N E V E R L A N D

“it’s not that sad, honest. don’t worry about it.“ he nods, somber. bryce didn’t like to discuss his parents, more so about what they’ve done to their family. "yeah. sorry you had to go through the thing with your mom. i guess so. i don’t really care anymore.” he shrugs. “yeah, totally, i went on whatsapp and asked their group chat. i’m not mean!”

“i’m not sure how much i believe that, but okay.” she shrugged. “yeah, it sucks i guess. but i just gotta learn to get over it.” she nodded. “good try, but ghosts don’t use whatsapp. they use groupme. you’re only a little mean.”

“did you go somewhere fun?” devon asked. “it does sound terrifying, i can’t even imagine it. i’m very glad they’re okay. i watched an american in paris and roman holiday and a few others. i started beauty and the beast but i fell asleep during it.”

“not really, no.” she sighed. “can’t say i’ve ever seen american in paris or roman holiday. i don’t even know what they’re about. you fell asleep during beauty and the beast? how could you do that during such a masterpiece?”

“more when i was little.” he shrugs. “i don’t really know where they are half the time so it’s hard to see them, you know? it’s not like they wanna see me anyways.” they had pretty much disowned their kids after all. he felt bad, knowing that he couldn’t really say anything to make her feel better. “yeah, i don’t think ghosts care too much about stereotypes, you goof. if you wanna think that.”

“makes me kind of sad to think about. you as a little kid wanting to see your parents, i mean.” she said, knowing that feeling well. “i’m sorry you had to go through that. and that you still do. they're pretty stupid for not wanting to see you.” she smiled sadly. “how do you know that? have you asked them? hey, don’t be mean.”

“i dunno either. i just hate scary things in general ‘cause they scare me. yeah but i don’t like it. maybe. it’s just weather, we can’t control it can we?”

“that makes sense. i think they’re supposed to scare you. nope, i guess we can’t.”

“i feel that way about mine sometimes.” he did, although bryce always knew that nothing would change withy them. they were stuck in their old ways and he couldn’t do anything about it. he chuckles. “a ghost? please, you’re not even close to being pale enough or cool enough to be a ghost. haven’t you ever seen casper?”

“do you ever wanna go see ‘em? just kind of leave and not tell anyone that you’re going until you’re gone so they can’t stop you?” she asked, looking over at him. she didn’t want to feel so alone in her stupid decision. “hey, come on. don’t stereotype ghosts, that’s not fair to ghosts. plus, we both know i’m cool enough to be a ghost. maybe not casper cool, but still cool enough.”

“where did you go?” she asked softly. “yeah. i know emory and madison were in one and i heard there were a couple more. they’re hurt but okay. i always watch movies. i just watched more of the classics.”

“not that far, really.” she shrugged. “they were? that sounds terrifying, but i guess it’s good that they’re okay. i know you do. which ones?”

“i think so. i think they like them, or they just like to torture me. they usually don’t actually watch it though. would there actually be a reason? it just seems like something that would happen.”

“i don’t get how anyone could actually like them. they have to just be torturing you. i dunno, maybe not. i just feel like there has to be for such a freak storm if that makes sense.”

he bits his lip. although they both had some what absentee parents, it wasn’t an exact situation. he’d always have someone there, while elina didn’t. bryce didn’t really know what to say. “well there had to be a reason. what was the most important one?” he lets out a snort at her comment before nodding. “yeah. so did you, apparently.”

“well, yeah there were. i was just being stupid. i guess i just wanted to see if anything changed, or maybe i just hoped something had. i don’t know.” she shrugged, realizing how stupid it all sounded. how naive she was. “nah, i’m actually just a ghost. figured haunting you in the afterlife would be a fun thing to do.”

“you weren’t? did you go somewhere?” devon asked. “i mean there were a couple car accidents, which aren’t normal. i just mostly stayed home and watched movies.”

“yeah.” she nodded. “there were? is everyone okay? of course you did. any good movies?”

“my friends sometimes, but i mostly just go on my phone. i don’t think it will. the news said it was some freak thing but i haven’t heard anything about another one.“

“does that mean they actually like to watch horror movies? i guess a phone is as good a distraction as you can get. i wonder if they’ll figure out why it happened. it feels kind of weird to just not know.”

bryce nods and stares at the ground in front of him. he hadn’t thought that might be a reason as to why. “oh.” he coughs. there wasn’t really much to say about it, and he wasn’t sure if she wanted to talk. “why did you go?”

“yeah.” she says, picking at the tiny bit of nail polish that was left on her fingers. she felt stupid. stupid that she didn’t just make up some other excuse. stupid that she’d just blurted it out, probably making him uncomfortable. “i don’t know. a bunch of stupid reasons. it's not really that important.” she shrugged, trying to make everything less weird. "you survived the storm, i see."

“me either. that’s why i don’t watch ‘em ever unless i’m forced to. yeah. it was really weird honestly, kind of out of nowhere.”

“who forces you to watch ‘em? that’s good, outside seemed pretty dangerous. yeah, hopefully it doesn’t happen again anytime soon.”

he sits beioside her, brining his knees up to his chest and looking over at elina. “what’d you go over there for?” he was curious, she had left without warning and it left him a bit confused as to why.

“i, uh, i went to see my birth mom.” she sighed, closing her eyes and rubbing them with the palms of her hands before opening them again. “i dunno why. i just-i dunno. it was stupid. really stupid.”

“maybe.” she lets the topic drop, tilting her head curiously at the other girl. “yeah. i hate horror movies for that reason, they scare me so bad afterwards. did it storm up there? it did here, and it was super freaky.”

“mhm. every time i watch one i can’t sleep for days after. mhm, i hated it. did you stay inside?”

“hey nerd,” he says, approaching elina. he’d missed his best friend while she went on her trip (whatever that was supposed to mean). mrs. gardner didn’t tell him anything, and every time he came around it seemed like no one was home at all. “where’d you go?” @elinafvk

“hi loser.” she said, a genuine smile making its way onto her face. the past few days hadn’t been the best, and it was nice to know bryce was still an idiot. “uh, just a few towns over.”

“it’s not that weird. it’s basically human nature, i think. everyone gets sick of people sometimes.“ fallon nods. "yeah. in a big house it’s like a horror movie. okay. are you sure you don’t wanna talk about your trip?”

“that’s a good point. i guess some people just get sick of ‘em easier than others.” she shrugs. “yeah, when you put it that way it’s even more horrifying. i dunno. it wasn’t really that great. i, uh, don’t think there’s that much to talk about.”