Free A Thief's Treasure by Elena Miller

the fact that my life had taken a 180-degree spin in the last three months.
     
    I sat in bed and looked up at the ceiling, my thoughts on everything.   The ceiling was a stale gray unlike the vivid blue in my old room.   I missed it a lot but I know I had to make the best of it for right now.
     
    I was thinking about all this when a voice hit me through all of that like a bullet through the water.   ‘Are you awake Alyssa?   It’s me Darren.’
     
    I sat up in shock, looking around the room to see if there was anything around.   There wasn’t, and I was beginning to get puzzled about what was happening.   I looked around confusedly to see if anyone was hiding up in the ceiling maybe, but it was stark quiet.
     
    ‘Relax Alyssa.   I’m in my room.   I was using our mind reading to communicate to you.   You are just reading my mind.   This is the real Darren, not some creep so calm down,’ the voice told me through my head.   I guessed it was just thinking the thoughts, so I decided to try it back to him.
     
    ‘What do you want?   It’s late you know.’
     
    ‘I know it is sweetie, but hear me out.   Can you let me in your room, I wanted to talk to you and I had to do this in person and not telepathically.   My thoughts are so strong they’re only focused on you, so no one else will hear this.   Can you let me in your room in five minutes?’ he asked.
     
    I thought about it; why in the world would he want to talk to me at a time like this?   Especially after everything that’s happened?   Nevertheless I gave in and responded.   ‘Be over here in three minutes.   I’ll be waiting.’
     
    The voice disappeared and I could hear a small patter of footsteps cross from one end of the hallway, down the stairs, to the other end.   Sure enough within a minute I heard a small knock and I opened the door, and there was Darren with his long, brown hair in a low ponytail and only a pair of shorts and a t-shirt covering his body.   I could see the taut muscles and I couldn’t help but want to touch them.   I knew it was not the right time however, as I needed to know what the hell was going on.
     
    “Hey there,” I asked.
     
    “Hey yourself.   Say, can we talk out on the balcony?   I need some air and since I’ve been cooped up in this damn place most of the day and there’s a lot on my mind,” he replied.   I could tell something was up but I didn’t want to prod it any further.   I walked in with him and we went over to a set of two small doors which led to one of the two balconies.   The other was in Eliza and Anthony’s room, and I’m sure they used it on a daily basis since Eliza stays home half the time.
     
    I sat down and I looked at him, a look of growing concern present on my face.   “So what’s happening?   You seem a little off,” I asked.
     
    There was a small loveseat there and each of us took a side.   There was some closeness between us, but I could tell there was tension.   “Yeah.   There is something wrong and it’s been eating away at me since I’ve thought about it.   I have this problem; I really want to tell someone how I feel, but I’m a little worried about their reaction.   I kind of came of as an asshole initially, but I didn’t mean to and I don’t want to ruin any of my chances with this person.   To be honest I might possibly love them and I care more for them than I do myself.   The problem is how.   How do I tell this person that?” he asked.
     
    I smiled.   This was one of the few areas in life I actually had experience in.   I had one boyfriend, but I had to help a lot of my friends both male and female confess their love to someone.   It saddened me a little that he liked someone else, but who knows, maybe he’s just trying to hide it in order to make things less awkward.   “Well I would probably just pull her aside like how we’re doing now and apologize for how douchey you treated this person at the beginning but now