Corrupted (EXCERPT)

5, III

Raven hadn't slept a wink that night... all thoughts focused on Malachi... his motives... his game plans...

What was going through his head...? She always sensed emotions, but she never knew what he was thinking when it seemed like he had a tunnel to her thoughts.

Her head was spinning... trying to find a valid reason of what he was planning...

Why did she feel so weak last night? Why did she wake up in his lap? Why did he seem scary but warm at the same time?

Was someone like him possible?

He was stalking her... How long?

Jae said he'd been stalking her for a while, but didn't mention the timespan... And she said she confronted him... clearly he didn't listen to whatever she told him, but Raven questioned what he told... her...

What was his response?

Clearly she was still alive... so he couldn't have lashed out and killed her... And it didn't seem like he physically assaulted her either... because Jae seemed a little alarmed, not terrified...

But still... alarmed seemed concerning... because usually Jaelyn liked gossip and stuff...

Did she know something about him that Raven didn't?

"Hey..." a voice muttered from across the room, and Raven turned to see Jae staring at her alarm clock with narrowed eyes, "what time is it?"

Raven glanced down at her phone that was charging on the floor next to her. "Around seven."

"How long have you been up?" Jae responded.

"I woke up recently," Raven lied.

"Well... what do you want for breakfast...?" she said. "It's Sunday... and my parents aren't home today...."

"I actually was thinking..." Raven said cautiously, "if we could go to the library today... and maybe that chai place. Wanna come with?"

Jaelyn sat up, stretching her arms out while yawning. "Okay."

After Jaelyn took a shower, Raven took a semi-long one, mainly because she was staring at the wall for twenty minutes, lost in thought.

After she got out, she stared at all the concealer and such Jae left on the counter.

Raven wasn't much of a fan of makeup... mainly because concealer clogged her pores, so she always just wore a light eye shadow and some lip gloss...

After shuffling on her tights, skirt, and t-shirt she shoved in her bag a couple nights ago, she ran a comb through her tangled locks, pulling her hair into a messy bun seconds later.

She stepped out of the bathroom then, seeing Jae at her vanity, skillfully putting on eyeliner.

"Jae?" Raven said.

"Huh?"

She lost her train of thought. "Never mind."

"Okay." She clearly was too focused to care.

Raven sat on Jae's bed, picking up her phone and staring down at the Home Screen which had her parent's picture set as the wallpaper...

They looked so happy... smiling while the sides of their forehead's pressed together... her mom sticking out her tongue while her father laughed...

Tears sprung in her eyes... and she wiped them away before Jae saw them...

But when she looked back to her friend, she was still occupied at her vanity...