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Star laid in her bed with all the layers of lace curtains pulled closed around her. There was a full-blown party happening beyond them, the boys brought home a girl each and two other teenage boys joined them. Someone was playing a guitar, pretty terribly in Star's opinion. She rolled from her back to her tummy, lifting her head into her hands with a huff. Somewhere in the cave a girl was moaning and the noise seemed to buzz right in Star's ear. She picked at her lip in irritation. Someone was bleeding. Not alot, just enough for the taste of iron to invade Star's mouth.
A cramp rippled through Star's stomach and she sat upright in discomfort. She rocked herself back and forth with her hands dug into the soft of her stomach and tried to breath though the tugging she felt in her guts. She was hungry. David told her it would come; but she hadn't imagined it'd be painful. Three nights in a row, the boys brought their kills home and taunted her. She hid away and ignored them when they called her to join them, ignored the smells and sounds and the fierce dryness in her mouth.
Tonight's festivities were just beginning, there would be hours left to endure and Star's hands shook at the thought. She stood and paced her quiet corner, wringing her dry hair in effort to soothe herself. There was more blood, either another source or the bleeding was uncontrolled now, but no one was screaming yet. Star was tempted to a hole torn in a curtain, through it she could see the fire light dancing across the party. Two girls were dancing together, their bodies pushed close as Paul and Marko stood watching, another girl laid passed out on the couch. That is to say she looked passed out to her friends, but she was dead; drained from a bite now hidden on her wrist. And Star could see the tint of blood on Dwayne's lips still as he laid with his head on her lap. Star moved her eyes across the room, there was a boy laid across the fountain's edge, Star couldn't tell for sure if he was alive or not. Suddenly a shadow blocked out the room and Star was met with two blue eyes. David stood a foot away, watching her watch them. He smiled at her, and tilted his head back towards the room, beckoning her out.
The grin on his face infuriated Star. Without thinking she shoved through the curtain and past David, throwing a flat palm into his chest as she passed. The girls stopped dancing as soon as they saw her. Paul gulped down the liquor in his mouth as he watched her stride towards him, her head turned back to David. Star pushed in between Paul and Marko and reached for her jacket laid across the arm of the couch. Dwayne looked up at her as she pulled it on. "Where ya goin, Star?" David called, he stepped towards her flicking a cigarette into the stone ground and stomping it out with his boot.
"Out." She spat, she quickly started out the entrance of the cave. It was the middle of December and freezing outside. Star had nowhere warm to go but sitting cold in the sand would be more comfortable than where she'd been. She made it halfway down the stairs before David was calling her from the cave mouth.
"Star" He called, his breath danced in the air as she paused her steps and looked up at him. "Awful cold out" he looked past her into the foggy surf.
"Im fine" She took another few steps down towards the beach.
"Star" her name came out like a little song. She used to love the way it sounded when he said it, now it made her angry. It's been almost a month since she found out what David had done. That he'd poisoned her and killed her.
"What do you want, David? What now?" She turned towards him and snapped. He looked at her with his head a little to the side, his signature grin once again taunting her.
"Come inside, Star. You'll catch a cold out here." He tried to reason with her.
"It's not like it'll kill me, now will it?" She was stepping down backwards away from him.
"No but you'll be whiny and useless if you're sick" he told her, lighting another fag.
"Oh, fuck you" She walked without stopping to the beach. David stood unmoving watching her kick stones on the shore line, her breath whisping far over her head as she cursed and huffed to herself. Dwayne came out to join him.
"Want me to bring her inside?" The dark haired boy watched as her foot sunk into a sand hole and she fell into a shallow wave. David laughed under his breath as she pulled and twisted to get herself free.
"Nah, let the princess sort herself out" David moved to go back inside, feeling certain that being wet and muddy, she wouldn't last another hour outside. The boys retreated to the warmth of the fire lit cave to enjoy their evening.
Star, having freed herself from the sand hole, rinsed herself off in the surf and then started a slow walk up the beach. She twirled and combed her hair, humming to herself as she walked toward the boardwalk. Everything would be closed by the time she arrived, but someone might have a fire going somewhere that she could crash.
"You hear laughter cracking through the walls, It sends you spinning. You have no choice" She sang the wind was blowing fog so thick she almost didn't see her feet as she stepped. Being barefoot in the cold sand had been unpleasant at first but she calmed more and more as she walked, the growing distance between her and that cave helping to ease the pain in her stomach.
Making it to a small boat ramp, Star sat down in the sand, happy to enjoy the illumination of a full moon overhead. She drew in the sand, a littering of little stars and planets surrounded her in no time. "Spellbound, spellbound" She sang more of her song as she stretched her arms tall into the air above her. She wiggled her shoulders from one side to the other, bending and pulling at her spine till she heard a gentle pop before she stood and took off her jacket and began moving into a standing forward fold and then a warriors pose. A whisper on the wind caught her attention, she straightened up and peaked around but didn't see anyone.
Walking closer to the shore line she scanned the sand, looking for shells and bits of sea glass. She found a piece of broken pottery and a cracked oyster shell, but nothing really lovely. She'd come up empty handed a lot lately.
Putting her jacket back on as the wind picked up a little she sat down with her back against a tall rock, picking at her nails she looked up at the stars, having exhausted all other means of entertainment. "Star" The whisper on the wind was clearer this time, David's silk voice sang her name again and she rolled her eyes with a growl.
Her fingers were really starting to feel the cold, she pulled them close to her face and huffed hot air on them before she tucked them in between her thighs and pulled her legs closer to herself. Teeth starting to chatter, Star named planets and constellations to distract herself, ignoring her name once again wrapping like chill around her shoulders. She counted two shooting stars.
And then suddenly, she was being lifted off the ground, her head fell back a little before she snapped awake and found herself again looking into sky blue eyes.
"Sun's up in thirty minutes. What the hell were you doing?" He snapped at her. Paul and Marko lingered where David had picked her up. Marko pointed to the drawings she'd done in the sand and Paul smiled at them before they moved to catch up.
"I guess I fell asleep, I'm sorry" She rubbed her eyes, not fully awake yet. Her fingers were numb and yet somehow painful she opened and closed her fists with a groan.
"Jesus,you're freezing." He rubbed his gloved hand over her rump as they walked in effort to warm her. "Why are you so stubborn?"
"I'm not gonna eat anybody. You keep bringing them home and I'm gonna keep leaving" She told him, angry but having almost frozen to death in her sleep, she pushed her chest closer to his and her hands clung tight to his jacket collar as she trembled. "I won't do it"
"You will" he shook his head at her as she pushed her nose into the little space between his collarbone. He was wrong to have left her alone, he'd underestimated her once again. If Star was absolutely nothing else she was stubborn. This girl was going to be a handful he was beginning to gather. But as she blinked up at him, with little bits of icy dew stuck to her eyelashes and her cheeks and lips red from the wind, he was wholly obsessed with her. She'd be worth the effort.