Well this took longer than I expected getting up. I've got a lot of it written though. At least I think I do. Hmmmmm. Anywho! Reviews are loved! I'll return the favor!

Prologue

"Tonight another young man at the age of eighteen went missing from Northern Kentucky University's campus. Investigators have been looking into the strange kidnappings of these college students but so far nothing has been found. If you have any information please call Crime Stoppers. The number is on the screen right now. And in other news-"

"News these days. It's all about murders, kidnappings, rapes. It's never about anything good," a boy with black, choppy hair by the name of Conner said as he looked at the blank television screen. His roommate flipped through a Rolling Stone magazine in a Lazyboy chair next the lounging Conner. He signed before answering.

"Music these days. It's all Fall Out Boy and Panic At the Disco. I'm fucking sick of them!" He threw the magazine at the floor.

"Relax Aubren, don't pick up a Rolling Stone magazine that has Fall Out Boy on the cover then."

"And then why don't you stop watching the news?" Aubren fluttered his dark eyelashes a few times sweetly, mocking his friend. Conner sighed getting off the worn, blue couch.

"I'm going to order some take out. Want anything?"

"Chinese?" Aubren asked as he picked up a Spin magazine from the coffee table.

"Sure, sure." Conner walked into the small kitchen. Stains were on the counters from random food spillage, the curtains were torn because of Aubren's stupid cat, and the black and white checkered floor needed a serious mopping. Conner brushed his long bangs out of his eyes and picked up the phone that was hanging on the off-white wall. "Yes, I'd like to place an order? Thank you. I'd like four egg rolls…"

"Once again. Crap." Aubren threw the magazine at the floor and decided to turn on the television. The news was still playing but this segment seemed interesting. "Hey Conner! After you're finished in there you may want to look at this!" Conner finished placing the order and came back into the family room slash dining room.

"Police are declaring that these crimes are the work of one person. If you are at the age of eighteen, male and go to Northern Kentucky University avoid staying out alone past dark and take extra precautions during your daily activities…"

"Dude, we're going to get killed," Aubren announced. Conner snorted. This was America! The News is a business. It aims to scare so people will continue watching. Conner took a class on the media back in high school.

"Aubrey?" Conner asked sweetly. Aubrey was Conner's pet-name for Aubren. Aubren and Conner had been friends since before even Kindergarten. They grew up together, went to the same schools, pretended to like the same girls, and even realized that they were gay together.

Aubren sighed running a hand through his jagged deep blue hair, "What?"

"Can we stop watching the News now? I'm tired of this case."

"Conner, I love you, but I'm interested in it. It's our school; we're the right age! What if something were to really happen to us?!"

Conner grunted, "The point is, is that it isn't going to happen to us! Nothing ever interesting happens to us! The most exciting thing you and I have ever gotten into was marijuana and binge drinking!"

"I'm not going to take my changes. That's all. Goodnight Conner."

"Goodnight Aubrey."

Conner's alarm clock went off at six in the morning. He went through his daily routine of showering, finding clothes to wear, and eating. He sat at the table with the water rings stained into it and the milk and juice stains. He and Aubren never have been clean people…or careful in the food department for that matter. "Morning Conner," Aubren said as he kissed Conner on top of his head.

"Hey watch it! You'll mess the hairspray up."

"I knew I tasted something horridly disgusting on your head. By the way, I love your pants." Conner was wearing tight, black, skinny jeans with a long sleeved tight fitting v-neck shirt. He was a drama major, why wouldn't he wear something so artsy-fartsy?

"Thanks Aubrey. I like how you still wear the same shoes since high school."

"You're just jealous that my Chuck Taylor's are still usable. You fucked yours up when you tried skateboarding!"

"La, la, la! Not listening! I gotta run anyways. See you later!" Conner called as he walked out of the cheap apartment. Their apartment was a few miles down from their college campus. Conner would have to drive about a fifteen-minute drive before arriving. He always mentally kicked himself in the ass for not taking afternoon classes like Aubren, but in the long run it paid off. He'd get schooling out of the way early and had the rest of the day to work. Conner worked at Blockbuster Video. It wasn't the most exciting job but it paid the bills. He pulled into the student parking of his school and got out of his 1989 Volkswagen Rabbit. Sure it was a piece of crap but it got him from point A to point B.

"Today students! You will work on your monologues with each other and your character analyses. Don't forget that your paper on Kabuki Theatre is due by Winter Break!" Professor Anne Sherwin shouted to her theater room full of students. She walked into the backroom and proceeded on doing whatever that she was doing. Conner sighed. He had already memorized his monologue and did his character analysis. Call him an over-achiever if you will. He sat back in his seat and watched other students struggle through their monologues. 'Why are they in Theatre if they don't even have the drive to memorize a small monologue?' Conner thought to himself. He loved the theater. Everything about acting, stage crew, memorizing lines, the stories and the characters! It all was so entrancing to him, so amazing. He didn't want to be famous; he didn't want to star in movies. He just wanted to act. Maybe even give it a shot on Broadway? He didn't know, and he didn't care. As long as he got to act he'd settle for anything. Class flew by faster than he'd expected. Professor Sherwin came back into the stage room to remind the class of their papers once again. Conner glided down the steps and onto the ground floor right next to the stage.

"Conner? May I have a word with you?" Professor Sherwin asked. Conner turned his attention to her. "You sat there all during class. Is something wrong?"

"I've already finished my character analysis and I memorized my monologue three days ago. In my opinion, you shouldn't give students two weeks to memorize a five-minute monologue that they're just going to mess up on anyways."

"You are the drama queen aren't you?" she asked teasingly.

"King, preferably. I may be gay, but I'm not that gay."

"I look forward to seeing your performance. Also I was wondering if you'd help out with a little project I'm doing. You see, I'm having elementary students put on a show here and I'd like it if you helped me out. Their attention spans aren't very long and I'm not going to be able to do it by myself."

"Professor! You know I hate children!" Conner groaned. "But for you, I'd do anything." Professor Sherwin smiled brightly, her eyes wrinkling with age-lines. Conner waved goodbye before leaving the theater. He made his way through his standard freshmen classes and his photography class. College wasn't something fun for Conner. He honestly couldn't wait to get out of it. He only liked his theater class. Photography was just a hobby and he didn't want to pursue it in the future. It was just a class to fill up the extra slot.

"Hey Conner!" a cute blue-eyed girl with short blonde hair said. She wore her mid-neck hair in two, low pigtails.

"Hey Stepha," Conner answered back rather unpleasantly. He had grown tired of this girl and her constant babbling on over nothing.

"What are you doing tonight?"

"Working," Conner answered back mechanically as he put his undeveloped picture into the developer chemical.

"Oh. You always work. Why don't you ever take a break?"

"I need money. I pay for half the rent, and my entire college tuition."

"Oh. Well when are you not working this week?"

"I don't know. Let me get back to you on that," Conner said bitterly as he moved his photo from the developer to the stop chemical.

"You don't have to be so cruel about it!" Stepha walked away, sulking in her corner of the darkroom. Conner, however, didn't care. He didn't like her and she finally got the picture. 'Come to think of it, I don't like anyone but Aubren…' Conner thought to himself. But he didn't care. He liked not having friends. In showbiz, everyone was out to get you, having friends would only lead to having them become enemies. He liked being alone.

"You're late Conner. That's the third time this month," Connor's manager stated as Conner came into work five minutes late.

"I get stuck in traffic. I come straight from NKU to here every day!" Conner complained.

"Yeah I know. I'll let this month slide but you really need to change your schedule."

"Easier said than done," Conner spat.

"And watch that tone!" Connor watched as his manager stormed back into storage, most likely to fume about having the worst employee ever. Conner rang people up, had small talk with them and even laughed with them. He liked this job because he hated it so much that he had to act like he liked it. If he could get used to pretending to be nice to people, he could become a great actor.

"We all set to lock up?" Connor's manager asked as Connor finished vacuuming the game aisle.

"Yeah. Let me just put this in the back."

"I'm going to turn the lights out when I walk out. You make sure the door gets locked when you leave ok?"

"Yup," Conner replied. He put the vacuum in the back and heard the flickering sounds of the lights go out in the main room. He walked through the dark and out to the main door. He shut it and pushed on it to make sure it was locked. It was. The drive home was easy; mostly green lights, but a few red ones. Conner liked to listen to Chopin on the way home to relax. He pulled up to his apartment building, got out of his car and locked it. As he was walking he heard someone's footsteps behind him. He quickly thought of the serial kidnapper and his heart sped up. Adrenaline pulsated though his body as his strides got longer and quicker. He opened the door to his building and relaxed when he came to his door on the second floor. He had never bothered to look behind him. He was too afraid to look behind him.

"Hey man, you look like you saw a ghost!" Aubren exclaimed as Conner came into the kitchen and threw his keys on the counter.

"I thought I heard someone following me," Conner stated. He pulled himself onto the counter and watched Aubren fry a hamburger.

"News segment scared you didn't it?" Aubren asked.

"Didn't it scare you?"

"A little. So I'm traveling in groups as much as I can." Aubren flipped the hamburger. "Want one?"

"I've been a vegetarian ever since eighth grade. Do you honestly think I'd eat that now?"

"Ok, ok! Just checking. Want me to make you anything?"

"No, I need to lose some weight as it is already." Conner jumped down from the counter and headed for his room.

"What weight? You mean the invisible weight that women wished they had? You need to eat!" Aubren called after his friend. He smiled and shook his head. 'God that kid's got problems.'

Conner lay awake in his room. He couldn't get to sleep. Those footsteps where still following him. He could still hear them. "Conner?" The raven-haired boy nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Aubrey?"

"I'm scared."

"Me too." Aubren crawled into bed next to Conner. Conner wrapped an arm around his friend as he peered through the dark to see his friend snuggle up on his chest. Conner listened to his friend's breathing for a moment. "You asleep?"

"No."

"Does Stepha ever talk to you?"

"Yeah. She thinks you hate her."

"I do."

"Oh…well then." Aubren snuggled closer, resting his head in the crook of Conner's neck.

"When are you going to dye your hair again?" Conner asked. Aubren loved dying his hair different colors.

"I'm thinking of dying it auburn with one bleach blonde streak in the front and have some auburn overlay the blonde in my bangs."

"Remind me why you didn't go into hair dressing?"

"Because I want to be a doctor." Conner inhaled deeply, finally being able to relax. He felt safer now with his arm wrapped protectively around his best and only friend. He fell asleep quickly and dreamt of nothing, but he wasn't complaining.

"Conner? You slept in. Conner?" Aubren shook his friend awake. Conner blinked a few times before realizing what his friend was saying. He shot out of bed quicker than he thought possible.

"Why didn't you wake me?!" Conner shouted.

"I'm sorry! We don't have power!" Aubren pointed to the clock that wasn't on. Conner flickered the lights but got no response.

"Shit! I need to know what time it is!"

"It's eleven thirty." Conner stared at Aubren.

"Fuck! I missed my theater class!" Conner paced back and forth in his messy bedroom. "What am I going to do? I've missed classes, I've never missed a day of school since fifth grade!"

"Relax Conner! You're going to breathe and simply tell your teachers that our power went out. You'll lose your perfect attendance but at least they know you didn't die or something." Conner skipped his shower and put on the same jeans from the day before. He put on a black t-shirt that said crew on the back and ran to his car.

Conner finally got to campus and slipped into class. His calculus teacher did take notice and cleared her throat when he came in but other than that, he had made it and now his usual, boring day could continue.

"You're late again!" Conner's manager said.

"My power was out this morning. I missed half of my classes and I'm late to work. I'm sorry, but today isn't going good for me."

"You're lucky the customers like you so much."

"Blah, blah, yeah whatever. I'm an actor for a reason."

"When are you going to learn that people aren't there to always backstab you?"

"When I die."

"Good job. Well for your sake I hope you die pretty soon."

"Thanks Mitch! I'll take that as a compliment!" Conner said sarcastically. Conner and Mitch hated each other, and that was a known fact to everyone who entered this specific Blockbuster Video store.

"Ready to go?" Mitch asked.

"Yeah. I'm going to put the vacuum in the back. I'll make sure the door gets locked." It was a simple routine that they followed each and every day. Except for Sundays. That was Conner's only day off. He worked double shifts on Saturdays and night shifts during the week. Call him a workaholic. He didn't mind. He liked getting paid. Conner followed the same path to the back room and listened to the flickering lights go out. When he came back into the dark main room, he was scared. He'd have to go though the darkness to his car and then the dark drive home that lead to him having to get out of his car and go into the apartment. He was scared of those footsteps.

He walked slower than usual through the store, looking around every which way he could. He listened for anything that moved. But the only thing that could be heard was the ringing in his ears. He opened the door and forced it closed. He didn't bother double-checking to see if it was locked, he knew Mitch was good at locking a door. He ran to his car and slammed the door, turning the ignition on as soon as he could. He threw it into first gear and got out of there as fast as he could, burning his tires. On the road he relaxed a bit. He was a bit aggravated that each light he came to was red. He turned into his apartment complex and parked his car. He waited. His heart was pounding in his throat. He slowly opened his door peaking out of the car. He slammed it shut, purposely forgetting to lock it and ran to the apartment door. He breathed a sigh of relief as he got into the lighted area. 'Our power's back on.' He walked up the steps letting his guard down. He got to his floor and fiddled with finding the right key. Before he could put it in the keyhole someone grabbed him and put a nasty tasting rag to his mouth. Conner tried to struggle and yell for help. The rag muffled his screams and he started to feel dizzy, then sleepy. Someone picked him up bridal style but he couldn't see his face. His eyes started to get heavier and he found it very hard to stay awake. Before he knew it, Conner was out cold. He didn't even have time to imagine the horrible things that were about to happen.

It's very choppy I know with all the scene skipping but it's just a prologue. Review and I'll return the favor!