Rubie sat on a patch of cool green grass, watching the wind blow longer blades around the air in some sort of whimsical tango.
She was looking out on a field of viridian, lush trees sprouting from the ground every 20 feet or so, she knew where she was– this was Willowfield's local park, or at least what she remembered of it from her memory. Everything was so nice. The cosy warm atmosphere made even the clouds look like they were waving hello to her as they swirled about the blue skies. She felt tired, like her body was permanently rooted to the soil and the ground was giving her life, but it wasn't the sort of exhaustion that dragged you down and made you want to never get up again, it was better than that: calming, relaxing, healing.
She could hear excited screams echoing around her, and more than that– she recognised them, those were her friends. Exactly how she remembered them.
Rubie sat up higher, her head on swivel as she looked around, immediately spotting 2 kids chasing each other in a silly game of tag, a boy with a head full of beaded braids, and a girl dressed in an old shirt and ripped up shorts. You wouldn't be able to tell who they were with how much they had changed over the years, but those were YV and Mitzi… or at least, the versions of them she remembered from growing up. They looked like they were having fun, laughing and squealing as they ran around trees and grass and bushes without a care in the world.
Rubie watched curiously, she remembered days like these, in fact it was almost as if she could recall this exact moment from her fuzzy past, it just felt so familiar. Safe, almost. She watched them, following her friend's game intently– following their every reckless move just in time to spot a rock beneath Mitzi's shoe.
She was about to reach out, just about to warn her before tragedy hit– but as if on cue, Mitzi tripped over it. Face planting right into the ground much to YV's surprise. It caught him terribly off balance too, making him fall right after her. Rubie was just about to get up and go check on her friends– she shifted in the grass, but her body felt as if it weighed tonnes. She couldn't move, at least not fast enough to help them as fast as she'd like.
…But someone had beaten her to it, just before she could heave herself off of the ground, a little boy came scuttling in from the right, running up to the two of them with every sense of concern on his face as he crouched to the floor next to them. Rubie wasn't close enough to them hear what they were saying, but from the looks of it, it seemed as if the little boy was cautiously looking for any places where the two might have gotten hurt, tucking overgrown stands of dark black hair to make sure his bangs hadn't hidden the view of any scratches from his eyes. He reached into his bag for bandaids and antiseptic just in case.
The 3 of them– it was like her mind had perfectly preserved their best selves in a case of amber. In her mind they all still looked like this, they all still acted like this. They were all still little kids spending hours on end exploring the playground, the nooks in the forest, and each other's backyards. They were like pirates looking for lost treasure, or heroes on the hunt for bad guys, or even a gang of criminals, running from the cops after pulling off a successful bank heist–
She knew that they could be anything they wanted to be… Except for who they had grown up to become, perhaps. She'd gone years without seeing them, after all. Maybe it was cruel, but she couldn't help the tugging at her heart when she remembered they were, in a way, gone.
…Dawn had let the two go once they fully realised nobody had gotten hurt, gently scolding them to be more careful next time as he dusted dirt and dust off their clothes, a gesture they returned by promising not to be so brash anymore, after they sulked about it for a while, that was. In her mind they still got along, it was just what she wanted to remember about them…but…
"Hey, Rubie!"
A voice called out from behind her. Not just any voice, it'd been… God– it'd been years since she'd heard her. Her heart practically dropped to her stomach, the flight of shock taking hold of her as she moved on autopilot. If this was who she thought it was, then…
Rubie whipped her head around, coming face to face with another girl. Sunkissed skin, warm and vibrant even with the harsh Canadian winters, dusky chin-length brown hair framing her face, like silk curtains. But it spiked out further down her head jutting out like hedgehog spines. She was tall for a kid her age, lending herself an older, mature air despite being a whole 4 months younger than Rubie.
Her grin grew wider when she realised Rubie had heard her. "Aren't you gonna go over to the others? It looks like so much fun!"
Her voice always used to be just a little bit raspy from all the fun adventures that'd have her screaming and squealing by the end of the day, but even so the melodic intonation and velvety quality to her sound remained the same. Beneath her joy of seeing her friend again, Rubie couldn't ignore the underlying horror churning in her gut. The realisation of all the years she had lost hit her like a god damn semi-truck
"Well, Kiana– w-what about you..?"
The girl looked almost shocked hearing that, her smile dropped for a second in favour for a befuddled look of confusion.
"What about me? Um…"
She pondered for a second, bringing a hand to her chin as she spent a while just ruminating on what Rubie had told her. All until-
"RUBIE!"
Someone else's voice was calling out for her, she looked at the girl but it seemed as if she was still thinking about something…
"HEY! RUBIE!!"
She looked at the other 3 in the distance, they were still having fun and goofing around. There was no one else here- it was just the 5 of them, so-
"HEY!"
• • •
The warmth encapsulating her in a comfy cocoon was suddenly torn to shreds, exposing her to the sheer frost of the outside world, shock rippled through her body immediately waking her up.
Rubie finally snapped back to reality, coming face to face with the sight of the pristine off-white ceiling of her dorm room as she finally processed that she was now fully conscious and awake in the real world, shivering from the aftermath of having someone rip her blanket off of her.
"Rubie! Rubie get up, you lazybones! We're gonna be late! It's like- 6:50 already!"
She rubbed at her weary eyes, suppressing a yawn just until those words settled into her brain… wait… 6:50…? Her gaze flew to the clock in her room, and lo and behold, the numbers '6:47' stared back at her.
What…?
She turned back to the sound of that voice, slowly seeing Mitzi come into view, half dressed in her school uniform as the smell of eggs and breakfast sausage sifted through her curly hair.
All at once, it seemed to come knocking straight to her. Shoot- this was her first day of school wasn't it?? Her brain started to move on autopilot as she, quite literally, scrambled off her twin sized bed half dragging her blanket across the floor in her attempts to get herself to the bathroom just to somehow attempt to shower, change, squeeze in breakfast and make it into the school building in 10 minutes.
• • •
When YV's eyes lifted to the clock hung high up on his walls, it was nearing 6:30.
In just 15 minutes, YV's chauffeur was going to come by and pick him up for school. He was still poking at his breakfast by the time he realised that. That was odd, usually he'd be ready and waiting for Mr Bennett to get the car ready by noe– he hadn't even put on his tie yet…
Living high up on the top floor of the esteemed Eden Heights Residence had its perks. The high walls of his penthouse closed him off from the rest of the world, it kinda made him feel a little more safe in a way, like a prince living high up in his fort of a castle. But since Opening Night he hadn't found it in him to see things that way anymore. And he didn't even know exactly why.
It wasn't burglars he was afraid of. Despite looking the way he did, with his slight gangly limbs, it was practically a well-known fact that YV packed a punch, and could easily put up a tough fight. His anxiety certainly wasn't 'cause of all the spooky stories going around his circles of friends this October in anticipation of Halloween. Everyone was entitled to their own opinions, of course, but ghosts and ghouls were total hogwash.
What had gotten him so restless as of late was admittedly going to sound far more pathetic than he ever hoped he'd have to be. But he just couldn't help it. Whatever they had all seen that night, at the carnival– it gave him chills just thinking of it even days later
Rationally speaking, He needed to get it in his head that whatever they'd seen on Opening Night was probably some sort of dress rehearsal for a spooky scary show they were going to put on later in Lunaris, perhaps for a Halloween special production! The costumes were far too obvious, the tacky demonic decor was overdone to say the least, and there was no possible way any of that was real. YV wasn't some soft-hearted fool, he wasn't supposed to be afraid of anything really! He was used to people hating him! He was a rich boy who came from a rich family– you'd best believe he's seen his fair share of ransom threats over the years.
…But then again, he smelled it, he felt it. That was blood- real blood. Not the fake stuff you'd get at party stores or whatever. It had the same tangy rotten smell, it was the right colour, the right texture and viscosity. So that meant that it was…
"Good morning," YV had literally snapped out of his daydreaming the moment he heard that calming voice behind him "how did you sleep last night, Mon loulou?"
His mother's hand gently came to cup his shoulder, bringing him closer to her as she stood behind the chair he sat at, bending over to plant a loving kiss on the top of his head. He let out a laugh, he wanted it to sound like how it always did, light and airy, full of life, but instead it fell flat and was breathy instead of hearty.
"Good morning, Maman…" He turned to look at her, returning her kiss with one on her cheek, braving a quaint smile on his face just to make sure she wouldn't worry.
"How have you been doing, my love? I haven't seen you since I left for Belgium last month, I…" she sighed, the velvet smooth sound of it bearing hints of regret and she forced herself to smile at him. YV knew exactly what was weighing on her mind at that moment, and for a second he wished things just didnt have to be so complicated. "I'm sorry loulou, the company's been so busy, and I just..."
He mindlessly brought a spoonful of eggs and potatoes to his mouth, "no, it's okay Maman! You have a lot of work to do, it's only natural."
She gave him a weary smile, one full of as much apology as it was pure affection. Her demeanour shifted right after that, though. She leaned her hand on the wood, supporting half her weight on the glossy hardwood dinner table as she made that face she always did right before she asked him a question.
"So, how was Lunaris? I didn't get to see you last night and, well." she paused mid-sentence, if there was one thing Maman wasn't good at, it was hiding when things were bothering her. YV tried his best not to frown… he had a sneaking suspicion he knew what she was on about already… "You know, Mr. Bennett told me you got home by 11?"
…Ah, shit.
YV almost dropped his spoon right onto the ceramic plate, thank god he'd already shovelled the food into his mouth by the time she'd said that. The need to chew and swallow masked the air of pure shock that'd just encompassed his being, buying him more time to just think.
"You had your mother worried, you know…? Willowfield is a generally safe area, but accidents can still happen, I thought something happened to my baby boy!"
She brightened the dull atmosphere by squishing his cheeks between her fingers, pitching her tone higher to a goofy baby voice just like he was a toddler again, YV playfully swiped at her to stop messing about, thankful for the lighter shift in mood, but aware of just how much this meant to her.
Dad wasn't around anymore, he was her only child left in town, there was absolutely zero reason to scare the life out of her like that but…
"It's nothing Maman! Don't worry so much- you'll get wrinkles if you keep creasing your brows like that, you know?" YV had come back in full swing, shaking off whatever demons had plagued him that morning and slipping comfortably into the loud, lively character he was known for. "My friends and I just got lost on the way out… They made the layout for the festival so confusing this year– you wouldn't believe it! But it won't happen again, promise!"
His mother let out a light chuckle at that, half in relief to know he wasn't in any danger, and half in amusement knowing that that was exactly the type of thing her son would do. Eventually, she ended up bidding him an early goodbye that morning. BIJOU-et was seeing it's peak sale season approaching, and that meant more hours on her back and less time spent with him. It was alright though– he'd gotten used to it! He knew it was all for their family, anyways.
Suddenly, his phone buzzed on the table, and YV picked it up to see that Mr Bennett sent him a text, a simple straightforward message: "Ready. I'm outside."
For a second, YV could only think of that car not as the vehicle that'd been driving him everywhere he wanted to go for the past few years, but simply as it was the last time he was in there. How the last time he'd been in there had been last Friday night, Opening Night. How the last time he'd been in there had been when the 4 of them had run away from what were either the freakiest cosplayers in existence, or a literal demonic cult. Half of him expected it to still smell like fear and sweat when he stepped into that car.
He hadn't gone to hang around Lunaris since, he hadn't even tried to tell anyone about this. Simply put, none of them had talked about it since they'd gotten home on the night of the 1st. It'd been over the weekend anyway, but- ugh. He couldn't just ignore it. They all needed to talk, didn't they?
YV sighed, hastily dropping the silver spoon straight on his plate in favour of grabbing his school bag off the floor. Rushing to his bedroom to make sure his uniform was as neat as possible before walking out his front door. Later! He'd just have to think about it later.
He greeted Mr Bennett with a usual grin and lively 'good morning!' when he got to that luxury car waiting right outside Eden Heights for him, strapping into the passenger's seat as Mr Bennett only gave him a curt nod. And as they drove off, YV could smell nothing but the stench of blood and sweat- no matter how hard he wanted to, nothing would ever erase that sight from his memory.