Empty Graves And Shallow Hearts

I grabbed my bag and headed out. Closing the door and turning the corner, I jumped at the sight of a shadowed figure leaning against the wall...

The figure pushed itself off the wall, laughing hysterically.

It took me a moment, but I recognized him.

"Holy fuck Brandon!" I screamed, laughing nervously. "You scared the shit outta me!"

He held his stomach, laughing even harder, tears coming to his eyes. "Geez Rainy! That . . . that look on your face!"
He tried a wide-eyed, surprised sort of expression, but couldn't hold it for more than a couple seconds.
"You really need to calm down lady! Less stress! Less stress!"

With that he turned on his heel, still laughing, and headed out the hall door.

I walked out after him. Eli and Mark were watching him curiously, and then turned to me with questioning looks on both.

"Don't even ask," I put my hands up as if in surrender, "I don't even know."

I waltzed over to my car, my spirits somehow higher. Brandon was already at the driver's door, waiting.

"I need the keys!" He waved his arms in the air.

I dug in the bag on my shoulder and quickly tossed them over. He unlocked the doors and we climbed in. He shoved the keys in the ignition and almost instantly turned on the radio. Switching it to a rock station and then bobbing his head, he started the car, pulled out of the space, and we were on our way.

"Why are you driving me?" I asked after a little while of silence.

"'Cause I don't have a ride and Kylie asked me to." He didn't even take his eyes off the road as he said this.

"Oh." That was a simple enough answer, but I wasn't completely satisfied.
"Why are we goin' over to Kylie's?"

"She asked me to bring you over."

"Why?"

"I don't know! Enough of the damn questions woman!"

I sat back in defeat. "Fine."

He turned to me, a playful look in his eyes. He scanned me, and quickly turned back to the road.

"I've got a question though."

I laughed. "Hypocrite."

"Whatever! I've got a question!"

"Alright. Shoot."

"Why are you driving this piece of crap?"

I scoffed, punching him lightly on the shoulder. "It's not a piece of crap!"

"It's a Ford! And a really old one. A truck at that! It's a piece of crap!" He laughed. "Why don't you go get yourself a Porsche or a Jaguar, or somethin'? Get an Italian car even! You could afford it with the amount of money you make!"

I sat back in my seat again. "I like my car thank you very much."

He snickered. "Yeah, yeah. Okay then."

"Whatever man!"

We were finally at Kylie's. As he pulled into her driveway, I turned to him with an inquiry of my own. "What about your car Brandon?!"

He let out a loud guffaw.

"Shut the hell up woman!"

We hopped out of the car, still chuckling.

I got to the front door first and let myself in.

A wave of bass-like, loud, dance or thrash music (I couldn't tell which), hit me.

I walked in a bit more, and saw nobody. Brandon came up from, patting the top of my head. He stopped as he entered the front room though, a bit startled at the empty house. He turned to look at me with a confused look. I shook my head. I had no clue.

He backed up towards the door from which we came, as if he was scared to go in any farther.

I stepped forward a bit and took a big deep breath in. "KYLIEE!!"

Nothing.

I inhaled again, this time trying to scream louder. "KYLIE!"

In the middle of the "Ky" the music shut off. I blushed, even though the only person who could see me at the moment was Brandon, who was already laughing his ass off.

I gave him my meanest glare, trying to get him to stop laughing, but he continued. When I turned back to face the inside, there was a person standing in the doorway of Kylie's bedroom. And it sure as heck wasn't Kylie.

It was a boy, or a man rather, and a very tall one at that. He was shirtless and sweating profusely. His hair was brown and about shoulder length, sticking a bit to his neck because of the sweat. His eyes... captured me with a sort of dim green tint to them. This man's body was covered in tattoos. Some were quite detailed and hard to see, while others were large and easy to read. They started at his neck and went down, down his arms to his fingers, down his chest and stomach, just down, leaving me wondering if they went any farther down, where they led.

All I could do was gawk, and it took a good hard shove from Brandon to break my trance. He had been staring too, until Kylie showed up next to him.

"Oh dear lord," I gulped and whispered to Brandon while the man turned around to Kylie, "Is that her brother?"