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Gerhard Ritcher
1988
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"CAN I sit here?"

"No."

"Thanks!" She kindly responded, smiling and sitting by his side.

Will Graham side-eyed her slightly, his cheeks heating up as her sweet aroma filled his lungs. She was even more pretty that close, how was he supposed to keep her away like this?

Alice Mallory looked clueless at the professor at the front of the class, she couldn't understand a thing of what he was saying. "What subject is this?" She asked furrowing her eyebrows.

"You don't even know the class you are?" Will asked in a mix of surprise and grumpiness. He sighed. "It's Biochemistry."

"Oh, got it." She pouted her lips and quickly added a fancy title of the class name at her notebook. Will contained a chuckle at her mannerisms, she seemed more focused on how the page's aesthetic than taking notes at the lecture, what did this girl have on her brain?

The class continued and he couldn't help but notice how her arm brushed against his by how much she drew and wrote down. Their distance was almost nonexistent, and he barely could focus while she was there.

"Hey." He whispered, Alice looked up with that dazzling smile making his stomach fill with butterflies again. "You're...you're too close."

"Yeah, so I can take a look at your notes" She winked joking.

"Move." He simply said, gesturing with his hands an imaginary space between them.

She barely moved an inch away. "Is this enough?"

"More."

Another inch.

"More." He asked again.

She did the same thing.

Will sighed impatiently and instead he grabbed his stuff and moved to the other row. He looked at him a bit speechless, did she offend him in some way? Did she make him feel uncomfortable?

Well, trying to make his acquaintance would be much harder than she realized, but she still wouldn't give up just yet.

Once class ended, Alice hushed after him, but Will was faster and avoided her just in time. She'd like to think it wasn't on purpose, so maybe she'd try harder another day.

▫️

It's another day and this time Will skipped class. Maybe he was sick? Or perhaps he didn't wake up in time? None of these sounded like him, he seems like the type of guy who'd go to class even if the world was ending outside.

Could it be perphaps related to her?

Alice shook away those thoughts and walked through the campus after the lecture was over, the amount of life and energy was exciting but she couldn't help but feel a little anxious when passing through strangers, although he had never had problems socializing, the Will Graham made her feel slightly insecure about those skills.

That's when the phone started buzzing in her pocket. She flipped it open and visualized an unknown ID.

"Hello?" Alice answered it as she faced the campus around her. The line continued silenced until she could hear heavy breathing that gave her chills. "Hello? Who is this?" She questions a bit more seriously.

The suspense made her fear increase slightly. "I've found you..."The whisper came sore and hoarse as a threat. That voice that haunted her for years came back, and there was nothing she could do about it. Alice turned around, trying to find the person through the campus, walking fastly not to be caught, but there were no signs of them. "No, no, no dear..."The voice continued. "Don't try to be brave...you know what happens when you misbehave, don't you?"

"Show your fucking face." She growled, her expression turning into one of complete menace and self-defense now, as she held tightly to the phone in her hands. "You won't scare me," Alice remarked. "You don't have any power over me anymore."

A velvet chuckle came from the other side of the line. "Don't I?" The voice questioned. "We'll see about that."

And just as that, she was left there, speaking to herself as the line was cut.

"Hello? Hello?" She asked over and over but they were gone. "Goddamnit." She cursed through her teeth and hushed home.

She wouldn't back down so easily.

▫️

"What are you giggling at?" Alice furrowed her eyebrows as she prepared dinner.

Bree looked up, a grin across her face, sparkles in her eyes. "Just a friend of mine who sends me a text."

"It's her new girlfriend!" Colin shouted from the kitchen. "Bree has a girlfriend! Bree has a girlfriend!"

"Shut up, Colin!" His older sister threw a pillow at him, but couldn't stop him from laughing. "I just met her, we don't know each other so well yet."

"Yet." Alice teased this time.

"Oh, you two...when I put my hands on you I swear!" Bree joked and ran after them across the home.

Their apartment wasn't such a big place, after all, they were just three siblings with simple economies in the late 90s, so a small, cozy area was good enough for them.

Their home was made with love instead, with the union they gathered across the years, since when Colin ran away with the two searching for a better life, until now gathering plans for the future with their studies and jobs.

Once Colin was hidden beneath the sheets and asleep, Bree sat with Alice on the couch, the two staring at the wall for a moment in silence until one of them could finally speak. "He's back, isn't he?" Bree muttered in secrecy. Alice snapped her head at her, unwilling to tell her the truth. "Edgar's back."

Alice sighed deeply, no matter how much she tried to keep the secrets to herself it just wouldn't work, the burnout she carried through the years would never be over. "How did you guess?"

"I've known you for way too long not to notice any signs of concern in your expression." Alice gave a bitter smile at her response.

They both looked at the portrait on one of the shelves showing Colin as a baby and two teens by his side. Those days were hard but they endured, they cared for him. They still could do the same now, Alice hoped.

"What did he say?" Bree asked in a whisper.

"He didn't ask anything," Alice confessed. "He only remarks on his presence. He keeps reminding me that he's here." She looked at her sister with deep frustration. "He knows where we live, he has my phone number." She ran her hands through her face. "I need to get rid of that asshole."

"Ali..."Bree touched her shoulder with concern for her sister. "I don't think this is the best choice, I mean dedicating your life to get rid of our father-"

"If we don't do this he will never leave our lives, Bree."She furrowed her eyebrows. "I just need enough time to get into the authorities, until then, I need to keep him on a leash."

▫️

It is tough to run away from the sweetest things that can become vices, and that was the challenge Will Graham faced whenever Alice Mallory was near. Hiding before she could approach him, skipping some classes, sitting away from her, and even pretending not to see her at the cafeteria was an option.

But he could see her, oh he loved to see her. He could stay there, relied against a wall for hours watching her lovely silhouette across the campus as she became talkative with so many people, making a silly spontaneous smile grow on his lips.

And between one of these fortunate events he was unfortunately spotted by her. Will's soul shook as her blue eyes sparkled at him with enthusiasm as she ignored all the others who were after her and hushed him. He took steps back, the cheeks becoming a bright heated red as he turned away leaving.

"Hey!" Her voice invaded his ears as he increased the speed. "Hey Will!" He continued creating ways to leave her behind but she was more persistent than he expected her to be. "Wait!"

He gave two short turns to the right and one to the left, mixing himself with the sea of people that surrounded them and made him even more suffocated, but when he looked back for a single moment, her sapphires still chased him incessantly. That's when he saw it, a door facing the parking lot outside, he quickly went through it, immediately being greeted by the cold pouring rain. Once he felt he was alone he stopped, catching his breath.

"Why are you running away from me?" The voice cut the silence making his eyes go wide and his whole body shiver, when he turned around she was there, hair soaked by the rain, the expression filled with frustration.

"Why are you following me?" He said rudely instead.

"Because I wanted to talk to you."

"Well but I don't want to talk to you." He snapped back as she looked at him surprised. He hated himself for being so stupid with her, but that was the best he could do.

Alice looked down for a moment, taking in the bitterness of his words. "What's the matter? Did I offend you in some way? I am sorry if-"

"It's..."He failed to speak. Why did her eyes bother him so much? Why did he care about what a girl he barely knew thinks of him? "Just stay away from me, okay?" He simply said, turning away to leave.

"Not until you give me a reason." She said fiercely.

Will looked back, scoffing at her words, his tongue touching his inner cheek as he shaked her head. "I do not own you anything."

"Are you always so sour with people?" She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Are you always so boringly sweet?" He retorted.

"With those who deserve it, yes." She walkes to him.

His body trembled, his fists closed, and his shyness took over his whole being. Deep breaths, nothing would happen, he reminded himself. She stopped right beside him, looked at him in the eyes, almost stabbing his soul.

"Farewell, suit yourself." Alice finished with that brittish accent that tilted his being. "I won't bother you anymore."

"Great." He sniffed through his teeth.

She walked away, and he automatically turned around to see her, his breath finally released from his torturing shaky lungs as the rain ran down his body, soaking her dress and his shirt.

And into the coldness, he spot two headlights glistening, getting closer and closer, until a horn was echoed in the air and he predicted the choice he was about to make.

Her eyes shot at the car and the driver approaching with horror, her body froze in fear, stuck to the slippery ground as the vehicle approached her fastly.

The affair happened in a matter of a minute, from the realization, to the warm grip of his hand against her wrist, to the pull against his chest and the fall, listening to the tires screeching through the pavement against the water.

When she opened her eyes, the cold had became hotter, and a smooth touch embraced her completely. The first thing she saw was him, soaked by the splash they made on the ground, his breath pacing down as he looked back at her with a small gap between his perfectly shaped lips.

Lied on the ground, covered on water, as she was above him because of the collision, their bodies in perfect synch of their speeding hearts vibrating against the sound of the raindrops in the sky. The car was far away now, but their souls roared ecen louder than its' engine.

Because when Will Graham looked at Alice Mallory that close, when he felt her eletric touch against his skin, sending those sparkles and enegery that surrounded them both in such a mystical sensation he couldn't describe, he knew it: she could either break his heart or bring it back to life.

It took a while for them to snap back from the trance, for her to blush as she realize where she was.

She got up promptly, and he did the same afterwards, she could barely look at him when she realized how fast her heart beated against her chest.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" He mocked with that grumpy tone to avoid the crescent tension between them. "You're welcome by the way."

She scoffed. "I didn't need your help."

"Oh, you didn't?" His curly hair was now down due to the storm, almost coveribg his sight. "Yeah sounds like you would make it out of there just fine."

"What's wrong with you?!" She growled at him. "You treat me badly but at the same time save me from an accident."

"What did you expect me to do? To just let you die?"

"Someone who doesn't cared would." She looked into his eyes. "But you did the opposite"

He tried to brush away some hair strands from his face and sighed as she took a step closer, he was failing miserably to keep her away.

"You don't despise me as you claim to, do you, Will?" Alice whispered softly.

He looked back, the gaze becoming more vulnerable and fragile as she started to read his mind. "I..."He took in a deep breath. "No, I don't hate you. Are you happy now?"

"Then why do you push me away?"

"Because..."He pursed his lips blinking, crossing his arms. "Look Alice, you seem like a very nice girl but..."He sighed. "You don't want to be my friend, trust me."

"And why is that?" She couldn't understand. "I don't see any reason to not do so."

"Why do you want to be my friend anyway?"

"Because you seem like the only honest and kind person in this place." She confessed. "I think...no, I can feel, that you are a good person."

"I'm not a good person." He said softly. "I'm not what you think, and that is why-"

"That is why you'll give me a chance to build my owm opinion on you." She interrupted him suddenly, Will glanced at her surprised. "I don't care about how weird you think you are, look I'm not normal either!" She chuckled sweetly, warming his heart. "That doesn't weird people as us don't deserve a chance to be loved."

The words silenced him for a moment, and Alice waited, waited patiently for an answer, for a chance, but he didn't say a thing. She realized she had lost. With no other choice, she turned away on her soaked sneakers and started to head back into the university.

"I actually don't like mac n' cheese." He suddenly said honestely. She turned to him. The smile across Will's face was small and delicate, but just enough to send butterflies across her stomach. "But I could pay you some coffee." Alice chuckled softly as he walked to her and looked tenderly into her eyes. "You know you're gonna regret you ever met me right?"

"I'll let the future me worry about that later."