Worm.

Ch 0: Prologue, October 3rd

“Whaaat? There’s no way you’re telling me that made sense!” Mikaela looked at her friend and said as they walked home from the movie theater. Staying up to go to the midnight showing of Donnie Darko was Sable’s idea, which Mikaela happily funded. Knowing her friend was without a job and having her ask her parents for movie theater money at the dead of night probably wouldn’t have gone well. 

“Not perfect sense.. I’d probably need to see it another time, but I got the jist!” Sable prided herself on usually being able to understand movies like these and being able to help explain them to Mikaela if she’s lost halfway through the movie, but this one threw both of them for a loop.

The Greenville movie theater was doing a ‘31 days of Halloween’ event, where for each day of October they’d have a midnight showing of a different horror film, each one promising to be scarier than the last. Sable felt like this was her calling, staying up late and indulging in fantastical gore and prolonged misery on the big screen. Everything felt like it was falling into place for her, spending time with her best friend, Halloween right around the corner? A scary movie every single day? Things were finally going her way.

Mikaela speaks up. Breaking her friend out of her thought bubble.

“…Could we maybe do our radio show tomorrow? I’m still exhausted after my shift at Moonstone.” Mikaela’s face almost seemed to droop, she had no idea where Sable always got so much energy this late at night. Going to these midnight showings and discussing their thoughts until the wee hours over the shortwave had become a quick tradition. The radio was usually in Sable’s attic, but the two had brought it over to Mikaela’s house, specifically a large closet in her room so her roommate doesn’t hear them yapping.

Home wasn’t always a good place for Sable and being able to stay at Mikaela’s place and talk about something the two were interested in was the perfect way to take her mind off things.

“That’s fine!” Sable smiled and looked at her friend. She had really wanted to pick her brain about the movie, but she bought the tickets and popcorn plus a large soda they shared so Sable wasn’t going to argue. “I guess our esteemed listeners will have to go without their favorite guest speaker..” She playfully added, shooting her friend a sly little grin. 

‘Guest speaker?’ Mikaela’s face curled a bit with agitation, she’d been on All Things Wicked This Night just as much as her counterpart, Mikaela stopped and turned to Sable, getting ready to argue but… as soon as she saw Sables curt, cute smile, the annoyance bled out of her. Mikaela’s face softened, as she stared at her friend solemnly, the cool night breeze surrounding them as they took their break from walking. 

The pair locked eyes for what was only a few moments, but to them it felt longer, they stared and analyzed each other's faces for a moment. An anxious feeling rising from their stomachs, it had felt as though the earth stood still, that everything else had fallen off the face of the planet and the only thing in each other's existence was each other.

Mikaela slowly raised her hand to Sable’s cheek, holding her face so softly. Their heartbeats raced in their tired state, Mikaela had kissed plenty of folks before, either when playing spin-the-bottle or past boyfriends… Kissing them felt like a favor, like something she was doing more for the other person instead of herself.

Sable had never been touched like this before. Not so gently, not even her own parents would hug her or even give her a pat on the back. Mikaela’s hand warmed her cold face, her warmth spread throughout Sable’s very soul, everything was right at this moment, everything else could fade away… but something was wrong.

Mikaela closed her eyes slowly, leaning in. Sable’s heart felt like it was about to pop. She turned away from her friend, looking off to the other side of the road. Mikaela snapped back to reality, pulling herself back and removing her hand in embarrassment and quickly putting them into her pockets, away and out of sight from Sable. “That’s alright.. I understand..” Mikaela stammers, attempting to regain her composure.

“No.. Mikaela, wait.. I’ve never…” Sable holds her hands together and looks down at her shoes, face rosy and pink as she continues. “..I’ve always wanted it to be at a time when..” She trails off, sounding like she had more to say, before raising her hand and pointing across the street. “..At a time when there wasn’t someone staring at us..”

Mikaela’s head shoots in the direction Sable pointed to, expecting some creep to be perving out on them but.. to her surprise it was her roommate Julian, waving to them from across the street.