Vinny grasped the handle of his pistol as he peered inside the mansion; a magnificent rush flowed through his veins, and twisted its way into his heart. This was his favorite time of the week.

Regarded as public enemy number one (at least, in his mind), he wasn’t very nervous about breaking into another rich girl’s house. Vinny swung the gun into the window in front of him, and jumped inside.

Let’s just say he wasn’t very worried about getting caught. When he started this hobby of his, Vinny came up with foolproof plans—so complex he used to get confused about them himself. He hadn’t even considered using his pistol to break into a window. It was too simple, not to mention reckless. But, after a while that grew boring—acting like some paranoid psycho. A serial killer was what Vinny labeled himself as, and any type of killer certainly doesn’t act like spineless trash. Besides, he loved variety, and needed a change of pace.

Action, suspense, and adrenaline were what Vinny liked the most about what he did. The thought of something terrible happening in a matter of seconds was Vinny’s addiction. Just like cocaine is to a crackhead, or whiskey to an alcoholic. And once he thought about it, planning everything out was getting too old too soon. That was why Vinny decided not to make plans anymore—to just wing it and hope for the best. And he liked it, oh yes he did.

Vinny overlooked all the luxuriant paintings that adorned the walls of the dark hallway; He was after one thing and one thing only.

With a firm grip on his pistol, he sprinted up the spiral staircase to his right. Vinny hoped he hadn’t wakened the woman. Of course, he could just kill her if he wanted to.

Why was he so concerned about waking her in the first place?

Then the memories blazed inside him. They were like a touchy volcano. Any second it could erupt, the deadly lava drowning Vinny until he was nothing more than a liquid himself. He squeezed his eyes shut. Shoving those thoughts away from his ever-going mind, Vinny got back to business.

Once he arrived at the woman’s bedroom, he noticed she was still fast asleep in her bed. The crash of the window had no affect on her whatsoever. Heavy-sleeper, Vinny noted to himself.

He silently walked over to her. After yanking the covers off the woman, he spotted it. Vinny saw it glistening on her hand; he tried to pull it off. He grabbed it and tugged as hard as his adolescent arms would allow him, but it wouldn’t budge. His head splitting with rage, Vinny pulled it so violently the girl fell off her bed. He cursed himself for tugging it too hard. However, at the same time, his adrenaline rollercoaster took a tremendous plunge. Things were about to get interesting.

She was about to scream louder than a boat horn when she first saw Vinny with his bloodcurdling blue eyes, cowering over her. But, thanks to his quick reflexes, Vinny succeeded in covering her mouth. He spoke to her in a hushed tone.

“Take off your ring,” ordered Vinny. The woman simply goggled at him with green, panicky eyes, too stunned to say anything.

As he slowly showed her the pistol in his hand, Vinny moved the muscles in his jaw, creating a small, content smile on his lips. She screamed so loudly that his clamped hand on her mouth didn’t do much good for him. Oh, sh**, thought Vinny, his smile fading.

He contemplated the dilemma, and quickly came to a solution. Vinny briskly placed the mouth of the pistol to her forehead, and she immediately shut up. The smirk on his face restructured itself. Problem solved.

He then removed his hand from her lips, and said “I can easily pull the trigger if I want to, so just take off that ring and-“

Another girl burst into the room.

“Sarah? Did you screa--who is this? What’s happening!” she said. Clearly she didn’t see that Vinny’s hand was wrapped around a gun.

“You haven’t told her?” said Vinny abruptly, carefully slipping the gun into his pocket, so it was out of the other girl’s vision.

“W-what?” said Sarah. Her back was to the floor, and all she could focus on was this horrendous intruder mounted over her.

“That we’re…you know.”

“I-“

“What kind of girlfriend are you?!” said Vinny, snatching Sarah’s ear, and heaving her to her feet.

“But-“

“How could you do this to me? You’re just another one of those dirty little sl**ts aren’t you?”

“You’re n-“

“Don’t talk to my sister that way!” shouted the other girl

“I didn’t even know you had a sister! You two faced liar!”

“LAUREN HE’S NOT MY BOYFRIEND! HE HAS A GUN!” Sarah shouted.

“What-“

Vinny interrupted the girl in the doorway (apparently Lauren) and said “What are you going off about now?!”

“You’re not her boyfriend, she would have told me about you,” said Lauren taking a couple steps towards him. Her facial expression was steady, but her blue eyes screamed how terrified she really was. I can’t let him hurt Sarah, she told herself.

An agitated expression appeared on Vinny’s face as he let out a sigh.

“Guess you’re pretty smart, huh?” he said as he took out his gun, aiming it at her.

Lauren’s jaw dropped open as a cold sweat sheathed her body. Her heart rate speeded up fast—too fast. Frankly, it felt as if it was about to leap out of her chest, unable to contain its excitement any longer.

Goosebumps began to enclose Lauren’s body as a shiver stimulated her spine. And that wasn’t just any shiver. It was a shiver a man would receive before a beheading. A shiver that a straight-A student would obtain if they found that a huge test they hadn’t studied for was about to take place in only minutes. A shiver like that was only gained when pure, utter madness was within reach.

“Please leave,” she said in barely a whisper.

“Get over here,”

“N-no,” she said closing her eyes. Lauren attempted to imagine the pain of a bullet smashing through her internal organs. Perhaps it wouldn’t be any different than a scissor-happy maniac making their way through a room chock-full of paper.

“Get over here,” repeated Vinny, his left eye twitching slightly.

Lauren’s face drooped downwards; she knew there was no other option. She didn’t fight back; she didn’t kick or yell. Lauren simply started walking towards the man, feeling a bit woozy. As her vision blurred, strange purple, green, and yellow dots splattered her view of the room.

Lauren swallowed uncertainly. It was astonishing she could swallow, her mouth felt as dry as the Sahara desert, and her heart, beating rapidly in her chest, seemed to pound more and more with every step she took. What was to happen to them?

Vinny grabbed Lauren once she was less than two feet in front of him, putting the gun to her head.

“You, go to the bathroom and yank off that ring. And you…you just stay here with me,” ordered Vinny. He put his pistol in the pocket of his leather jacket. Maybe she’ll fight back, she seems a bit feisty…I like ‘em feisty, Vinny thought to himself, another smirk patched itself onto his lips.





As she walked to the bathroom in pure shock, Sarah felt large tears form in her eyes, drip down her cheeks, and evaporate on her lips. Her mind anxiously raced: Lauren’s going to die… I’m going to die. I’m going to die. I’m going to die! The tears streamed down her face faster, and her heart beat furiously.

Although her emotions were out of control, Sarah managed to dizzily focus on her reflection in the mirror. Usually she just stared at her flaws, and scowled, but right now was different. All she wanted to do was survive.

In moments like these, Sarah was taught to do one thing…pray.



*

*

*



Vinny’s hand held a firm grip on Lauren’s right elbow, making a big impact on the color. Rather than her ordinary pale skin tone, half of her arm was a grotesque shade of purple. Lauren would have found it vastly intriguing if it didn’t feel as if her arm was about to burst and explode blood all over her sister’s bedroom.

“How come you aren’t crying?” asked Vinny, causing Lauren almost to jump out of her skin.

She looked at his large blue eyes, but said nothing. Remaining mute was the best idea. She would never reveal anything to somebody like Vinny unless it was a life or death situation.

Lauren felt Vinny lean closer to her head. She could smell his breath, which unexpectedly did not smell of cigarettes. Instead, it smelled of an odd, minty aroma.

“Tell me,” he whispered softly, his lips only inches away from her ear.

Lauren didn’t make a sound.

She felt the motion of Vinny drawing out an object followed by a hard pressure on the right side of her head. That object was a gun; Lauren stiffened. At any second Vinny could pull that trigger, causing the bullet to plow into her skull. Lauren’s eyes widened.

“Will you tell me now?” he said a bit louder than before.

“Crying won’t help anything,” said Lauren, she could just feel the color evaporating from her face, leaving it a chalky, paper-white tone.

“Well…What if I forced you to cry?”




No answer.

There was not a thing on earth Lauren desired to do more, but she had her head set on remaining tranquil. Besides, having a total meltdown wasn’t going to improve the situation, it would only make everything worse. I’m capable of remaining calm, even in these circumstances Lauren told herself. She repeated it again and again in her head until she found herself believing it.

“Speak…to…me” Vinny growled into her ear.

Again there was no reply.

Vinny skillfully jumped in front of Lauren at an outstanding velocity, and moved the gun to the center of her forehead, applying two-handed pressure on the gun’s handle.

That’s when she lost it. His eyes…his eyes! What happened to them!? They were blue just a second ago! Lauren thought to herself wildly. Sheer insanity started to envelope her mind and everything in the room started to blur together into one horrid hallucination. What’s happening? Oh, god what the h***is happening!?

The room then unexpectedly turned to darkness, a cold, silent black.