if he knew how confused I was right now. Confused and scared.

A small shudder escaped my lips and I stepped behind Caden. Caden seemed to tense up even more at that.

I didn't know what was going on or who that blond boy was or why Caden seemed like he was aching to hurt him--the blond boy. It was confusing, and I didn't want to be here any more than I already had.

Caden must've sensed that somehow, the need inside me to run away. Because when he glanced at me over his shoulder, his eyes still held the anger, but it wasn't at me. I hoped it wasn't.

"Start running when I tell you to." He was talking to me. A quiet, urgent whisper. "Don't look back. Don't come back."

I nodded almost immediately, my eyes still wide. What about him? I wanted to ask. Why wasn't he running away with me? And why was I even supposed to run away? What was he going to do?

I opened my mouth to ask him, blurt out one question at a time. But the look in his eyes, almost concealed, made me shut up. A silent plea. To listen to him. To not say anything more.

It made him look as vulnerable as one would think Caden Miller wasn't. Because he wasn't. He was intimidating and mysterious and dangerous. Anything but vulnerable.

When Caden pulled out the gun from inside his jacket once again, I realized that this was it. That's why he wanted me to run. Because there was a gun in his hand and he didn't care that someone from school, a teacher, might see him. This all, whatever this was, was way more concerning than getting caught by a teacher.

At least for him, it was.

With one final glance towards me, he faced the blond boy once again and raked a hand through his midnight-black hair, pushing them back. I was still frozen behind him, waiting, as the silence fell around us.

Two tense seconds.

"Go." He pushed me the other way, the path that led back inside the school hallway, and went the opposite way himself.

I didn't waste a single second before turning around and running away. I didn't know where I was going. All I knew was that I needed to be away from there and from that blond boy and that dark-haired girl. I needed to find Alex.

For some reason, the hallways were getting crowded by the students and the staff. It almost felt like everyone was trying to push past me and away, forming chaos and panicked whispers. When I stumbled into the parking lot, taking two deep breaths, I started hearing faint sounds of gunshots from the school grounds behind. If I was hearing this, others were too. No wonder everyone was getting the hell out of here.

And Caden, I thought. What about Caden?

Relief must've been plastered all over my face when I saw Alex's form standing by his car. I rushed towards him and saw a few of his football friends standing with him too, looking unbothered. Were they not hearing the gunshots?

"Alex!" I stopped behind him and grabbed his arm.

He turned around the next instant and looked at me with wide eyes. "Sky, where...where did you go?" Even though he looked a bit soberer now, he was still drunk.

I looked behind him at his friends who were too busy laughing and chatting to pay us any attention. I didn't even think they knew anything about what was happening on the school grounds.

And Caden was alone. He could've left me there. Hell, he probably could've knocked me out with one slam of his gun. But he hadn't. Why hadn't he? He had wanted me to escape safely and he hadn't wanted any help.

The police, I thought. Someone was going to call the police and they'd be here, surrounding us any second now.

"Alex, you need to leave, okay?" I looked at him, mentally weighing my options. "I don't think you should be here."

"What?" He looked confused, his brows furrowed. Almost as if he was suddenly realising something, he shook his head and gripped both of my hands. "No, I-I think we both should leave. Look, Sky, this is not--"

"Alex, I need to help someone." I pulled away from him and cringed, gently pushing his hands away from me. Why did I even care what happened to Caden? Why did I even care that he was all alone there, between those booming sounds of gunshots?

"Sean!" I gave him a pleading look. "Do me a favour, please. Just drop Alex over to his house, will you?"

What if someone got hurt?

Sean, who looked a bit confused, looked over at Alex and draped an arm around his shoulder. "Yeah, sure. You need a ride back home too?"

I wrapped my arms around myself a little anxiously and shook my head, taking another step away from Alex's car.

He nodded again before shouting goodbye to the rest of his friends and dragging Alex inside the car. I saw Alex giving me a last glance, something unreadable flashing in his eyes. And once the same car was pulling out of the parking lot, I wished I was in it too and away and in my home.

Home was safe.

No, it wasn't. It stopped being safe when that guy broke into my house.

Breathing heavily, I pushed back my hair away from my face and pulled my hood on.

What if Caden died?

"I don't care." I shook my head, pacing a little within the parking lot. "You don't actually care, Sky. You don't."

But hadn't Caden helped me when I was about to die too, back at the Chriswood Street, with those gunshots firing around me? He hadn't left me. He had helped me.

I pressed my palms on either side of my face and let out a small groan. I hated this. And I'd hate myself more if I went back home right now.

Although Caden had told me to leave, I still found myself walking back towards the spot I had last seen him at. He wouldn't like the idea of me interfering again, I was sure of that. But how was he supposed to fight off those two people? Maybe that blond guy had more people with him? How would he fight off all of them? What if the school staff caught up to him? What if he got caught up with the police?

Why did I even care at all?

Once again finding myself in the hallways, people rushed past me. Some teachers were shouting to calm everyone. They must've either seen the whole chaos going on on the school grounds, or they must've heard the gunshots.

Before anyone could've stopped me, I rushed back to the school grounds and stopped at the spot where I had last seen Caden and that blond boy. As I looked around in the darkness, adrenaline rushing through me, I saw no one there. The gunshots had stopped too.

Where did they go?

"Blake was right. You did come back."

I turned around and staggered back a little when I saw that other girl standing way too close, right in front of me. She smirked just like that blond boy and my eyes widened a little.

Standing a few inches taller than me, there was something wild in her eyes, something wild about her that told me she loved to start a fight. With her dark black hair cascading down her black jacket, and her sharp black eyes, I really couldn't think of a way I could actually harm her.

What could a girl like me, in pyjamas, do anything to a girl like her?

And who was Blake anyway?

"I'm not..." I stopped abruptly and took another step away from her. Her eyes didn't leave my face but the smirk did widen a bit, telling me that she definitely noticed that little action of mine. "Where's Caden?"

She raised her brows and let out a small laugh, so evil under the moonlight. "In hell, I hope. Let's get down to the real business, yeah?"

I really hoped he wasn't dead.

She took a slow step towards me and the moonlight shone right on her face, making her look even paler and way more beautiful. Pulling out a small, sharp knife from her pocket, she started advancing towards me and my eyes widened. All I could think about was that break-in in my house.

The gash on my hand.

"The rules are really simple, sweetie." She announced. "You get to die, and I get to win."

Well, clearly, someone sucked at making rules.

"I don't know why you would want that," I spoke up, forcing my voice to come out much stronger than I felt from the inside. The mere sight of that sharp knife was twisting my stomach into horrible knots. "I didn't do anything. I even saved your life."

I did kind of wish I hadn't distracted Caden back there when he had been seconds away from shooting her in the head. Which was alarming on its own. God, what was happening to me?

"That was your mistake, not mine." She shrugged.

I took another step back and glanced behind my shoulder. It seemed like I had only one choice left, something you do when you're trapped.

I ran.

Good thing I was in my cosy pyjamas. That way I ran faster. I could hear her footsteps catching up to me and that made me run even faster. I didn't want to die.

What kind of person even died on the night of their high school homecoming?

After what felt like ages, I finally stopped hearing footsteps catching up behind me, meaning that she had probably lost me. I stopped near one of the back hallways of the school when I saw someone hunched over another figure and throwing repeated punches on his face. Squinting my eyes, I realized it was Caden almost about to kill the blond boy with his fists.

I didn't understand why but I was awfully glad to see him alive.

Licking my slightly chapped lips, I cautiously looked around once again, not being able to spot the dark-haired girl. When I looked back at Caden though, I almost didn't notice her creeping up behind him with the same sharp knife raised up in her hand.

My eyes widened in horror and I started frantically looking around for something, anything to distract her from. The only thing I saw was a broken metal rod lying under one of the wild bushes around me. I picked it up and frowned.

I didn't want to hurt someone with it. I gripped it and started having second thoughts. My heart nearly lurched out of my chest though, when I saw her plunging the knife somewhere near Caden's shoulder and heard a grunting hiss leaving his lips.

He rolled away from the blond boy, clutching his now bleeding arm. I didn't realise when exactly I had crept up behind that girl, all until I hit her with the metal rod. On the head.

I winced, jumped back when she staggered and fell on the ground. It was truly horrifying when her body went limp. The metal rod fell from my hands with a resounding clank.

I didn't kill her. I didn't kill her.

Oh God, did I actually kill her?

Caden looked up at me, still gripping his arm, his features contorted with pain and confusion. Maybe because he couldn't believe that I had stayed even after he had told me not to.

It was a bit too late to warn him, I realised, when I noticed the blond boy getting up, his face messed up with blood and fresh bruises before he punched Caden right in the stomach.

I winced again.

It was a relief to hear the police cars rounding up the corner, sirens filling in the silence around us and outside the school gates. The blond boy--who was probably Blake--stood up with a grunt and looked around in alarm. I shrunk away when he pulled up the black-haired girl, supporting her by his arm, and ran into the vast line of trees surrounding the school premises. Disappearing just like that.

I frowned at his retreating form before looking back at Caden, who was leaning back against the school wall, not seeming fine at all. I staggered forwards and kneeled in front of him. Now that I could look closely, the wound on his arm looked way worse than the one I had received on my palm.

"Caden." I looked up at him in panic. The wound on his arm was bleeding badly and I was scared that he might die. "You need help. You'll die if we don't get you some help."

I started looking around for someone but knew that was of no use. If someone even came here and saw us, we both would be in a lot of trouble.

"You came back." He gritted out.

Was he really going to fight me over this right now? "Caden--"

"I'll be fine." He grunted, shifting a little against the wall. His brows were pulled in together and I didn't know what to do.

"Didn't you hear me?" My voice sounded high enough to pass as a panicked squeak. My hands flailed around and I was scared. "You're bleeding. You'll die!"

Caden managed a frown at me and even that seemed like a pained grimace. "Skylar."

I had a lump in my throat.

"It's nothing." He clenched his jaw. "We...need to get out of here."

Get out of here. Yes, I thought. I could do that.

We needed to get out of here before the police or the staff found us. And the only place I could think of, outside the school, was my own house.

I bit my lip anxiously and found myself looking back at his messed up state.

I did the only thing I could think of at that moment.

The only choice I had.

_______

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Xoxo,

Crystal 🌿