What happens when an introvert has to mingle in a party that she doesn’t want to be a part of? When even against her will, she needs to smile, nod, and communicate with strangers? In that moment, at the grandeur of the Dales’ event, Iris thought that staying as a hunter for the Nightcrawlers and torturing people were the moments she would trade everything for just to get out of Eleanor’s eighteenth birthday party. She massaged her forehead and looked up on the night, starless sky. She wondered how happy she would have been if she was staring at the same sky but on her rooftop with a beer on her hand. “You okay?” Max sat by her side, handing her a glass of champagne. His gray suit and hair neatly slicked back stood out from the ocean of black suits, well-trimmed beards and cocky smiles from all the men there. Even if Iris hates to admit, but Max was the closest man to look like a princ

 Let me tell you about the day I got my firsts. I was ten. My Mom just picked me up from school, waving her hand up in the air with the usual smile she always wore no matter the situation our family was in. And just like yesterday and the other school days before, I ran up to her, my backpack juggling behind me as I held up the first medal I got from a poster contest of our school. On our way home, all I could remember was our laughter. She looked so proud upon knowing I have beaten the daughter of that rude woman who always gave her dirty looks just because she looked younger than most of them—condemning her for getting pregnant at the age of twenty by a man she barely knows, and raising me with a different man. We were new at the neighborhood, and our story spread faster than the light like we were a newfound attraction

 Iris woke up to the sound of a voice singing a song. Her eyebrows furrowed, her eyes adjusting to the sunlight casting from her window as she tried to get up from the bed. “Ouch,” she muttered, wincing from the pain on her wrist. “Damn, what the heck did I do?” She caressed her wrist, neatly bandaged but all stinging. She grunted when a shot of headache crept in when she tried to walk towards her door that was ajar. Pulling the door further open, the song came at the chorus and her eyes quickly darted to Max’s back, dancing in her kitchen while singing to a song playing from his phone. “What the hell are you doing?” she interrupted, surprising Max. He spun around with bulging eyes when he looked at her, quickly realizing that Iris was only in her undies. Upon meeting her eyes, he knew that she’s not aware of her state yet. Iris’ attention beckoned Max&rs

 “What are you doing, Anderson?” Iris jumped from the backseat to the passenger seat with her gun still pointed at Claire’s temple. She was wearing a tight fit overall, zippered on her chest, and a big grin on her face. “Breathe, girl. You might get a heart attack.” Claire exhaled slowly. Suddenly, every dreading second was frightening because Iris looked like a whole different person. Her eyes were dead empty and her words sounded hollow, as if she doesn’t care what her mouth will say. “Don’t make a mistake you’ll regret.” Iris let out an incredulous laugh, her eyes bulging as she spoke. “The only mistake I regret was letting you live this long, Martin. Now shut your mouth and fucking drive.” Claire turned to her and with a hesitant expression, she stared at her eyes meeting her deadly stares. “Kill me,”

  Claire’s finger moved which Iris’ eyes caught, she leaned forward narrowing her eyes, waiting for another movement. “Martin? Are you awake? Can you hear me?” she asked. Claire’s eyes slowly parted, squinting from the light cascading through the window beside her bed. Her chest went up and down fast as she started to breathe heavily, filling her lungs the air that has been stolen from her. “Hey, relax. You’re okay.” Iris quickly stood up from her seat and momentarily disappeared from the room to call the nurses. She came back bringing two who immediately injected morphine to Claire. “She’s fine, she just needs to rest more. Call us when she can’t bear the pain,” the other one said. Iris nodded and after attending to Claire’s needs they went out of the room. Claire’s eyes were empty staring at Iris who also didn’t know what to