“It really gets dark so quickly nowadays,” Aaron lamented, his emerald orbs moving upwards towards the endless expanse above, hopping between several stars that shone bright, breaking through the lifeless realm that was space and somehow reaching his eyes.


    The small orange girl glanced towards her taller counterpart, taking in his saddened expression before twiddling her thumbs; her expression slowly became red.


    Whether that was due to the cold weather that had descended upon the living world or some other factor, only Chloe could tell.


    “So you don’t like winter?” She queried, rubbing her cold hands together in a futile attempt to warm them up, her eyes locking on to Aaron’s hands, which lifelessly hung from his shoulders.


    He looked tired. Exhausted even. As if he had spent all his energy on something, only to come up with nothing to show for it.


    “Dislike, huh? Well... that’s one way to put it. For some reason... I always lose things in winter—things that I hold dear to me. Things that don’t come back in spring.”


    Snatching his left hand within her scarred right, Chloe let out a small sigh, a smile breaking out onto her countenance.


    “Well… At least you’ll always have little ol’ me, right?”


    Aaron’s expression brightened, clearly appreciating her attempt to cheer him up. Suddenly he broke out into a small fit of giggles, which took a few seconds to recover from before he regained his ability to speak.


    He gave her a little smirk before speaking, “Little ol’ you, huh? You might be a little too small for me though~”


    Chloe’s expression turned into a frown as she wound up her left hand into a fist and sent it into Aaron’s chest.


    The larger boy bent over in mock pain, a bout of laughter flowing from his mouth as he quipped back at the girl, “Still as weak as ever, huh!”


    Still holding his hand in hers, Chloe bit her lip slightly, her eyes nervously diverting from his form before speaking.


    “You… You should come round mine... We can watch a movie or something…”


    Aaron turned stiff at her words, his face slowly turning towards the small orange girl’s.


    “Really?” He asked, his mouth slightly hung open in shock.


    Reverting back to his normal posture, he faced his friend directly before continuing.


    “You’ve never invited me over to yours before.” He exclaimed, his expression becoming more excited by the second.


    “We’ve gotta buy some snacks! What movie do you wanna watch? I’ve heard the Godfather is pretty good?!”


    Chloe felt as if a large weight had been taken of her shoulders, a relieved smile blooming upon her face.


    “I was never capable of winning by playing fair. And I’ve never tried. Nor do I intend to start now.”


    “Oh, trust me darling, I know. Our kind never does.” Nathanial scoffed, his deformed face sporting a deep frown.


    <hr>


    “Lea Holton. Age 18. Renowned classical artist reported missing after not being seen for the past two weeks. History of going out on her own... Last scene leaving the house for an unspecified reason.” A scraggy voice summarised, taking a large puff of a cigarette before exhaling it, a grey cloud slowly rising into the air.


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    The glow of the red-hot cigarette butt shimmered in the reflection of his glasses, throwing the object to the ground once it had been fully used, stomping on it with his dark leather shoes until the final embers died out.


    A tall brunet combed his hear with his right hand, his left holding a small file containing a certain girl’s information.


    Dressed in casual wear, he looked like any other unimportant passerby, his unkempt beard selling his disguise even more.


    Or perhaps it wasn’t a disguise.


    He kissed his teeth in dissatisfaction, cursing under his breath before letting out a heavy sigh.


    “Oh well. At least it’s going to be an easy case. Finding that man’s brat in exchange for a favour is a pretty good payment.”


    Sifting through a few more folders, the man abruptly paused once his eyes met the picture of a certain small orange-haired girl.


    “Those eyes. Somethings up with this one.” He pondered, black orbs quickly flowing down the sheet of information.


    “Best friend of three years, involved in a DUI accident that took her father’s life at the age of 10, multiple noise complaints from neighbours over the past couple years pointing towards a possible abusive relationship with her remaining family member... Who has gone missing? Not shown up to work... two weeks. Same timing.”


    The man scrounged around in his tracksuit bottom’s pockets, grabbing a box that was supposed to be full of cigarettes but turned out to be empty.


    In an even fouler mood than before, the man scoffed and focused his attention back onto the folder in front of him.


    “Same time of disappearances. Might have some connection to the brats case... Definitely worth looking into.” He concluded, walking towards a nearby convenience store, the neon lights of the store sign causing him to wince slightly.


    <hr>


    A metallic groan sounded out as Chloe slowly pushed the door open to reveal her apartment to her taller counterpart, who quickly entered, flippantly taking off his shoes, and inquisitively started to look around.


    “Good thing I made sure to clean up all those glass shards…” Chloe relievedly sighed, taking off her shoes and locking the door behind her, a few black figures phasing through the door, making her kiss her teeth in dissatisfaction.


    The brunet entered the small girl’s lounge, letting out a little nod of approval before jumping on the sofa. He continued to look around the apartment, seemingly interested in every little detail he could find.


    Emerald orbs turned towards the large fuzzy black carpet, rolling around it like a kid whilst letting out a small series of laughs.


    “So this is where you’ve been living for the past eight years? Seems like a great place! Why didn’t you invite us over sooner?” Aaron pouted, supporting his chin with his knee as he peered up to the small orange-haired girl.


    Chloe looked down towards the boy, slightly stunned at what she was seeing.


    Aaron was sitting down on the carpet, a blackened body lifelessly laying next to the boy. Blood covered every crevice of the brunet’s outfit, his face now completely crimson, the beautiful liquid dripping from his lips.


    A small smile crept up onto the girl’s face, turning into a full-blown grin as she looked at the scene before her, a few giggles escaping out of her mouth, resulting in her attempting to cover her reaction up with her hands.


    Aaron seemed a bit confused, raising an eyebrow at the girl’s sudden breakout before disregarding the thought and joining her in on the laughter.


    “Didn’t know all it took to make you laugh was to roll around on a carpet. I’ll make sure to add that to my playbook.” The boy teased, climbing onto the sofa and searching for the controller.


    Chloe wiped a tear from her eye, slowly recovering from her fit of laughter before walking over to the kitchen, grabbing a few cans of alcohol and some snacks that they had bought previously.


    Placing them down next to the sofa, the small orange-haired girl flopped onto the sofa next to Aaron and passed him a can.


    The brunet slowly craned his neck down towards the container, scratching his neck whilst holding it with his other hand.


    “I’ve actually never drunk before.” He stated, his voice slightly tender, as if he were afraid the girl would suddenly laugh at him for such a thing.


    Chloe glanced towards the emerald-orbed boy before responding, but not before opening a can and taking a swig of the manipulative liquid.


    “Neither have I, but what’s the worst that can happen?”


    The small girl’s slender and scarred hand lifted the can in the air, holding it before her counterpart before shaking it slightly.


    Aaron let out a small laugh, a smirk blooming upon his countenance as he agreed, clinking his can against his best friend’s and then taking a large mouthful of the liquid, swallowing it all in one gulp.


    Immediately breaking out into a fit of coughs, the brunet stuck his tongue out as if it had been burnt, complaining about how his throat burnt.


    <hr>


    A swaying figure straddled another larger one; a pair of small, scarred hands tenderly stroked their counterparts face.


    Burning hot tears dripped from their orb, face scrunched up in pain as their hands traced down to the brunet’s throat.


    “WHAT DOES SHE HAVE THAT I DON’T? Why? WHY! … WHY WON’T YOU LOVE ME?”