CHAPTER TWO  ━━  LITTLE DARK AGE

Thunderstorms always shook up Madden, other than the fact that it was a blaring loud noise that sounded like it would cave in your room with no strike. Sometimes he believed they were a warning that something bad was happening in your home. Or something off is inside. He didn't really know and he didn't really know if he believes that. But he does believe one thing; that storms are not good. It was no surprise that he found himself, itching at his palms, jumpy at the fact there was a storm heard right above his home at 8 PM.

It strikes above his home once again, lighting up his dark room before he could turn the light on. It strikes again. He wonders what is he doing. What's exactly going on and why him, why him!

The lights come on, and the room is lit for everyone to see. He sees the girl, the one with the weird bloody face, he cannot fathom what's actually going on. He doesn't know if it's because he's in denial about her being in his home unwilling or because....she's covered in blood with a giant splatter on her face.

They crowd around her, she sits on his bed with a hole in her left cheekbone that resembled something of a bullet hole maybe? Madden didn't know but Dénny had said that when they carried her back to his house. Madden wasn't angry they chose his house as it was probably the most easily accessible. Iggy had too many people, Saint had too many people and his brother on him constantly, Julius wasn't here, and Dénny didn't trust her in his home. Or maybe he didn't trust the idea of her. Since apparently he saw her eyes do something weird, but Madden didn't know what. And honestly he thought Dénny was just seeing things since he did hear TK in the woods but no one else did.

So it was all left to the invisible kid. The desperate loser.

The boy who had none of the attention he desperately craves given to him by his parents who were probably in deep sleep by now. Or his grandmother who he missed his bond with but was quite overwhelmed by what she forced on him, when she noticed he existed. But sometimes he misses her overbearingness. There was something terribly strange about not being thought about in your own home. His parents would sometimes forget to feed him, not knowing he was sitting at the table as they only saw Oliver, but once they saw him it'd been "oh my god, where did you come from Madden??" But in reality; he had been right here. The entire time, he was right there. But he wasn't seen. He didn't know if he should be grateful for not being seen, or if he should be grateful that people don't give a fuck about him. He believed he should of at first—but that was until he began to crave the attention. The ability to be liked by so many. It was a drug, an addiction he couldn't get rid of.

Madden was usually never seen, in his house, in school, or sometimes by his friends. It was probably a selfish thing to want all the attention on you for one moment. One little thing to make you feel...noticed. To make you feel wanted. But nobody did that anyway: maybe except for TK.

Or his group called Boyshit. But, even then it just didn't feel the same. It probably never would.

He tries everything to make it better, to feel noticed in his surroundings, but a mother's presence without him in her arms is suffocating. He claws at his throat attempting to breath because the longing to be held causes him ache. A mother's cut without even trying to move the blade hurts more than purposeful. A mother cuts deep.

But a cut that runs deeper is the cut of fear being shown to the unknown and Madden could tell the girl was scared on the bedside of his room, so she only stared. Slightly panting but not loud enough to make herself seem vulnerable with a blank expression. It seemed nothing laid behind her eyes, just a deep dark pupil with no...emotion.

"Are you okay?" Iggy asked, quite clearly and calmly. "Did someone hurt you? Did you see TK?"

The girl only stared at his words with nothingness, no reaction to the name TK.

Great, so she was just some half dead girl they picked up. "Did someone kidnap you? Is that why you look like that?" Madden attempted to ask slowly but the girl gave no response. She just stared.

"Are you deaf? Or are you just ignoring us?" Saint asked, a bit more aggressive than he should've.

Iggy slapped his arm. "Don't say that, she's obviously scared."

"Well, shit, she's scaring me too man!" Saint suddenly whisper yells, waving his hands at her. "You bring this girl to Madden's house cause she's all bleeding and shit. But she doesn't even speak! How can we help her if she doesn't even speak?"

"All she does is stare at us weird. Like we did something bad to her," Madden added, he was a bit annoyed by the staring, the ignoring but he tried to be calm. Careful. "What's the point of talking to her if she just stares at us like a scared dog??"

"Maybe she's just lost and doesn't know where she is," Iggy tried to back up the girl. "Or maybe she was in a cult and they all brainwashed her to not speak or have opinions and she escaped because of the Koolaid."

Saint looked at his friend weird. "Koolaid? What's wrong with the koolaid?"

"You don't know of the Koolaid Massacre? The mass-murder suicide??" Iggy tried to refresh his friend's memory but Saint just looked lost. Honestly, so was Madden. He had no idea what the hell Iggy was talking about. "Jim Jones? Peoples Temple movement?"

"Whatever the hell that means," Saint pointed a thumb to the girl while looking at Iggy. "Even then; why can't she just say that? Is she deaf?"

Iggy rolled his eyes the furthest they could be. "Oh my god, she's not deaf!"

"Maybe she's mute?" Dénny suggested, he hadn't really been talking this entire time but he still was around. Staring back at her. Madden wondered what he thought of this.

Iggy nodded in agreement, moving his attention to Dénny. "Could make sense if you look at her state. She's probably just scared." The Pasternak boy tried to be reasonable but Saint shook his head.

"Or she's probably just a murderer!" Saint waved at the girl, who flinched at his movements. Madden noted that. "Look this motherfucker, she's a leaking hamburger helper!"

Dénny shrugged to that also. "I mean, that's plausible too, she does look like she butchered someone."

"She could be disabled! Maybe she doesn't understand us!" Iggy tried to back the girl up again. But Madden was confused on why maybe it was because he was too nice for his own good. Or maybe he thought the girl was cute. Madden didn't really know.

But that did make the Arger boy think, what if she's disabled? What if the blood could be explained by something not murderous and reasonable. What if they were all just scaring her overloading her sense with stuff she couldn't understand? What if...what if....there were too many what if's.

But he would feel bad if something was wrong with the girl and he just left her somewhere.....where she couldn't defend herself. Much like his brother.

Madden nodded with Iggy for the first time. He couldn't believe he was doing this. "I can't believe I'm saying this but Iggy does have a point. She probably does have something wrong with her."

Iggy nodded to his other two friends with a prideful smile. "See?! She's probably just scared and cold!"

The girl studied Iggy carefully as he said that. There was something that was in her eyes that moment: something...unreadable. Madden didn't know what but Saint noticed it also pushing the boy back a bit. He didn't want this girl going psycho on his best friend and he didn't know what she could do. From what they seen with all the blood she possibly could have done something terrible.

"What about the blood then?" Saint retorted, he was very unamused by this situation. "Can you explain that?"

Madden shrugged. "I dunno," he couldn't really defend her on that one.

"Have you all ever thought its maybe her blood?? Not another person's??" Iggy even pointed to her again. She flinched more when he did it. "Are you blind? Can you not see the obvious hole in her face and only God knows how many other wounds she could have!"

Saint rolled his eyes. "Whatever. This whole situation is freaky." He put his hands up in surrender, he seemed over it.

"I'll get her some clothes," Madden muttered, trailing to the back of his room to give her some old clothes in his closet. He almost decided to give her some underwear but he decided...against it. Might've been a little weird doing that.

He comes back and hands her the clothes slowly. She stares, for a long moment, before snatching them away from him very swiftly. He never seen a person move that quick before. She feels the fabric of them on her hands, standing up she puts the clothes down. Madden furrowed his brows at what she was doing.

"Wait what are you—"

The girl attempts to pull her bloody uniform up from the bottom.

Saint was the first to respond, grabbing her hands in place. "No! Fuck—stop!"

Madden covered his eyes. "Woah!!? No, why are you getting naked!"

Dénny just stared at the girl wide eyed with no response.

And Iggy was the loudest. "No, no, no, no! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" Almost screaming in the room and forgetting that Madden's parents were asleep. Madden slapped his arm for that and the boy muttered a quick sorry.

But the girl widened her eyes and pushed Saint off of her with incredible force, he fell instantly on the ground.

"Do not touch! Don't. Touch. Me." She spoke harshly, no hesitation in her voice.

As she said those words the lights flickered in response which made Madden look at his celling light weird. Something else could be heard, something...ghastly? Madden didn't know if it was the wind of the storm or not but it was something weird. And it unnerved him very fucking deeply, it's like he felt something else other than his friends was in the room. He didn't like that feeling. The feeling of some presence being next to him but he couldn't see it. Suddenly he felt the bumps on his arm trail down to his legs, something weird was happening. Something isn't right. But as soon as she stopped speaking the lights stopped flickering as well. Turning back to normal.

What the fuck.

Saint looked up at the girl with a offended expression, it looked as if he was confused on why she would do that if he was just trying to help her.

"Here, I can show you the bath—" Iggy tried to approach her but she scooted away from him, backing herself into the corner of the room.

Then the girl murmured something, as if she was talking to someone but Madden couldn't hear it. It sounded a lot like a name. But as soon as she did that; she walked out the room and into the closet. The light immediately turned on, so he guessed she was changing in there....he didn't really know.

It was quiet for a moment, maybe because everyone needed to process what just happened, Madden sure knew he did. To the lights flickering and the sound he heard; he was beginning to think that maybe Dénny wasn't so crazy about what he heard in the woods after all.

Though, despite that, Saint was the first to speak. "What the fuck did she push me for?!" He got up by himself, grunting as he did, and looking around at his friends. "Like seriously? What did I do?!"

Madden shrugged, there was many ways Saint could've retaliated against her. He could've said a slick remark, called her a curse word, punch her, or all three. But he did....nothing. Which isn't like him. He usually was a armed dog in the group ready to bite anyone who comes close to hurting them. Along with Dénny but he was way calmer, way more patient but Madden knew he could fight.

Or he heard he could from TK. And TK never lies.

But the Vásquez boy had a strict rule of never hit a woman. He would never lay his hands on any girl or anyone who is a woman in his eyes. That's just something he couldn't do: he would never do it. They're like a different species from them and Saint couldn't bring himself to hurt something so delicate and fragile. Or in this case, scared and alone. That just wasn't in him. Which is why he didn't hit the girl.

"Are you okay?" Iggy asked, putting a hand on his shoulder as support.

"Yeah I—" then Saint grunted, closing his eyes shut and holding his head. For a moment Madden panicked because the boy looked like he was about to explode from his head.

"Saint? Saint! Are you okay?"

But then the boy stopped grunting in pain. He stopped gritting his teeth. He stopped. His nose began to bleed when he finally let out a painful breath of relief. "Awe, fuck me."

Dénny looked at his friend concerned. "You're sure, you're okay?"

Saint waved him off, holding his nose. "Yeah, yeah. She probably just made me hit my head or something." He then sat down where she was at, holding one of Madden's shirts to his nose.

Madden cringed and mentally cursed the boy out for doing that, especially when it was a clean one.

"This is crazy," Madden finally said, putting his hands on the top of his head. "No, scratch that. This is just freaking weird! Like out of this world weird."

"Still can't believe she pushed you man." Dénny reflected on, he was forming an opinion on her.

"I'm telling you, there's something wrong with her. Esa chica esta loca." Saint added, with the piece of clothing in his nose to stop the bleeding. Moving his head around the side of his head like a swirly.

"At least she can talk." Iggy tried to back her up.

"Iggy, your sister can say more and she's fuckin' five!" Saint whisper shouted with his voice sounding weird because of the clothes in his nose. He tried to sat up but accidentally hit his head on the headboard making him sit down again.

"She should just take her somewhere and leave her." Dénny finally voiced his opinion. "We don't know this girl and we obviously can't help her, maybe we can take her to the hospital—"

"No! We can't do that!" Iggy shut that idea down. Madden was confused on why, it was the most reasonable.

"Why not?" Saint asked, confused as well.

"Because then we'll have to say where we found her...." Iggy trailed off but the others still hadn't gotten it. "...and then our plans on looking for TK will be exposed! They'll tell all our parents, my mom will kill me!"

Saint widened his eyes, "Oh, fuck."

Dénnt rolled his eyes. "Well what else can we do? We can't just keep her? She's bleeding and needs help, Iggy." As much as Dénny didn't want to be grounded what other choice did they have? And he also....just was weary of the girl around his friends.

Madden silently became gloomy for a moment. He wished he had the problem of his parents grounding him. He wished he had the struggle of being too much of a troublemaker so his parents could notice and get tired of him. But he didn't, and he realized he never would. So he sadly had nothing to say when Iggy mentioned parents because his parents didn't care already so why would they now?

"We'll just have to hide her somewhere." Iggy suggested but everyone looked at him weird. Hiding a girl in one of their homes was just bad news.

Well, actually maybe not for Madden.

"Where Iggy?! Where could we possibly hide her?" Dénny asked, wanting to be enlightened. He wasn't on board with his plan.

"I could hide her over here until, you know, we find TK or something. I don't know," Madden agreed or rather offered. "Iggy's got a point, we if go to any adults they'll tell our parents and your houses will be on lockdown."

Dénny looked at his friend like he was an idiot. "Are you stupid, Madden? Do you realize that we don't even know this girl and she could be psychotic? Or just, I don't know, maybe just a dangerous person?" He tried to talk some sense into his friend but the boy shook his head. His mind was made up.

"No, I can't let you guys get in trouble. I'll be fine. I think I can handle her or whatever." Madden tried to convince his friend but Dénny looked terribly unconvinced. He was not for this plan. "I've got a medical kit in my bathroom. I could try and help her, I don't know. But...."

Madden trails off, he felt bad about feeling the girl alone. So if he had to take her in, then so be it. "....it's the best option. We can get more intell this way."

"Intell of what?"

"Or where TK could be!" Iggy answered for Madden. "Maybe the same big bad people took TK and she knows something about where he is! It's perfect."

Dénny crossed his arms. He seemed...content as he could be with that answer. "I guess, but I still don't trust it. Nor do I trust that chica loca."

Just as he said that, the girl came from out of the closet. She had a giant Body Snatchers shirt on that hung to her knees, Madden forget he'd gotten that for his birthday. It looked good on her, he guessed. He didn't really know because he didn't like feminine looks, he guessed. He didn't know. But that did not mean he liked boys. But he did like girls. He did not like boys....he never would. That's disgusting.

She stared at the boys, her eyes went to each one individually before she stared back at Saint. It seemed she wanted to say something but she didn't.

Saint huffed, standing up. "Aye, chica, if you ever do that again....I'll—"

"I am not scared of you." The girl made her statement quick and fern. Her eyes turned into slits, they seemed to have so much to say. But said so little.

They were...degrading the boy in a way, killing him soft and slowly. Her words were calculated well but also....slow? She sounded monotone as she spoke; as if she didn't care. Or if she was trying to figure out what she was going to say. It was weird.

Saint seemed taken aback almost, her words put a tinge in his heart and hurt the inner parts of his ego, making him stammer on his first for the first time.

The boy didn't know what to say. "You—you know what. What-the fuck-ever." He finally said but the girl just raised her eyebrow like she didn't understand. Or maybe because she wanted the boy to spit out whatever he was saying. "I'm going home."

Saint took the bloody shirt out his nose, grabbing his bag, and leaving the room of Madden. Dénny gave the girl one more look before leaving the room himself and Iggy followed. Then it was just Madden and her. Staring at each other.....with nobody else in the room. With blood still all over her face.

He should probably try and clean it off.

"So, uh," Madden watches her slowly walk around him to go on his bed. "Do you have a name or anything? Something I can call you?"

The girl hesitated, for the first time, she had some emotion in her eyes. He didn't know if it was something bad or good but judging from how she looked: it seemed bad. Or maybe even....what was....traumatic?

She struggled to speak, her mouth opening but closing many times before she decided to settle on something abnormal.

"They call me...a Sin." She tells him, her eyes glued to his very scarily. She doesn't break away. It makes the boy in the room feel funny, his eyes moving elsewhere to she if she would break it but she hadn't, he itches his arm out of instinct.

"That's...." Madden didn't know what to say. "...cool, I guess."

"Well, you don't have to be scared. You can sleep on my bed if you want my parents won't come in." Madden tried to comfort her as she sat on the bed, eyeing him carefully and cautiously, she seemed to be still scared even if he wasn't going to hurt her. "I'm serious...uh....Sin?"

She flinched at the name, even though she told him, and immediately nods. She lays down on the bed turning around to face the wall. To Madden, it seemed she had fallen right asleep despite seeing wide awake and alert.

Madden decided to do the same, turning his lamp off, and laying down on the floor. He feels cold without a blanket but he would rather the girl have his blanket, she probably needed it more than him. She was wet. Bloody. Cold. And scared. Madden tried to think of him in this situation, him being bloody and hurt and cold—he wouldn't trust anyone either. Or he guessed. He didn't really know. It was hard to feel safe in his room with her inside because at the end of the day: it was never confirmed if it was her blood or not.

He then thinks to her wounds; why was she so nonchalant about it? Doesn't she want to be treated quickly? There's no way she just went to bed with a bullet hole or graze on her face. It just didn't seem...normal.

But the weirdest part of this all that made Madden feel even more uncomfortable came to his mind.

How did she turn the light on in the closet if the switch was outside?

ARGER'S RESIDENCE
7:00 AM | TUESDAY
NOVEMBER 10th, 1995.

       Awakening is something that Madden took dearly. He was the type of person to want to awaken from the comfort of his home or bed, feeling safe and sound snuggled in his bundles of blankets. But this morning hadn't been the case. Instead, Madden didn't sleep at all. He didn't know if it was out of fear or just because he could feel something watching him. Some kind of presence lurking behind him. Something breathing down his neck and giving him a chill that traveled down his spine, so his eyes stayed wide and awake naturally.

Once his alarm clock blared at 7 AM, he got up immediately to see the girl still laying sound asleep. He honestly thought she was faking. Because if it was just him and her in the room then who was breathing down his neck?

Madden only shook his head, this whole situation was as freaky. He tried to push away those thoughts for a moment, so he took the opportunity to try and walkie someone. He should've never agreed to watch her, must less keep her. He was honestly scared of what she might do to him while they're alone and he didn't even know why. He couldn't make it to the phone downstairs so he might as well just walkie them: though his parents probably wouldn't be even listening to whatever he's doing.

He tries Iggy first. "Iggy? Iggy, do you copy?" No response.

He tries the next person after no response for a couple seconds. "Dénny? Hello? Can you read me?" No response at all, not even a sign of someone on his channel. "Dénny??"

"Shit," He tries the next. "Julius? Are you there—listen we're not mad at you. I just...I need your help." But the boy doesn't answer. Madden smacked his teeth, though the boy had a right to be mad if he liked, this was a life or death situation. He has a bloody girl in his bed! And he won't just be left with her.

"Julius, please. I need your help! I'm sorry we weren't trying to listen to you earlier," Madden was getting desperate. "There's this weird ass girl we found while looking for Theo and I....I just don't wanna be alone with her. I just need—Someone to stay, okay? Please I'm sorry for feeling like I judged you." But alas, the Chapman boy does not answer. And usually Madden was a good guilt tripper, a good attention seeker, but it seems Julius doesn't crack from it. Not at all and never at all.

Madden sighs and decides to give it a rest, going to his last option. "....Saint? Do you copy?"

At first it seems hope is all lost but suddenly a groggily voice cracks though the com. "I'm tryin' sleep what do you want??" He answers quite tempered.

Madden laughs out of accomplishment. "Oh, thank god. Listen, Saint, I need you to...be here with me today. I can't leave this girl alone in my house so..." he takes a look at her and she still is laying down. "I'm gonna skip school and watch her, but I don't wanna be alone with her cause she scares me so...I was wondering if you could—"

"Fuck yeah, I will." Saint's voice suddenly got louder. "School's shit anyway, all my grades are pfffftttt."

Madden let out a breath of relief. "Thank you, finally. Come over at 10." Quickly he shut the walkie off and ran over to his closet.

He switched into semi-presentable clothes so his parents wouldn't notice him, if they ever did, not going to school. Or like anything fishy about him. Making it down the steps, he comes to see his brother being coddled by his mother. His father was nowhere to be found and his grandmother well...she most likely was upstairs asleep.

He stood there for a moment, just waiting for his mother to notice him while she made his little brother's plate but she never did. She was on the phone as she put the plate of eggs and bacon to his younger brother but nothing ever occurred to him because she didn't see him.

"Mom, can I—"

His calls for his mother went unanswered because woman left the room quickly going right past her son. Whoever on the phone seemed to much more important than him. Her first son. The only son she said she would ever have. Her child.

He doesn't call after the first time and begins to make his own plate, his eyes began to get sweaty; why were they hurting? Why was his heart hurting? Why did he care? Why did he crave such love and attention from his mother, or family, that didn't care about anything but stupid Jewish shit? Telling him what he needs to do when he gets older, who he needs to marry, how he should act more manly, how he should meet girls, how he should focus on school—but sometimes they didn't even do that. It was only his grandma pushing. And if they did, there was no love behind those demands. Just a desire. A goal for them. Not for him. Why does he care....why does he? He knows why, but he does not accept it. Picking up a plate, wiping his eyes, he picks up a piece of bacon and makes his own toast.

His mother used to make him toast because he didn't eat eggs. She used to do that special treatment all the time. Why doesn't she anymore, why does she not? Why does she not?

It takes about three full minutes for the toast to finally be done, spreading jelly on it with a mix of butter, and then he sits next to his brother. "How are you Oli? You sleep okay?"

His young brother, Olivier, nods slowly. "Yeah! Taste good." He states a little bit louder than he should since...Madden is right next to him. But sometimes he miscalculated his tone when speaking.

Oliver suddenly groaned. "Why is the light so brighttttt?" His eyes began to get strained and Madden hurried and turned it off from the switch on the wall.

He sat back down next to his brother. "Better?"

"Yes! Better," The young Arger boy yells again.

Madden laughs at his brother. "Watch your volume, Oli. But I'm glad it's good."

"Sorry," He apologized, struggling to move the fork in his mouth and talk. Madden moved the fork for him and moved it in his mouth, the boy chewed and smiled. "Thank you, Maddy."

Madden smiled. "Of course, Oli."

Oliver jumped in his seat at something. "Oh, Maddy, can you take me to the park today!" He smiled with his eggs in his mouth as a little boy would. "I really, really, reallyyyyy wanna go."

"Maybe tomorrow, I got things to do today." Madden told his brother. "But I promise we can. I'll even take you on the swings and help you down the slide. Maybe even ice cream. That sound fun?"

Oli nodded. "Yeah, it does." His eyes suddenly met something else and the boy hyper focused on that instead.

Madden ruffles his brother's head, making him giggle as he did, but a few steps are heard behind him along with a gasp. "Madds? When did you get up? I thought you were still sleeping."

Madden didn't answer, he just stared in his plate: playing with his food. I was right here the whole time, he wants to say, he urges to say. He wished he could say. But cannot. It hurts to open his mouth and make the sound of those words come out, he doesn't know why but it does.

His mother began speaking again. "Well when you're done, take your brother upstairs and change him. Bathe him then take him to school." His mother turned around to look at him after washing her hands at the sink. She noticed he's feeding his brother again, almost like he's a baby.

Maybe he was in Madden's eyes, a baby that he would love till the day's end. He couldn't care less about his parents just his brother. That was all he cared about.

But it hurts watching his parents ignore him, not being there for him. It hurt so deeply like a cut—a large gash in his heart. In his throat that constricted his breathing, his right to be noticed and speak, it stopped him from being heard. Though he struggled on his blood, choking everyday to be heard. But nobody does. Not a soul sees him for him. Not anyone sees him at all. But none of you could see me, he wants to say but he does not. He can't. It's the truth but he can't say it.

None of you could see me.

CECE'S CONVENIENCE [PARKING LOT]
8:01 AM | TUESDAY
NOVEMBER 10th, 1995.

       Will feared she lacked some sort of physical strength, some kind of strength that she would use to protect herself and her family. She feared that it wasn't all there for her or it just wasn't enough. And it would never be enough to protect them. It would never. Sometimes she feared that she didn't have the same strength level of men when it came to defending against them.

Sometimes she wished she did.

Or maybe sometimes, she wished she was a boy. Life would've been a lot easier for her if she was a boy. Being a woman was hard, it was a hard thing nobody else could ever get when your mother chooses abusive men to ravage in and out her home. Her idea of motherhood was gone, but Will didn't believe motherhood was supposed to be so violent. So terrorizing to her children, she never thought what was being a Mother, because her own mother sometimes....wasn't one. Which is a lot harder as the eldest daughter when you have to step up and become a Mother. To learn motherhood at eleven years old...something was rotten about that.

But Will wouldn't just think of this as a free thought—no: she began to think about what she would be like if she was a boy. She believed that sometimes she was a boy. She thinks so much like one that it wasn't hard to believe she was one.

But maybe those were just fruitful thoughts for the morning because as soon as Will woke up, she noticed where she exactly was. The truck of her step-father. Daniel.

She was laid out in the front while her twin siblings stayed in the back, snuggled up by their winter coats as blankets. Will rubbed her eyes, trying to wake her own ass up, but just earned a loud yawn before she fully awakened.

It wasn't there first time sleeping in a car, probably wouldn't even be their last, but Will would rather sleep here then argue with her step-douche all night. That's just something she wouldn't do. Or she wouldn't torment her siblings to that, she just wouldn't.

Will eyed her sibling, looking at them motherly. She gave them both kisses on the foreheads but they stayed asleep stilly. She would never let anything in the world hurt these two, she knew that better than anything. More than her subjects at school, more than her own presence. She knew it more than anything. Her rage wouldn't allow her to let these kids be harmed by what the world has to offer. She wants better for them, she wants them to thrive more than she ever could. She will hope that they will thrive. She really does hope. Because if they don't thrive, how could she go one?

For a minute, she wonders where her older brother is. But quickly she just sighs. "Probably somewhere putting a needle in his arm," she tells herself, adding to that she puts her hand over her face. Sometimes she wished she didn't have to keep track of him at all times but she did. It was just something she did.

She would never let anyone hurt her older brother. Never in her life.

She didn't care if he was a junky, a dumbass, a faggot, or someone who was twenty and homeless. She didn't care. She still loved him.

The bell from the store snaps her out of the trance she was in and she looks to see the guy in the store...was no more. He had left to get something out of the back.

At the same time, rage fills her veins, her heart begins to pump and she placed her hand on the car door. She was going to get that fucking milk. It didn't matter if she had to cut someone's arm off or something. She would. She tried to be nice to that prejudice asshole but she just couldn't, she played by the rules now it's time to play it her way. The way she knew best when she was younger.

She is tired of being nice. She will not lay down for this. She grew up mean, she grew up with rage. She will always be rage.

She is the definition of Rage.

And now she will play by her rules.

WINTERSET MIDDLE SCHOOL [HALLWAYS]
8:23 AM | TUESDAY
NOVEMBER 10th, 1995.

The Lord gifts you by letting you awaken everyday. He gifts you with speech, breathing, the food you consume and the ability to show kindness and comfort to thy neighbor. You are gifted that because the Lord has given you that for a reason. So you will show it by giving your devotion to him everyday or at least on his day: Sunday. Those are the least you could do.

Everyday Julius wakes up and prays, thanking him for allowing him to wake up. Thanking him for allowing his family to wake up. And thanking him for allowing his friends to wake up. It's a ritual to him, something that he cannot live without or forget. If he does, he is shunned for the rest of the day with bad luck.

But today...he prays for something else.

He prayed last night for his friends to be safe, he then prays this morning for them to find something out there. He says finding TK may be impossible but could they at least find something to help find him? That would be nice. It seemed right after that: his walkie begins to buzz and he listens in on Madden.

He talks about them going out last night, the guilt tugs at his chest, and finding some girl. Someone who needs help just like TK does but....Julius doesn't answer.

He doesn't know why he couldn't but he can't. It wasn't even about the disrespect of yesterday it was just the fear. It had him by the throat, ready to land the final blow and make him never look back. But that guilt was saving him. It made him think long and hard about his actions, about what it all meant to his friends. To TK.

So he wonders the halls, extra early and alone, not knowing where to find his friends. None of them are ever here this early so he didn't know why he was.

He walks to his class, books in hand and clutched at his chest. He wonders what work they may have to do today until a finger taps his shoulder. He turns around and looks to see one of the most popular and prettiest girls smiling at him: Elizabeth Morgan.

"Uh, hey," She smiled at the boy with all of her perfect straight teeth.

"Oh, um," Julius is at a lost for words. "Hi."

"I heard about the TK thing." Her voice is like honey, quiet addictive and sweet. Her words are so genuine. "I know I wasn't close to him or anything like that but....I just wanted to say that I hope you guys find him."

"You talked to TK?" Julius asked incredibly, he didn't think TK talked to Elizabeth Morgan. Or she didn't talk to anyone in their group.

Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah! We weren't close but...I tried to be his friend or something there for him. Maybe I felt bad because my boyfriend always picked on him," She begins to sigh but continues speaking. "I even went over his house to give his mom some cookies but she didn't answer, so I left them there."

Julius smiled at that. "God is thankful for that as much as I am." He realized that she was a genuinely sweet and nice person. The type of person he struggled to be.

The Morgan girl looked weird at the mention of God but laughed it off. Julius thought maybe something was in her eye as she rubbed it. "Yeah, God is I guess." She respected his beliefs.

"Where's the rest of your friends?" Elizabeth asked, glancing as nobody but them were in the classroom but a couple of students. Since they were early but still. His group he usually hung out with was nowhere to be found. "Are they okay too?"

Julius' demeanor got sad. "Yeah, they're fine it's just, I chickened out on them," His face produced a frown as he spoke. "But I don't know if I can say."

Elizabeth gave him a welcoming smile. "Of course you can say, I'm listening."

"Are you sure?" Julius asked, gulping nervously. "It's a lot."

"Of course—"

"We were going to break the rules and look for TK but I didn't wanna go because I didn't wanna get dragged to Hell with the Beast and I didn't wanna disobey what the police told us and they were all so mad. So, now, I don't know what to do. I offered to prayed but Saint called it stupid. They never did that before. He never said that before. And it hurt me because it felt like he was disrespectful towards God and I couldn't stand there and let him be so I left but now I feel so, so, so guilty about it because apparently now they have some girl they found in the woods and she's all bloody and stuff, probably dying and it's all because of me. Because I prayed for the wrong thing instead of just wanting TK back I asked for anything to help find him back because I was scared to see him after knowing that I didn't help find him and now I don't know what to do or if I should even try and help again and I think I'm going to throw up."

He vented all in one go, uninterrupted by Elizabeth who only watched him with many facial expressions with each word. Julius felt his mouth begin to salivate and he felt his stomach stink. His forehead was sweaty, he feels such a stomach clenching sensation that makes his anxiety go up.

Elizabeth puts a hand on his shoulder. "Julius—it's okay. It is," he looks up at her with teary eyes. "It's okay you just was scared. As long as you know it's not your fault, you're okay. Just breathe in and out."

Julius breathed in. "And out."

He breathed out.

He breathed in. "And out."

Now he breathed out.

He kept breathing in and out, how chest caves in and out very slowly. He looks up at Elizabeth finally to see a large smile and her muttering more comfortable words to him. It felt nice to be heard. It felt so nice to be cared for and heard, he felt great. Well, as great as he could be after not being able to breathe for 2 minutes. But he felt good. Comfortable.

"I think I'm okay now," He smiled at Elizabeth and she took her hand off his shoulder. "Thank you."

She smiled. "Of course, Julius."

Suddenly Julius felt the guilt pulling at him. "I think I'm gonna go back and apologize or just—I don't know try and support them all. Try and help this time." He nodded to him self, shaking his head in a way to hype himself up.

"Can I come?" Elizabeth asked out of the blue. Julius made a weird face: why would she hang out with them out of everyone? "I mean, only if you want me too. I just thought I could help find him. Be there for moral support."

Julius thought it over, he already had snitched and told her everything so what could go so wrong? He nodded.

"Yeah sure."

ARGER RESIDENCE
10:55 AM | TUESDAY
NOVEMBER 10th, 1995.

School always sucked, there was honestly no point of going unless you wanted to feel miserable for a full five day week. It would never be fun or exciting. Always brutally cruel on children who weren't as gifted as others because those others maliciously benefited off the suffering of children. Saint believed that kids were mean. Vicious even, maybe because he was those mean kids. He grew up mean. Unforgiving.

Which is exactly why he skipped school whenever he had the chance.

Obviously, his father would keep eyes on him most times but it was only sometimes. The times were his father took him out places or talked to him for hours about life and how he should treat women. Or how he shouldn't lay around and let people harm him. Somehow he was able to avoid the consequences of skipping and getting caught as the teachers inside didn't really care anymore. They were used to not seeing Saint in their classes and even then, the boy barely did anything. Not even the bare minimum.

Though he didn't really begin to think he would be skipping class to watch some deranged girl in Madden's house. With Madden nonetheless who didn't give the type of skipping.

Madden was now trying to led the girl to the bathroom of his mother's, since she was at the grocery store, and clean up her face or rather the giant hole on the side of it. But the girl didn't seem to be phased by it. She only held her side very carefully and limped with that as she watch. Saint assumed that her adrenaline, if that what it was called, wore off and she was feeling pain. Shit she could even bleed out.

Saint eyed the first aid kit Madden gave the girl, she was now in the bathroom by herself as they waited outside of it. "You sure she can clean herself up?"

Madden just shrugged, he wasn't sure. "I'm not really sure but she'll die if she doesn't get treated or maybe infected. But she won't let us help her so, this is the best I can do." He fiddled with his fingers, nervously and and glancing around his room every second.

Saint could tell the boy was nervous. "Look, Maddog, if this chica dies it's not our fault." He put a hand on his shoulder in reassurance. It shouldn't be their fault or job to take care of some half dead girl. Much less one who's abusing them every second.

"I know that but," Madden glanced at Saint then looked back down at his shoes. "What if she dies and we can't find TK? What if she was the key and we just let her..." he made a hand movement of a fake knife slicing his neck with a bleh noise. "We couldn't afford that, right?"

Saint just sighed. "It'll be cool, man. We're gonna find TK with or without her help. Just chill the hell out."

"I'm just worried about TK and—"

"Dude," Saint was now looking at a picture behind Madden. "You didn't tell me your mom was a milf?!"

Madden's face crunched into disgust. "Oh my god, dude, no! Please don't say that," he backed into the family picture of his mom, dad, and him on the dresser. "That's my mom!"

"So what?" Saint questioned. "Moms can't be hot?—"

Madden shook his head as his face began to get red. "No—no! Just not my mom, okay? My mom can't be hot!"

Saint smacked his teeth with a laugh. "I'm just sayin' cause she's definitely ban—"

The door opened very slowly and revealed the girl—or as Madden told him Sin—out of the bathroom with a large bandage on her face covering her wound. Wasn't he a graze instead of a hole, since she was still walking. Or maybe it was both. Saint didn't really know for sure.

The boys stared at the girl for a moment who only stared back blankly. Like, very blank. No thought of emotion behind her eyes. Or maybe there was thoughts just no emotion? Either way it unnerves Saint; making his palms get sweaty.

"You uh," Saint coughed in his hand. "You good? You need anything else?"

The girl only eyed him up and down, as if she was reading everything about him, but nodded slowly. No words came out her mouth. It seemed the nod was as most as he was going to get as she sided eyed him a bit.

It kind of angered Saint that she stared at him that way, the way of thinking what the rest thought; he's just a asshole who doesn't think before he does. Which could be true in some ways but that wasn't just all him. But he made it all him. He didn't know why he did but he did; maybe because his dad encouraged it the most. Liked the idea of his son being just like him which honestly Saint did want to be like his dad. If you put the asshole aside he's a good person, a real great dad to him.

"Are you okay—"

"Doesn't hurt." Sin interrupted him before he could speak. "I'm good."

Madden nodded his head. "Oh okay, well, uh, we could explore my house. You know since you'll be staying here," he told the girl who snapped her head to look at him. Almost as if she couldn't believe what he was saying.

"Say here?" Sin asked almost as if she didn't expect that.

"Yeah," Madden nodded. "You can stay here and get comfortable until...."

"Actually never mind," Madden waves his hand for her to follow. "Come on."

Sin followed the boy and he led her to his kitchen at first, Saint followed behind her but kept his distance. He didn't want to get hit or kicked again. Or pushed. He was unsure how to feel about the girl and what she done. On one hand, she was weird and kind of...crazy. Honestly she was really weird like Night of The Living Dead weird. But he did admire her strength or rather her composure. She was keeping it together despite everything that was happening.

"Well first here's my kitchen," Madden pointed to the fridge at first. "We've got uh, Fruit Punch, water, ice, Milk and....strawberries I think." He opened the fridge and the girl flinched at the sudden movement, backing up when she saw him pulling something out.

Saint wanted to ask if she was okay for some reason but he only rolled his eyes.

"Here they are." He put the strawberries on his island in the middle of the kitchen.

The box of the fruit were placed neatly on the island top and the girl side eyed Madden before opening the box quickly and taking a strawberry. She backed away and took a small nibble of it, her facial expressions were quite unreadable. But by the looks of it she enjoyed it and took another one, beginning to eat many more.

Madden smiled. "They're good right?" He asked Sin but she side eyed him for a long time before nodding in agreement. That was all she said.

Saint shrugged. "They're kind of disgusting. Fruit is just nasty in general."

Madden smacked this teeth. "Dude! No? They are not you just don't eat anything other than hot chips and spicy food and sour candy!" The boy scolded but Saint only rolled his eyes. So what if he did? Fruit was still very disgusting.

"Still disgusting. Taste like when my uncle washed my mouth out with soap." Saint insisted, he wouldn't change his mind. The mention of his uncle made him more annoyed though.

Sin looked at the boy weird. "You are disgusting."

Madden laughed louder than a hyena. "Oh Ho! Bro, she talked and roasted your ass in three words—"

Saint rolled his eyes at his friend. "W-Whatever." He then look over at Sin. "At least my name ain't named after a fuckin' demon in a cult book."

Sin stared blankly. "Demon or not. I could hurt you." She raised a brow at the boy, for some reason she looked deadly serious with her words but Madden just found it hilarious.

But for some odd reason Saint didn't doubt the girl would hurt him.

WINTERSET HIGHSCHOOL [HALLWAYS]
2:15 PM | TUESDAY
NOVEMBER 10th, 1995.

Words went around fast at the Winterset Highschool, enough to make a person go crazy and try and figure out who said what. Or maybe what was said of somebody. Whatever case it may be; Esther heard that there was a party happening at some abandoned house near De Arms: the haunted mansion everyone has heard about at least once in their childhood.

Or if their childhood was good that is.

But never minding that, Esther wanted to honestly go to the party and smoke with her friend Emmett. It would be nice after having all day in school suspension for cussing out another teacher. She wouldn't like to think about what made her cuss him out but she just knew he deserved it. Just like most of these weirdos in this town.

Usually she didn't really go to parties made by the public pricks in this place but this one had a theme she enjoyed a bit more than she should. Or a then her little brother enjoys well.

But as usual; you need an invite to get in.

Great.

As she opened her locker to leave the building Jesse skips over and leans on her left. "Hey Ese!"

Esther smiled at the girl's presence. "Hey, Jess. What's going on?"

Jesse smirked. "Oh nothing....just the invites that I got for you and a plus one at the Kingston party by the De Arms place tonight!" She pulled out two invites and gives them to Esther who smiled wildly at her without even realizing.

"Holy shit how did you get two?"

Jesse shrugged with a sly smile. "I have my ways."

"Fuck yeah you do," Esther slammed her locker closed and smiled to look at her friend. "Thank you. I've been bored outta my mind this entire week."

Jesse nodded. "Yeah, yeah. I know that's why...I'll be going too." Esther was surprised at that answer because her friend didn't really do parties. "Figured I could be your, you know, friend date or whatever."

"What about your boyfriend?"

Jesse shrugged. "He's just....we're not talking right now."

Esther furrowed her brows. "Why not?"

"Just stupid freshmen flirting with him and him just laughing it off and acting like a show off." Jesse vented to her friend who wasn't surprised. "What's the point of dating someone if you're just gonna entertain other people, you know?"

Esther nodded. "Yeah, I get it."

"Sooo," Jesse smirked now. "Will you come with me?"

Esther blinked. She would not lose the chance of becoming some hot chick's date to the party. "Yeah, of course we can go together. I'm sneaking out tonight to go vandalize Mr. Procker's car since I got ISS because of him."

Jesse nodded with a smile. "Okay, cool."

Esther nodded back too. Her stare lingering for too long. "Yeah, cool."

Tonight was going to be awesome.

ARGER RESIDENCE
3:12 PM | TUESDAY
NOVEMBER 10th, 1995.

       It wasn't surprising to Sigmund when he didn't see Saint in his third period class as the boy never really came to school on time or at all. But it was shocking when Madden hadn't came for his first period. It was even more shocking that Julius came late also but didn't glance at Iggy once.

It made the Pasternak boy feel anxious. He didn't like what was happening or what was becoming of Boyshit. They were always supposed to stay stuck together like glue and have each other's backs. Now everyone was just skipping school, arguing with each other, not telling them stuff and ignoring one another. Something about that made Iggy feel left out. Like he didn't matter in the moment but he knew that his friends wouldn't do that. They wouldn't.

So with that he decided to go other Madden's house himself. His father wouldn't be back until later and his mother was picking his little brother up from school so it was perfect timing for Iggy to come and visit. Though, he hoped his grandmother didn't answer the knock he pressed against the door.

He really hoped she didn't.

The door opened swiftly but Saint's face was shown instead of Madden's. "Saint?"

Saint gave a smug smile. "That's me."

Iggy began to go into the house. "What are you doing here? Actually—what's even going on?" He began to question as Saint led him to Madden's door.

"Currently trying to get rid of the recent invasion of the freaks in Madden's room." Saint joked but the boy just rolled his eyes. He shouldn't joke like that about her—she's just scared! Maybe she is a little weird but it doesn't matter; they're all weirdos!

Iggy walked into Madden's room after Saint opens it and finds Madden sat on the ground with the girl still sat in the corner of his room. He seemed like he was telling her it was okay to come down but she just stared at him. Once she saw Iggy enter the room, her breath seemed to stop in her throat. She suddenly sunk farther.

"What's wrong with her now?" Saint asked, very annoyed.

Madden shrugged. "I don't know, I was just trying to show her how to play with this Gameboy but then she just suddenly bolted on my bed." He sighs as Iggy still feels the girl's gaze on his body instead of Madden's. It unnerved him.

"Look man, I told you she doesn't want to be here," Saint tried to convince. "She's been quiet, nonchalant, and not to mention rude all day! She won't even tell us where she came from so what's the fuckin' point of keeping her!"

Iggy stammered and immediately came to her defense. "M-Maybe she's scared, you know? I'd be scared too if somebody like you were yelling at me." The boy quietly defended himself in the process while giving a slow burn to his friend. He never usually did that: just laying down and taking it.

Saint scoffed. "Oh yeah? Then you can leave too." Iggy's throat clenched at that: it became dry and he couldn't speak anymore. Only listen as his palms got sweaty. "Look I love you man but you're defending some freaky witch girl who's named after a Devil in a book instead of listening to what I'm sayin'! I'm right!"

Madden just rolled his eyes and stood up. "She's just scared, dumbass, I've been trying to warm up to her all day and—"

"And you've gotten nothing from her but weird ass stares and nods. Maybe even some words but they're mostly insults or fucking cryptic!" Saint interrupted the boy who just shook his head. Iggy looked in between the fight and wanted to leave the room. He didn't like all this tension and arguing.

"Can we at least try first before you throw her out?" Iggy suggested, very silently. Saint almost didn't here him as his tone became small but just waved him off and turned to the side, tapping his foot.

As Iggy got closer the girl sunk farther into the corner on the bed. Suddenly he didn't want to ask any questions anymore.

"Do you know where our friend is, uh," Iggy turned around to Madden. "What's her name?"

"Sin, apparently." Madden answered.

"Okay," Iggy turned back to the girl. "Do you know where our friend is?" The girl only stared at the boy weirdly as he leaned down on the bed. She didn't budge.  "Did you see him? In the woods?"

"Do you know where TK is?" Iggy asked this time and the girl suddenly began to pant a little. He could tell what she was already going to say before she did it. She did a slow nod and Madden began to listen.

"Do you know who took him?" Iggy asked the girl with the bandage on her face.

Sin looked straight in his face, unnervingly so, and never broke from the eye contact. "It was what."

"Huh?"

"It was not person. Not bad people," The girl told him blankly. She never broke that stare making his skin crawl. "It was monster."

Iggy and Madden glanced at each other—monster? What could a monster mean? Iggy had hundreds of monsters built in his mind like a staircase of horrors but he didn't know which one could mean that TK was alive and well. There had to be one, right? His panic eventually made him back up from the girl and put his hands on his head.

"A monster, what—what monster?" Madden finally asked but he stammered on his words nervously.

"Oh my god! It's probably the fucking Van Meter Monster." Iggy suddenly blurted out with panic. "That thing shoots laser beams, we're so screwed."

Saint just scoffed loudly. "CAN'T you all see? She's lying so she can stay here and leech on you," the boy gif the attention of everyone in the room. "I've seen this play before she's obviously lying—"

"Not lying." Sin defended herself now staring at Saint with a sharp glare. It looked like she wanted to explode his head off with that stare.

"Then what is the monster?" Saint asked but the girl only glared at him before turning her head away. That made Saint smack his teeth together. "See what I told you, it's all a fucking lie!"

"She needs to get out." Saint suddenly just blurted out. "We came to find TK not another problem."

Just before the boys could say anything Saint grabbed the girl by the forearm and started to drag her out the room, as soon as he did she screamed violently. So violently that it hurt his ears to hear but very violently as if she was being murdered or something. He never heard nobody scream like that before and it made Iggy's throat feel dry and his stomach sink. He felt bad.

"GET OFF ME! LET GO!" She screamed and as she did the lights flickered. Just as violently as her screams. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO!"

"Saint stop! What the hell are you doing!"

Iggy wanted to intervene but his feet stayed planted in his stop. He felt like he couldn't do anything—almost like he was powerless. Because if words didn't stop Saint how could Iggy stop him?

"Get the fuck out!" Saint screamed back at the girl but she shook her head, trying her best to stay in the room and not get dragged out.

The lights flickered even more at her screams and pleads, it was unnatural. It scared Iggy even more than her screaming unnerved him—it felt like they were in some kind of Sci-Fi film where she would display her powers and shock everyone in the room. Or maybe she'll turn into a monster and kill them all like those things of The Thing. Whatever was happening wasn't anything Iggy had seen but also something he wouldn't forget.

"LET GO!" She screams for the last time and with an unnatural force that breaks the window in Madden's room. Saint is suddenly throw across the room at the scream and hits the ceiling above him, falling onto the floor limp. The girl's nose bleeds after the fact and she wipes it quickly before she moves in a terrifying, unnatural fashion, jumping across Madden's room and back into his bed in the corner. She puts her knees to her chest and begins to mutter something before tears roll down her cheeks but she does not sob. She does not cry.

Madden immediately ran towards Saint's limp body on the floor screaming a bunch of things to hope he wakes up but Iggy is scared stilly. He cannot move. He is frozen in fear.

He only stared at Sin—the girl who just threw Saint to the celling with her mind and leaped across the room like some X-Men—he only stared at her. Her eyes finally close with the white inner eyelid, it made him feel uncomfortable. It was disturbing watching her eyes close so oddly.

That was something he would never forget.

DE ARMS [BACKYARD]
7:35 PM | TUESDAY
NOVEMBER 10th, 1995.

Early Halloween parties were always better than the actual parties for Halloween. At least it felt that way to Esther. Maybe it was because all the parties on Halloween felt last minute planned and always ended in someone fighting, going missing or getting busted. It felt cliche to go to a party on Halloween but Esther still did it sometimes. Though this would just be a horror party now that she thought about it. Or maybe a regular one.

It was weird for Esther for some reason this time. She didn't know why but she was nervous for one of the first times in her life. With Jesse by her side in a very small dress it made her feel weird. Nervous and hot under the collar.

Beautiful women always made Esther nervous.

"—Are you okay? You want another drink?" Jesse's voice tuned Esther back in and the girl nodded with an obvious anxious vibe.

"Y—Yeah, I'm good—great actually, you know. Haha." Esther swallowed whatever else she was going to say while Jesse just laughed very loudly.

"You're so cute when you're nervous, you know that?" Jesse complimented and Esther began to blush a little more than she should.

The fire's lights reflected off of Jesse's outfit. Esther began to take in all at once before almost getting heart eyes. She tried to calm herself down, this was nothing more than a girl crush. You'd had these before calm down! Just keep calm. Be calm. Teen Spirit played in the background of the party and everyone was starting to make their ways into the house. But some still staggered in the backyard.

Esther rolled her eyes. "Shut up," she took a sip of her drink before shoving her friend with her shoulder. "At least I don't so weird PDA with some popular douche."

Jesse was the one to roll her eyes now. "Stop it, you said you were gonna mention him."

"I'm sorry," Esther apologized. "It's just hard not too, you guys been friends since third grade or dating. Whichever one fits." She didn't really keep track of their relationship but she heard some things. It was hard not to when the whole school surrounded around their relationship.

"Well, some people change." Jesse stated before taking a sip of her drink.

Esther nodded with full agreement. "Amen to that."

Jesse suddenly slumped her head on the girl's shoulder. They sat in front of fire with lawn chairs that had to have been someone else's watching the stars from afar in the sky. All by themselves as the party had migrated inside. The flashing lights from inside could give Esther's brother a stroke if he was here. It was something so relaxing about sitting and relaxing with someone you truly cared about. Someone that got you for you. Someone that didn't judge or call you a slur when they seen you like Mary-Ellen or Jimmy Steve. The two It couple of Winterset High other than Devin and Jesse. It was so odd how people could judge you because of what you do when doors are closed. It was infuriating.

Esther sometimes wished people weren't so close minded with things. She sometimes wished she wasn't here in this place, in this moment of time. She wished that sometimes she could not get overshadowed by her siblings unless she acted out. She wished she could've been her self before but now this was herself. It would be herself truly. And from now on. Her little dark age was here.

But at the same time she was grateful to be here. To have these friends, good days, good weed, good parties just about good everything with the people she cared about. It was nice.

A nudge from Jesse made her snap out her trance. "Do you sometimes wish....you could just...." The Myers girl stopped for a moment. "Be yourself without people judging you."

Esther shrugged, she half agreed. "Yeah but I'll always be myself either way. People's opinions don't affect me."

Jesse sighed at that with longing. "I wish I could be like that." The girl's tone was becoming much softer and more longing for something else. Something more. "I wish I could be the best version of me without the world judging me. I wish I could just go to the most beautiful place in the universe and stay there. All by myself and just....live. Be me. Become what I want without the eyes of everyone on me at all times."

"I just wish...I could be me." Jesse finally let out with a small sigh, her voice sounded sad as if she wished for something more. Something better than this.

"Why don't you be you?" Esther asked as a genuine question.

Jesse scoffed playfully. "Because, no offense, but I'm looked up as someone that's supposed to surpass my parents. Someone that is supposed to be the next one in office that takes my moms place." She sounded so unhappy saying that, almost as if she never wanted to do it.

"You still could," Esther told the girl. "You can't let others dictate what you want. You just gotta...do. Do what makes you happy because sometimes you just gotta make do with what you have." The Pasternak girl took another swig of her drink and laughed after she did. "Shit, man. Maybe I am drunk. I'm speaking all sentimental and shit."

Esther didn't get a response back from Jesse only gazing into the pitfire with a laughter. She took another drink of her cup before throwing it behind her as she still hadn't heard a peep from Jesse. Damn, did she kill the mood?

"Hey you—" Esther was cut off by Jesse pressing her lips against a hers, she was surprised by it but kissed back immediately.

The two girls began to make out, their tongues fighting in their mouths and loud smacking sounds from how hard they were doing it. It was like fireworks were flying inside of both of their stomachs as they made out, doing it so fast that Esther placed a hand on the Myers girl's cheek as they do. It was something so sensual about the way Jesse kissed back, something was addictive about it that Esther couldn't press away.

But eventually Jesse did and a line of spit was left. Quickly she wiped it away and stared at the Pasternak girl once more. She looked frightened by what she did.

Then she suddenly got up. "I'm—I'm so sorry. I just—" she dropped her cup all over the grass and it mimicked spilled blood. "I didn't mean too—"

"What do you mean?" Esther raised a brow in confusion but irritation. "Our tongues were just down each other's throats?"

"No, like," Jesses began to stammer and panic was across her features. "I never meant to do this. We're supposed to be friends. I have a boyfriend—I just—"

"I'm sorry." Jesse got up and looked at Esther one last time before saying something she'll never forget.

"I'm not...gay. I'm just confused. I'm not like that," Jesse grabbed her purse. "We can't see each other anymore, I'm sorry. But...I can't do this." Then the girl turned around and left. Leaving her friend(?) alone by the pitfire as it burned even higher than before.

Esther suddenly stared into fire, something was broke inside of her. She usually didn't care about what people said but for some reason that hurt. Her breathing became harder as she stared into the large pit of fire and watched the flames burn higher and higher. Her lips felt like they burned as it missed the lips of Jesse Myers. It missed them so bad that Esther couldn't comprehend what had just happened. She couldn't even think in her intoxicated mind wasn't allowing her too.

Memorized by the flames, she didn't know where go on from here.

SOMEWHERE ALONG ASHDOWN ROAD
8:01 PM | TUESDAY
NOVEMBER 10th, 1995.

Darkness was always something that scared Jesse. She didn't know why but it was always something that terrified her more than the Truth ever would. She didn't know why it did but it did. But what she had done just now had scared her more than anything ever would.

She couldn't believe she had just...kissed a girl.

That wasn't right. It was supposed to be girls kissing boys not the other way around. She wasn't supposed to have those thoughts about girls so why did she? Was something inside her? Was she rotting from the inside out? She was normal before why is she like this now! She didn't understand.

She couldn't understand. Not even if she thought about it hard enough.

And then...she kissed her best friends and left her at a party she invited her too. Such a great move, Jesse. A great move.

God, she was so stupid. She was just an fat idiot and someone who didn't know what they wanted anymore. She didn't know anything anymore but she knew that she had just lost her best friend. A genuine and real friend all because of some sexual tension! Because the girls she hung out with in her crowd were all just fake. They never cared about Jesse just her status was like honey to them because in their eyes she was the Queen and they were the worker bees ready to serve her.

Sometimes she wished that she was just a loser. Someone with a quieter status that could do whatever they wanted without the eyes of everyone on her.

She just wished she was a freak that could do as she pleaded. She walks down what they called Freak Avenue to get to her neighborhood that was really the avenue for freaks if she had anything to say about it. The street was usually quieter than usual as her heels clicked on the ground more louder than a tiny animal could be heard. She rubs her arms as the wind began to get much more chilly. More aggressive.

She didn't even notice the sound of something moving around in the woods next to her as she walked quite fast to get out of this darkness and into the next street light.

When she did, she stopped and wiped her tears. She tried to take a couple of deep breaths but her composure wasn't the best.

And suddenly she heard something make a loud grumble in the wooden area next to her. She glances up at the sound and looks in its general direction. "Hello?" She calls out in hopes that it was just her imagination but it was not.

For a moment everything is silent. But another growling is heard but it doesn't sound like anything she's ever heard before. It sounded like something...unnatural. Almost something supernatural.

Her lips begin to tremble. "Hello? Is anyone out there?"

Suddenly she hears a loud roar from a deep voice of an vicious animal and she hears a man scream from the woods. She yells in a response to it but suddenly she doesn't hear anything. Other than a loud slash of something they could be described as of grinding of skin or maybe something eating something?

"H—Hello?! Are you okay?" She calls out with a trembled voice.

But no one answers. At least not a person.

A giant unnatural creature jumps out of the wooden area and pounces on the girl who falls back out of instinct and screams bloody murder. She falls onto the pavement looking at the creature with a teared stained mascara face. Something about it was uncanny as its face stretched out to reveal the thousands of sharp teeth it had inside. The body of it was stocky almost like a mutated version of some type of dog but it weighed many more pounds and it didn't have any eyes. It was much larger in size than her but had to be the size of some type of lion.

Jesse screamed out in terror before it pounced on her again, taking a hold onto her foot and not letting go. She screams in pain as blood is spattered all over the pavement and sprays on her dress.

She takes off her heart necklace out of instinct trying to stab at it but it's skin is hard solid. Armor like and almost impossible to pierce. Her heart necklace is throw on the ground in an attempt to try and pry its jaws off her but it begins to drag her. She screams and claws at the ground, losing a couple of nails.

It then begins to drag her away, her screams going unheard in the Wilderness as she disappears inside of its thickness.

The only thing left of her is a puddle of blood and heart necklace her mother gave her.

━━

AUTHOR NOTES:
Second chapter and shit is going down and people are being gay. I love it. Sorry this took a while I was obsessed with the Threads app instagram put out and began to act a fool 😭😭👀. But I'm back! This took awhile because there was a lot to write so....i really hope you enjoyed! Just gonna say everything means something. Down to the necklace of Jesse, the De Arms house, the man screaming, and the cup being spilled on the ground. 👀👀🤫😭 So much foreshadowing y'all don't know.

Honestly enjoyed writing this a lot and surprisingly didn't burn myself out of hurt my wrists because this was truly a lot. Just gonna say Will's scene was cute short because they get a bigger role in the next one so so Devin & Jaime. Since they haven't been mentioned mentioned as much as Esther has or Will has. (Sorry I love writing abt their characters idk.)

Dénny was barely in this chapter sadly but he'll be in the next one mostly as so will Julius and Essie make an arrival! Everyone will be together and they will be kids having kid drama, okay!

Also Six not telling her number is so Six of her idk. She'll get the nickname Sini next chapter because it fits much more than what I was thinking of doing. Her throwing Saint into a wall is always gonna send me I'm sorry he deserves that!! Plus her putting her in his place>>> it just. Omg I'm gonna love them. Ship them so hard 🤭. Sorry, no Six pov but there will be next chapter!

Also, this is for reassurance, do you feel like I'm writing your characters right?

Anyways questions for this chapter areee: Any theories? Anything you see or think will happen or foreshadows?

Esther and Jesse kiss?

Is Sin or Saint wrong? Or are they both wrong?

WORDS COUNT.
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