Morning, October 6th. 

Damian woke up in his bed to the sight of a concerned Morgan looking down at him. “Are you okay?”. Almost as if on cue, massive pain shot through the skeleton boy’s body followed by monstrous screeching from being overwhelmed. His eyes glowed brightly as he endured what felt like pure torture. Morgan silently watched in horror until the disaster passed, the glow faded away and the skeleton boy was left gasping for air.

His name escaped her lips quietly almost as if she was afraid even the slightest disturbance could trigger the event again. Damian struggled to form a single word in an attempt to communicate with her. “P…”. She got closer with confusion on her face trying to make out the word. “P…”. She leaned an ear close to his mouth, held her breath to avoid making any noise while straining her hearing. Finally a single word made its way to her. “Pussy”. 

She backed up from him so he could clearly see the look of annoyance on her face. Damian turns his head in her direction. “You are a pussy. Freaking out over something like that”. She glared at him while taking a step closer. “You were faking it?!”. He turned his attention toward the ceiling to avoid her gaze. “No…That was real”. Morgan returned to his bedside now with a look of concern. “Do you remember what happened?”. 

He let out a sigh as he tried to recall the recent events. “Some stuff came out of the giant monster and went in me”. Morgan raised a hand to her chin as she pondered her own thoughts of what happened. “The primordials share a connection with each other, but I’ve never heard of anything happening like that”. Damian suddenly turned his head to Morgan. “Where’s Joanna?”. “She’s on the roof”. 

The skeleton boy rolled out of and hit the floor with a loud thud followed by clacking noises from his bones. He let out a pain filled groan while lying lifelessly on the floor. Morgan looked down at him with an unamused expression. “I’m not falling for that again”. “I’m not messing around!” he wailed trying to hide the desperation in his voice. She looked carefully at him for a moment and noticed he was struggling just to make the slightest movement. She quickly helped him back into his bed. “I can’t move and everything hurts like hell!”. 

She pulled the covers up to his chest. “Consider yourself lucky. No one has ever been able to fight a primordial and live to tell the tale”. He turned his head towards her direction and glared at her. “I don’t give a damn about that! Just take my head over to Joanna!”. She hesitated for a moment before popping his head off. 

They made their way through the halls of the dorm building while trying to keep Damian’s head hidden from the other residents passing by. After seeing a few people in costumes they remembered it was the month of halloween and they didn’t need to try so hard to avoid unwanted attention.

They finally made it to the top floor and burst open the door to the rooftop. “Joanna?!” Damian cried out. She was lost in her thoughts while sitting on the ledge until his voice suddenly jolted her attention. She remained silent while not only processing the sight in front of her, but also the words to start the strange conversation. Damian ordered Morgan to leave his head on the ledge near Joanna then shooed her away. “Make yourself useful and go keep an eye on my body or something”. She let out a sigh before reluctantly agreeing and leaving them alone to talk.

Instead of shutting the door behind her, she opened it slightly and peeked through the small opening. A moment of silence passed between the two students before Damian finally spoke up. “Do I have to ask or are you just gonna tell?”. She let out a sigh before looking down at her shoes. “My brother is d...Gone...Possibly forever”. Irritation would be visible on the skeleton boy’s face if he still had one. He calmed himself down a little before replying. “He tried to kill me”. 

Joanna gripped the edge of the building and gave him a guilty look. “Onna messed him up and put a ghost in him”. He rolled his nonexistent eyes. “For the record...I didn’t break his arm on purpose…”. She gestured towards the door Morgan left through. “I already figured that out. Morgan told me about you becoming a skeleton man”. He gave her a nonexistent grin. “Well now I’m just a head”. Confusion slowly formed on her face. “Why bring just your head?”. “My bones are broken”, he said nonchalantly. She responded with silence and looked off into the distance. The lack of response, not even an insult left Damian stunned. He let the feeling sink in for a moment before speaking up. “Pick me up”. This caught her off guard and she asked him to repeat in confusion. He urged her again to pick up his skull.

She held up the black skull in her hands as the bright morning sunlight illuminated dark as night color. Its bony structure was cool to the touch, but also very rigid. She gazed into his empty eyes almost as if she was looking for something. Even though he couldn’t make any facial expressions, something about him just seemed sad, guilty, and even lonely. He breathed out white fog from his mouth into the air above her head which made delicate snowflakes emerge around them. The sudden beautiful sight left her with a startled look, but there was also something calming about it. “You’re a real pain in the ass when you mope”. Joanna gave him a little smile. “Thanks, but I think I need a little time to think”.

She placed his skull on the ledge next to her and he breathed white fog while letting out a deep sigh. They sat there together in silence looking out at the world that was now changing before them. The thought of still having each other brought some sense of comfort, but also made them realize how alone they felt.