#surajthreads

Suraj had no interest in participating in Halloween. Sadly for them, however, their boss had once again asked them to help with something, and Suraj couldn’t say no. Even if said job meant they were decorating the outside of the cafe and diner for the festivities while wearing the worst costume their boss could think of: a broken mug. Basically they were Chipper from Beauty and the Beast, but worse. By the time the sun went down and the place was about to close, Suraj was sweaty and almost done. They wished the last customers good night when a loud bang could be heard from the other side of the street. Suraj dropped their bucket of cobwebs and looked at the patron. “Did you hear that?”

Suraj bit their lip hard as they waited for the last minutes to tick by. Throwing their work hat off the moment the clock struck two pm, saying bye to their colleagues and almost running to the front desk to order some coffee. Their brain had been brimming with ideas, and they needed to write them down as soon as possible. They produced the old macbook from their beat up eastpack and started to slam down on the keyboard without ever having taken a look where they’d sat down. They got woken from their frenzy as coffee was placed before them, and then smiled at the stranger seated opposite of them, suddenly aware of how loud their typing was. They smiled awkwardly. “Sorry… that wasn’t too loud, was it?” they asked apologetically.

Suraj knew something had happened between Mei and her friend with benefits… at least Suraj had thought it was that. It was a secretive relationship between them, after all. They were not supposed to know. That didn’t mean that they didn’t, and that certainly didn’t mean that nobody had found out after. So, they had decided that the least they could do was make sure Mei had a good time at the party. Even if they were the last person to be counted for as a party animal, and Mei had never much seemed to enjoy all the bar nights with Mindy and the rest. 

“Hey… uhm, I got you a soda,” they said, joining Mei in the parlour. They felt a little on edge given the possible scares of the night - and the few jump scares they’d already experienced - but they were trying not to let it show. They’d seen Benny around as well, almost naked in his chosen outfit, and they tried not to look at that either. “Are you… ready for the costume competition?”

Suraj had gotten most of the parts of their outfit out of Nivant’s closet, not sure if it was their brother’s or his partners. Not that it mattered, they figured they looked close enough to the animated character that it wouldn’t get anyone’s attention as they hadn’t spend a single dollar to put it together. Now that was the least of their worries. They went out with Lou plenty, ending up at the club with Lou’s friends, dancing, kissing strangers, staying far away from Mindy if they could help it. And that would be their weekly outing. The other nights they would stay in, watch a movie, either with Aroon or with Mei, depending on who was available, or they would be working. 

Now they were at a Halloween party, playing dress up, suddenly extremely aware of all the familiar faces around the place. They felt like they couldn’t just disappear in the crow, even if they had one of the most boring costume. Anyone who recognised them could come up to them, would have a reason to. And it filled them with dread. 

They hid in a corner somewhere away from the crowds, reading the book they had as a prop to get their heart-beat under control, when someone bumped into their make-shift hide-out, and their eyes shot up to find Freya. “Freya, hi! Uhm… I’m not hiding… I’m just… taking a break.”

Suraj wasn't sure why they'd ended up volunteering for this thing, handing out and finding supplies was very much the type of thing you did when you didn't mind being useful. But they'd stood hearing about the search one moment, and being dragged along to help another. Was it because they couldn't say no?

It was much harder work than their job at the Ugly Mug, and after a five hour shift, they were exhausted. They sat near the scooter they'd used to bring water and food to the search parties - or at least to the main location. They still had plenty of flyers, and their phone so far had only been quiet for a few minutes. They had their head in their hands, barely able to keep themself from falling asleep right there.

They looked up when they heard someone approach, hoping it was Mei, not having the guts to call anyone else to come have lunch with them. They smiled warily. "Hey," they said, feeling so so tired. "I'm so sorry I made you come here." Not that it was that far from the trailer park, but regardless, it meant Mei had to walk all alone towards them.

Suraj hung around work after their hours just to get a bit of food and some coffee. The weather outside was cold - as it always was here - and they didn’t feel strong enough to go out there and brave it. Instead they sat in the relatively empty diner, since it was a monday after all, and picked at their food. They looked up whenever the door opened, too distracted not to take a moment to watch whomever came in. When it was someone they didn’t know yet, they made up stories about that person. A familiar face they would try to image what they would come and order, and why they went to the diner. 

When Sarai appeared, dressed in what Suraj could only pinpoint as hospital work place clothing, they had waved a hand before they even noticed what they were doing. They knew her from coming in dressed casually, they had no idea she worked at a hospital, and the sudden curiosity was probably a result of restlessness. “Hi Sarai, done with work?” they asked.

Suraj was known to be non-confrontational. They tended to run from any negative feelings like that, any interaction where they might find themselves at a point where they weren't sure they could stay standing. They had ran from security guards a lot, and felt like they were still running from the law to a certain degree.

They'd, however, never intentionally ran from Dorothy. It was far more likely that she'd ran from them, yet it had been the one situations in which Suraj knew they were the party in the wrong, and that they could probably not do anything to fix it.

They'd never expected to run into her in Anchorage of all places... but perhaps it was a cruel play of destiny. They were clearing the tables at the Ugly Mug when all of a sudden: there she was.

The person they had once turned their back on because they'd been too afraid to become bullied. They stared at her, frozen. Every muscle in their body tried to tell them to flee. But they kept standing.

Suraj cleaned up the makeshift photography studio in their little trailer, using the dry - yet snowy - weather to hang the huge pieces of fabric they’d used to darken the place up. Soon as they’d gotten rid of everything else, they started folding those. All the windows were standing wide open, the small heater off, and the photos they’d made hanging from a line of thread. They weren’t very happy with the result, but it was a step in the right direction, the places for their movie photographed through an old lens, and the mere effort of doing it filled them with inspiration and motivation to continue. 

One of the cloths went flying right out of their hands, sailing right into a person who had walked by. “Sorry!”