𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 | starring 𝐋𝐚𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐨 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐥 & 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐃𝐢𝐨𝐫

𝐄𝐲𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦

𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟗 ; 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲

"𝐀𝐇𝐇𝐇𝐇𝐇𝐇." Destiny fell to the soggy wet ground, clutching her heart as it threatened to beat out of her chest, staring at the tall and slender figure that stood over her.

"LaMelo what the fuck that shit is not fucking funny! I almost shit myself!" She yelled, watching as he hunched over his knees clutching his stomach.

"You.. you should've seen your face." He spoke in between laughter, wiping a single tear from his eye. He held out his hand for her to grab, pulling her off of the ground.

They held hands for a little longer before Destiny quickly pulled away, coming back to her senses. She wiped the leaves and dirt off of her rain jacket, and now slightly soggy sweatpants. It was cold, wet, and nearly dark out because of all of the rain clouds hovering over. This was no weather to be playing around in and definitely no time to be scaring niggas.

"You're such a kid." Destiny rolled her eyes, pouting, making Melo kiss his teeth at her lame remark.

"Come on Dess, you know I was just playing." He wrapped his arms around her engulfing her in a bear hug. "We used to have fun over the summer looking for shit, that's why I made sure you was my partner. Don't go lame on me now." He chuckled.

Yeah, that was before you got with my best friend. Destiny couldn't help but to think.

He wasn't really her first pick of being a partner. Even though she liked him, she didn't need the unwanted wrath from Mariah that was sure as hell going to come. Plus, the more she was with him the more she wanted to just push him to the ground and make love like they were in some wattpad fanfiction. But of course she would never because she didn't have the balls like the girls did in the smut she reads. "Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. Just got a lot on my mind."

"I feel you, we all do. It's scary thinking bout what could happen in the next 48 hours if we don't get this shit taken care of."

Destiny nodded her head, choosing not to respond. Melo shoved his hands in his black sweatpants, contemplating whether or not he should ask the question that had been on his mind since he saw her walk through that door this morning. "So, what happen between you and Mariah?"

"What do you mean?"

"You niggas were best friends and now you can't stand each other."

"People change... or maybe I never really knew her." Destiny shrug her shoulders, looking for the little landmarks that would hopefully lead them to where they needed to be and save her from having this unwanted conversation.

"But do you miss her?" From the corner of her eye she could see he was looking down at her, probably trying to read any facial expressions she made. How could she possibly miss someone who fucked her over? Mariah knew Destiny liked LaMelo, but still somehow fucked him before she could even get a chance to tell him how she felt.

"Does she miss me?" Destiny avoided his question.

"I mean she hasn't said it, but I'm sure she does."

A laugh escaped her lips, "Doubt it."

"I bet if you-."

Destiny stopped in her tracks looking up at him. "Look, I appreciate what you're trying to do Melo. But that bridge was burned a long time ago and it's not getting fixed." She nodded her head making sure he understood that she didn't want to talk about it anymore, before continuing on their quest.

"Heard you." He nodded shoving his hands in his pockets, and pulling his lips into his mouth.

She didn't get why he was trying so hard to make her and Mariah rekindle something that was never going to happen again. Mariah made it clear that their friendship met nothing to her, so why should she try and fix things?

They walked silently for a couple of minutes until they made it to the spot, marked by two curved trees. "I know you told me to leave it alone, but I miss when the whole group was together. And no cap... it feel like y'all stopped talking because of me."

"What makes you think that?"

"I mean shit, the timeline adding up. Y'all stopped being friends after Mariah and I fucked the night of bourbon st." Destiny cringed hearing him refer to that night.

"You wanna know the truth?"

"Yeah."

"LaMelo, I li-" She stopped, hearing the sound of running against the damp leaves. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she looked around in every direction to figure out where it was coming from.

"Fuck is that?" He froze, listening to the same sound.

"I don't fucking know!" Destiny screamed lowly between gritted teeth trying not to be loud. Grabbing her arm he pulled her as he ran, ducking behind a couple bushels of oak trees. Her heart raced, and she squeezed her eyes shut hearing the footsteps get louder as they approached them. Melo's arms wrapped around Destiny pulling her into his chest to muffle the little sounds that came from her uneven breathing as the anxiety took over her body.

"Melo, Dess!?" The sound of Marsai's frantic voice filled the air. Destiny started to move, but Melo tightened his grip on her, shaking his head no with a concerned look on his face. He hadn't forgotten that the 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 could emulate voices. Since it couldn't see, it relied on their movements and loud sounds to know where they were. He made that mistake once before, and it almost cost him his life. Luckily, Jalen was there to save him.

"Destiny?!" Marsai's voice echoed through the woods again, sending shivers down their spines because of how well it replicated her voice. "LaaaaMeeeellloooo." It growled, but this time the voice sounded close. As if it was next to the two teens. LaMelo squeezed Destiny even tighter hearing the footsteps become slower and louder as if it was walking closer and closer to their hiding spot.

Feeling LaMelo's breath stop, Destiny peeked to see the thing, in its original form of a 𝐳𝐨𝐧𝐛𝐢. It's body was made of a decomposing corpse. Intestines and other organs hung from holes in its flesh that was barely covered in tattered clothing. The zonbi's mouth gaped open with a few teeth surprisingly still attached to its jaw, and its eyes protruded from its skull with a constant look of shock. The foul stench radiating off of it's body, quite literally smelled of its rotting flesh. The odor was so strong that it was almost impossible to stop someone from gagging, and throwing up. Destiny held it together, but LaMelo gagged at the gut wrenching smell of the thing.

The zonbi slowly turned its body to face the two, it's head morphing into a replication of Marsai's. "LaMelo.... Destiny?? Why are you hiding from me?" It spoke while walking closer to the two. Melo panicked, picking up a rock, throwing it past the thing making a near by deer run across the woods. Following the sudden movement, the thing ran after the deer that lead it away from them. After a few minutes of their names being called, the foot steps and voice faded away.

"How did you know it wasn't Marsai?" She visibly shivered replaying the moment in her mind again.

"Why would she be by herself? She would've been with Ja." Destiny hadn't even thought about it like that. Ball was one smart cookie when he wanted to be.
They moved from behind the trees, heading back to their original destination looking for where the group buried the amulet months prior. "Aye, doesn't this look like it was dug up?" Melo kicked at the ground, before squatting down and moving around some dirt with his hands. Damn he is on a roll.

"Yeah, it does." I lowered down next to him looking at the unsettled dirt. Whoever dug it up, didn't even try to make it look like it wasn't messed with. "You think the thing did it?"

"Nah, why would it? It was trapped in it."

"True but, no one should've known about it accept the 6 of us. There's no reason for anyone to even dig right here unless they know what they're looking for." She frowned.

"What are you trying to say? You think somebody in the group did it?"

She sighed not wanting to believe it.

"That's what it seems like but why?

As if they had telepathy Melo and Dess locked eyes. A look of worry and fear written all over his face as he came to the same realization Destiny just had. "They wanted 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫."