Compare and Contrast

Surely, I was just completely fucked up. Surely, everyone was still at the party, completely unharmed. Surely, I was dreaming. Surely, Evan was still dead and not some evil bastard standing in front of me.

"Panic? What's the matter? Can't even give me a hug, now? Man, a lot's changed since I've been gone." He flipped his dark hair out of his face, allowing a direct path for me to see straight into the emerald eyes that had always watched over me as I slept so long ago.

He grinned and took a step toward me, holding his arms out as though asking for a hug. I kept the distance the same and stepped back and away from him.

He frowned and tilted his head. "Come on, now, Panic. Surely you want to give me a hug after all this time? It's been a year, sister."

I shook my head and bit my bottom lip to keep it from quivering. I wanted to hug him and never let him go more than anything right then, and yet, it was the last thing I wanted to do. I wanted to hug Evan. My Evan. Not this beast that had stolen his body.

"Have you lost your love for me?" He feigned hurt. He placed his hand over his heart where his heart should have been. "That really hurts," he nodded, sticking his lower lip out as if pouting.

"Please stop," I whispered. "Just stop."

"What's that? Little Panic can't handle a little fun anymore?" He grinned then. I didn't mean to. I just stared at his mouth though. I wished desperately to look away, tried relentlessly not to notice.

My eyes watered over.

"Aw, there, there, Panic. It'll be alright. I'm watching over you again. I'm here." He stepped towards me and held his arms out. I didn't move. I just stood there, frozen and staring at the fangs protruding from his gums.

"E-evan..."

His arms found their way around me and he pulled me closer to him. "Shh... Everything'll be alright."

I don't know what came over me. I don't know how I managed against his strength. Suddenly, though, my right hand was placed tightly around his neck as his back was slammed against the side of his car.

"You're not Evan. Stay the fuck out of my head. I know it was you. Leave my friends alone. Stop using my past to get to me." I glared at him. He just barely tilted his head at me. "And lastly, stop looking like Evan!" I screamed.

I reached back to punch him, but before my fist managed to connect with his face, something blocked it. It took me a second to realize that it was his fist.

"Now, Panic," he said sternly, reminding me of the way Evan used to scold me when I'd something wrong, "you know that this isn't how you were raised. I always told you to stay out of fights. You won't win them."

I don't think I even had time to widen my eyes in terror before I felt my backside slam against the brick wall of my house. My head was getting heavier and heavier. My eyesight was all over the place. I opened my mouth to speak but he placed his hand in front of it.

"Don't say anything," he whispered soothingly.

Somehow, it was soothing even though he had me pinned ever so painfully against my house.

"Evan..."

He silenced me again. "Hear that, little sister?" I listened carefully. There was the yells of fighting taking place a few feet away on the wall connected to this one. I wished that someone would randomly wonder where I was and help me. I wished someone could save me from this trance I knew was taking over me.

Suddenly, I could hear tires approaching.

I looked at Evan.

"It's-"

"More of your little friends coming to help you because even though there were more on your side, they are not strong enough for us." I stared blankly at him. "You could join us, Panic. You could become strong. You could rule. You could invite your friend. That girl with the black hair and green eyes? I'd like that very much."

"She's not my friend," I spat.

"Oh, really? I seem to remember you two being best friends in elementary school."

"That was almost seven fucking years ago, you prick. Forget anything you know. It's Evan's memories, not yours. They belong to him, so give them the fuck back!"

Before I ended up having a mental breakdown, I shoved him off of me and walked to where my friends were fighting. He could have stopped me. I know he could have. He just stood there, though, watching me leave. I felt weak but I still stood. I heard car doors slam. When I looked over, Trenton and Craig were running towards us. Craig put his arm out in front of Trenton to stop her from getting any closer to the chaos as he continued.

Evan appeared beside me. "Do you want me to introduce my friends to you?" he asked.

I didn't answer. I just watched the fight. I didn't know where to jump in.

Lee was drawing back his arm to punch one of the guys in the face.

"Oh, your short friend is attempting to fight Riley, eh? He should learn in this fight that it will not be easy."

I glanced at Evan. "Why's that?"

"Simple, really," he answered. "Riley's a hybrid."

Hy...brid? "Isn't that-"

"Half-vampire, half-werewolf."

My eyes widened. Werewolf? Was all of that mythological shit real?

"But, why would that make him harder to fight?"

"Oh, little sister, you have so much to learn." He chuckled and patted the top of my head, making me feel like I was five again. "Hybrids are much stronger than normal vampires or werewolves. They have a little bit of both, as well, so it gives them an advantage in fighting. Werewolves cause more harm to vampires than they do others of their kind, and vice versa. I'm sure it's mostly self-explanatory from there, Panic."

"I guess."

Riley leaped out of the way of Lee's attack and jumped on Oli's back. Lee ran to help his friend.

"Who's the one that Oli is trying to fight? The one in front of him, I mean. Not Riley."

Evan looked. "Oh, that's Hayden." He grinned and let out a mean laugh. "I don't think your Oli friend will make it."

I looked at Evan with a questioning stare.

"Hayden is also a hybrid," he explained. "It's so wonderful. There's not that many hybrids in the world, and yet here we are with at least four in our front yard. Don't you think it's wonderful, little sister?"

I glared at him for still acting like Evan, but I knew Evan was gone. I'd let this guy act like Evan all he wanted but he'd never replace him or fix the past.

"What do you mean four? There's only two, you idiot."

"Actually, one of the other one's you know quite well." He looked back to the fight.

Curtis was helping Matt N with the person he was dealing with, but soon joined Lee to help Oli. Matt K and Tom were fighting one together as well. Hayden left the fight with Oli, Curtis, Lee, and Riley. He glanced my way and smiled. He started walking toward me and Evan. I looked to Evan to see what was going on, but Evan was nowhere to be seen. When I looked back, Hayden was already there in front of me.

"'Ello, Love. Long time, no see, eh?"

What was up with this guy?

He stood for a second, but I didn't say anything.

"Ah, come on, yeh got teh remember me, at least?" He stood staring at me, waiting for a response. I didn't know who he was, though. "Ah, come on, Panic! I's me, 'ayden. Remember? I used teh come ove' all the time with Evan!" He looked at me helplessly. "God, we 'ad sex when yeh were in the ninth grade!"

I nearly choked on my surprise. I was so glad that everyone was fighting and no one could hear that.

"Yeh really don' remember tha'?" He looked really sad.

I felt terrible but quickly reminded myself that he was evil. "I would never fuck someone as evil as you."

He tilted his head. "We're no' tha' evil, Panic," he laughed. "Do yeh really no' remember?" he whispered, brushing my hair out of my face.

I swatted his hand away. "No, now please leave me alone!"

"I can' deh tha'." He said.

Then, somebody rammed him from the back, shoving him into me.

His hips slammed into mine. He had his hands on the wall behind me so that he didn't smash me. I was frozen standing there between him and the wall.

"Heh, jus' lie' ol' times," he grinned.

I pushed him, attempting to get him off of me. It worked a bit, but the rest of the work was Craig pulling him away. The two engaged into a fight. Evan was still nowhere to be seen. Trenton was on the other side of the fight, directly across from me.

I was yelling at everyone to just stop already, but nobody heard me or listened. I could see Trenton moving her lips, but I had no idea what she was saying. Finally, I opened my mouth to scream. I sucked in a huge breath.

"STOP!" I screamed. I could hear another scream mixed with mine and I realized Trenton had yelled it at the same exact time as I had.

It was quiet for a few seconds. Everyone just stayed in the same positions they were in when we yelled. Then I heard Evan.

"Guys, let's go."

The four new guys pushed at whoever was near them and walked casually to Evan's car. Evan was the last to get in. He had the driver's side open when he turned back to me. "I'll be back, Panic." Then he got in and shut the door and drove off. I turned around and saw the blinds to my house open with two nosy faces peering out.

Oh, shit.

I turned to everyone and motioned them to follow me inside my house. Craig had his arm around Trenton, resting his hand on her hip as if to protect her from anything that might come at her. They stood a little further from the rest of the group. I ushered everyone in and then turned to them. "Are you guys coming?" I asked.

They both looked a little shocked but quickly made their way inside. I walked in behind them and shut the front door and locked it. I told them to go to the third floor and find my room. I went into the laundry room to find some more clothes for everyone. I had plenty of guys clothes for them. And some smaller clothes for Trenton of course.

I grabbed a basketful and walked back to the stairs. Before I could make it, though, my mom stopped me.

"I need to talk to you."

I hoped that I wasn't too bloody or anything.

"Mom, I'm sorry. I-"

"Sorry?" She laughed. "Honey, your father and I couldn't be happier. We've been waiting for this to happen."

She gripped my shoulders and kneeled down slightly to be level with me.

"Waiting?" I asked.

How could parents just stand there and wait for their kids and their friends to try and kill each other?!

"Yes, dear. We're so happy you've finally started dating again."

"Dating?" I repeated. What the hell was this woman talking about?

She gave me a knowing smile. "You may think you can, but you can't hide it from us. We saw you outside. It was a nice get together from what we could see. Your father and I were worried you might never recover from... Well, we're happy you've finally found someone again."

"Recover from what?"

"Well, since Hayden, of course. We thought that you might never recover from his death."

Dear god, what the hell is going on?

"It's just strange you'd be out at nearly five in the morning for this, but we're still happy, nonetheless." She gave my shoulder a tight squeeze and smiled again.

"Mom, that was Hayden out there, though. He-"

"Oh, honey." Her expression turned sad. "I'm truly sorry for your loss, but it's not healthy to pretend for so long that he's still here. I'm sure he's watching over you, though." She smiled one last time and then let me go upstairs.

Then I noticed Lee was sitting there on the stairs. He wasn't smiling at all.

"The mist," he whispered.

"What?"

We kept walking up the stairs. "I's a sor' of spell. The leader of those evil fucks mus' have done i' before yeh ever even go' here."

"What does it do?" I asked.

"Well, i's an illusion of sor's. I' changes wha' normal humans actually see. So, instead of seein' an' hearin' all of the fightin', anyone passin' by or yeh neighbors or parents would see somethin' remotely normal. From the soun's of i', i' probably jus' looked lie' a harmless ge' together. I'm guessin' i' looked lie' yeh an' one of the guys were together."

"Apparently," I muttered. I didn't know how I was so calm after finding all of this out and after everything that had happened.

We reached my room and I set the basket down in the middle of it for everyone to go through and find stuff to change into. I let Trenton use the bathroom connected to mine to wash up since she was the only other girl and she hadn't ever been here. This house had been my grandparents whenever Trenton and I actually talked a long time ago. My family and I lived somewhere else. Shortly after Trenton and I stopped talking, my grandparents moved somewhere else to a smaller house in the country and gave this to us.

I directed everyone to bathrooms that they could use.

Lee was the only one still in my bedroom with me. I thought about what he'd just told me about the Mist.

And then something finally donned on me. What normal humans saw was altered through it. "Lee, how come I could see the fight?"