Extend the Story - Add a Room

"I can't say no to you, Annie," you say, and take a bite. It's just as delicious as the cupcake, and twice as soft. It just melts in your mouth, and you stifle a moan of pure bliss. Maybe it wasn't her cooking. Maybe it's okay to eat more of it. You ARE hungry, anyway. You keep eating until it's all gone, and she smiles at you, prettily and innocently, and gives you a cloth — pastel pink, her favorite color, and honeysuckle-scented — to wipe your hands with.

"There's something I want to ask you, after school," Annie says. You find yourself bobbing your head. "But can you make me a promise before then?"

You bob your head again, like a buoy dropped into the ocean.

"Promise me that you'll stay alive, no matter what happens."

You blink. What could she mean by that? "That's so ominous."

"Promise me," she pleads, batting her eyes at you and pushing her lower, glossed lip at you.

"Why?"