By the time Saturday night rolled around, Violet had done several weeks worth of homework, leaving her nearly a month ahead in her classes. She knew she'd exhausted her friends with the long hours of searching for her mother by now and decided to go MIA for the weekend. Not even Sal had heard from her. Schoolwork was her only distraction from reality.

The digital clock on her nightstand read 11:53 PM. Her father had yet to come home from where she assumed was the bar. This gave her the opportunity to rummage through her mother's belongings for any clues as to where she may have gone. In the process of this, she found an old leather journal. It was buried so deeply in the mass of books and paperwork her mother kept on her desk, the young girl was surprised she managed to find it.

Judging by the excessive wear on the journal's cover, Violet knew that it had been in use for quite some time. Even the pages were stained yellow and the ink on the first few pages had nearly faded into nothing.

Much of the contents of the book were written in some ancient language or filled with symbols she couldn't decipher. However, one page was written in English. The ink was bold, as if it were fresh. This was written recently.

"My efforts were successful. I am not sure what this means for me, but I am confident that Violet will be safe. As for my husband, I have no words. I am not strong enough to protect them both.

Kenneth is more furious than ever. He speaks to me through the spirits. His persistant threats leave me sure of my fate, but it is a sacrifice I must make for my daughter. It was with selfishness that I brought her into this world, and it will be with selflessness that I protect her. I cannot risk her involvement with Kenneth and his puppets.

The Child of Abomination lives within the walls of this building. My Violet has befriended him, though she hides this part of her life from me. I must leave this world trusting that he will protect her from whatever my efforts cannot. Sebastian isn't the man he was before the move. I cannot be so ignorant as to believe that he will take on this role.

I leave this world knowing that I've done all that I could. My Violet is intelligent and incredibly resiliant. She will adapt to and overcome any barriers that come her way. I must let go.

J. Sinclaire"

With no tears left to cry, Violet placed the journal on her nightstand and sank into her desk chair. She couldn't identify the emotion that filled her body. Her mother was dead. There was no questioning this. But there was also no questioning that she wasn't afraid or in pain. At least, not anymore.

Was this closure? Surely not. Somehow, it wasn't grief either. A mess of confusion, curiosity, and depression was tangled up in her brain. Yet, she didn't have the energy to ask herself the millions of questions she normally would have. Her mind was eerily silent.

It was about 30 minutes later when a soft knock came from the other side of her bedroom door. She didn't respond. The person opened it anyway and poked their head inside.

"Vi?" Came Sal's worried voice.

She hummed.

The blue-haired boy stepped through the doorway and closed the door behind him. "I haven't heard from you today. You left your front door unlocked."

"Sorry."

"Don't be sorry. I was just worried about you, that's all. What's going on?"

Sal followed Violet's gaze, leading him to discover the leather journal sitting atop her bed. It was obvious by her behavior that this must have belonged to her mother. This must have been why she hadn't spoken to anyone, including him, since Friday afternoon. Even now, it seemed as though it'd be impossible to get her to open up. She had completely shut down.

"Is it selfish to give up?" She asked, weakly.

He crouched down in front of her. "Are you talking about your mom, Vi?"

"She's dead."

His heart sank. Sal was no stranger to the feeling of losing a parent. Although, he had at least gone through it while he was too young to understand. Violet was fully aware of what was happening. Whatever she read in that journal told her enough to bring her to this conclusion. Who knew how long she'd been sitting here like this?

"Vi..." He couldn't find the right words. Really, there weren't any.

"I can't even cry anymore," she whispered, finally meeting his eyes. "Something is wrong with me."

He reached up to cup her face. "No, you're physically and mentally exhausted. There is nothing wrong with you."

"Should I sleep then?"

"I mean, ideally, yes, but—"

"I want to do that, then."

"A-Alright."

Sal didn't ask if Violet wanted him to stay. There was no way he'd be leaving her alone tonight. Instead, he grabbed a set of pajamas from her dresser and gave her time to change. In the meantime, he headed to the kitchen and filled a glass with water, plopping his prosthetic eye into it. He wasn't sure if Violet had noticed it or if she just didn't mention it out of politeness. Either way, he'd rather not traumatize her with the image of him removing it.

He didn't count on sleeping at all tonight, especially since he didn't have his sleep medication with him, but he'd rather not worry about the risk of dozing off without cleaning his eye. As a child, he learned about eye infections from an unclean prosthetic the hard way. He religiously cleaned it every night before bed now.

Several more minutes went by. Sal gave his eye some time to soak, as well as took his pigtails out, before putting it back in place and heading back to Violet's room. His knocks earned him no response once again, leaving him to assume that she was fully dressed and ready for bed. Still, he hesitantly opened the door and peeked inside, a faint blush dusting his cheeks.

Violet was in her pajamas now. She remained in her desk chair, but looked quite a bit more sleepy than she did when he first saw her. Sal hoped she'd be able to sleep tonight, even if only for a few hours. He kicked his shoes off at the foot of her bed and pulled the blankets back, laying down upon the mattress.

"Come here, Vi," he whispered, holding out his arms for her to climb into.

Violet approached him, her gait weak and slightly shaky. She slowly crawled onto the mattress and let her body fall beside his. Her face was pressed to his chest as their legs tangled together. The cinnamon smell filled her nostrils, bringing her a nearly instant sense of tranquility. Somehow, she was already seconds from falling asleep, but she wasn't ready to let herself do so just yet.

Sal wrapped one arm around her and used the other to reach over and turn her lamp off, casting darkness over them. He then removed his prosthetic and laid it on her nightstand, sighing with relief as cool air made contact with his skin. He could also feel Violet's hair tickling his jaw, which brought a brief smile to his face.

"You have jeans on, Sally," Violet suddenly spoke. The denim of his usual red jeans was rough against her bare legs.

"Shh, it's alright," he soothed. "I'm just fine."

"You're not uncomfortable?"

He planted a kiss on the top of her head. "Not with my Violet in my arms."

Sal went on to run his fingers through the girl's hair with one hand while patting her back with the other. He occasionally gave a quiet "shhh" to comfort her further. It only took a few minutes for Violet's grip on his shirt to loosen and her breathing to slow to a steady rhythm. He could just barely feel her warm breath through his shirt on the bare skin of his chest.

That was easy.

> > >

Violet was the first to wake up the next morning. She was surprised to find that Sal stayed through the whole night. She had expected him to sneak out after she fell asleep.

Neither of the two seemed to have moved all night. Sal's arms were lazily wrapped around her, with one hand on the side of her head and the other on the small of her back. His chest slowly rose and fell against her face. She was so close to him that she could hear his the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. His warm breath weaved between strands of her hair and glided over her scalp.

And, of course, the cinnamon smell lingered on his clothes and her blankets.

Violet wanted to bask in this moment for as long as she could before she was forced to face the harsh reality that was now her life. Despite the world around her crumbling at her feet, she had never felt safer than she did at this very moment. She decided to occupy herself by twirling a strand of Sal's vibrant blue hair around her finger.

It wasn't long before the sensation of Violet playing with his hair pulled the teen boy from his slumber. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips once he realized what she was doing. He remained still for several more minutes before finally speaking up. "Good morning, Vi."

"Good morning, Sally," she replied, her voice hoarse with a hint of sleepiness.

He pulled her body closer to his, giving her a gentle squeeze. Violet released his hair and moved her hand to grip the material of his shirt, taking in a long breath. Seconds later, she felt his lips come into contact with her forehead, causing her heart to skip a beat. Sal's new habit of kissing her was impossible not to adore. It made her heart flutter every single time, almost as if each time was the first.

"Did you sleep good?" He asked.

"Yeah, did you?"

"That was the best I've slept in a while."

Violet pulled back to get a better look at Sal's face. His eyes were still only halfway open and his hair was rather unruly. He smiled at her as soon as their eyes met. She felt strange looking at Sal's face without permission. It felt like a major violation of his privacy. Yet, oddly enough, he didn't seem to mind it at all. After how secretive he'd been about his appearance for all this time, Violet was sure he'd have a much harder time letting her see him than this. She couldn't complain, though. She found him to be very attractive.

"I like your face, Sally," she commented in a hushed voice.

"That means a lot to me, you know that?" He said. "Especially coming from such a pretty girl."

Blood rushed to the girl's cheeks, causing them to turn a light pink color. This level of affection would definitely require some getting used to. Every loving behavior Sal sent her way left her flustered with a stomach full of butterflies. It made her feel rather bashful at times.

"Are you hungry?" He asked her.

"Mmm, a little."

Sal chuckled. "Why don't we have breakfast? Lisa usually makes waffles on Sunday mornings if you're feeling up to it. Or I could make you something at my place."

"Lisa's," she decided. "I like waffles."

"Waffles, it is."

The two climbed out of bed, both of them silently missing each other's warmth as soon as they did so. Sal slipped his feet back into his sneakers as Violet pulled a brush through her hair. He offered to step out so she could change, but she insisted on staying in her pajamas, merely pulling a long hoodie over her clothes and stuffing her feet into her shoes.

Sal grabbed his prosthetic from her nightstand and strapped it back onto his face. Perhaps the day would come when he no longer felt the need to wear it anymore. For now, he preferred to play it safe, even though Larry had technically seen him without it once. It was a rather funny scenario, really. But he still felt rather embarrassed when he thought about it. Let's just say, he'd gotten very good at headbanging since he'd met Larry.

"Ready?" He asked Violet as she examined her appearance in the mirror above her dresser. He walked up beside her, admiring her as she tried to rub the sleep from her eyes.

"Yeah," she mumbled. "I'm still a little tired."

He pulled his prosthetic up to kiss her cheek. "Let's go eat. You'll feel better."

With that, the pair headed toward Violet's bedroom door together, their fingers entwined. Sal opened the door for her, making an overly-polite gesture as if to say, "Ladies first." She stepped into the living room with a quiet giggle. Alas, her smile faded instantly.

Both teens' eyes widened with horror as soon as their eyes fell onto the state of the room. A blood-curdling shriek left Violet's mouth almost immediately.

Every resident of the Addison Apartments could hear her.

> > >

i'm gonna do some major editing on this book before i start the second one. it shouldn't take me too long because i hate editing. thank you all for reading! your support means a lot to me :)