Write!

Tegan leaned over Gaz’s shoulder, squinting at the pixelated screen of her hand-held device.

“Crushing my enemies.” Gaz replied, gaze not leaving the screen as her fingers jumped from one button to the next.

“Sounds fun.”

Taking a seat beside her, Tegan let a moment of silence pass before speaking up again.

“So where’s your brother?”

“Ghost-hunting.”

“Aw, really? That’s all he’s been doing lately!”

“He’s found his people, let him enjoy it a little.”

“But what about Zim? Their rivalry is unmatched and they haven’t faced each other properly in weeks!”

Snorting, Gaz glanced up at her.

“You’re still going on about that?”

“Of course!” Tegan rummaged through her bag, pulling out one of her heavily-decorated notebooks “All the pieces are there for a classic E-to-L!”

“Do I even want to know what ‘E-to-L’ is?”

“Enemies to lovers, duh! Have you ever read a fanfic before?”

“Nope.” Gaz replied, returning her focus to the screen “Still not planning to.”

“Well no wonder you can’t see what I see then! You’re depriving yourself of real literature.” Tegan sighed “Open your eyes, Gaz!”

“They’re dweebs, nothing more to it.” Gaz replied “Next you’re gonna tell me they should go on a double date with Milo and Cody.”

“Hm...”

“You’re writing that down, aren’t you?”

“It’s a good idea!” Tegan defended, huffing as Gaz merely shook her head.

“Are you awake yet?”

Dan’s eyes shot open, the man sitting up in a panic. His chest rose and fell rapidly, eyes darting around the room as his throughly scrambled brain attempted to make sense of his surroundings.

Home. He was home. Why wouldn’t he be?

Standing, he stretched. It was still the head of night, the light rain gently hitting his window becoming audible as he passed by.

Stepping into the hall, he carefully shut his bedroom door behind him. He headed towards the bathroom, hoping that a quick start to his day would flush the vivid remains of his odd nightmare out of the forefront of his mind.

He slipped into the bathroom, making sure the door was shut before he flicked on the light switch. The bulb flickered occasionally as he brushed his teeth, the man shooting it a glare as if his steeled gaze alone would force it to work right.

Splashing his face with cool water, Dan’s gaze finally met the gaze of his reflection.

His shaken, unshaven, bloodshot-eyed reflection. It opened its jaw, and a single question came spilling out.

“Are you awake yet?”

Dan’s eyes shot open, the man sitting up in a panic.

“Sorry!” Jake whispered “I was just coming to check in, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Jake?” Dan asked, scratching his head as he attempted to blink the bleariness out of his eyes.

“Yes?” He replied, expression shifting to concern “..Is something wrong?”

“No, no! I just.. had a bad dream. What time is it?”

“Noon.”

At that, Dan sprung out of bed, eyes wide.

“Noon?!” He echoed, Jake’s own eyes widening.

“Yes, it’s noon.” He repeated, watching Dan pull the blinds open to examine the clear sunny sky “It’s okay if you wanted to sleep in this time, I don’t mind.”

“..Heh.” Dan turned back towards Jake, laughing nervously “Guess my dream threw off my sense of time.”

Jake entered the room, gently nudging the door closed with the heel of his foot as he walked over. He sat on the edge of the bed, patting the space beside him.

“Wanna talk about it?” He offered.

Dan sighed, taking a seat beside Jake as he attempted to recall the vivid bits.

“It was the middle of the night, it was raining..” He began “I was asleep inside of a dream and then I woke up into that dream? It was like.. a dream russian nesting doll, if that make sense.”

“Well.. how do you know this isn’t a dream?” Jake asked, Dan giving him a faintly strained smile.

“C’mon Jake, don’t mess with me right now.” He laughed, his complain’s expression hardening.

“I’m serious, Daniel.” He replied, frowning.

“Are you awake yet?”

Dan’s eyes shot open, the man sitting up in a panic.

“Dad!!!” Milo exclaimed, throwing his arms around the man and sobbing.

“Woah, woah.” Dan began, pulling away and looking at him “What’s going on, baby shark?”

“I’m scared..” The boy mumbled, curling in on himself as he tugged the hood of his beloved shark hoodie over his head “I don’t want to go to school today..”

“Is something going on?” He asked, tone turning serious as he scooped the boy up in his arms and sat him on the bed.

“No, I just..” Milo scooted closed to the man, now tugging on his hoodie strings as he looked up at him “I don’t want to leave you and Jake... I wanna stay home today..”

“Why do you wanna stay home, baby?” Dan asked, ruffling the boy’s hair through the hoodie.

“I feel like something bad is gonna happen if I go..” he mumbled “I-I had a nightmare last night.. it scared me.”

“Don’t worry, nothings gonna happen to us.” Dan assured him, planting a kiss on his forehead before standing “They’ll have to get through your shark army first.”

“Dad, I’m being serious.” Milo whined “My dumb toys aren’t gonna be able to protect you if something really bad happens!”

“Okay, okay.” Dan replied, turning back towards the boy “What do you think is gonna happen?”

“Wh..What if someone kidnaps Jake? What if I get taken by government people before I can get home from school?” He began, tugging on his hair as he went through the scenarios “What if Jake dies and his ghost wanders the earth? What if-?”

“Honey, that’s a lot of ‘what ifs’” Dan began, Milo’s gaze suddenly locking on him.

“What if you don’t wake up?” He asked.

“Wh..What did you say?” Dan replied. Milo climbed off of the bed, his blank expression sending chills up Dan’s spine as he spoke.

“Are you awake?”

Dan’s eyes shot open, the man sitting up in a panic.

“Mr. Fuller, please calm down.” A woman requested, she was scribbling away at a clipboard.

“..Wh..Where am I?” He asked, the beeping of the heart rate monitor unusually frequent.

“You’re in the ICU.” She explained “We got a call that there was a workplace injury on site. One ambulance ride and several hours later, here you are.”

“I was.. injured?” He replied, the woman nodding.

“Head injury.” She explained, not looking up from her clipboard as she wrote “A pretty serve one too.”

“And my boys? Are my boys okay, do they know where I am?”

“Mr. Pierly and your son are both accounted for and informed.” She assured him “I’m just here to ask you a few questions then you can get back to healing.”

“A-Alright, I can do that.” He replied, resting back against the hospital bed.

“Are you experiencing any pain?” She began, pausing in her scribbling as she awaited his answer.

“Um... No.” He replied after a slight pause “I feel fine.”

“Are you able to recall any events before or after the injury?” She continued.

“Not really?” He said, glancing around “Weird dreams but nothing real.”

“Alright, one final question and I’ll be on my way Mr. Fuller.” She replied, scribbling a few notes down.

“Okay, let me hear it.” He prompted, sighing.

The woman looked up at him, removing her glasses. Her green eyes flashed unnaturally as she stared him down.

Dib laughed lightly, he and Zim currently crouched in a bush which hugged the exterior of the target house. Zim scoffed.

“Of course it was a good thing, it was my idea!”

“Whatever you say, now where does it say they are now?” Dib asked, leaning over to gaze at the mini monitor Zim has produced from his PAK.

“They are being held on the second story, the room farthest to the left.” He replied, pointing towards “The window directly above us should give access to it’s hallway.”

“Okay.” Dib exhaled “Here’s the plan-“

“Zim does not need your plan!” Zim snapped “I will go in and eliminate the threat while you sit out here and be a bush or something.”

“That’s a horrible plan!” Dib countered “You’ll kill the guy!”

“Quick and efficient, yes?”

“You’ll traumatize them, Zim.”

“Guess we’ll have to go with the second rate plan.” Zim sighed, Dib rolling his eyes.

“As I was saying before, the plan is that you use your PAK legs to get us into the house.” Dib began, acting out the plan with his hands “We sneak up on the guy and I’ll keep him distracted while you get Milo and Cody free, okay?”

“. . .”

“Okay, Zim?”

“I heard you the first time!” The alien snapped, monitor retreating into his PAK in exchange for the legs “Let’s go already.”

Grabbing onto Dib’s jacket, Zim scaled the wall of the house. Getting held up to the window, Dib pulled a pen he’d borrowed from his dad’s lab from his pocket. With a few clicks, the pen began lasering through the glass.

Slipping through the hole in the window, the two stepped foot into the house. Dib silently pointed towards the ceiling, Zim once again grabbed hold of him as the PAK legs extended upwards. When the pointed ends embedded themselves into the ceiling, the two were lifted up.

Zim focused on maneuvering around the ceiling lights, Dib keeping his arms firmly wrapped around the alien’s midsection to avoid falling.

The two approached the top of a doorway, a voice now clearly audible in the relative silence.

“They’re unharmed.” The voice spoke, replying to someone unheard “Can’t promise they’ll stay that way unless you give me what I’m asking for.”

A panicked voice replied, the conversation taking place over a cellphone.

“Well what’s more important to you? Paying rent or keeping your kids safe?” The original voice responded “It shouldn’t be this difficult of a decision for you, honestly.”

“Zim.” Dib hissed, fist clenching “C’mon.”

Zim obliged, carefully climbing over the doorframe as the man continued his conversation none the wiser. They silently scuttled across the ceiling, Milo and Cody were sat on the floor, arms and legs bound with duct tape. They looked exhausted, more of the tape having been layered over their mouths.

“Get us above the guy in black.” Dib whispered, pointing towards the man on the phone “Then drop me on him.”

“I’m starting to like this plan.” He replied, grinning as he positioned the two over the man. Zim turned to his side, Dib releasing his torso as he focused on his new target.

The man’s expression shifted to confusion and panic at the sudden war cry, Dib dropping into his head and wrapping the man’s face in his trench coat.

Zim took the distraction to drop down as well, cutting through Milo and Cody’s leg bindings with the ends of his PAK legs. When the two didn’t immediately spring to their feet, he pulled them up himself.

Dib struggled with the man, doing his best to hold on despite being grabbed at. The man eventually managed to shake Dib off, the boy hitting the ground with a thud.

Milo and Cody attempted calling out to him, voices muffled by the tape.

Zim looked up from cutting through the remaining tape, Dib frozen in place as he starred down the barrel of the gun pointed at him.

Dib flinched when the gunshot rang out, white hot pain running through his shoulder. When he opened his eyes, he sighed in relief to see his shoulder was only grazed by the bullet which was now embedded in the floorboards.

The gun had clattered to the floor, the hand the man was holding it with now impaled by the pointed end of a PAK leg.

Dib scrambled to his feet, resting a hand on his injured shoulder as he motioned for Milo and Cody to follow.

They stumbled after him, occasionally glancing back towards Zim.

When they were within arm’s reach, Dib pushed them along towards the staircase.

He spared one last glance towards the room’s doorway, eyes widening faintly as Zim poised the remaining PAK legs for attack.

When the three made it outside, Dib pulled at duct tape over the other two’s mouths.

“Z-Zim! You left Zim in there!” Milo stammered the moment his mouth was free.

“I know.” Dib replied, glancing towards the house.

“We have to go back and get him!” Cody exclaimed.

“We need to call your dads!” Dib countered, gaze drifting to his injured shoulder “And maybe an ambulance.”

“But—!”

The front door of the house swung open, Zim whistling cheerily as he stepped out onto the grass.

“Zim!” The two exclaimed.

The floor had given out beneath him and the three humans he was accompanying, said humans currently still falling.

He grabbed onto the hoods of Milo and Cody as they fell by, holding them up with relative ease. Dib, however, wasn’t so lucky and instead had to grab onto the nearest PAK leg to prevent his demise.

After a bit of silence, each of the four still struggling to process all that had taken place in those last couple minutes, Dib spoke.

“Does none of this scream alien to you?!” He shrieked, struggling to hoist himself onto the PAK leg as he spoke.

“Not again..” Milo sighed, rolling his eyes “Dib we’ve been over this, Zim’s not an alien!”

“Then how do you explain these!” He shot back, nodding towards the slender spider-like appendages that extended from the PAK.

“Your dad builds all sorts of unbelievable techno stuff, do you seem me calling you can alien?” Milo replied, Dib’s frown deepening.

“Guys this isn’t the time!” Cody snapped, gaze glued on the drop below “We need to get out of this place, it’s falling apart.”

“And you are heavy!” Zim added unhelpfully, gloved claws digging into the fabric of their hoods.

“We can’t go anywhere!” Dib told them, the two giving him puzzled looks.

“Why not?” Milo asked, Dib sighing with exasperation.

“Because if Zim moves I’ll fall!” He explained.

“Oh.. gotcha.”

“But we’re wasting time!” Zim countered, Dib glaring as he spoke “The structural integrity of this house is poor, it’ll collapse on top of us!”

“But we can’t just drop Dib!” Cody exclaimed, Zim shrugging.

“It would not be hard.” He replied “All I have to do is mo—”

“I meant morally, Zim, morally we cannot drop Dib because he’ll die.”

“I see no negatives here.”

“Of course you don’t, jerk!”

“You’ve been calling me, normal human boy Zim, an alien this whole trip and now suddenly I’m the jerk?”

“Normal human boys don’t need to point out that they’re normal human boys!”

“Shut up!” Milo snapped, the two falling silent “God you two are giving me a headache..”

“What are we gonna do..?” Cody asked to no one in particular.

Zim let out a drawn out sigh, the PAK leg Dib clung to suddenly pulling it’s pointed end from the wall. It grabbed the boy by the fabric of his trench coat, dropping him on Zim’s shoulders as the other PAK legs began climbing up the wall.

Dib clung to the alien’s head, the thought of pulling his wig off crossing his mind. If he did, he could expose Zim for the alien he really was! Buuut if he did it and Zim dropped him or either Milo or Cody, the whole endeavor would be for naught.

Closing his internal debate, Dib remained silent as Zim scaled the deteriorating house’s walls before safely touching down on the front lawn of the property.

Zim get Milo and Cody on their feet, shoving Dib of his shoulders the moment he touched the ground.

“So you could’ve done that the whole time, huh?” He asked bitterly, rubbing the back of his head as he sat up in the grass.

“Yes, yes I could’ve.” Zim replied, arms crossed “Didn’t want to.”

Milo and Cody had immediately scrambled for their phones the moment they were on solid ground, calling for their dads to pick them up.

”You’re the worst.” Dib hissed at Zim as the two watched their friends shakily await their guardian’s arrivals near the raid.

“Yeah, sometimes words come through but they’re really fuzzy.”

Dib fiddled with the device Cody handed him, twisting the dials in hopes the stream of static would grow clearer.

“I see your problem, it’s able to detect but not able to untangle all the extra noise!” He exclaimed after a moment “My dad’s got a bunch of parts lying around, I’m sure I could upgrade it if you let me take it home for the night.”

“I dunno..” Cody began, gripping the shoulder strap of his backpack “I’ve never really, uh, parted with it that long before.”

“Your dad’s some kind of super smart professor, right?” Milo asked, Dib nodding in response “I’m sure he’d be able to fix it if anything went wrong!”

“Well he could, yes, but he won’t need to! I’ll just be making some small adjustments, you won’t even notice the difference!”

“Okay.” Cody agreed after a pause, a hesitant smile on his face “Take good cafe of it, okay?”

“Don’t worry, Cody, your old tech’ll be fine that stuff’s super durable!”

“Or your newer stuff is just really fragile.” Cody replied, grinning.

“Oh hush!” Milo said, crossing his arms “I’m just a little clumsy that’s all.”

“Tell that to your poor phone screen.”

“You can trust me.” Dib assured Cody after he and Milo’s playful bickering came to an end “I’ll be super careful-!”

Dib didn’t flinch at the hand that grabbed his arm, practically dragging him along before he could react.

“You take forever, let’s go!” Gaz snapped, having been waiting on the school’s front steps for Dib to wrap up his conversation.

“Bye, Dib! Bye, Gaz!” Milo and Cody called out, Dib giving them a wave as Gaz hulled him to their ride.

“Hey! What did you give the Dib just now?”

Cody jumped slightly at Zim’s voice, stumbling back at bit.

“Jeez, I’ll never get use to that...” He mumbled, turning to reply “Just my ghost hunting tech, he’s gonna upgrade it for us.”

“And why did you not ask for Zim’s help? I could fix your ghostie thingy way better than he ever could!”

“Well he offered first.” Cody replied simply, shrugging.

“If you’re looking for something to fix I have a phone screen that’s looking a little rough.” Milo offered, Cody shaking his head slowly.

“Let me see!” Zim ordered, snatching the phone from Milo’s hand the moment he pulled it from his pocket.

“Hm... yes...” Zim muttered to himself, poking the end of his gloved claw-like fingers into the cracks that ran along the screen “Seeing that we are such good friends, I will fix this for you! Then you will see that I am clearly the superior technician!”

“I guess?” Milo glanced at Cody, giving him a puzzled look “Go nuts, man.”

Zim began quietly cackling to himself, scurrying off with Milo’s phone before either could get another word in.

“I probably should not have done that.” Milo said after a beat of silence.

_______________________________

Faith chased a cluster of fireflies.

They went up and down and all around but their path was linear, they had a destination in mind.

So he went after them.

Running was a lot easier now that he was small again, faint memories of aches and pains popping up in various places fading away with a burst of energetic glee taking their place.

Suddenly, the fireflies scattered and Faith found himself running into the side of a tall man.

Stumbling back, he signed an apology as the man turned to face him.

“Hello there, little guy!” He greeted, crouching down a bit so Faith would have an easier time looking at him.

Faith signed a greeting in return, the man smiling at him. When Faith signed for his name, his smile faded as his expression grew puzzled.

“I’m not very good with signs.” He admitted, face lighting up after a brief moment “But I know someone who is!”

Before Faith could react, he was scooped up in the man’s arms.

Now, usually, being lifted by random strangers would have him kicking but the moment he was situated within the man’s grasp he felt his heart grow warm and his shoulders relaxed. The man carried him with one arm, Faith wrapping his arms loosely around his neck for support.

After a short jog, the two found themselves in a flower-filled field.

There was no pattern to the flowers, the field holding a vast mix of several different types all scattered about one another.

There was a lady with a watering can.

“Ah, Perseverance!” She greeted, setting the can down before approaching the two “You’ve got a friend!”

“This little fella uses signs, you know signs!” Perseverance exclaimed, setting Faith down between the two.

“I do know signs.” She laughed, smiling warmly as she turned and signed a greeting to the boy.

Faith didn’t sign back, hesitating for a moment before practically throwing himself into her arms.

“Sweetheart, are you alright?” She asked, pulling the boy up into her arms. He merely buried his face in her shoulder, tears dampening her sweater.

“Devotion, is he okay?” Perseverance asked, concern evident in his voice.

Devotion merely motioned for him to come forward as she gently rocked Faith in her arms.

“I think...I think he’ll be alright.” She replies, Perseverance growing closer.

“You’re crying!” He pointed out, only growing more worried.

“I am?” She asked, continuing to comfort the sobbing boy in her arms “I am...”

Perseverance wiped a tear from her cheek, settling on gently wrapping his arms around the boy weeping ghosts after a moment.

His heart felt warm as he embraced them, his own tears he found to be falling soon enough.

None moved to break the hug despite their spontaneous fit of tears, their hearts casting one another in a faint complementary glow.

Milo jolted upright at the unfamiliar voice, immediately being hit with a pounding headache.

He was in the school gymnasium, all the lights save for the one directly above were shut off.

“Wha...?” He trailed off, gaze landing on the figure in front of him.

“So you’re not dead! Great!” The figure spoke.

She was somewhat familiar, Milo having vague memories of spotting her in passing in the hallways, she grinned at him.

“You okay?”

“My head hurts.” He mumbled, sitting up slowly.

“Understandable, considering it got slammed against a locker.” She replied.

“Locker??? What ... what happened?”

“Some guys were pushing you around, you were screaming a lot.” She recounted “One of ‘em slammed your head into the locker. That’s when I found you.”

“...Who are you?”

“CJ.”

“Ah..”

Milo slowly rose to his feet, glancing around the eerily empty gym.

“Are they... still here?”

“Oh, no! Don’t worry, they won’t be bothering you again.”

“How do you know that..?”

“I’ve made sure of it. Now—!”

She led him by the arm, Milo flinching at the sudden contact. The moment they stepped out of the range of the first light the next came on in its place.

“—I bet your folks are worried out of their minds right now! I mean— your phone wouldn’t stop ringing!”

Milo’s eyes widened as he began digging around in his pockets, grabbing his phone only to be greeted by a wall of missed calls and frantic texts from his dads.

They stopped at the double doors, CJ giving them a good push before the locks gave way and the cool breeze came rushing in.

Milo held the phone to his ear, listening to it ring as he hesitantly stepped into the night.

CJ turned, about to head back inside before Milo called out.

“W-Wait!” He exclaimed, lowering his voice after the initial outburst “It’s...uhm...really dark and I know you said those guys wouldn’t bother me again but I...”

He fidgeted with his hoodie strings.

“Can you stay out here with me..?”

She let go of the door, letting it shut as she stared at him silently.

Before he could hear her response a panicked voice came on the line, his call having finally been answered.

“Milo! Where have you been?! Are you okay?! Where are you right now?” Jake’s question’s all came flying out at once, Milo’s shoulder’s sagging at the familiar voice.

“I’m okay ... I’m outside the school with uh—“

“CJ.”

“—CJ.”

“The school? Why are y—“

“Can you just pick me up ... please?”

Jake fell silent at the sniffling on the other end of the line, his voice softening.

“..Of course, hon, sit tight.”

Milo ended the call, shakily taking a seat on the sidewalk. He rubbed at his face with the sleeves of his hoodie, the sniffling growing more frequent.

CJ hovered just behind him for a moment, gaze landing on the empty space beside him, before eventually taking a seat herself.

Well, what was left of it anyway, the fire had done most of the work for them.

It was only a matter of clearing away the remaining brush and leveling out the ground.

The fate of the patch of land was still up in the air, rumors of new houses being built in its place floating around the community but nothing being outright confirmed.

It wasn’t much of a loss, it’s not like anyone really cared about the place.

No one important.

After the week of heightened fire safety campaigns, things slowly started to return to normal for the residents of the nearby community.

There was one permanent change, however, the local library receiving a new daily visitor.

Under normal circumstances, Jasmin would’ve been elated to have a daily visitor, but considering she never saw the guy even glance at the books collecting dust on the shelves any hope she had was quickly stamped out.

It wasn’t out of the ordinary for people to come in just to loiter around but the usual suspects were just the teenagers from the nearby school.

The scruffy twenty-something man stuck out like a sore thumb.

She tried not to make it obvious she was paying special attention to him, not wanting to come off as creepy or rude, but she couldn’t help but stare.

The state the guy was in just concerned her.

He was bandaged, gauze that looked well overdue for a change ran from his knuckles to his forearm. His hair and skin looked dull and faded, his eyes sporting deep bags and always struggling to stay open.

The guy’s clothes were torn, jeans ripped at the knees and shirt having a hole that reveled a row of stitches.

Everyday he’d arrive at opening, remaining huddle in the back of the building with his head resting in his folded arms. He was constantly shivering, fingers looking battered from frostbite.

Jasmin would use the excuse of rearranging the shelves to get a look at him, a frown always present on her face.

She never could work up the nerve to say something.

One day, the man didn’t move from his spot. Usually he’d be up and moving ten minutes til close, always seeming in a rush to beat the five-til announcement.

She got worried.

“Sir?” She called out, hovering a good distance from the table “Sir...we’re closing soon.”

The man remained still, the bags under his eyes looking especially pronounced.

She’d been debating wether to nudge the man when she noticed it.

A single strand of hair had been hanging in his face, the rest tucked away in his orange sunset cap. She watched the strand turn a deep brown before withering away before her eyes.

Panicked, she called over a coworker.

“Should I call an ambulance?” She asked.

“Look, Jaz, that isn’t our problem.” Mia insisted “What is our problem is clearing out the building before closing time.”

“Wait—!”

Jasmin’s plea went ignored as Mia roughly nudged the man, repeating the minutes til closing until his eyes finally fluttered open.

“Sorry, Sorry...” He mumbled, struggling to rise from the seat.

Mia watched, arms crossed, as he staggered across the room.

Jasmin rushed to his side when his knees buckled.

“Are you alright?” She asked, slowly helping him to his feet.

“Bad knee..” He mumbled in response, face flushed and sweaty.

“Please, sit back down.” She insisted, leading him over to the closest chair “Mia, call an ambulance.”

“Don’t...” the man weakly protested as Mia walked off, having taken off his hat to use to wave air into his face.

The rest of his hair had tumbled free, the roots still a brilliant blond with the ends being the same wilted shade as the strand from before.

His protests broke off into delirious rambling, Jasmin asking him simple questions to keep him focused while they waited.

“What’s your name?”

“..hone...y..”

“Your name is honey?”

“H-...U-N..-I...”

“Well, Huni, Help is on the way.”

This school had a lot of problems.

She’d made a friend over the first week of her job, an english teacher with a particular cute sweater-vest and an awkward pair of glasses he kept having to readjust on his face. She was filled in rather quickly.

There were kids walking around with knives, lighters, and all sorts of dangerous items small enough to hide in a pocket. The poor school nurse was overwhelmed with injuries far out of her capability to treat with the limited supplies.

Still, no one ever came to her office.

She wasn’t sure if it was the mere stigma around school counselors or if it was how new she was to the place but her door was avoided like the plague.

Until today.

The feeble knock at the door caught her by surprise, the second set of knocks assuring her she hadn’t imagined the noise. She got up in an instant. There was a boy, no older than 15 from what she could gather, who was trembling and scratching at his bare arms furiously.

“Oh, hello.” She greeted, the scratching continuing to catch her eye “If you’re looking for the nurse to treat that itching I’m afraid you’re at the wrong—“

The boy didn’t let her finish, sluggishly stumbling inside and pushing the long sweat-soaked clumps of hair from his face.

She shut the door hesitantly.

“Oh—um—alright.” She laughed the tension off, readjusting her reading glasses “Is there anything I can help you with.”

“Mm.. my hoodie.” The boy wheezed, hand gingerly placed on his side “They took my hoodie..”

“Who took your hoodie—? Are you alright?” The worry was evident on her face as this point as she watched the boy slump into a bean bag chair, her hands hovering idly in place.

“I need my hoodie..” he muttered, desperately wrapping his own arms around himself and sinking further back into the chair.

“Dear—“ Christine crouched to his level, gently brushing aside the loose strands that cling to his face “—I want to help you but you need to give me names. Who took your hoodie?”

The boy didn’t reply, turning onto his side and continuing to mumble to himself.

She sighed, standing.

“Well... stay here while I ask around, alright?” She told him, not bothering to wait for a reply before she headed out the door.

Now there was no way she’d be going about this search completely blind, the nice English teacher she’d met definitely taught the grades that young boy could belong to.

So she asked.

“Oh, it’s the hoodie again.” His expression did show pity but it sounded like this wasn’t a one time occurrence “I have an idea who might’ve taken it— a little group of older high school kids— but you’ll have to ask his friend to be sure.”

“Is this friend far? That poor boy looked absolutely awful and I wanted to drop by the nurse for him.” She replied.

“He shouldn’t be too far.” Taylor assured her “If I remember the schedule right they should be in Ms Peterson’s history class. She’s just down the hall, ask for a Cody Bridges.”

Cody’s face was buried in the pages of a summoning manual, Milo tossing the chalk he’d used to draw the intricate circle aside before heading to the four candles that paralleled each other.

He slipped a worn box of matches from his hand, a sly grin on his face.

“Do I even need to ask where you got those?” Cody sighed when he looked up, Milo struggling to set one alight.

“Kyle doesn’t need them.” Milo insisted.

“He’s gonna come after you tomorrow, you know that right?” Cody asked, Milo waving a hand dismissively.

“Not when I summon my ghost bodyguard.” He countered.

When the match finally was lit Milo went about lighting the candles, nearly catching his pant leg on fire in the process.

He took his seat beside Cody, the boy beginning to scan the pages for the summoning incantation.

Danté was shuffling nervously in place, watching the weak flame flicker to life.

“When have I ever had a bad idea?” Kyle replied, dismissing the concerns outright “Trust me, this’ll be cool.”

Danté sighed, taking a seat next to Elspeth as Kyle continued to light the candles that surrounded the chalk circle.

“This is a complete waste of time.” She complained, thumb lazily tapping at her phone screen as she waited “I didn’t spend twenty minutes cracking that stupid masterlock for you to take a stupid book.”

“Stupid? You say that like you don’t see this demon circle I’m drawing.” Kyle replied.

“I don’t think it’s a demon circle ... I hope it’s not a demon circle.” Danté interjected.

“You’re starting sound like Bridges.” Kyle scoffed “He gets all pissy when I call this stuff witchcraft.”

“Witchcraft..?” Danté echoed, slightly scooting away from the circle as Kyle lit the final match.

“Alright, lemme find the page again.”

Kyle flipped through the book, stopping at the detailed outline of the circle he’d completed.

Running his finger across the page he stopped at the bolded lines that followed the preparation steps.

The skies darkened as he began reading.

Danté stood the moment the blacktop began to bubble, the chalk circle glowing brightly as steam wafted from its lines. Elspeth stood shortly after.

Kyle seemed to have no reaction, continuing to calmly read as his back faced the two. Their shouts were ignored.

“C’mon.” Elspeth said, grabbing a hold of Danté’s arm and beginning to drag him back towards the fence.

“Wha— where are we going? We have to stop him!” He sputtered.

“Look, I don’t know about you but frankly I’m not sticking around for whatever ends up crawling out of that thing.” She replied.

Danté yanked his arm free from her grasp.

“I’m not leaving.” He insisted.

“Suit yourself.” She shrugged “Text me if you live.”

She hopped the rusty fence of the rundown court, Danté retuning his attention to the scene before him.

Long cracks ran across the ground, large puffs of white smoke billowing from the white-hot chalk circle.

Kyle seemed to have finished reading, the book carefully tucked under his arm as he began to approach the circle.

“Wait—!”

Danté’s voice was drowned out, a large explosion erupting from the center of the circle the moment Kyle’s sneaker had hit its border.

He found himself lying against the peeled back remains of the fence when his vision adjusted, his ears ringing painfully.

His clothes were scorched and his skin was burned, dreads sizzling as well as the pain from the heated metal fence pressing into his skin retained his attention.

The blacktop had been completely dug up, the now craved-in symbols of the former chalk circle being the only untouched piece of the otherwise demolished lot. Danté peeled himself off of the fence.

Chris and Cody were huddled, both testy-eyed and panicked as yet another call failed to go through.

“Hey... don’t worry.” Cody tried to assure Chris when he noticed the boy’s trembling “I..It’s gonna be alright.”

Chris shook his head, wiping at his eyes as he sniffled. Cody’s shoulder’s drooped.

“Let’s just keep going.”

The two were crouched, carefully making their way across the poorly lit pathway.

Seeing as this definitely wasn’t in the building’s original design plans, the floor was nothing but soft dirt that stained their pant legs an ugly brown. They were lucky enough to stumble into this abandoned network of what Cody presumed to be escape tunnels, he didn’t expect anymore favors from the world today.

The ceiling above groaned under the heavy footsteps of their pursuers, Chris gripping Cody’s sleeve tightly. They waited.

Keeping still, Cody strained to listen to the movement above them. He picked up deep grumbling.

“One? Why do you only have one?”

“It was all I could find!”