Chapter 6

Author's Note: As I sit here, I'm also watching 'Live in Texas '75' by my all time favourite band, the Who. I can't help but get distracted by Roger Daltrey's attractiveness and Keith Moon's shenanigans, so I apologize if this chapter sucks.

I woke up the next morning in a cold sweat. It had to have been a dream, but something about the blood told me otherwise. The bright red it was and the metallic scent it gave off was all too real. Stupidly, I had dismissed it, but I knew that was a mistake.

Sitting through Caelum and Iad studies with Lily and Cress was probably the best part of my day. We learned nothing in class, except that Poseidon really doesn't appreciate his mother being called a cow. After that eventful class, I sat through all of my classes, wishing I could just go home. Go back to my regular life with Gabriel, but every time I thought about him, I felt the pain of realization that I would never see him again. After classes, I went to dinner with Lily and Cress. Tate told me that he would meet us there.

"So, what do we usually have for dinner on Fridays?" I asked, not too enthusiastic. Lily smiled.

"We got a new chef, though! He was world renowned for his cooking! I had some of his food earlier and it was delicious!"

"Thank the lord, we really needed one. What happened to the old one?" I asked, curious.

"No one knows." Tate answered from behind me. "They found her cut up into little pieces, each piece in a jar, and stored in the cellar." I shivered.

"Wait, so there was a murder here?" Cress asked, sounding a tad bit excited.

"There's a murder here basically everyday. You just have to know the right people to hear about it." Tate said, winking. We made our way to the front of the line. For dinner, we had white rice and chicken, and as Lily had said, it was delicious.

"So, how was the date?" Lily asked, a mischievous smile across her face. Cress rolled his eyes as she asked this.

"It was good." I said, pushing my rice around with my fork.

"And hopefully there will be more to come, right Eliza?" Tate said, smiling.

"Right."

"So are you two like, boyfriend and girlfriend?" Lily asked, pointing at the two of us.

"No!" I quickly said. Tate looked at me. For a moment I thought Tate was angry or that he thought that we were in a full-on committed relationship.

"Of course not. We hardly know each other." Tate told Lily. I was so relieved. Not that I didn't want to date Tate, because I really did, but I just wasn't ready.

"Ugh, can we not talk about relationships?" Cress asked, dropping his fork.

"Why?" Tate asked, a maniacal grin spread across his face. "Do you keep losing yours? Is your love life dead?" Cress looked incredibly mad.

"Don't you ever talk about that again, or I will rip your throat out."

"You're just jealous that I can keep Eliza safe. I could have also save Annette if you had asked."

"Don't ever say her name!" Cress yelled, bringing the entire cafeteria's attention to him. "God dammit, I tried!" he yelled, tears starting to well up in his eyes. "I tried!"

"Well, not hard enough! She's dead because of you." Tate yelled at Cress. I stared at the two of them, in utter shock. I knew the only reason Tate was doing this was to get a rise out of Cress.

"Was she your wife?" Cress asked, tears running down his face. "Did you hold your dying wife in your arms, her blood everywhere? Did you have to see her die? She wasn't your wife, so don't say her name!" Tate grinned.

"Sure, she wasn't my wife, but you should of seen the things I did to her, dirty things, and do you know the best part about it? She liked it, more like loved it. She would talk about leaving you when we did it, she'd say she'd want to be with me, you know why? Because you're a coward, a liar, a cheater and a murderer. Annette died by your hands! Had it not been you, she would still be here, but we all know he has her. Diavolo." Tate spat, looking as heated as Cress.

"How dare you say those things about me. You did nothing to save her, I tried. Where were you? Off prancing about with your little whores? You're nothing but a playboy and a heart breaker!"

"What the hell is happening?" I asked Lily, moving away from the action.

"Well, you see, in the sixteen hundreds, Cress was a king of some European country, no one's sure which one, but he was married to this girl Annette. Before Annette married Cress, she used to have this thing with Tate, which Tate never let go of, and to be truthful, I don't think Annette could either. She loved Cress of course, but I think somewhere deep down in her heart, she was still deeply in love with Tate. So, basically what happened was Annette and Tate started having an affair and Cress knew of it, but didn't want to confront the issue, afraid of losing Annette. A little while after the affair, Annette gave birth to a baby, and thankfully, it was Cress' child. They named the baby Lucille and she had a habit of wandering the castle grounds. Then, a kingdom from a few countries over, attacked Cress' country. The battle was one of the most bloody in history. During the vicious attack, Cress ordered Annette to hide in the castle, but she soon discovered that Lucille was no where to be found. Turns out, she was wandering the grounds before the attack and she was stuck outside. In a panic, Annette ran outside, looking for her daughter, only to be slaughtered. Cress won't say exactly what killed what hit her, all I know is is that she wasn't exactly dead when he found her and he held her in his arms until she bled out. Later, Cress found four year old Lucille, hanging from a tree, cut up and burned, a warning from the other kingdom. And soon after, Cress, he, um, he killed himself. So, to sum things up, Cress had a shitty life, Tate stole his girl and they hate each other. Kind of funny how they're roommates." Lily told me, staring at her feet.

"And you know this how?"

"One night, Cress got drunk and just kind of started venting."

"Oh. Well, then." I said, directing my attention to Cress, who was storming out of the cafeteria.

"Listen, Eliza," Tate said, sitting down and wrapping an arm around me "don't believe anything anyone says to you about me. They're all filthy liars." he said, glaring at Lily. "I'll talk to you later. I need to talk about changing dorms." Tate kissed me on the cheek and left.

"Do you want to head back to our dorm now?" Lily asked, finishing her dinner.

"Alright." I answered, heading out the cafeteria with Lily.

We went back to our dorm to discuss what we were going to do for the weekend, because today was Friday, which marked my first week at Moarte school. In that week, I had already practically gotten a boyfriend, which made me kind of happy, but at the same time, I knew that it had been a week since I died.

"We could go shopping." Lily suggested.

"That sounds fun, but I don't have any money." I said, laying back on my bed.

"Yeah you do. Our weekly checks just came in."

"Oh?" I said, sitting up straight. "How much?"

"$100. We get the money for food and stuff, but I'd like to use it at the mall." Lily told me, giggling.

"That sounds fine with me, but shouldn't we buy some food?" I asked, getting up and checking the mini fridge we had, which was empty.

"Of course we'll buy food, but I need new clothes."

"I need new clothes. All that I have are uniforms and this crappy set of pyjamas." I said, pointing towards my body which was wearing some grey pyjama pants and a baggy shirt that said 'Moart Boarding School.' I looked at Lily, who was wearing a purple silk tanktop and shorts of the same colour.

"True. You look like a homeless person in those clothes."

"Oh, thank you." I muttered, reaching for my phone as it started vibrating

"Who is it?" Lily asked.

"It's Tate." I answered, reading over the text message he sent me.

"What did he say?"

"He said that we wants to hang out this weekend and I told him I was busy."

"No, Eliza, no!" Lily exclaimed. I thought she'd be happy about me declining Tate's offer. "You should of said yes! The more dates you go on, the sooner you two will be boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Oh, well." I said, putting my phone on the small table beside my bed. The draw in it was slightly opened and I caught a glance of a picture of Gabriel, feeling my chest tighten up as I closed the drawer. "He can't have all of my time. And I don't want to drag him along."

"Cress is going to come with us." Lily said, lifting up her blanket and snuggling underneath it. She lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling, frowning. "I'm tired, Eliza. I miss my family. I miss my husband, I miss my daughter and I miss my parents. I'm tired of living. This place may seem nice, but it's hell. I just want to move on, Eliza. I'm dead, so why can't I move on?"

"I-I don't know Lily." I told her, taken aback. Lily seemed like such a happy person.

"I'm tired." she muttered, turning off the light beside her bed, engulfing the room in darkness. "I'm tired..."