Cherri lived with her veil. It was a part of her. Her friends joked that it was surgically attached. 

Cherri enjoyed simple hobbies. She enjoyed fashion. She put together outfits for her friends and herself, focusing on minute details. If an earring was the wrong color, it would ruin the entire outfit for her. 

Today was a filming day, where she would gather with her housemates and shoot a video. The fans knew her as the quiet, kind one. They weren’t wrong. In real life, she was sensitive and empathetic. 

Her housemates, however, could be the opposite. X could be understanding, but mostly paired off with Caleb as they were best friends. Aqua was too wrapped in his own thoughts to notice anyone else. Vanessa expected the best out of everyone. Nothing Cherri ever did was up to her standards. 

And finally, Lisa. Lisa was almost like a boss. She was only related to Cherri in a business sense. 

Cherri seemed to be the only one to understand what everyone was thinking. She observed a lot.

As they were setting up the props and set for the shoot, Cherri got a text message. It was from her friend that she hadn’t seen in ages. 

Cheryl! I miss you so much ♥️♥️♥️ 

I’m staying near your area, do you wanna meet up? 

Love your videos btw

I’ve watched like all of them

  Yeah! I’d love to! ❤️ 

    When? 

Does 3 on sat work for you? 

    Of course, I'll find a place!

“Cheryl! Help set up!” Lisa shouted. 

“Sorry, sorry! My friend is coming to town and I haven’t seen her in a while, so we are setting up a time to meet!”

“When?” Caleb asked slyly

“On Sat-“

“—did I ask?”

Caleb high-fived X and celebrated his astonishing achievement. 

That shut Cherri up. Why would Caleb care anyways? 

They began shooting, it was Vanessa’s turn to host the intro. She talked quite confidently about the concept of the video, where they would be playing hide and seek except everything would be pitch black. The seeker would have a small pocket flashlight.

Cherri would be fine with that, only if she wasn’t the seeker. She wasn’t afraid of the dark, she just didn’t want to run around and hurt herself. 

But Lisa had other plans. “Cherri! You are gonna be the first seeker!” 

“Can I not? Can’t someone else do it?” 

“We’re all gonna seek, Cher. Best get it over now” 

“Fine, I’ll seek first then” 

It couldn’t be that bad, right? 

She took the flashlight, and all the lights in the house were turned off. It was 9:00 PM and pitch black.

She wandered down the dark hallways, checking room by room as a camera person followed her. All of the main, open rooms were empty. She found Aqua first, in his room. He got up and tried to run away, but ended up running directly into her. 

“Ah damn! You got me.”

“Are you ok, Levi?” 

“Yeah” he responded, not caring to ask her back. 

They searched together, and they were able to find Vanessa in her gym and X in a closet. 

The last person was Caleb. Cherri searched the bathroom. She didn’t notice the footsteps out in the hallway or the silent agreement between all the seekers to let Caleb go scare her.

Cherri sat on the edge of the bathtub. She was terribly tired and wanted to stop. It’s not like she had done that much today, so why was she so tired? 

Caleb stormed into the bathroom, wearing a terrifying demon mask. He screamed and roared. Cherri jumped. She lost her grip on the bathtub, falling backwards and hitting her head. She slid deep into the tub.

She grabbed her head and stumbled out of the tub, leaving her veil behind. 

She wasn’t going to say anything, until she pulled her hand from her hair and noticed dark, sticky blood. 

“Caleb! Why would you do that?” 

“It would have been funny! I didn’t know you were just sitting there!” 

She peered into the hallway, looking at all the seekers gathered near the door. 

“And you let him?” 

“What happened?” X asked curiously. 

“When Caleb scared me, I fell into the tub and hit my head!” 

“Woah, I’m sorry! I didn’t think you would fall into the tub!” Vanessa said. 

“That’s not the point!” Cherri’s head felt like it was bursting, so she just gave in. With a sigh, she said “It’s fine. I’m going to go get some ice and rest upstairs. You can continue the shoot without me” 

She walked away, their whispers filling her mind. 

To get some fresh air, She walked up to the rooftop deck and sat on the edge. She looked at the surroundings, and she could see the busy lights and traffic of the city around her. 

Does anyone even care about her? Or does everyone care about her in relation to themselves? Nobody ever asked how she was doing. Nobody ever asked if she was ok.

Maybe she was so offended over Caleb because he forgot what had happened to her and how easily she gets scared now. Or maybe it was because he used a mask to deform his face. 

Did he realize that he was mocking her? 

Was he really playing such a long game?

She kicked her legs against the edge of the house. She felt like a kid. A stupid kid. 

Stupid kids are the ones who get into accidents.

She wasn’t a kid anymore. 

Her “friends” needed to understand that.