12:17 AM
Party House, Crescent Hills

Lane hasn't thought about Floyd once. She missed him—of course, she did—but it wasn't a good enough reason to her for going back to that vivid memory.

She yearned to bury it alongside the other ones, trapped beneath an endless void. Evie and Easton didn't know about what happened either. They probably think he's alive right now, not rotting and mangled somewhere in the forest.

But the thought only crossed her brain once, maybe twice, and never again.

Tonight was a night to celebrate, they were going up a grade soon, so sure enough someone had thrown a house party.

Preferably with their parents out of town in case some classmate of his decided to bring alcohol or anything of that sort—which of course they did. They were young and as their parents liked to say; "You're young, go out, do something fun. Time passes quicker than you realize."

Surely this is what grown adults meant when they told their kids to live a little.

"You've got to be joking." Lane's brows frowned as her eyes set on the house, neon lights and music blaring out of it. "Can't we just leave him?"

Evie shuffled tiredly towards the house, sighing at the sight. "Let's just get this over with."

Lane could tell Evie was not happy to be here either, her expression says it all; dull face, lips curving downwards.

Sure she liked going to parties here and there but when your life's on the line, this is the last place you'd wanna be in.

Once you get in the chances of being awake and aware when you get out are slim and even if you manage to somehow do it, sober was not an option.

Her hands laid on the door, pushing it slightly, surprisingly it opened directly. Luckily, the blasting music was loud enough to the point it covered the sound of the door opening.

It was a good thing no one noticed them as they slipped right through the crowd.

A scent she couldn't get past was alcohol, its odor lingered all over the place leaving no room untouched.

Smoke was also common in a place like this, whether it'd be from cigarettes or just a bunch of idiots lighting things on fire.

Everyone there talked within their group, and most of them worried about venturing out, she could almost mistake it as a social event—if it involved a whole lot of hard drinks and such.

Lane and Evie could barely squeeze past the crowd, muttering 'sorry' and 'excuse me' while trying to make their way into a more open space.

"How do we even find him here?" A gas of smoke blew to her, causing her to cough and potentially hold her breath from now on. Then her head began throbbing obnoxiously with pain she never felt before.

Was it the music? Alcohol? No, not alcohol.
She abruptly stopped for a moment, making Evie bump into her grunting.

"Lane! You okay?" Evie's voice was louder than usual to shout over the music.

However, Lane can't hear the music anymore. It sounded muffled as if it was playing in the back of her head. "I'm fine! I just-Let me find a bathroom!"

Evie held onto her hands tightly, not wanting to lose her in the wave of the people.

They leaned on the bathroom door once they had finally succeeded in finding it in the rather large house. "You gonna be okay?" Evie asked, letting go of her hand.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine." The door opened and Lane looked back. "Just wait for me."

Inside the bathroom was cold and hot at the same time. Her skin felt hot and sweaty while the bathroom's AC sent a shivering blast of air.

The freezing air combined with the body heat made it feel like she was coming down with a fever, not to mention the headache she had.

Lane closed the lid of the toilet to get herself together, by firstly sitting down and calming down.

Breath in...Breath out...

Exercise helped relax her breathing as well as her increasing heartbeat. "It's okay, I'm okay." She didn't know if she was trying to convince or remind herself.

Before long, another voice made itself known. This time it wasn't just in her head. "Lane..." softly spoken, a whisper even.

It was calling out to her and she instinctively listened to what it had to say. Was it important? Lane was sure she was going insane, it wouldn't hurt to drown in her unreliable thoughts just a little longer.

The voice spoke again. It was coming from the mirror. Lane struggled to get up from the seat, stumbling on the way up.

Fortunately, the bathroom was small so the sink wasn't far.

Lane's fingers firmly held the sink's sides, holding it like her life depended on it. Her vision was still in a hazy dream state, it made it extremely hard for her to concentrate on the mirror.

But if there's one thing she could not miss, even when she can hardly see anything, is the fact that whatever she was looking at in the mirror was not her reflection.

She didn't have the guts to move. What the hell was going on? She looked down at her hands, moving them slowly, following it was an aura.

Lights could be seen every once in a while before dimming again and eventually fading.

In front of her was an opening, a forest opening.

Tall bulky trees surround it, blocking out any light. Her foot started to gradually inch closer to the space, something was drawing her to it. Then it flashed again. The bright light now flickering in the area.

She wished it hadn't.

There, in the center of the swaying grass, was a boy, and behind him was the shadow figure of a creature. Beneath them a pool of thick red liquid flowed out, its long thin fingers dipped in it before bringing it back up to its mouth.
gross.

An image flashed in her head when the sight became clearer, subject #178. The boy was in a condition just like the jatter, split open and gutted. She even noticed a few of his flesh was missing, especially the ones on his legs and face. Intestines splat on the ground still fresh as if it had just been taken out.

On the edge of the creature's mouth hang pieces of organs and veins. Its bloodied hand held the boy tightly, picking at his eyes.
Slowly, her eyes landed on their own. It stood still and silently, but that didn't last long.
Blink.

Holy Sh-

"Lane! Lane!?" Shouting was muffled by the door but the banging ensued.

Lane stumbled back onto the toilet seat, scrapping her leg in the process. Her hands placed on each side lifted her closer to the door.

The door opened harshly, "You're gonna break the door Eve." said Lane, head down while her hands tried to stabilize her shaking body. "I'm fine."

"Good! Look who I found."

Easton. It was Easton.

"Is he okay?" His raven black hair stuck on his forehead, his face flushed red, lips slightly parted.

Evie nodded. "Yeah, just a bit uh-out of it." His arm was slung around her shoulder, clearly, he was very 'out of it'.