Rachel laid in bed, her eyes wide open.

She stared at the ceiling of her dimly-lit room which was filled with the silvery strands of the moon. They fell onto the floor, spreading out like wildfire, illuminating the room with its blue, depressing hues. She listened as crickets chirped and owls hooting far in the distance. A gentle breeze blew, the leaves rustling and swaying with the wind before it died down.

Why can't I sleep?

She tossed and turned, attempting to get some sleep. Her eyelids were heavy, but no matter what she did she just couldn't get her eyes to close. Her mind was going on like a machine, thoughts running on an endless loop. The mingled feelings of dread, anxiety and hopelessness turned her stomach queasy, an unpleasant feeling welling in her chest.

She felt like throwing up.

She reached out her hand towards her phone and grabbed it. She stared at its wallpaper for a brief period of time before sitting up straight, sulking and staring into the wall which oddly made her feel better. She let out a sigh and grabbed the water bottle from the side, the chilly water cascading down her throat like a waterfall. She set the bottle aside and laid her head back down onto the pillow.

She eventually closed her eyes and drifted off into a deep slumber.

Morning

Rachel's left eye twitched as she stood at the entrance of the kitchen, the swarming aroma of pancakes taking over the room. She had her arms crossed against her chest, a not-so-friendly expression plastered on her face. It was now Sunday which meant that she had to mentally prepare herself for the next day while today had just started.

Her fellow crew mates were present in the kitchen with her: Irvene looked over breakfast while Joel was sitting at the other end of the table with Elly, them talking with a plate of cookies in front of them.

Not wanting to engage in conversation, R.A took a quick glance before dashing towards the microwave and taking out the steamy pancakes which Irvene had prepared for her. She dashed out of the kitchen and slid into the living room.  As she entered, she could see Latzius (Lolbit) sitting on the sofa and watching a horror movie on one of the TVs stacked on top of each other.

"Dude, just die, ya idiot!" He shouted at the figure on screen as R.A made her way towards the sofa and sat next to her, laying her head back on the cushion and wrapping her arms around herself.

Rachel took a look at the plate of pancakes and picked up a blueberry from them, stuffing it in her mouth as her eyes fell in the screen.

Latzius shook his head, "The way that killer is stalking their victim is giving me major second-hand embarrassment."

"And the way you're making random comments about the killers is giving ME second-hand embarrassment!" Joel yelled from the kitchen.

R.A let out a giggle and stuffed another blueberry in her mouth. Sounds of footsteps sounded and a figure emerged from the darkness: Ennard. He walked towards the couch over to Lolbit's side.

"Yo what's up, bro?" Enziel greeted with a smile, forwarding his hand for a fist bump from the fox.

Latzius grinned, "Sup, homie!" he reciprocated the fist bump with a smile and turned his head to look at R.A. "I thought you were gonna sleep for the next twelve hours, dude?"

"Nah, bro. Not today," Enziel lowered himself down onto the sofa, and Latzius slid down slightly to accommodate him, bringing him closer to Rachel.

Rachel scooted a bit to the side, making sure there's a slight distance between them. She continued snacking on her food, not talking much and continued watching those two talked. Ever since the accident, which the others weren't aware about, Rachel deemed it useless to do just about anything. It just- took so much energy.

Latzius took note of his bestie's exhausted face and immediately expressed his concern. "You good, bro? You've been kinda quiet lately."

Enziel was silent for a moment before speaking, his voice was quiet and hoarse. He let out a soft chuckle. "I'm fine. Just a bit exhausted."

Latzius and Enziel's conversation continued for several minutes before Latzius's gaze shifted to Rachel, realizing that she hasn't said a word, and her expression looked rather sullen and melancholy.

Enziel had noticed her silence and the way she tried to keep some space between herself and him. He couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness wash over him, before his mind filled with curious thoughts.

"You seem tired right now. Have you been getting some sleep lately?"

"Hm?" Rachel set her food on the plate, "oh, I'm alright. I just prefer to eat in silence. That's all," she reassured, adjusting herself.

Judging from her heavy eyes and tense posture, Enziel...didn't quite believe her words, but he let it slide with a nod.

"That's actually quite courteous of you," his eyes darted to his best friend, "unlike someone I know."

"Hay, now! I ain't that bad!" Latzius retorted with crossed arms.

The redhead gave a low chuckle, "Are you sure about that? Cuz last time I checked, I wasn't the one chewing loudly during our little videogame session together."

Latzius let out a loud gasp, "Ya think?!" he grabbed the nearest cushion and stuffed it in Enziel's face.

Enziel leaned against the sofa to prevent himself from toppling over. He chuckled softly as his best friend attempted to suffocate him with that fluffy cushion.

With their playful banter going on, Rachel just watched them like an entertained passerby, but she just couldn't feel it. She couldn't feel the silly happiness you're supposed to get when you see something funny unravel in front of you.

She just couldn't.

Knock! Knock!

The bestfriends stopped what they were doing and exchanged glances. Latzius hopped off from the couch and dashed towards the door, twisting the doorknob and opening the door.

There stood Zorro, waving at the orange fox with a sheepish smile on his face.

"Zorro?" the fox raised a brow and felt himself get pushed to the ground.

"ZORRO!" Joel appeared out of nowhere and opened his arms, enveloping the bear in a tight hug, "ah, my timid bear!" his tail wagged in sheer happiness.

"WOAH! A- lit-tle tight- there..?" Zorro managed to croak out in that bone-cracking hug.

"Huh, my bad, sweetpea." Joel placed him on the ground and took in his appearance: the glittery, Russian violet tuxedo with gold lining at the corner, a neatly tucked rose in the square pocket, those slim-fit formal jeans (which were a decent black), eminence painted cheeks on his face complementing his marble skin, the freckles on his face scattered like little dots of ink, and his dark purple hair tied into an adorable little ponytail.

Joel gave a gasp and placed a hand on his chest, "My, my! Look at our precious Zorro!" he cupped his face, "standing here in all his glory!"

"You mean, your glory," the bear corrected in a low, but polite tone, his eyes wavering away from the fox in front of him.

"Oh my, how can I forget? I may have helped you look a handsome young man, but I know for sure that you did an incredible job there at the party."

The second Joel gave him a wink, Zorro felt his face heat up as he stared at the pavement in front of him, rubbing the collar of his tux.

"Are ya two gonna step inside?! Or else I'm locking you guys out! And don't complain once you get soaked by the rai-"

"Pssh, shut it, Latz," Joel placed a hand on his hip and waved the other as though he were shooing a fly. "Anyways, would you like to head inside?

Zorro shuffled his feet. "Yes, please. I-don't want to get wet... " he replied, his voice trailing off.




The Main Lobby

"It- it was a good experience, really! However...they did give a little bit of trouble during the scanning because they thought my puppets were um...something else, but luckily that couple got there in time and let me in. As for the kids, they...they actually liked me! Uh...they were really fascinated by my delayed speech trick too."

"Wow, that sounds lovely! How much did they pay you?" asked Irvene, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Hm...around £####?"

Latzius shot out his drink and coughed. "WHAT???"

Joel and Irvene exchanged shocked glances while Rachel stared at him for a good amount of time.

"And uh...they gave me an additional £#### as a tip-"

"WHAT???" Latzius was absolutely losing his mind. "Hold on, hold on, hold on. I don't get it. Didn't you say that they were gonna pay you ####? What happened?"

"Well uh...They said that they really liked the way I dealt with the kids when two of them got into a fight and how I kept them busy when the adults were having brunch so..."

"Damn," Joel uttered, "I mean- that's a big win for us if you ask me." He took a sip from his strawberry lemonade and savored its taste.

"Either way, we all are very proud of you, Zorro. You did a wonderful job," Irvene smiled, slowly rubbing his shoulder.

He took a look at his friends and smiled, feeling grateful for the support. "Thanks, guys..."

"EEEEEEK!!!" A shriek sounded from the other end of the building, turning all heads towards the source.

Elly came into view, running hysterically from what seemed like...a lizard chasing after her?

Joel's eyes widened and hopped on the closest chair.

"Yo, what the hell?!" Latzius turned his head towards him.

"LISTEN! I just got my hair and manicure done! Do you have ANY IDEA what'll happen if that RODENT touches me?!" Joel retorted, huddling the corner like a scared child.

Latzius pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his nose. "You and your clean-freak personality..."

"It's not clean-freak! It's about- well- YOU KNOW!"

As Elly continued running around, Enziel entered the scene with a broomstick in his hands. Irvene placed a hand on her mouth while Rachel stood there with crossed arms, completely unfazed. With Joel complaining (more like whining) about his manicure, the redhead siblings running around and Irvene just witnessing the entire thing, Rachel had enough and let out a frustared sigh.

SSSSSSSS!

Rachel's paused in her tracks and saw Latzius hovering a spray can above the lizard, stunning it in place.

Joel sniffed the air, his ears drooping down and face scrunching up in disgust. "EWWWWW!"

"SHUT UP, MAN! The lizard's probably afraid of YOU," Latzius stated, standing up straight.

"Quite right," Irvene replied. "I'll go open up the windows to let the smell out," she took a quick bow and exited the room.

Rachel watched as the lizard writhed under the effects of the spray, feeling tad a bit sorry for it.

"Elly, what will you do if you're living by yourself and you have to face a lizard?" Enziel moved the lizard to the scrap collector with the broomstick.

"I'll just run away till I don't see the lizard:D" she struck a heroic pose, her chin high.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah seriously:D"

"sigh..."

Joel then inspected the floor, safely climbing down once the coast was clear. He stood by Rachel's side, placing a hand on his hip.

"Sheesh, that was terrible," he eyed the siblings. "I must say: I'm sorry that you had to witness that because...you know...dragons are technically lizards but are huge in size and plus, they're scary."

Rachel managed to let out a soft chuckle, "Oh?" she raised a brow, "so you think I'm scary?"

Both of them shared a laugh which then died down.

Craning his neck, Joel spotted Zorro hiding behind a chair while trembling, a fearful expression on his face. He let out a giggle, extending his hand towards him.

"You can come out now. It's okay."

The bear slowly rose and reached out for his hand and took it. He met eyes with his best friend and cracked a warm smile.

Joel smirked, ruffling the hair in between his ears. He then turned back, noticing that Rachel had left the room. His smile faded, and his eyes scanned the room for her. Perhaps she wanted some space. He gave a shrug and returned to playfully tease Zorro.

Rachel's room

There she was, sitting on her bed with a sketchbook in her lap. Her sketches mostly consisted of graphite based animals and nature. She turned a page back, unsticking the two pages because of their acrylic layering and stared at the swirling colours for a brief moment before turning back.

She observed her sketches and glided her hand over them, feeling the tension in her strokes. Letting out a sigh, she grabbed her phone from the sidetable and took a picture of her newly made sketches. With some quick editing and adjustments, she uploaded it to her art account.

She had quite a decent following: +10k people. Sometimes, she would even work digitally when she had the time to do so and complete commissions in order to contribute to helping the circus financially. It was her passion.

But even passion often required sacrifice.

She turned a few pages back and froze, staring at the person she had drawn on that fine paper. A jolt of shock, grief and longing struck her altogether. Her heart was gripped with unease and pain as her chest tightened up. That face.

How could she forget that loving face?

Tears formed in those once lively blue eyes, but she quickly wiped them away with her sleeve. She didn't dare to let them fall and stain the page. It was perfect, too perfect. She didn't want to ruin it.

*
"What are you drawing, love?"

She giggled, hugging the sketchbook close to her chest. "I'm not telling!"

"Is that so?" he playfully yanked it out of her hands and took a look.

"My, oh, my," he commented, mesmerized, "someone's really in love, huh?" he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, planting a kiss on her forehead.

She giggled again upon feeling his warm embrace, "Whenever I'm with you, I feel myself falling for you."

He stared into her eyes, lost in them with a warm smile on a frosty, winter day, "And I love you for you."

*

"And I love you for you..." she read out the words written at the bottom of the page. Despite the fact his handwriting was that of a kindergartener's, Rachel didn't mind it.

Tossing the sketchbook aside, she walked towards the large terrace window, sliding its glass door open and grabbing the hookah from it corner. She stepped onto its wooden flooring and stared at the lush forest in front of her. She grabbed the hose of the hookah, bringing it near her mouth and taking a sip from, inhaling the flavoured air. She blew out a cloud of smoke, placing her elbows on the railing, her eyes now heavy and weary.

Rain softly pattered down, bringing a gentle swing of air with it once in a while. The leaves swayed in their own sense of direction as the smell of the rich mud rose in the air.

She continued peering off in the distance, taking those occasional sips and trying to form shapes and patterns with the smoke she puffed out. It was strange, really. She claimed that something like this is 'harmless' to her because she saw most of her family members do it and with them being dragons, anything was bound to happen to them, so she took it as a source of relaxing herself.

"It seems like I'm not the only one in this place who needs some time to themselves,"

Rachel propped her head up, looking left and right. "Joel?" she spotted him standing to her right with a vape in his hand. "When did you get here?"

"I apologise for trespassing and not seeking your permission to enter. You wandered, but I couldn't help myself and sheer. Is everything alright?"

The dragon let out a long sigh, lowering her head. She let the silence do its thing before Joel spoke.

"It's alright. I know," he took a sip from his vape and let out a quick puff of the flavoured air, "life isn't easy, isn't it? It doesn't come to you, but when it does, it comes from all four directions."

Rachel gave a slight nod, unsure of what he was going on about, but she couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of irritation that her 'alone' time was disrupted. However, she chose not to act on it and listen to her friend.

"One thing my grandfather taught me is that 'when life gives you lemons, you make lemonades,'" he let out a chuckle, shaking his head. "I am aware that it's a silly phrase, but he's right in his own way."

She looked at him, listening intently.

"When my dear grandmother passed away, he was in distress for almost the remaining time he had left, but he told me not to make the same mistakes he did and not to drag yourself down. 'Always keep your head up and don't lose yourself' is what he would repeatedly tell me. Heck, he even refused to find somebody else after granny dearest passed away."

Seeing the smile on his face made Rachel wonder: who was Joel, really? What was his story? And how did he turn out to be the optimistic and outgoing Joel he is now? But one thing was for sure: despite his alluring personality, he was full of wisdom. She couldn't help but stare at him in admiration and amazement.

"It can be difficult , yes, especially when you think there's no way out," he locked eyes with her, "but when there's a will there's a way."

No. There's no way. There's never a way. I don't believe any of this...moving forward bullshit. I can't. I just- can't...

Rachel frowned and gave a nod, turning away with a mellow, but sour face.

Joel placed a hand on her shoulder, "I know that the truth can be bitter, but what can I say? It's how life works."

If he was alive, my life would still be intact. I would still be me.

Not wanting to seem rude, she gave a small, forceful smile.

"Atta girl," he gave her a pat, "now then, shall we return to our little session, then?"

Both friends stared off into the forest, sipping and puffing out flavoured smoke as they let the pattering of the rain take over their awkward, but mellow silence.