chapter five
-Molly-

I laughed loudly as he tackled me down to the ground. His arms firmly held my arms down. "Will!!!"

"Give me back my lighter!" he demanded almost growlingly.

This was positively normal. Out of sheer boredom, I tend to swipe something of his and make a fun little game of it. He already knew looking under my shirt was off limits, he'd tried that the first time and it didn't go over well with me. "What makes you think I have it?"

"Lets see. No one else here would try and take it. That leaves you, Moll, who takes things from me all the time." He sighed heavily. "Come on, please, please, please give me my lighter back Molly." Now the sweet tone. This is how it went all the time. "I made you Chai, come on. Please Molly?"

I felt a grin slip over my lips. "Only if you let me play with the lighter from time to time."

"Fine."

"Guess where."

His head fell by my neck and muffled I heard him beg again. "Molly... please. Where is it?"

"Left pocket."

"Thank you!" He shouted loudly, by now he was seriously, literally on top of me. I shook my head and laughed as he withdrew his precious lighter from my jeans. It wasn't for smoking. He was just an average pyro. He still remained sitting on my legs, in the middle of the hallway, lit up with our four candles. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. You know you can ask me anything..." I said softly. It was a bad sign for sure, he never talked about anything serious. We were always fairly close but he never had any serious issues.

"You... well. I'm not sure as where to put this." His brow furrowed out of frusteraton. "There seems to be something going on between that Taylor boy and you. Is there?"

I closed my eyes. "Why?"

"I'm just curious. Its nothing serious, my question you know? I just kind of wanted to know."

Right then, I wanted to wring his neck. That was all it took, someone else interested in me. All it took to get his attention. "There is something. I don't know. I'll get back to you when I know what is even going on."

"Have you ... kissed him?"

I sat up immediately. "Will! That is none of your business and f.y.i. - no I did not!"

"Sorry. Lets just forget this happened. I think lunch is done."

I entered the kitchen again, and spotted Sincerity and Zac. I frowned. "Where the hell have you been? We looked all over for you!" It wasn't like her to disappear. The only time I remember my sister ever disappearing was when she was fifteen. She had run away for a week, but decided a life on the streets wasn't for her. But then again with the way we both grown up, it wasn't the proper life for either of us - I never blamed her for running away for that period of time. I pushed away the thoughts of my past.

Sincerity smiled hesitantly. "You'd never believe me." Her eyes then lit up and she whispered so quietly only I could hear her, "No, I know you would Molly. I'll tell you all about it later."

I nodded, wondering what had shaken her up so badly. I went over to the table, as Will blew out the candles he'd been carrying. At the table Zac was sitting next to Taylor who had an chair with my quilt already drapped on it. I smiled slightly and went to sit there immediately. "Where'd you guys find them?"

"In some random room. Curled up on a bed. Ike's not very happy about it," Taylor said softly to me.

I frowned and thought about it for a minute. Maybe Sincerity's adoration looks weren't a shot in the dark as she had thought them to be. I pulled my blanket up around my shoulders and sighed. Isaac was busy at work at the stove, scowling, must I add? I looked back over at Sincerity who had plopped down next to Will, and he was just staring off into space with a blank look. I didn't even have the remotist desire to know what he was thinking. Later Ike joined us at the table, not taking one glimpse at my sister.

We jammed, wrote a few songs. Dinnertime hit, we all stopped and I decided to run off to my room. Sincerity joined me without a single bit of hesitation. She shut the door behind us, candle in hand. I saw the wax drip onto her hand but she didn't flinch once. We set our candles on the vanity and sat on the ground near them. "Something is going on here Moll. I mean it. I don't want to sound crazy but..."

She stopped for a long time and looked down at the ground. Finally her eyes met mine and she just stared. "Spit it out."

"I think the place is haunted. I'm serious. Zac and I were on the balcony, smoking a cigarette, and Zac heard some freaky noise, right? So since he's the adventurous Hanson, he grabs my hand and we go back into my room. The door opens, on its own. On its own, Moll. Disembodied force and everything. Candles lit down the hallway until that room that we ended up in, one by one. It was some seriously freaky shit, Moll. We went in, and the door shut and locked behind us. I screamed and screamed, and none of you guys heard me. The room isn't exactly pretty, either. There's just a rocking chair, a bed, and a locked trunk that Zac actually tried to open, like an idiot."

I felt the room spinning around me. "I believe you," I replied slowly.

Sincerity looked surprised. "You do?"

"The night before that Taylor and I went downstairs to get something from the kitchen since we missed dinner. We had those stupid candles since Ike won't let us turn on the electricity of course. But... we got down the stairs and we heard this weird chanting from the parlor. The very parlor we play from every day, the very parlor that we all write in." I felt my hands shaking. "Taylor went towards the door and..." I shivered. "The floor was so cold! When he opened the door the creepy chanting stopped and... all the candles in the room were lit and I'm pretty damn sure no one in this house did it."

She stared at me for a long time. "Zac and I aren't crazy then."

"Taylor and I thought we were crazy."

"What's the deal between you two?"

"Nothing really. Its not like he's put the moves on me."

"What if he did?"

"I don't know."

"You know, Will's getting pretty jealous."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure. Like he'd give me the time of day."

"He is. He is insanely jealous Moll."

"Yes, and so is Isaac," I smirked.

"Excuse me?" She looked at me bewildered.

"I'm serious. You didn't see how livid he was. He was extremely livid. I heard him talking to Taylor about how he found you in Zac's arms in some strange room."

Sincerity just laughed. "Whatever Moll. Did you just get into my stash? Just cut it out."

I looked at her. "You said you quit."

She bit her lip. "I quit the weed. Not the..."

"Cocaine," I finished while I frowned. "Sin... you promised."

"Whats the deal with you and Will? Whats the deal with you and Taylor?" she changed the topic while adverting her eyes.

And I let her. I always let her. I don't know why. "Will, nothing. You know that as well as I do. He cornered me about Taylor for a minute and dropped it. Taylor and I are just friends."

She snickered. "Friends? What bullshit. I've seen the way he looks at you, the way he caters to you, the way he watches your every move." Sincerity pulled her arms above her head and smiled at me twistedly. "Come on. Fuck him already."

My jaw dropped. "SINCERITY!!!!" I shouted. "What is your problem?"

She smiled at me sweetly. "Nothing."

I then pointed to the door. "Out. You. Out of here. Now."

"Don't be such a stiff," she laughed and then ruffled my hair. Then she was gone.

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