Concealed beneath the guise of Rabbit-o’s fluffy costume, Silvia surreptitiously surveyed the bustling front of Twinkle Toys. It struck her as unusual that Jared, a familiar presence who never missed visiting her during her working hours, was conspicuously absent today.

The hours drifted by like leaves in the wind until her laborious shift eventually drew to a close. Peeling off the oversized rabbit ensemble, Silvia emerged from the store, only to be greeted by an unexpected sight. There, patiently waiting outside, stood Jared.

His gaze locked onto her, a hint of inquisitiveness dancing in his eyes. “By any chance, are you Rabbit-o?”

His sudden presence left her momentarily stunned her. “Y-yes, I am.”

A disarming smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “Sorry for scaring you, but I figured it was time I met the person inside the costume.”

Notwithstanding the surprise, Silvia felt a rush of relief and a deep sense of joy at the return of the cheerful Jared she had missed so much—an unforeseen moment of reconnection.

They found respite at a table in the bustling food court, the hum of conversations and the aroma of various cuisines surrounding them. Jared remained in a surreal daze after his first face-to-face encounter with Silvia.

In an attempt to break the ice and ease the lingering awkwardness, he ventured into conversation. “How long has it been since we first met?”

Silvia counted the days in her head. “I think it’s been three months.”

An uncomfortable silence descended upon them. Jared’s fingers fidgeted nervously as he struggled to find his words. “It feels a bit strange now, doesn’t it? Talking to you without the rabbit costume.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.”

The awkwardness persisted, and Jared inwardly chastised himself for his reserved demeanour. He searched for a safe topic. “So, um, what led you to work at a toy store?”

“Honestly, I was just looking for any job, and Twinkle Toys happened to be hiring part-timers at the time.”

“Do you need the money?”

“Sort of…”

Observing her subdued mood, Jared reclined on his seat, his concern evident in his eyes. “Don’t tire yourself too much. Never forget your happiness matters too, or you’ll make people like me worry.”

A faint blush crept across Silvia’s cheeks upon hearing his compassionate words, and a radiant smile emerged. “You’re right, I need to stop dwelling on the negatives. Thanks, Jared.”

“No, I should be thanking you.”

“For what?”

“You’re the one who showed me how to look at the bright side of things.”

“I did?”

Jared gazed at her tenderly. “I’ll tell you next time. It’s a bit complicated right now. Come on, I’ll walk you home before it gets too late.”

Silvia stood on her porch, bathed in the soft, golden glow of the porch light, and expressed her heartfelt gratitude to Jared for accompanying her.

But as she was about to step inside, Jared’s hand gently clasped her wrist, halting her in her tracks. Moonlight played on his features, lending an air of mystery to the moment. “I forgot to ask for your name.”

A warm smiled graced Silvia’s lip. “It’s Silvia.”

Releasing her wrist, Jared watched as she made her way inside, her hand raised in a friendly wave of goodbye. Silvia closed the door behind her and leaned against it, her thoughts filled with the striking contrast between Jared’s nasty attitude at school and the friendly character he had displayed just moments ago. The vast difference left her disconcerted, pondering the enigma that was Jared.

Outside, on her quiet street, Jared had already vanished. Yet, beneath the flickering streetlight, an ominous silhouette lingered, its gaze fixed intently on Silvia’s house. Slowly, it drifted away, dissolving into the inky darkness of the street.

A new day dawned, drenched in doubt, and Dane meandered through the school hallway until he stumbled upon ‘Silus’, who was busy organising his school locker. Dane couldn’t help but quench his curiosity.

“Silus, were you home yesterday after school?” he asked.

Silvia paused in her locker organisation and looked at him. “Yes, why?”

“Really? I rang the doorbell, but no one answered.”

“You probably came when I was napping.”

“Damn, you must be a heavy sleeper,” Dane teased, attempting to keep the conversation light.

“How’d you know where I live?”

“You still live in the same house when you were a kid, right?”

Silvia retorted with a playful grin, “Your peanut brain still remembers that?”

“Wow, I didn’t come here to be insulted.”

The casual banter with Dane was strangely soothing to Silvia, evoking a sense of nostalgia that harked back to simpler times when their interactions were filled with harmless squabbles. She pestered him with the quarrelling for the pure enjoyment of it. “Dane, we all know you’re at the bottom of every class.”

“Oi, if it weren’t for you, I’d actually be dead last.” He glimpsed at the time on his phone. “I better go now. I’ll catch you later, Silus.”

As Dane strolled away, Silvia breathed a sigh of relief, believing she had successfully maintained her disguise. However, Dane glanced over his shoulder and squinted at her, his suspicions lingering. Nevertheless, he continued down the hallway.

Silvia finalised her belongings before twirling around, only to accidentally collide with a passerby.

To her surprise, it was Jared, and he regarded her with a spiteful glare. “You again?”

He pushed past her, forcefully thrusting his shoulder into hers and ramming her against the lockers. Silvia’s glasses fell to the ground, and she hurriedly retrieved them. After a moment of contemplation, she mustered the courage to speak to him.

“Wait!” She jogged up to him and instinctively reached out to pinch the back of his shirt.

Jared slapped her hand away with force, his eyes blazing with anger. “What the hell?”

Silvia foolishly tried to redeem her brother’s reputation. “I just wanted to say sorry for what I did.”

Jared gritted his teeth. He seized her collar and slammed her back against the lockers. “Who the fuck do you think you are?! Do you honestly believe that a simple sorry is enough to erase all the torment you put me through? Let me remind you how much of a dickhead you are. You’re the reason I wanted to end it all because of your constant abuse of how fat and ugly I was. I was pushed around every single fucking day by not just you, but by your idiotic friends too. Thanks to you, I changed myself just to show you the pain I had to endure for an entire year. You better watch your back from now on.”

Murmurs rippled through the crowd of nearby students, but none dared to intervene. Silvia’s entire body quivered with fear.

With a burst of rage, Jared hurled Silvia to the ground and stormed away. His interaction with ‘Silus’ triggered the haunting memories of their shared past.

An overweight Jared had been peacefully eating his lunch in the cafeteria until Silus and his troublesome friends had approached him with ill intent. Silus slung an arm over Jared’s shoulders, feigning friendliness.

Silus’ eyes fell upon a cup of milkshake on the table. “Is this pig really drinking a milkshake? Here, let me help you with that.” He snatched the milkshake, popped open the lid and poured it all over Jared, while his friends cackled at him mockingly.

Eyewitnesses had whispered to each other yet not a single soul had offered a helping hand to Jared, all paralysed by fear of Silus’ ruthless crew. Jared’s soiled head had sunk low, ready to burst into tears any moment.

After the harrowing encounter with Jared, a dispirited Silvia, nursing an aching back from the forceful slam against the lockers, trudged into her history class. She slumped into her seat, her forehead sinking tiresomely onto the desk. The physical pain in her back mirrored the emotional turmoil she was experiencing.

Amidst the buzz of classmates engaged in conversation, Camila’s keen intuition detected Silvia’s abnormal behaviour. Her empathy drew her closer to her friend, concern evident in her eyes. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Silvia didn’t lift her head, the weight of the situation keeping her gaze fixed downwards. “You shouldn’t talk to me. People are going to start saying stuff about you.”

“I don’t care. I’ve ignored you long enough, and I can’t stand it anymore.”

Dane, usually a passive observer, couldn’t help but pay closer attention to this unfolding drama, finding it odd to witness an interaction between ‘Silus’ and Camila.

Silvia, feeling utterly drained, lacked the energy to engage in conversation. “Everything’s just so hard.”

Camila tried to get her attention, but Silvia remained unresponsive. “I’ll come by after school and we can talk about it. I don’t like seeing you like this.”

Their history teacher, Mr Hunt, marched into the classroom. Everyone settled at their desks, including Camila, while Silvia collected herself to focus on the impending lesson.

Mr Hunt wasted no time in commencing the lesson. “I hope you’ve all read the summary sheet I set for homework yesterday. I’ll be testing to see if you’ve completed your task.”

He randomly selected students to answer questions related to World War I. As the clock ticked away, not a single student chosen so far, including Dane and Camila, managed to provide the correct answers.

Disappointment etched Mr Hunt’s face. “It seems no one has done the homework I specifically assigned.”

His gaze landed on ‘Silus’, who was staring vacantly ahead. “Silus, the student who consistently ranks last in my class. Here’s your question. Give me at least two causes of World War I.”

Silvia, without thinking straight, answered with confidence. “One of the immediate causes was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, leading to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia. This, in turn, triggered mutual defence alliances, another cause. Russia entered the fray to support Serbia, prompting Germany to declare war on Russia. France was drawn into the conflict against Germany and Austria-Hungary. When Germany attacked France, Britain was pulled into the war as well.”

Silus was infamous for being brainless and frequently slacking off in class. Silvia surmised that she committed a grave mistake, perplexing the whole class, even the teacher.

Mr Hunt’s incredulity was palpable. “Do you have the summary sheet in front of you, Silus?”

She leaned back to display her empty desk besides a single black pen.

He retained a solemn expression. “I-I see. Well, at least I have one unexpectedly knowledgeable student today.”

Resuming the lesson, he continued to call on other students, but Silvia got lost in her thoughts. Dane, on the other hand, couldn’t shake the doubt that had settled in his mind after witnessing ‘Silus’ provide a shockingly brilliant answer to a question in class—a rare act that left him pondering the enigma that was Silus.

As weariness settled in during Silvia’s homeward journey, she trod past the familiar procession of telephone poles, their once-familiar surfaces adorned with haunting missing posters of Silus. Yet, this time, a mystifying change had taken place. The missing posters had vanished, ripped away without mercy, leaving only the ghostly remnants of tape clinging to the leftover corners of the now-vanished images.

The evidence of deliberate destruction stirred bewilderment within Silvia’s heart, casting a grey shadow over her path—a chilling mystery that seemed to whisper secrets only she could decipher.

Upon returning home, the first order of business for Silvia was to shed her uncomfortable disguise, particularly the wig, which had grown cumbersome after a long and eventful day of wear. The doorbell chimed melodically, signalling Camila’s punctual arrival, just as she had promised. They ascended to Silvia’s bedroom, the sanctum of their shared secrets, and settled onto the bed, ready to engage in a heart-to-heart conversation.

Silvia’s voice trembled with worry as she divulged her distressing encounter. “Jared’s out to get me.”

Camila struggled to fully grasp the magnitude of Silvia’s sudden confession. “Wait, what?”

“I might’ve accidentally provoked him in the worst way possible,” Silvia continued, her voice heavy with the weight of the words. “It turns out Silus bullied Jared last year because of his appearance.”

Camila’s reaction was far from one of surprise; instead it was an apparent image of indignation. “Silus turned out to be a bigger asshole than I thought. To the extent of bullying? Seriously? I know he lost his mum, but you’re both going through the same thing, and you’re handling it so much better.”

“He loved Mum so much, but now I’m beginning to wonder why he’s digging his own grave.”

Camila’s voice brimmed with wrath as she unleashed her pent-up anger. “He slacked off in class, disrespected everyone, stole people’s girlfriends, hung out with the delinquents at school, bullied innocent people… What’s the matter with him? Yeah, he misses your mum, but why does he have to make other people suffer?”

“Is there more than I believe there is?” Silvia sighed wearily. “Now’s not the time to think about Silus. What am I supposed to do with Jared? He’s super sweet when he sees me as myself, but the moment he sees Silus, he has this look like he’s going to kill me. I’m so scared.”

Camila alleviated Silvia’s trembling hand with her own. “I’ll stick by your side at school then.”

“Don’t do that. People are already spreading rumours that you’re dating Silus.”

Camila’s resolve remained unshaken. “Rumours are gonna spread, but so what? Let them talk. I couldn’t care less about what other people say. As long as Jared doesn’t hurt you, that’s all I care about.”

Silvia squeezed Camila’s hand firmly. “You’re my best friend, which is exactly why I’m not letting you do that. I won’t drag you down with me.”

Their friendship was a precious bond that Silvia was determined to protect at all costs, even if it meant facing her fears alone.