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~Aurelia Williams~

"If she finds out too much, you have to kill her or he will!" Those words made me sweat and I wanted to run out as fast as possible, but that would probably be too obvious. Should I go back up in instead Go to Steven's room and pretend nothing happened?

I can't believe what Steven and I went through wasn't real. He was just pretending to me. Never in my life would I have guessed that he or his family were talking about wanting to kill me.

That alone is absurd. I mean a family talking about murder like it's the most normal thing in the world? Murder! That's when you just take someone's life, like my mother was taken when her lover shot her in front of our house...

My head started spinning as I tried to understand what was going on. But I couldn't think about it any further because suddenly Dave yanked open the kitchen door and looked at me with hate-filled eyes. If looks could kill, I really would be dead right now.

"You think we don't hear that you're eavesdropping? Your heartbeat could be heard miles away!" he said through clenched teeth. It only made me panic more and at the same time filled me with more questions.

What did he mean they can hear my heartbeat? Or was that just a stupid metaphor? Did they want to scare me and the camera is just around the corner that dissolves everything?

"Dave, what is this?" Steven shouted angrily.

I looked at the shocked faces of Steven's parents and then at Steven, who lowered his head so as not to have to look at me.

Am I really that wrong about him?

"Sorry Aurelia," his mother finally began, "But you shouldn't have overheard." When she said that, I could see compassion in her voice as well. But I no longer understood the world. What did that mean? I didn't even know what they were talking about. And why did she suddenly sound like a psychopath?

She was there for me after my mother died. So is my father really right? Nobody loves Me? I mean, if even the family I thought most cared about me suddenly starts talking about killing me, I probably really don't deserve it.

I looked back and forth between the faces and didn't know what to do. But then I started running. To where? Away. I had to get out of here as soon as possible and hopefully I'll wake up from this nightmare then.

What was suddenly going on with Steven's amazing family? A family I would have loved to have been a part of.

Before I even reached the front door, Dave pulled me back roughly by the upper arm. Which hurt terribly, because that's where I had a big bruise that my father had inflicted on me. I cried out in pain and tried to fight back, but Dave seemed unperturbed by me.

He really had a lot of power.

"LET HER GO!" Steven suddenly yelled, stepping out of the kitchen into the hallway. But Dave just ignored him and pulled me into the living room.

The fear continued to rise in me. It was worse than the fear I had with my father because at least I knew what was happening at home, but now it was the uncertainty that scared me.

I was still trying to fight back, ignoring the pain Dave was doing to me by crushing my upper arm half. As much as squeezed, he could probably break my arm with his bare hand. But from one second to the next, Dave flew across the room into the older-looking wall unit. This shattered into several pieces upon Dave's impact.

"I said you should let go of her!" Steven said, standing right next to me and holding his fist. Then he looked at me with a loving look. "I'm so sorry Aurelia, it never would have come to this should." He touched his hand lovingly to my cheek and I leaned into his touch. His touch felt good and calmed me down. No one else had that effect on me. "I'm so sorry," Steven apologized again and I heard his voice cracking. He leaned his forehead against mine and said, "We'll be fine. I promise." And immediately I had to think of my mother, who had always promised me the same thing. I just sort of believed him...

"Shit" I then heard Dave curse, who got up from the broken piece of furniture and started to curse. "He's here! Steven bring her to your room immediately, otherwise she'll be dead faster than you would like!"

Dead? There was that word again that I was afraid of, so that thousands of thoughts were circling in my head again.

Steven pulled away from me, grabbed my hand and quickly pulled me up the stairs behind him.

"Fucking shit," he swore, too, but I still couldn't understand what was going on.

At the top, Steven lovingly pushed me into his room and said, "Listen, Aurelia, if you want any chance of survival, you need to stay up here and keep quiet! Got it?” I nodded hesitantly and the next moment Steven disappeared out the door and closed it. What did he mean by 'If I want to have a chance of survival'? Does it have to do with this 'ER'?

I didn't know how much time passed, minutes felt like hours, but suddenly heavy footsteps could be heard running up the stairs.

My breath hitched and I tried not to make any noise because those footsteps were clearly not Steven's. And to be honest, I didn't want to see anyone else but Steven right now. Everyone else just scared me. But these steps? They made my heart beat louder and faster while goosebumps swept over my body.

I listened to the footsteps that stopped right in front of Seven's door. I looked dumbfounded at the door handle, which slowly began to move. It felt like I was caught in a horror movie where you know something bad is about to happen but still get the creeps.

And then the door opened...