“Thanks for helping me out today, Peri.”

 

“I’m just worried about you, Ollie.” The tall blonde-haired, green eyed girl pouted, “I always knew the company was scummy, but I never thought they’d do something this evil.”

 

“I’m not surprised.” Oliver looked at his living room that had a few holes in the walls and floor that still needed to be fixed. At least all the blood and mud was cleaned up though. That crossbow and the bolts were given to Forest as an early birthday present.

 

“I just didn’t think Jessie and the others would wanna kill me… What the hell did I ever do to them, anyway?”

 

“They’re just jealous. Obviously.” Peridot sneered, “Jealousy can make people do crazy things…”

 

“I guess that’s true.” Oliver pulled his white t-shirt down a bit and looked at the tattoo across his chest, “I wanted to hurt them.”

 

“I’m pretty sure you hurt them, Ollie. One guy lost a thumb.”

 

“I barely even did anything…” The boy shook his head and sighed. Then he looked into those bright green eyes and smiled wryly, “If you get Cursed one day, you’ll understand.”

 

“Now you’re just bragging!” She glared at him and then reached out to pull him by the wrist, “Show me the scene of the crime! You said that the Thief broke into your bedroom, right? Let’s go~!”

 

“Okay, but wait, uh… Never mind.” Oliver blushed and followed her upstairs, then down a short hallway to the right and into his bedroom. It was still sunny outside, but it was on the other side of the house, so the room wasn’t as bright in the evening.

“Ollie… There’s someone in your bed…” Peridot trembled and hid behind the boy, whispering in his ear as she pointed towards the gray arms that were sticking out from underneath the green blanket.

“Yeah, I was going to warn you. Ummm, I can explain. She’s just a statue, it’s not weird, okay?”

 

“A statue? Why would you keep a statue in your bed?!”

 

She creeped over and carefully pulled the quilt away, then screamed: “Why is she naked?!”

 

“Why not? It's just a statue. Aren’t most human statues naked?”

 

“Even if she’s naked, you can at least put some clothes on her! No wonder you keep her in your bed…”

 

“That’s not why!” Oliver retorted, “It’s just because, look, look at the way she was made! It’s like she was meant to be hung up in the air! If I wasn’t afraid she might break, I’d hang her up on my punching bag stand!”

 

“That’s even more perverted!” Peridot glared at the shorter boy, “Let’s get rid of her! We can sell her to-”

 

“No! No way!” He shook his head quickly, “Stone Si-Uh, Stone Girl is mine! Besides, Verna would only give me a few gold. It’s not worth it at all! No, now they probably can’t afford that much!”

 

“That’s true…”

 

“I’m really lucky that I didn’t keep all my money in one place.” Oliver smirked, “I won’t tell you where, but my house is basically a gold mine… That thief was really dumb for sneaking into my bedroom. They could’ve literally picked any other place in the house and I wouldn’t have noticed.”

 

“How would they know that?” Peridot rolled her eyes and pointed towards the scary sculpture again, “Even if you keep this thing in your house, you should at least put her downstairs in the guest bed… What if she rolls over on you when you’re sleeping?”

 

“That does happen sometimes… But it’s okay. I like living dangerously.”

 

“You’re just going through puberty!” She pouted and crossed her arms in front of her chest, “Why don’t you put her downstairs and I’ll take her place?”

 

“Uh, that’s a little…” The boy blushed again and looked away, “If you really wanna have a sleepover, why don’t I sleep in the guest bed and you can stay up here with the statue?”

 

“Hell no! What is wrong with you?!”

“Lots of things…” Oliver snickered, “You can use the guest room though.”

 

“Is that creepy evil statue prettier than me?!”

 

“It’s not like that, I just…” He shook his head and sighed, “Peri, you know why.”

 

“Orina?”

 

“No. I’m just afraid I’ll hurt you.”

 

“You didn’t kill her, Ollie.”

 

Oliver sat down on the end of the bed and looked up at the skinny girl, “I’m not talking about Orina. I’m just a lot stronger now and I’m afraid I might hurt you in my sleep.”

 

“Uh-huh… Sure.” Peridot snorted and walked away, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Oliver. Good night!”

 

“Uh, night, Peri-”

 

*Bam!*

 

“Why is she always so angry?”

 

“I’m not always angry!” A loud voice came from right behind the door, then those little feet stomped through the hall and down the stairs.

 

“Hehehe~!” Oliver laid down on the bed for a while, but it was too hot, so he got up and opened the window. Then he placed a bunch of tacks across the window sill. He also put some nails on the floor under it. The tacks were found in a glass jar in the closet, while the nails were simply created with his ability.

 

“Let’s see how you sneak into my room now. Little Thief.”

 

Obviously his preparations were completely useless. The night went by and nothing particularly interesting happened. At least not in Oliver’s house.

 

“Aaaaah! No! Daddy! Waaaaah~!”

A piercing scream rang out in the village in the morning, waking up the few people like Oliver who were still sleeping late. Peridot rushed up to his room and opened the door just as he was about to rush outside. The two of them almost bumped into each other.

 

“What the hell happened?!”

 

“I don’t know! It sounds like Myrtle!”