The sun peeked through sheer curtains of clouds, dappling the cafeteria in subtle polka-dot lighting. The sounds of hungry students going to grab trays of food filled Rubie’s mind as she mindlessly walked with her lunch in hand over to the empty table at the corner of the hall where her and YV would sit and eat together, like they’d been doing for the past few days she'd been here.

Part of her thought it was weird, suspiciously weird that YV was consistently choosing to spend the time he could with her over the friends she saw him buzz around. Rubie knew things were different now, but seeing how terribly things had changed she’d fully expected him to leave her on her own much like the others had… But maybe just one look at his bright smile was enough to change her mind on that. Rubie couldn’t, wouldn’t believe the worst of him.

“–and that’s why I was wondering! Have you, like, gone to Lunaris since? For the last two nights I mean, I know you went on opening night, but-”

All of a sudden Rubie found herself snapping out of her own little daydream. YV asked her a question just as the two of them were taking their seats at the table. 

“Huh?” She froze up, a look of confusion must've settled onto her face at that moment as YV’s previously silly demeanour switched flat and teasingly unimpressed. “Girl- don’t tell me you’ve been spacing out the entire time I’ve been talking for?!”

“What? No, no! I wasn’t spacing out!” The two of them were seated at that point, and YV dramatically swooned back in his seat, holding the back of his hand to his forehead like a whining diva. “Oh for God’s sake Rubes! This is like getting left on read– just in real life, how does that even happen!? You are so cruel!”

“What are you– hey!”

He leaned into her, shoving his weight into her shoulder as Rubie playfully tried to fend him off between giggles. YV eventually ceased his attacks, going back to his lunch and bringing a spoonful of mac’n’cheese to his mouth

“ugh, but seriously! I know that face when I see it- you get all ‘deer in headlights’ when you don't know what to do!” he paused to swallow, take a sip of water, and sigh, “Do I really have to repeat myself?”

Rubie laughed, a polite hand over her mouth to stifle the noise. “Please do, your highness.” YV shot her a smile, clearing his throat.

“So basically…” he spoke with a clear strong voice, leaning his elbows onto the table and sinking into his posture like his shoulders were a hammock for his head. "So, uh, remember what happened the last time we went out?” 

There was heavy emphasis on the last part of his sentence, almost like he hoped it’d elicit some sort of response out of her, sage eyes bore deep into hers, looking for any sign of her understanding– not like he’d have any trouble in doing so anyways. Lunaris’ opening night this year wasn’t something that could just slip your mind… in fact, she’d probably been thinking about it all day at that point.

Rubie was silent for a while, struggling to find the right words to say back to him. YV took that as a positive, a sign for her remembrance, now the two of them were in the same boat, weren’t they?

“...What about it..?” Rubie asked a question. It’d been 2 days. 2 full days without any of them saying anything about this, she was starting to hope it was all some fucked up nightmare. YV sighed, despairingly heavy, hanging his head low for a second before shaking around like a wet dog, dark brown curls jostling around before he turned to face her again.

“Look, what we saw that night?” his voice started to rise with what she could only describe as a lit flame of emotion, quickly before he cleared his throat again to try and attempt speaking normally.

“I mean, that wasn’t… it wasn’t something we were meant to see, right? Whatever it was we saw anyway…” he grumbled in irritation, it must have been hard to word. “I don’t know, don’t you think we should all just–”

SLAM! 

The sound of a food tray being slammed into the table, and the clanking of jostled silverware that followed suit shook the two of them back to life. Rubie’s eyes immediately flew to the other end of the table in surprise, where she saw a girl, with curly blonde hair put up in two signature buns, standing still right above where the tray had landed.

“...Oh.” YV involuntarily slipped out the moment he landed his eyes on her. “Mitzi?”

Rubie felt her face scrunch up for a second. What was she doing here? And alone at that too– the only reason why Mitzi wasn’t tagging along with Rubie during school hours was because she had her own group of friends she was already comfortable with… Where were they now? She swore she’d seen that girl Kristine and the others today.

Mitzi’s gaze was sharp and demanding, yet somehow– buried beneath the unfamiliar icy cold of her blue eyes, seemed to be something more Rubie couldn’t pin down. Something scared. She breathed in, tense and steady as Rubie noticed YV’s mood drop almost immediately as she came, his eyes narrowed, almost as if he was posing a challenge to her presence.

“H-hey.” 

The way she’d said it had made it seem like greeting someone was the hardest thing a human could possibly do. Her voice was tight and cramped, her face all stiff and robotic as she tried to speak. YV raised a brow, his voice dropping all the sparkling enthusiasm it used to have just a few minutes ago.

“...Hi?” He let the silence drag on for a second, fiddling with a fork in one hand and trying everything he could not to look her right in the eyes. “Uh, what can we do for you?”

It wasn't like he was even trying to mask how strange this was for all of them. Rubie couldn't tell if his attitude was directed at the situation or at Mitzi herself. Even though in her mind she thought for a second that it could never, ever be directed at her, there was no world where YV’s sparkling eyes would grow dull and scornful at the sight of one of his best friends.

But there was no mistaking that look. And there was no mistaking the same barbed stare that flashed across Mitzi’s eyes for a second in response. “Can you at least try not to have a sour attitude while I… Ugh, nevermind.”

Mitzi spoke through grit teeth, her hands had balled into fists and the only thing that was stopping her from starting another petty fight was the fact that Rubie was right there, sat right next to him. “Look, I’m sorry that you don't want me around, but I didn't come here for a fight.” 

She straightened her back, holding her gaze on him for a while before glancing over to Rubie, and back again. “I’m about to sound real dumb right now, but-” Mitzi took a deep breath in, her body tense as she readied to recite what she’d been wanting to say.

“My friends have all dumped me, I’ve been having to sit alone outside on those god awful grimy chairs for the past 2 days straight and I’m- I just!” she sighed, the tension springing from her body like an elastic band pulled taught, being released with a sharp snap. “I just wanted to know if that seat was free!”

She’d spoken so quickly barely any of that even registered in her mind. Rubie cleared her throat, seeing that YV obviously wasn’t going to talk back.

“U-uhm… Sorry, what did you say?”

Mitzi blinked at them rapidly, lashes fluttering up and down at a furious pace that matched her nervous disposition.

“I- I said. I just… Wanted to, um… Check if this seat was free?” she couldn’t look them straight in the eyes anymore. “YV– uh, I know that we don’t have the best track record… B-but…”

There was a brief moment of silence. YV and Mitzi were almost stuck in some deadlock, Rubie felt as if they were trying to decipher what the other was feeling just by looking through their eyes alone…

“Dumbass!” The silence only broke when YV sighed, crossing his arms as he leaned off of the table. “I clearly remember telling you Kristy was bad news. Fine! Fine by me– come on” Even through an obnoxious eye roll and bratty attitude, there was an underlying warmth in his voice.

Mitzi paused, her feet rooted to the ground as she looked at YV with an expression Rubie could only describe to be confusion. He clicked his tongue realising she hadn’t moved yet, and he gestured to the seat in front of her “Come on! Seats don't warm themselves, do they?” 

Mitzi’s expression had been almost unreadable until that point, so clouded and full of unsure dismay that it made her seem unrecognisable now, but she stifled a laugh at YV’s ridiculousness before finally going to take a seat in front of the tray that’d arguably started this entire debacle in the first place. 

Rubie watched as Mitzi settled into their group. Comparing the two of them talking peacefully now to the vile argument they had that night almost felt like she was looking at two completely different people. That being said, conversation wasn’t abundant, strangely enough it was clear to see that neither of them really knew how to interact with each other. 

But slowly, the two of them started to warm up to each other again. It was fascinating  watching all of it happen. By the time they were done with their lunch she realised an entire half of their break had flown past already.

There was a lull in the conversation at some point, it was only natural when you blew through topics as fast as those two did, it almost felt like they had completely ran out of things to talk about, until a jolt of electricity crept up YV’s spine and shot straight into his head– it was safe to say that it caught their attention. Rubie looked over at him, concern laced through her face. “Are you okay…?”

“Huh? Oh! Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just that–” he took a deep breath in, a grim look on his face. “Rubie do you remember what we were talking about before, y’know, this happened?”

Rubie raised a brow at him, thinking back to what conversation they’d been having before Mitzi had showed up. 

Right, they were talking about Opening Night. The realisation must’ve flashed vividly through her mind, YV didn’t even need her to say yes or no to figure out she knew. His gaze fluttered from her, over to Mitzi, his voice just as unsure as it was when he was asking her about it about 30 minutes ago, for as much as YV liked to make it seem like he knew just what to do at any given moment, the slight quiver in his voice was unmistakable.

He asked her the same questions, whether or not she’d spoken about what they saw, if she’d been back to Lunaris since. Both her answers had been a resounding no, and for the first time in what must have been years, all 3 of them were on the same page.

“Uh, okay… Let’s get this straight.” Mitzi thought aloud, sorting her thoughts out in a way that’d make sense to her. “We all agree what we saw wasn’t just…some sick joke.” Rubie nodded, YV hummed in agreement. She winced in response, chills going down her spine. “Ugh… glad to know I’m not crazy.”

“None of us have been back, either…” Rubie carried on. “With the way things are now we can’t go ahead and debunk it.”

YV cut in “The way it was all set up, that… smell. I don't know— it’s not like you could just recreate that in some small town festival, right? Willowfield’s a weird fucking place, can’t say I’d be surprised.”

He looked between the two. You’d think he was looking right at them, but with the way his eyes were glazed over it became clear that he wasn’t all present either, that grizzly scene must have been playing in his mind over and over.

“No… you have a point. When you think about it, there really is no other explanation other than…well…” Rubie’s voice trailed off, she didn’t need to finish that sentence in order for them to understand what she meant “...W-well either way! We gotta do something about this, right…?”

Mitzi mumbled under her breath, quiet and thoughtful. “Mm… Yeah, we can't just leave it be. I mean, hypothetically, if someone really died that day wouldn’t that mean our whole town’s in danger…?”

“That’s what I’m saying! It's been 2 days– I haven’t heard of someone going missing recently but if this is all real it’s bound to happen again isn’t it? We like– need to report this to someone, right? Or at least investigate it on our own or something!” He paused, then shook his head irritated. “God knows the next time something like that’s going to happen. Not to mention that they saw us. All of us. If anything we’re in the most danger here…” YV had left it off at that, sending everyone on that table including him into a thoughtful silence.

He was right, the people in there had definitely seen all of them, that one in the middle even pointed his weapon at them all– sure, none of them were hurt that night, but who was to say they wouldn’t be hurt another day? Could their silence buy them their survival, or would it just paint a big, red target on their backs?

“Yeah… Yeah, you’re right. We really need to figure this out don’t we…” Rubie said, the two of them had their eyes trained on her the moment she looked up from staring at her blazer’s sleeves. “All of us. All four of us.”

You didn’t need to be Einstein to figure out what she meant by ‘the four of us’. There was someone missing from the group right now, it didn’t feel right to talk about this without them... Where was Dawn anyways?

Concern came up on both YV and Mitzi’s faces. Even if these two could manage each other, it didn’t mean they’d even be willing to tolerate Dawn. It almost felt like their name was an omen for bad luck in the group, with the two of them avoiding looking Rubie in the eye for a while after that it was hard to think they weren’t some bad luck charm.

"Okay, but... Where are we gonna find them?" YV asked pointedly, trying not to let any sign of distaste show. If there was anything about them it was that Dawn was as elusive as a street cat. Not counting her literal first day here Rubie hadn’t caught them around school even once.

But not even a second later, Mitzi groaned. Slumping over on the table like it physically hurt her to think about their friend. “Oh, don't worry about that. Fortunately for all of you, I know exactly where that bastard is.”