young drunk!

a part of them wanted to stay and chat. because of the unexplained thefts amari had a lot of speculating to do with conny and he was one of the most tolerable students at broadripple. calling him tolerable was an understatement.amari enjoyed hanging out with him,he was cool in a dorky way. having an encyclopedic knowledge of horror movies and a camcorder made before the birth of christ didn’t do him any favors in the popularity ranking but it endeared him to amari (who according to them and only them was the wisest person at broadripple minus their favorite faculty members). the more rational part of amari knew that they couldn’t stand speculating in a dark deserted hallway. they had a mystery to solve.they followed closely behind him, careful not to tread on a creaky floorboard. “ooh at least the third act.do you plan to be the fan favorite comic relief that the writers are forced to bring back for the sequel?” it was hard to whisper in a light teasing tone. it was also hard to think of wise cracks during a top secret mystery solving mission at three in the morning.neither of these factors were going to stop amari from trying, being trying was something that they excelled at.“no.” the disappointment in their voice was as sharp as the clattering noise that dragged them out of bed. they had a justifiable reason for wanting a bed close to the door but in this situation they regretted their choice.“that’s why I’m here ; i couldn’t see whatever the fuck was outside from my bed."an obvious answer to an obvious question.usually they’d fire a snarky remark, having no time for questions with obvious answers. it was too early to be a smart-ass and it didn’t matter what time of the day it was they always had more patience for conny.

✦

“ obviously, ” if he had more hours of sleep under his wing and maybe hadn’t just heard a loud, unexplained sound outside the joke in his voice might be more obvious. but at least he and amari were close enough that they’d probably know conny wasn’t being genuine. “ that’s my whole existence, making sure the big asshole writers in the sky have to bring me back for the sequel. ” he joked, pointing upwards in reference to said big asshole writers in the sky. and even though it was a joke, and even though connor was completely unaware of it, he did sort of fit the bill. 

he gave a sigh when they revealed that they had seen just about as much as he had. which was a big fat nothing. at least with amari he knew he hadn’t imagined the sound, that was something they had. unless it was a shared delusion– but for now he’d go with the theory that it was real because they’d both heard it. “ well shit, the fuck we doing standing in a hallway then, ” he said, moving towards the doorwith about half as much vigour as he’d had before he ran into them. holding the door open behind him for amari to follow after he added “ for the record, if its some douchebag sneaking in or out or whatever, i’m gonna be so disappointed, ” 

†

“Well, it isn’t.” Damian was quick to shut that ridiculous theory of Connor’s down. Growing up in the household he did, Damian was an expert at not making noise; his parents didn’t like it. “Outside…” It seemed the least desirable option was making itself the only option at this point. “Right.” Damian gave a nod. “Well, let’s have a look then.” He started toward the direction of the door, like Connor. Ideally, he would be telling any stray student he found out of bed to return to said bed, but it was a God-awful hour in the morning, Damian was tired, and Connor seemed willing to explore and held information Damian didn’t so… who was he to deny the companion?

Once they stepped out of the door of the cabin, Damian fished his phone out of his pocket and used its flash to add clarity to their surroundings, a bit of it at a time anyway. “No one on the porch…” Captain Obvious commented after a glance to his left and his right. “I swore the sound happened on my end of the cabin though.” With his bunk by the window, Damian would even go to as far to say right beside him. “Let’s check the perimeter?” He said, though it was less of a suggestion and more an announcement as he started walking ahead without Connor’s agreement.

✦

if someone had told conny even five minutes ago that he’d been wandering around after lights out with damian, there’s no way he’d believe them. it all seemed a little surreal. though maybe that was more down to the late hour, the lack of sleep, and his ability to be spooked by his own shadow than it did with fenwick captain.

once out in the open, he was suddenly more aware of the situation. something had made a noise and now he was outside like a dumbass looking for it with no shoes on. following damian’s lead he pulled out his phone and used it’s flashlight to try and illuminate the dark. nothing. no one. which damian announced just in case connor had missed it. he would have liked to have commented on what damian said, or even offered his own suggestion that they go to exactly where damian thought he’d heard a sound (seeing as connor had only managed to narrow it down to ‘outside’) but then damian was off, and he had no choice but to follow after him. 

though conny had more of a hobble going for him, quickly regretting not pulling on a pair of shoes when he’d launched himself out of bed. but as he got more used to the course ground underneath his bare feet the easier it became to keep up with damian’s pace. “ okay now that you can see no one’s out here, ” it was probably still too early to say that no one else was out there with confidence, but conny was preparing for the worst “ what else do you think it could have been? ” he asked, shining phone flashlight into the dark and to his disappointment seeing nothing out of the ordinary. 

Casey was trying really, really hard not to outwardly laugh once she realized that she hadn’t given her brother permanent brain damage. At least as far as she could tell he didn’t have any more brain damage than he had had before her arrival that evening. “I didn’t realize it was you,” she insisted confidently. She had known it was somebody, a figure, an antagonist- what she hadn’t realized that it was somebody not worth being terrified by, even for a moment, let alone striking defensively for any reason. “Hey-” she chastised as he kicked her book, “Chem 1B, leave it alone,” she instructed, scooping it up as if it was fragile and prone to breakage from his foot, rather than being bashed over Conny’s back just moment’s before. “Yeah, I heard something, a spooky something- or maybe not a spooky something but a mysterious something and a spooky mystery for fuckin’ sure,” she assured him, speaking a language common only to Casey Roberts. “Wanna go check it out? If we get caught we can just say we thought it was God with a message for us,”

✦

still recovering from both the blow to his back and the subsequent bump into the wall behind him connor found it incredibly hard to feel sympathy for a chem textbook. “ it’s like a brick, it’ll be fine, ” he dismissed, rolling his shoulder in attempt to stretch out the ache. “ i’m fine too, by the way, ” he added, shaking out his hands a little. but then his sister agreed that she had heard something. something he only knew because he’d spent his whole life listening to casey ramble and putting together what the fuck she was saying. he nodded his head “ isn’t that a thing anyway? messages from angels in the middle of the night? ” he said, moving towards the door once again and doing what the roberts did best: not really asking questions to people specifically as much as they just said their thoughts out loud. 

he held the door open for casey behind him, glancing around for anyone else that might be about but seeing no one. “ it’s so weird, man. first people’s shit goes missing and then weird sounds in the middle of the night– do you think it could be connected somehow? ”

•

Wendy nodded. She kind of got it. Her mom was a caregiver for a bunch of old people and spent her days shuffling from apartment to apartment in the Back Bay and Beacon Hill, spoon-feeding them apple sauce and wiping their chins. Or that’s what Wendy always imagined anyway. Sometimes she’d have to stay overnight, and it always stunk. Wendy’s dad was cool but he was pretty strict, and growing up he never got the voices of the characters in Wendy’s favorite books right. Not like her mom did. But Wendy was lucky that her dad was there, and so was her grandpa, and so was Nell. Even if Nell could be a total bore and pain in the butt, she was near-constant company—and while she loudly complained, she always let Wendy dictate what they played as long as she could choose what show they’d watch after dinner. And even still, she mostly let Wendy get her way. Conny and Casey just had each other. “Oh, okay, do not tell me you have a problem with taste. HGTV is elite. It’s decadent. It’s luxury. One day I will meet your mom and she and I will watch House Hunters together, and we’ll bond over all the gore-filled movies you two make us watch. Just you wait.”

Wendy visibly brightened at the idea of a movie night. They had been at the retreat just long enough that her feelings about the cabins had fluctuated dramatically: from utter despair, to rose-colored excitement, and then a plateaued acceptance of the situation with little spikes elation with every new experience. Movies and a fort would have been enough to churn up any childish excitement, and Wendy was desperate for things to be excited about. She opened her mouth to reply, ready to make plans, when Conny tacked on with everyone. Which—duh, she thought, but it was directed toward herself as her cheeks warmed. She didn’t know she’d be a little disappointed by that distinction until she heard it out loud, and it was clearly an obvious one. “That sounds in-cred-ible,” Wendy replied, imbuing her words with the enthusiasm Conny likely expected. And she was enthused. Totally enthused. She loved her friends and she loved spending time with them and she wanted to do something fun. But still. There was still a small part of her that for a split second fantasized it as a specific Wendy-and-Conny thing. “I’m recruiting Iso to help me bully you into adding a musical into the line-up. Preeeetty sure I saw West Side Story’s still on Netflix. And I am preemptively vetoing more than one scary movie, and the one you are allowed can’t be too scary. Everyone’s already super spooked.”

In response to Conny’s light teasing, Wendy wrinkled up her nose at him. “Watch it, kid,” she ribbed, and took a step close enough to bump into him on purpose. Back then she had just turned nine and had never been much of a crier, but she still cried as soon as her parents drove away. And then she cried through arts and crafts, and then through lunch and woodworking and swimming lessons. She cried until she made herself sick, and then the counselors finally got a hold of her mom on her cell phone. It was Wendy’s first time away from home, and her mom hadn’t been keen on it either. Even her dad’s look of disappointment didn’t kill her relief when their beat-up sedan came rumbling back up the rocky, dirt road. “The poor things couldn’t go six hours without me. Can you really blame them? Besides, I had better things to do. I started a sidewalk chalk club that summer, yunno, and those leadership skills are invaluable now.” Wendy paused in picking at the drying sap and sighed dramatically. She held out her hand for inspection, officially delegating the task of clean-up to Conny. “I’m a hands-on learner, and nature has decided to punish me for it. Just like our education system.” She watched him take out a water bottle, smiled, and pointedly didn’t take it from him. She wiggled her fingers. “Do you know if all trees make sap? That seems like something they’d teach you out there in Wisco.”

✦

as wendy called him out for dissing his mother’s taste in entertainment, he couldn’t help the stupid smile that spread as she so easily jumped on his mother’s side. it was stupid, totally stupid. and her position arguably had very little to do with his mother at all. but a mama’s boy at his core it did warm his heart a little. after a moment he held his hands up in surrender, easily giving up the fight with smile remaining on features. “ i meant no disrespect to hgtv, truly, ” he said, though it was hard to appear genuine when he had that dumbass grin on his features. but it was harder to keep that grin from his face around wendy. “ but i will start preparing now for the property brothers marathon that’s in my future. ” he teased, knowing damn well if he was ever subjected to such a thing it would be the furthest thing from torture he could imagine.

he didn’t like the way he said with everyone. he meant it, of course he wanted to have a fun little movie night with all his friends. he got so lucky at broadripple to quickly find a group of people like he had. but he’d only said it to protect himself. though wendy wasn’t that sort of person he could so clearly see her laughing in his face if he ever accidentally passed that invisible line that revealed his feelings, or even suggested his feelings were anything other than platonic. but she smiled, and as far as conny wasn’t effected by his distinction– which was exactly what he’d wanted. he cringed a little when she mentioned west side story, mostly teasingly. it’s not that he didn’t like musicals, but if the musical numbers were the best part of a film he’d rather just listen to an album. “ i’m not saying no to west side story ... but– ” he paused to suck a breath, “ you gotta build up to that sort of thing. that’s like jumping in the deep end of a wave pool when you don’t even know how to swim, ” he reasoned, and if it was anyone but wendy suggesting it he might mention that he’d rather drown in said wave pool than watch west side story. for wendy he’d totally watch west side story. “ how about ... ” he trailed off, filing through movies he’d seen and either had downloaded or were available on some sort of streaming service that were musical or music centric that would happily bridge the divide between conny’s favourites like scream and get out and anything from the stephen king universe and wendy and isobel’s desire for musicals. “ across the universe? you ever seen it? ” he suggested. though not a huge beatles fan, he had a major soft spot for evan rachel wood and jim sturgess too. “ i’m pretty sure i have it downloaded but i could always hole up in the library for an afternoon to get it. ” 

it wasn’t something conny ever really put much thought into, but he realised he maybe didn’t know a whole lot about his friends. of course a lot of that ignorance could be excused because he was new to broadripple and broadripple being a boarding school allowed everyone a break from their families and home lives. but he liked hearing the way wendy talked about her family. even if she was joking around. dopey smile tugged up his lips for a moment before he pressed them together again and nodded his head. “ right, of course– you know i’m surprised they even got as far as dropping you off at camp, how they even thought they could go so long without you? it’s shocking to me, completely shocking. ” he played along, trying to subdue amusement on his features but, as always, totally failing. 

when she wiggled her sap covered fingers at him, he gave in easily. swinging bag back over his shoulder and rearranging camera strap so it hung to his side instead of against his chest. unscrewing the water bottle as he stepped closer to her so he could properly inspect the damage.  “ but you did learn something, ” he said, taking her hand into his, gentle with his touch like she was injured and not that he was wary about getting sap all over his own hands. “ watch what you’re touching in the woods. ” he looked up from her hand to her to offer a stupid grin, amused with himself, before he looked back down again. he turned her palm upwards, still being soft with his touch, so he could pour a little water into it. curve of her hand catching a little of it while most of it ran off the sticky surface and onto the dirt between them. “ i have no idea, ” he admitted, rubbing the water into the sap and her skin as he attempted to clean it. “ i think most of them do, it just takes a broken branch or like, a cut to see it for some of them. ” if connor roberts were some sort of poet maybe he could have thought about how sometimes people were like that. that it took something drastic to see what they were made of. instead he was hyper fixated on how soft wendy’s skin was, wondering if he’d ever noticed that before, and completely aware of how close they were for this whole interaction. he paused to pour more water on the problem area, cupping her hand with his free hand as he did. 

Damian’s face pinched together at the accusation. Him? Damian? A House Captain? Obviously not. “No. Of course not, how could say such a thing?” He retorted, though he failed to see how the reply was rather dramatic. As if he’s never snuck out of bed and into places he didn’t belong before. In that moment, the memory of he and Gwen at the pool house after hours was far from his mind. “Nothing outside?” That was disappointing. “I only heard it. I thought it must have been someone tripping on the way to the outhouse again, or something falling over. It didn’t sound like… from the woods.” As if that made sense. Not an animal, not a roar of thunder. It was distinctively not of nature, that was the best way Damian could describe it. A clatter. A sort of crash. “You sure you didn’t see anything? Is anyone else up with you right now? Anyone else out of bed?” He snuck a peek behind Connor. Damian was really hoping he wouldn’t have to make his way outside but if he had to then he had to.

brows furrowed, and connor jerked a hand between them “ you’re out of bed same as me– could’ve just as easily been you, ” he pointed out. in fact if he’d heard correctly the noise had come from the same direction as damian, not as conny. but he wasn’t trying to start anything with damian. though he couldn’t imagine damian actually fighting, he was built like a tank but conny imagined he got into more tussles than the fenwick captain. he shook his head to confirm that no, he’d seen nothing outside. he only became confused as damian continued. of course it didn’t sound like from the woods, it had come from what sounded like right outside the cabin. and then another quick onslaught of questioning. as if connor had enough braincells to deal with this most of the time, much less when he was tired and panicked. “ no, man– i didn’t see anything, no one’s up, ” that might not be true, he hadn’t exactly checked each of his roommates’ beds as he’d rushed out “ the sound came from outside anyway, i swear it did, ” he continued, gesturing to the door out of the cabin for a moment before he actually started moving towards it. there was only one way to find out, right? he was apparently already in trouble for being awake, might as well make it worth while. 

𝐃𝐀𝐘, 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓, 𝐈𝐓 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍’𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐘 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐍. Noises are just that… noises, and he isn’t really in the business of speculating wildly about something that he hadn’t even heard properly, let alone seen. “Possible,” he answers, shrugging. “What’d they take from you?” Only because he’s curious. So far, nothing the culprit had stolen seemed particularly interesting, though it did annoy quite a few of his classmates, including himself. “Or it could be, you know, an animal, something falling off the roof, a tree…” Tilting his head, he looks at the guy with a curious expression. “Do I need to rattle off any more theories?”

✦

“ a digital recorder, ” connor admitted, albeit begrudgingly. it wasn’t exactly sentimental, like some things that other people had lost. and it sort of made him sound like a creep. even if all it had ever been used for was when he and ezra had gone looking for ghosts out by the ruins. “ everything’s backed up but still– pain in the ass. ” he added, plus he didn’t like the idea of anyone having that recorder. a broadripple classmate or literally anyone else. “ what’d they take from you? ” he repeated orion’s question back to him, because at this point it seemed everyone had lost something. and beyond that, there was no theme. they’d taken the recorder from him and then a shirt from his sister, a pair of sunglasses from some other guy. it didn’t add up.

while connor didn’t really appreciate the mockery, it was sort of grounding to hear him list of different, totally plausible, and less spooky sources of the sound. it made feel as though it was easing down his throat and back down to where it belonged. “ yeah, keep listing them off, maybe one of them will be right, who knows, ” he mused somewhat sarcastically as he moved past orion. intent on finding out if it was animal, man, or demon that had made that stupid noise. and prepared to run for his life, barefoot on the dirt, if he found any one of those options.

She adverted her blue eyes from his face, instead focusing on the damp wash cloth pressed to her knee. She stared at it with such intensity that one would think it was the most fascinating thing in the world, when really she couldn’t bare to look at his face. She didn’t want to know what his reaction her confession would be. He didn’t seem cruel so he wouldn’t scoff but maybe he would feel awkward and uncomfortable, or worse, feel pity for her. She didn’t mind being friendless, she had always been more comfortable with her own company, and in her limited experience with the connection of friendship she found that it could be a double edged sword.  

“Thank you…” She breathed, looking at him just long enough to send a slight smile his way before looking down again. She wasn’t totally sure if she believed him, after all it was hard to keep secrets in a place like Broadripple, she should know, she has overheard many of them. He at least seemed to mean it, for now. 

Her eyes shot up to look at him when he asked ‘Don’t you worry?’, her brows knitting together in confusion. Truthfully she had never thought of it like that, but he made a good point. What if something happened to her? Would she become the next student at Broadripple to just…vanish? “I guess…I guess I never thought of that…” She chewed on her bottom lip, thinking of the right words. “People don’t notice me…Which is fine, I don’t mind, not really…” She took a deep breath, almost as if talking so much made her winded. “I mean, you’ve never noticed me, right?” She phrased it like a question, but it wasn’t really, more like a fact. No one noticed her, she didn’t say it in a self pitying way, it was just the truth. “If no one knows where I am anyway why would leaving campus change anything?” 

“I’m…Astrid…by the way.” She realized that he probably didn’t know her name. She had already said more to him than she said to anyone on an average day, and he now knew more about her than most people at Broadripple besides her few friends, and he knew her secret, which was more than anyone in the whole world. It was only fitting that he knew her name. 

✦

truth be told, it didn’t sit right with him to promise he wouldn’t tell anyone about this. not because it was some scandalous gossip that the quiet girl snuck out at night, he didn’t really care about that at all. just that now he thought if he wasn’t there next time, and something happened. if something happened and it could have been stopped by his telling someone. but he pressed his lips together in pursed smile in return to her small one. she had his word, he wouldn’t tell anyone. but he did hope she would. for her own sake.

as she continued he leaned back a little, resting against the bench behind him, hands either side holding onto the wood. he wondered what it was like to think the way she did. in his darkest moments he still assumed people would notice he was gone because they’d be glad for his absence. but to think you were entirely invisible, he didn’t know what that was like. when she mentioned that he’d probably never noticed her, he shifted his position a little. bringing his arms up over his chest. he had noticed her, but they weren’t friends, they’d never spoken, he was only pretty sure her name started with an a. it wasn’t really enough to prove her wrong or even prove his point. “ i don’t think that’s true, ” he said after a second, realising he would get no where trying to defend himself alone. instead going for the overall idea that no one noticed her. “ and it changes things because if something happened on campus, when you’re surrounded by people, you can get help. if something happens and no one knows where you are then, ” he finished his statement by lifting his shoulders in a shrug. he wasn’t going to say it but he was fairly sure that could lead to a number of nasty ends. 

it felt a little hypocritical to be saying all this stuff when he hadn’t told anyone he was sneaking out that night too. but he hadn’t gone out with the thought that no one would notice if he didn’t come back. he thought it’d be pretty obvious. maybe his roommates wouldn’t care but they’d notice. silently debating his own hypocrisy it surprised him when she introduced herself. it was sort of relieving in a way – that even though he’d spooked her, she trusted him? maybe? something like that, it was too late for him to determine exactly why the words warmed his chest. “ connor, ” he replied, pressing his lips into another small smile. even though he preferred when people called him conny, it felt inappropriate for this moment. and he didn’t hate being called connor, it just often made him think he was in trouble. “ can i ask one more question? ” he asked, though there were still a million on his mind, he’d limit himself to one more. “ where did you go? ”

The far-off look in Connor’s eye as he looked past Ben prickled at the back of Ben’s neck. He fought the urge to follow the guy’s gaze and glance over his shoulder, like something might be waiting just behind him. He’d had paranoid roommates before. He’d had fucking insane roommates before. Though a quiet nudge pressed against whatever soft, dumb part of brain processed stuff like dread valiantly tried to make itself known and felt, he didn’t want to give into it. He didn’t want to look crazy, to fall into some bonkers-as-shit hysteria. He wanted everything and everyone to just—chill out. “I dunno, man,” he said again with a defensive, jerky shrug. If it had been anyone else in their shared room, he might’ve said ‘you probably slept through it, dick’ but the light of Connor’s laptop had been a steady, peripheral glow to most of Ben’s sleepless nights so far. And Ben definitely hadn’t heard anything sus either. “What would the alternative be if it’s not? Edith Lynch getting her rocks off? Just fuckin’ banging some pots and pans together to make us shit ourselves. Yeah, sounds real likely.” His skin felt tight and warm, and he didn’t want to argue with Connor but he didn’t want to enable this either, so the words fell out before he had much time to think them over: “We go outside, we’ll find a knocked over trashbin, or… God, I dunno, did anyone bring a bike? My bet’s on one of the two.”

✦

to some degree ben’s dismissive response was grounding. yes, connor was freaked out, and easily panicked, and tended to allow his mind to run with the first thing it thought of. and perhaps he was overreacting. but what if he wasn’t? what if ben was undereacting and michael myers was two seconds from busting through the door? or this was the start of a progressive possession of the cabin? but he didn’t voice any of that, though a dumbass he was smart enough to know what he was really thinking would not be entertained by his roommate.

instead he pushed back hair that had fallen in his face, letting out a small sigh as he did. “ i dunno, maybe some jerk trying to fuck with people, ” he said, leaning more towards the michael myers theory than the exorcist one since ben had made the edith lynch joke. he just toned down the theory for the current audience. “ maybe setting up another dumb prank or stealing more shit, i dunno, ” he continued his train of thought with a jerk of his hand. though his brows furrowed a little at the theories he presented. as far as he knew there werent any trashbins by the cabin, and if anyone was out riding a bike at whatever the fuck o’clock it was right now he’d be incredibly concerned. “ maybe, maybe you’re right, ” he said, starting to move down the hallway. doubt kind of obvious in his voice, but he and ben weren’t on the sort of level where he would make a joke out of it. “ only one way to find out, right? ”

nights like this reminded amari why they missed having a room to themself.they always found sleeping difficult.the feeling of a large quilt against their skin was claustrophobic and their brain wouldn’t switch off.they had lessons to plan for and things they could have been doing instead of sleeping.they missed being able to pace freely around their dorm and not having to worry about the light from their phone waking up other people.their pity party was interrupted by the crash from outside their room window.it stood out sharply from the other background noise they had gotten used to.

they couldn’t decide if getting out of bed was a wise decision.they made a quick pros and cons list in their head to help them decide.staying in bed would help them avoid trouble but they eventually decided it was better to satisfy their curiosity than to lie in their bed wondering what made the noise.they crept out of bed,grabbing their fully charged phone as a light source and slipping on a pair of sliders to avoid splinters.

“fuck!” the shock of bumping into somebody made them momentarily forget that they were trying to be stealthy.their shoulders relaxed once they realised who they collided with.that awkward apology and fluffy abundance of hair could only belong to one person.“thank god it’s you."they would have hated to awkwardly explain why they were up to anybody else."yeah,that’s why i’m up.”,they explained.“ i guess this is the part of a horror movie where we die because we’re running head first into danger?”, they joked.

✦

hand rested on his chest as he took a heaping breath in, relieved to hear amari’s voice even if it was shouting profanities. if anyone was going to be having the same worries as him about the sound, it was them. he gave a half ass laugh at their joke, if he wasn’t completely spooked it would have been a full ass laugh. “ we’re only in the first act, it’s shitty writing if we die this early. ” he countered, continuing down the hall with a hurried pace. he’d love to just stand and chat with amari, but time was surely of the essence. “ you and me, ” he gestured between them as he glanced over his shoulder back at them, still moving forward as he did. “ we’ve gotta be making it to act three, at least. ”

if he were to categorise everyone at broadripple into scream characters (which he had definitely done at some point), he’d at least put amari in the same category as himself, randy meeks. if not bump them up to a gale weathers. “ it sounded like it was basically just outside the window, but i couldn’t see anything. did you see anything? ”

A bunk by the window wasn’t a good thing. It made every noise and rustle outside even easier to hear and for someone who functioned on a very specific sleep schedule, Damian wasn’t adjusting well to it. Sleep was difficult to come by for him. It was a number of things, one only had to take a pick. The incessant noise of nature, the very uncomfortable and flat sheet of cushion he laid on that tried to pass off as a mattress, his ever-running train of thought, or the fact that Gwen was asleep mere feet from him. Needless to say, rest came in scattered chunks since he’s been at the cabin. He jolted awake at the sound of the clatter, irritated that the short amount of sleep he’d gotten was rudely interrupted. 

“What in Heaven’s– ” Damian wasted no time getting up, wanting whatever this was to be over and dealt with. He only hoped he’d still be tired enough by the time the situation was handled that he could fall right back to sleep. A quick peek at his Rolex told him he was going to be up in an hour and a half anyway and that somehow vexed Damian even more. He could be sleeping right now; that hour and a half could have made a world of difference to someone who had to go on a morning run, train, shower, and be alert for a whole day of classes.

Tugging on the trainers he’d laid out for his morning run, Damian rubbed sleep from his eyes and made his way out of his cabin room. It was quite weird to wear shoes without socks on but this was a time-sensitive situation here. He was just in the midst of moving the back of his hand away from his eyes when he felt his body smack into another’s. His hand dropped quickly then, his earlier irritation back in full force now that he remembered what he was doing. Though confusion colored his features when his gaze focused and he was met with the sight of his former roommate.

“Connor–” Damian snapped in a stern whisper, feeling his heart in his throat at the unexpected collision. He blew out a hard breath, willing the tension to leave his body as he tried to gather his bearings again. It took him a second but he managed. “Yeah, I– wait, that wasn’t you?” Naively, Damian was hoping it was. Then the problem would be solved and he could go back to bed.

✦

damian didn’t really sit on the list of people connor was very glad to not literally run into in the middle of the night, but he wasn’t a friend either. he’d never really liked the word acquaintance but it was kind of the only word he could think of to describe his relationship with his old roommate. “ of course it wasn’t me, it’s the middle of the night ” he replied, not that it being the middle of the night had stopped him from being out of bed before. he didn’t even know how much he was just throwing damian’s hope out a window like a baseball.  “ – it wasn’t you? ” he didn’t actually suspect damian was behind the sound, rather it was a defensive question. as if to say, you’re up too so you can’t write me up. though that attitude had never worked with gwen whenever she’d caught him up after lights out. “ i tried looking out the window but i couldn’t see anything out there. ” 

For some of the students sleeping at the Retreat might’ve proven difficult considering how loud the night was out in the middle of nowhere. As soon as the sun set the night came alive with a music of its own making, a mix of the sounds the animals that roamed the forest made, combined with the gentle rustle of the trees against the cabin’s roof, feat the sounds the night itself created. For Luna, all of this, felt like being back home. If she closed her eyes hard enough she could pretend she was back in her room, walls covered by cut outs of magazines and old pictures of people she didn’t know and probably never would. Henrietta was a rural town, if she heard a sound in the middle of the night it was likely to be a wild dog eating out of her grandmother’s small tomato crops, than an actual burglar — although, her grandmother would argue that would be the proper and only way to refer to the dog.

But no sound like the one that disturbed her sleep would’ve been heard during a quiet Henrietta night. It took her a moment to try and place the noise to a source but she came up with nothing. Something told her to let it be, rolled back into bed and pretend she didn’t hear anything but curiosity was bound to be the death of her. 

She wasn’t scared, it was likely an animal or someone messing around, but the poorly light hall of the cabin felt like something out of a horror movie. Maybe that was way her first instinct was to scream when she bumped into something, no someone. Luna brought both her hands to cover her mouth in time to quiet her screams. “Fuck.” She muttered to herself. 

“This is getting old, dude.” She said thinking back to how Connor had nearly scared her to death back at the well a few days ago. “Yeah, I— I heard it too. An animal, maybe?” She offered but she wasn’t too sold on it, what kind of animal could make that kind of noise? Luna knew it was probably better to let it be and go back to bed, but she had been doing stupid things her entire life and she was not about to stop now. “You know,” The floorboard creaked as she took a step away from her room door and closer to the exit door of the cabin. “in a horror movie this is where you yell at the characters to don’t go out there, right?”

✦

if he wasn’t so on edge by the sound from outside the cabin he might have been a little impressed with himself and his ability to frighten luna more than once. usually lanky limbs and general clumsiness and awkwardness gave him away well in advance. maybe he was finally growing into his limbs. but there was no time for that, there was something afoot. “ maybe, i didn’t see anything out the window though, ” he replied to her suggestion, gesturing over his shoulder with a jerk of his thumb. in one hand it was relieving he didn’t see anything out the window because that meant it wasn’t some feral animal or asshole classmate– but what did that leave behind? a ghost? 

she had a point, a very good point. though it seemed neither of them were going to take the advice. he gave a short exhale, and almost sigh as he pushed a lump of floppy hair out of his face “ yeah, well, those people don’t know how to enjoy a horror movie, ” he said, making a joke to try and ease the feeling of his heart beating in his throat. he followed her action and moved closer to the door outside, peeking out before he opened it further. “ if it’s any relief, you’re much more final girl material than me, ” he said, holding door open behind him for luna to follow, assuming she would follow. trying not to think on the fact that if this was a horror movie, he’d only survive if it was more ghost adventures than ghost face. 

Wendy liked hearing Conny talk about where he was from, even if she had always dismissed the entire Midwest as the aptly-named ‘flyover states’ for most of her life. Things seemed more exciting on the coasts and weren’t like, a ton of serial killers from out there? Bad vibes all around, really. But she started to like it because she was grateful it bore and bred someone like Connor—and Casey too, obv. Through sheer association with the Roberts twins, Wisconsin endeared itself to her. Plus, she always wanted to know what his life was like pre-Broadripple, and what he was up to when he wasn’t at school, but she also wanted to know that it might all be a little bit better now that he knew her. But maybe that was selfish. She sighed, then shot him a smile as she stepped over a wayward log. Her worst scenario visions of camping out in the wilderness were heavily influenced by the book Hatchet, and she was pretty grateful their experience hadn’t included eating turtle eggs or getting attacked by a porcupine just yet. She liked the sound of a backyard camp out a lot better.

“You camped in your backyard?” She had to fight back the instinct to awww aloud. “Did your mom do it with you guys?” The image alone almost pushed the sound out of her. “My grandpa would help me build forts in the living room when I was little, and we’d put this big purple quilt over the couch to create a canopy and we’d read books and do puzzles and stuff. He always made me clean it up before we went to bed though, but on my birthday one year I made everyone sleep down there with me. Nell complained the whole time. That’s the city slicker’s version of a backyard camp out.” Her grin softened a little as she watched him snap photos of their surroundings. It was easy to love someone when you saw them do something they loved. “I’m incredibly hardcore—you’ve known this about me,” she joked in return. “Plus, I don’t know how to do the stick-rubby thing. Maybe my brain decided to shoot one for the ‘realistic’ team and dunk on me for only knowing the dangerous, maybe dumb way of going about the whole thing. Dream You did give me major side-eye when sparks flew your way.”

Her eyes widened a little at bears. She knew a black bear could very well be prowling deep in the forest somewhere but she liked to think they would like, keep to themselves. That the presence of humans scared them or something. “Do you think our trash is tied up enough and stuff? I mean, I totally trust Sister Michael could K.O. a grizzly, but—” She grimaced in exaggeration. “Big Bear I do not wish to meet.” Wendy brushed her hand against the bark of a tree as they passed and an unexpected sticky substance stuck to her palm. Sap, probably? She looked it over, trying to pick at it fruitlessly. It seemed to spread and stubbornly cling to her skin the more she messed with it. “I was a Brownie for a year,” she answered, a little absently as she rubbed her hand against the fabric of her pants. She frowned when lint was added to the mess. “My troop went to a Girl Scout Camp for a week in New Hampshire, but I had to go back home by the end of Day One. My parents hadn’t even left the state yet. But literally all they taught me was how to make a God’s Eye. Man vs. Wild came through with the battery trick. My dad’s totally obsessed.”

✦

connor lowered his camera and looked back to her as she spoke. exhaling a somewhat embarrassed chuckle he looked away when she asked if his mom ever joined them camping in their backyard. “ sometimes, ” he allowed sheepishly, smile spreading as he looked back up. “ she’s a nurse, so she worked a lot, you know, ” she’d also still been studying when him and casey had been very young but he left that detail out. not that he thought wendy would judge, but it was a detail he was used to leaving out, and outside of his small group of friends he knew people wouldn’t be so kind. “ plus, this may come as a shock to you but me and casey are kind of the only big movie fans in the family, mom’s not really into it. she much more a house hunter shows kind of lady. ” but then it was his turn to listen to her talk about her home. and much like wendy had slowly become fond of wisconsin for the fact that conny and casey were from there, conny had become fond of jamaica plain too. simply because of the way wendy spoke about it, and how many memories it bore for her. he smiled easily as he listened, very easily able to picture the scene she painted, upset nell included. “ well, no offence to nell, but she sounds like a total party pooper, doesn’t even know what fun is, ” he mused playfully about to return to snapping shots of their surroundings in the afternoon sun as he had a thought. “ we should do that– well, i mean, we could do that. i mean the cabins are kinda like a big shitty sleepover anyway, right? we could like set up a fort between a couple bunks, have a movie night or something, ” he said, letting it sit for a moment before he added “ with everyone, it could be fun. ” 

“ oh for sure, ” he assured nodding his head, but looking away because he didn’t actually know for sure. “ like, while i agree sister michael could totally take down a grizzly with her hands tied, i’d bet she doesn’t wanna see everyone else try and deal with it. ” he imagined that was the problem sister had with a lot of things. that she could handle them completely but she had to also deal with other people not being able to handle it. he held camera up to his eyes again, clicking away as wendy dealt with a sap situation, totally oblivious. he smiled to himself as she spoke about her childhood. he could totally see her as a brownie, it made total sense. “ seriously? ” he asked, looking back to her, amused by her story. “ i can’t see that at all. seeing as you’re so hardcore now, i can’t even imagine it, it’s impossible. ” he teased gently, grin spreading on his lips. wendy’s softness was a virtue of her’s as far as connor was concerned. then he pointed to her hand, finally noticing the situation. “ what happened here, girl scout? ” he said, letting camera go so it hung from strap around his neck as he pulled backpack from his shoulder, digging out water bottle and holding it out to her. 

☾: Who was the last person from school that you dreamed about?

uuuhhhhhhh does edith lynch count? i don’t even know what the hell she looks like– or used to look like but i know there was a creepy girl in my dream the other night that was totally supposed to be her.

♨ : If you could only eat one type of campfire food for the rest of the year, what would you pick?

oh, marshmallows, are you joking? there’s literally nothing better than a roasted marshmallow, all other campfire foods fucking wish they were marshmallows. like yeah, maybe i’d get sick of it long before the year was up but i’d take roasted marshmallows over a half warm potato in aluminium or whatever

                    incoming call from ...... amari 🛸

                               ♪       might i present ..... a theme      ♫

[ sent 9:48 PM ] that’s exactly why it was taken, because its cursed

                     incoming call from ...... wendy ✨ 🌼

              ♪      you’re gonna wanna be my best friend, baby                                                  you’re gonna wanna be my best friend      ♫                             best friend by rex orange county 

[ sent 10:31 AM ] is there even any other flavour of soda worth LOOKING at ??? 

[ sent 10:33 AM ] except maybe pepsi, pepsi gets some rights

𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐋𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐅 𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍’𝐓 𝐀𝐃𝐌𝐈𝐓 the noise didn’t bother him, at least a little bit, though not exactly for the same reasons as everyone else. Already, he sees people stirring, some confused, some annoyed, mostly both, and he wonders what else could happen in this godforsaken cabin to make his experience even worse than it already had been. He’d taken to wandering the halls, having been jolted awake by the strange noise, and then kept awake by his cabin mates.

But he isn’t exactly scared; hell, he chalks it up to some prankster or — maybe even part of the roof fell off, considering the state of their living situation. His nightly stroll is only to pass the time, until it would inevitably stop ( he could deal with the smell or the chatter, but not both ), like the old garage fridge, back when he’d lived in Maine. Half-asleep, maybe even sleepwalking, he passes by Room 3 when he runs into a slightly frazzled classmate, and Rion takes a sleepy step back. “Nah, it’s fine.” Yawning, he stretches his arms up, closing his eyes for a brief second. “Yeah. A crash. What about it?” He stares at Connor with a curious expression, though a part of Rion wonders if he’s the one under-reacting to this entire situation. “I just assumed it was some asshole looking to cause shit.” 

✦

“ what about it? ” connor repeats the question back to rion, “ you don’t think it’s weird? it’s, like, the middle of the night, ” he pointed out. a crash in the middle of the day, when everyone was awake and milling about? that was normal. middle of the night, totally different fucking story. or was he being crazy? was general lack of sleep finally starting to have an effect on his psyche? it was hard to say, but even if it was just assholes starting shit connor thought that was reason enough to be spooked. people were just as scary as ghosts. but it didn’t matter. “ i didn’t see anyone out there, asshole or otherwise. ” he commented, but then a thought crossed his mind. “ you don’t think it could be the same person who went through everyone’s stuff, do you? ” yeah, if it was a person. a real, live person, and not a pissed off ghost that’d been dead for centuries and didn’t like all the jokes he and casey had been making about the place.

•

Ben had half-hoped that a change of scenery might do something to his sleep schedule—a good something, obviously. His sister yammered on about it over the phone before he had left home to come back to school, regaling him with the healing properties of fresh air and new surroundings. He didn’t think he needed to be healed, but he would have been pretty stoked if he could get a good night’s rest more than a couple times week. Some time into their stay at the retreat, and things had mostly unfolded in the same way it had been. In bed at a reasonable hour, getting his eyes to fall shut for half an hour at a time, then finding himself staring up at the ceiling as a pale light lit up the sky. Not only exhausting in the sleepless sense, but draining in the repetitive one too. It was boring, and he wanted a fuckin’ nap like all the time.

It was a night like the one before, and the one before that, and the one before that. Connor Roberts tapped rapidly at his keyboard, the light of his laptop cast a glow in his corner of the room. Which also happened to basically be Ben’s corner of the room. It normally wouldn’t have bothered him too much, when he could sleep he could sleep through just about anything, but he was still on edge from the random mass theft. All he lost was an old pair of running shorts—frayed, worn thin, and two months away from the top of a trash heap—but he found he wasn’t in the mood for pranks, even the seemingly harmless ones. If the goal was to antagonize them, then the culprit at least succeeded in pissing Ben off.

So at quarter to four, he pushed back his blankets, seemingly unnoticed by Connor’s internet kid tunnel vision, and walked quietly out into the hallway. He didn’t make it far before a loud crash sounded outside the cabin. The same heavy feeling in his chest from the morning he ran into the woods and then into Luna pinched, and he thought raccoon, opossum, deer quick and alarmed. And just as he tried to conjure a calming mental image of some small, clumsy animal knocking over a trashcan or something, someone barreled into him. He took a stabilizing, half-step back. “Jesus—” he started, then cut himself off with a quiet irritated huff. It made sense it was Connor, and it made even more sense that he had a frenzied look in his eye like he was about to come head-to-head with Mothman. His faint paranoia pushed Ben into his default: stubborn rationality. “Yeah, what’s the big deal? We’re surrounded by animals that only come out at night, man. It’s probably like a fox—or a fisher cat. I dunno. Best to not fuck with it.”

✦

as connor’s focused properly on the person he’d run into he couldn’t help but feel a small wave of relief. sure, he and ben weren’t close– not even a little bit. but if he did dislike connor he still him alone and that was much appreciated. though maybe connor had thrown a spanner in that by running into him in the cabin hallway in the middle of the night. he guessed he’d see. “ yeah, i guess, ” he said aloud but his voice was distant as he looked past ben. as much as he would love to be rational and believe it was an animal, a feeling he was calling instinct and not paranoia begged to differ. “ you don’t think we would’ve heard something like that before though? ” he asked, looking past ben for a second longer before he looked at him again. “ if it was some animal? we’ve been here for weeks and i’ve never heard shit, ” and as his roommate might be privy to, connor hadn’t exactly been sleeping through most nights. if there’d been a noise like that before, he was fairly certain he’d know.

Casey had seen enough horror movies in her relatively short lifetime to be keenly aware that you couldn’t just follow the source of spooky noises in the night without arming yourself. As such, she’d picked up a rather hefty chemistry text book to use, just in case anybody happened to come at her with a weapon or perhaps any questions about titration.

She was already on edge at the Retreat, her anxiety multiplied to an immeasurable degree by the fact that something or someone had woken her up in the middle of the night so when her body collided with somebody else’s, she assumed she was under attack and struck back immediately.

 “Oh my God, Connor,” she uttered dropping the text book to the floor the moment she realized that it was her own brother she’d battered with it. “Holy dicks, I didn’t see you,” not that that was an apology, though it was meant to have the same sort of effect or something like it anyway.

✦

already terrified by the sound outside and then subsequently running into someone in the corridor– getting hit with a book frightened him even further. he had already jumped back when he’d run into them but he did it again when he was hit, hitting his back against the door frame behind. “ ow, jesus, ” he hissed, reaching over his shoulder to try and alleviate some of the pain from his back. as she realised who he was, he realised who she was. of course it was his sister that was trying to beat him up with a textbook. a textbook that narrowly missed his feet for the record. “ are you sure? because you managed to hit me pretty spot on– the fuck even book is that? it? ” he asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice as he kicked the book on the floor and tilted his head to try and get a better look. whatever, he decided after a second, looking back up but still holding his shoulder. “ did you hear that sound outside too? ” he asked, assuming that was why she was also in the hallway “ sounded like– well, i don’t know, it sounded like something. ”