One✧*。

"Hunter, no!" A distorted voice yells.

I stare at the bloody corpse on the ground. I didn't mean to stab her so many times. I stare at the wooden stake in my hand covered in blood. I'm supposed to feel remorseful. But all I feel is a relief. Happiness even. Because I finally did it.

I killed Vi.

°°°°°°°

One year earlier...

I have always wanted to be original. To be different from the people around me but that's not the case.

"Hunter," my aunt calls. "Your boyfriend's on the phone."

She handed me the landline. I hate that my aunt won't buy me a cellphone. It's 2007 for God's sake.

"Hey babe," I hear a deep voice from the other end of the phone.

I put my hand over the receiver. "A little privacy. Please?" I ask my aunt with as much respect as I could muster. I love my aunt but sometimes she can be a bit much.

"Hi," I finally respond.

"A couple of us are going to the bowling alley tonight," he says. "To celebrate the last day of summer and the beginning of the senior year. You should come."

"Sure," I say, knowing full well that I'm going to have to sneak out. But, I've been sneaking out all summer. There's no way I can get caught.

It should be noted that I am not a senior. I'm a sophomore. But, my boyfriend, Danny is a senior. So, I have a lot of friends who are seniors. Well, not actual friends if I think about it. Just people who have to be nice to me cause I'm dating Danny.

I hang up the phone and go to my room to find something to wear. I hear the sound of a car so, I look outside my window and I see a moving truck pull up to a house.

"What?"

That house has been unoccupied long before even my aunt was born. It's the biggest house on the block. Its backyard leads to the woods. It is very beautiful but no one's ever bought it. I like to pretend it's haunted.

I check to see who I'd moved in but all I see is the moving guys carrying boxes into the house.

I go back to what I was doing before. Picking an outfit. I don't think Danny has ever seen me without makeup. I like it that way. As far as he's concerned, that's how I look.

Danny and I first met when I was a freshman. He said he liked my style and my attitude. I know that just means he thought I was hot. He's even said he loves me a couple of times. I love him too. High school was hard before him. I used to have only one friend, Jake, but, when I started dating him I became so popular, I didn't even have time to talk to him anymore.

I finally get my outfit ready and I get to work. My aunt is very uptight so, I have to keep her distracted or get her to fall asleep which isn't hard at all. She loves gravy so, I make the heaviest gravy I can and heat some leftover turkey from the night before. Just like I predicted, it knocks her right out. Once it's time to go, I put a 'Do not disturb' sign on my door, arrange my pillows so it looks like I'm in bed sleeping, I get my bag and then I climb out the window and hop into Danny's car.

°°°°°°°

Bowling is the same as usual. The guys trying to knock the most pins so they look cool in front of their girlfriends. Danny knocking out the most pins and me, having to pretend like a care. I hate bowling but, I could never tell Danny that.

Eventually, everyone gets bored of bowling so, we go to Kyle's house to drink. I don't like alcohol so, I drink diet coke. They start to smoke and I hate the smell so, I go outside to get some air.

A car passes and I see a black girl in a gray sweatshirt sitting in the back. Her hair is in a short messy afro. She looks very sad. She honestly looks like she just came from jail. But something about her makes me mesmerized. It's like the whole world slows down. I decided it was time to go home.

I go inside to get my bag and tell Danny I want to go home. He's not in the living room so I go to see if he's in any of the rooms. I open the first room door to see Danny making out with Jess, a girl in his friend group. His hand is up her skirt.

"Danny!" I yell with tears in my eyes.

I expect him to apologize or look remorseful but instead, he says, "Come on, Hunter. You can't seriously be mad right now. I've asked you so many times but, you won't budge. What did you expect me to do?"

I want to rip his throat out. I want to yell at the top of my lungs. But I say with my voice cracking from my tears, "You're right. I'm sorry."

I end up walking home. I forget that I snuck out and walk through the front door.

"I thought you were in bed," my mom says.

"Aunt Kathy I-"

"You're grounded," she says.

I know there's no point arguing. Once her mind is made up she doesn't budge. I go to bed and cry myself to sleep.

°°°°°°°

The next day is the first day of school. I put on makeup to disguise my puffy eyes. I put a fake smile on my face and go downstairs. My aunt is there.

"Morning," I say.

"Morning," she says back. She's happy this morning. She's never happy in the morning.

I spot cupcakes with frosting shaped like different types of flowers.

"You baked?" I asked.

"No. Our new neighbor brought it as a housewarming gift," she said, still smiling.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you have a crush on this new neighbor," I say.

"Oh no-no," she says.

"Why?" I ask. "Is it a woman?"

"A girl," she says. "She's your age. She's the type of friend you should be making. Not all those bad influences."

"She sounds great, Kathy."

I hate her already.

°°°°°°°

The school day is not bad. Till lunch that is. I've been avoiding Danny. Not like he's been looking for me.

I usually sit at Danny's table but I don't know if I'm welcome. But, I still go to sit there.

"Hi," I say to Danny.

He looks at me with confusion. "What are you doing here?" His voice is so loud it calls the attention of everyone in the cafeteria.

"Danny," I say in a low voice. "Can you please lower your voice?"

"Hunter," he says in a mocking tone. He increases his voice. "No. I thought we were broken up."

"What?" I say, my voice cracking again. "Why are you doing this?"

"Hi," I hear a girl's voice behind me. I turn to look at her. She's black barely five feet tall. She has straight black shoulder-length hair with bangs. She's wearing light purple pastel mum jeans with a button-up shirt that has flowers in the same colors. She's wearing sneakers with purple flowers that looked hand-painted. She dresses so weirdly. I know it's weird but, she smells like a forest.

She was talking to Danny, "You said there was an extra space at this table for me at math class."

I get up to leave and then I finally saw her face properly. She had purple flowers across her nose and cheeks. Like freckles. It looks like she used eyeshadow to make them. To be honest it's kind of beautiful but she looks familiar.

"Are you okay?" She asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I realize that there are tears in my eyes and I'm breathing heavily. I quickly run out of the cafeteria and go to the bathroom. The tears in my eyes don't let me see that I'm entering the male bathroom. I wash my face and look into the mirror and see a familiar face behind me.

"Jake?" I say my voice still cracking.

"Hi, Hunter. Long time no see," Jake says. "Why are you in the boys' bathroom?"

It's like he aged three years over the summer.

"Jake...," I said, about to rant to him.

"Hey, are you okay?" The girl from the cafeteria bursts through the door. She's panting. She ran here. "I've been looking for you everywhere. You looked like you were having a panic attack."

"I'm...," I start talking.

"Jake. Hi," she turns to Jake. "Did you do that thing yet?"

What's with the super short attention span? And how does she know Jake?

"How do you know Jake?" I ask before Jake can answer.

"I met him this morning," she says, smiling.

"I didn't do the thing. I...," Jake started but, she was already out the door.

"See you," she yells from outside.

Jake and I stared at the door for a second. "What the hell was that?" We say at the same time and burst out laughing.

"You never answered my question," he says. "What's wrong?"

"Well," I tell him about Danny. "I'm so sorry I stopped talking to you."

"It's okay. You grew out of me. Things like that happen and I'm sorry about Danny. He's a jerk," he says and then leaves.

I realize how much I've missed Jake. He was my best friend. I run after him.

"Jake!" I yell. He turns around. I walk over to him. "I was wondering if you were busy after school."

"No. Why?" He says.

"Do you want to come over? To my house," I say.

"Sure," he says. "I'll see you at five."

°°°°°°°

When Jake comes over, it takes a while but, we finally start behaving like we did when we were still friends. I tell him everything that has happened with me and Danny.

"I never liked Danny anyway," he says. "He's a jerk."

I chuckle to myself. "Yeah."

"Did someone move into that creepy house across the street?" Jake asks. "I saw a car parked in the driveway."

"Yeah," I say.

"Cool," he gets up. "Let's go check it out."

"What?"

"You heard me. Let's go."

He walks to my fridge and brings out a pack of beer. "We need an excuse."

"Fine," I say. "But that's my aunt's beer so, you have to return it."

We walk across the street to the house. I see the car and it's expensive looking. It looks so familiar.

Jake rings the doorbell but no one answers. I knock but there is no response. I start walking back.

"Where are you going?" Jake asks.

"There's no one home," I say.

"Then why is their car in the driveway?"

He walks to the wall and starts to climb.

"Jake. No."

"Hunter. Yes."

He continues climbing until he gets over the wall. I decide to follow him.

"We're going to get arrested," I call to him as I jump into the yard.

"Wow," Jake says.

I look at the yard and it looks so beautiful. That's impossible. They just moved in yesterday. I understand that the woods are close, but it isn't just beautiful it's tidy. Everything seems to have been grown in a particular pattern. Jake and I walk around till we get to a greenhouse. There is someone in there.

"See," He says. "I told you someone's home."

"Is that the new girl?"

"It is."

We see the new girl in the greenhouse. She's wearing a robe which she takes off. She's completely naked under it. I look at Jake but he doesn't seem to mind or even enjoy it.

I'm about to ask him about it when he says, "What. The. Hell."

I look and I see her medium-length, black hair turns into what appears to be a green pixie cut made out of the grass. Deer antlers grow out of her head. But, that's not even the strangest part. Her whole body turns green. She appears to not have any genitalia.

She touches one of the pots and the plants in the greenhouse appear to grow instantly.

"Hunter. We need to go," Jake says. He yells. "Oh my God! Run!"

Before I realize what is happening, something grabs my waist and raises me about the ground. I look down and it's vines. They have Jake too.

"What on earth were you thinking?" The creature says.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"What are you?" Jake says.

"I guess I can tell you who I am. It's not like I'm letting you go. I'm a forest nymph." She turned human again. "Violet the forest nymph. But, you can call me Vi."