He snapped his body around eerily and it looked like he'd lost all restraint.  It was as if he was a puppet whose strings were being pulled sadistically. He growled and pulled at the strands of his blonde hair in frustration. The dim light of the lamp-lit shadows on his face and emphasized the dark circles under his eyes and the flared nostrils like a bull.  As if the strings had been let go of, he practically fell into my lap and landed a sucker punch to my nose. He was a dirty fighter.  Pain shot through my face and a squeak escaped my lips. The hot, crimson blood trickled from my nose as Marco tried to straddle my body, keeping me down. He was crazy. As the blood dripped from my face and onto the poor carpets below, it brought me back to that night. Deshawn's lifeless body, the ambulance screeching, an

 "Reniella," he spoke. There was nothing to his voice that suggested any sort of emotion. However, from the purple circles under his eyes and messy mop of dark hair, I probably woke him up.  The light that crawled toward him from the street lights behind me cast dark shadows across Louis' face. It was haunting. As if his skin was melting, distorted.  "Louis," I answered with just as much animosity. "Are you on your own?" he asked, running a hand through his hair slowly. "Yes."  "Does your father know you're here?" 

 "Don't beat yourself up over this, Rei," he murmured. "It'll all be okay in the morning. Everything will feel clearer then."  His words tore an ache through my chest. I didn't believe him, of course, but the gesture was nice. With my forehead resting against the cool wood of the table, I listened carefully as the train sped along the tracks. Leaving the towering buildings and passing the trees and fields outside, I couldn't wait to get home and go to bed.  I moved my head to the side to watch Deshawn who continued to rub circles on my back. It didn't help but I let him do it anyway. When he caught my eyes staring, he copied my action so that we were both facing one another, heads on our arms and eyes trained carefully on the other.  

 "Where's the shady small print I should read over or loopholes I should be aware of?"  He shook his head. "The only reason you're helping me, to begin with, is because the universe called for it. Some things are far beyond my control and the connection you have to Deshawn is one of those things. Normally, I don't ask teenage girls to get involved with all this. So, no, there is no small print or loopholes. When this is all over, we won't be in contact until your time is up."  His words sparked a tinge of curiosity. Not even Death understood the wonders of the universe or why Deshawn and I were drawn to one another, especially since I never knew him when he was alive. I doubted I'd ever get the answer. "And will you check on my uncle? I won't be able t

      "You know when you wish me back," he began.    I hummed to show I was listening but my heart began to race. I was afraid about the wish, what if it didn't work properly? What if Death really had tricked me?   "Do you think we'll remember each other? Remember all of this? And how will it work? Will I wake up right before they bury me? Or maybe we'll go back to New Year's Eve and the killer will have a change of heart? In that case, we might not remember each other. I hope that's not true. I'd like to be your friend while I'm- you know...alive."    "If we do remember each other then you can buy me a Tesco meal deal. After dealing with your ghost bullshit and arsehole frien