Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Okay class, please read chapters ten through twelve. We’ll be reviewing runway makeup styles on Thursday. Goodbye!”

That wonderful word, ‘goodbye’, alerted the Makeup Artistry class of Everlock University that finally, finally, they could go eat lunch. Dozens of students poured out the doors, eager to fill their stomachs with the food from the fairgrounds that were still being set up. They had been assured that this weekend the fair would be up and running.

Only one student held back. She made a beeline for Ms. Alison’s, her teacher’s, desk. “Hey Safiya,” said Ms. Alison. “What’s up? Ms. Alison was a cool teacher who dressed in a gothic style and owned hundreds of pictures of bats. Safiya Nygaard liked her because they related on the topic of being a ‘poser-goth’ (or, ‘Diet Goth’ as her best friend, Matthew Patrick, often called her).

“I wrote that extra-credit report on the history of lipstick,” said Safiya, handing over the comprehensive twenty-page essay she had worked for three days on.

Ms. Alison laughed aloud. “Safiya! You’ve already been the class valedictorian for two years. You have perfect grades. Why do extra credit?”

“I’m trying to be the first student to every get an A plus plus,” Safiya sassed, teasingly.

Ms. Alison playfully rolled her eyes and took the comically large stack of papers from Safiya. She would never say it aloud, but Safiya certainly was her favorite student. Then again, she was everyone’s favorite student. It was popular knowledge that Safiya Nygaard was basically a genius. “I’ll have this monster read and graded by Friday,” said Ms. Alison, with a resigned sigh. “You can go now.”

Safiya nodded, and took off out the door.

Xxx

Safiya stood outside the Performing Arts building, knowing it let out later than Makeup Artistry. It was here that Safiya had planned to meet up with her boyfriend, Tyler Williams, and her best friends Matthew Patrick, Stephanie Cordato, Freddie Ransome, Cristine Rotenberg, and Michelle Khare.

While she was waiting, Safiya decided to work on next week’s homework. She pulled out her journal and began to write: “Runway Styles from the Fifties to Modern Era: by Safiya Nygaard, Date: Monday 10/9/1978…”

“Hey Saf!” squealed a particularly loud voice, hug-tackling her and knocking the journal out of her hand. There was only one person that could be.

“Freddie!” Safiya chuckled. “Jeez! Give a girl a warning next time you try to hug me like that!”

“Do I ever warn you?”

“Really, you don’t.”

“Then I probably won’t anytime soon!” teased Freddie. “Matt and Steph are on their way, I just passed them.”

“Speak of the devil,” teased Safiya, as Matt and Steph walked toward them.

Matt was semi-popular in his own right. Attractive, head of the theater department, straight-A student, possibly smarter than Safiya, and strong, plenty of people wanted to date him. Still, Matt only had eyes for Stephanie.

“Hey Saf,” said Matt. “How was class?”

“Class was fine-oh!”

Safiya was interrupted by her boyfriend showing up out of nowhere and wrapping his arm around her, almost knocking her over again. “What is it with you people today? Did you all just decide to try to knock me over today?”

“Not intentionally, but that would make an interesting new holiday,” said Tyler. Safiya jabbed him in the rib with her elbow, but followed that up with a kiss to his cheek.
“Let’s go get lunch, I’m starving,” said Stephanie.

“What about Michelle and Cristine, I thought we were waiting for them?” asked Freddie.

Matt shrugged. “She knows where we sit.”

It was true, ever since Freshman year two years ago their friend group had sat in the sculpture garden of Everlock University to eat lunch every day. At this point, it was basically tradition.

“Fine, let’s go,” said Freddie. “I heard there’s curly fries in the cafeteria today.” She paused for a long time, before randomly shouting, “Race ya!” and taking off across the quad.

“No fair!” screamed Matt, but sure enough he was up and running immediately. Soon enough they were all racing to catch up with Freddie, because goddammit if she got to the cafeteria first the curly fries would all be gone by the time they arrived.

Xxx

The group assembled in the sculpture garden, each with their own dish of curly fries, Safiya leaning against Tyler and Stephanie leaning against Matt. Cristine was doing her nails, as always there was a crazy new pattern on them, while Freddie was cracking jokes to Michelle. “Hey Saf,” Matt said. “Did you ever post those roommate fliers?”

“Damn it, I forgot to copy those!” groaned Safiya. Safiya shared a room with Tyler and Matt shared a room with Stephanie in a little apartment they had rented in September, but low and behold October brought new visitors to Everlock and as a result the rent was mounting. They needed to fill the one remaining room in their apartment. Safiya turned to Freddie, Cristine, and Michelle. “Tell me again why none of you will move in?”

“You think I want to live in y’all’s little bachelor pad?” asked Freddie. “Nuh-uh, I don’t want the sound of bedsprings keeping me up all night.”

“Freddie!” gasped Safiya. Freddie was known for her shocking comments, but sometimes they still surprised Safiya.

“Besides, I’ve already got an apartment with Ben,” said Cristine. “And Michelle’s classes are by the Science hall. That must be three miles from your apartment!”

“True,” groaned Safiya. “I’m just freaking out a little. Whoever moves in with us is going to become a part of our friend group and…ugh, this may sound so ‘high school’ of me but we’ve been friends for, like, forever, and a new addition to the group is probably gonna be awkward!”

“Well, then let’s try to narrow down your roommate options,” said Cristine. “None of the fraternity or sorority people are on the table, so that narrows it down.”

“No regrets on that end,” groaned Safiya. Safiya and Matt had never been fond of the popular people in the sorority and fraternity houses who still seemed to think free love was wrong and segregation should be an option. It was 1978, get with the times!

“The closest buildings to your dorm are the makeup department, theater, cooking classes, and school of journalism, so you can assume that your roommate will come from one of those departments,” added Michelle. Safiya and Matt had picked their dorm because it was near their makeup and theater majors respectively, as well as their minors in investigative journalism and detective work.

Freddie shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. You’re having a party Friday night, right? I’m sure you’ll meet some potential roommates then.”

“It’s not a party!” insisted Safiya. “It’s a…uh…a small social event.”

“If there’s music, food, cute boys, and booze, then it’s a party,” Freddie sassed.

“Who said anything about alcohol?” asked Matt.

“Uh-huh, sure,” said Freddie. “Invite half the Junior class to your apartment and don’t expect that anyone will bring beer. You’re lucky if a keg doesn’t show up!”

Safiya, Tyler, Matt, and Steph exchanged nervous looks.

Cristine looked at her watch and sighed. “Damn it, class starts in five minutes.” Cristine also had Makeup Artistry as a class, but much to Safiya and Cristine’s disappointment, they didn’t have class together. “I hope Ms. Alison likes my nail art portfolio.”

“She’ll love it,” insisted Michelle.

“See ya later, Cristine!” shouted Safiya, as Cristine took off toward her class with Ben by her side.

“We should probably get going too,” said Michelle, as she and Freddie stood up. “Let’s meet up later tonight, though. You guys don’t have any other classes today, right? We should have a game night.”

Matt had found a box television set at some dude’s garage sale for cheap because it was apparently ‘broken and unfixable’. Three hours spent with Matt’s techie friend, Justine Ezarik, however, left the television good as new. After that, Stephanie and Matt saved up their money for an Atari – which basically left the apartment without appliances for two weeks – because it was ‘absolutely necessary’. Safiya and Tyler never complained though, because theirs was the only apartment with a television and video game set that wasn’t bought by rich parents.

“Sounds good!” said Matt. “See ya then!”

Xxx

Not long after their friends had left, Matt, Safiya, Stephanie, and Tyler decided to return to their apartment. While they were walking, Matt suddenly stopped and gasped. “Wait!”

“What?!” asked Stephanie, concerned over her boyfriend.

“The cooking class is baking cookies today! I just remembered!”

“Are you serious?!” snapped Stephanie, who had thought something was wrong.

“Dead serious,” said Matt. “Their class ended about an hour ago. We should stop by and see if there are any leftovers!”

Before Stephanie could blow up at Matt for scaring her half to death only moments earlier because cookies, Safiya interjected. “Sounds good to me. I’m on my period and honestly anything sweet sounds like heaven.”

Some of the other students thought Safiya was weird because she, first of all, had male roommates, and second of all, told them about her period. Safiya was too progressive for that crap about not telling boys about girl stuff, though, plus it really didn’t bother Matt and Tyler. Not to mention, at this point, her and Stephanie’s periods basically synched up (which likely explained Stephanie’s short temper).

“Then it’s settled,” stated Tyler. “Let’s go!”

Xxx

“Ugh, my contacts are killing me!” groaned Safiya as they walked down the third floor of the cooking class’ hall. They passed a bathroom, and Safiya sighed. “I’ve gotta take them out.”

“Did you bring your aviators?” asked Tyler. The fact that Safiya dressed all gothic but still insisted on wearing aviator glasses or no glasses at all was one of the many reasons Matt called her a ‘Diet Goth’.

“No…” muttered Safiya, and then in a more pleading tone. “Guide me?”

“Sure,” chuckled Tyler.

Once Safiya had left the bathroom – barely able to tell left from right – Tyler took her arm and led her toward the main cooking classroom. He opened the door, revealing that despite the fact that the class was over, the light was still on in the room.

“Crap,” muttered Stephanie. “We’re probably not supposed to be here.”

Still, the only notable figure in the room, beside themselves, was a small girl around their age. Safiya couldn’t tell that without her glasses though. “Hey kid, are you Mr. Johnson’s daughter?” called Safiya. She was pretty sure Mr. Johnson was head of the cooking department.

The girl whirled around in surprise, clearly they had taken her by surprise. Still, the girl laughed. “No, I’m a student here too.”

“How’s that possible? How old are you?” asked Safiya. Her main guess was roughly twelve years old. Tyler covered Safiya’s mouth before she could stick her foot further down it.
The girl gave her a confused look, and mouthed to Matt ‘is she blind’?

Matt chuckled. “No glasses.”

“Oh!” said the girl. “In that case, I’m twenty, like you guys, I assume. I’m just the same height as the average twelve-year-old.” She chuckled, as though that was funny to her, and not unfortunate.

“Oh,” said Safiya, turning bright red. “Sorry…”

The girl waved her hand dismissively. “Meh, don’t worry. Common mistake.”

“My name’s Safiya, by the way,” said Safiya. “What’s yours?”

The girl beamed. “I’m Rosanna!”

“Well, I’m Matt,” said Matt. “This is my girlfriend, Stephanie, and this is Safiya’s boyfriend, Tyler.”

“Hey!” they both said.

“Anyway, we came here because we wanted to see if there were any leftover cookies from last class,” said Matt.

Rosanna thought about it. “Hmm…I don’t believe there are any leftover cookies…” A heartbroken expression passed Matt’s face. Then, the oven dinged. Rosanna opened it. “…But there are some fresh bakes ones! You’re welcome to take some.”

She didn’t have to tell Matt twice. He had already shoveled two cookies into his mouth by the time she’d finished her sentence. Safiya rolled her eyes. “Boys never stop eating.” Still, she had taken more than one cookie, herself.

Matt’s eyes widened. “There are amazing! You’re, like, a master chef.”

Rosanna blushed. “Aww, you don’t have to say that…”

“No, seriously! These are great!” exclaimed Stephanie.

Rosanna grinned. “Thanks! Sometimes I stay after class to do some extra baking. You know, for fun!”

To anyone else, this may have seemed like something normal to say. But Safiya’s journalistic brain caught onto the hidden meaning. “Why? Don’t you have friends to hang out with?”
“Safiya!” gasped Stephanie, smacking Saf in the arm.

“No, it’s okay,” said Rosanna. “My best friend is Justine Ezarik, but she works a lot on tech projects so we don’t get to hang out much. I know some other students, but they all get busy, you know?”

“I know Justine,” said Matt. “She fixed the television in our apartment.”

Rosanna chuckled. “And knowing her, she didn’t charge you for it, right?”

“Come to think of it, she didn’t,” said Matt.

“Yeah, tech projects are as fun for her as baking is for me,” said Rosanna.

“It’s cool that you found something you’re so passionate about,” said Tyler. “That’s like Matt and theater, or Saf and her endless supply of makeup.”

“Where do you live, anyway?” asked Safiya. She was still hung up on the fact that Rosanna only talked about Justine as her ‘best friend’, as though when Justine wasn’t around she didn’t have anyone else to hang out with. Safiya didn’t know about her, but when Matt, Tyler, and Steph were busy, there was always someone around for Saf to hang out with.
“Oh…uh…I live in a sorority. Sigma Alpha Beta,” said Rosanna, hesitantly.

“Seriously? Sorority girls are assholes,” said Safiya, without thinking. She quickly slapped a hand over her mouth. “I mean, no offense.” It wasn’t that Safiya thought all Greek life people were devil-spawn, it was just that at Everlock University, there was a very lenient policy regarding Greek behavior and few checks to ensure that proper behavior was being upheld. As a result, sorority and fraternity buildings were the sites of blackout-drunkenness, fights, and sometimes even strange rituals. Half the sororities were just glorified brothels.

Rosanna sighed. “None taken. I don’t think a lot of the sorority girls like me, anyway…”

Once again, speak of the devil and he shall appear. Two girls, one blonde and one brunette, both skinny, tan, and with flawless facial features, showed up at the door. “Hey Ro!” shouted the blonde one. “Where the hell have you been? Jessica is holding a sorority meeting in ten minutes!”

Safiya couldn’t help but notice that Rosanna literally jumped when the girl started speaking. “S-sorry! I’ll be there in just a minute!”

“Okay,” said the brunette. “See ya then, short-stack!” The two girls walked away, snickering, while Rosanna rolled her eyes.

“Gee, those girls have…interesting personalities,” said Stephanie, hesitantly.

“Yeah, did the brunette one offend you?” asked Matt, gently.

“N-no, it’s just an…inside joke! Yeah, she didn’t mean anything by it,” said Rosanna, very quickly. “Anyway, I should be going, bye!”

Rosanna sprinted toward the door surprisingly quickly, as though she was genuinely afraid to be late. Still, before she could leave, Safiya called out. “Hey, later tonight some of our friends are coming over for a game night. Maybe after the sorority meeting you could…join us? If you want?”

Rosanna flashed a hesitant smile at the group. “Sure, that sounds fun. I’ll ask Jessica if that’s okay.”

And then she was gone, and they could hear her running down the hall. Tyler, Matt, and Stephanie exchanged confused looks, but one thought lingered in Safiya’s head.

'Why the hell does Rosanna have to ask some girl about how she can spend her free time?'

Chapter Text

The precise amount of clutter in Matt, Safiya, Tyler, and Stephanie’s apartment never ceased to amaze their guests. Matt and Stephanie were like pack-rats: they had the most random collection of toy cars, stuffed animals, weird collectables, and thrift store crap anyone had ever seen. Most noteworthy was a stuffed yellow Peeps bunny, a stuffed llama called ‘Drama Llama’, a pink pony called ‘Blanche’, and two potted plants called the Safety and Sexual Topiaries. The closets were filled with not just every-day clothes, but also Safiya’s collection of ugly clothing and mountains of makeup. The television set was cluttered with piles of VHS tapes either owned by the group or never returned to Blockbuster. Currently, Safiya’s massive collection of ‘Addams’ Family’ VHS’s were on full display, as it was October and Safiya tended to watch them every day. The last time Stephanie had interrupted her, Safiya had literally hissed at her. The only apartment messier than theirs, according to Freddie, was Shane and Ryland’s, and that wasn’t exactly an achievement.

They still had no idea why it was so hard to find a roommate.

“Do you think we should clean up a little?” asked Stephanie, once the group had returned from the cooking department.

“What do you mean?” asked Matt. “I think the place looks nice.”

“I mean, the couch should probably at least be semi-visible,” suggested Stephanie. “Especially if that’s where we’re gonna play video games.”

Matt walked over to the couch and pushed all the random crap on it onto the floor. He then stepped out with his arms outstretched and proudly proclaimed. “Problem solved!”

Stephanie sighed, shaking her head, but also giggling.

“At least the place doesn’t smell bad,” offered Safiya.

“I think we can attribute that to your mountain of scented chap sticks,” teased Tyler.

“How about this,” suggested Stephanie. “I’m going to order some pizzas and sodas for when the guests arrive. While I do that, Safiya, clean up the VHS tapes. Tyler and Matt, clean up the couch. People are going to start arriving any minute now!”

Xxx

Safiya, Matt, Tyler, and Stephanie managed to clean up a decent amount of the mess by the time the first guest arrived.

Freddie burst open the door without knocking and cheered. “Who’s ready to get their game on?”

Safiya and Stephanie hugged Freddie while Tyler and Matt high-fived her. Following behind Freddie was Michelle.

“Hey guys!” cheered Michelle, holding up a large bag. “Who wants popcorn?”

“You brought food?” asked Tyler. “That’s it, you’re officially invited to every game night.”

Everyone started to laugh just as Cristine and Ben arrived. “I enter a room, and everyone immediately starts laughing,” stated Cristine. “It seems my comedy career has finally taken off!”

Unexpectedly, four more guests arrived soon after. Colleen Ballinger entered beside her boyfriend Erik, sister Rachel, and best friend Kory. “What up, party people?! I heard about a game night and decided to make my entrance,” Colleen dramatically stated. “Followed by my entourage, of course.”

Rachel gave Colleen a Wet-Willy without hesitation. “Shut up, if anything you’re a part of my entourage.”

The sisters started mock-fighting, as Stephanie chuckled. “Come on in, there’s enough pizza for everyone!”

Freddie, Michelle, Cristine, Rachel, and Colleen immediately started chatting and eating snacks while Kory, Erik, and Ben debated between which of the limited video game options they should play tonight. Still, despite the positive atmosphere, Safiya, Matt, Tyler, and Stephanie were hesitant to crack open a Coke and play some rounds of Lunar Lander.

Safiya and Matt kept exchanging looks, wondering if Rosanna was going to show up. They really hoped she would, particularly because they both had their own suspicions about the intentions of her sorority leader.

Safiya walked over to Matt and whispered. “Sigma Alpha Beta isn’t far…do you think I should…maybe…run down there and see what’s going on?”

Matt shook his head. “We don’t exactly have the best history with the Greek people. If they don’t want Rosanna to hang out with us, going down there would probably cause more harm than good.”

Safiya nodded, although with great reluctance. “Yeah, you’re probably right…but what if-“

Before she could finish her sentence, the door opened and a small figure stepped in. “Hi!” chirped Rosanna, looking like she felt a little out of place amongst Safiya and Matt’s close friends. “Sorry I’m late, I got a little lost.” Rosanna hung up her bright green coat and stepped through the threshold.

Safiya’s anxious look melted into a smile. “No sweat. It’s not like we told you when to show up, anyway.” All her friends knew to show up around seven o’ clock, so Safiya hadn’t thought to mention that to Rosanna.

Matt gestured to each person in the room as he introduced her. “This is Freddie, Michelle, Cristine, Ben, Colleen, Rachel, Kory, and Erik. Everyone, meet Rosanna.”

Their friends all waved back and some even chorused. “Hey Rosanna!” and “What’s up?”

To break up some of the awkward tension in the room, Colleen jumped up with ‘Missile Attack’ in hand. “Matt, I’m going to crush you!”

“Oh, in your dreams!” Matt declared, accepting the challenge.

Everyone crowded around the couch as Matt inserted ‘Missile Attack’ into the Atari and prepared to take on Colleen. However, when he turned on the Atari, nothing happened. “Wait, what?!” gasped Matt, in visible distress. “This was working just yesterday!”

Matt jiggled one of the four Joysticks. Nothing happened. Ben checked to make sure the Atari was plugged in while Kory sorted through the television cables to make sure there wasn’t a wiring problem.

“Hate to break it to you, but the problem isn’t the cables. Your Atari’s broken,” stated Kory.

“Crap, no!” moaned Matt, as though it was the end of the world.

Safiya immediately started to think up solutions. “We could go to the arcade?” suggested Safiya.

“It’s almost seven-thirty,” said Colleen. “The arcade will be closing in half an hour.”

“Is the Divine Lounge still open?” asked Safiya. The Divine Lounge was a student lounge in the main hall that had air hockey and pool tables.

Colleen shook her head. “That closes at eight, too.”

“Damn it,” muttered Safiya.

“Ooh! I’ve got an idea!” shouted Rosanna. “Do you guys have board games?”

“Um…yes?” said Safiya, unsure of where Rosanna was going. Just about everyone had board games in their apartment. Didn’t mean that they’d been touched since 1971, though.
“Great! Take me to them,” said Rosanna, in a humorously commanding voice.

Safiya lead Rosanna to a closet that had some games in it, while Rosanna chattered on the whole time. “I love board games. My sister, Molly, and I used to play them all the time! They’re tons of fun to play with friends. So, what’ve you got here…?”

Rosanna sifted through the board games while Safiya tried not to laugh at Rosanna’s incessant chatter and the pure, unrestrained energy that seemed to pour out of the girl.
“Monopoly is a fun one but it’s kind of an acquired taste and it takes a long time so maybe not…Life’s also a fun game that takes a long time but it’s a lot less competitive than Monopoly…Scrabble’s a good one but only two to four people can play at a time and it’s not very fun for people who are bad at English…Sorry could be fun, too, but it looks like some of the game pieces are missing…”

Freddie gave Safiya a confused but totally amused look and mouthed. ‘Is she for real?’

Safiya covered her mouth to muffle her laughter, then mouthed back. ‘Hard to believe, but I think so.’

“Wait! I think I found the perfect game!” Rosanna held up a game box triumphantly. “’Trouble’. It’s super fun, and there’s a big dome on the inside that scrambles the dice whenever you push on it! Who wants to play?!”

Everyone agreed, more because of Rosanna’s enthusiasm than any actual interest in the game. Rosanna beamed as she carried the game to the kitchen table.

Xxx

The group was on their fourth round of ‘Trouble’, and things were getting super competitive. The boys had totally forgotten about winning and were just trying to make each other lose. Whenever anyone was set back, they would cry out dramatically as if their dog had just died. Rosanna in particular cheered hysterically whenever someone did well, and would cry ‘oh-no!’ after any set-backs. It seemed to matter less to her whether or not she was winning as long as everyone was having a good time.

Safiya was having a great time and was beginning to wonder why she hadn’t played board games with her friends in the past. Then again, she could’ve just been happy because she’d won the last three games.

When the final round of ‘Trouble’ was over, everyone sat back, exhausted from screaming at the tops of their lungs and jumping out of chairs to celebrate. Stephanie suggested. “How about we watch a movie? Matt and I rented ‘Jaws’ from Blockbuster three days ago.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Colleen. “I haven’t seen it yet.”

“I’m game,” said Cristine. “Ben took me to the theater to see it on opening night, but that was like three years ago.”

Michelle sighed. “I’d love to, but it’s getting dark and I have to bike back to my dorm.”

“Same,” said Freddie. “Don’t wanna be out when the creepers are creeping, am I right? Maybe I’ll watch with you guys some other time.”

“What about you, Rosanna?” asked Safiya, as Michelle and Freddie headed out to get their bikes. “If it gets dark, someone could walk you back to your sorority. It isn’t too far, right?”

“It’s already eight. By the time the movie ends, it’ll be, like, ten. The sorority leaders don’t like it when girls get back late,” muttered Rosanna.

Safiya had the distinct feeling that by ‘girls’, Rosanna was only referring to herself. “Well, what if you spent the night?” suggested Safiya.

Rosanna adamantly shook her head, her eyes still nailed to the ground. “No…I should really be getting back…”

At this point, all the joyful and exciting energy had drained from the room, as Cristine, Rachel, and Colleen exchanged worried and confused looks.

“Okay,” said Matt, with a fake smile on his face. “I’ll walk you back to the sorority, then.”

At that, Rosanna’s head snapped up to make frantic eye contact with Matt, and she shook her head fiercely. “No. I’m fine. I can walk back alone.”

“No. No way,” said Matt, firmly. It wasn’t pitch black out, but it was dark enough. Rosanna was a small girl, and she would have to pass fraternities to get back to her sorority. Matt wasn’t going to let her take those kinds of chances on his watch. “I’m going with you.”

Rosanna sighed, resignedly. “Okay…let’s go…”

Rosanna and Matt left. Safiya couldn’t help but notice that Rosanna’s posture was very stiff.

“The hell was that all about?” asked Colleen, as soon as the door shut.

“I have no idea,” said Safiya. “But I swear to god I’m going to find out.”

Xxx

Matt and Rosanna walked down the road dedicated to sororities and fraternities in an awkward silence. Safiya was right, the sorority houses really weren’t far at all. Matt decided to use that as a conversation starter.

“So…” he muttered, trying and failing to figure out what to say. “It must be nice to have friends living so close.”

“Yeah, it’s nice to have friends.” Rosanna didn’t even seem to be paying attention to him, lost in her own little world.

“I feel bad for Michelle, she literally lives three miles away from everyone she knows…”

Matt trailed off. This was not working.

“So, Rosanna…”

“Ro. I mean, you can call me Ro. That’s what my friends and sister call me,” said Rosanna.

Matt smiled. “So Ro…how’s Greek life?”

“Not great, but not terrible. It’s cheap housing, which is nice,” said Ro.

“Is that the only reason you’re a sorority girl, because it’s inexpensive?” asked Matt. “I mean, do you like the charity…sisterhood…?”

“Oh, charity’s great,” said Ro. “I mean, half the girls lie about doing it, but I love baking for children and old people. It’s nice to know you’re brightening someone’s day.”

Ro smiled, as though in that moment she was thinking about a past charity experience. It amazed Matt how happy Ro could become just by making other people happy. “It seems like you’ve got a lot of stories,” said Matt. “You should hang out with us during lunch tomorrow and tell us some.”

Rosanna shook her head. “Everyone always eats lunch in the sorority together. It’s kind of protocol.”

“Oh, that’s nice…” murmured Matt, but Ro wasn’t smiling. “Uh…how long have you been a sorority girl?”

“Since the start of junior year,” said Ro. “So, like, a month. In freshman and sophomore year I lived in campus housing but…well, I guess I don’t need to tell you that juniors and seniors aren’t allowed to live in the dorms.”

Suddenly, Ro looked around as if aware of her surroundings. “Oh, we’re here! You can go back now.”

Matt looked at her, confused. “Sigma Alpha Beta is a block away.”

“Oh, I know,” said Ro, quickly. “But it’s better if I go there alone. You know…uh…some girls don’t like it when guys show up at sororities, it’s like an invasion of privacy…or something…” Ro trailed off. “Well, bye!”

Ro took off running, leaving Matt standing there in utter confusion. Boys were literally streaming out of all the sororities. Half the time, he could hear the moaning from all the way in his bedroom!

Matt didn’t want to question Ro, but he couldn’t help but wonder. ‘What is she hiding?’

Xxx

Matt returned to his apartment to find Safiya, Stephanie, Tyler, Colleen, Rachel, Erik, Kory, Cristine, and Ben all watching ‘Jaws’, though none of them looked particularly at ease. Matt walked over to the couch and tapped Safiya’s shoulder. “Hey, Saf, can I talk to you?” he whispered.

Safiya nodded and carefully stepped away from the group. They headed into the empty bedroom for some privacy.

“I took Ro – oh, by the way, Rosanna said we could call her Ro,” started Matt. “Well anyway, I took her back to the sorority and it was really weird. She really didn’t want me anywhere near the sorority, but I don’t know why. It’s not like guys aren’t there, like, twenty-four-seven.”

“I know, I’ve been getting weird vibes too,” said Safiya. Considering that they both had training in investigative work and facial reading, plus GPA and SAT scores that were off the charts amazing, it wasn’t difficult at all for them to pick up on signs that not even Tyler or Stephanie could notice. “Ro left so quickly that she forgot her coat. You know, the green one? I’m going to take it to her tomorrow.”

“Safiya…” murmured Matt, reluctantly. “I mean…I want answers as much as you do…but we shouldn’t pressure her…”

“No way,” said Safiya. “I’ve been doing investigative work for two years now, Matt, and even an amateur could tell something bad is going on. I’m not going to wait around for something terrible to happen. Tomorrow, I’m going to that sorority, and goddammit I’m getting some answers!”

Chapter Text

Safiya woke up bright and early, ready to put her investigative reporter skills to the test. She even decided that instead of wearing her typical all-black attire, she would don her second-favorite investigative reporter outfit, consisting of brown leather loafers, brown flared pants, a leather belt, a striped button-down shirt, a tan suede jacket, a dark orange ascot, and her giant aviator glasses. In other words, the look that convinced Matt that Saf wasn’t a dark, soulless goth.

Unfortunately, Matt was way ahead of Safiya and was already dressed, awake, and standing in the dark kitchen by the time she’d made it downstairs. “Going somewhere?” he asked, slyly, causing Safiya to almost scream.

“Dammit Matt, were you trying to make me fall down the stairs?!” snapped Safiya.

Matt chuckled. “Chill out, I was just making some pancakes for Stephanie.”

Safiya walked into the kitchen and pointed at a plate with two pancakes on it. “Are these the ones?” Matt nodded, so Safiya grabbed the top pancake and stuffed it into her mouth. “Well, don’t mind if I do…”

“Safiya!” whined Matt.

“What? I’m hungry too,” defended Saf. “Just make some more. And maybe make some for Tyler too. I’m heading out.”

“I see you’re wearing a diet-goth outfit,” teased Matt.

“Matt, I’m an investigative reporter,” Safiya mock-whined. “All the investigative reporters dress this way!”

“Sure, Morticia,” sassed Matt.

“Just for that…” Safiya stuffed the second pancake in her mouth.

“Hey!” cried Matt. “Now that’s just unnecessarily cruel!”

Safiya shrugged. “Whatever. I’m leaving now anyway, so-“

Safiya turned to leave, but Matt placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her. “Wait right there,” said Matt. “I presume you’re going to the sorority?”

“Uh, yeah, we talked about that yesterday,” said Safiya.

“But you have class today.”

“So? I’ll skip.”

“Safiya!”

“What?” snapped Safiya. “It’s Tuesday, and Tuesday is the perfect day to figure out what’s going on. Cooking class is out, but, like, all the other classes are in session. If I go now, I probably won’t even encounter any sorority girls.”

“Unless they take cooking classes, too,” interjected Matt.

“Those girls don’t know anything about sweetness,” Safiya muttered under her breath. “I don’t recall any Greek life people in the Domestic Arts classes.”

“You don’t know any Greek life people, either.”

Safiya shrugged. “I’m willing to take my chances.”

“But are you willing to let Ro suffer the consequences?” negated Matt.

Safiya sighed. “I’ll be careful, okay? We both took lessons on being inconspicuous, remember? How else do you think I got those pictures of you singing into the bathroom mirror?”

“Wait, what?”

“What?”

Matt stared at her for a long time before shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts away. Safiya only smirked.

“Since when do you skip class, anyway?” Matt asked, in a last-ditch effort to get her to rethink her plan.

“Matt, I literally have all of the next two weeks’ homework done. I think I’m fine,” quipped Safiya, as she grabbed Rosanna’s coat and headed out the door.

“I hope so…” mumbled Matt, as Safiya slammed the door shut.

Xxx

Safiya decided to walk to the sorority, under the impression that riding her bike or taking Matt’s Pontiac wouldn’t be inconspicuous enough. Safiya let her head fill with her technical plans for what was about to happen, because planning always made her feel more calm. I’ll just knock on the door, and…wait, what if Ro doesn’t answer? No, that’s impossible. I’m pretty sure the bell for pole-dancing class already rang. Okay, that joke wasn’t very clever. I’m just sick of these sorority assholes…

By the time Safiya had reached the door to Sigma Alpha Beta, she had spent the entire walk mentally complaining about sorority chicks and had no plan for what to do next.

Ultimately, Safiya decided to just knock on the door to the sorority and hope Ro would answer. It was eight o’ clock at this point, and most classes had already started. Assuming sorority girls even go to class…

While Safiya waited for a response, she couldn’t help but notice something about the doorknob, something no one else but her would likely notice. The doorknob was exceptionally high on the door, similar to an old-fashioned knocker. Even Safiya herself would have to reach up if she wanted to pull open the door. There’s no way Ro could reach that – could escape – on her own…

After waiting for two minutes, finally, Rosanna pulled the door open. As if to confirm Safiya’s theory, Rosanna had moved a chair close to the door which she used to reach the handle.

“Safiya!” whispered Ro. “What’re you doing here?!”

“Is anyone beside you here?” whispered Safiya.

“No…” whispered Ro.

“Then why are you whispering?” Safiya asked in her regular voice.

“Uh…no reason, I guess…” said Ro. At that point she’d stopped whispering, but she certainly wasn’t speaking at normal volume, either.

“Here, you forgot your coat at my apartment,” said Safiya, extending her arm toward Ro.

Rosanna hesitantly took the coat, but remained standing in the doorway.

“Uh…can I come in?” asked Safiya.

“Um…yeah, I guess…” Rosanna seemed extremely reluctant to let Safiya in, but ultimately stepped aside for the taller girl.

Safiya entered the sorority and looked around. “Wow, this place looks…inviting.” And it did to Safiya, mainly because the place looked like it had been decorated by a member of the Addams’ Family. Safiya had expected much more stereotypically feminine decor, with bright colors and 60’s style furniture. Instead, the furniture was dark and gothic, with a tall stone fireplace, dusty candelabras, and black leather couches. “Is Dracula’s Castle in this season?”

“Do you want to go to my room?” Rosanna almost blurted out.

“Uh…sure,” said Safiya.

Without hesitating a beat, Ro grabbed Safiya’s sleeve and pulled her up the stairs.

As they walked – or more accurately, as Ro ran and dragged Safiya behind her like a chew toy (she was surprisingly strong!) – Safiya took the opportunity to look at some of the girls’ rooms they passed. One room stood out to her, mainly because it was the only room empty with the door left wide open. Safiya dug her heels into the blood-red carpeting to force Ro to halt.

Safiya took a step closer to the room, examining the door. The former occupant’s name was carved in huge lettering into the door with what seemed to be a knife. “’Lucy’,” Safiya read. “Hey, I remember this girl. Wasn’t she the cheerleader who got arrested for sexual harassment?”

Ro nodded. “Yeah…I heard she tried to do, you know, stuff with that history teacher, Mr. Mortimer.”

Ro blushed bright red at just the implication of sex, which Safiya would’ve found ridiculously adorable if her mind wasn’t already consumed with a hundred other thoughts. “Wait, did you live with that girl?” asked Safiya.

Rosanna looked as though she was debating whether or not she should answer. “Um…yes, I did.” Ro then turned and kept walking, but muttered under her breath. “She was one of the many reasons I kept my door locked at night.”

Xxx

Safiya and Ro continued walking down the hall, while Safiya became progressively more confused. Where the hell was Ro’s room? As they passed door after door, Rosanna didn’t stop once.

Before Safiya could ask what was going on, though, Ro stopped at another flight of stairs. These stairs weren’t carpeted or lit, however; they were simply made of wood.

“Are these stairs to the attic?” asked Safiya. “Are there more rooms up there?”

“No, just mine,” said Ro. “I get the whole place to myself!” Rosanna sounded cheerful, but Safiya couldn’t tell whether she was faking that or not.

They climbed the stairs to the attic, and upon reaching the top Safiya had to bend over. The roof sloped to a point, like a triangle. It was fine for someone Ro’s height, but Safiya’s head touched the ceiling.

Is this even legal? Safiya wondered. Can a sorority legally force a sorority sister to sleep in the attic? Isn’t that, like, a fire hazard or something?” Safiya thought of the candelabras downstairs and shuddered.

Still, Safiya couldn’t help but smile at the way Rosanna decorated the place. Everything from the bedspread to the throw rug to the inspirational posters on the sloped walls were decorated with rainbows, cupcakes, and unicorns.

“Come here,” said Rosanna, gesturing for Safiya to follow her.

Rosanna led Safiya to a corner of the attic where there was a window with a window seat. “It’s a nice view, right?” asked Ro.

Safiya imagined the view was nice at night – the window gave a clear view of the road Safiya had just walked up, and she knew it looked nice when the streetlamps came on at night – but Safiya still couldn’t stand the view knowing that it overlooked a road packed with sororities and fraternities.

Suddenly, a breeze blew through the attic, making Safiya shake. “Seems like it isn’t very well-insulated up here, huh?” observed Safiya. A light flickered as if on cue and went dark. “And the wiring is faulty.”

“Well, it’s an old house,” said Ro.

Funny, Safiya thought, bitterly. The wiring and insulation seemed fine downstairs.

Safiya looked around the room. It looked spookier in the dark, although a strategically placed poster of a cat hanging from a tree branch captioned ‘hang in there, kid’, helped dissuade the feeling. Safiya looked down at Ro. Hang in there, kid, indeed.

“I have to ask,” began Safiya. “When Matt walked you home, he told me that you seemed really reluctant to let him near the sorority. Is there a reason for that?”

Rosanna sighed. “The girls get really jealous. A lot of them like Matt, or don’t like the idea of guys liking me, or…I don’t know. If I brought a guy to the sorority, let’s just say they’d make my life a whole lot harder.”

Rosanna became very quiet after that, and Safiya was pretty sure that was all Rosanna was willing to say about the topic of her sorority sisters.

“Why do you even stick around this sorority if the girls are such jerks?” asked Safiya.

Rosanna shrugged. “Juniors aren’t allowed to live in campus housing, and I don’t have the money to live in my own apartment. I talked to Justine about moving in with her once, but even splitting rent between the two of us was too pricy. Besides, our classes are miles apart, it just wouldn’t be practical. So I’m just going to live in the sorority for the next two years, focus on my studies, and try to stay out of everyone’s way.”

Safiya felt the strong urge to hug Ro tightly and promise her things were going to turn out okay, but she knew she couldn’t guarantee that. So instead, Safiya nodded hesitantly and returned to looking around.

As Safiya scanned the room, she couldn’t help but notice something jutting out from a wall outlet. “Is that a…” she wanted to ask ‘nightlight’, but figured that might sound mocking. “…light?”

Rosanna blushed bright red and shook her head.

“You don’t have to feel embarrassed. Is that what that is?”

Rosanna sighed, and nodded in resignation. “It gets really dark up here at night…” probably cold and lonely, too. “…and…uh…” Rosanna mumbled something under her breath.

“What was that?”

“I’m afraid of the dark,” she said, very softly.

Safiya pulled Rosanna closer into a side hug, which Ro nestled into. “Don’t feel bad. Everyone’s got a fear they’re embarrassed about.”

“What about you?”

“I’m afraid of clowns,” said Safiya.

“That’s not an embarrassing fear, everyone is afraid of clowns,” said Rosanna.

“Well, not everyone runs screaming from them.”

“Wait, do I feel a story coming on?” teased Rosanna, jabbing Safiya in the rib.

Safiya rolled her eyes, but figured that if telling her embarrassing – no, more like humiliating – story would lighten Rosanna’s mood, then she should just tell it and get it over with. “When I was a kid – not a little kid, I was, like, a tween – my parents took me and my brother to the circus. When the clowns came out I screamed and took off running. I hid in the carnival staff booth and it took my parents an hour to find me.”

Rosanna chuckled. “That’s not embarrassing, that’s adorable.”

“But that wasn’t the worst part,” said Safiya, blushing bright red. “When my parents found me, I had…kind of…you know…” she softened her voice. “Uh, peed my pants.”

Rosanna bit her lip, but ultimately couldn’t stop herself from bursting out laughing. “I’m sorry!” she gasped through laughter. “I shouldn’t laugh, but…you?! I can’t imagine you being afraid of anything!”

“Oh believe me, clowns still scare the crap out of me,” said Safiya, chuckling.

“What happened after that?”

“I burst into tears and my dad just carried me back to the car. My brother was pissed at me for, like, a week because we missed the carnival because of me,” finished Safiya.

This only prompted more laughter from Ro.

“Oh, come on!” groaned Safiya. “Don’t tell me that you’re not afraid of clowns.”

“Oh, I am,” said Ro. “Except for the ones who give out balloons. I don’t mind them…I just don’t think I’d ever run screaming from them.”

“Then you need to get your priorities straight,” said Safiya.

Rosanna continued to laugh, and finally Safiya joined in. The two girls kept laughing until they heard a ‘thump’ from downstairs.

Safiya froze. “What was that?”

“It probably came from the basement,” Ro shuddered. “We’re not allowed down there. The sorority leaders say that the basement flooded and was never repaired, so there’s rats and stuff down there. Plus, it’s really, really dark and spooky.” Rosanna huddled a bit closer to Saf, as though just the thought of the basement sent shivers down her spine.

Safiya wasn’t afraid of some damn basement, but she was hung up on something else Ro had said. Not allowed to go to the basement. Not allowed to bring home boys. Not allowed to stay out late. Do these sorority assholes dictate her whole damn life?!

“You should probably go,” said Ro. “When the noises start up in the basement, one of the sorority leaders always shows up.”

Safiya nodded and headed toward the door. She felt like she had all the information she needed for now, anyway. Before she could leave, however, she turned back to Ro.

“I’m sorry that you couldn’t stay for the movie,” said Safiya. “Do you want to maybe watch it tomorrow night? I’m not available tonight because I have a late-night investigative reporting project that involves monitoring the school security cameras.” She winked. “So, if you’re planning on stealing from the vending machine tonight, watch your back.”

Rosanna chuckled. “What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen during one of your all-night stakeouts?” teased Ro.

“Other than Mr. Mortimer making out with the astrology teacher, Ms. Calliope, it’s usually very boring.” Rosanna’s eyes widened to the size of saucers, making Safiya chuckle. “So, are you down for movie watching tomorrow? I’ll literally be a total couch potato after the stakeout.”

Rosanna smiled. More than anything she wanted to say yes, but knew that wasn’t realistic. Instead, she said, “I’ll ask if I can go out.”  

Chapter Text

It was a Tuesday night, and while most Everlock University students would be going to sleep or having a late-night study session by now, Safiya Nygaard was stuck staring at a bunch of monitors. She wasn’t kidding when she’d told Ro that literally nothing exciting happened on the ‘stake outs’: essentially she just sat in front of a bunch of fuzzy screens and screamed for the teacher whenever something moved in them.

Safiya leaned on the palm of her hand and sighed, taking another swig of her black coffee. She couldn’t fall asleep or else the teacher would dock her grade: the struggles of being a year-three Investigative Reporting student.

Safiya turned to the girls she was partnered with, girls she would consider friends having worked with them for three years: Andrea Brooks, Sierra Furtado, and Kelsey Impicciche. “Am I the only one who can barely stay awake?”

“Believe me, girl, you’re not alone,” groaned Andrea. “We’re reporters, not night watch-women!”

“I’m trying to find a way to wire video games to the monitor,” Kelsey muttered. “I should ask Justine about doing that…”

Sierra’s chin was tucked into her chest, as though she was already half-asleep.

“Safiya Nygaard!” called Ms. Riley, the Investigative Reporting teacher. “Package for you!”

Funny, thought Safiya. Why would anyone bring a package this late? And to the security room?

Safiya stood from her chair and walked toward Ms. Riley, trying not to fall over in her exhaustion. “Here,” said Ms. Riley. “Apparently one of your friends dropped this off at the front office and asked for it to be sent here.”

Safiya took the package from Ms. Riley and examined it. The package was wrapped in brown parchment and tied shut with a lacy red ribbon. Safiya headed back to her security station and untied the package, curiosity filtering through her tired mind.

Within the package was a stack of three chocolate-chip cookies – perfectly golden-brown, firm on the outside but seemingly soft and rich within – and a tiny note. Safiya took the note from the package and read it. ‘To boost you moral. From, Rosanna.’

A smile overtook Safiya’s face at Rosanna’s cheesy but adorable sweetness.

The sweet moment was cut off, however, by a loud whisper from Sierra. “Safiya!” she hissed. “Why aren’t you paying attention?! There’s something in the corner of my monitor, and I think it's fully visible in yours!”

Safiya gave Sierra a confused look, but ultimately examined the monitors she was tasked with watching. One of them happened to be linked to a camera directed at the Sorority and Fraternity house road.

In that particular camera, Safiya could see three indistinguishable girls who she assumed belonged to a sorority. They were carrying a bag, within which seemed to be a large object.

“Uh…Ms. Riley?” called Safiya. “There’s something…strange…in the monitor.”

Ms. Riley walked over to Safiya’s station and examined the security footage. “It looks like some sorority girls are bringing something to their house. I wouldn’t worry about it, it looks like they’re just bringing in furniture or food or something.”

“Is it possible for us to send Jetpack Girl to take a look around?” pleaded Safiya. Jetpack Girl, Ms. Riley’s wife, was the Mechanics and Engineering teacher who doubled as a bodyguard on certain nights. Although she was a teacher, she insisted everyone call her ‘Jetpack Girl’, and currently no one knew her real name.

“Now Safiya, as an investigative reporter, you know that we don’t follow through with false claims or claims with no substantial evidence to back them,” Ms. Riley lightly chastised. “I would rather not waste Jetpack Girl’s time when most likely the sorority girls are just goofing off.”

Safiya took a deep breath. “Okay, I guess…” she murmured. They might not even be in Ro’s sorority. The odds are extremely slim. I shouldn’t even worry, really…

But then why did something feel so wrong?

Xxx

Safiya got back to the apartment at six AM, feeling miserable. She hadn’t slept for nearly twenty-four hours. The image in the monitor had left her worried all night. She felt shaky from three cups of late-night coffee. Above all else, Tyler had to go to class early and would be gone all day, so she couldn’t even cuddle up beside him in bed and try to sleep off her fears.

Matt and Stephanie were still asleep, so Safiya laid down in bed and tried to quiet the thoughts whirling around in her head. She was too tired to wonder…

“Safiya?”

Safiya jolted up out of bed. “W-what?” It was Stephanie.

Stephanie jumped. “Whoa! You look like you just saw a ghost!”

“Sorry, the coffee is starting to make my heart race.”

Stephanie sighed. “You know, drinking coffee all night isn’t healthy. You could always just sleep during the day when you have to pull all-nighters.”

“What fun is that?” teased Safiya, wearily.

Stephanie sat down beside Safiya on her bed. “So…I heard from Matt that your impression of Sigma Alpha Beta was…less than ideal.”

Safiya audibly groaned. “It was so horrible, Steph. The way those sorority girls treat Ro…ugh! Did you know she sleeps in the attic?! She’s freakin’ afraid of the dark and she sleeps all alone in that damn attic. They all tell her what to do, where to go, who to talk to…it makes me sick!” A conspiratorial tone took over Saf’s voice. “And you know why they target her?”

“Why?” asked Steph, although she already had an idea.

“Because she’s so innocent!” cried Safiya, dramatically flopping onto her back. “She’s sweet and cute and innocent and so damn naïve that she lets those girls walk all over her! And guess what, assholes like them always love to humiliate the innocent. They know that they can treat her like dirt and get away with it because she doesn’t even realize they’re doing it. Even if she did, she probably wouldn’t report them to someone. God, Ro’s the nicest person I’ve ever met, but sometimes she’s her own worst enemy.”

Stephanie gave Saf a bittersweet smile. “You done ranting now?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“Good,” said Steph. “I get what you’re saying, but Ro’s not a child. She doesn’t need you to protect her. She can make her own life choices.”

“But it’s not even her choice!” cried Safiya. “The only reason she’s living with those girls is because she doesn’t have the money to live anywhere else!”

“Well…” Stephanie sighed. It was hard for her to argue with Safiya’s point, but she had to somehow convince Safiya not to run down to the sorority and rip everyone’s heads off. “People need to work out finances on their own, or else they won’t know how to provide for themselves in the future. Think about it, we all bought this apartment without any support from our parents. They help us with tuition, sure, but we’re the ones who work after classes in accompaniment to homework and all-night projects. I mean, Matt and I still go to classes from six to nine and then head over to Radio Shack to work another ten hours. You yourself spend hours every week working at the beauty salon when you’re not, you know, investigating.” Stephanie winked, teasingly. “Didn’t Tyler just work a sixty-hour week or something, waiting tables at Fatman Slim’s?”

“Yeah, he did.” A tiny smile made its way onto Safiya’s face. She was proud to have such a dedicated and hard-working boyfriend.

“You see? And because we worked that hard since, like, freshman year of high school, now we have the apartment, the TV, and the Pontiac with no assistance whatsoever,” Stephanie’s voice rang with pride. Of all of them, Stephanie was the most enthusiastic about being a self-sufficient adult. “It’s something to be proud of, you know? That’s why you have to stop worrying about Ro. If you try to hold her hand through all of this, she will only end up being disappointed in herself down the road.”

“Curse you and your logic,” Safiya muttered under her breath. Stephanie playfully rolled her eyes. “Fine. I can’t stop worrying about her, but I won’t do anything drastic.”

“Good,” sighed Stephanie, glad to break through Safiya’s unwavering stubbornness at last. “Believe me, just keep inviting her to hang out. Most likely, all she needs is a friend.”

“Oh, that reminds me, I invited Ro over to watch that movie we were talking about. I figured we could have one of those pajama movie parties…damn it, I forgot to mention pajamas to her!” groaned Saf. “I should-“

Stephanie held up a hand to stop Saf. “Forget it. I’ll swing by the cooking class later to tell her to bring pajamas. You need to rest.”

Safiya sighed, but nodded and slid under the covers. Stephanie grinned and left the room, turning off the light and closing the door behind her.

Stephanie, above all else, was a total mom-friend. And although Safiya would never admit it, she didn’t mind having someone around to care for her.

Xxx

Wednesday evening left Safiya slumped on the couch, still tired to the point of looking hung-over. She was wearing her pajamas, but not because of the pajama movie party. She had simply worn them all day. Tyler was still absent with a school project, so the only people around were Matt and Stephanie who were popping popcorn and waiting for Rosanna to arrive.

She might not even show up, thought Safiya. After all, she’s the one that said she ‘might’ be allowed to leave.

Right before Safiya could ask Stephanie, yet again, if she had remembered to stop by the cooking class to invite Ro over, there was a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it,” said Safiya.

“Oh no you don’t,” said Stephanie, intercepting her. “You need to take it easy. I have a feeling all-nighters aren’t exactly good for your health. I’ll get it.”

Safiya rolled her eyes but complied with Stephanie and sat back down.

Stephanie opened the door, a smile immediately lighting up her face. “Hi Ro!”

Rosanna beamed. “Hi Steph!” She looked around and eventually spotted Safiya on the couch and Matt in the kitchen. “Hi Matt! Hi Saf!”

She was met by a chorus of ‘hi Ro’s!’ all around.

Rosanna gestured to a bag slung over her shoulder. “I have my pajamas in this bag. Is there a place to change?”

“The bathroom is down the hall,” said Stephanie, pointing Ro in a direction past the living room.

Ro took off in that direction and was back not a moment later, this time wearing what might have been the loudest pajamas Safiya had ever seen. While Safiya’s pajamas consisted of shorts and an oversized shirt, Rosanna was wearing a rainbow-colored nightdress with the words ‘Rainbow Magic’ in silver sparkly letters printed across the top. The straps and hem of the dress were made of shimmering purple ribbon.

Safiya had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing. “Ro…” she asked, very slowly, so as not to choke herself up on her own laughter. “Do you buy your pajamas in the kids’ section?”

Ro looked surprised. “Wha-No! I mean…I don’t…why would you…” Ro sighed. “That’s the only size that fits, okay?”

Safiya now chuckled, she just couldn’t help it. “I’m not judging, they look cute. I’m just curious…what size are you?”

“Kids size twelve,” Ro muttered, under her breath. “It doesn’t matter, though, because rainbows are awesome and magical and no one can deny that.”

“I wasn’t going to,” said Safiya, with a smirk. Then, a more tender tone entered her voice. “Look, I’m glad that Jessica let you go out. It’s great to have you here.”

Ro gave her a confused look. “What does Jessica have to do with this?”

“You mentioned her last time you were here. She’s the sorority leader, right?”

“No, what gave you that idea?” asked Ro.

Maybe that you were taking orders from her.

“Jessica’s just a sorority sister, she’s not a leader,” clarified Ro.

Now Safiya was extremely confused. “Wait, then who’s the sorority leader?”

“We don’t have only one, we have multiple. They’re really mean, so I avoid them.”

Safiya’s mind was churning, and it was headed in a bad direction. “Ro, I need to know…how many leaders are there?”

Ro gave her a confused look. “We have three leaders. Why do you look so surprised?”

Safiya’s face paled, and she could feel her hands shaking, although this time not from the coffee. Her mind traveled back to the security tapes. Three girls. A large object. No! It’s just a coincidence! It has to be!

“N-no reason,” Safiya replied. “I just…I’ve never heard of a sorority with multiple leaders. Can we just watch the movie?” Safiya sounded ruder than she intended to, so she gave Rosanna an apologetic look. At last, Matt arrived with the popcorn and candy, so that distracted Ro for a while. Stephanie turned on Jaws, and they all huddled together for the night.

Xxx

The movie was a blast. One thing that no one knew before the movie started was that Ro was a sucker for jump scares. Every time the shark came out of nowhere, Ro would practically jump out of her skin, scream at the top of her lungs, and hide her face behind a blanket. It was hilarious and adorable, and made the movie all the more fun to watch considering that Matt, Steph, and Saf had already watched it multiple times.

Currently, they were at the part where the shark was munching on the sea captain, and Ro had her face hidden against Matt’s chest, claiming that it all looked ‘too real’. That made Matt laugh so hard that he choked on his ‘feisty cherry’ Coca-Cola, causing some to shoot out of his nose.

In general, the night was full of jumps scares and laughs, and probably would’ve been much more fun for Safiya if she could turn off her racing thoughts for once in her life. Still, however, her mind kept coming back to one thought:

Who were those girls outside the sorority?

Chapter Text

“Party at my place, Friday night, be there or be square,” announced Safiya, as she handed a bright purple flier to Hannah Hart, a cooking school student that Rosanna had asked her to invite.

“Cool!” said Hannah. “Can I bring my girlfriend?”

“Sure, we’re ordering enough pizza to feed a small army,” said Safiya, with a chuckle.

“Then I’ll be there!” said Hanna. “BYOB, am I right?”

“Wait, no, that’s not the-“

Hannah had already walked away with the flier before Safiya could tell her that she didn’t want to get frickin’ arrested for the possession of alcohol.

Safiya sighed, but grabbed another flier and continued to peruse the courtyard.

“Come to my party, Friday night,” said Safiya, thrusting a flier into Shane Dawson’s hands.

“Cool,” said Shane, as he walked away. “I’ll bring the Fireball.”

“Wha-no-I don’t…ugh!” groaned Safiya, as Shane left her in the dust.

Xxx

Safiya met up with Matt later in the day, both having passed out fliers all day.

“You won’t believe how many people offered to bring alcohol,” groaned Safiya. “Freddie really wasn’t kidding! Gabbie…Eugene…Kelsey D., all of them! That’s it, I’m going to get arrested…I’m never going to become a reporter…” Safiya spiraled.

Matt placed a hand on Safiya’s shoulder. “Relax, Saf. College parties have alcohol all the time and nothing bad ever happens. Just ask the sorority girls.”

Safiya groaned. “I don’t want to be comparable to a sorority girl!”

As Safiya spoke, she noticed a flash of platinum blonde out of the corner of her eye, and assumed it was Tyler Oakley, who she hadn’t yet invited to the party. Safiya turned around and thrust a flier in their direction. “Party at my place, Friday night, be there or-“

The person literally threw the flier back at Safiya, so that it hit her in the face before drifting to the ground. “As if I’d ever come to your stupid party.” The owner of the platinum blonde hair actually turned out to be Tai, a sorority girl from Sigma Alpha Beta.

“As if I’d even want you there!” Safiya shouted, as Tai turned on her heals and sashayed away. What Safiya didn’t initially notice was that Rosanna had been standing behind Tai the whole time.

As Safiya stared after Tai, mentally fuming, Rosanna scooped up the flier and handed it back to Safiya. A big smile stretched across her face. “I really hope I can come.”

Safiya practically jumped. “Oh, Ro, I didn’t see you th-“

“Oh hell no,” snapped Tai, who had somehow magically reappeared before them. “You can forget that, Ro. Sorority girls don’t go to freak parties.”

“It could be fun!” insisted Ro.

“Shut up,” snapped Tai. “They’re just going to invite a bunch of Queers and spend the entire night braiding each other’s hair.”

“Hey Tai, does your ass get jealous of all the crap your mouth spews?” snapped Safiya.

“Okay, take it easy girls,” said Matt, quickly making himself a barrier between Tai and Safiya.

“Come on, Ro, let’s get out of here,” snapped Tai, never once taking her eyes off Safiya.

“But-“

“I said come on, pipsqueak!” snarled Tai, grabbing Ro’s arm at an awkward angle. Ro yelped as Tai dragged her away with her arm twisted behind her.

“I swear to god,” snarled Safiya, under her breath, once Tai and poor Ro were out of sight. “One day those sorority girls are going to get what’s coming to them. And I’m not going to do anything to stop it.”

Xxx

“Okay guys, this is it,” said Stephanie. “We need to seriously clean out the living room! It looks like a pig sty!”

Thursday afternoon brought about the last day to clean up around the apartment, and as per usual, no one had done anything.

“I’ll get on that,” groaned Tyler. “Not like I was up all night studying…”

“Don’t complain,” teased Safiya. “You’re not the one who has to go on all-night stakeouts!”

“Exactly,” said Stephanie. “Now, Colleen’s going to come by at five, right, to set up her disco ball?”

“Yup,” said Matt. “Ro called and said she could make some cupcakes, but she wasn’t sure if she could come to the party.”

“Freddie and Michelle are out buying snacks,” added Safiya. “They should be here at the same time as Colleen.

The group was interrupted from discussing their plans by a knock at the door.

Matt gave Safiya a confused look. “Were you expecting anybody?”

“No…” said Safiya.

Matt shrugged and headed to the door. A smile broke across his face the moment he opened the door. “Hi Ro, what’re you doing here?”

Ro smiled, slightly embarrassed. “I hope this isn’t a bad time…I just figured I could help you with setting up your party.”

“It’s never a bad time,” said Matt, gently. “Hey, what’s in that box?” He gestured to a rather large box in Ro’s hands.

“I’m so glad you asked,” said Ro, her smile widening until she could barely contain it. “It’s a big box of party supplies! I love parties and I’m really good at planning them.”

“Finally!” cried Stephanie. “One of us who actually knows how to set a house up! Halleluiah!”

Ro dropped her box on the floor, and a tiny string of golden streamer rolled out. “Okay guys, what’s the theme of your party?”

Safiya and Matt exchanged a look. “Uh…no theme in particular…” said Safiya.

“It should be spooky!” Matt suddenly announced, enthusiastically. “After all, the Halloween carnival is open on Saturday.” The carnival was set up in early October every year, and this year everyone was more excited than ever because it was being set up until Friday the thirteenth, the night of the party, and open the next day. The carnival would remain open until the end of October. Rumor had it that this year’s carnival was going to be creepier than ever. (Though really, the college students were more excited about the prospect of having cheap hotdogs, cotton candy, burgers, and funnel cake within walking distance for an entire month. It would totally beat the rotten cafeteria food.)

Ro beamed. “That sounds awesome!” She immediately started pulling out supplies, as though she already had a vision on how to set the whole thing up. “Okay, I think we should go for a gold, orange, and black color scheme. That’ll make it look creepy, but not too cheesy. Maybe some cobwebs on the curtains…spooky candlelight…”

“Fog machine!” Stephanie suddenly shouted. Matt looked excited and high-fived her.

“Yes! We need it!” shouted Matt.

“Oh come on…” groaned Safiya.

Matt and Stephanie had wanted to get a fog machine for a long time, but Safiya continued to insist that it would end up in their pile of random junk and be a waste of money.

“I think we need a fog machine,” said Ro, winking at Matt and Steph.

Safiya playfully rolled her eyes. “Well, I guess if the party expert says so, I can’t argue…”

“Woo-hoo!” cheered Matt, Steph, and Ro.

“I’ll go out and get that,” said Tyler, patting Saf’s shoulder in a playfully consoling way.

Matt tossed Tyler the keys to his Pontiac to drive into town and buy a fog machine. Once Tyler was out the door and driving away, Ro, Matt, Saf, and Steph began to implement Ro’s plans.

Safiya and Matt, the tallest people, started hanging fake cobwebs from Ro’s party box on the curtains and other high areas. Stephanie placed glittery black candelabras on the mantelpiece and positioned tall, red candlesticks in them. Rosanna placed small Halloween-themed knickknacks around the apartment and lawn. Tiny pumpkins on the steps, tomb stones and zombie hands reaching from the grass, ghostly figures in the windows, various ominous signs on doors, and many other things she pulled from her seemingly bottomless box.

“Oh wait!” declared Stephanie. “I think we have some fake blood in the closet.”

Safiya stared at Stephanie blankly. “Why?”

“Infomercial,” was Stephanie’s explanation.

Safiya face-palmed. Stephanie and Matt were known for buying the most random infomercial products.

“Ooh! Let’s fill the sinks with it!”

“No!” snapped Safiya. “Do you know how long it’ll take to clean that crap out?!” But Matt and Stephanie were already filling the sink with blood before she could finish talking.

Safiya leaned in to whisper to Ro. “I’ll get my revenge. I know Steph and Matt’s weakness. I have a whole jar of fake spiders in my room for when they piss me off.” Ro had to cover her mouth to muffle her laughter.

By the time Matt and Steph had finished dousing the sink in blood, their apartment looked like a truly haunted house.

Matt beamed. “Just wait until Colleen brings the disco ball and party lights. Once the lights are out, this place is going to look awesome.”

“Remember, we have a goal,” reminded Saf. “We’re looking for a new roommate, not just trying to get tanked, right?”

“Right,” said Matt, as though he was barely paying attention, too wrapped up in the awesomeness of their decorating abilities. “I know! We should get some pumpkins to carve!”

“Are you kidding, Matt?” asked Safiya. “We literally have one day before the party!”

“It’s only four-thirty!” insisted Matt. “Tyler will be back in a minute, and Colleen, Freddie, and Michelle will probably be here in half-an-hour. Ooh! If we leave at five, maybe they’ll all come with us!”

As if on cue, Tyler unlocked the door and entered. “Hey guys, got the fog machine!”

“Great!” said Matt. “It’ll probably take half-an-hour to set this thing up, anyway!”

“What were you guys talking about?” asked Tyler.

“Going to a pumpkin patch!” squealed Stephanie, clearly one-hundred percent on board with the idea.

“Sounds cool,” said Tyler. “There’s one just on the outskirts of town, you know?”

Safiya sighed. “I guess I can’t turn down spooky stuff. Ro, can you come?”

Ro thought about it. “The girls don’t really pay much attention to me anyway. They were kind of acting weird today, though, so they’re probably going to be out late. As long as I’m back by, like, nine-ish they should still be gone. I can bake the cupcakes tomorrow morning, anyway.”

Before Safiya could ask why the sorority girls would stay out late as a result of acting weird, Matt pumped his fist. “That settles it. We’re getting pumpkins!”

Safiya chuckled. Matt was way too excited about this. “Let me call Cristine and see if she and Ben want to join.”

“Call Justine too!” insisted Ro. “It’s been too long since we last hung out.”

Safiya called Cristine and received an almost immediate yes.

“I love painting pumpkins!” squealed Cristine, through the phone.

“Good, just don’t add fake nails to them like last year,” said Safiya. “That was just…weird.”

“Fiiiine,” groaned Cristine, as Safiya hung up.

Safiya then called Justine. Rosanna crossed her fingers that Justine wouldn’t be busy yet again.

“Hey Justine,” said Safiya.

“Hey Saf, is your TV still running?” asked Justine.

“Yeah, thanks to you,” said Safiya, smiling even though Justine couldn’t see her.

“Then you’d better go catch it!” shouted Justine. Safiya didn’t respond for a long time, so Justine added. “That joke sounded better in my head.”

“Yeah, I had that feeling,” agreed Safiya. “Anyway, Matt, Tyler, Steph and I are going to a pumpkin patch. We’re hopefully bringing Freddie, Colleen, Michelle, Cristine, Ben, and Rosanna. Do you want to join?”

“I didn’t know you knew Rosanna!” chirped Justine. “How is she? I haven’t seen her in a while.”

“Um, about that…” Safiya was tempted to spill the many secrets she had learned about Rosanna’s sorority over the past week, but ultimately decided not to. “Uh, yeah, she’s fine. Doing great, actually. She really wants you to come with us.”

Justine thought about it. “Hmm…I guess I have all my major tech projects done, and there’s no tech class today…sure! It sounds fun!”

Safiya grinned. “Great, be here at five.”

Safiya hung up the phone and gave a big thumbs-up to Ro. Ro was practically hopping up and down with excitement, and ultimately threw her arms around Safiya’s waist, hugging her tightly. Safiya smiled and hugged her back: clearly, she had been missing her friend.

From then on out, the time flew by quickly, and at five o’ clock the fog machine was set up, Cristine and Ben had arrived, Michelle and Freddie were putting food away in the kitchen, and Colleen was setting up her disco ball and party lights. Rosanna looked a bit nervous.

“Do you think you should call back?” Rosanna asked Safiya, anxiously. “Maybe Justine can’t make it, after all…”

“Calm down, she’s probably just a little late. We can’t leave until Freddie, Michelle, and Colleen are done setting up, anyway. I’ll call if she’s still not here by then,” consoled Safiya.

Rosanna’s worries were put at ease, however, by a knock on the door. Rosanna raced toward the door to open it, and was met by the sight of Justine with her arms outstretched. “Justine!” squealed Ro, tackling her into a hug. “I missed you!”

“Ro, I haven’t seen you in so long!” cried Justine. “I think you got shorter!”

Ro playfully rolled her eyes. “Haha, very funny. Can we go now?”

Safiya chuckled. “I think so. Freddie and Michelle just finished up.”

“I’ve got the lights in place!” shouted Colleen, from where she stood on a ladder. “We can go.”

Colleen hopped down for the ladder, and soon the group was piling into Matt’s Pontiac to go.

Xxx

Matt’s Pontiac was decently sized, but still, crowding eleven people inside was a difficult feat. Matt was sitting behind the wheel with Tyler on his right. Safiya, Ben, and Justine sat in the row behind Matt, and Stephanie and Michelle sat in the two seats in the back. Ultimately, Cristine had to sit on Ben’s lap, Freddie had to sit on Saf’s lap, and Rosanna had to sit on Justine’s lap. No one really minded, though, because they were all too excited to hang out as a group.

It only took about a half an hour of driving to arrive at the pumpkin patch, called ‘Everlock Pumpkin Patch and Orchard’. Matt parked the car and everyone tumbled out the doors.

“Being short has its benefits,” mused Rosanna. “At least you don’t get sat on.”

“Speak for yourself,” groaned Safiya. “Freddie was bouncing up and down so much, I think she was literally trying to crush me.”

Freddie grinned. “I was.” She then took off running toward the pumpkin patch sign-in booth.

“Hey! Get back here!” shouted Safiya, running after Freddie, clearly not amused by her response.

“Do you think she’ll catch her?” mused Matt.

“Oh yeah, Saf has long legs,” said Steph. “Freddie better watch out!”

The group followed Safiya and Freddie to the sign-in booth, where they found that Safiya had tackled Freddie into a pile of hay and was tickling her non-stop.

“I-I surrender!” squealed Freddie, through her giggles. “I won’t try to crush you on the way back, I promise!”

Pleased by this answer, Safiya let Freddie go and proceeded to sign in. The sign-in booth worker gave each of them a green wristband, signaling that they checked in and paid to be there. All of them but one, that is.

“Children under thirteen must be accompanied by a responsible parent or guardian,” said the man, when Rosanna approached.

Rosanna groaned, and showed the man her driver’s license. “I’m twenty, come on…”

The man actually scanned the license as though he thought it was fake, but ultimately allowed Rosanna to pass. However, he gave her an orange wristband, which suspiciously only seemed to be worn by young children.

Safiya chuckled. “Oh well, at least he let you in. Now we can get pumpkins!”

That brightened Ro’s mood immediately, which was clearly Safiya’s intention. “Yes! We should also pick apples, if this is an orchard. I make a mean apple pie!”

The group made their way into the pumpkin patch, only to find that it looked quite different from last year. “Oh yeah!” exclaimed Tyler. “I heard somewhere that the farmers in charge renovated the farm to be more like a fall festival.”

They certainly had. Now, instead of just a barn, an apple orchard, a corn field, and a pumpkin patch, the farm contained numerous large slides, a corn maze, a hayride, a stage, bonfires, child climbing structures, and a hay maze.

A smile spread across Rosanna’s face. “This looks amazing! I want to do everything!”

Tyler chuckled. “Slow down. I also heard that after seven, when the kids leave, the place gets a lot spookier.”

Rosanna puffed up her chest. “I can handle spooky. Remember when I watched that horror film?”

Safiya chuckled. “You mean the horror film that made you hide behind the couch?”

Rosanna turned up her chin dramatically, making Safiya laugh harder. “I don’t remember that happening.”

Matt grinned. “If you say so. I want to see what happens after dark here.”

Everyone in the group agreed to stay out until eight, so that Ro could get back by nine but they could also experience the horror.

Xxx

While wandering the farm, the group came across two familiar faces. “Hey Nikita! Hey Manny!” said Stephanie. Nikita and Manny weren’t particularly close with Saf and Matt – they were known for causing drama – but they were still mutual friends.

“Hey guys!” said Manny. “Oh my god, who is this?” Manny gestured to Rosanna.

Rosanna beamed. “I’m Rosanna!”

“I’m Manny,” said Manny, shaking Rosanna’s hand. “OMG your hands are so tiny!” He held his arm alongside hers to demonstrate the difference in size. “What is this little nugget?!”

Rosanna giggled, unfazed. “I get that a lot.”

“So, I assume you guys have come to scope out some cute, muscle-bound farmhands, same as us,” said Nikita.

“Actually, I already have a boyfriend,” teased Safiya, as though Nikita had been serious.

“No need to limit yourself, girl!” said Nikita. “If I was as tall as you, I’d have a whole army of short guys to do my bidding.”

Safiya chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind,”

“Well, enjoy the farm!” said Manny. “I can’t wait for your party tomorrow. If I find a hunky cowboy at this farm, I’m making him my plus one, m’kay?”

“Whatever you say, Manny,” teased Stephanie, chuckling. “Have fun on your man-hunt!”

Xxx

Before anyone could pick out a pumpkin, Cristine was dragging Ben toward a giant fun slide that twisted in and out of an old silo. It didn’t take long for Rosanna, Justine, Colleen, and Matt to follow.

“Guys, we should pick out our pumpkins before everyone gets to them first!” shouted Stephanie.

“Later!” shouted Matt. “The slide awaits!”

As it turned out, the ‘under age thirteen’ wristband Rosanna was wearing had more benefits than just a cheaper ticket into the pumpkin patch. She was allowed to ride on the slide with a friend, whereas someone with an adult wristband couldn’t ride with another adult. Ultimately, Justine, with Rosanna sitting between her legs, sped down the slide on a potato sack, screaming with glee. Matt followed them down headfirst, which turned out to be a bad idea when he shot out of the slide, headfirst, into a barrel of hay. Cristine was disappointed that she couldn’t ride with Ben, but ultimately decided to time her ride and see if she was faster than Ben.

One by one, they slid down the slide. Everyone had glowing smiles by the end of it.

Matt walked over to a cider booth and bought everyone a cup of steaming hot cider, before heading toward the pumpkin patch. “The trick to finding the perfect pumpkin is looking in the places no one else has looked,” he said, very seriously.

“I don’t follow your logic there, buddy,” said Steph. “People aren’t looking in those places for a reason.”

“Not true!” insisted Matt. “I always find the best pumpkins in the back of the patch.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” said Safiya. “We have eleven people here. Let’s just split up and bring back whatever pumpkins look good. We’ll meet at the haystack.”

Everyone agreed to Safiya’s idea and split up. Unfortunately, everyone’s idea of a good pumpkin was different. Colleen headed into the actual farm store, which sold things like fresh picked fruit, honey, and cider. She went into the ‘pre-painted pumpkin’ section and selected a bedazzled pumpkin that was painted silver, which shone like a disco ball. Cristine picked out a misshapen pumpkin with a long, pointed stem that she figured she could paint like a finger nail. Safiya picked a black pumpkin. Freddie didn’t even bother with the pumpkins – she went straight for the gourds.

When they met back up at the haystack, Matt and Steph were the only ones who had selected a traditional, plump and orange pumpkin. “What the heck kind of pumpkins are those?!” exclaimed Matt, upon seeing everyone else’s selections.

“Orange is to boring,” said Safiya.

“Oh, and black is original?”

“For a pumpkin, yes.”

“Gourds are cool,” stated Freddie. “Forget orange, pumpkins in general are boring. Gourds are like pumpkins’ weird, fun loving cousins.”

“Oh, so you mean they’re like you?” asked Safiya.

“Maybe if they weren’t so white.”

Everyone chuckled at that. “Hey Ro, why’d you pick that pumpkin?” asked Freddie.

Everyone’s attention turned toward Ro, who was holding a tiny, lumpy, yellow-and-green gourd that Matt knew was called a ‘gremlin’ pumpkin. Ro blushed. “I get one of these every year. No one buys them because they think they look ugly, but I think they deserve to be loved.”

It took all of Matt and Saf’s strength not to ‘aww’ at how cute that was. In fact, it pretty much took everyone’s strength.

“Fine, I guess we can get some weird-looking pumpkins,” conceded Matt in a teasing manner. “But I’m still getting a normal pumpkin for carving.”

“I’m painting mine,” said Cristine. “Return of the fake finger nails!”

Cristine ran toward the Pontiac to put her pre-paid pumpkin in the trunk, while Safiya trailed her, screaming. “No goddamn way!”

Everyone followed with their own pumpkins, Justine insisting that as soon as Halloween ended, she was going to chuck her pumpkin against the window of Jake and Logan Paul’s dorm.

Matt was the last one to follow, thinking of what Ro said, and swiping an extra gremlin pumpkin for good measure.

Xxx

For the next hour or so, the group blew time by sliding down slides (they found a race-track slide that five people could go down at once, and spent half an hour racing each other), swinging into foam pits, and eating everything from hot cocoa to honey to kettle corn.

Justine and Colleen picked low-hanging apples for Ro’s pie from the orchard. Safiya lifted Ro onto her shoulders to grab from the higher branches (even though that was considered a ‘safety hazard’), and Matt did the same with Steph, Ben with Cristine. Michelle collected all the apples they picked into a basket, until a security guard kicked them out for trying to launch Freddie into the upper branches of the trees.

By the time they’d left the orchard, Fright Night had begun.

Xxx

“Okay, what should we do first?” asked Matt, as the group huddled around a bonfire which looked distinctly spookier at night.

“I’m pretty sure there’s two main events,” said Safiya. “The hayride and the corn maze.”

“I want cotton candy,” Justine interjected.

“What’s that got to do with anything?” asked Tyler.

“Nothing, it’s just my next course of action.” That being said, Justine paid a passing vendor and grabbed a big cloud of pink cotton candy, which she shared with Ro.

“Okay…” Matt said. “Let’s go to the hayride first. It doesn’t run that many times at night, so we don’t want to miss it. Plus, the corn maze will probably be spookier since it’s on foot, so we should do that later at night…”

As the group continued talking, Ro felt a strange sensation against her neck. “Uh, Justine, are you breathing on me?” muttered Ro.

“No, I’m all the way up here. How could I?”

Ro turned her head in confusion, only to be met with the site of a gypsy crouched dangerously close to her neck. Ro screamed and jumped nearly a foot in the air.

Safiya turned in confusion. “Wait…Ms. Calliope? Is that you?”

Ms. Calliope chuckled, and whispered conspiratorially. “I am not supposed to break character, but yes, child. I enjoy volunteering here when I am not teaching.”

“I didn’t know you were an actor,” said Ro, slowly, once she’d collected her bearings.

“I am not, this is just a way for me and Mr. Mor-, I mean, me and the other teachers to spend time together outside of campus,” explained Ms. Calliope.

“Oh,” said Ro. “Well, actor or not, you got me good!”

Ms. Calliope chuckled. “So I noticed. Enjoy the festivities, children. I will be seeing you around.” With that, Ms. Calliope walked away and seemed to disappear into the fog.

“She…is really something,” said Matt, not sure how to interpret Ms. Calliope’s general nature.

Safiya shrugged. “Well, you heard the lady. Let’s enjoy the festivities! Let’s go hop on that hayride.”

Xxx

After waiting in line for half an hour, (or as Freddie would say, ‘too damn long) the entire group boarded a wagon filled with hay. Matt sat in the back corner of the wagon, with his right arm around Stephanie. Tyler sat beside Stephanie with an arm around Safiya. Rosanna snuggled in between Safiya and Justine. Colleen and Freddie sat in the center of the wagon, hardly able to sit still in their excitement. Michelle lounged against the left side of the wagon, while Ben and Cristine sat against the right.

“All aboard for a trip to the zombie zoo!” called the man driving the tractor that pulled the wagon.

“Wait, what?!” whispered Rosanna. “I didn’t sign up for zombies!”

Safiya chuckled. “Relax, Ro. It’s just a bunch of people in costumes getting paid ten bucks an hour. It’s probably not even going to look real.”

Before Ro could consider sprinting for the exit, the tractor took off, pulling the wagon behind it. The wagon crossed through fields and swamps, passing cages filled with zombies. At least they’re contained, thought Ro.

Suddenly, a voice came over a speaker system.

“The zombies have escaped! Repeat! The zombies have escaped! Protect yourself from potential disease and keep your brains in check!”

“What?!” screamed Ro.

Safiya couldn’t help laughing. “Ro! Repeat! Ro! It’s fake!” said Safiya, mocking the voice over the monitor.

However, it didn’t feel so fake when a zombie launched itself at the side of the wagon.

Michelle screamed and moved into the wagon’s center. Cristine and Ben soon followed suit as a zombie popped up from behind them and yanked Cristine’s ponytail. Ro joined the group in the center of the wagon, furthest from the sides of the wagon which offered the zombies access to the passengers.

Unfortunately, a part of the side of the wagon didn’t have safety railings – that was the part that people used to climb into the wagon. As a result, the zombies were able to launch themselves at the opening in the wagon and grope at people’s feet in the center.

One zombie grabbed onto Ro’s ankle. She screamed and practically launched herself into Matt’s arms, shaking. Matt had watched enough zombie movies to not be particularly afraid of the ride, but he had to admit it looked very realistic.

A zombie yanked one of Freddie’s curls, so Freddie smacked him. “Hey! You never touch a black girl’s hair! Rude…”

“Freddie!” shrieked Safiya. “They’re actors! You can’t hit them!”

“I didn’t see a contract.”

“There’s literally a giant bulletin board of rules in front of the ride entrance.”

“Well…I can’t control my reflexes, now can I?”

Safiya sighed, but turned her attention to Colleen, who was practically getting pulled out of the wagon by a zombie, as she screamed hysterically.

“Hey!” Safiya shouted to the driver. “Are they allowed to do that?”

The driver turned around. “Hey Fred, get yourself under control! We don’t grab at the sparkly stuff!” he shouted, upon witnessing the scene behind him.

The zombie, apparently named Fred, let go reluctantly.

The rest of the ride was less chaotic, all things considered. The group laughed, screamed, and panicked each time a zombie grabbed a friend. Freddie dumped a bucket of popcorn on a zombie, and was promptly escorted off the ride. Rosanna spent the entire ride hiding her face against Matt’s jacket, even though she knew she’d never live this down for the rest of her life.

When the ride finally ended, everyone dismounted and met Freddie at the exit, where she was being supervised by a security guard. They appeared to be locked in conversation.

“…but I promise I wasn’t intentionally going on the ride to attack employees!”

“Ma’am, I still have to ask you to leave.”

“You can’t make me leave if you can’t catch me!”

With that, Freddie sprinted into the corn maze, expecting her friends to meet up with her.

The security guard sighed and looked at Safiya as though to ask ‘is she always like this?’

Safiya rolled her eyes. “We’ll go keep an eye on her.”

Xxx

The group met Freddie in the middle of the maze, next to a sign that alerted them that the scary stuff would begin once they crossed a bridge over a swamp in front of them.

Safiya sighed. “I’d just like to point one thing out.” She gestured to the sign, which had a list of rules. Number one on the list was ‘remember that our actors want to have as much fun as you! Please don’t injure or attack actors, or else you’ll be asked to leave the premise.’

Freddie rolled her eyes. “That should be in, like, bold print or something. Who’s gonna read that?!”

“It’s rule number one!”

Freddie shrugged. “They all look the same to me.”

“Let’s just enter the maze!” said Matt, enthusiastically. “I want to know what’s inside!”

The group mounted the bridge and began to cross, but it started to shake.

“Oh hell no,” said Colleen. “I’m getting off!” She ran to the other side of the bridge, only to be met by a mutated skeletal pirate. Colleen shrieked and bolted deeper into the maze.

“Colleen!” screamed Matt, running after her to make sure she wouldn’t get lost.

Justine skirted around the pirate, holding Ro’s hand. “Uh…we’d just like to pass pl-“

The mutant pirate let out a piercing cry, which prompted Justine to just start running. Michelle, Freddie, and Cristine were soon following. Safiya took the maze more leisurely, as she seemed to feel oddly at home amongst the misty darkness.

The attractions within the maze were seemingly endless. They were chased by a couple of dolls wielding knives within a giant dollhouse positioned in the maze. A werewolf jumped out at Michelle from the woods, causing her to scream almost as loudly as he howled. Harpies dropped down on Colleen and Justine from the tops of spindly-bare trees, while a siren tried to tempt Matt into following her into a murky pond.

After a solid hour of running from monster after monster, the group approached the last attraction. A giant, black building loomed over them. Rosanna gulped and looked from Safiya, to Justine, to Matt. “Let’s do this,” she said, hesitantly.

They entered the building, which was pitch black within, causing Ro to tighten her grip on Justine’s hand. Once they were all inside, however, a painting dropped down from a wall, revealing a clown lady behind it. “Welcome to hell!” she screamed, and then laughed hysterically.

Suddenly, curtains that they’d previously assumed was a wall pulled back, revealing a giant stack of glow-in-the-dark building blocks, with dozens of clowns sitting atop them. Pictures of crying clowns dropped, revealing even more clowns. Clowns were dropping from the ceiling, climbing out of the walls, and even popping out of trap doors in the ground.

Safiya wasn’t able to keep her cool composure any longer. “Clowns!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, and ran for the exit. Unfortunately, the building was rather large, and in the lowlight it was hard to find the exit. A clown leapt in front of Safiya. “Peek-a-boo, Ms. Morticia!” squealed the clown. Safiya screamed louder than any of them thought possible.

“Safiya! Calm down!” shouted Matt, who in fact found clowns rather delightful. “It’s not like they can hurt you.”

“Think again, pretty boy,” said a shirtless male clown, holding a machete.

Matt gulped. “I take it back. Find that exit!”

The group scrambled in every direction, dodging clowns and feeling around in the dark to find an exit. Finally, Justine found one behind a funhouse mirror. “Guys, over here!” she shouted.

The group crowded around her as she pulled the door open. Just when they thought they were home free, however, a giant teddy bear with a chainsaw jumped out from behind the structure.

Safiya didn’t even notice it. The moment that door was open she was sprinting out of the maze, up the hill toward the parking lot, and as far away from the killer clowns as she could possibly get. The killer teddy bear caused Ro to freeze in icy shock, though, so Matt had to basically carry her out the maze. Everyone who hadn’t been ready to leave when the clowns popped out were thoroughly terrified by the mutated teddy bear chasing them toward the exit.

The group ran out the maze, Freddie in particular speeding past the security guard with a middle finger raised, and into the parking lot. They crowded into the Pontiac, hearts beating fast, feeling terrified but more exhilarated than ever, and ready to throw one killer party.

Chapter Text

It was eight PM, Friday night, and the party was in full swing.

It felt to Matt, Safiya, Stephanie, and Tyler as if there was an endless sea of guests pouring through the door. Everyone who they had invited showed up, and brought their friends with them.

Hannah Hart and Kelsey Darragh were playing beer pong against Eugene Lee Yang and Gabbie Hanna, while Ella Mielniczenko cheered her girlfriend on and DeStorm Power encouraged his girlfriend, Gabbie. Joey Graceffa and his boyfriend, Daniel Preda, were chatting with Madelaine Petsch and Andrea Russett. Shane Madej, his girlfriend Sara Rubin, Ryan Bergara, and Kelsey Impicciche talked and ate snacks on the couch. Roi Fabito was dancing recklessly (and drunkenly) while Teala Dunn and JC Caylen tried to prevent him from falling over.

Many couples were dancing together. Colleen Ballinger danced to the blaring disco music with boyfriend Erik Stocklin. Keith Habersberger twirled Becky around, quickly joined by young married couple Ned and Ariel Fulmer. Ryland Adams tried to convince Shane Dawson to dance with him, but Shane rejected that notion entirely and stuck to chugging Fireball.

In a rather ironic course of events, Safiya had ended up taking a few shots to forget her worries about being caught by the school’s faculty with copious amounts of alcohol.

Freddie ran over to Safiya, drunkenly enthusiastic, followed by Michelle and Cristine. “This party is off the chain, Saf!” she cheered, pumping her fists. “I think you can owe it all to me.”

“What, why?” asked Saf.

“Do you think anyone would show up if I wasn’t here?”

Safiya playfully shoved Freddie, practically knocking her over.

Still, something kept Safiya from feeling totally satisfied, even though she got to watch Liza Koshy crack some terrible jokes and Tyler Oakley vomit his alcohol all over her shoes in response. This was because even though Rosanna had sent over her delicious cupcakes and a beautiful apple pie earlier in the day, she had yet to show up to the party.

Manny and Nikita stumbled over to Safiya, clearly intoxicated. “C’mon girl, let’s party!” sang Nikita. “Why do you look so upset?”

“Um…I’m waiting for someone who hasn’t shown up yet,” said Safiya, vaguely. She locked eyes with Justine across the room, who looked equally disappointed and confused.

“Oh, is it that cute little thing you introduced us to yesterday?” asked Manny. “What was her name, Rosanna, right? Totally adorbs. Is she coming?”

“I sure hope so…” muttered Safiya.

“You’ve got to loosen up and have some fun,” said Nikita. “She’s probably just running late. Now come on, I heard Alex and Lauren just broke up. Serious drama. We should force them to play ‘Seven Minutes in Heaven’! Would that make you feel better?”

Safiya stared at Nikita rather blankly. “Uh…no. No it wouldn’t.”

Nikita shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’m going to go remind GloZell of the time Joey cheated off her test to see if they’ll get in a fight. Later girl!”

Nikita left with Manny in tow, leaving Safiya to wonder how someone could get that much joy out of causing drama.

Xxx

Despite the many months Safiya, Matt, Stephanie, and Tyler had spent living together, and the many ways in which they had become similar to each other, one thing had never changed: They were all different types of drunks.

Safiya was a therapeutic drunk. After a few drinks she was offering generic and barely-applicable advice to friends, specifically the ones who burst into tears over their own love lives (i.e. Michelle) when drunk. Despite the half-witted advice, no one typically remembered a thing she had said once they were sober. Safiya was a generally peaceful drunk, who rarely got angry…rarely.

Matt was a happy drunk. The moment he ingested alcohol, he became the life of the party. He could bounce from person to person, discussing numerous topics and ‘relating’ to everyone.

Stephanie was a sentimental drunk, while Tyler was a sloppy drunk. After only one drink, Stephanie could literally be in tears dramatically declaring how happy she was to have such great friends. Conversely, after a few drinks Tyler could barely stand up, let alone talk. He was not a stranger to falling over and knocking things down after consuming alcohol. For that reason, in public settings, Stephanie and Tyler preferred not to drink and instead to watch over Matt and Saf to ensure that they wouldn’t do anything stupid that they’d regret the next day.

Why is this important? It will all become evident shortly…

Xxx

Safiya pressed a hand to her forehead. She had taken quite a few shots, and was beginning to feel the buzz. She was caught mid-conversation with Michelle when the doorbell rang.

Eagerly, Safiya threw open the door, leaving Michelle in tears over the story of her latest date (“why hasn’t he called me back?!”). Safiya was overjoyed to see Rosanna standing there, a sheepish smile on her face.

Matt quickly joined Safiya at the door. “Hey Ro! I’m glad you could make it?”

Matt was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement, leading Rosanna to shoot Safiya a questioning look. “He’s been drinking,” said Saf. “We all have.”

Rosanna chuckled. “Well, okay then. Can I come in?”

“Yeah, of course!”

Ro had barely taken a step through the threshold when Justine tackled her in a hug. “Ro! You came!”

Ro chuckled. “Yeah I did! Let’s get this party started!”

Xxx

The party raged on, everyone having a great time. Surprisingly enough, there was little drama. Safiya even managed to forget about the situation with the sorority girls.

Having finished the game of beer pong, Hannah and Ella were drinking some beers with Safiya and Rosanna. Unsurprisingly, Rosanna was a total lightweight who babbled on and on about seemingly the most random topics.

“I’ve got a great microwave at home,” drawled Rosanna. “My popcorn,” she snapped her fingers. “Cooked! Just like that!”

Safiya tried to restrain herself from laughing. Who knew Ro would be such an adorable drunk? Her laughter came to an abrupt end, however, when Matt rushed toward her in a panic. “Saf! We have a situation! Lele and Matt Haag…in your room…uh…”

Safiya paled. Matt didn’t have to say anything more. Lele Pons and Matt Haag had a legendary rivalry, they hated each other even more than GloZell and Joey, yet were known to engage in some rather…amorous play when intoxicated. After all, sometimes hate was the greatest form of passion.

“Oh crap,” muttered Safiya.

“What?” asked Rosanna. “What’re Matt and Lele doing?”

Crap, crap, crap. Safiya really didn’t want to explain this to Ro. “Uh…nothing! Playing a game!” It was a weak cover, but Ro seemed to buy it. “Anyway, they’re not supposed to be in my room.” Goddamn it, those sheets are never going to be clean enough to sleep on again.

Safiya rushed out of the kitchen, heading upstairs toward the bedrooms, Matt at her heels.

Hannah, too, wandered off to chat with Lilly Singh, Colleen and Rachel Ballinger, and Kory DeSoto, who were all boozing and joking around.

Rosanna was left alone in the kitchen, but not for long.

Three figured slid through the door, unnoticed only because they wanted to be.

Rosanna’s breath caught in her throat. She felt like she was being strangled, or like she was going to puke. No one was looking in her direction, not even Justine who had turned her attention to Andrea Brooks.

Oh no, oh no, oh no…

“S-Sandra, Debra, Belle…w-what’re you doing here?” Rosanna asked her sorority leaders. She tried not to openly show her fear, but she couldn’t keep the shakiness out of her words. In fact, she was shaking all over.

“The real question is, what’re you doing here?” asked Sandra. She sounded cheerful. Too cheerful. “You aren’t supposed to be at this party, now are you?”

Sandra smiled. Sweetness was key. It was so much more fun for her to break her victims when they didn’t know how she was going to act.

Belle and Debra pulled up chairs at the bar table that separated the dining room from the kitchen. “W-what’re you doing?” asked Rosanna, in a panic.

“Nothing sweetheart,” drawled Debra, condescendingly. “Just enjoying the party.”

“Loosen up,” purred Belle. While Rosanna was distracted by Belle and Debra, Sandra slipped a special little something into Rosanna’s beer bottle.

“Yes, here,” said Sandra, extending Rosanna’s beer to her. “Drink up, darling.” Rosanna hesitated. “I said drink up,” Sandra hissed.

Rosanna quickly nodded and took a swig of the beer. Almost immediately, she started to feel dizzy. “W-Wha…”

“Here, let’s have some fun,” hissed Belle, pouring a shot of vodka. “Take a swig, babe.”

“I-I don’t…” But the roofie was beginning to take effect, and Rosanna was having a hard time arguing. It felt so much easier to be…complacent.

Belle pushed the shot into Rosanna’s hands, and it only took one of Belle’s wicked glares for Rosanna to down the drink. She immediately wanted to vomit. She felt horrible. But Debra suddenly pushed her chin up, forcing her to swallow back her vomit.

Rosanna whimpered. What was that saying, ‘beer before liquor, never been sicker’? Rosanna had already had two beers, and felt like crap. She felt faint and dizzy, but realized with horror that Sandra was pouring another shot.

“This should teach you a lesson,” hissed Sandra, her oozing sweetness giving way to something much more sour. “Of what happens when you disobey us.”

Rosanna felt tears welling in her eyes. “Girls, I-I can’t…”

Debra shoved the shot into Rosanna’s hands. “You can, and you will,” snapped Debra, without an ounce of sympathy.

These girls had no hearts.

Rosanna reluctantly downed the shot, and almost fell over. To keep her upright, however, Sandra suddenly grabbed onto her hair and pulled her into a standing position. Rosanna cried out in pain and terror.

Any signs of sweetness were gone. The sorority leaders had gone full Wicked Witch of the West.

Rosanna started to cry, which made Debra and Belle snicker. When was it going to end? The leaders had punished her in the past for the slightest sign of disobedience, but this wasn’t slight disobedience. This was fully ignoring their orders. And this didn’t even seem to be the beginning of the world of pain they were ready to unleash.

Luckily, there was one person in the room who was as observant and intelligent as Safiya and Matt. Rosanna’s cries were impossible for her to ignore. She knew she had to get help.

Xxx

Eva Guttowski grabbed Oli White and made a mad dash up the stairs to the second floor, just in time to see Lele and Matt Haag stumble drunkenly down the stairs.

“Safiya! Matt!” shouted Eva, when she found Safiya and Matt talking quietly in the hallway.

“Eva? What’s wrong?” asked Safiya. She saw tears in Eva’s eyes, clearly something had shaken her.

“It’s that girl you invited here,” said Eva, choking back a sob. “The little one.”

“Rosanna?” asked Safiya, immediately on high alert. “What happened?”

“There’s three girls. They just arrived and they’re…they’re t-torturing her,” cried Eva. Oli pulled Eva, his best friend, into a side-hug to help calm her down.

Three girls. Safiya didn’t want Eva to see how deeply those words affected her, but it suddenly felt like the world was tilting beneath her. Safiya hadn’t realized she had been about to fall over until Matt had grabbed her arm to steady her.

“We need to go,” said Matt.

In a split second, they were racing for the stairs.

Xxx

Safiya raced down the stairs, and was horrified by the scene before her. Clearly what Eva had witnessed had only continued since she’d left to get them. Rosanna was in tears, trying to get away from the girls, but they had her surrounded.

It seemed for a second that Ro had almost found a way to escape, but one of the girls suddenly stuck out a foot and tripped her. They didn’t let her hit the ground, however. Another girl grabbed her arm mid-fall, so that Rosanna’s arm was twisted backward as she fell forward. Rosanna bit her lip until she tasted blood, trying hard not to scream as it felt like her arm was being ripped out of its socket.

“Hey!” screamed Safiya. All talking and dancing in the room ceased as Safiya slowly and malevolently approached the girls. Upon closer inspection, she recognized them to be Sandra, Debra, and Belle. She had never met them personally, but had heard about the heinous things they’d done in the past. She’d never known that they were Rosanna’s sorority leaders, though. “What. Are. You. Doing. Here?”

“Just collecting our property,” hissed Sandra, with a devilish smile on her face. Debra and Belle had Rosanna pinned between them. Debra was twirling Rosanna’s hair like a doll she possessed.

Rosanna herself was limp between them, ghostly pale and breathing heavily.

“How dare you?” whispered Safiya. How dare they enter this house? How dare they ruin this party? And above all else, how dare they hurt Ro? Safiya was rarely an angry drunk; that was true. But she’d be damned if she didn’t teach these girls a lesson. “How dare you?” Safiya snapped, raising her voice to a terrifying volume.

Everyone in the room was still. They were all suddenly aware of how tall Safiya was, in particular, especially considering that Freddie had convinced her to wear heels for the party. With the heels, she was well over six feet tall, towering over the sorority girls. But they didn’t look intimidated by her in the slightest.

Sandra stepped forward, sizing Safiya up as though they were equal height. “You think you’re so tough, Morticia?” teased Sandra. She nodded to Belle and Debra, who suddenly flung Ro at Safiya.

Ro stumbled forward, falling into Safiya. Safiya reacted quickly, holding her up, but she couldn’t avoid Ro vomiting on her heels.

Ro looked up at Safiya, tears in her eyes. “I’m s-sorry Safiya,” wailed Ro, looking like she was about to cry.

Safiya felt tenderness overtake her, if only for a moment. “Shh…it’s okay Ro. I was looking for an excuse to wear my birkenstocks anyway.” She offered Ro a sweet smile, before gesturing to Stephanie to come over. Stephanie gently took Ro’s arm and led her aside, terrified to come in between Safiya and the sorority girls.

Once she had soothed Ro, Safiya turned back to the sorority girls, and even they couldn’t disguise their shock at how fast Safiya could go from being sweet and gentle to thoroughly ferocious.

Matt was panicking. At this point, he was almost certain a fight would break out. On the one hand, he didn’t want Safiya to get hurt. On the other, he knew she had to handle this her way. Safiya had been pursuing this case for a week now, and bringing the three girls to justice was all that had been on her mind for so long. Now that she was finally confronting the subject of many sleepless nights, Matt didn’t know what he could do to help Safiya.

Sandra once again stepped toward Safiya, but this time the other two sorority girls were at her back. Before Safiya knew what was going on, Sandra pulled back her fist and punched Safiya in the eye.

A collective gasp drew from the crowd, but no one stepped in to intervene. Safiya stumbled back, but suddenly turned to them with a new-found fury in her eyes. “That. Is. It.”

Safiya suddenly flung herself forward, grabbed Sandra by the hair, and threw her over the couch. Safiya jumped over the couch after, tackling Sandra to the floor, striking at her violently.

Tana Mongeau and Sierra Furtado screamed in terror, while Zach Kornfeld paced back and forth shouting. “Girl-fight, girl-fight, oh my god I’ve never seen one except on TV but then my dad changed the channel…”

The room broke into a panic, but not everyone was panicked. Freddie, Justine, Michelle, and Cristine cheered Safiya on, while Teala shouted. “You go, Sofia!”

Still, as soon as Safiya had picked a fight with Sandra, it wasn’t long before her sorority sisters joined in. Safiya may have bested them height-wise, but the fight was still three to one, and Safiya was drunk while the girls were sober.

In rage, Debra punched Safiya in the jaw, not hard enough to knock teeth out but hard enough for Safiya to see stars and taste blood. Meanwhile, Belle grabbed Safiya’s long hair and pulled. Safiya was losing the fight.

Until that moment, Tyler had kept his distance to let Safiya do what she needed to do, but this was unacceptable. Tyler ran forward and pulled Belle off Safiya with the strength of a raging bull, the need to protect his girlfriend lending him strength.

He was soon followed by his friends, Jesse Wellens and Timothy DeLaGhetto who pulled Debra off of Safiya. Finally, Matt ran forward to pull Sandra away, and to his surprise Freddie punched her in the face.

Safiya pulled herself into a standing position, muscles trembling with adrenaline although blood leaked from the corner of her mouth. “Get out. GET OUT!”

Sandra pulled out of Matt’s grasp, smiling sardonically at Safiya. “Fine. Then we’re taking the stupid little ankle-biter with us. Come on, Rosanna!”

Surprisingly, Ro looked like she was going to follow, but Stephanie quickly held her in place. This was not happening.

“No. Ro stays with us,” said Safiya, her tone dark and even. She didn’t want to make choices for Ro, but this wasn’t going to go on any longer. No more.

Debra let out a short, barking laugh. “She belongs to us.”

“No she doesn’t!” snarled Safiya.

Suddenly, Gabbie stepped forward and walked toward Ro. “Give me the keys to your sorority,” she said.

“W-why…?”

“I’m going to get your stuff and bring it here. Well, the girls and I,” said Gabbie, and Safiya knew why. Gabbie used to be a member of a sorority, but they brutally rejected her when she fell in love with DeStorm, a black man. It was popular knowledge that before Gabbie could move out, the sorority girls started throwing Gabbie’s stuff down the sewer. By the time Gabbie could stop them, half her things were already down the drain. Gabbie wasn’t going to let that crap happen to anyone else, at least, not on her watch.

Rosanna forked over her keys, and Gabbie left beside not just her friends, but almost everyone from the party. It was remarkable how everyone united to fight against the bullies.

“You can’t do that!” screamed Debra, and for once she actually sounded threatened.

Debra and Belle were quickly out the door, chasing after the mob of party-goers who were ready to crash their sorority house and get Ro’s stuff out.

“Yes!” screamed Freddie. “Viva la resistance!”

Xxx

It was a standoff in the nearly empty apartment. The only people still present were Michelle, Justine, Colleen, Cristine, Ben, Matt, Rosanna, and Stephanie, who were watching Safiya and Sandra with rapt attention.

Sandra looked around. Her sorority sisters were no longer beside her, and for once she seemed to realize that it was her against a room full of people who absolutely despised her.

Safiya stood threateningly before her, blood dripping from her mouth. Her left eye was almost swollen shut, but still she held herself with pride and dignity. Sandra could feel where Safiya punched her in the jaw – by tomorrow her mouth would be swollen shut. Sandra decided she didn’t want another round of the beat down Safiya was surely capable of giving her.

Sandra backed away toward the door, the look on her face mirroring a savage animal. “This isn’t over. You’ll pay for this, Safiya. You’ll all pay for this!”

Sandra hastily left, with Safiya, Colleen, Justine, Michelle, Ben, and Cristine at her heels. The door slammed shut, leaving only Matt and Stephanie with Ro.

Xxx

It was clear that Rosanna needed immediate care. She could barely hold her head up or keep her eyes open, let alone walk. Matt scooped the tiny girl into his arms and carefully carried her up the stairs and into the bathroom. He turned to Stephanie, a desperate look in his eyes. “I’ve got to go after Safiya,” said Matt. “Steph…you have to do something.”

Stephanie nodded. “I’ll help her wash up and give her some medicine.” She looked down at Ro, who was sitting on the bathroom floor and leaning against the tub. She looked pitiful, shivering and pale with vomit in her hair and on her clothes.

Matt looked incredibly reluctant to leave, but knew he had to. Mostly because he had the strong feeling that Freddie would set fire to something to declare a revolution, and someone had to keep that from happening. Matt knelt down and gently turned up Rosanna’s chin, gazing into her rheumy eyes. “I promise I’ll be back soon. Stephanie’s gonna take care of you.”

Rosanna nodded weakly, unable to speak without vomiting once again.

Matt stood back up, and for once Stephanie could see tears in his eyes. He hugged her briefly, and then was out the door, leaving Stephanie and Rosanna alone on the bathroom floor, amongst the ruins of a party that was already just a memory.

Xxx

It was past midnight when Safiya, Matt, and Tyler returned to the apartment. Tyler was supporting Safiya, who had developed a limp at some point in the fight. The vodka was currently numbing her pain, but she knew she’d feel like hell tomorrow.

The moment Matt had opened the door, Stephanie had appeared and threw herself into Matt’s arms, clearly more worried than she’d let on earlier that night.

“Thank god you’re okay? How is everyone else?”

“They’re fine,” said Matt, gently. “Gabbie’s leading a whole army of people back here with Ro’s stuff. It’s slow going, but they should be here within an hour.”

“Tyler, you should watch the door for the others,” said Safiya. Really, what she meant was ‘guard the door in case the sorority girls come back’.

“But Saf-“

“I’ll be fine,” said Safiya, forcing herself to press both feet to the ground, even though it hurt to stand naturally. “The limp’s basically gone. I need you to unlock the door for Gabbie.”

Tyler nodded. He didn’t want to leave Safiya alone, but he was eager to ease his girlfriend’s worries in her time of need.

Matt helped Safiya up the stairs, Stephanie at his side. “Where’s Ro?” asked Safiya.

“She’s in the spare bedroom,” said Stephanie. “Poor thing must’ve vomited up everything she’s eaten in the last week.”

Safiya shuddered, not wanting to imagine how Ro must’ve been feeling.

Matt, Saf, and Steph approached the bedroom, only to be met by a truly sad sight. The lights were off, but they could plainly see Ro asleep. She had curled herself into a ball at the edge of the bed, pale and shivering with tear tracks down her cheeks. She was wearing one of Saf’s oversized night shirts, which looked like a dress on her small body. A trash can was strategically positioned beside her, and it smelled as if Ro had used it recently.

What really stood out, though, was just how young she looked. Stephanie had removed Ro’s makeup, and it just now occurred to Safiya that she’d never seen Ro without makeup on. Her cheeks were flushed red from the alcohol, but there was one other thing that stood out.

“Pigtails? Seriously?” asked Safiya, a hint of joking sarcasm in her exhausted voice.

“What? I needed to get her hair out of her face,” defended Stephanie, though she’d clearly chosen the hairstyle because it made Ro look ridiculously adorable.

Safiya slowly approached the bed and laid down beside Ro, completely exhausted. A second later, Matt joined her. When the bed shifted, Ro stirred and woke up hazily.

Ro beamed a bright smile that, for whatever reason, made Safiya want to cry. “Saf! Matt!” rasped Ro, pure joy in her sore voice upon seeing her friends.

“Yeah, it’s us,” said Safiya with a gentleness that she didn’t know she possessed.

Saf moved Ro so that she was cradled between Matt and Saf. Matt smiled and started to gently rub Ro’s back, while Stephanie curled up beside her boyfriend.

“Are you okay?” asked Ro, softly but with deep concern in her voice.

“I’ll be fine,” said Safiya, pulling Ro into a hug. And so will you. Because we’re never going to let those sorority girls hurt you again. Never again.

Chapter Text

At roughly one AM, Gabbie and Colleen entered the spare bedroom of Matt, Safiya, Stephanie, and Tyler’s apartment, Tyler having let them in. Stephanie, who was the only one of the four people occupying the spare bed who wasn’t asleep, shook Safiya and Matt awake.

Safiya groaned. It had only been an hour since she’d gotten back but already the adrenaline of the fight and the alcohol were wearing off, allowing Safiya to experience the full extent of her wounds. “Crap, Steph, can you please get me an ice pack?”

“Sure Saf,” said Stephanie, leaving for the kitchen.

“What’s up, Gabbie?” asked Matt, through a yawn. He seemed to be in the hangover phase, too.

“Well, I think the last of Ro’s stuff has been loaded into your dining room,” said Gabbie. “Sorry we had to leave it here, I couldn’t think of another place to take it.”

“No, Gab, it’s fine, really…” murmured Saf. “I have a feeling Ro’s gonna be crashing here for a while.”

At the sound of her nickname, Ro woke up. Unlike Saf and Matt, she hadn’t even entered into the hungover phase, still thoroughly drunk. It worried Saf to no end that her small body wasn’t exactly processing the alcohol well; she feared Ro would get alcohol poisoning, if she didn’t already have it.

As noted before, typically Matt was a happy drunk, Saf was a therapeutic drunk, Steph was a sentimental drunk, and Tyler was a sloppy drunk. It became quite apparent what kind of drunk Ro was when she clung a little tighter to Safiya upon noticing the new people in the room, like a child to their mother in a crowded grocery store. Infantile drunk, Saf thought to herself. Probably good to keep that in mind.

“It’s just Colleen and Gabbie,” whispered Safiya, assuming that Ro couldn’t see them in the dark room. That seemed to calm Ro down a bit.

“Most of your stuff is downstairs,” said Gabbie, now addressing Ro.

“We came up here to check on you guys,” clarified Colleen. “Also, we figured you might want your pajamas for sleeping off this hangover.” Colleen tossed one of Ro’s multi-colored nightdresses onto the bed, which Ro took appreciatively.

As soon as Steph returned with the ice pack, she grabbed Ro’s hand and led her into the bathroom to help her change into her night clothes. When Ro returned, Colleen revealed that she had brought something else into the bedroom, as well.

“We also found this little guy in your room,” said Colleen, holding up a stuffed purple dog. “Care to explain?”

“Blueberry!” Ro squealed, with childish enthusiasm. She immediately reached out to grab the puppy, but missed entirely. Safiya had a feeling that the alcohol was impairing Ro’s depth perception. In response, Colleen pushed the dog into Ro’s hands.

Ro immediately cuddled Blueberry close to her chest, and Safiya had to prevent herself from ‘aww’-ing because in her childish pajamas and pigtails cuddling the stuffed toy, coupled with the fact that they were all in a dark bedroom, it was almost impossible to tell that Ro wasn’t an actual child.

Safiya chuckled, gesturing to Blueberry. “It has a name?”

A surprisingly solemn look crossed Ro’s face, as she looked Safiya in the eyes and said with all seriousness. “He. He has a name.”

It took all of Safiya’s strength not to laugh even harder.

“Well then, I guess we’ll be going,” said Colleen. “Unless there’s anything else you need? We could help you move your television set in here if you want.”

Safiya waved her hand dismissively. “It’s fine, I think we’re just going to sleep, anyway.”

Colleen smiled. “Good, it sure looks like you need it.”

Safiya smiled. Of all her friends, Colleen was probably the most perceptive. There wasn’t a doubt in Safiya’s mind that Colleen was aware of the many sleepless nights Safiya had spent worrying about Ro and the sorority girl problem.

Xxx

After Gabbie and Colleen left, Stephanie rushed into her room and grabbed the ‘A’ encyclopedia. She started flipping through it, looking for a specific section. “Alcohol…alcohol, drunk…alcohol, ingestion…alcohol, intoxication…oh, here it is! Alcohol poisoning.” Stephanie started looking through the symptoms, trying to see if Ro had any and what she should do if she did. The good news was that apparently alcohol poisoning was self-treatable. The bad news was that some symptoms included chills, nausea, incoordination, lack of restraint, and slurred speech, all of which Ro had demonstrated.

Stephanie gulped, but continued reading. She also grabbed the ‘C’ encyclopedia to look up ‘concussion’ on Safiya’s behalf. Once she’d read all she needed to read, she grabbed a pile of blankets and rushed into the spare bedroom.

She smiled when she saw her friends curled up together, but wasted no time wrapping blankets around Ro, having read that someone with alcohol poisoning needed to be kept warm. She also shook Safiya just to make sure she didn’t have a concussion that would result in her not waking up.

“The hell, Steph?” muttered Saf, groggily.

“Good, you woke up,” murmured Steph, sitting beside Matt.

“What’s going on?” asked Ro. “What happened?” She looked around the room as if she’d forgotten where she was.

Stephanie panicked. If Ro was blacking out, that wasn’t a good sign. “W-What’s the last thing you remember?”

“I was at the party and…oh god, Safiya got in a fight with Sandra!” gasped Ro. Stephanie let out a sigh of relief. So she did remember. “Oh no…oh no…I’ve got to talk to her…”

Ro made as though to get out of bed, but Stephanie quickly pushed her back down. “No way, you need to rest.”

“B-but,” stuttered Ro, who looked like she might cry. “I need a place to live! Sigma Alpha Beta isn’t much, but it’s a-all I got!” Ro’s lip started to quiver, but she seemed to force herself not to cry. Don’t cry! Living in the sorority isn’t a bad thing. Who else would want you to live with them…?

“Ro, honey…” Stephanie trailed off.

“You can stay with us,” said Matt, firmly.

At that, Saf woke up. “Wha…ugh, my head…”

“Safiya, you have a concussion. Go back to sleep,” snapped Steph.

“Fine, Mom,” groaned Safiya, sarcastically. Still, her ears were ringing, her head ached, and any light at all hurt her eyes, so she tried to go back to sleep.

“I can’t stay here…” murmured Ro. “I don’t have the money to pay rent. An apartment is way more expensive than a sorority. Besides, I wouldn’t want to intrude…”

“You wouldn’t,” said Matt, firmly. “Besides, we’ve been looking for a roommate. The rent is actually pretty cheap. And seriously, Ro, everyone loves you. You, like, complete our circle of friends. We don’t want a random stranger living with us, we want you.”

At this point, Ro actually started to cry, though for the first time in a long time, it was because she was happy. No, overjoyed. Ro had never realized that the true burden of living in the sorority was that everyone acted like she was a waste of space, to the point where a small part of her had wondered if that was true. But now, Matt was saying that they wanted her. She was wanted, and she was loved.

Feeling a strong surge of emotion, Ro threw herself into Matt’s arms, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. Matt hugged her back, gently bracing the back of her head as she cried into his shoulder. Stephanie was actually crying too, touched by the sweet moment. She leaned over Matt and began to gently rub Ro’s back. “Let it out, honey, you’ve been holding this in for too long…”

For a while, the three friends just sat like that in silence, crying tears of joy and holding each other for comfort. Finally, Ro pulled back, smiling in slight embarrassment. “Sorry…” she murmured.

Matt chuckled. “You don’t have to be.”

“I-I’d love to live here.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“Are you sure Safiya and Tyler are okay with this?” asked Ro.

“I know they are,” said Matt. “I’ll just have to talk to them about schedules and stuff, no big deal. They love you as much as we do.”

Ro blushed. “There’s one thing I don’t get, though.”

“What?”

“How does a five bedroom apartment have cheap rent?”

Stephanie and Matt exchanged a mildly embarrassed look. “It’s…uh…it’s a three bedroom apartment,” said Matt.

“Oh,” said Ro. “Oh!” She turned bright red when she realized what that implied.

Stephanie chuckled and ruffled Ro’s hair. “Yeah, maybe don’t think too hard about that…”

Xxx

Matt hadn’t even realized that he’d fallen asleep until the sun was streaming through the bedroom window, shining against his closed eyes. Matt groaned and reluctantly opened his eyes, realizing he felt a strange sensation on his face. He reached up to swipe at his face when he felt something small…and fuzzy…with eight legs…

“SPIDER!” screamed Matt, jumping nearly ten feet in the air. “SPI-DEEER!”

Ro woke up with a scream, assuming that Matt was dying. “Matt, what’s wrong.”

“SPIDEEEEERRR!!!!”

Ro gave Matt a confused look, checking over the side of the bed to where Matt had thrown the creature off while Matt jumped up and down, screaming like a little boy. Her head spun with nausea, but she tried to ignore the pain. On the floor beside the bed was a fuzzy, but clearly fake, tarantula.

“Matt…it’s not real,” said Ro, rather bluntly.

“Wha-how-“ stammered Matt.

They heard a soft, but dark, chuckle from the sleeping figure beside them. “You better effing clean the blood out of the downstairs sink,” hissed Safiya, seemingly half-asleep.

“Are you kidding me?” snapped Matt. “How did you even-“

“I have my ways,” muttered Safiya, forcing herself into a sitting position. “And if you know what’s good for you, you’re not going to leave me to cleaning up the sink myself.”

Matt gulped, suddenly quite terrified of Safiya. “Okay…” he squeaked nervously.

“Good,” said Safiya. Her mood suddenly became more cheerful, giving Matt whiplash. “Now that that’s settled, what were you guys talking about last night?”

“I’m living here now!” cheered Ro, looking slightly blitzed. Safiya wondered if Ro would ever become truly hungover, or if her current cheery, child-like wonder was the equivalent of a hangover for Rosanna. “I-If that’s okay with you.”

Safiya smiled, pulling Ro into a side-hug. Ro snuggled into Safiya’s side. “Of course that’s alright with me,” said Safiya. She leveled her gaze with Ro, seriously. “I’m very happy to have you here.”

Ro felt like she might cry again, so Ro sniffled and hid her face against Safiya’s side. Safiya brushed a stray hair off Ro’s cheek, so it wouldn’t get matted down with tears.

Safiya smiled, sympathetically. “Those sorority girls were pretty awful, huh? Do you want to talk about it?”

Ro chuckled mirthlessly. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“Is there anything that particularly stands out to you?” asked Matt, softly. “Something you think about a lot? Maybe you’d like to get that off your chest?”

“Well…” Rosanna looked as though she was debating whether or not she should speak her mind. “They’re…kind of the reason why I’m afraid of the dark…”

“What? How?” asked Safiya.

“I mean, I never liked it, but…they just made me more afraid of it…”

“Do you want to explain?” asked Matt.

“Well…” Rosanna was extremely hesitant. Safiya had already been in a fight with the sorority girls and she didn’t want this to spark another one. “I came back to the sorority late once, and I didn’t have time to make the girls dinner.”

Safiya was already angry. Why was Ro supposed to make dinner for the entire sorority?

“Sandra was so angry…” Rosanna trailed off, trembling from recounting the terrible memory. In response, Matt pulled her into a comforting hug. “She and Debra and Belle sh-shoved me into the pantry.” Ro choked on a sob. “It was so small and dark in there…I tried to get out but they held the door shut…I don’t really remember much after that…”

“Did you have a panic attack?” asked Matt.

Ro nodded.

“Are you claustrophobic?” asked Safiya.

Ro shook her head. “I don’t have a problem with small spaces. I just don’t like small, dark spaces.” Ro sighed. “I think I passed out. I just remember waking up at six AM in the pantry, but the door was open then so I could leave.”

Both Safiya and Matt could feel red-hot rage stirring within them. So not only had they trapped Ro in the pantry, but they didn’t let her out all night?! She passed out and no one bothered to take her to her room, or even make sure she was okay?

Rosanna hugged Blueberry tighter to her chest, her head lowered so that her hair fell across her face, concealing her expression. “They didn’t like Blueberry…”

“What?” asked Saf. She had the feeling Ro was recounting another memory.

Ro nodded. “They made fun of me a lot…called me a baby for liking rainbows and unicorns and cupcakes and stuff…I had to hide my stuff from them, so they wouldn’t steal or destroy it…”

“Did they ever?” asked Matt.

Ro nodded. “When I first arrived, they used some of my posters and pictures as kindling for that gigantic fireplace they have.”

Safiya and Matt exchanged a rather alarmed look. That just wasn’t normal, not even a little.

“They stole Blueberry once,” she said, in a voice so small they could barely hear her.

“They did?” asked Matt, his voice soft and sympathetic.

Ro nodded. “I-I couldn’t find him…I looked everywhere…” Rosanna shuddered. She could still remember searching the sorority, crying, wondering where her beloved stuffed dog was, while the sorority girls laughed. She remembered Sandra holding the dog above her head, telling her ‘jump pipsqueak. If you want your pet back, you have to take it from me’. She remembered Sandra shoving her to the ground when she wasn’t tall enough to reach.

Rosanna hid her face against Matt’s chest. Digging up those memories felt painful, horrible, but it felt good to cry, like maybe now that she had friends who truly cared, she could put the past behind her.

Matt gently cupped Ro’s cheek, forcing her to look at him. “Ro, I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I want you to know that you didn’t deserve it.”

Rosanna smiled a shaky smile, curling against Matt’s warm body as Safiya tucked a blanket around Ro. In minutes, the emotionally exhausted girl was fast asleep.

Matt and Saf exchanged a look. Safiya knew she wasn’t in any condition to commit retribution against Sandra, but still, she couldn’t let the sorority leaders get away with this…

Xxx

It was about midday when Ro woke up. Matt was almost completely sober, so he’d headed downstairs to help Stephanie clean up the party. Tyler had taken his place, cuddled up beside Safiya with an arm wrapped around his girlfriend. Safiya was drinking coffee, trying to ignore the ceaseless, pulsing headache in her temple.

Ro gave Safiya a curious look, while Safiya chuckled. “Hey Ro, what’s up?” Ro seemed a bit loopy.

Ro smiled at her. “What’re you drinking?” She reached up as though to examine the coffee cup, but ended up touching Safiya’s chin instead, Safiya chuckled, that was too precious.

Ro looked perplexed as to why her depth perception was off. Safiya ruffled Ro’s hair for what felt like the third time. She was just too cute for Saf to resist. “I’m drinking coffee. Do you want some?”

Ro shook her head. “Can I have cocoa?”

Tyler grinned. “Sure, I’ll go make some.” Tyler pressed a kiss to Safiya’s bruise before leaving.

Safiya turned to Ro. “How are you feeling?”

Ro shrugged. “Could be worse. How are you?” She seemed tempted to inspect Safiya’s bruises, but didn’t want to miscalculate where she put her hands and end up poking Safiya’s eye out or something.

“Could be better,” responded Safiya, with a grim smile.

“I’m booored,” whined Ro, like a young child on bed rest. “I’ve been in bed all day. I wanna do something fun…”

She threw herself back against her pillow dramatically, making Safiya laugh.

“Well, don’t you remember?” asked Safiya.

“Remember what?” asked Ro.

“What day it is?”

“Isn’t it Saturday?”

“Yes. But do you remember what special thing happens today?” asked Safiya, trying to clue Ro in.

Ro’s eyes were huge and bright with curiosity. “What? Tell me! Tell me!”

“The carnival opens today! Don’t you remember?” asked Safiya.

A bright smile broke across Ro’s face, her eyes somehow lighting up even brighter. “I totally forgot!”

“Are you feeling up to it?” asked Safiya. Safiya remembered that last night had been rather physically and emotionally exhausting. Plus, Ro definitely still had alcohol in her system.

Ro nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! I want to go! Please please please!”

“Of course you can go,” said Safiya. “I’m just going to have to see if Stephanie lets me off bed rest.”

Ro’s smile fell. “Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot about your limp. We don’t have to go.”

Safiya’s eyebrows scrunched up with concern. “Wait a minute, you can go without me.”

Ro shook her head emphatically. “No! I won’t have any fun if I know that you’re alone in this apartment while I’m off having fun. I’d rather stay with you.” She cuddled closer to Safiya, resting her head on the taller girl’s hip.

Safiya ran her hand through Ro’s hair. “I won’t be alone. Tyler will probably stay here with me.”

“All for one and one for all…” murmured Ro.

Safiya chuckled. “Then I guess I’ll just have to get better quick, huh?”

“Uh-huh…” murmured Ro, drifting back to sleep yet again, feeling totally relaxed in the presence of her kind friend.

Safiya smiled. She was glad Ro felt comfortable around her, but it worried her that Ro could go from vibrating with energy to fast asleep in the blink of an eye. Was she truly ready to leave the apartment, to face a campus full of students at the carnival?

Xxx

Downstairs, Matt and Stephanie dug through piles of streamers, confetti, and various alcohol containers. Matt scrubbed the sink out while Stephanie loaded the garbage into garbage bags.

“What should I do with this stack of newspapers?” asked Stephanie.

“Just toss ‘em, unless you want to do something with them,” called Matt, from the kitchen.

Stephanie shrugged, tossing the pile of newspapers into a garbage bag. What she didn’t notice was the newspaper from last night, Friday the thirteenth, which was at the top of the pile. She tossed the pile of newspapers out before she could read the headline:

The Clowns Here Kill.

Chapter Text

“It’s six o’ clock!” shouted Matt, throwing open the door to the spare bedroom.

Ro and Saf woke up immediately, Saf grabbing her head and laying back down, groaning, and Ro bouncing enthusiastically on the bed.

“Carnival time!” squealed Ro. “Let’s go!”

“Hold up,” said Matt, with a chuckle. “Saf, do you feel up to it?”

Safiya groaned. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’ll just avoid the rides that spin around a lot.”

“Great!” squealed Ro. “We should wear Halloween costumes!”

Matt grinned. “Good idea! I’ve saved all my costumes from the last four years!”

“Of course you did,” groaned Safiya. “Seriously Matt, clean out your junk closet.”

“Never!”

Safiya rolled her eyes and turned her attention from Matt to Ro. “Sorry Ro, I don’t have a costume. Steph’s old costumes won’t fit me.”

“Come on, Saf!” groaned Ro. “Your whole closet is a Halloween costume…no offense. Seriously, though, just go as Morticia.”

“She’s gone as Morticia for Halloween for the last seven years,” said Matt, teasingly.

“Untrue!” snapped Safiya. “I went as a dark queen three years ago.”

“Then what did you go as next year?”

“Morticia…”

“Exactly.”

Ro smiled and clapped her hands. “Then it’s settled! Matt and Steph can wear one of their old costumes, and you and Tyler can dig around your closet for creepy goth stuff!”

“What’re you gonna wear?” asked Matt. “Do you even have a costume?”

“Matt, I love Halloween,” said Ro, with dead seriousness. “I’ve had a costume picked out for two months.”

“What is it?” asked Matt.

Ro winked. “You’ll just have to see…”

Xxx

At about six-thirty, the group assembled at the door. Matt had borrowed one of Safiya’s trademark investigative reporter ascots and was dressed as Fred from Scooby-Doo. To match, Stephanie was wearing a green scarf, purple dress, and orange wig; she was going as Daphne. Safiya wore a long, black, velvet dress with wide bell-sleeves, a gothic choker, and dark makeup to look like Morticia. Tyler also decided to match the couples-costume vibe by digging up an old costume Safiya had made him wear last Halloween: a Gomez Addams costume comprised of a suit and red bowtie.

“Come on, Ro!” shouted Matt. “How long is your costume gonna take?!”

“Just a minute!” screamed Ro.

The group waited a minute, until finally Ro pranced down the stairs, proudly displaying her costume. It consisted of red tights and a red tutu and leotard covered in black spots, fake red wings with black spots, and a pair of bobby red antennae. “I’m a ladybug!” squealed Ro. “Doesn’t this costume look awesome?!”

“Wow Ro,” said Safiya, impressed. “Did you make this yourself?”

Ro grinned. “Yup! Well, I bought the tights, tutu, and leotard, but I painted the black spots on them!”

The group had to suppress ‘aww’s. Once again, Ro was just too cute for words.

“Well gang,” announced Matt. “Looks like we’ve got a mystery to solve!”

“Cool it Fred,” teased Safiya. “Maybe you should drive us in your ‘mystery machine’ to the scene of the crime first.”

“Dang it, Safiya!” whined Matt. “You ruined my moment!”

“To the carnival we go!” announced Safiya in an overly-dramatic voice, completely interrupting Matt.

Xxx

Upon arriving at the carnival, Matt, Safiya, Tyler, Stephanie, and Ro were immediately bombarded with delicious scents, colorful lights, and the sound of teenagers laughing, screaming, and cheering.

“What should we do first?” asked Matt.

“I want to go to the haunted house!” cheered Safiya.

“I want to play some games,” announced Stephanie.

“I want to do everything!” squealed Ro, still slightly tipsy and euphoric.

“How about we go to the haunted house first,” suggested Matt. “Since that ride always gets a really long line. We can ride some of the less popular rides after and play some games. How’s that sound?”

Everyone agreed that that was probably a good idea.

It wasn’t a long walk to the haunted house. All they had to do was pass the Ferris wheel, bumper cars, and spinning teacups (all of which Ro announced that she wanted to ride) and they’d reached the ride.

The haunted house already had a short line when they arrived. Colleen, Lilly Singh, and Glozelle were in line in front of them, so they chatted while waiting.

“I’m so excited for tonight!” cheered Colleen. “Remember how last year the carnival ended with fireworks? Well, I heard there’s a new ending to the carnival this year! Apparently, it’s going to make this night unforgettable!”

“That was awesome!” said Lilly. “And did you hear? Lindsey Sterling finally got the mayor to let her put on a show in the town square!”

“Good for her!” said Matt. Lindsey was one of the girls in his theater class, and he was happy for her. “We’ll make sure to stop by and see her.”

Glozelle shrugged. “I don’t know, I kind of liked the carnival more last year. Have you seen the town square? It’s, like, crawling with clowns.”

“Clowns?” asked Safiya. She kept her voice steady, but Tyler and Matt noticed her eye twitch. Tyler gently took hold of her hand.

“Yeah, it’s kind of weird,” continued Glozelle. “Like, there were a couple clowns last year, but now it’s like every carnival worker is dressed as a clown.”

“Umm…maybe the carnival is clown-themed this year?” suggested Stephanie, even though she realized how ridiculous that sounded.

Before they could continue the conversation, the line moved forward. Previously, they had been waiting outside the attraction in an area designed to look like a graveyard. Now, they moved to stand on what appeared to be the haunted house’s decrepit patio. Once they were actually standing in the haunted house, Ro began to look nervous.

“Guys…I’m not sure about this…” she murmured, softly.

“Don’t be afraid,” said Matt. “Believe me, this house was set up in, like, one month. I guarantee it’s going to look cheesy inside. Seriously, it won’t be scary at all.”

Rosanna gulped and nodded.

“Next in line, board the open fear-mobile!” announced the ride operator, suspiciously also dressed as a clown. Safiya took careful precaution to separate herself from the clown, mainly using Tyler as a barrier.

Glozelle, Colleen, and Lilly boarded the ‘fear-mobile’, which was just a cart with two rows of three seats, painted green, purple, and black. Safiya, Matt, Tyler, Stephanie, and Ro waved to their friends as the cart shot off at an alarming speed into the dark depths of the haunted house.

No sooner had the fear-mobile entered the house that another empty fear-mobile approached. “All aboard the fear mobile!” announced the operator.

Matt sat on the left seat in the back row, while Stephanie sat in the middle seat beside him. Safiya sat in the right seat of the front row, Tyler on the left, with Rosanna wedged between them, because she was too afraid to take a side seat. Safiya wrapped an arm around Ro, and Tyler held her hand from where it was positioned on Ro’s shoulder. Safiya and Tyler exchanged a smile, and the ride took off.

Surprisingly, the first thing the cart did once it entered the house was take a nosedive down the tracks into the house’s basement. The group screamed because it felt like the ride was going at eighty-miles-per-hour as the cart plummeted. But that was impossible, right?

The basement was pitch black, causing Ro to tremble and even the rest of the group to shutter. However, at a certain point, a green light flashed on, revealing a graveyard full of rotting zombies that looked alarmingly real.

Are these the same people who played zombies at the pumpkin patch? wondered Matt. He didn’t really have time to find an answer to that question, however, because a zombie suddenly jumped on the front of the cart, roaring in the group’s faces. Everyone screamed.

“I thought this was supposed to be fun!” cried Stephanie, as the zombies started closing in around the cart.

Safiya, Tyler, and Matt started inching away from the sides of the cart. Ro shut her eyes and prayed that this would be over soon.

Right when it seemed like the zombies would rip their heads off and feast upon their brains, the cart shot off down the track.

The next room the cart entered seemed to be an old indoor pool. The water was filled with algae and the walls were water-stained. The room smelled of dead fish and salt. The cart slowly turned so that the group faced the pool as the cart turned a circle around the pool. Just when it seemed like nothing was going to happen, a seashell rose from the water.

Splayed out across the center of the seashell was a beautiful mermaid who sang in a soft, lilting voice. She was so beautiful, no one could take their eyes off of her. They didn’t even notice the room’s other inhabitant.

Springing from behind the cart was an ungodly beast with sharp teeth, scales, and horns. The cart whirled around just in time for the beast to scream in everyone’s faces. The lighting in the room turned from a soft purple to a violent red as the mermaid’s mouth split open into a long bloody maw filled with sharp teeth.

“What is this ride?!” screamed Matt, alarmed by how real everything looked. Last year, the ride had consisted of a bunch of wooden cut-outs painted to look like vampires, skeletons, mummies, and werewolves. The scariest thing had been some guy hired to wave a plastic chainsaw around at the end of the ride!

“This is too real!” screamed Rosanna, tears forming in her eyes. “I want to get off this thing!” But the safety belt strapping everyone into their seats was only able to be opened with a key that the ride operator had. The haunted house was too large for the ride to stop anytime soon. And this was only the second room.

Once again, the ride didn’t move onto the third room until it seemed like the monster and mermaid were seconds away from devouring everyone whole. Still, the cart shot up a set of rickety stairs into a ballroom filled with dancing people wearing black.

“Hey look, Safiya,” said Tyler, trying to lighten the mood. “It’s your people!”

“Yes, I feel right at home here,” said Safiya, sarcastically.

The cart reached the center of the ballroom before stopping. None of the dancing people even seemed to notice the cart. That was, not until an older man, who seemed to be the leader, stepped up to a podium.

“Esteemed visitors,” the man announced to the room. “I promised dinner would be served at the stroke of midnight. But it seems the meal has arrived early!”

Dozens of heads snapped in the cart’s direction. The dancers eyes began to glow red, and sharp fangs replaced their canine teeth.

“Oh my god,” whispered Stephanie.

The vampires swarmed the cart. Some jumped onto the front, hissing, while others clung to the back. Safiya wrapped her arms protectively around Ro, while Matt did the same for Steph.

Unlike before, the cart didn’t shoot out of the room. Instead, it raced around a track within the ballroom, dipping and dodging vampires as though it was actually running in terror. Finally, when the last vampire had been thrown off, the cart whizzed through a side door and into a grand kitchen.

“The ride can’t be much longer,” whispered Matt. “It’s already been, like, ten minutes!”

A large, friendly-looking woman and her timid assistant emerged from a side door. “Aww, aren’t your costumes cute,” cooed the woman, in a suspiciously over-friendly voice. “Especially you, sweetie,” she purred, pointing at Ro. Ro shuttered.

“In fact,” she continued. “You all look so cute, I want to just eat…you…up!”

At once, the woman’s large oven sprung open and the ride rocketed inside, spinning around so that the group could face the woman.

“I don’t think we should-“ began the assistant.

“Silence!” screamed the woman, grabbing a butcher’s knife and plunging it into the man’s arm.

Everyone screamed as blood splattered across the room.

How do they even clean that up in time for the next ride…? Matt couldn’t help but wonder.

The oven slammed shut and began to heat up. However, just as the heat was becoming unbearable, the ride tilted backwards and shot down a one-hundred-eighty-degree track. The group panicked as they rocketed backward into the dark depths of the oven.

The ride stopped abruptly, causing their heads to fling forward upon impact. Tyler rubbed the back of his neck in pain. That had to be some kind of safety violation, right?

The cart slowly turned around, revealing a bedroom with sensual red-velvet walls and a canopy bed. The room also happened to be filled with scantily-clad mannequins.

Safiya’s first instinct was to cover Ro’s eyes with her hand. Stephanie shut her eyes. “Uh-uh, no way…” she muttered under her breath.

“I don’t think I’m old enough to be seeing this…” whimpered Matt.

“Isn’t this ride supposed to be appropriate for all ages?” Tyler whispered to Safiya.

The cart slowly weaved between mannequins in all types of erotic poses, until it reached the center of the room. There, the mannequins’ heads began to turn ever so slowly toward the cart. Once mannequin’s arm began to slowly reach toward the group. This was too creepy for anyone to handle, and they all turned their faces from the mannequins in discomfort.

That was a mistake.

The moment they looked up to check what was going on (specifically Matt, Tyler, and Safiya), the mannequins had moved with lightning-fast speed to surround the cart.

“No!” shouted Tyler. “No! This is not okay!”

The mannequins looked less human and more demonic now. One mannequin, the one who reached toward them early, was now reaching toward them with a clawed hand. A mannequin with sharp teeth and an almost-entirely nude body lingered a bit too close to Matt’s head.

Luckily, the cart rushed out quickly after that, entering the second-to-last room.

Connected to the mannequin sex dungeon (as Safiya called it) was a second bedroom. Inside this room, however, was a girl with long, black hair and a white dress. A priest stood to the side, shouting biblical quotations and holding out a cross.

It was an exorcism.

The girl squirmed and roared in bed. “Abandon this body, satanic beast!” shouted the priest.

Rosanna started to cry. “I want to get out of here!”

The cart turned to face the bed, giving the group a full view of the girl’s neck snapping backward and her head twisting toward them. Matt thought he was going to throw up.

The girl suddenly sprung upon the cart, roaring in the group’s faces. Her dark hair parted, revealing empty, black eyes. The front row screamed as the girl loomed over them.

The cart suddenly spun around, hurling the girl toward the priest. Alarmingly, the priest held out the cross upside-down, revealing that the cross was constructed around a sharp stake. As the girls was flung at the priest, the priest gored the girl through the stomach with his cross, spraying blood across the whole room.

The cart, more slowly than usual, exited into the final room.

Unlike the previous rooms, this room didn’t seem to have a theme. It was a pitch black tunnel lined with illuminated funhouse-mirrors. A single dark-room lightbulb hung from the ceiling, flickering every few seconds.

At one point, the light cut out entirely for a solid twenty seconds. When the light flickered on, for a brief moment Safiya was met with a horrible sight. Clowns. Not just in the mirrors, but also in the seats her friends had previously inhabited. A clown sat in the seat where Ro should’ve been, dangerously close to Safiya.

Safiya screamed and tried to scramble out of the ride, but her safety belt was too tight.

The lights flickered off again.

The room filled with screams and roars, maniacal laughter and growls, when suddenly the lights flickered back on, revealing that nothing had happened in the darkness. Safiya’s friends’ seats were once again inhabited by her friends. The mirrors were once again only filled with their reflections and a few fake holographic ghosts. Surprisingly, that was the only thing that looked fake.

The cart drove out of the final room, revealing that it had returned to the patio boarding area.

“Everybody off!” shouted the ride operator, as the safety belts unlocked. Ro didn’t even wait for Safiya to dismount the ride; she ran in tears from the horrible ride. Matt and Stephanie chased after her, both secretly overjoyed to be off that ride. Safiya quickly followed suit, avoiding the clowns, while Tyler hung back to complain to the ride operator about the inappropriate mannequin room and how the ride should’ve had a warning for parents with small children.

Tyler and Safiya eventually caught up to Ro, Matt, and Steph by a picnic table. Glozelle, Lilly, and Colleen were sitting there. Colleen must’ve seen Ro running, because she was currently hugging the girl close, simultaneously comforting and restraining her.

“That…was…awesome!” shouted Lilly.

“That was awful,” groaned Matt. “I never want to ride that thing again.”

“Me neither,” whimpered Ro, as Colleen soothingly ran a hand through her hair.

“I’ll second that,” groaned Stephanie, a hand over her pounding heart.

Matt turned his attention toward Saf. “Are you okay, Saf? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Not that I’m surprised, that ride was kind of horrifying.”

“I-I’m fine,” said Safiya, catching her breath. She was surprised by just how fast her heart was pounding, too. “It’s just…was that last room a little…weird for you guys?”

Colleen exchanged a look with Glozelle and Lilly, while Matt exchanged a confused look with Stephanie. “I mean…I guess it was a little weird that the room was filled with mirrors. It was the only room that didn’t have a physical monster,” said Stephanie.

“But there were ghosts in the mirrors,” added Lilly. “I remember that much.”

“Is that what you’re referring to, Saf?” asked Tyler. He didn’t even need to ask to know that that wasn’t what Safiya was referring to, but her answer would determine whether or not she’d want to talk about it.

“Um…I guess,” said Saf. “I don’t know, I think the pain meds are getting to me.”

“Oh that’s right!” said Colleen. “Are you feeling okay?”

And just like that, the topic changed from the haunted house to last night’s rager. But no one could forget the horrors that lied within that spooky ride.

Xxx

Talking with her friends restored Ro’s cheerfulness, and she was back to her normal, bubbly self as soon as the haunted house was far behind her.

Everyone said goodbye to Colleen, Lilly, and Glozelle, who decided to hit up the roller-disco. Following Matt’s plan, the group decided to play some games and ride the rides with short lines.

“Ooh!” squealed Ro. “It looks like Ms. Calliope has a fortune telling booth! We should go!”

“Ro, maybe we shouldn’t-“ began Saf, but Ro was already tugging her toward the booth.

“Hi Ms. Calliope!” said Ro, a bit too loudly. “Are you reading fortunes?”

“Yes, child,” said Calliope, a bit perplexed about Ro’s demeanor.

Safiya face-palmed. There was no way Calliope wouldn’t notice Ro’s alcohol-induced behavior. After all, it had been less than twenty-four hours since Ro had gotten drunk, even though that already felt like years ago.

Calliope sifted through some tarot cards, before giving Ro a reading. “You had to overcome some struggles in the past, but you are on track for a bright future,” said Calliope, very generically.

“Oh my gosh, that’s so true!” Ro practically screamed.

Calliope raised her eyebrow and turned to Safiya, as though to ask ‘should I be concerned?’ Safiya smiled awkwardly, grabbed Ro’s arm, and tugged her away from the booth, giving Calliope a generous payment for the reading.

“New plan,” groaned Safiya. “Don’t go up to any teachers until you’re sober!”

“What are you talking about?” drawled Ro. “I am so, completely, one-hundred percent sober!” Ro went to lean on a picnic bench but missed entirely. She would’ve fallen over if it weren’t for Safiya quickly grabbing her. Safiya raised an eyebrow while Ro smiled sheepishly. “Okay, maybe not one-hundred percent. But there’s no way Ms. Calliope could tell!”

Before Safiya could argue that point, Tyler, Matt, and Steph approached with arms loaded down with snack.

“Who wants kettle corn!” shouted Stephanie.

“Yes! I love kettle corn!” shouted Ro, seemingly forgetting everything Safiya had told her.

Xxx

A devious grin spread across Ro’s face as Matt, Safiya, Steph, Tyler, and her wandered the fairgrounds, making them nervous.

“Okay guys,” said Ro, in a conspiratorial voice. “One of you couples has to ride the Tunnel of Love. No getting out of it!”

“Aww, come on!” whined Stephanie. “I hate all that lovey-dovey mushy-gushy stuff!”

“The Tunnel of Love is so cheesy! Why do you even want us to ride it?” asked Safiya.

The conspiratorial grin returned to Ro’s face as she whispered. “’Cause I saw Ms. Calliope get on with Mr. Mortimer and I think someone should spy on them.”

Well, that changed everything. “We’ll go!” said Tyler and Safiya simultaneously, eager to spy on the teachers.

“Is it illegal for me to take pictures?” Safiya asked Matt.

“Not unless you publicize them,” said Matt.

“Great!” cheered Safiya, grabbing her camera and Tyler’s hand, before racing off to the ride.

Xxx

The Tunnel of Love sure was cheesy. A ride attendant, dressed as a clown in a white dress with hearts all over it and a pink wig, directed Tyler and Safiya to sit in a small swan boat. Everything was covered in ribbons, hearts, glitter, and roses. It made Safiya want to binge watch The Addams Family.

Still, something about the romantic atmosphere may have gotten to Safiya, because she couldn’t help but peck Tyler on the lips as the ride took off.

As the ride wound around images of love throughout the ages, through decorative archways, and under artistic romantic scenes, Safiya and Tyler kept their eyes out for Mortimer and Calliope.

“Look! There they are!” hissed Tyler, pointing out a cart parallel to theirs, except further in the ride.

Calliope and Mortimer were sitting beside each other. Mortimer took Calliope’s hand. She let him hold it for about ten seconds before she pulled it away. Regardless, Safiya managed to snap a picture.

Safiya kissed her camera. “Yes! This picture is gold!”

“How come the camera’s getting more action than me?” whined Tyler, teasingly.

Safiya grinned and kissed Tyler once more as the ride approached the exit.

Xxx

Safiya and Tyler exited the Tunnel of Love, only to find Matt, Steph, and Ro at a water gun game booth, pissing off a clown who ran the game.

Matt and Steph kept spraying the water guns at each other, rather than the target they were supposed to spray. Ro aimed for the target but sprayed everything except it, including the clown. Needless to say, ten minutes had passed and still no one had won the game.

“You guys!” shouted Saf. “We got a picture!”

“Ooh, let me see!” shouted Ro.

Saf pulled the developed photo out of her pocket and showed it to Ro. “Aww!” sighed Ro. “This is so cute! I always knew those two had a thing for each other!”

“Blech,” groaned Stephanie. “Don’t want to see that, thank you very much. Can we do something else?”

“Let’s ride the Ferris wheel!” cried Ro, pointing out the tallest ride in the park.

Stephanie gulped. “Are you crazy?! Do you know how many people have died on those things?!”

“Yeah, and I’m not a huge fan of heights…” Tyler said, hesitantly.

Safiya shrugged, and turned to Ro. “How about you and Matt ride the Ferris wheel and Steph, Tyler, and I ride the carousel?”

“Okay!” cheered Ro. “Have fun!” Ro grabbed Matt’s hand and dragged him toward the Ferris wheel, like an eager younger sister dragging their big brother to the mall.

After a short wait in line, a very tall, very muscular, female clown lead them to their seat.

“Wow! It has a blanket and everything!” gasped Ro, surveying the seat.

Matt and Ro sat down and pulled the blanket over themselves. The ride started up, and they began to rise.

“Wait a sec…” murmured Matt. “There’s something strange here…”

From the ground, Matt hadn’t noticed, but from above Matt could see that the clowns who didn’t operate rides, who gave out balloons or did face painting or something, were formed in a circle across the carnival. “Isn’t that weird?” murmured Matt.

As he spoke, and as it came closer and closer towards the carnival’s closing time, the clowns seemed to tighten their circle. “Oh god, Safiya’s going to lose it…” murmured Matt. “Why are they doing that…?”

“Matt, check it out!” said Rosanna, shifting in her seat. She revealed that she had been sitting on a newspaper. “I didn’t notice at first, but I think I’ve been sitting on this thing all along.”

“Why would someone leave a newspaper on a Ferris wheel?” muttered Matt, unfolding it.

The headline screamed in his face: The Clowns Here Kill.

“Oh my god,” whispered Matt. “Ro…I think one of these clowns is operating the Ferris wheel.” He pointed to the image on the front page, and sure enough there was a muscular, tall, female clown on it.

Ro gulped. “A-And I think I saw the clown in the center operating the milk-bottle toss…” Sure enough, the blue haired clown they had encountered earlier was in the center of the page, a leader of sorts. “B-But that’s not possible!”

When they’d reached the top, the Ferris wheel stopped.

Matt panicked as he watched the circle of clowns close in. “Don’t trust the clowns!” screamed Matt, although of course no one could hear him.

The mayor stood at the podium in the town square. “Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for!” she announced. “The grand finale of-“

Before she could finish, a hulking beast of a clown leapt onstage and stabbed her through the gut with a spear.

The carnival broke into chaos. Everyone was running this way and that, but the clowns had them surrounded.

“We have to get down!” screamed Matt, but they were too high up to dismount safely.

“Matt…” said Ro, very quietly. “Is it just me, or is the Ferris wheel moving?”

It was true, the Ferris wheel was moving, but not in its typical, stationary manner. Instead, the Ferris wheel was moving forward, off its axis.

“Hold on!” screamed Matt, grabbing Ro and grabbing the side of the cart.

The wheel began to roll across the carnival grounds, flattening tents and undoubtedly harming many individuals. Everyone aboard started screaming, calling for help. Ro and Matt ducked as they reached ground level, but the Ferris wheel was turning so fast that they were right back to the top in no time.

“We have to jump,” said Matt.

“Are you crazy?!” screamed Ro.

“If we stay on board, who knows what could happen!” cried Matt. “Look, the bouncy house is right up ahead. On my count, jump.” Really, all that Matt was thinking about was getting to Stephanie before the clowns could get to her.

Ro gulped and nodded. She grabbed Matt’s hand as he began to count.

“Three.”

The Ferris wheel spun them back toward the top.

“Two.”

Ro and Matt were about midway between the top and the bottom.

“One!”

Matt and Ro screamed as they plummeted toward the bouncy house. As they crashed into the center of the bouncy house, the impact of their fall caused it to deflate. That didn’t matter, though. They were alive.

“We did it!” screamed Matt.

“I think I’m going to puke,” groaned Ro.

As Ro doubled over, clutching her stomach, Matt watched the Ferris wheel roll away, trying not to think of the many civilians aboard.

“Come on,” said Matt, softly. He took Ro’s hand and helped her up. “Let’s go find Steph, Saf, and Tyler.”

Xxx

In the town square, a massacre was under way.

Ro and Matt met up with Colleen, who was hiding behind a picnic table with her friends, boyfriend, and sister. “Colleen, what the hell is going on?!” whispered Matt.

“I don’t know, but one of those clowns just smashed Jake and Logan Paul’s heads in with a hammer. Not gonna lie, I’m not gonna miss them,” said Colleen.

“Colleen!” snapped Matt. “This is no time for jokes!”

“Who’s joking?”

Matt rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine. Where are Stephanie, Safiya, and Tyler?”

“Last I saw, they were by the carousel,” said Colleen. “But you shouldn’t go there. It’s, like, the hotspot for clowns.”

Matt was already heading in that direction, Ro at his heels.

Xxx

Stephanie, Safiya, and Tyler hid inside one of the stationary sleighs on the carousel, trying not to make a sound.

“Hey, High Tower!” shouted one of the clowns. “Whatcha lookin’ for?”

High Tower sniffed, and chuckled. “I think I smell scared teenagers!”

Stephanie, Safiya, and Tyler could hear footsteps approaching the sleigh. They clung to each other in terror as the footsteps passed by them.

Tyler let out a breath of relief, when suddenly High Tower was back, peering into the sleigh. “Peek-a-boo, I see you!”

The three students screamed and bolted in all different directions. Stephanie luckily saw Matt approaching and ran to him, throwing her arms around him. “Matt!” she cried.

“Steph!” gasped Matt, holding her close as though he’d never let her go. He had come so close to losing her…

“I’ll go get Safiya and Tyler,” said Ro, bravely. “Take Stephanie back to Colleen.”

“But Ro-“

“I’ll be fine.”

Matt lead Stephanie toward Colleen’s picnic table, while Ro ran into the belly of the beast.

Xxx

Matt was horrified by what he saw upon arriving at the picnic tables.

The clowns had discovered Colleen and her friends. Rachel, Corey, and Lilly seemed to have gotten away. But Colleen…Colleen was surrounded.

Erik tried desperately to break into the circle of clowns, but they just flung him off like an insect. “Colleen!” screamed Matt.

One clown seemed to take interest. He approached Matt, causing Matt to immediately regret getting involved. The clown, a very muscular male, suddenly grabbed Matt by the neck and lifted him up, squeezing with all his might. Matt gasped for breath, slowly turning purple.

Meanwhile, one clown stabbed Colleen in the shoulder, a second stabbed her in the leg. Colleen cried out in agony.

Stephanie felt trapped. Colleen was completely surrounded by malicious clowns, while Matt was getting strangled to death. Stephanie had to make a decision of who she was going to help: it was ultimately an easy choice.

Stephanie ran a short distance to where she’d seen a test-your-strength game with a large, wooden mallet. Stephanie ran back to the clown who was strangling Matt, and started bashing his head, legs, side, and even crotch with her mallet. “Get! Your! Hands! Off! My! BOYFRIEND!” she screamed, as she hammered that clown into the ground.

The clown collapsed, dropping Matt. Matt inhaled deeply, color slowly returning to his face. “Th-Thanks Steph,” he gasped.

“No problem,” said Stephanie. “I saw one of those hammers used for pitching tents by the big top. Let’s go get it and see if we can help Colleen.”

Xxx

Upon arriving at the big top, Stephanie and Matt were met by a horrific sight. Ro stumbled toward them dizzily, ultimately collapsing against Matt. The front of her costume had been torn open, revealing a long, dark cut-mark that stretched from her stomach to her collar bone. It didn’t appear to be deep, but it was bleeding profusely.

“Ro!” gasped Steph. Immediately, she removed her Daphne scarf and tied it around Ro’s chest, both stanching the flow of blood and providing the girl some decency.

Ro looked like she wanted to say something, but passed out into Stephanie’s arms before she could form the words.

Matt felt hopeless. One of his closest friends was unconscious in front of him. He couldn’t protect her, nor could he protect his girlfriend. Safiya and Tyler were missing, and one look toward the picnic tables revealed that Matt and Steph were too late: Colleen was laying in the dirt, having been stabbed in many places.

A shout from the town square drew matt’s attention, and he hesitantly looked out.

At long last, police chiefs Wilmer and Veronica Jones had arrived. They were knelt beside the bodies of Jake and Logan Paul. “My sons!” cried Wilmer, in agony. “My sons are dead!”

He’s their father? mused Matt. That oddly enough makes sense.

At the very least, that was proof that the cops would likely double their efforts to apprehend the clowns. The Everlock fire department was slowly arriving to extinguish the fires caused by the runaway Ferris wheel. Maybe this can all be back under control…

Knock on wood.

Right when Matt thought everything might be okay, he saw something more horrifying than words could describe. It happened across the town square, but Matt felt as if it were happening right in front of him. The scene seemed to play out in slow motion.

Safiya had taken up the spear of the clown who killed the mayor, and was using it to defend herself from the hoard of clowns. The clowns were tying Tyler to the carousel. Safiya tried to get to him, but her leg injury prevented her from moving fast.

“Safiya! Behind you!” Tyler shrieked. But it was too late.

Safiya turned briefly, just in time to see the clown with blue hair plunge a giant fishhook into Safiya’s waist.

Safiya’s mouth dropped open in pain and shook. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. For one, horrifying moment, she seemed to lock eyes with Matt. She then turned to Tyler, who was openly sobbing.

Then she collapsed.

Chapter Text

The Everlock hospital was buzzing with activity when Matt burst in, Steph at his side, carrying Ro, and Tyler followed carrying Safiya. All around, nurses were pushing gurneys carrying various university students. The emergency room sign was flashing bright red. Worried parents and those uninjured from the carnival swarmed the waiting room and patients.

“Hey! We need a doctor!” Tyler screamed at the top of his lungs once they entered, to be heard over the commotion. He was openly crying. His shirt was soaked with Safiya’s blood.

When it seemed that no doctors were available, Matt and Tyler pushed their way to the front of the hospital’s check-in booth. “We have an emergency!” shouted Matt. “My friends…they might die!”

The man behind the check-in table smiled with forced politeness. “I understand you’re concerned,” he said, gently. “But we’ve kind of got a crisis on our hands. No doctors are available currently. We’re trying to contact nearby hospitals-“

Tyler was furious. “I don’t care if there’s no doctors available! Get us a damn nurse if that’s all you got! Give us directions to another hospital! I don’t want this ‘there’s nothing we can do’ crap! You’re trained in medicine, right? So get off your ass and do something because my girlfriend is dying!”

Matt and Steph were taken aback. Tyler was usually the calm, levelheaded one. Never had he had such a fiery temper.

The man seemed pretty unnerved too. “I-I-I told you, sir. We’re t-trying to contact doctors from o-other-“

At that moment, a doctor burst in. “Sir, we’re open to taking some more patients. The previous ones have all been hooked up to IV’s, but we’re going to need a specialist to treat some of the wounds,” she said.

“What kind?”

The woman hesitated. “Organ donation and bone restructuring. We’re also going to need more blood bags.”

“I-I’ll see to that immediately,” said the nervous check-in man. He pointed Tyler toward the doctor with shaking hands. Tyler gave him a look as though to say you’re lucky that doctor showed up.

Xxx

The doctor settled Safiya on a gurney and began to check her wounds, as another doctor came in. “I’m open to taking more patients.”

The first doctor gestured to Ro, who was still in Matt’s arms. “Take her. I gave her a quick check and she seems to be fine, but she may need a blood transfusion.”

The second doctor nodded, and gestured for Matt to follow him.

The doctor took Matt to a nearby operating room. Matt laid Ro down on one of the gurneys while the doctor began to inspect her. “You’re lucky the cut isn’t deep,” said the doctor. “She’s going to need a blood transfusion and plenty of stitches, though.”

The doctor momentarily stepped out of the room to get an IV. When he returned, he poked a needle into Ro’s arm and prepared for the transfusion. He also pulled from his desk what seemed to be high-tech needle and thread: the materials he’d need to stitch up Ro’s wound.

The doctor looked at Matt. “You may want to step out for this part.”

He didn’t have to ask Matt twice. Matt stumbled out of the operating room, feeling more terrified than he’d ever felt in his life. If Ro or Saf died…Matt didn’t know what he’d do with himself. Saf had been his best friend for as long as he could remember, and Ro…he may have just met her recently, but she already felt like a little sister to him.

Matt met Steph in the hallway, feeling hopeless and scared, but overall, nauseous. “Bathroom,” he groaned.

Stephanie got the message and looped an arm around Matt, supporting him, and led him to the nearest bathroom. The moment they were in, Matt started vomiting into the toilet.

A doctor walked by. “Is he okay?” he asked Stephanie.

“I’m fine!” snapped Matt. “Go help someone who really needs it!”

The doctor, looking offended, walked away. Stephanie gave Matt a disapproving look. “Well, that was a little rude, friend.”

“I can’t help it,” groaned Matt. He sat back, too mentally exhausted to realize that he was currently sitting on a grimy bathroom floor. “I can’t stop thinking about Ro and Saf. What if they don’t-“

Stephanie sat beside Matt, shuddering, and put a finger to his lips. “Don’t say that,” said Stephanie. “They’re going to be fine. The doctors would’ve told us if they didn’t think Ro or Saf would make it.”

Matt hugged Steph, crying silently into her shoulder. Stephanie felt like crying too, but wanted to stay strong for her boyfriend.

When Matt’s tears had subsided, Stephanie pulled back. “Do you feel better now?”

Matt smiled, shakily. “Yeah, thanks Steph.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” said Steph. “Let’s just get off this disgusting floor and go see if our friends are okay.”

Xxx

Matt paced the hallway, feeling nervous and helpless yet again. When he and Steph had checked up on Ro and Saf, it had turned out that Ro was being situated in a new room for recovery – the stitches hadn’t taken long – while Saf was still in emergency surgery. Both needed peace and quiet, so Matt wasn’t allowed to see them.

Unable to sit still, Matt checked on all the rooms open to visitors.

His first stop was Colleen’s room. He had to know how she was doing. Around Colleen’s gurney sat Erik, Kory, Rachel, and Lilly. Every so often Shane Dawson would check on Colleen, but seeing as he wasn’t greatly injured from the attack, he would always leave quickly after checking and return to watching over Gabbie.

Good lord, Gabbie. Her room was Matt’s next stop, after finding out that Colleen hadn’t been stabbed in any of her vitals and would survive “if her body tolerated the pain”. Gabbie, on the other hand, had been stabbed in the shoulder, dangerously close to her heart. Her wounds we by far the worst of anyone’s, and the doctors told Matt that she had about a fifty-fifty chance of survival.

The other rooms were the same story – a college student surrounded by worried friends and family who suffered injuries but would ultimately survive. Matt couldn’t help but wonder why only civilians who weren’t in college were killed. Other than Jake and Logan Paul, of course, but to be fair, they were assholes.

The next room Matt checked effected Matt quite deeply. It was Manny’s room. Nikita sat beside him, crying her eyes out. “You better live, Manny. You better effing live. I need you! Oh god, you need to survive…”

Matt stepped in a placed a hand on Nikita’s shoulder. “He’s going to be fine,” he said, gently. “I’m sure of it.”

Nikita hugged Matt, sobbing loudly. It was the first time Matt had ever seen her cry.

Xxx

After leaving Manny’s room, Matt decided to check in on Justine for Ro’s sake.

Matt had found out from Hannah Hart and Lindsey Sterling, who like Shane mostly flitted between rooms to check on everyone instead of remaining beside one particular friend, that many people were almost fully recovered. Matt Haag, Glozelle, Andrea Brooks, and Teala, who had been strangled by the clowns, were recovering in their rooms. Air was being pumped into their lungs, but they were all at a point where they could temporarily remove the air masks to talk to people. Sierra was also doing well – she’d occasionally convulse, but otherwise was almost to full health. Tana, who had been slashed in the stomach but not deep enough to cause much damage, was even walking around a little. Matt was also delighted to find out that Eva, Oli, Nikita, Tyler Oakley, and Andrea Russett, although having been at the center of the action, were completely fine.

When Matt reached Justine’s room, the first thing he noticed was that she was very dirty. Her hair and clothes were smudged with mud and grit. There was a doctor in the room, so Matt asked. “What happened?”

The doctor shrugged. “We aren’t sure. It seems like the clowns may have tried to bury her, though.”

“Bury her?” asked Matt. “As in, underground?!”

The doctor nodded. “Yes, buried alive. We’re pumping air into her lungs, but the problem right now is getting the dirt out of her throat.”

Matt nodded. “Thank you…for taking care of her, I mean. I feel like I have to thank you.”

The doctor smiled. “No thanks necessary. I’m just doing my job.”

Before Matt could say anything else, Stephanie burst in. “Matt!” she cried. “The doctor came by! He thinks Ro’s gonna wake up soon!”

Matt was out of Justine’s room in a heartbeat, sprinting down the hall.

Xxx

All around her were loud noises. Alarms, sirens, screams, sobs. They rattled in Ro’s head, making her head ache. Ro wanted to open her eyes, but she felt so tired. It felt like her energy had been totally sapped, and even an action as simple as opening her eyes would be totally draining.

She could hear a voice nearby, although it was unfamiliar. “When she wakes up, she’ll probably by very confused…heavy anesthetics…should be fine in an hour…” Ro felt too disoriented to make any sense of the words.

There was one thing that she could make sense of, however. She was cold. Very cold. Even though she perceived some type of blanket covering her.

Ultimately, her desire for warmth beat out the exhaustion that would come from acknowledging her surroundings.

Ro opened her eyes.

The lights in the room were bright, so bright that Ro shut her eyes again and winced. The lights weren’t a problem for long, though, because shortly after opening her eyes a figure had moved to stand over her, looking down at her.

Ro opened her eyes again. The lights had been dimmed, so it was easier to look around, although she didn’t really want to move her head. The whole world just looked like a blur of colors and lights, anyway. She looked up at the person beside her. She couldn’t see him too well, but she somehow still knew who he was. In the end, his voice was what convinced her.

“Ro!” Matt gasped. He sounded like he was going to cry.

Ro winced again, and the strange man chided. “Softer, she’s still adjusting.”

“Matt, what’s going on?” asked Ro. Her voice sounded dry, even to her. “Where am I?”

Matt hugged her. She was too tired to move her arms, so she just leaned her head against his chest. “You’re in the hospital,” said Matt, softly. “Don’t you remember the carnival?”

Ro weakly shook her head. “No…did something happen?”

Matt exchanged an uncertain look with someone over his shoulder, who Ro quickly realized was Stephanie. “Hi Steph,” she said, softly.

“Hi Ro,” said Steph, gently. She then placed something besides Ro. “Here, Freddie brought this over for you.”

Ro smelled a fruity scent and smiled. “Blueberry!”

Matt smiled and helped Ro wrap her arms around Blueberry, cuddling him close. “Matt, I’m really cold,” Ro said, after a moment.

Matt quickly ran out into the hallway and returned with a pile of blankets. He began to tuck them around Ro.

“You don’t have to worry,” said the strange man – most likely a doctor. “This is all perfectly normal. Anesthetics can have this side effect, plus she’s lost a lot of blood.”

Matt gave the doctor an angry look. “Could you keep it down? She doesn’t have to know all this right now.”

At this point, Ro was getting pretty pissed that everyone seemed to be talking about her right in front of her, as though she was a little kid who couldn’t make her own decisions about her own health.

“Could someone please explain what’s going on?” snapped Ro.

Ro forced herself into a sitting up position, even though that sent her head reeling. She needed a better look around the room: something just didn’t feel right. The answer came almost immediately. “Matt,” said Ro, hesitantly. “Where’s Safiya and Tyler?” Her confusion combined with her worry culminated in intense panic. “How did I lose blood? Matt, what happened?!”

Matt looked like he was fighting an emotional battle once again. “Ro, I promise I’ll explain soon. When the anesthetics have worn off.”

“Now might need a good time to tighten those stitched,” muttered the doctor, coming toward Ro with a gas mask.

“What?!” shouted Ro, as loudly as she could despite her burning throat.

“Now’s not a good time!” snapped Matt. But the doctor was already hooking the mask up to a tube which pumped laughing gas.

“Don’t come near me!” shouted Ro, terrified of going back into the darkness and confusion.

At this point, Stephanie had jumped up to try to level with the doctor, but it was too late. Ro let out an actual shriek of terror. “Matt, don’t let him-!”

The doctor pressed the mask to her mouth, silencing her. In an instance, Ro was knocked out.

Xxx

Matt turned on the doctor in outrage. “Was that really necessary?!” He was angry for many reasons. First of all, Ro was knocked out so fast that Matt was convinced the doctor had given Ro an adult dosage of laughing gas, which didn’t bode well for her small body. Also, the doctor solved the problem of calming Ro’s nerves by knocking her out instead of talking her down.

“Her heartrate was rising at a dangerous rate for someone just coming out of surgery,” explained the doctor. “It you explained what happened to her friends, her heartrate would only rise higher. I did what I had to do for her safety.”

“Get us a new doctor,” spat Matt.

“We’ve told you, no one else is currently available.”

The argument was cut short by shouting in the hallway. “Ro?! Rosanna?! Where’s-?!”

“In here!” shouted Stephanie, coming between Matt and the doctor, who seemed to be in a standoff.

A cute teenage girl with brown hair who was only slightly taller than Rosanna burst in. The moment she saw Rosanna, she ran to her and sat down in a chair beside the gurney.

“Who are you?” asked Matt.

“Who am I? Who are you?!” snapped the girl. “I’m Rosanna’s sister, Molly. What’re all you doing in her room?!”

“I’m Matt, and this is Stephanie,” said Matt, gesturing to his girlfriend. “We live with Rosanna.”

Molly raised an eyebrow. “You live in the sorority?”

Stephanie elbowed Matt in the ribs. “Nice going, PervePat,” she said, sarcastically.

“Rosanna doesn’t live in the sorority anymore,” said Matt. “She lived in our apartment, now. Well, it isn’t just our apartment, we also live with two other people named Safiya and Tyler.”

Molly nodded, albeit a bit suspiciously. “I guess that’s good…I never did trust those sorority girls.” Molly turned to the doctor. “Is Ro going to be okay?”

“Yes,” said the doctor. “She’ll be fine. We just have to tighten her stitches and she’ll be good to go – with no strenuous activity, of course.”

“Okay, great. Now please leave,” snapped Matt.

The doctor glared at Matt, but stepped out. “I’ll be back in ten minutes to tighten the stitches,” he snapped from the hallway. The doctor walked off, muttering things about having a thankless job under his breath.

“Stitches?” Molly asked Matt.

“Uh…Ro kind of got a cut down her stomach…” said Matt. “It wasn’t too deep, but it had to be stitched shut to prevent bleeding.”

Molly nodded again. “My parents are travelling and can’t make it back to Everlock,” said Molly. “I drove myself all the way here from Everlock high school, so you’d better answer my questions. If Ro lives with you now, why didn’t she call me to tell me? She always calls me when something major happens.”

Matt exchanged an anxious look with Stephanie. They both looked at the teenager sitting in front of them. She didn’t look like a mean person, more like a protective sister.

“Well…thinks have been kind of hectic for us…for Ro. The sorority girls got Ro really drunk at a party. We had to take care of her, and during that time we offered Ro a room in our apartment. She agreed. We went to the carnival after that. Ro was probably too drunk to remember to call you.”

“Did Ro drink willingly at any time?” asked Molly.

“Yeah…at the beginning of the party,” said Matt. “Why’s that important?”

Molly shrugged. “It’s not. I just need some blackmail.”

“Wow. You really are a teenager,” groaned Matt.

“Watch it, you look like a kindergartner,” taunted Molly.

Molly’s demeanor suddenly turned serious again. “How did Ro get a cut down her stomach?”

“Um…this’ll probably sound crazy…” began Matt. “There’ll be an article about it in the Everlock Gazette tomorrow if you need proof, I guarantee it. At the carnival, there was a clown attack. It got pretty violent. One of them probably slashed your sister.”

Molly stared blankly at Matt, as if he was crazy. “I’ll just…ask Ro when she wakes up…”

Before Molly could ask any more questions, the doctor returned. “Everybody out,” he said. “It’s time to tighten the stitches.”

Xxx

After an hour of pacing the halls, catching up on hospital gossip (apparently Joey Graceffa temporarily died in his room but was reanimated with a defibrillator!), the doctor opened the door and announced that he was finished and Rosanna would be fine as long as she didn’t do anything to tear her stitches.

Matt, Stephanie, and Molly rushed in, only to find Ro sitting up and smiling. She looked loopy and had a ridiculously large smile stretched across her face. (Since she was nowhere near as tired as before, Matt immediately deduced that previously she had been given an anesthetic syringe, not laughing gas.)

“Matt! Steph! Mo! What’cha doin’ here?” Ro’s voice sounded slurred, as was to be expected.

Despite his worries, Matt couldn’t help but smile at how adorable Ro was. “Hey Ro, how do you feel?”

“I feel amazing,” sang Ro. She flopped back against her pillow, grinning a smile of pure bliss. “Better than ev-er.”

Ro turned and looked surprised, as though she hadn’t realized there was a right side of the room. Immediately, she caught sight of her stuffed dog, which had been moved onto a nearby chair for the surgery.

“Gimme,” she whined to Stephanie. “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” She sang that to the tune of “Gimme Gimme Gimme a Man after Midnight” by ABBA, which Matt found hysterical.

Stephanie chuckled and handed the stuffed dog to Rosanna. Rosanna hugged Blueberry tight. “Hi Boo-berry,” she slurred. “How’d you get here?” She looked like she genuinely expected a response.

Ro shifted her weight, and felt a sharp stab of pain in her stomach. “Ow! What the-?” She pulled up her hospital gown a bit, and for the first time got a good look at her stitches. “Whoa!” she gasped. “Did I get, like, a C-section or something?”

“Well, you’re not nine months pregnant, now are you?” teased Stephanie.

“I’m not…right?!” Rosanna’s voice suddenly became panicked.

Matt chuckled and pulled Ro into a hug. “Hopefully if you were, you’d know.”

“Ro, can you tell me what-?” began Molly. She paused when she noticed that Ro wasn’t paying attention. “Ro!”

That didn’t work. Rosanna appeared to be trying to count the fingers on one of her hands. She’d get to seven, get confused, and start over. Even with Matt’s help, she was on her eleventh round of counting. Matt was incredibly amused by her persistence.

Molly snapped her fingers, which seemed to do the trick. “Ro! Do you remember how you got your stitches?”

“Uh-huh,” she said. “A doctor gave me ‘em.”

Molly sighed. “No, what caused the cut that the doctors stitched?”

Matt rolled his eyes. “Molly, she’d on laughing gas. Plus, I already told you, the clowns cut her.”

“That’s just too ridiculous,” said Molly, shaking her head.

“No…” murmured Ro.

“What?” asked both Molly and Matt.

“I got cut…not by clowns…” Ro seemed to be thinking very hard. Molly mouthed ‘told you so’ to Matt. “The clowns…were everywhere, I remember…” Now it was Matt’s turn to mouth ‘told you so’. “But they didn’t cut me…”

Now Matt was really confused. “Who cut you, then?”

Rosanna paused for nearly ten minutes, thinking deeply. “The…the witches did.”

“The what?” asked Matt.

“The girls dressed as witches. They looked familiar…but I don’t remember who they were…” murmured Ro.

The girls dressed as witches? Thought Matt. That could be anyone! That carnival was full of people in costumes! Wait…”

“Ro, how many girls were there?” asked Matt.

“Hmm…one…two…three! There were three!” Rosanna smiled brightly, as though she’d won a prize for guessing the right answer. Instead, all she received was a horrified look from Matt.

“What’s wrong?” asked Molly. “Who’re the three girls?”

“I have a hunch,” said Matt. “Safiya would understand better, but I think she’s talking about Sandra, Debra, and Belle, the leaders of her former sorority.” Matt started to pace. “But that’s impossible! Those girls are mean, but there’s no way they’d actually cut open Ro!”

“Yeah, I would hesitate to put money on the things Ro says,” said Stephanie. “She’s been on anesthetics and laughing gas in the last three hours. She probably doesn’t know what she’s talking about…” But even Stephanie didn’t sound like she fully believed herself.

Meanwhile, Ro was bored with the conversation. “Matt?” she asked. “Can I see Safiya?”

Matt hesitated. “Ro…I mean…” Matt paused. “You remember the carnival, right. Do you…do you remember what happened…to Safiya?”

“No…” Ro said, softly. “She’s not hurt, is she?”

Matt exchanged a heartbroken look with Steph. “She is, Ro. She really is…”

Ro’s eyes filled with tears. “W-What happened?”

“One of the clowns had a large fishhook,” Matt began. “The clown stabbed her and shattered a portion of the hip. The doctors…” Matt choked on a sob. “They don’t know if she’s going to make it. She’s unconscious right now; she might not wake up…”

“She’s got to survive!” cried Ro, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Safiya’s the strongest person I know!” Ro started to sob. “I-I wanna see her…I read somewhere that when friends talk to someone who’s unconscious, they’re more likely to wake up. M-Maybe that’ll work with Safiya, too.”

“I don’t know, Ro,” said Matt. “It’s really best if you stay here, rest, and get better…”

“Matt,” said Ro. “I won’t be able to rest and get better if I don’t know that Safiya’s okay.”

Xxx

Matt helped Ro onto a wheelchair, while Molly, still feeling very protective, wrapped about a dozen blankets around Ro. Ro was clearly already feeling the strain of moving around, but the wheelchair helped with that.

So, Matt, Ro, Steph, and Molly left Ro’s hospital room and headed for Saf’s.

Unlike Ro, Saf was in the ER, which was located in the quiet depths of the hospital. The atmosphere around Matt was depressing and mournful. Gabbie and Liza shared a room. Gabbie was being closely monitored by doctors, while Liza’s neck and windpipe were in repair from where Liza’s neck had been slashed. Timothy DeLaGhetto, who had beck beaten over the head with a baseball bat, had a fractured skull which would take weeks to repair. Lauren and Jesse were actually missing chunks of flesh from the attack – it seemed like the clowns may have intended to eat the teens – and were due for damage repair and plastic surgery. DeStorm had been shot in the chest be an arrow, and the doctors were still having trouble identifying whether or not the arrow had punctured any internal organs.

However, it wasn’t all bad. Lele Pons was slowly recovering from being tased by a clown, and would be moved out of the ER soon. So were JC and Alex, who had been stabbed and were in recovery. Joey Graceffa was still very much unconscious, but Daniel Preda and Madelaine Petsch, who were watching over Joey, were crying tears of joy and hugging, knowing that Joey wasn’t dead.

When they reached Safiya’s room, Matt stopped. “We’re here,” he said, softly. Matt had yet to visit Safiya. He just couldn’t. He remembered what she’d looked like when the doctors had wheeled her into the ER. Pale. Lifeless. Dead. It was too much for Matt, seeing his best friend like that.

Matt hesitantly opened the door. Inside, Tyler was sitting beside Safiya, his cheeks stained with tears. Cristine, Freddie, and Michelle all sat nearby. Safiya looked even worse than Matt remembered: she still looked pale and lifeless, but the doctors had removed her makeup, making her look even more like a corpse. She also looked somehow much younger, reminding Matt that if she died, she would’ve died having lived only twenty years of life.

She can’t die…out of all of us, she’s the one who’s supposed to change the world…

Cristine, Freddie, and Michelle cleared a path so Matt could wheel Ro over to Saf’s side. “Safiya, you have to wake up,” Ro said, softly. “Please. We all need you. You’re the level-headed one. You’re the one who makes sure everyone else is feeling okay. You’re the one who solves the mysteries and makes…e-everything…right.” Ro sniffled. “Please don’t die, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

One by one, everyone present began to say things that they hoped would help wake Safiya. Whether they were talking directly to Safiya, complementing the qualities they admired most about her, or sharing an anecdote of times they’d shared, everyone focused on the good times and tried to banish any unhappy memories.

“Please Safiya, we all love you, please, you have to stay alive…” Ro started to cry and covered her eyes.

“Wait…Ro…” said Matt. It couldn’t be. Matt couldn’t let himself hope. It was impossible…but it was happening. Safiya’s heart monitor was picking up, heading toward a normal speed. “Ro, I think Safiya is waking up.”

Stephanie ran into the hall. “Doctor! We need a doctor!”

First, it was a twitch of the lip. Then, the slight movement of a finger. Finally, Safiya’s eyelashes fluttered as she slowly opened her eyes.

“Safiya!” cried Matt.

Immediately, Safiya leaned over her bed and puked on the floor. This didn’t deter Ro, though, who somehow managed to launch herself into Safiya’s arms. “Safiya!” she screamed, joyfully.

Safiya groaned. “Ro, keep it down,” she rasped. “Why does everything hurt?”

Everyone was in tears at that point. Tyler jumped out of his chair and immediately hugged Safiya. Matt followed suit, and soon everyone was piled around Safiya, hugging her. Rosanna was practically on Safiya’s lap – Saf had yelped when Ro accidentally elbowed her in the hip – snuggling against her chest.

“What’s going on? Why is everyone hugging?” Matt chuckled when Safiya sounded disgusted.

“You, friend, almost died,” said Stephanie.

“What?!”

“Steph! A little blunt, aren’t you?” said Matt.

“That’s how I would’ve told her,” argued Freddie.

“Hey, we’ve had to tell, like, ten people that they almost died today. I’m getting tired of dancing around the facts,” said Stephanie.

“Okay, give Safiya some space,” said a doctor, entering the room. The doctor sighed. “Get the child off her.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. What are you doing here?!” snapped Matt, upon realizing that it was the same asshole doctor from before who had entered.

“I’m here to check up on Safiya,” said the doctor, glaring at Matt.

“Well isn’t that just wonderful…” grumbled Matt, stalking away.

“It’s fine, doctor,” Safiya rasped. “I like having them all near me.” Safiya absentmindedly ran a hand through Ro’s hair, who had fallen asleep on top of her from exhaustion. “Could you just give us a few more minutes?”

The doctor nodded and stepped out. Matt spoke. “Um, could you all actually give me and Safiya a few minutes? I need to tell her something.”

Stephanie, Freddie, Cristine, and Michelle left without hesitation. Tyler pressed a kiss to Safiya’s forehead before leaving.

“What is it, Matt?” asked Safiya.

“Look, Ro said something that was kind of disturbing,” said Matt. “She was under the influence of laughing gas, but I thought you’d still want to know. I don’t know if you remember what happened-“

“I was stabbed,” Safiya said, shortly. “By a clown. Come on, Matt. Did you really doubt my memory?”

“I didn’t. That’s why I’m telling you this now instead of waiting,” said Matt. “Well, Ro said a clown didn’t stab her like we originally expected. Girls dressed as witches did. Three girls, to be precise.”

Safiya suddenly turned even paler. “Sandra, Debra, and Belle.”

“That’s what I thought,” said Matt. “But that’s impossible, right? They’re mean girls and bullies, but not psychopaths.”

Safiya shook her head. “Given the things those girls have done, I wouldn’t put it past them,” said Safiya. “Plus, I don’t know why Ro would remember three girls instead of one clown. I think she was telling the truth.” Safiya shuddered. “Those sorority girls take pleasure from other people’s pain. They might be taking it to the next level, inflicting emotional and physical pain.”

Matt was terrified by what he was hearing but couldn’t help but smile. “I knew you’d be able to sort this out.”

“Yeah, well, I’m smarter than you,” teased Safiya.

“You wish.”

Safiya’s mood suddenly became serious. Safiya looked down at the small girl sleeping peacefully in her arms, and her eyes became a bit wet. But Safiya wasn’t going to cry. She looked up at Matt, eyes narrowed with anger and determination. “I’m going to make them pay. I swear to God, as soon as I can walk, I’m going to make them pay.”

Chapter Text

It was a long, hard road to recovery for Safiya, the fight with the sorority girls on top of the clown attack did not bode well for her leg, but in about two weeks she was ready to leave the hospital. Rosanna was allowed to leave the hospital earlier, but naturally she, Matt, and Stephanie had visited Safiya every day.

Now, Tuesday, October twenty-fourth, Safiya, Stephanie, and Rosanna were sitting in the back of Matt’s Pontiac as Tyler and Matt loaded Safiya’s crutches into the back of the car (Safiya had point-blank refused to use a wheelchair).

Once Matt had slammed the trunk shut and Tyler and Matt were in the front seats of the car, Safiya sighed with delight. “I’m so ready to go home.”

“I’m so ready for Halloween!” squealed Ro. “I was worried you’d have to stay in the hospital over Halloween.”

“Thank god I don’t have to,” groaned Safiya. “By the way, did anyone make plans for Halloween?”

“Yeah, Gabbie and DeStorm are throwing a huge party in their apartment,” said Matt. “I figured we’d hang out.”

“Oh no!” Ro suddenly gasped, as though she’d just realized something.

Everyone turned to her. “What?” asked Tyler.

“I’m going to need to make a new Halloween costume!” cried Ro. She remembered that the clowns had basically torn her beautiful ladybug costume to shreds.

“So will I,” said Safiya, chuckling softly. She couldn’t believe that’s what had Ro so distressed. “My Morticia costume is kind of, you know, soaked in blood.”

“Then I’m going to need a new costume too,” said Tyler. “The only reason I was dressed as Gomez was because you were dressed as Morticia.”

Ro thought about that. “Oh, I know!” she shouted. “We could all go as the Scooby gang! Matt and Stephanie already dressed as Fred and Daphne! Safiya could be Velma, Tyler could be Shaggy…”

“And you’d be Scooby?” questioned Safiya.

“Sure!”

Safiya figured that Ro wasn’t thinking about dressing as Scooby so much as she was thinking about dressing as a cute little puppy.

“Sure, sounds good to me,” said Tyler.

“I agree, group costumes are so cute!” squealed Stephanie.

Safiya shrugged. “Sure. It’ll be the first time Velma ever towered over Daphne, though.”

As Matt drove back to the apartment, the group continued to chat about their plans for Halloween. It seemed to be all cheerfulness and jokes, yet Safiya still had unfinished business that whispered to her in the back of her mind.

Xxx

Everything was a flurry of motion once the group reached their house. Rosanna immediately ran into the apartment shouting. “We have to celebrate! I’m going to make an ice cream cake!”

Tyler helped Safiya out of the car, insisting that she use her crutches. “No!” snapped Safiya. “I only have to use them on stairs. I can walk by myself.”

Matt rolled his eyes while unloading the crutches from the car. “No Safiya, the doctor recommended that you use crutches at all times, but said that crutches were only absolutely mandatory on stairs.”

“Well, then they’re not absolutely mandatory when I’m walking. I’ll be fine.”

Still, Safiya limped to the door of the apartment and made her way up the apartment steps without crutches, much to Tyler’s dismay. “Come on, Saf, you don’t want to end up in the hospital again, right?”

Once inside, Safiya plopped down on the couch and turned on the television. One of the channels had been running a horror movie marathon since the twentieth until the thirty-first. Safiya checked the TV guide and was impressed to see modern horror films such as ‘Carrie’, ‘The Exorcist’, ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, ‘The Wicker Man’, and ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’. Safiya checked the guide to see what would play tonight, and was delighted to see ‘Psycho’, one of her favorite horror movies.

“Hey, guys! We should have a horror movie marathon tonight!” shouted Safiya.

“Sounds good to me,” said Tyler. Matt nodded in agreement.

“Will it be really scary?” asked Rosanna.

“Uh…no…” Safiya trailed off. Most likely the movies would seem scary. She was pretty sure Rosanna could handle it, though. After all, Matt had told Safiya about how Rosanna had offered to run back into the crowd of clown to find her, even though it had ultimately led to Ro’s injury.

“That reminds me,” said Stephanie. “We should go to the theater soon. I heard there’s a new horror film called ‘Halloween’ coming out tomorrow that’s supposed to be really scary!”

Safiya sighed and leaned back into the couch. “I love Halloween. The one time of year I can wear black every day without people saying I’m ‘a goth’.”

“You’ll always be a diet goth to me!” shouted Matt from the kitchen. He was helping Rosanna make her cake.

Tyler sat down beside Safiya and wrapped an arm around her. “I’m glad you’re home.” He then picked up the remote and turned on a horror film, although his eyes were only on Safiya.

Xxx

At one point, Rosanna had to run out to a local store to buy ingredients for her cake, Stephanie left for the theater to buy tickets to watch ‘Halloween’ tomorrow, and Tyler returned to the hospital to get an update on how some of their friends who were still in the hospital were progressing. It was the perfect time for Safiya to share her plan with Matt.

“Absolutely not!” shouted Matt. “Safiya, you just got out of the hospital! You can’t go breaking and entering into the sorority today!”

“Matt, it’s Tuesday,” said Safiya. “Remember? This is the one day that every morning class except cooking happens simultaneously. All the sorority girls will be gone!”

“Can’t you wait until next Tuesday?” asked Matt. “You really need to give your leg some time to heal.”

“Next Tuesday is Halloween,” said Safiya. “And I have a bad feeling about the sorority girls’ plans for Halloween. This is my only chance. Plus, I have the perfect alibi! If Ro, Steph, or Tyler asks, just tell them I left to get snack for the movie marathon!”

“Well, what if the sorority girls show up?” asked Matt. “If they hurt Ro, what would stop them from hurting you?”

Safiya sighed. “I’ll take that risk.”

Matt rolled his eyes. “So you have no plan. How are you even going to move around? The crutches will make noise.”

“I’m not going to use crutches, duh,” said Safiya. “All I need to do is get into the basement. I’m like ninety-nine percent sure there’s something down there.”

“Or there really is just rats and mold and stuff,” argued Matt.

“Look, Matt, the plan’s a work in progress. My reporter instincts are screaming at me to check the sorority house basement. Now, are you with me or against me?”

Matt sighed. “Fine, do what you need to do. But get out if you even suspect that you might be in danger.”

“I promise I will.”

Xxx

Safiya didn’t exactly love having to ride her bike to the sorority house, but as much as she hated to admit it, Safiya was in no condition to walk from her apartment to the sorority house. And as awkward as biking was in her condition, it was a hell of a lot easier than walking.

Upon parking in front of a local fraternity – to seem less conspicuous – she managed to limp up the steep sorority stairs painfully but without falling. Her doctor would kill her if he found out, but Safiya wasn’t in the habit of cooperating.

Prior to her plan, Safiya had taken Ro’s sorority key when she was too drunk to notice. Despite the door’s age, it swung open easily when Safiya pulled.

Safiya limped inside, shuddering at the appearance of the place. Safiya still couldn’t believe the sorority was so gothic and terrifying. Never mind that, she thought. Just get to the basement, take some pictures, and get out.

The basement stairs were wooden and slippery from a leak in the ceiling. For the first time, Safiya was genuinely worried about falling. She switched on a light, but all that came on was a buzzing lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. This would be the perfect place to film a horror movie.

Safiya gripped the stair rail, but was dismayed to hear it creak and sway, as though ready to break at any minute. Safiya thought about what Ro had said about the water damage in the basement. If the water softened the wooden stairs…Safiya couldn’t let herself think about that.

Descending the stairs was a slow task, and Safiya could practically hear her heart pound every time she took a step. She was breathing heavily – never before had she been so afraid to investigate a location. There was something in the air, something even sensible-minded Safiya could feel. Something dark, something evil.

Safiya finally reached the bottom of the stairs, and was relieved to find out that the floor was made of concrete. The basement was pitch black, even with the little lightbulb, but Safiya had brought a flashlight in preparation. She switched on the flashlight and waved it around, looking for something incriminating. The basement appeared to be a massive maze of boxes. However, she did notice something near the stairs that was covered by a tarp. It was very large, and…was that blood on the tarp? Safiya shuddered. This looks like what I saw on the monitor…

Safiya took a deep breath, preparing herself for what she might find under the tarp. She gripped a corner of the tarp and gently pulled.

Safiya had to cover her mouth to keep herself from screaming. She dropped her flashlight; it pointed at the tarp, illuminating Safiya’s horrific discovery in perfect clarity.

Beneath the tarp was a dead lamb, soaked in blood. One of its legs was mutilated so that no hoof remained.

Safiya took deep breaths. What. The. HELL?! No, there has to be an explanation for this. Maybe this is a religious thing? Or maybe they hunt. Oli’s a big game hunter, maybe I should stop by his and Eva’s place to ask…Still, Safiya knew she was wrong. Hunters don’t hunt lambs, and there was nothing remotely pious about the sorority girls.

Safiya gulped and covered up the lamb with the tarp again, but not before taking a picture, and slowly backed away. She needed to keep searching. Maybe somehow, someway, she’d find a logical explanation for this.

Safiya made her way around a mountain of boxes, never looking back at the poor lamb she’d left behind. If Ro had seen that, Safiya knew she would’ve cried.

Safiya passed a work bench, but returned to it when something caught her eye. A naked rodent, clearly dead, rested on the bench. Upon closer inspection, Safiya was shocked to realize it was a bat.

Now, Safiya felt like crying. Safiya had always felt connected to bats the way Joey Graceffa felt connected to wolves and Shane Dawson felt connected to pigs. It was her ‘spirit animal’, in non-scientific terms.

Whatever had happened to the bat clearly hadn’t been pleasant. The bat appeared to have ben shaved, so that all its belly wool was gone. The poor creature’s dead eyes stared up at Safiya in agony, causing Safiya’s stomach to roil. She wanted to vomit. The deeper she went into the basement, the more she could smell death.

Safiya noticed some cabinets above the workbench and decided to check them. Inside was even worse, but Safiya no longer felt surprised. Jars of eyeballs, small animals, claws, and fingers floated in pickling juice.

Safiya could no longer think of a logical explanation. She wanted to convince herself that this was all just stored Halloween decorations, but it all looked too real. Safiya took a picture of the cabinets and workbench.

After closing the cabinets, Safiya wandered into the center of the basement. The metaphorical ‘belly of the beast’, if you will. When she was there, everything suddenly made sense.

In the center of the basement was a pentagram, upon which rested a cauldron. Some black cloaks hung upon a peg on the wall. The boxes surrounded the area, hiding it from prying eyes.

Safiya’s stomach hitched. No…no, no, no this can’t be real.

But it was. Maybe in a different sorority this could be the beginning of an indoor haunted house, but Sigma Alpha Beta never invited guests.

Safiya took a picture with shaking hands. As much as her brain told her to run, she knew she needed to find out more. If they have a license for hunting, they might not get arrested for this…

Suddenly, Safiya noticed a wooden pedestal behind the cauldron. Safiya walked to it, carefully keeping distance between herself and the cauldron – she didn’t want to think about what had been inside.

On the pedestal was a book, open to what appeared to be an incantation. Of course, Safiya didn’t believe in all that hocus-pocus mumbo-jumbo but felt like she had to read what was written.

“Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Hoof of lamb and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg and owlet's wing, Birch tree fungus and water mold, And last of all, a heart of gold!”

Safiya’s eyes were nailed to that last phrase. A heart of gold. Safiya didn’t want to believe it. It couldn’t be true. But even as she scrambled for a logical explanation that just wasn’t there, she could feel the world shifting beneath her feet. Safiya fell hard – her bad leg had given out – breathing heavily and feeling sweat dripping down her forehead. No…no, this isn’t real. This is just a bad dream brought on from too many horror films and too much pain medication. But all the pieces fit together. Why else would the sorority girls treat Ro so terribly and still want her around? Why else would the basement be sanctioned off, and no visitors invited? Why else would they want to know where Ro was at all times?

They wanted to sacrifice her for her pure heart.

Safiya could feel bile surging in her mouth. She was going to vomit, she knew it. The walls were closing in around her. The little voice in her head screamed louder get out. Get out NOW!

Safiya scrambled to her feet and ran down a new and unexplored hall mindlessly, her feet carrying her away as though she’d never been injured.

As she rounded a corner she heard a banging sound that made her heart stop.

Safiya tried not to scream as she turned toward the source of the sound. To her surprise, it was a puppy in a tiny cage. The puppy looked cramped and miserable, as it was throwing itself against the walls of the cage as if to escape. It was skinny, as though it was only fed enough to survive. It yipped sadly. That must’ve been the noise I heard when I was with Ro, thought Safiya. The ‘tongue of dog’.

Safiya debated in her head what to do. She really shouldn’t touch the puppy – the sorority girls might find out she was here – but how could she ignore those sad yips? Still, she should just leave it…

Who was she kidding? Safiya was taking the puppy. She lifted the latch on the cage and picked up the puppy. The puppy licked her chin gratefully.

Okay, now I’ve really got to get out of here.

Safiya stumbled through the maze of boxes – almost screaming when she found a dead owlet hanging by a leg from the ceiling – until she finally found the stairs and quickly hobbled up and out.

Xxx

In the apartment, Stephanie, Tyler, and Ro were ready for the movie marathon. They were in their pajamas, perched on the couch. “Matt, when did Safiya say she’d be back with snacks?” asked Stephanie.

“I’m sure she’ll be back-“ Matt was interrupted by the telephone ringing. Immediately he grabbed it and held it close to his ear. “Hello?”

“Matt.” Matt could hear Safiya’s voice muffled by the rain that had started falling not long ago. She sounded genuinely scared. Her voice shook.

“Yes?” he responded in concern.

“Matt, I need you to come get me,” said Safiya. “We need to talk. I’m by the Divine Lounge.”

“Did you bike there?”

“No, I ran.”

Now Matt was panicking. “I’m on my way.”

“What is it?” asked Stephanie, with concern.

Matt thought of an excuse. “Uh…Safiya didn’t say much. I think her leg is failing her.”

“Oh no!” gasped Stephanie.

“I’m going to go get her,” said Matt. He was out the door before anyone could ask any more questions.

Xxx

It wasn’t hard for Matt to find Safiya. She was standing under a lamppost with a telephone box beside it. The light from the lamppost cast a long shadow before her in the darkness. The rain matted down her hair. She was shaking, though it didn’t seem to be because she was cold.

“Safiya?” asked Matt, hesitantly.

Safiya wordlessly slid into the passenger seat of the Pontiac.

“Um, did you leave your bike by the sorority houses? Should I go get it?” asked Matt.

Safiya shook her head. “Just drive. I need to talk to you in private.”

Matt wanted to ask more questions, but knew Safiya wouldn’t give him any answers. Instead, he drove until he reached the local drugstore and pulled into the parking lot. The drugstore was already closed, so no one was around.

For about ten minutes, the two just sat in silence. Matt didn’t want to push Safiya, no matter how much he wanted to know what Safiya had seen that had so shaken her. The only sound came from the puppy in Safiya’s arms, which Matt also had questions about.

Finally, Safiya spoke. “They’re cult worshipers, Matt. They’re Satanists.”

“What?” asked Matt. He was almost certain that he’d misheard her.

“I went into the basement,” said Safiya. “It was…indescribable. There were dead animals everywhere. A pentagram on the floor. A book of incantations and a cauldron, even.”

“Um…okay…” That was a lot for Matt to wrap his head around. Of course, there were plenty of Satanists in the world. It was just weird to know they lived so near cultists. Well, I guess that would explain why they dressed as witches… “Did you find out what they were trying to do?” asked Matt. “Like, were they casting a spell to summon Satan or something?” As ludicrous as it seemed, that was what Matt figured cultists were most likely to do.

Safiya took a deep breath. She was shaking, so Matt put a hand on her shoulder. She exhaled. “Maybe…maybe I should just show you the spell.”

Safiya showed Matt the developed photo of the incantation she had taken. Matt squinted but managed to read through it. “Eye of newt, toe of…what the hell…?”

Before he’d finished, Matt turned to Safiya. “It’s Hamlet. They’ve altered the text though, I don’t know what they were trying to get out of this. This spell supposedly summons ghosts.”

“Vengeful spirits,” corrected Safiya. “With the power to influence people’s actions. I’ve read Hamlet too, you know.”

“But why change the text?” asked Matt.

“Maybe they thought changing the text would summon demons. How the hell am I supposed to know?! What matters is what they were prepared to do,” snapped Safiya. “Keep reading.”

“Tongue of dog…” Matt looked at the puppy and his mouth formed a wordless ‘oh’.

Safiya knew Matt had reached the end of the spell when his face turned pale. “Yeah,” she said softly.

“No…” murmured Matt.

“They were prepared to sacrifice her to Satan, or whatever other creature they worship in that twisted place,” snapped Safiya.

“How-?” Matt stopped himself. Neither Safiya nor Matt were in the habit of asking questions they already knew the answer to. “We’re not going to let that happen.”

“Like hell we are,” muttered Safiya.

“I-I don’t know what to think about this,” stuttered Matt.

“Let’s go home,” sighed Safiya. “I don’t think I’m up for a movie marathon.”

Matt didn’t even need to say he felt the same way.

Xxx

Matt and Safiya arrived at the apartment only to be met by none other than Ro herself.

“Safiya!” gasped Ro. “Are you okay? Matt said your leg hurt.”

“Um, I’m fine…” Safiya said, softly. “I think I’d rather rest than watch movies, though.”

Ro felt disappointed, but didn’t let it show. “Of course, you should probably head up and-“ Ro paused when she saw what Safiya was holding. “Oh my gosh, a puppy?!”

Ro immediately held her arms out and the puppy jumped in, licking her face enthusiastically. Ro giggled. "You like the taste of my lotion, huh? It’s supposed to smell like cookies and cream. I know! I’ll call you Cookie!” Ro turned to Safiya. “Does the puppy have a name?”

Safiya was totally distracted and not really paying attention to anything Ro said. “What? Uh…no, I don’t think the puppy has a name. No tags.”

“She was wandering around outside the grocery store,” Matt supplied. “We saw her and picked her up because she seemed too young to survive on her own.”

“That’s so sweet…” murmured Ro, preoccupied by the puppy.

Safiya could feel the tears pricking at her eyes again. What those sorority girls were prepared to do to Ro was not only horrible, it was inhumane. They saw her as just a body to use and abuse, when she was really the kindest soul any of them had ever known.

Not thinking, Safiya suddenly pulled Ro into a tight hug, lifting the girls right off her feet.

“Whoa! Safiya! Are you okay?” Ro could feel Safiya shaking, practically hear her heart beating fast. She sounded like she was trying and failing to not cry.

Safiya hastily put Ro down and turned her face away, so that her hair fell in her face, concealing her tearful expression. “Y-yeah, sorry Ro. I’m fine.”

Ro smiled sadly and gave Safiya a light hug in return. “You don’t have to apologize for hugs, Saf.”

How is she so sweet? How, when the world can be so horrible? Safiya didn’t think she’d ever know.

“I-I think I’m going to head up,” said Safiya, hesitantly. She began to make her way upstairs to her bedroom. Tyler was quick to follow, worried for Safiya’s health.

Matt sighed. “I think I’m going to turn in to. You guys can still watch movies if you want.”

“That’s okay,” said Ro. “I’d probably just scare myself silly, anyway.”

“Besides, you guys forgot to get snacks,” Stephanie said. She narrowed her eyes at Matt, scrutinizing him. Like hell I believe your little alibi.

“Right, I guess we should just head up,” Matt cast a look at Stephanie, which he hoped conveyed ‘I promise I’ll explain soon, please don’t be mad’.

Xxx

It wasn’t until much later that Safiya had convinced Tyler that she was completely fine, and he was able to rest. Still, no matter how hard Safiya tried to forget, the things she’d seen that day were burned into her memory, preventing her from sleeping.

Finally, Safiya got up and tip-toed out of her room, trying not to disturb Tyler. She limped down the hall until she finally reached Ro’s room, which Ro had fully decorated during Safiya’s time in the hospital.

Despite the late hour, Ro was up playing with Cookie. Safiya smiled for the first time since she’d been let out of the hospital. As impractical as it was to own a dog, Safiya didn’t think she could part with the little French bulldog. She was glad the puppy liked Ro so much.

Ro noticed Safiya standing in the doorway. “Hey Saf,” Ro said. “What’s up?”

“Um…this might sound weird…” Safiya didn’t know what she was doing. She was tired and acting stupid, and this was totally going to make Ro suspicious. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to care. “Can I sleep with you tonight?”

Ro was confused. “What about Tyler?”

“He’s asleep.” Safiya didn’t say anything more, and thankfully Ro didn’t ask.

Ro scooted over in her bed, making room for Safiya to slide in beside her. Ro smiled and hugged Safiya, knowing Safiya would be too insecure to do it herself. Safiya squeezed Ro a little too tight, the way Ro would hold Blueberry. “Safiya…urgh…you’re…crushing…me!”

Safiya loosened her grip quickly. “Sorry.”

Still, she had that teary-eyed look that made Ro feel concerned. After all, Safiya never cried. Or, if she did, she didn’t let anyone see her. “Safiya, are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m f-fine…” she muttered.

Ro nodded, although she was unconvinced. Ro hugged Safiya more gently, and quickly drifted to sleep. Safiya just looked at the small girl curled up beside her, and let a stray tear fall.

Tomorrow she’d call the police. Tonight, she needed to reassure herself that her friend – maybe even her best friend – was alive and safe. That it was going to stay that way, because no sorority girl was going to take her from Saf. She wouldn’t show the cops the incantation, they’d just think she was crazy. She probably wouldn’t even show Ro. Maybe she never would. Ro didn’t need to know there were people out there who wanted to tarnish her golden heart.

Tomorrow, Safiya would explain everything to Tyler. Or maybe she wouldn’t. Safiya couldn’t think about tomorrow, it would only send her already distressed mind into deeper turmoil. What mattered was right now. Right now, Cookie was saved. Right now, Ro was living with them, not those horrible sorority girls. Right now, Safiya’s friends were safe.

Safe, at least for now. Tomorrow might be another story, but Safiya didn’t need to think of that tonight.