” she yelled up the stairs. I growled and slammed my book shut. I got up and trudged down the hall to the stairs. Walking down them I could hear eve...ryone talking. I jumped down the last five stairs.“Aruna… How many times do I have to tell you? Don’t jump the stairs.” yelled my mom.I rolled my eyes and sat in the chair next to my brother. My aunt was seated across from us. My parents on either side of us and all I could think of was how bad I wanted to just get up and leave. Deepu’s hand grazed. .Could I even be safe without him?Because that thing was out there! Fuck it had my best friend, I have to tell-My thoughts changed, replaced with the image of a rattled extraterrestrial beehive. Millions of monsters competing for bodies, fucking and controlling humans as hosts.I abandoned the car based on a feeling I'd grown to trust. The same intuition that instructed me to stockpile food and other necessities. Not a spoken command, not involuntarily control, just these strong, almost. "You know Wendy, right? She was the female Santa at the party."Saying the word party is what starts it. As I say it his hand moves to my knee."Mmhmmm." he says running his hand down to my calf."She's getting married soon...." I say but I don't think he's listening anymore.His hand is running up my leg, over my knee under my skirt and up my thigh.I stop talking. His hand is getting higher and my insides are quivering in response. I hold my breath, waiting.His fingers are trailing at the top of. “That discussion was interesting,” Karin said. “Katy seemed to be a bit, well, conservative, I guess, compared to everyone else.”“She had a bad experience like I did,” Elyse said, “and she’s let that color her whole outlook.”“But she didn’t even come close to what happened to you,” Stephie said. “She stopped. You didn’t.”“That doesn’t make it less traumatic for her,” Elyse said. “Each of us has to make our own decisions.”“Yes, but she objected to that,” Karin said. “That’s my difficulty with.