Star Gazers [BXB] [COMPLETED]

Petrified

The breath was stolen from my body as I laid eyes on the house I grew up in. The lawn was overgrown, which only added to its sad appearance. The place looked as exhausted as I felt. Beaten and worn down by life. 

The red spray paint letters were still painfully visible on the front door. Just seeing them again made the lump in my throat grow bigger and a faint hint of tears start building up in my eyes. I wasn't going to lie to myself. I was terrified. So terrified that my bones felt like they were made of ice and my brain felt like a broken record. The only thing I could think was run on repeat.

"His truck is gone," I noticed, tearing my gaze away in favor of the angel standing beside me. 

He nodded once. "We should hurry, before he decides to come back."

"Yeah," I agreed in a breathy tone, looking back at the house but still feeling apprehensive. I wasn't sure if I was capable of moving any closer. 

Warm fingers slid into mine. I relaxed slightly as I gripped his hand but my nerves were still off the charts. Every fiber of my being was screaming at me not to get closer, but a few seconds later, I found myself doing just that. 

We ascended the few front steps together. I did my best to ignore the nasty graffiti across the door as I reached for the knob. After jiggling it a few times, I realized it was locked. Numbly, I reached above the door and felt around for the spare key. 

Shockingly, I found that he had not moved its location in my absence. I guess he didn't expect me to be coming back here anytime soon. 

My hands were shaking as I tried to unlock the door, so much so that I couldn't even get the key lined up with the lock. Jason gently took the key from my jittery fingers and opened the door for me. As soon as it swung open, I held my breath. Part of me expected him to be lurking in one of the shadows, watching and waiting for me to return so he could finish what he started. Another part of me expected him to be lying dead on the sofa. I knew that both of those ideas were irrational, since he was probably wherever his vehicle was, but that crippling fear wouldn't let me shake them out of my mind. 

"Where's your room?" Jason asked when he realized I was not moving. 

"Upstairs," I whispered, staring at the staircase directly visible from the front door. Jason nodded, placing his palm on my back to gently guide me forward. 

"The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can leave," he spoke into my ear, his warm voice sending a small bit of comfort to me. 

"You're right," I said, steeling myself as I started to climb the stairs. Jason followed, not knowing to avoid the creaky step and cringing when he put his full weight on it. 

Memories flashed behind my eyes. I remembered crawling on my hands and knees, pushing myself as hard as I could to get to the top of the stairs while a monster nipped at my heels. I remembered flying into my room, trying to slam the door closed but not having enough time to lock it before the monster barged through. 

I gently pushed that door open, listening to the eerie creak as I entered the space that at one point had been my personal safe haven. Now it was nothing but a nightmare.

Jason let his eyes wander around my old room, no doubt absorbing as much information about who I was before we met as he could. I strategically avoided letting my eyes go to a particular area on the floor at the foot of my bed. 

Fighting the panic I could feel climbing up my throat, I turned my back to the place where it happened in favor of pulling open the top drawer to my dresser. 

"If there's anything you see that you think would be useful to us at the tree house, feel free to grab it," I mumbled numbly to Jason, who was examining some of the items on my bookshelf. 

He opened up my closet a moment later and started to look through my warm weather gear. He grabbed a few heavy sweatshirts as well as some winter jackets, gloves, and snow pants before slinging them over his shoulder.

Meanwhile, I emptied the contents of my sock drawer onto the floor before removing the bottom panel of the drawer itself. Underneath, I found a few photos of my mother smiling back at me with the same kind grey eyes and soft brown hair that I had. I slipped my backpack off my shoulder and quickly placed them safely in the smallest pocket. Then I started to shovel some new changes of clothes into the largest compartment. Once it was as full as I could possibly make it, I turned around and placed it on my bed so I could zip it closed. 

"Are you ready to go?" Jason asked, coming to stand beside me. I noticed he had found one of my larger duffel bags and stuffed it full as well. 

I nodded, hoisting the backpack up onto my shoulder. I let my eyes sweep one last time over my room before turning to exit.

However, I completely froze when I heard the familiar sound of a truck door slamming shut just outside. 

"Shit," I cursed under my breath, turning back to Jason who now looked just as petrified as I was. "He's back."

×××

A/N

In case you didn't hear... LAB PARTNERS IS COMING OUT IN STORES ON MARCH 10, 2020! YOU CAN PREORDER A COPY OF YOUR OWN BY FOLLOWING THE LINK AT THE END OF MY BIO OR FIND A COPY IN YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE AFTER THE PUBLICATION DATE! 

There will be a lot of copies sold in the US and Canada through Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indigo, etc, on March 10th, and if you live in another country, Penguin Random House will be distributing Lab Partners in many of its territories after March 12th. Look up "Lab Partners Mora Montgomery Insert Country Here" to see if it will be sold anywhere near you!

Thanks,
-Mora Montgomery