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Footsteps trailed after me.

“Hey! Wait up.” Ash shouted.

I remembered Ash’s voice being too deep for his age, and I looked at him in surprise, both at this tone and the fact that he’d followed.

“Your dad said it should take them an hour to do some paperwork, something like that.” He said, jogging up to meet my pace.

I nodded, keeping my eyes forward. Main Street was impeccably small, and all I could see beyond was a road leading to the local highway, a road that curved through one of the mountain sides; then a small glimpse out to the sea and the house on the cliffside beyond.

“Come on, let’s get some food.” He walked ahead of me.

I resigned myself to following him as I had nothing better to do.

“So Ash, is your name some kind of weird nickname for something else?”

“It’s what my mom used to call me when she was alive. I’ve stuck with it ever since.”

“Oh—” I paused, taken aback by the ease with which he relayed his mother’s death to me. “I’m sorry to hear about your mom.”

“It was a while ago. Come on, what do you feel like eating?” He asked, a playfulness emerging that wasn’t there a few minutes ago.

On cue, my stomach rumbled. “Not sure.” I shrugged.

We ended up at an old cafe set into a brick storefront. Weathered newspaper articles plastered the windows.

CURFEW FOR ALL. NO ONE OUT AFTER DARK.

The headline was ominous, yet it piqued my interest.

“Luna’s has the best chocolate cake.” He grinned as he opened the door, gesturing for me to enter before him.

“Welcome, you guys can sit anywhere you like.” An older woman with the warmest brown eyes and skin to match greeted us.

We sat by the window with the plastered news articles. Beside me was a ledge filled with similar articles, all alluding to a series of missing girls.

I felt Ash’s gaze on me, so I stared out of the window rather than at him as his nearness would likely cause those butterflies to flutter again. I didn’t particularly like the feeling of crushes. They were ugly, consuming, and disappointing.

“So, what did your Dad do to piss you off?” I asked, studying the menu. Everything was the basic variety of food, and that grated on my nerves.

“Got into some trouble this year. Learned my fate right before you guys showed up.”

“What’d you do?” I asked.

“My best friend and I flooded the teacher’s lounge as a prank.”

“Amateur.” I playfully mocked, narrowing down my food order.

“The entire room burned down.” He replied.

“Oh.” Glancing up, I met his amused stare.

He laughed, baring teeth that reminded of a vampire’s. I looked away, ‌unable to handle the feeling bubbling within me.

The woman, who I’d come to know as the Luna, came over and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry to hear about military school.”

Military school.

“Yeah…I leave in a month.” He shrugged the gravity of his situation off, like water over a smooth stone. “My dad’s hellbent on it.”