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The world around me stops as my eyes travel up and down the shocking sight in front of me. Lucas' haunting figure stands in my kitchen, a black object gripped tightly in his hand. The phone still pressed against my ear trembles—"Elena, are you there? I can't hear you!"—and I find that Lucas' appearance is almost scarier than the gun he is holding.

He is a disturbing vision of his former self; skeletal and frail, with hollow cheeks and bloodshot eyes that burn with a glare of insanity. He looks like a madman, an unhinged monster from a nightmare with disheveled hair and tattered clothes. If I had to guess, I'd say he has been sleeping on the streets, fueled only by copious amounts of drugs to keep him going.

His bony hands grip the gun in his hand, and my instincts tell me to scream for help, to run away as fast as I can, but I know that could cause him to snap. I have to stay calm, to buy time, and to figure out just what his intentions are. Everything suddenly feels like a hazy dream; he can't possibly be here right now. He's supposed to be locked up in a jail cell. Yet, he stands here before me, a chilling reminder of my past that I can never seem to escape.

Every muscle in my body tenses, fear coursing through my veins like a mind-numbing explosion—"Elena where did you go?! The party is starting soon and I want to show you the balloons on Facetime!"— A man, who is supposed to be locked behind bars and likely hates me more than any other person on this earth, has broken into my house for the second time now, holding a gun.

After what felt like hours but has only been mere seconds, Lucas speaks quietly, the sound of his voice slicing through my heart like an ice-cold dagger. "Hang up the phone, now. If you even think about yelling for help or hinting that I'm here... you're going to wish you hadn't."

His tone is low and threatening. His finger traces the trigger of the gun as he lifts it up to point it directly at me. Tears well up in my eyes, my mind racing as I come to terms with what is going to happen to me.

Will it hurt?

Will they tell Lily what really happened to me?

Will Blake ever be able to recover from finding my lifeless body?

"Hang up the fucking phone, I'm not going to tell you again," Lucas hisses through gritted teeth, his hand holding the gun beginning to shake from the weight of it.

I attempt to stay grounded in my panic as an idea suddenly pops into my head, and I have zero time to consider if it will work or not. My hands are clammy, and I can feel a cold sweat forming on my forehead. It takes all my strength to keep my voice steady, to mask the sheer terror that's gripping me.

I clear my throat, holding the phone tight to my ear. "Lily, are you still there?"

"I'm here, but you aren't yet! Are you coming soon?"

"Listen to me, this is important," I begin, and I screw my eyes shut tight when I see Lucas growing impatient, his finger grazing over the trigger again. "Can you please find Drew and tell him that my phone battery is dying so I have to go? Make sure to tell him my battery is dying so he isn't worried."

Before waiting for a response, I hang up the phone, letting it fall to the ground a second later. My limbs feel numb and uncontrollable, my heart pounding relentlessly in my chest. I know Lily will be confused by my strange request to find a person she doesn't know, but it was the only thing I could think of to say— the very same words I used to tell Blake on Xbox every time Lucas walked into my room unexpectedly to interrupt our video game sessions.

It's a long shot, but I was afraid that if I even muttered Blake's name into the phone, there would be a bullet in my head before I could even get past the second letter. I hope to god Lily will mention the name to someone at the party, and maybe, just maybe, Blake will take notice and realize that I'm in danger.