Molly's heart sunk down to her toes. "Murdered?" she studdered out. "Your parents were murdered?"

"Yeah," Aiden said quietly. "They were hanging upside down from the ceiling. Their wrists were slit and they were beheaded."

"Aiden, that's horrible!" Molly said sadly. "Come in, I'm sure my mom will understand."

Molly's mother and sisters were waiting by the front door. Aiden explained his story and Molly's mother called her father. They agreed to let him stay if he agreed to sleep on the couch. He said anything was better than sleeping on the porch and gladly accepted.

"Yippee!" Erika cried, bouncing around happily, "I have a big brother! I have a big brother!"

The rest of the people in the room ignored the child. "Aiden, do you want to go back to sleep?" Molly's mother asked.

"After an awakening like that I don't think I could!" Aiden replied.

"I'll keep him company," Molly offered.

"Okay," her mother agreed. "Come on, Erika, Sophie. Let's make some hot chocolate." The younger girls followed their mother out of the room, leaving Aiden and Molly to watch old Mickey Mouse cartoons.

A little bit later, the girls walked out of the kitchen with mugs of steamy hot chocolate. "Are you planning on going to school today, Aiden?" Molly's mother asked.

"I don't think I could concentrate on the work," Aiden answered honestly.

"I'll keep him company," Molly offered once again.

"I'd better skip work today, too," her mother said, "I don't trust you two home alone all day!"

Molly blushed, and hoped Aiden didn't notice. He appeared to not have as he licked away a whip cream moustache as if nothing was said.

The whole day the three of them watched old movies. It was after dinner when Molly started her homework. "Should we study for Mr. Wilson's class tonight?" she asked Aiden.

"Sure," he agreed, "but first I need to go back to my house to see if I can gather up some of my things." Aiden saw the disappointment in Molly's eyes, so he added, "I promise to be back in enough time to study with you. Infact, I'll leave right now so I'm sure I'll be back in enough time."

She perked up and gladly agreed.

It was quater til midnight, and Aiden still hadn't returned. Molly was furious. She finally had enough of waiting and decided to go look for him. But then her fury passed and she tried to think things over. I should be more reasonable, she thought, maybe he got caught up in the memories of his parents and lost track of time. She took out her phone and started to dial Aiden's number, deciding it was best to call first before she ran off in search of him.

After two rings, he answered. "Hello?"

"Aiden, where are you? You said you'd study with me," Molly yelled, and then immediately regretted it, remembering her family who was trying to sleep upstairs. She heard a scream through the phone, but it sounded like it was in the background, nto coming from her friend. "Aiden, what's going on?" she asked panickily.

"I'm... a little... tied up right... now," he answered, sounding out of breath.

"Really Aiden, what's going on?" Molly asked again.

"Meet me... in the back alley... by the old... movie theater," AIden told her.

"Okay," she agreed, ready to hang up and come to his rescue.

"Oh... and Molly," Aiden continued.

"Yeah?"

"Bring a piece... of your firewood."

"Okay," Molly agreed, even though she was more confused than ever. She grabbed a big chunck of firewood and sprinted downtown.

When she arrived in the back alley behind the old movie theater, her heart sunk down to her toes once again. Aiden was fighting of three guys all by himself. Two of them had dark hair, dark eyes, and extremely pale skin. The third looked familiar, but she couldn't tell exactly who it was. Naturally, Aiden was on the loosing end of the fight, and he looked horrible. His left eye was blackened, his lower lip bleeding, there was a huge gash on one of his forearms, and the bottom of his right pant leg was drenched in blood.

"Here," Molly said, handing Aiden the block of wood, but not knowing how it was going to help.

"Thanks, you're a doll," Aiden said sweetly. He took the wood and threw it on the ground. He found a soft spot in the middle of it and stomped on it with his good leg. The wood split diagonally, making one end sharp and the other dull on both pieces. Aiden laughed under his breath and threw a piece of wood at one of the paler guys. It nailed him in the center of his chest. The pale guy screamed and fell to the ground: dead. Aiden picked up the other piece of wood and threw it at the other pale guy. He too fell to the ground, dead like the other guy.

It was then when Molly recongnized the third enemy, and she almost couldn't believe her eyes- it was Brady!