“I want you to kill Christian Walker.”I burst into laughter. I laughed so hard that I was clutching my sides in pain and a couple heads turned to look at me with irritation written all over their features. I was pulling too much attention to myself. And for someone who wanted to be incognito, I wasn't doing a very good job at it. One look at Mark's face told me that he didn’t find my sense of humor amusing. “Mark, that’s crazy, even for you. That was really funny though, you really had me there with that one.”A loud noise reverberated around the whole cafe as Mark slammed his hand on the table, causing me to jump in surprise. More heads turned towards us now, and I gave them what I hoped was an apologetic smile. “I’m dead serious, Hazel. Dead serious.”I still didn’t believe him. Murder? He couldn’t be serious, right? But one look at his face told me that he was. I let out an inaudible gasp and leaned back in my seat like that would somehow take me away from here, away from the mo

I walked into the room, feeling more confused than ever. I had left a bunch of clothes on the bed when I was getting ready to meet Mark, and now they were nowhere to be found. The bed was also perfectly made. I thought Tina might have decided to help me clean up, but something just didn’t feel right. My indoor slippers weren’t at the foot of my bed anymore, and my vanity was wiped clean. None of the jewelry or makeup was there anymore, I opened the cabinets to double check but they were all empty too. Empty and wiped clean, not even one speck of dust was visible. My bathroom wasn’t much different either. I couldn’t find my bottles of shampoo or my shower gel. Not even my loofah. The bathroom looked clean and unused. I tried to check the closet, but the door wouldn’t budge. I was starting to panic now, and all kinds of thoughts were running through my mind. Had we been robbed too? It definitely did look like it. I felt chills run down my spine. How were these people getting into houses

We sat in silence for a long time after Mia went to bed. Christian had thankfully moved away from me the second he heard Mia’s door close with a soft click. And now, I was sitting on the other end of the couch with my back ramrod straight. All those years my mother spent trying to get me to sit straight and fix my posture, and here I finally was, putting the practice to good use. She would be so proud if she could see me right now. I focused my eyes on the TV screen in front of me, showing a new animation series now. My eyes were itching to look away from the burst of colors in front of me, but I knew that the second I did that, I would be forced to look at Christian, and that was the last thing I wanted to do right now. My eyes were starting to water from not blinking for so long, and I silently wished I could be sucked into the screen by some invisible energy only to discover that it was some alternate reality which Christian didn’t exist in. Christian gave up first, and soon after,

CHRISTIANWhen Mia walked through the doors looking terrified out of her mind, I was worried, and I immediately went into big brother mode. When she asked if she could spend the night, I immediately said yes and scolded her for even asking. But I knew I needed to get to work fast before she saw anything that would blow our cover. I made her a warm cup of green tea and kept her busy with Valerie while I proceeded to make my room look like it belonged to Hazel and I. The flowery scent of her perfume filled my senses the second I pushed her door open and I inhaled deeply, letting the familiar scent fill my senses. It took me back to the past… she still smelled exactly the same. But when the high wore off, I realized that what I was about to do wasn’t an easy task. I had my work cut out for me. Her room was a mess– not in the sense that it was dirty, but that she had obviously had a hard time finding something to wear so all her clothes were everywhere, and I had to work at an incredibly

CHRISTIANMia didn’t go home that day. She actually ended up spending the entire weekend with us. It was fine, because I'd rather have her with me till I was completely certain that everything was back in order at her place. But at the same time, it was hell having to continue sleeping in the same bed with Hazel. After what had happened that first night, we pretty much ignored each other when we were alone in the room. She found it hard to fall asleep, and I spent much longer hours in my office, only coming back into the room to sleep when I was sure that she was already asleep. And by some stroke of luck, Valerie hadn’t slipped up and said anything about us having separate rooms before now, so that was good. Mia would be going home tonight, and everything would go back to normal. But before that, we decided to go visit Hazel’s mom at the hospital. The weather was gloomy and a storm simmered just outside, low and tame. And I figured she would appreciate the company. I insisted on che