Chapter Text
It’s noisy outside. The black sky is trampled by the red, blue, and white flashing lights. The echoes of sirens, the yabber of circulating news reporters, and the yelling of police officers trying to keep them from entering the station. The noise rings in Enid’s ears, an unwelcome racket. Time sure does repeat itself. The softest dry chuckle left her, and it held no sense of humor. Enid found herself in the same position she was in yesterday. She sighed, looking up at the investigator who had been asking her questions for the last twenty minutes.
“A Ghostface mask?” He repeated, half scoffing at the laughable choice of disguise that Enid had described to him. He wore a grey plaid blazer, an even darker shade of grey for his shirt, accompanied with navy blue pants and black shoes. Beside him, notepad in hand always jotting anything - Tara. She was noting down the description Enid gave.
Maggie, who was right beside Enid, Glenn to the right of her with his hand on her shoulder - she spoke up, “I saw them too. They did have a ghost mask on.”, she verified, seeing the doubtful look on the detective’s face. She winced slightly, feeling a sudden breeze of cold air hit her open wound on the forehead that she had gotten from the attacker.
“And a black cloak?”, Tara queried, her red pen hovering over her notepad. Maggie nodded lightly. “Did you get a good look at their shoes? Their weapon?”, she asked, leaning towards Enid and Maggie and the teen’s mouth twists in a sour way.
“No. I was a little too busy trying to keep my life.”, she snapped. Yes , Enid very much understands that they’re trying to find the killer, but can they at least give a goddamn second to fucking breath?! Tara’s eyebrows shot up, a scoff of disbelief. And just that is enough to make Enid sigh in regret, shaking her head lightly. She bites back the urge to yell. “Listen. I wasn’t really paying attention to that. I didn’t get a good look at those details, I’ve already told you everything I know about them.”
“About him.”, Glenn cuts in. Enid snaps her direction to him, and he gives a slight hand gesture of surrender. “Well, it is Ron, right?”, he defended.
Bob sighs, “Nothing is definite. Until we have all the evidence to support this claim, he’s not labeled as the killer, yet.”, the investigator informed.
Glenn nods, and Enid sinks in her chair. Tara closes her notepad, “Well you’ve said you’ve told us everything. I believe we have nothing more to ask.”, she says, her voice flat. She gives a slight bob of the head before dismissing herself and leaving the three, Bob trailing behind her.
The three sit there, contemplating whether to leave or not, but neither of them say anything so they just stay put. Enid blankly stares in front of her, numb. Her eyes wander across the station seeing the commotion that fills the room and she makes the mistake of lingering to Rick’s office where she sees Jesse, Rick, and Ron. The blinds block most of them, but she can see the back of his head, and it’s enough to clog her throat with guilt.
Rick straightens himself up, leaning back a bit on his desk. He folds his arms, “What were you doing with a cellular telephone?”, he asked.
“Everyone’s got one.”, Ron said, “I didn’t think it was a crime to have technology”, he muttered, running one of his hands through his rusted gold hair. “It was just for fun.”, he clarified.
Rick gives a ‘hm’ of acknowledgement. “We’ll pull your phone bill.”, “What’s you call carrier?” he questions, facing Jesse.
“AirFone Comp.”, she replies, quietly, fiddling with her fingers. There’s a beat of uneasy silence, “Is that all?”.
“No. We still have a few more questions.”, Rick said, looking at Ron. The teen huffed faintly in ire, and Jesse’s shoulders tightened - tapping her feet in impatience. Rick pushes himself off his desk he was leaning on, “What were you doing visiting Enid, especially at such a late hour? She says it's common that you do this.” - he pauses - “But why through the windows?”
Jesse turns to Ron, her face in a slight shock, “You crawl through her windows?”, she questions in a small gasp, her lips twisting in a confused knot.
“Were you not aware your son sneaks out at times?”, he asked Jesse, and she didn't respond. She’s left without words. “I heard it happened pretty consistently when Pete was still around”, Rick mentioned. Jesse looks down at her shoes in shame at the mention of her husband. Ron finally answers his earlier question.
“I was just checking up on her. That’s all. She was acting weird today, I just wanted to make sure she was alright.”, Ron said.
“How ‘weird’”?
“She was avoiding me, she was avoiding all of us. Me, Lydia, Henry- I was just worried about her, alright?”
“And your best decision was to enter through her window?”, Rick retorts, his voice laced with sarcasm. “How did you even know she was staying with Maggie and Glenn?”, he pushed.
“She told me.”, Ron stated. Rick hums in response, his features flat and Ron frowns at this slight action. “I didn’t kill anyone, Sheriff.”
Rick tilts his head, rubbing his chin slightly with his un-dominated hand. “Whether you did or not, we have to keep you here for the night, Ron.”
“What?!”, Jesse abruptly stands from her chair, “Rick, please, I think that’s a bit much-”
“Once we pull the phone account and get what we’re looking for, we might release him.”, he says, nonchalantly, almost blatantly ignoring Jesse’s anger simmering. Her fists were in such a tight clench her knuckles were becoming white. “He’ll be fine,” he said.
Ron’s face darts to the floor, jaw clenched. His eyes burning with unshed tears, “This is insane.”, he muttered. “I didn’t do it.” He looked up at Rick. “I didn't,” he repeated.
Her eyes are wide, brows in a glare and she almost screams, “Who the hell was in charge with the call?!”. She’s able to keep herself relatively quiet, but her voice is sharp and some spit even flew out, gritting her teeth.
“We’re looking into it right now, but it seems weird. The call would’ve gone directly to Rick’s cell, and if he didn’t pick it up, it would’ve gone to one of the transmitters.” Bob reasoned.
“So that means Rick answered?”, Tara retorted, confused, almost throwing hands.
“We’re gonna get more information on this, Tara. However, with everything that’s been going on, we just haven't had the time.”, Bob said.
“But this is part of all the problems!”, she whisper-yelled. “She could’ve lived.”, Tara murmured.
The news shook her. Even if she didn’t know the blonde, it still hurt. Apparently Sophia had called the police, but no one responded. The town’s small, and the police communication has always been a bit iffy, so anyone that does call nine one one usually goes to Rick’s phone, since he’s the sheriff. If he doesn’t answer then it goes straight to the station, they’ve been meaning to fix that, but nothing ever really happened here.
It cost them that now.
“Does that mean Rick’s a suspect?”
Bob sighs. “I don’t know.”, there’s more moments of silence until Bob speaks once more, “I do have some news that could support that it’s Ron, though.”
“What is it?”
“Paul told me about how Sophia was killed right at nine, and that Enid received the call around nine-forty.”
“Yeah. He told us that too.”, Tara breathed out, crossing her arms. “What about it?”
“The model of Ron’s phone can record.”
Tara’s eyebrow quirked, “You're saying he recorded killing Sophia?”, she queried, because it was an odd accusation. “Why would he do that?”, she started, “Why would he go through all of that trouble?”, she scoffed - truly, it didn’t make sense, not from her perspective.
Bob shrugs, sighing. “I don’t know. But it’s a lead, and we at least need to cross out the possibility.”
Tara shakes her head, and pinches the bridge of her nose, before both her arms fall by her side. “God, this is so fucking exhausting.”, she huffs. Bob nods in agreement. “If anything else pops up, tell me.”, she murmurs, and then dismisses herself. Tara leaves Bob, and she walks down the hall of the police station feeling a slight tug of her head of a headache growing. She hears someone call a distinct ‘hey’ and she turns on her heels revealing who the voice belongs to. A familiar face, one of the people taking care of Enid. Glenn, if she remembers correctly. She sighs, “What can I help you with?”
“I was just - I was wondering what you guys have on this. I-I just want to keep Enid safe, and it’s getting harder, so, please, is there just anything you can do?” His face was stained of desperation, and Tara found herself struggling to speak any words because in reality, how could she help?
She clears her throat softly, “Well, I assure you, we’re doing everything we can”, she consoles, softly clapping her hands together. She almost turns away before a thought tugs at her. The thought of how Sophia didn’t receive help in time scratched her. “You know what?”, she said, “I’ll give you my number.”
Glenn’s eyebrows went up a bit, “Ok.”, he pulled out his own phone and handed it to her. She takes the device, tapping in her number, and putting it in the speed dial. She then hands it back to him.
“It’s the least I can do, with everything going on..if something happens, call the police, and then call me.”, she says, and Glenn nods at her words. The two part from each other, Glenn heading back to Maggie and Enid.
Rick is already in front of Maggie and Enid, and Glenn takes a seat next to them. Rick almost speaks when a voice is heard from the other side of the station - It’s Ron’s.
“I didn’t do it!”, he yells. His voice was high and made heads turn at him. He was being dragged by two officers whom were roughly tugging at his shoulders. He wasn’t fighting back, but shuffling at the feet to make himself move slower. “Enid!”, he calls, seeing her back facing him and she shudders. She can’t look at him, can’t bring herself to turn, to face him like everyone else. “Enid, c’mon you know me. Enid, you know I didn’t do it! Look at me, Enid!” She doesn’t. She even shuts her eyes. His voice is then cut off after a slam of a door. She sighs, slowly opening her eyes, and seeing the pitiful expression on Maggie’s face. Enid then skews over her shoulder looking behind her. She feels a yank at her heart seeing Jesse at one of the corners of the room, she was sitting in a chair, her face red and tear stained, and Sam right beside her. She winces at the sight, snapping back to look in front of her. She wonders if Sam even understands what’s going on, if he does or not it makes her feel overwhelmingly guilty. Her eyes are glued to the floor, hesitating to even look up when Rick speaks to them.
“You might want to try to reach your dad again”, he advises. Enid gives a small nod, still not looking up.
She turns to face Maggie, “Can we leave now?”, she asks, voice low. Maggie looks at Glenn, and they look at Rick, Rick clears his throat.
“You can”, he says. Enid is quick to push herself out of her seat and Maggie and Glenn follow, they’re about to begin to walk out when Rick speaks, “I suggest you leave through the back door.” He gestures to the exit at the back of the station. Maggie gives a small ‘thanks’ and Enid huffs, hearing the rumuring of reporters outside, she speed walks to the exit at the back.
They quietly peer the door open and walk out. The night is humid, yet still cold. It’s this type of weather that Enid hates. The three walk down the alley to reach Glenn’s car that was parked quite far away from the station. She can still hear the reporters and she hears her name thrown into a question everyone once in a while. She hates it. Can I fade away, please? Can she be a ghost, please, she thinks, I can’t bear this anymore.
Once they reach the house, it’s almost automatic. Her knees feel like jelly and she flops herself face-first onto the cushion of the rectangular couch. She hears Maggie sigh, and she sits herself right beside where Enid’s feet are. “Are you alright?”, she softly asks. I’m not.
There’s moments of silence. “I should probably call my dad”, she blatantly says, swinging her feet off the couch and straightening up. She doesn’t even bother to look at Maggie and she walks right past Glenn to reach their phone. She almost grabs the phone when it rings, and she feels her heart stop. Maggie and Glenn froze whatever they were doing. Enid turns to the two, wide eyed. Should I answer? Despite everything that happens she still grabs the phone and she hears Maggie gasp quietly.
“Enid, I don’t think-”
The voice on the other line speaks, “Enid?”
“Dad!”, she yelps. “I was just about to call you”, she says, awkwardly chuckling to herself, rubbing the back of her neck.
“I was just checking up on you, I’ve heard about what’s….about what’s been happening.”, he says, his voice growing lower, “I decided I’ll be coming back earlier.” Enid vividly perks up at this. “Friday” - today was Wednesday - “I know it’s not as soon as I would like, but it’s the only flight I could get. I’ll be back early in the morning though.”, he says.
“That’s great!”, she says, her voice peaking slightly, she could almost cry of happiness, “That’s great...”, she repeats.
“Just try to stay safe in the meantime, is Glenn and Maggie with you right now?”
“Yes, yes they are.”
“Ok, good. I know this is a short call, I-I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s fine, dad.”, she replies.
“Alright”, he said, “Well, goodnight, stay safe. I love you.”
“I love you too, goodnight.”, she says, before hanging up the phone. A sigh of relief comes out. Thank god.
Rick wasn’t going to be sleeping tonight. He’s never been the best parent, always leaving Carl alone for most of the day, but for this last week, he’s only seen his son about four times. “Rick!” He turned around seeing one of the officers, Officer Leon Basset. He’s got a package in hand, one that holds a costume, and he hands it to him.
“Based on the description that Stookey gathered from the girl, this fits it.” - It’s a ghostface costume. Black cloak, pale white mask with the peanut droopy eyes and gaping mouth. “They sell this costume at every five-and-dime in the state. Then with Halloween coming around..”, he says, “There’s no way to track the purchase.”
Rick rubs one side of his face with his hand, as to rub off the growing tiredness. “What about that cellular phone bill?”, he questions turning to Leon.
“We’re pulling their account...but, we won’t know anything ‘till the morning.”, Rick’s quiet for a second, and Leon asks another question, folding his arms and leaning forward a bit, his voice dropping down to a whisper, “You really think the Anderson kid did it?”
“Nothings definite yet.” he says, still inspecting the costume. The blank ghostly mask staring right back at him.
The school bell rings, and it echos. The hallways are very unpacked. It feels vastly empty, you can hear the sound of footsteps ringing through the halls - there aren't many students today. However, Enid does feel quite disturbed nonetheless. The reporters no longer crowd on the outside of the police station, but now the school where two victims attended and where the-maybe-killer also attends.
Enid walks down the hall, heading down to the next class. She stops halfway through, there’s a familiar face, Carl. She gives a small wave and walks towards him, “Hi”, she greeted, soft voice. She notices his hair is more knotted than usual. “Rough night?”, she asks, a humorous question - an attempt to light whatever tension will soon wrap around them.
He chuckles softly, “Yeah. Went to bed at eleven.”, he gave a small smile, “What about you, how’ve you been?”
She shrugs. “I could be better.” a lot better.
He stuffs his hands in his pocket, rocking back on his heels a bit, and shoulders tightening before bringing up some news,“Y’know, Ron’s out.”
She stiffens at the words.“O-oh. I thought he was still- still there. I haven’t seen him today.”, she mutters, glancing around. She turns back to Carl eyebrows in a slight knit, “Is he mad at me?”
“Well, Enid you did technically accuse him of murder”, he says.
She sighs, “Yes, I know, but-”
“He’s not mad. He’s actually here today. He’s just a little insecure, he doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable.” - and here comes the thought she’d thought she pushed away, she shifts uncomfortably at her feet. “Lydia is the one who’s more pissed.”, he nonchalantly comments.
Enid scoffs. She isn’t even surprised anymore. “I can see that. I actually saw her earlier today in the halls, she gave me quite the glare.”, she laughs. She stuffs her hands in her pockets, her position tensing a bit, “Actually, a lot of students have been giving me the side-eye today.”
“Some people...think it was you”, he murmurs.
Her eyes widened, “What?!”, “Why? How? Who- who thinks that?”
Carl puts up his hands defensively, “I heard some girls gossiping about it. It’s just some stupid rumor.” Enid shakes her head annoyingly at the thought. Carl puts a hand on her shoulder, “I wouldn't worry about it”.
“Can’t believe i’m being chased by a murder and people think it’s me.”, she mutters.
There's a still silence. Carl notices Enid’s slight shifting at her feet, and he pulls her in for a hug. “No one’s going to hurt you Enid, I’ll make sure of it.”, he says. Enid sighs, and lets herself rest her chin on his shoulder. She wraps her arms around his waist, giving the smallest squeeze.
“Thanks”, she says, softly.
Glenn takes another sip from his coffee. Black, bitter, but it keeps him awake. Yet, his eyes do droop from time to time. The break room is relatively big, and there’s six other teachers with him in there. Most of them are in silence, but there’s these two relatively young teachers - probably in their early thirties, and he can’t help but eavesdrop on the conversation.
He kinda wishes he hadn't.
“I heard that they say it was a student.”, one whispered.
The other one gasps softly, their hand hovering over their mouth. “God, probably one from an abusive household.”
The other shrugs, “I heard Ron Anderson was arrested, but he was let out. Apparently he tried to kill his girlfriend.”
“Didn’t Ron lose his dad to a murder? Do they think the kid did it?”
“Maybe.”
Glenn frowns at the words. Taking another sip of his coffee, their conversation goes on, and it clearly gets on another teacher's nerves. “Hey girls.” One teacher speaks up - from across the room. “Quit fuckin’ gossiping, what are you twelve?”, he snaps, scratching his grayish mustache.
One of the young teachers glares at him, tilting her head. “Oh, I’m sorry, but don’t you think that the fact that students are being killed is goddam important?!”, she retorted. “Cabrón” - she muttered under her breath.
“Shouldn’t they close the school?”, one asks - her sweet-potato-hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, “They should probably do another interrogation. Maybe. I think the police should patrol the school.”, she adds.
“The murders aren’t happening in the school, genius.” The one one with the gray mustache spat - Simon.
“I heard they said they wouldn’t close the school unless another murder happened. After Sophia. There hasn’t been any.”, Ms. Harrison includes, “So that’s that.”
“Why would closing the school help? They're being murdered out of the school campus, not in.”, Simon retorts again. Scoffing.
“Well, I just think-”
“No one gives a shit.”
Glenn realizes at this moment, it’s time to leave. The conversation begins to become more angered and slowly Glenn sets down his coffee, and leaves the break room. So much for a ‘break’. He huffs in exhaustion, walking down to his classroom, and he sees Tyreese down the hall, who walks up to him.
“I was just going to look for you”, he says, “It’s Maggie. She’s on the phone”, he gestures behind him to his office. Glenn startles at the mention, worried that maybe Maggie might be hurt. He’s quick to head down the hall to Tyreese’s office, and the principal trails behind him. The two enter the office, and Tyreese hands him the phone.
“Maggie?”, he starts, startled, worried, every worse scenario flashes through his head-
“Hey”, she says, voice drowsy, “I was just calling to tell you, I'm at the doctors.”
A slight pressure fades from his shoulder. However, he’s still worried. “Are you alright? What’s wrong?”, he questions.
She sighs, “My head was just hurting more than usual, the pills Dr. Carson didn't help much, so, just to let you know.”, she murmured into the phone.
“No, no. It’s fine. Did you go all the way to Atlanta?”
“Yeah. But I'm fine, I just might be here for a while.”
“Ok, are you sure you don’t want me to go-”
She counters, “No, no, you have to watch over Enid.”
“Ok, ok. Call me if anything happens.”
“I will.”
Glenn hears the school bell ring throughout the school - lunch . “Take care, love you.”
“Love you too”, she says.
The phone hangs up.
“You broke his heart. Branded him the fuckin candyman.”, she said blankly. Lydia with arms swung around Enid’s neck despite her complaint to stop. She has an annoyed look painted on her face, her eyes droop in a tauntingly yet irritatingly drip. It makes Enid slightly jerk her shoulder, but Lydia doesn’t budge.
“I didn’t mean it.”, Enid said, turning to Lydia brows in a furrow. “So just drop it, all right ?” - she jerked her shoulder again.
“No, no, c’mon admit it, you-”
“Lydia, she told you to knock it off.”, Carl abruptly startles both of them, coming from behind them and yanking Lydia's arm off of Enid. “Jeez, can’t you fuckin listen?”, he grumbled, glaring at her and his hand having a harsh grasp on Lydia’s wrist.
“Please, you can’t possibly be defending her.”, she scoffs, “Even you think Ron didn’t do it-”
“Yeah, Enid made a mistake, you’d be scared too if a killer was on the loose, and fuckin after you.”, he retorts.
The both scowl at each other, Enid stepping back feeling a tension grow between them, so strong you’d could cut it. She glances around seeing some students turn their way and she feels herself shrink at the judging looks. Lydia and Carl don’t bat an eye at this, and Enid can even see Carl’s grip tightening on Lydia seeing her wrist grow red.
“Hey”. They all blink out of the situation, Carl letting go, and Lydia taking a hold of her wrist to massage the red part. It’s Henry. “What’s up?” - oblivious. As always.
“Hey, Henry-”
There’s screaming heard from down the hall, and Enid jumps, echoing behind it laughter. A student in a ghostface costume comes running down the hall waving their hands erratically and even goes so far to come close to Enid and she abruptly steps back and collides with the locker door behind her. There’s only laughter from other students, Henry breaks out snickering along with other students and hearing the joy sound in contrast to Enid’s terrified face Lydia turns to her, a sick grin spread across her face teasing, “Deja vu?”, she sneered.
Enid swallows the anger bubbling- “I’m going to go.”, she croaks out.
She hears Carl call after her, but she only picks up her speed and heads out the door to go outside - she needs some air.
It’s October, a harsh breeze every once in a while, with the colored leaves scraping against the concrete. It’s only around two-fifteen pm, and the day looks darker than it’s supposed to. There’s also a slight rumbling, thunder, but no rain. You’d think that the commotion of the people outside the school would vanish, but it seems as though its grown larger.
Enid finishes grabbing her books, while anything else goes in her locker. She still hears slight whispers and murmurs around her, it’s like when anyone passes by her then suddenly hush. Like she’s some sort of animal that you have to be quiet around, it’s fucking ridiculous and she bites the side of her cheek every time she sees someone do it.
She sets one more book in her locker when she hears another whisper and she swore she heard her name and Ron’s thrown in the sentence. She could vividly feel her lip quiver and she let some of her anger out by slamming her locker close, and storming down the hall before she could see any shocked faces.
‘Students!’
The intercom comes on, it’s the principal. His voice echoing through the halls and everyone freezes.
‘Due to some students acting inappropriately.’ - Enid hears some classmates snickering, and giggling at this remark - ‘And for the safety of everyone, until the killer is arrested, school will be closed until further notice.’ There’s happy gasps, and students cheer almost completely ignoring the fact of why the school is being closed down. She shakes her head at this, glancing to the window and seeing outside the amount of reporters there are. She sighs, and instead of leaving to the front door, she decides to leave from the back.
She exits the building, walking down the stairs. She accidentally trips over her foot, and while she doesn't fall one of her books falls out of her bag. She crouches to pick it up when she hears a voice from behind her. “A lot more quiet out here.”, Enid jumps at the voice, spinning around, and eyes go wide.
“Jesus, Carl, you scared me!”, she says, earning a chuckle from the blue-eyed teen.
“Wasn’t my intention”, he apologized. “Most kids left from the front, guess some actually want the attention you seem so desperate to get away from”, he comments.
“Trust me, it’s no glory.”, she scoffs, pushing her hair behind her ear.
He looks around,“Where’s Glenn?”, he asks.
“He parks at the front”, she says, - “I’m gonna walk around the building”, she explains.
“Technically no point from leaving the back if you’re just going to walk to the front anyways.”, he says, shrugging.
“Well- I-”, she stutters through words, “I’m just going back inside to find Glenn.”, she huffs, walking back in the school, and Carl follows behind.
“What are you going to be doing since school’s basically out now?”, Carl asked, closing the door behind them.
She turns to him, a slight frown on the face, “School going out, and school shutting down because of murders, are not the same thing.”, she says.
“Well no homework. Same thing to me.”, he jokes, and Enid can’t help but laugh slightly at the comment.
“Hey look, finally got you to smile.”, he laughs, playfully colliding his shoulder with hers.
A slight shade of red blooms on her face, she smiles.
“You guys see all the people outside?!” An excited voice comments, coming in between Carl and Enid. “If I hadn’t known any better I’d think it would be because they were handing out pizza or somethin’.”
“Hey, Henry.”, Enid greets, “Lydia not with you?”, she asked, though uncaringness and sarcasm dripped from her voice.
Henry didn’t seem to realize,“Nah, she had to go because of work”, he replies.
He starts again, leaning his head to Enid,“Anyways...speaking of pizza..you busy, Enid?”
“No, not really. Why?”, she asks.
“I’m planning on a party”, he says, “Already like twenty people, they all said yes, you going?”
“Isn’t that a little unsafe?”, she advised,“You know with everything that’s been going on.”, she muttered.
“Nope”, he chirps, a slight pop at the end of the word. “This is a way to help everyone relax. And we don’t have any school until they catch the guy.”
“I don’t know, Henry.”, she shrugs.
“C’mon Carl’s going!”, Henry whines, basically draping himself over Enid.
Enid snaps to Carl, “You are? Your dad let you?”, she scoffs.
“Why not? It’s going to be crowded. Killers won’t usually go where there’s lots of people.”, Carl mentioned, “Plus I can easily call my dad if anything does happen.”
Enid still is uncertain of her decision. “Where are your parents going to be?”, she asks, turning back to the blonde.
“Oh, they left on a business trip, like yesterday.”, he says, letting his arms drop from Enid’s figure.
“They left you alone?!”, she gasps.
“I can take care of myself!”, he counters, “If some killer comes, I have a hockey stick, I'll beat the shit out of them.”, he grins, fake punching the air, as to show off his strength. “You have nothing to worry about, Enid.”
She still shrugs, “I don’t think Glenn will let me.”, she states.
Carl mutters, “They’re not your parents.”
“C’mon you need to relax most of all.” Henry adds.
Henry continues to add, the three walking down the hall to Glenn’s classroom. Before Enid opens the door, Henry takes her arm, “At least ask”, he says, pouting his lip like a child.
“Henry, he won’t.”
Henry gives a sad look, but nods nonetheless. Carl however, speaks up, as nonchalantly as ever, but knowing damn well what would happen, “Henry could ask for you.”, he shrugs.
Enid turns the knob of the door, waving her hand at the dismissively, “Oh, that won’t be necessarily-”
“I can though!”
“No, it’s fine, really, I-”
Henry ignores Enid’s rambling, basically throwing the door open to reveal Glenn, who's packing up his stuff. “Hey! Uh- Mr. Rhee!” the teen calls, grabbing Glenn’s attention.
Glenn pauses, and turns to the trio. “Yes?”, he asks.
Henry enters the room. “Do you think it’d be fine if Enid came by to a party I'm having?”, he questions, hands behind his back and slightly rocking back and forth on his heels.
Glenn’s head tilts, “A party?”, he questions.
“Yeah.”
“Henry, do you think that’s safe?”
“I have a hockey stick, a working phone, and the sheriff's son, I think I’m safe.”, Henry lists.
“Well - I.”, Glenn stutters. Before taking a look at Enid and sighing, “Actually that’d be fine.”
Enid’s brows quirk up at this. “Really?”
“Yeah, Maggie hasn’t been feeling really well, she actually went back to the hospital.”, Glenn says, going back to putting his things in his suitcase.
“Is she alright?”, Enid asks, stepping forward.
“Yeah, but, I’m going to go check on her, she hasn’t called, so I’m a little worried. So I think it’d be good, if you were somewhere where there’s company.”, he says.
“Great!”, Henry cheers, “She’ll be safe with me, don’t worry about it!”, he smiles.
“Yeah, that’s fine.” Glenn says, “Be safe, alright.”, he says though this time facing Enid.
“Got it.”, she answers.
“Don’t drink too much.”, Glenn advises. The three nod at this. The teacher closes his suitcase, leaving his classroom and waving a goodbye before heading off.
“Sweet.”, Henry grins, he locks his arm with Enid, “Now all we need is to gather some movies and food.”
“Sounds like a plan.”, Enid smiles.
“Carl, you’ll be in-charge of the movies.”, he says, “Me and Enid will get the food.”
“Sure”, Carl says, heading towards the door, the two trailing behind him. He turns to Enid on their way down the hall, “We’ll leave through the back so you don’t have to deal with the reporters.”
Enid and Henry parted from Carl along the way, heading to a nearby store to grab some food. Carl was left walking down the street the video store where Lydia worked at, Henry had given him a quick nudge at the shoulder telling him to not pick such gory movies because of Enid’s mental state at the moment. The brown-haired teen enters the store and his eyebrows raise at the unexpected amount of people in the store, most lingering by the horror section. He scoffs at the sight, shoving his hands in his jean pockets and making his way down the ‘action movie’ aisle.
He skims through the section, fingers lightly brushing the spine of the boxes. He picks one movie, ‘Point Break’. He then looks up, feeling eyes gaze on him. As he looks up he meets Lydia’s grin. “Hey stranger”, she greets, dropping videos on the shelves in front of her. She leans closer, “Whaddya doing?”, she asks, peering forward to see the movie he grabbed.
“Henry’s having a party, I’m picking out movies. He and Enid went to get food.”, he says, grabbing another movie, ‘Desperado’. Lydia’s face scrunches up at his choices.
“Jee, you purposely picking out all the shit movies?”, she laughs.
He throws her look, which only causes her smile to grow. “This place is packed”, Carl comments, changing the subject, and looking around the store.
“Yeah”, Lydia says, “We had a run in at the mass murder section.”, she adds. She goes back to reshelving before scoffing.
“What?”, Carl asks.
“I just realized why one of our movies sold out.”, she gestures behind her, “There’s a movie we have called, ‘No One Would Tell’. It's based on a true story actually. And guess what? No one ever checks the movie out, but now? Shit the things fucking out.”, she says, “And you know why? Because the movie is about a boyfriend who kills his girlfriend. Gee what a coincidence.”, she remarks, shoving a video back on its shelf. Carl simply hums in response to her rant. “Ron can’t get a goddamn break”, she muttered.
“Why do you think the killer is?”, he asks. Lydia abruptly stops her actions, and looks at him with slight shock. He shrugs, voice dropping to a whisper and leans closer to Lydia so no-one else would hear, “Well, you don’t think it’s Ron. Who then?”
Lydia shakes her head, “I don’t know.”, she then pauses, “You know what I think is weird, that Enid’s dad hasn’t come back. I mean what kind of an ass parent leaves their kid alone in a situation like this?”, she rhetorically comments. Carl simply shrugs, and Lydia decides to flip the question, leaning forward to Carl, “Who do you think it is?”
Carl then pauses, looks at his hand as if he was deep in thought. “Glenn.”, he simply says.
“What? No. That guy probably couldn’t hurt a fly.”, she counters. “Why would he want to kill Pete?”
“Who wouldn’t?”
Lydia snorts at this, “Bro, maybe Maggie was having an affair with him.”
Carl's face scrunches up at that, “I’d think she would try to aim for someone one higher, not lower.”
Lydia chuckles at the comment. “Are you only going to be taking those movies?”, she asks, still slightly laughing.
“Eh, probably. Henry’s already got like fifty movies, I don’t know why he sent me to get more.”
“Well, can you also take this one?”, Lydia hands Carl a video.
He takes the movie in his hand, flipping it over to see the cover, “Black Christmas? Really? This might bother Enid, cause y’know, the calls.”
“Oh, who cares, I love that movie.”, she says, “Only part that sucked is never finding out who the killer is.”
Carl tilts his head at this, “That’s actually what I like about this movie.”, he comments.
“Really? It always bothered me that you never know if Jess dies or not.”
“It’s supposed to be one of those ‘open to audience interpretation’ endings.”, Carl says.
“Ya like those?”
“I like how the killer wasn’t Peter-”
“Again! The boyfriend always splayed as the killer!”, Lydia points out.
Carl grins, “Well, that's the great twist, it wasn’t Peter. It was someone else entirely.”