After killing the monster at the auto shop, Frankie was too shaken to be alone. She refused to go home and after muttering, "it was Trey" at the auto shop, she hardly spoke.

Caitlyn decided to just let Frankie sleep over at her place. The three of them walked back to Devin and Caitlyn's street and they bided a goodnight to Devin before walking the last few feet to Caitlyn's house.

The next morning, Devin walked to the house next door bright and early. Caitlyn and Frankie were already awake; Frankie sitting at the kitchen table silently while Caitlyn poured herself a coffee at the counter.

"I murdered my boyfriend." Frankie stated blandly just as Caitlyn and Devin sat at the table with her; all three of them sitting on their own sides.

Caitlyn brought her fifth or sixth—Caitlyn lost count—cup of coffee to her lips as Devin sighed at Frankie's words. "No, you didn't." He reassured with a shake of his head, his eyes closed from the lack of sleep he got. That monster was just too freaky.

He opened his eyes again and made sure to make eye contact with Frankie. "That wasn't Trey. That was a... a monster that kind of looked like Trey that had Trey's same shitty taste in jewelry." Devin said before he could really stop himself.

Caitlyn immediately placed her cup of coffee down onto the table and smacked Devin's arm.

Devin yelped, his hand flying to the spot on his arm Caitlyn hit him. He turned to face Caitlyn, eyes wide and eyebrows raised to silently ask what that was for.

"Stop that!" Caitlyn scolded.

Frankie slowly turned her head to face Caitlyn on her left. Her eyebrows creased together and her lips turned downward into a frown as she looked at the girl. "How are you so calm about this, Cait?" Frankie whispered, her voice breaking. How could Caitlyn not be freaked out? Trey, who has been her friend for the past four years is dead!!

Caitlyn head snapped to Frankie at the accusation. She immediately started to shake her head and bring a hand up to her chest to defend herself. "I am not calm! This is my sixth cup of coffee I've made to try and relax." Caitlyn cried, pointing down at her helpless cup of coffee in front of her to try and pin the blame on it.

She took a deep breath after her abrupt word vomit. Her body relaxed, her shoulders slumping. Caitlyn stared down at the dark brown coffee staring back at her. She purposely didn't put a lot of milk to make the caffeine stronger to calm her racing pulse which—yeah, she knows that's counterintuitive.

She reached for the mug, ready to take another sip, but just as her fingertips grazed the ceramic, Devin placed his hands on-top of it. Caitlyn looked up from the mug and to Devin, her eyes softening and her eyebrows raising to try and speak up.

"But—" Caitlyn was cut off by Devin dragging the mug away from her, his eyes staying locked on Caitlyn's.

"We're talking about a monster, Caitlyn." Frankie said, making both Caitlyn and Devin turn back to her. Whatever sadness she's been feeling about the death of her recent ex, was gone. Her eyebrows were pulled together in a serious pinch and she leaned a little closer to the two. "A real monster. That is not a normal thing."

"I know that!" Caitlyn snapped, waving her hands around. When Devin and Frankie both jumped back at the girls outburst, Caitlyn realized it maybe wasn't good to have five and a half cups of coffee. Her entire body was practically buzzing. She wanted to stop, but she couldn't. So she kept going.

"But a lot of things have been happening that are not normal! Devin had black goop coming out of his eyes the other night! That's not normal!" Caitlyn almost screeched, keeping her eyes on Frankie, but turning her body to point at Devin.

Frankie was about to open her mouth to interjected, but Caitlyn continued.

"And then the next day, these weird vine things dragged him into the sewer!"

Frankie froze at that, her last thoughts leaving her head as she looked to Devin with eyes as wide as saucers. "What?! What... What thing?" Frankie asked.

Devin's mouth opened and closed in shock at the topic turning onto him. He honestly didn't know what happened to him either nights Caitlyn just mentioned.

He just about to say that when Caitlyn turned to look at him too and suddenly, the words on the tip of Devin's tongue disappeared and all of the thoughts in his head turned to much.

Devin nervously curled into himself at both how panicked and pretty Caitlyn looked in that moment. A small, breathy laugh passed through his lips before he turned back to Frankie and forced himself to answer.

"I don't kno– I only remember bits and pieces of things. Like... vines strangling me. It was kind of like a monster version of the plants in my dad's basement." Devin tried to explain, struggling to find the right words without being able to just show the girls what kind of plants his dad worked with.

Caitlyn pursed her lips and sat up until her elbow was on the table and she was resting her chin in her hand. Caitlyn and Frankie looked away from Devin and turned to each other at the same time, both of them sharing the same expression: eyebrows raised and growing smirks.

In sync, the two girls turned back to Devin. Caitlyn licked her teeth as she shrugged. "We can always go and check it out..." She drew out. Caitlyn didn't know how Devin would feel about breaking into his dads office. In all honesty, Caitlyn didn't know if she wanted to break in and risk her job.

Devin sighed at Caitlyn's suggestion, falling back into his seat tiredly. "How would we do that? I don't have the code!" He groaned, throwing his head back in defeat.

When he brought his hands up to pinch the bridge of his nose, Caitlyn and Frankie took the moment to turn back to each other again. Frankie gave Caitlyn a disappointed look while Caitlyn sighed, using her hand her chin was resting on to start counting down.

"Three... Two..."

Devin shot back up as the lightbulb went off in his head. "You're his assistant! You can let us in and we can see what's down there!" He cheered, looking to Caitlyn with a big smile.

With her eyes still on Frankie, Caitlyn smiled, a small sigh coming out of her nose. She turned to Devin on the other side of her and her nose crinkled a little. "Okay, let's go."

As she and Devin started to get out of their seats, Frankie sighed, leaning back into hers as Kota came and rested her snout on her thigh.

"I can't do it." Frankie breathed out, gently petting the top of the dogs head.

Caitlyn and Devin turned to face Frankie, both of them matching a confused look. "What?" Caitlyn asked, turning her body to face the girl. She shook her head. "Frankie–"

"It's all too much. I mean Trey..." Frankie interrupted Caitlyn, shooting out of her seat and grabbing her jacket that was draped over the back of it. "I think I'm gonna head home. Just keep me updated. Tell me what you find in there." She breathed out, barely giving Caitlyn and Devin time to respond before she practically ran out of Caitlyn's house.

Caitlyn watched Frankie go with a heavy heart. When she heard her front door shut, Caitlyn sighed, running a hand through her hair as she turned back Devin.

The boy gave her a lopsided smile and shrugged. He didn't really know what to say. If Frankie didn't want to go, neither of them should force her.

He took a step toward Caitlyn, his hands nervously getting shoved into his jean pockets. "My dad left a little bit before I did. So he's not there." Devin suggested, his words almost coming out as a question as his shoulders raised so high, they brushed the bottom of his ears.

With a small nod from Caitlyn, the two of them headed out of her house and toward the Brewer home. Devin let them through the front door and then Caitlyn made a beeline for the basement door.

Even though Devin was her friend, Anthony was her boss and she had to respect that. So when she got to the lockbox to type in the code, Caitlyn subtly moved her body to stop Devin from seeing it.

It wasn't until that moment that Caitlyn realized the code was the twins birthday.

Caitlyn pushed the door open and practically flew down the stairs. Devin trailed behind her at a slower pace, his eyes trailing over the basement slowly.

"Whoa..." He breathed out. When he turned back to Caitlyn, she was already at his dads desk flipping through his papers.

"Oh!" Devin whispered, running to stand beside Caitlyn. He stood right behind her, his chest just barely grazed Caitlyn's back as he looked over her shoulder to read the papers with her.

"Okay, we have to figure out what's been happening here." Caitlyn muttered, her eyebrows creasing together as she looked through the papers Anthony had sprawled out across his desk.

Devin didn't start looking right away. His eyes were on Caitlyn instead—watching the way her nose scrunched and she leaned a little closer to the papers as if she couldn't quite read the smaller words on the papers.

It took about ten seconds of staring at Caitlyn and admiring the cute way she stayed so focused before he started to actually help her look through his dads things.

Now, Devin's eyebrows creased together, but instead of it being from focus like Caitlyn, Devin's entire face scrunched in pure confusion. He didn't understand half the words written in these reports. How does his dad and Caitlyn work here? Looking at this all day?

"What even is this stuff?" Devin asked, dropping all of the papers he was reading onto the desk in a tired exasperation.

Caitlyn put down the papers she as reading to see what Devin was looking at. That was when he noticed she was now confused. Her head tilted a little to the left like a confused puppy and her lips parted. "This..." She reached for the paper on top of the stack, shaking her head. "This is all new."

Suddenly, the front door to the home opened and the two teens could hear a faint, "Devin? You home?" from Anthony. The papers slipped out of Caitlyn's hands as her heart dropped to her stomach. She shakily turned to Devin, who nervously gulped at the idea of his dad finding him in the basement.

"We've gotta hide." He whispered as the faint thumping of Anthony Brewer's steps toward the basement got louder and louder.

Caitlyn didn't respond, only nodding her head once, then twice in a silent panic.

Devin looked around the basement as Caitlyn started to hyperventilate, her breaths getting louder and louder with every exhale. They wouldn't make it back upstairs without his dad catching them.

But then Devin noticed a small nook in the corner of the room, blocked by the stairwell leading down to the basement and a shelf of plants that drooped down all the way to the floor. Without a second thought, his hand was in Caitlyn's and he ran.

"Come on. Come on." He whispered softly, his hand having a tight enough grasp on Caitlyn's to tug her without straining.

Devin backed into the corner, his shoulder blades pushed against the cold cement wall behind him. He tugged on Caitlyn's hand, pulling her toward him. When she was close enough, Devin's free hand went up and cupped itself over Caitlyn's mouth, silencing her panicked–almost wheezing–breaths.

His hand the was holding her hand squeezed a little tighter at her wide eyes and he mouthed a small "I'm sorry" before his fathers steps echoed down the stairs.

Anthony made a beeline to the desk Caitlyn and Devin were just at. He sat down, his back to the two teens, and opened his laptop to start filming.

Caitlyn knew what he was doing. She's worked with him thousands of times and and was even apart of a handful of his recording.

Anthony was filming his newest findings. Whatever new species, specimen, or product he's found.

Anthony smiled at the camera, a breathy laugh coming out as his lips twisted up into a cracked smiled. "I think the organic matter from Matty's hoodie is the cause of everything." Anthony explained and Caitlyn's eyebrows furrowed. She looked away from the man and up to Devin in front of her, who still had his hand covering her mouth.

She watched the way Devin's lips parted as Anthony continued to explain his discovery. Slowly, Devin turned to look at Caitlyn, a similar confusion written all over her his face.

"The vines that grew from that substance, they traveled further than... than was known to me, causing unknown damage. I'm going to sample the vine from the sewer."

The second Caitlyn and Devin's eyes locked, the air grew thick around them. Devin didn't move. He couldn't move. His hand still covered her mouth, but the sharp rise and fall of Caitlyn's chest had calmed, her breaths coming out of her nose now slow against his palm.

Then her gaze flickered down to his lips.

It was fast. Just barely a blink, but it hit Devin like a truck. That was when he noticed her heart thudding against his chest at a rapid pace.

Or maybe it was his that had started racing, and hers was only keeping up.

His hand trembled slightly against her mouth before he forced himself to stay still. It took every ounce of control not to drop it. Not to lean forward. Not to close the fraction of space that was left between them.

He felt Caitlyn's lips part and his breath hitched.

Devin just stood there, heart pounding and mouth dry while every inch of him screamed to do something—anything—instead of just watching the slight pink in her cheeks darken.

"Wait a minute... this is the exact same viscous substance that's in the freezer and while I don't know where the bulb is currently..."

Caitlyn forced herself to look away from Devin and back to Anthony to see what the man was talking about. Devin slumped the second Caitlyn looked away from him. It was almost as if he was the one with a hand over his mouth, struggling to get air in. And Caitlyn felt her heart rate subside, but her body stayed burning up knowing Devin was still pressed up right in front of her. God, Caitlyn hoped Devin couldn't feel anything.

"...Maybe this stuff does." Anthony whispered under his breath, a small petri dish in his hands as he stood out of his seat.

Caitlyn squinted, trying her hardest to see what was in Anthony's hands, but she couldn't get a good view. And when she tried to lean forward just to get the tiniest better view, Devin pulled her back into his chest.

Whatever Anthony was looking at made the man let out a victorious laugh, practically bouncing in excitement. Without another word to his recording, Anthony finished the video and practically sprinted out of the basement and then out of the house.

Devin didn't take his hand away from Caitlyn's face until he heard the front door close behind his dad.

He almost didn't want to look at Caitlyn. He didn't know if he could. All he would be thinking about was the way Caitlyn looked down at his lips and leaned into his touch. He wouldn't know what to do.

Caitlyn couldn't look back at Devin either. She blinked at the spot Anthony Brewer once stood before she let out a breath she definitely knew she had been holding in since the second Devin's hand was over her mouth.

"Holy crap."

emily speaks...
OOOO LOOK AT ME GO ANOTHER UPDATEEE

these next couple chapters EEEEK can't wait for you guys to see😼