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“Well, that’s not really any of her business is it, since Jesse’s eighteen? Isn’t it up to him to press charges? I’m willing to bet that he won’t be.”

“I hope you’re right, for your mama’s sake if nothing else. Regardless, I still have to take you to the station Elliott.”

Jules stood up from her sunken position and walked over to me. She grabbed my hand and started to explain to Danny, “He was only trying to defend me Danny, honest. Jesse has been breaking into my room at night and rearranging things and this morning he stole one of my paintings and hung it by a makeshift noose on a tree in my backyard.”

“What?” He asked in disbelief.

“That’s right Danny. Jesse’s been breaking into her room, we know it, he rearranges things to scare Jules. He knows it’s something hard to prove and that’s why he did it I’m sure of it, but this time we’ve got tangible evidence of his harassment,” I added.

o;You think you’re so clever,” I said.

“What are you talking about Elliott Gray?” She smiled as she kissed my palm and brought her face closer to mine.

As she did this, she slid her hand along my forearm and a stinging prickle of heat followed each slight movement of her hand. I forgot about the gift completely, it was easy to get swept up into Jules. I readied myself for an hour of kissing that would light up the rock bridge like an exploding star.

After our night on the rock bridge, I had the best sleep of my life it seemed. There was no ravenous hunger for her as the previous nights. Her deft change of hand made all the difference and bought us both some time before our next craving. It was the perfect antidote. Well, except, there was one issue. Despite the fact that we could endure longer strands of time without touching, it still meant waking up in withdrawal and usually that retraction meant a maniacal appetite.

Keeping up pretenses became difficult. We became attached at the hip, literally. We held hands so often that she became my right hand and I became her left. When we did our homework and needed both of our hands, we’d roll up our jeans and intertwine our legs. Ridiculous, I know.

We tried to wean ourselves off. Tried and tried and tried but after three weeks, during Christmas break, we threw up our hands together and accepted our fate.........very happily.

“Three days until Christmas Jules! Are you excited babe?”

“Of course. It’s my favorite time of year. Are you?”

“Of course. It’s my favorite time of year because it’s your favorite.”

She smiled, but half-heartedly.

“What is bothering you? You’ve been so, so distant today,” I asked, concerned.

“Well, I’ve been deliberating on whether I should tell you something Elliott. I have to tell you but I wanted to wait until after Christmas. The only reason I’m willing to do it now is because your Christmas present is gone.”

“Gone?” I asked trying to stay level headed. I knew where this was going and I could feel the blood begin to cook beneath my skin.

“Well, for weeks, like a coward,” she giggled uncomfortably, “I’ve been sleeping in my living room on the couch.”

“Why Jules? Are you still frightened? Taylor and Jesse haven’t bothered you once since that day.”

“That’s not exactly true,” she admitted.

My back stiffened and the hair that laid on the back of my neck stood. I pulled at the edge of my parents’ sofa and stared at the opposite wall avoiding Jules’ eyes. I felt the strongest urge to be anywhere else in the world other than in Bramwell, West Virginia because I was going to murder Jesse Thomas.

“I noticed right after Thanksgiving that my perfume bottle was on the opposite end of my vanity from where I usually keep it. I shrugged it off as absentmindedness, assuming I accidentally placed it there and never thought twice about it again until a few days later when I observed that the books on my top shelf had been switched with all the books on the bottom shelf. The next night, my hanger hooks looped the closet bar the opposite way I placed them. The night after that, my bed had been made and they had placed something on my pillow.

“When I bent in for a closer look I saw they had torn a strip from the end of my sheet and formed a noose with it.” She shuddered. “Every day, I’ve walked into my room in search of their newest installment. They’re usually harmless, or as harmless as you’d expect from two complete and utter psychos, stupid, or unnoticeable except, for last night’s.”

“And what had they done last night?” I asked eerily calmly.

She didn’t have to tell me. I was going to kill him regardless and only because my Uncle Danny, Jules’ parents, my parents, even Jesse’s parents didn’t believe a word Jules and I had said about him. He was the perfect psycho, a well adjusted, for appearance’s sake, psycho with the world’s largest death wish.

“Go on,” I said. She must have felt the thoughts because she waited too long to spill what he had done. She continued to hesitate.

“Go on,” I insisted, calming my tone so she would feel comfortable enough to continue.

“They stole the painting I had been working on for you for Christmas. I walked into my studio, saw that it was gone and assumed it was gone for good, until I left to see you today. After I locked my front door to leave, I saw the painting. It was hanging by a larger scale noose taken from longer strips of my sheet but the most disturbing part was what was done to the painting.”

“What did he do?” My voice teetered on hysteria.

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