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The girls were supposed to stay separated. They were never supposed to talk to one another again after Hell Morning, but apparently, fate had other plans.
All of them had packed their things. They had stayed friends after Hell Morning, they didn’t remember anything about what happened. They only thought they delivered papers and almost got hit by a car. That ended up making the girls close. Mac and KJ had ended up dating one another. Mac didn’t know, but she was still dying, however, she had her friends and girlfriend by her side and kept making new memories every day.
This day was no different.
They had all moved to a new town in Maine. It was odd, to say the least. All of their parents randomly decided to pack up and move away, somewhere new that wasn’t Stony Stream. Making it even more strange was the fact that the girls were all moving to the same town.
The girls currently stood outside their new high school. Today was a big Halloween dance and for some reason, their parents thought it would be a good idea for them to check it out. That was until the entire city went out.
They had only been there for about two days and the town had already seemed like shit seeing as all the lights had gone out.
“Are you fucking kidding me? I told them we shouldn’t go out to look at this shitty place. Especially on Hell Night.” Mac said as they all walked.
KJ took Mac’s hand, “Hey, all we have to do is get back to Erin’s house. It’s the closest one to the school. Once we get there it’ll all be okay.”
Mac leaned her head on KJ’s shoulder, “Yeah, I guess.”
KJ smiled and kissed Mac’s forehead, “Look at the bright side, at least I can hold your hand and kiss you, no one can see us in the dark.”
Mac smiled, but the sweet moment was interrupted by Tiffany making fake vomiting sounds.
“We get it guys, you’re in love and touchy and want to kiss each other like all the time.”
Mac shot a glare at Tiffany, who was behind them.
“Holy shit.”
Tiffany, Mac, and KJ turned their attention to Erin who was in front of them.
“What is it?” KJ asked.
Erin pointed at the sky, wordlessly, they looked up and saw bright colorful fireworks bursting into the sky.
Erin ran ahead.
“Erin!” Tiffany yelled after her, before turning back to Mac and KJ, “Come on! We have to go after her!”
•••
Erin didn’t know what she was doing. She just felt like she had to follow where those fireworks came from. Her gut told her it was important.
Erin kept running until she stopped in front of a clearing.
A boy was sitting in the grass. He had brown skin and fluffy brown hair.
Erin stood there for a few moments watching him, before she realized that he was crying. She stared at him and took a step forward when someone grabbed her shoulder. It took everything in her not to scream.
She turned around to find Mac, KJ, and Tiffany staring at her.
Mac glared at her, “New kid what the-”
Erin cut her off and put her hand over her mouth and Mac looked like she was about to bite her hand.
Erin pointed over at the boy and Mac’s face became neutral.
The girls stared at the boy as if waiting for something to happen, as they listened to his sobbing.
His crying became louder and then they saw more fireworks blasting into the air.
They all exchanged a look with one another, KJ was the first to step forward. Mac quickly grabbed her hand and shook her head.
KJ gave Mac a reassuring smile, took her hand from Mac, and walked over to the boy.
“Hello.”
The boy turned to KJ eyes wide, “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
KJ raised her hands to show she wasn’t a threat, “My name’s KJ, my friends and I were trying to walk home when one of them ran into the woods. She ended up finding you and in turn, we found her.”
The boy stared at her for a few moments before a look of horror came across his face, “There are others with you?”
KJ nodded, “I promise we aren’t gonna hurt you. We just wanted to find our friend and found you in the process. Are you okay? It’s not safe to be out during Hell Ni- I mean Halloween alone.”
The boy shook his head, “You need to go.”
KJ frowned, “We can’t just leave you here. It’s not safe out right now. How about my friends and I walk you to your house or something?”
He shook his head choking on his words, “No, I can’t- I can’t hurt anyone else.”
KJ tilted her head, “What do you mean?”
He turned away, “Leave, please.”
“What the hell!”
KJ and the boy turned to see Mac storm over.
Exer studied her, she had short ginger hair and was white
“KJ’s trying to help you when we’re in the middle of a blackout on fucking Hell Night and you’re just gonna sit here and cry?!”
KJ grabbed Mac’s hand, “Mac stop. It’s his choice.”
Mac frowned, “But-”
KJ squeezed her hand, “We aren’t gonna leave him.”
The boy looked at the two girls and watched as two more walked out of the forest.
One of the new ones spoke, she had black hair and was Chinese, “My name’s Erin, and I do think we can help you, or at least help you get home.”
The other girl spoke next, she had curly black hair, and was black, “My name’s Tiffany, and I think you should take us up on the offer, KJ won’t leave you alone until you accept to at least let us walk you home, so come on.”
Tiffany held her hand out and the boy looked at it for a few moments before sighing and taking her hand.
“My name’s Exer.”
KJ smiled, “Well let’s not keep our parents waiting.”
•••
As the five walked, Exer stayed quiet for most of their trip, all of them did and it was getting pretty awkward so Exer broke the silence.
“I’ve never seen you guys in school, you all new?”
Erin nodded, “Yeah all of our parents decided to move here, don’t know why they all wanted to though, kinda weird.”
Exer sighed, “How much did you guys see?”
Tiffany turned around and shrugged, “Nothing much, just saw some fireworks, by the way, how did you light those things off without any fire?”
Exer faltered for a moment, “Well uh I did I guess you just didn’t see it…” Exer coughed, “So uh how old are you guys?”
Mac scoffed, “Fourteen, we were looking at the high school we were gonna go to when the lights blacked out.”
Exer looked down at the mention of the blackout, “I see… what school are you guys going to?”
Mac scoffed, “Don’t know, don’t care.”
KJ nudged Mac gently, “Sorry about her we’re going to Jeanes High School.”
Exer stopped and turned to them, “That’s the school I go to.”
KJ laughed, “What a coincidence!”
Mac crossed her arms, “Anyways, how much farther until we get to your house?”
KJ glared at her, “Sorry Exer, she’s just scared and wants to get home.”
“I am-” KJ put her finger to her lips and turned back to Exer with a forced smile.
Tiffany sighed, “I am wondering though how far are we from your place?”
Exer shook his head, “Just a little longer, I promise.”
A few minutes later Exer broke into a smile, despite his tear-stained face, “We’re here!”
The girls watched as he ran up the steps, but then turned to them, “Are you guys coming?”
Erin shook her head, “We couldn't-”
Before Erin could finish the others went up the steps and she sighed, “Alright I guess we're going in then.”
Erin went up the stairs and watched as Exer opened the door.
Exer’s father, Mr. Campbell immediately ran over and embraced Exer.
“Exer where were you? I was so worried!”
The others stood quietly in the doorway, not wanting to interrupt the moment between the two. The house was pretty dark, the only light source being a flashlight that Exer’s dad had dropped as soon as he saw his son.
Eventually, the two stopped hugging and Mr. Campbell noticed the four girls in his entryway.
“Oh my! Exer who are these girls?”
Exer signed, “They found me and offered to walk with me home they said it was dangerous to walk alone on a night like this.”
Mr. Campbell smiled, “Thank you girls for helping Exer get back here safe.”
KJ smiled, “It’s no problem at all mister?”
“Campbell, but you can call me Harry. Say how about you spend the night here, and when the power comes back on you can give your parents a call?”
Erin shook her head, “Oh, we can't intrude Mr. Campbell. We don't want to bother you.”
Mr. Campbell shook his head with a smile, “I insist. I'll get some sleeping bags out and you can camp out in the living room.”
Erin rubbed her arm, “Well alright, I guess we can stay if you insist.”
Mr. Campbell smiled, “I do insist, I can't let you girls just walk around in the dark. Exer, can you help me get the sleeping bags out?”
Exer nodded and went downstairs, his father following along.
Mac crossed her arms, “What exactly was that? Are we really gonna stay in a stranger's house for the night?”
KJ squeezed Mac’s hand, “Come on Mac.”
Tiffany nodded, “Yeah, he was nice enough to offer that to us, so we should take it.”
Mac threw her arms in the air, “Are you kidding me? We don't know if he's a murderer or a pedo or whatever!”
KJ scoffed, “Mac, come on. I highly doubt he’s a pedophile or a murderer.”
Tiffany rolled her eyes, “Mac where did you even learn that mindset from?”
Mac glared at them, “I learned this thing called stranger danger when I was like five from my broth-”
Mac didn't finish her sentence.
KJ sighed and took Mac’s hands gently with hers, running her thumb over her knuckles.
Tiffany sighed, “Mac, I get not trusting people, especially people we don't know, but sometimes we have to, to stay safe, and I think this is one of those cases my gut tells me we should do this.”
Mac squeezed KJ’s hand, “And what if you're wrong?”
“How about this,” Erin said, “if we feel like anything's off we can leave, does that sound fair?”
Mac and Tiffany nodded.
The girls waited for a few minutes then Mr. Campbell and Exer returned from the basement.
Mac and KJ let go of each other’s hands as soon as they came back. Exer noticed the two’s hands pull away from each other, although he didn't say anything.
“Alright girls, here's your sleeping bags,” Mr. Campbell said.
Erin smiled as she took hers, “Thank you so much, Mr. Campbell.”
Mr. Campbell shook his head, “Don't worry about it, and I already told you, you can call me Harry. When the power comes back on tomorrow you all can call your parents, if not then you can walk back home, Exer can walk with you girls.”
Mac nodded, although she still had a neutral look on her face, “Thank you.”
Mr. Campbell nodded, “I don't believe I know your names.”
KJ beamed, “I'm KJ, and this is Mac.”
Tiffany leaned back on her heels “I'm Tiffany.”
“And I'm Erin.”
Mr. Campbell put his arm around Exer, “Thank you girls again for walking with Exer.”
Tiffany shrugged, “It was no problem, Mr. Campbell, we were all worried about him after we found him-”
Exer interrupted, “Found me stumbling in the dark!”
Tiffany exchanged a look with the others but didn't see it as a red flag, her parents definitely wouldn't want her to be in the woods during a blackout like this. She wrote it off as he just didn't want to get in trouble, and the other seemingly agreed as they didn't say anything about his lie.
“Well, we’ll let you get settled in. I hope you all get a good rest.”
•••
Exer went back downstairs later that night, the girls he'd met were off. They didn't seem to have any malicious intent, but something just seemed weird about them.
He stopped in the living room to see them all asleep, he didn't see Mac in her sleeping bag though.
He looked around and then finally found her. She was curled up against KJ. Their arms were both around each other as they slept, a peaceful look on their faces.
Exer stared at them for a few more moments before deciding to go back to bed. The off feeling didn't go away, but he knew there was nothing he could do when it came down to it.