Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lex Foster hasn’t had some young adult fun in forever. Ever since she was 16, she’s been the sole caretaker of her little sister Hannah. Well, not sole caretaker, her boyfriend Ethan Green does also do that, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make here. Lex’s day consists of working, buying the cheapest groceries for Hannah, and going the fuck to sleep.

Ethan never did like the fact that Lex never had real alone time. When she got home she always focused purely on Hannah, and when Hannah fell asleep she always argued with Ethan about something broken with their crappy apartment. Ethan hadn’t seen his girlfriend smile in years, not truthfully anyways.

Hannah had turned 18 yesterday, and Ethan wanted to do something special for her. Lex was out cold on their bed and Hannah was in her room talking to Webby. Well, she said she was talking to Webby, but Webby probably likely isn’t real, just an imaginary friend that Hannah never grew out of. That’s what Lex thinks. Anyways, I’m trying to tell you that Ethan was alone with his thoughts, and if you know men, that’s never a good thing.

Ethan stood in the apartment living room, thinking of a plan for Hannah’s birthday. He’s absolutely not going to take her to Pizza Pete’s, she’s far too old for that no matter how cheap it is, but he doesn’t know of many places he can take her. He doesn’t want her to celebrate becoming a legal adult in some grimy building that his uncle happens to know of, he will not have a repeat of Lex’s 18th.

Ethan finally settled on a plan and quickly wrote it down on the kitchenette counter. He stuffed the plan in the highest cupboard so neither Hannah nor Lex could accidentally find it and headed to the dirty old couch in their tiny living room. He didn’t want to accidentally wake up Lex by climbing into their bed, and the couch was comfortable enough anyways. He laid prone on the couch, felt his breath relax, and fell the fuck to sleep.

The next few days Ethan went on preparing everything for his surprise. Lex had her suspicions but knew by this point not to question Ethan’s shenanigans unless they cost her money. He had Hannah’s birthday scheduled perfectly, not a single thing could be out of place, and the day before the whole ordeal, he finally told Lex the plan.

“You’re gonna take Hannah to a mall?” Lex asked, barely able to keep the rage from emerging from her apathetic mask. “It’s not some dingy old rustbucket, Lex,” Ethan replied, trying to defend himself, “It’s like… sensible! Besides, we’ll be there, so nothing that bad can happen to her!” Lex eyed Ethan with a silent rage and leaned against the bedroom door, collecting her thoughts.

Ethan began excitedly talking about all the fun things Hannah’ll be able to do while Lex slunk further into herself in annoyance. Ethan began rambling on about all the things he’ll let Hannah buy for herself when Lex finally spoke again, in a very agitated tone. “Where did you get the money for this, Ethan?” she asked sternly, silently addressing their shitty ass apartment that they could barely afford jointly.

Ethan, having expected this reaction, pulled from his pocket a wad of cash that his uncle had given him. Lex saw the money and became outwardly livid, and even though Ethan was absolutely sure she would, he still doesn’t like that she did. Lex slowly walked over to him, hands outstretched aggressively, and began to scream at her dumbass boyfriend.

“Are you fucking stupid, Ethan? You know we can barely afford rent every month, let alone all the groceries we need weekly, so why of all times would you only mention that you had a fucking wad of that shit right now? Do you not… think, Ethan? We need that money for actual important shit, and you wanna waste it on some tackyass mall? Anything else you wanna waste on bullshit we don’t need, Ethan Green?”

“We’re going to the mall?” Lex stopped screaming and stood in fear when she heard her sister’s voice from behind their bedroom door. She instantly relaxed and opened the door behind her, acting like she didn’t just scream at Ethan when she saw Hannah’s face. The girl looked so remarkably similar to Lex, albeit very much younger looking, and still had the remnants of when she was a little troublemaker only five years ago.

Hannah looked at Lex and Ethan with both hope and sorrow, longing for a yes but knowing she’ll likely get a no. Even though she’s almost 18, she still holds a level of childlike innocence when it comes to their conversations. It pains both of them every time they remember that she can hear their screams, that the little girl inside her that they’ve been protecting dies just a little bit more. Neither of them can truly say anything that bad to her, she’s too precious to them.

Ethan took advantage of Lex’s hesitation to explain his plan more thoroughly. “C’mon Lex, think about it,” he said, rushing out his words before she could retaliate, “It’s the best option! You won’t have to get off work since you already work there and Hannah can have some teenager fun. Of course, I’ll be watching her, making sure she doesn’t do dumb shit that we I used to do at her age. Lex, c’mon, you really gonna pass this up? Tell you what, I’ll pick up longer shifts at Pasquale's if you agree with this. Don’t you want some extra money, Lex? C’mon, Lex, c’mon!”

Lex stared at Ethan with annoyance, but when Hannah began to plead with him, she finally conceded. “Alright,” she said resignedly, “Tomorrow you can take Hannah to the mall. But as soon as I’m done with my shift, we’re fucking leaving. Got that, Ethan?” Ethan grinned mischievously and pinky swore, and now all that had to be done was to make sure the rest of his plan went accordingly.

Chapter Text

October 7th, Hannah’s birthday party.

Nothing was going to go wrong. Ethan’s cousin Oliver managed to set up a little booth in one of the arcades at the mall just for Hannah and Lex was working her ass off like normal. Ethan’s plan was all coming together, absolutely nothing bad would happen.

Though only Ethan and Hannah were originally going to be the ones attending, Ethan let Hannah invite some other kids as well. Around ten minutes after they were supposed to arrive, in came a young boy around Hannah’s age in a blue sweater and ripped jeans. Hannah smiled and welcomed him to their table. Apparently the kid’s name was Daniel, and Hannah just viewed him as a friend. Thank God, Ethan really didn’t wanna beat him up today.

Hannah and Daniel ran through the arcade a couple times, Hannah being as lucky as ever with the machines, until a third kid walked in. She was visibly older than the two, but not by much. She wore an orange and red jacket and a shirt that exposed much of her midriff. She walked up to Hannah and fist-bumped her, and then the three of them went off to do who knows what. Ethan tried not to worry too much, though he was starting to notice a pattern.

Imagine Ethan’s relief when in came little Tim Houston, only four years younger than Hannah and in relatively stable living conditions. Now imagine Ethan’s horror when it wasn’t Tim’s father Mr Houston that came in with him, but Grace fucking Chasity. He’d heard from his old friend Ziggs that she was currently in a bit of a sapphic love affair with the mayor’s daughter, but all Ethan could see was Grace “Nerdy Prude” Chasity coming back from the dead to ruin his life all over again. Apparently she was Tim’s babysitter, as if he still needs one.

Grace and Ethan used to be friends. Unwillingly, of course, she was like five and their parents had a bit of a business partnership back then. It went to shit, of course, an evangelical baptist family like the Chasitys find Italian-American Catholics like the Greens repulsive. Nonetheless, he used to know Grace for a bit, and she was the singularly most uncomfortable girl in the entire damn universe.

She was clingy with him and tried everything in her power to convert him to that bullshit cult she was a part of, and when he had turned her away enough times, she immediately started to hate him for it. Throughout middle and high school she pestered him and snitched on him constantly. His junior year she finally started to die down on the annoyances, but he’d also heard from the grapevine that she’d been raped by her only friend, so he really wasn’t that excited about that.

His senior year Grace didn’t talk to him at all, but she absolutely talked about him and Lex. They’d been together for a few years at that point but had only been publicly affectionate since the beginning of that year, and it disgusted Grace in a way that neither really understood, even for an evangelical. She would spread rumours that Ethan was either being physically, emotionally, or sexually abusive of Lex any given day, and it pissed them both off. It’s been years since he’d seen Grace, but he still felt that fear and rage at her mere presence, even if she didn't know he would be there. He doubted she didn't.

Tim hugged Hannah and went with her and her friends to go do arcade stuff, leaving Grace alone at the table with Ethan. He suppressed the urge to yell at her for how she acted to him and Lex and simply sat at the table and waited for the kids to come back.

Hannah hadn’t felt this happy in a long time. Everyone she cares about; Daniel, Sophia, Ethan, and her surrogate brother Timmy; were all at her 18th birthday celebration with her. She could have fun with her friends without having to worry about money for once, and Ethan had promised her that nothing could go wrong today. Sure, she didn’t expect Tim to bring Grace with him, but she seemed normal now, so her birthday has to be good this year!

Daniel took Tim to go do all the physical games, and Sophia got Hannah to try and win the games that didn’t require her to use her powers. Oh, right, I forgot to tell you about those. If you’re reading this you probably already know, but Hannah is a psychic. Unlike most kids with The Gift, Hannah not only didn’t grow out of it, but also grew more powerful with it. Sophia and Daniel have powers too, by the way, just wanted to mention that.

Anyways, Hannah was having a great time. The only thing really missing was Lex, but she wasn’t about to go out of her way to fuck with her. Lex was working, and Hannah didn’t want to mess with her on the job. Other than that, Hannah was pretty happy now. Nothing could ever change that. Absolutely nothing.

Something changed that. Well, not something… someone. Brad Callahan. Somehow that asshat had managed to find Hannah and her friends on a fucking Saturday! And it’s not like he just happened to be there too and isn’t talking to them, he’s actually walking over.

“Ah shit, it’s the fuckin’ poor people!” he called out to them, obviously trying to humiliate her. Before Hannah could say anything, Sophia retorted back with a, “Mind your damn business, kid!” Hannah smiled warmly at Sophia, who gave her a pat of acknowledgment. Brad kept walking towards them, now angry at Sophia’s rebuttal.

“Hey man, relax,” he said in a threatening tone, “I heard it’s the kids birthday! You don’t wanna start a fight on Hannah’s birthday, do you?” Sophia became visibly angered at Brad’s presence, but said nothing. Instead, Daniel came to her defence. “Hey Brad,” he said, dividing the jock’s attention, “Knock it off, you weren’t invited.” Brad looked at Daniel confusedly before mocking him, “Uh, you wanna try that again, dork? You think you’re tough enough for her to be your girlfriend? Fuckin loser!”

Brad shoved Daniel onto the floor and puffed up his letterman jacket. He walked away from Daniel boastfully as Tim and Hannah kneeled down to check if he was okay. Sophia on the other hand, she was pissed off at Brad. She looked Brad up and down, internally noting down just how weak the kid was. Brad sensed this and puffed up his chest.

“What?” she shouted, loud enough for everyone to hear, “You wanna go, bitch?” Sophia said nothing. She simply eased the tension in her shoulders, eyed Brad with a focused rage, and prepared herself for a fight.

Hannah noticed Sophia’s thoughts slowly becoming more aggressive and grabbed the girl’s arm. She watched as Sophia looked down confusedly at Hannah as Brad thrusted a fist directly to her face. Sophia caught it, eyed Hannah sternly, and slapped Brad across the face. As Bras fell to the ground, Sophia lifted Daniel back to his feet and told the group that they should leave.

Brad reeled from his pain, noticed Sophia leaving, and kicked her right below her popliteal fossa on her left leg. Sophia stumbled for a bit then immediately turned around with a fury in her eyes. Hannah pleaded with Sophia in her mind to not engage, but she tuned her out. She stormed over to Brad and whacked him square in the jaw.

As he again reeled from the pain, Sophia whacked him again and again and again, all in different places on his face. She beat the kid until she saw him spit blood onto the carpet, at which point she simply got up and walked away. The group had already left her, but that’s fine. If only she was willing to stand up for them, then she’ll do it with a burning passion.

Back at the little booth, Ethan was making sure that everyone was fine. Grace gave Tim a hug, which he gladly accepted, and Hannah gave Daniel a headpat of comfort. Sophia came a bit later than everyone else, her right hand red from overuse and her left leg slightly bent and limping. Hannah looked at her with concern, but said nothing.

Ethan made sure that everyone was alright and that no one was caught, though he was careful not to say too many incriminating things in front of Grace. Apparently, no one else had heard the beating that Sophia gave Brad earlier, and for both of their sakes it was good that they didn’t, but that didn’t really do anything to ease the tension that he’d brought to Hannah.

She wasn’t sure why he was there or how he knew that this was happening, but she honestly didn’t care. The day was bad now, and it’ll probably get worse once her friends leave and Ethan has to deal with Lex. Both of them dreaded what she was gonna say to them for this whole ordeal, even if she technically agreed to it.

It was 5:45pm, and Lex would be getting out of work soon. Daniel had already left, he had a night shift at Starbucks and it would take him an hour to get there on foot. Sophia had left too, but mostly just to make sure that Daniel wouldn’t get murdered in the street by some thug with chloroform. Hannah didn’t understand the need, but let her.

Then it was just Tim and Hannah. Because she could read his thoughts, she knew he was more comfortable with just her and not the other two. He might like them fine enough, but Hannah was technically his first ever friend, so it’s natural for him to like her more.

What wasn’t natural were Grace’s thoughts. Hannah never really understood Grace, especially not during freshman year, but this was a new level of confusing. Grace used to think bible verses to herself, and occasionally shirtless women, but mostly bible verses. Now she thinks only two things: I hope Tim’s doing okay and I wish I was laying on my girlfriend’s large and soft breasts right now while she wraps her thick thighs around me and makes me feel safe; usually at the same time. And then there were the really concerning thoughts. Well, more like mantras than anything else. It was those names: Pokotho, Bliklotep, T'noy Karaxis, Nibblenephim, Wiggog Y'wrath. Those were the thoughts that really scared Hannah.

Hannah didn’t really like reading Grace’s mind. It made her brain hurt in ways reading other people’s minds never did. Ethan, on the other hand, he was an open book. His thoughts were so predictable that someone who wasn’t anywhere close to being psychic could probably guess them. What were these thoughts, you ask? “When’s Lex getting out of work, Grace makes me uncomfortable.” Yeah, anyone near him could’ve guessed that, even people who don’t know who Grace is.

Anyways, Hannah heard every thought that went through the minds of those around her. She heard Tim question why they haven’t left yet, she heard Grace think a bunch of things about her girlfriend that Hannah did not need to hear that day, and she heard Ethan convince himself to ask Hannah what happened with Sophia.

“Brad kicked her leg,” Hannah said before he could ask. Ethan’s mind went blank as he stared dumbfoundedly at her for a few seconds, trying to figure out how she knew what he was thinking. He acted like he wasn’t questioning whether or not Hannah was a psychic and asked, “Why was Brad there?”

“I don’t know,” Hannah replied, maintaining a mask of apathy towards the whole situation, “He somehow knew it was my birthday, though.” Ethan gave a concerned look and asked her, “How would that douchebag know you’d be here?” With that, Grace’s mind flushed back to reality and she started faux-swearing in her mind. Hannah’s soul was crushed when she heard Grace’s panic.

Grace said that Max Jägerman kept pestering her about where she’d be today for some reason, and she told him that Tim was taking her to Hannah’s birthday party at the mall. Since Max is Brad’s half-brother, apparently he must’ve told him. Ethan stared at Grace like she had admitted to murder, but Hannah felt no such resentment. Just another random act of suffering the universe liked to inflict on her as if she was its worst enemy.

Chapter Text

Lex’s day was shit. All day long at work she heard complaint after complaint from dumbass customers who don’t know how to just shut the fuck up. She could count the number of sane people that came into Toyone on one fucking hand, and even then she’ll struggle to think of any. It didn’t help that her boss was one of those managers that think everything can be ignored with a singular smile. He made her brain hurt with how stupid he sounds, how punchable his dumbass face was. Still, he paid her bills, so she didn’t complain.

As soon as she got to work she was bombarded with ridiculous questions from prudish customers. “What are you a charlatan, why’s this toy 30 bucks?” “Do you get a sick kick out of charging $40 for some cheap squid plushie?” “Excuse me, can I use this coupon that expired five weeks ago?” “I have been waiting in line for ten minutes, what’s the holdup? Are you braindead?” “Have you checked the back?” “Are you sure I have to pay for the broken plate?” “Can I get this exchanged for a PS5?” On and on and on for 12 hours of her day, having to deal with these fuckshits that couldn’t care whether she was dying or the Queen of England, as long as they got their little Jimmy a cheapass birthday present.

Birthday. Shit, Hannah’s birthday. She meant to go check in on her and Ethan during her lunch break, but she’d completely forgotten that it was even today. Why they decided to celebrate it while she was working she’d never know, but she’d still be salty about it.

By the time Lex got off work she’d heard so many variations of, “Excuse me, ma’am, but…” that she could only handle silence for the time being. Her boss, Frank Pricely, hollered one final insult at her before she left. Something about having proper manners to customers. Anyways, Lex walked through the busy mall down to the front door, since that’s where she told Ethan and Hannah to be. They better fucking be there, so help them if they weren’t.

They were there. They, Mr Houston’s kid, and Grace fucking Chasity. Of all the people in the entire damn world Lex expected to see, Grace was not one of them. I already told you why Ethan hated Grace, but not so much why Lex did.

See, before Lex met Ethan, she was in Grace’s friend group. Of course, this was primary school, so friend groups were more so just “people whose parents know each other”, and boy did Grace’s parents know Mrs Foster. Lex’s mom used to be a regular at that culty-ass church that Grace was a part of, mostly as a way to have free alcohol due to how stupid the cult was. To this day they still think the woman was just deeply devoted and not just the scummy alcoholic Lex knew her to be.

Anyways, Grace and Lex were “friends” back in the day. Grace snuck around her and another girl named Alice a lot, even though neither of them liked Grace all that much. When middle school came around and Lex’s mom left the church since the alcohol there wasn’t doing it for her anymore, Grace still tried to stay around Lex. She kept saying things like, “My boyfriend hates me and Alice is a lesbian and I don’t wanna catch that!” to justify her constant pestering. Honestly it just made Lex wish she were bi so that way Grace would leave her alone too. What’s worse was that Grace was like a cute annoying little puppy to her… like Hannah… so she couldn’t exactly say that she didn’t like her, could she?

Anyways one day Grace was ranting about something, Lex never cared to remember, and then Ethan showed up. He was “walking to class” around the hallways during lunch, and Grace immediately stopped her rant and eyed him. “That’s my ex,” she said, “He’s like… obsessed with me. It’s actually kinda embarrassing.” Lex ignored the fact that she just heard Grace talk like a normal middle schooler for once and stared at Ethan. Somehow, even if it was a complete lie, Grace Chasity had managed to get him as a boyfriend.

Let’s talk about attractiveness for a second. Ethan has always been conventionally attractive to his age group. His hair was long, black, and smooth. His brown eyes looked at the world with apathy. He wore baggy clothes that as soon as he grew into them he donated to Goodwill. To a middle school girl with no standards, he was dreamy. Well, to one middle school girl with no standards. And that girl was Alexandra Foster.

Lex slowly got closer to Ethan over the next few months, proximity-wise and fraternity-wise, and grew even bigger of a crush on him. Grace was distraught, more than expected actually, and stopped talking to Lex. That was great news, until she saw Grace with Gabriel all the time instead. Lex saw the way he acted when Grace wasn’t around, he was a straight-up perv. Of course, if she told Grace, she’d probably tell her to burn in hell for being a dirty sinner and a liar, or that she’s jealous of the wholesome and non-sexual friendship she and her best friend “Gabe” have.

So, Lex said nothing. She said nothing as Gabriel got closer to Grace. She said nothing as Gabriel started touching Grace. She said nothing as Gabriel started being physically clingy to Grace. And she said nothing when she found out that Gabriel had raped Grace.

And then Grace started saying that Ethan was abusing Lex like how Gabriel abused her. That was too much. Lex felt bad for not supporting Grace when she very much could have, but trying to say that Ethan was as bad as Gabriel was simply fucking wrong. From then on Lex hated Grace Chasity. Even as the part of her that did feel bad for her was still there, the part of her that despised Grace grew louder and louder until she fucking graduated.

And now… she was staring from afar at Ethan yelling at Grace for something. The urge to punch Grace square in the jaw came flooding back to Lex in that microinstant, and she forced herself to shove it away so that they could just leave. But somewhere, somehow, a little voice that didn’t quite sound like hers told her to let herself get mad. She listened to that little voice, something about it sounded persuasive.

Lex walked to Ethan and asked what happened. When he and Hannah recounted what Grace had just admitted to, Lex let that little voice’s words sear through her mind. She shouted at Grace for how awfully she fucked up and told Ethan and Hannah to leave. Grace tried apologising, looking much more sincere that Lex thought she was, but it was in vain. Lex drove off with Ethan and Hannah, leaving Grace alone with just Tim to console her. And let me tell you, Tim was not doing a good job at that.

Chapter Text

Lex threw her things on their dusty old couch and sat down to rest, Ethan had made an enemy with the leaky faucet again, he does this every time it starts leaking, and Hannah was in her room trying not to cry. If she cried, Ethan or Lex would ask what’s wrong, and they won’t shut up until she answers them, and she doesn’t wanna bother them with her pettyass problems. She only had one person to talk to, but the same problem rang true for her.

Webby, the eldritch being of light that for some reason bothers with Hannah, was too important to be bothered with petty squabbles that Hannah used to nag her with. At least, that’s what Hannah told herself. She usually only asked to talk to Webby if she wanted to grow her abilities. Webby says that she doesn’t like only being used for that, but if she became Hannah’s therapist, Lex would go broke again. As Hannah shoved her emotions down her throat, Ethan began complaining about the faucet again.

“Damn thing’s broken again. I swear to God I’ll kill that little shit Oliver if he fucked this up!”

“The faucet’s broken, Eth?”

“Yeah, keeps fuckin leaking!”

“Leaking? Again?”

“Yeah, it’s like the fifth time this year! If he weren’t my cousin I’d kill that son of a bitch for not even fixing it right!”

“Can you fix it? I don’t wanna waste any more money on water.”

“I’m tryin, hon. The damn thing won’t budge!”

“Do you even know what you’re doing, Ethan?”

“Well, why don’t you give it a try, then? Show me what I’m doing wrong, Lex!”

“I’ve worked enough today, Ethan. I'm too exhausted.”

“So am I, Lex. Yet, here I am, on the edge of breaking the damn thing and replacing it with a hose! I don’t wanna waste any more money on this cheapass faucet ever again. It’s almost as if someone breaks it on purpose or something, Jesus!”

“What did you say, Ethan?”

“It’s almost as if someone breaks it on purpose or something… why?

“…HANNAH!”

Hannah stepped out of her room and walked over to Lex, who was now sitting upright and sternly gazing at the wall where a TV used to be before they sold it. She felt the urge to cave in on herself when she saw Lex’s face. It was as if she’d never known happiness at all.

“Hannah, sit down,” Lex said, not looking at the girl. Hannah sat on the seat next to Lex, the old couch creaking under their combined weight. It’s aged leather cracked off and peeled onto the floor every day, and using it only made that process faster. When Ethan’s uncle first gave them the couch, it looked a little worse for wear but usable. Now, after only four years, it looked like it’d been through every war known to man.

Hannah stared at Lex with the fear of a starving puppy and asked, “I-is there something wrong, Lexie?” Lex did not look at Hannah, maintaining an expressionless face so as to not have to make Hannah think she was mad at her. It didn’t work.

“Hannah,” Lex began, her voice cold and distant, “Be honest with me here. What do you know about the faucet?” Hannah looked around the room in confusion, watched as Ethan tried another failed attempt at fixing the faucet, and replied with caution, “I-it’s leaky?” Lex sighed and rested her elbows on her knees. “No, Hannah,” Lex said, slightly annoyed, “I mean do you know how it got leaky?” Hannah winced at the question, understanding what Lex was asking instantly.

“How would I know,” Hannah asked, trying not to sound like a prudish teen. Lex seemed angered nonetheless. “How would you know? You’re in here most of the day! Surely you’ve seen it break at least once before, right? C’mon, Hannah, work with me here. That thing is costing us a lot of money, can you please try to remember if you saw anything?”

Hannah thought long and hard, but her memory was too distracted to focus. Grace’s thoughts flooded her mind constantly now, she couldn't unhear what the girl was saying even if she were to be lobotomised. She couldn’t remember anything from before she read Grace’s mind, especially if it was a while ago. So, she just kinda gently shrugged and looked at the floor in shame.

“Really, Hannah, nothing?” Lex questioned. When Hannah shrugged again to tell her no, Lex shot up from her seat. “Goddamn it. Ethan, check for any signs of a break in!” she called out, “And give me that fucking wrench!” Hannah heard Lex snatch Ethan’s weapon from his hands as she walked back to her room. She closed the door on another argument that started between the two and sat on her bed. Another shit day, I guess.

Chapter Text

That night Hannah had a dream. It was a horrible dream. She felt herself floating above Hatchetfield, watching from a distance as something stormed its way through the streets, devouring all it came across. She watched helplessly as Sophia’s flames went cold when it lunged at her. She watched horrified when Daniel didn’t even get the chance to run before it lunged at him too. The thing charged through hospitals, offices, homes, and left nothing in its wake. Hannah could do nothing as she watched it devour her sister and Ethan before looking up at her and lunging forward. Hannah shrieked, and the world went silent.

Lex woke up to a scream from Hannah’s room. She got up quickly, not bothering to check what time it was, and rushed to the room in a panic. The door was open, and Ethan was inside. He was consoling Hannah, who was trying to convince herself that it was just a dream and not a warning. Lex sat on Hannah’s bed and tried to comfort her little sister.

Hannah’s speech was incomprehensible. “He’s coming. I can’t stop him. Bad blood. Dead winter.” Just like when Hannah was younger, she spoke in riddles when she was scared. Back when Hannah was 13, she would spout similar phrases whenever she was near Toyzone. Turns out, on the day Lex had taken time off work to take Hannah out fishing, there’d been a riot at Toyzone. The store had been ransacked, three people died, and Hannah stopped chanting the cryptic riddles. Lex chalked it up to a coincidence back then. Now, she wasn’t so sure.

Lex told Ethan to get out of the room and held her sister to her chest. While Hannah was now taller than Lex, she still fell into her embrace like a small child. Lex cradled her little sister as she came down from her panic attack. How Hannah missed Lex’s hugs.

A little while after Hannah had fully relaxed and had time to breathe, she began to softly apologise. “I’m sorry, Lexie,” she said, her breath a little shaky, “I didn’t mean to wake you.” Lex held Hannah closer to herself and shushed her. “It’s alright, Banana,” she said in a comforting tone, “I just wanted to make sure you’re safe.”

“You do too much for me,” Hannah replied, as if the statement was something both had already known. Lex sat Hannah on her lap and gave her a full hug. “I don’t do enough,” she said to her, nearly crying. Hannah’s voice became panicked, “I didn’t mean to make you cry, Lexie. I’m sorry.” Lex tightened her hold on her sister, and Hannah hugged back. For a while, the two sat there like that. Neither of them dared let go of each other. Not when so much of the world made sense when they were like this.

Ethan gently tapped Lex’s shoulder. He pulled out his phone and showed her the time. 4:30. He clearly wanted her to go back to bed, but didn’t wanna ruin the moment for Hannah. Lex gestured for Ethan to come closer to them, and he did. Lex whispered, “Go to bed, I’m staying with Hannah.” and went back to not looking at him.

Ethan left, opting to sleep on the couch since he still wasn’t sure if Lex wanted him back to bed or not, and Lex laid Hannah down. Then Lex got in Hannah’s bed and held her little sister close to her chest. She would make sure that Hannah felt safe, and she’d also sleep a little safer now anyways. Then the Fosters fell asleep. Then the world felt safe.

Chapter Text

I totally didn’t forgot about why Ethan did this. It was because… um… i-it was to… to prove to Lex that he could actually give both her and Hannah a normal day. Yeah, I didn’t forget, fuck you! All Ethan wanted to do was just to let them live their lives how God intended, completely stress free! Oh how severely he fucked this up, didn’t he?

Ethan woke up much later than he normally did. Apparently Lex took a sick day to spend it with Hannah, and they were off fishing. Ethan still never understood why Lex’s boss made her work on the weekends, especially since she wasn’t in school and had no reason to work weekends instead of normal days, but whatever.

Ethan couldn’t help but feel shitty for how Hannah’s “party” ended up. She made him promise not to call it a party, by the way. No matter who he blamed at the moment, Brad, Sofia, or Grace, he couldn’t help but feel an immense guilt for what happened. He was the one who planned it, he was the one in charge, and he nearly let Hannah get beat by some self-righteous brute simply because he… he didn’t even know why!

Ethan felt a sense of pride in how he raised Hannah by now. In the almost nine fucking years since he’s known her, he’s never had an oversight this big. It sickened him to know that Hannah was almost hurt thanks to his actions. A part of him was glad Lex was with Hannah today and not him, since he felt like he would’ve accidentally gotten Hannah into more danger. A little voice in him was convinced that bad things happened to Hannah when he was the only one with her. It sounded too sure of itself to fully ignore.

Ethan got to work baking an apology cake. He knew the girls would probably be back around like 4 or something, so he wanted to make them something special. Hannah complained that Ethan only ever bakes, but if she knew what he and Lex did, she’d be grateful that he never even so much as looks at the stove whenever he’s in the kitchenette.

Hannah’s favourite colour is yellow, so he made a lemon cake. Those are kinda yellow. Well, he has food dye, so that doesn’t matter anyways. He also made some little cupcakes with the extra batter and put them all in the oven. Now all he had to do was sit alone with his thoughts. His horrible, self-depricating thoughts. But c’mon! That’ll be fine! He’ll be fine!

Ethan looks up at the clock on the wall. 10:27. He will not be fine.

Hannah sat on the patch of land near Lake Huron on the outskirts of the Hatchetfield island. There hasn’t been many places for the girls to be alone through the years, especially since the Witchwoods keep getting chopped up and removed as the city grew in population. Oh America, you land-eating little bitch!

Lex found this area back when Hannah was only five years old. There was a period in their life when their mother was getting worse and when their social worker was first sent to them, and in that period of time Lex frequently ran away with Hannah to wherever she could go. Hatchetfield was smaller then, so most times they were caught, but sometimes they would run so far into the wilderness that they wouldn’t be found for days.

One of those times, Lex stumbled across this part of the Witchwood. It was too far from the city for anyone who cared enough to accidentally stumble across, but it wasn’t too far that they wouldn’t be able to ever go back. It was a sort of woodland beach, as rigid and wild as the rest of the woods but cozy enough for people to stay in without catching some sort of disease. If you sat there at the right time of day, you could watch Lake Huron transform from just a normal lake to the most beautiful place on earth right before your very eyes.

Lex taught herself how to fish so that way Hannah could have something to eat while they were there. Like most fisherman, she barely ever caught anything, but on the occasions that she did she’d give it all to Hannah. Of course, she also had to teach herself how to properly get rid of parasites in the fish that she caught, that came much easier than catching the damn things anyways.

Hannah could survive off of Rarely If Ever Caught Fish From A Motherfucking Lake™ for only so long. Lex eventually had to drag her back home, where she would be berated by her mother and Hannah was finally taken to a hospital. That’s when one of the nurses finally called CPS to actually try to make their lives better. Their mother never did forgive that nurse for what she'd done, that nosy Becky Barnes.

Hannah was too young and too scared to fully process that length of time, but a part of her still felt sentimental whenever Lex would take her back. Lex would teach Hannah how to fish and they would sit there fishing for hours. They wouldn’t ever try to live there again, Lex knew not to grow too attached to the freedom it gave them, but they still formed a sort of bond there. That place was where Lex and Hannah first heard Webby. Lex would eventually decide it was a dream, but Hannah never lied to herself like that. Webby's always been with the girls, but that place was where they both first heard her.

Hannah felt all the warm and happy emotions flood into her mind at once when Lex’s car came to their old place. Their spot at the edge of the Witchwood, unclaimed by men and left free for all else. Ethan was never allowed to go here, it was only for Hannah and Lex.

Hannah sat on the patch of land near Lake Huron on the outskirts of the Hatchetfield island. Lex pulled out their fishing rods, Lex’s made out of nearby objects in the Witchwood from when she was ten years old and Hannah’s made out of cheap materials that they managed to convince their social worker Duke to buy for them that one time. They sat on the wooden bench that Lex had made when she was in shop class and just stared at the lake. It’s waters glistened from the sunlight, and Hannah let out a tear.

“They’re taking this away soon,” she said, starting to cry from how much it hurt her. Mayor Solomon Lauter announced that this plot would be used to create another dock for their island. Apparently, Hatchetfield was starting to become the most profitable city in the midwest, and “they needed more trade routes” or whatever. Construction was said to begin in late January. In only three months, Hannah’s favourite place would be gone.

Lex held her crying sister close to her, letting herself shed a few tears at the loss. This place had brought so much joy to them. Lex felt safest when it was just her and Hannah sitting here, hoping that their lives would get better. This place was how they bonded, how they healed. And now some rich asshole was taking it away from them. Nowhere in Hatchetfield, nowhere in the whole world, could bring them as much hope and happiness as this little patch of land did. She bet someone ratted on them, told the mayor that this place was brewing with delinquency so that way he’d close it off. She’s wrong, but she doesn’t know that, so don’t tell her.

Hannah calmed down and Lex cast her rod. Before Hannah could follow her sister’s lead, a flash of bright light shone in her eyes and she fell to her knees. She saw a woman stalking the Witchwood with hunger in her eyes. She raised an axe threateningly at someone and sprinted through the forest. Hannah heard the screams of kids her age in the direction the woman ran. Then she saw that evil thing from her nightmare smile.

Hannah felt Lex pull her up. She felt her face, it was covered in dirt and grass. Lex brushed away the big chunks and asked, “You okay, Banana?” Hannah wanted to say something normal, like “I’m fine” or “Yes, Lexie”, but what came out of her mouth wasn’t even words. Then Hannah’s mind went blank. She started chanting cryptic shit again, though it was a lot less cryptic than normal. “There’s something in the woods. Winter of Death is coming. There’s someone in the woods.”

Hannah’s chants didn’t end. The more she said “There’s something in the woods”, the more Lex got scared. Clearly, Hannah saw something. Or maybe she heard something. Or maybe she felt something. Whatever the reason, Hannah knows something she didn’t, and it horrified her. Hannah’s chants got louder and more frantic, and Lex felt the Witchwood leering at them, ready to silence her. She grabbed their fishing rods and threw them in the car, then she put Hannah in the car, then she got in the car. Lex drove away from their little spot in the woods. She felt no love for it anymore, only a sense of fear for what it did to Hannah.

Ethan heard the front door unlocking. She’s early. He looked at the barely frosted cake in front of him. It looked sad and unfinished. This was supposed to be a fun surprise for them, an apology to Hannah for ruining her birthday and a promise to Lex that he wouldn’t do it again. Ah fuck it, no one likes surprises.

Lex and Hannah were home early from their fishing trip. Wait, they never come home early from fishing. Ethan’s mind raced to all sorts of horrible scenarios in a fraction of a second. If anyone hurt them, if anyone looked at them, Ethan would unleash a vengeful wrath the likes of which the cruelest man in the world could only dream o-

“W-we’re fine, Eth-than,” he heard Hannah say from the other side of the door, stopping his brain from delving into pure hatred for hyperbole. There was a pause in the unlocking noises, a hushed conversation that sounded one-sided, and then the noises continued. Ethan, remembering that he’s on the other side of the door, ran to it and unlocked the gate one. Then he saw Lex swing the wooden door open, a look of worry on her face, and stepped aside.

Hannah filed in behind Lex. Her face was pale and her arms wrapped around herself as if she was cold. Not cold… freezing. Like all the blood left her body and hadn’t come back yet. Ethan locked the doors behind her, his worst fears springing into his mind again, and walked to the couch cautiously. Lex sat Hannah down and held her arms down comfortingly. She didn’t want to rush Hannah, but she needed to know why she was so scared.

“I-it’s fine, Lexie,” Hannah said, feigning confidence, “I’m fi-ine.” Lex stared at Hannah concernedly. “That doesn’t sound like fine to me, Banana,” she said as calmly as she could. Hannah’s breath quickened, and she looked away from Lex to try and think of another excuse. Ethan kneeled to where Hannah was sitting and put his hand on her thigh. “We’re here for you,” he said in a comforting voice, “You can tell us anything.” Hannah shook her head. She can’t tell them anything. She can’t tell them anything! If she did tell them even a fraction of what she saw, would they believe her? Would they abandon her too? Think she’s too crazy to raise? Leave her alone like her mother did? She was not gonna chance that.

“I said I’m fine!” Hannah said with aggression in her voice. She didn’t wanna make her family mad at her, she just needed them to stay out of this. Maybe she’ll ask Webby. Or maybe Webby’ll ignore her too. Webby had a habit of not really listening to what Hannah told her, especially if it was about money or her powers. Webby said that her job is to make sure Hannah was safe, and Hannah’s job was to be a kid. Neither of them did their jobs that well, honestly.

Lex looked at Hannah with more concern now than before. Ethan took his hand off of Hannah’s thigh and put it on her shoulder. Shit. Hannah tried to leave, but Lex and Ethan wouldn’t let her get up. “Hannah, whatever it is, you can tell us!” Lex exclaimed in what she thought was a reasonable tone, though Hannah didn’t think so.

Ethan tried rubbing Hannah’s back to calm her down, but it only made Hannah more defensive. “S-stop it,” she whispered, hoping he’d listen to her if she was quieter. Ethan didn’t stop, since he didn’t hear her over her fighting to get up. Lex, trying to reason with Hannah, said, “Hey, it’s okay. Remember last night? You can trust me, I’m your sister!” while holding up her hands like you would a horse. All that did was make Hannah more agitated.

Hannah struggled with Ethan and Lex for around three minutes, with everything they did to console her ending up making her more paranoid. Finally, Hannah had enough, and screamed out, “Get off of me!” Her words sent Lex and Ethan flying, except it wasn’t her words. Her mind sent a shockwave of energy out from all sides of her, sending everything light enough flying backwards.

Hannah didn’t notice it at first, she was too busy running out the front door of their apartment. Where she was going she didn’t know, but she knew she needed to do something about what she saw. And she also knew that Lex and Ethan couldn’t go with her this time. She needed to do this herself, so they wouldn’t get hurt because of her ever again.

Ethan fell directly onto the floor, landing on a dusty rug that he’d forgotten was even there. Luck was finally on his side. The carpet was just soft enough to stop him from getting too hurt by whatever the fuck Hannah just did to him. Lex… she wasn’t so lucky.

Lex hit the concrete wall that seperated the living room from their bedroom. Where she hit it was a large crack splattered with her blood. Ethan rushed over to it as soon as he saw, but Lex wasn’t on the floor where she hit. She’d actually crawled to the kitchenette counter to pull herself back up, a trail of blood from where she landed to where she was now.

Ethan rushed over to help up his girlfriend, she reluctantly complied. Lex’s back was scraped up and her shirt was ripped a little, but she insisted she was fine. Ethan sat her down on the barstools that for some reason every kitchenette counter has and gave her some water and a wet towel. She took off her shirt and let him clean her wounds, albeit impatiently.

After Ethan had cleaned her, she threw her shirt back on and asked, “What the hell happened?” Ethan, just as confused as she was, replied, “I-I don’t know.” “Does Hannah do this often?” Lex asked fearfully. Ethan shrugged, though he did remember other weird things that Hannah did when she thought no one was looking. He’d never admit it, but he once overheard Hannah talk to Webby… and Webby talked back.

“We need to go get her,” Lex said, more to herself than to Ethan. She slowly got up and grabbed the jacket that she thought she was still wearing until Ethan started cleaning her cuts. Ethan ran across the apartment, grabbing all sorts of things that he thought Hannah or Lex would need. He guided Lex to their car and they drove off to find the girl, wherever the hell she may be.

Chapter Text

Hannah ran for what felt like forever. She could feel her lungs failing to keep up with her body, but she stood firm. She bolted down the streets, only seeing in her head where she needed to be but not knowing how to get there. She felt Webby’s hand guiding her movements, showing her the directions across town where she’d never been before. She pushed past a prissy girl and her little servant friend, a group of popular kids she didn’t care enough to remember their names, a woman clawing at her own arms like she was hiding something, and a man who seemed to be in more of a hurry than she was.

Most of them cussed her out as she passed them, but the man in a hurry just looked at her with pride. “Another in a hurry,” she heard him think, feeling his smile widen when she got further from him. Something in her was happy about that.

Hannah ran so fast she nearly tripped over a homeless man begging for change. As she caught her breath, he reached out his hands towards her. “Spare change for the homeless?” he said, his voice sounding as confused as it did torn down by life. Hannah stared into the man’s eyes… and recognised him. He seemed to do the same.

She cautiously approached the man, trying her best to hide her exhaustion in a comforting aura. He didn’t buy it. “Sit, Banana,” he told her, less of a threat and more of a suggestion. Hannah sat on the sidewalk with him, knowing he’d never hurt her. The man put his arm around her in a fatherly manner and let her breath return to normal.

For a while, the world felt still. Comforting in a way that both of them knew they weren’t supposed to feel. The world would see two outcasts connecting over their shared pain, but they knew different. They were two people in the wrong story, sharing a moment of trust that only a true family could. They most likely will never see each other again, and never learn the other’s name. Though they knew it in their hearts, what one meant to the other. A blip of comfort that neither were supposed to feel.

Hannah stood up after her breath was finally caught. “I have to do something,” she told the man, “But I’ll be back. I promise.” The man held her pinky finger in his and said with the most amount of sanity he could muster for her, “I’ll be waiting for you, Banana.” Hannah then turned and began to walk away, whispering to herself a sentence only her and him would hear, “Goodbye, dad.” Hannah cried, and Ted smiled.

Chapter Text

Miss Retro’s Diner.

An 80’s themed diner near the centre of Hatchetfield proper. Beloved by most of the 80’s and by many who were born well after it had passed. It had all the classic shit: a jukebox playing stuff like ABBA and David Bowie, early arcade games, a menu filled with the most American foods that exist outside of a Fair, and the classic “80’s style uniforms” that all the employees wore, even the diner’s owner. Funny enough, her name isn’t actually Miss Retro.

Hannah barged into the half-empty diner not knowing why she was there but knowing she had to be. The tables had the diner’s typical guests of several elder members of the retail world and a few rowdy teens and young adults, though Hannah wasn’t exactly sure if her assessment of this was true or not. The older adults ignored her intrusion and the younger people feigned disinterest. Hannah quickly caught her breath and shuffled over to a free stool, trying not to draw any more attention to herself.

An employee walked over to where Hannah was sitting and pulled out a notepad, saying, “Welcome to Miss Retro’s, can I get you started on some coffee?” The girl sounded dry but soft, like she was trying to sound like she cared more than she did. Hannah spoke shakily, still a bit tired from her running, “N-no thanks.” The employee sighed, put her little notepad away, and said in a slightly softer tone, “Well let me know if you want anything, m’kay?” Hannah nodded and the girl left.

The sky got dark and most of the patrons had left. Some new arrivals came in, one of which was Lex’s boss by the way, but the diner was more or less “closing”. Hannah felt a sharp anxiety prod her chest, her right leg started incessantly bouncing to relieve the stress, and her breathing quickened.

Her mind raced around with questions. What am I doing here? Why am I acting so weird? Should I just go back home? What am I doing? I should leave. Why am I even here?

Knock knock. Hannah looked up at the girl from earlier, her uniform messier and her hair down from the ponytail it was in before. She eyed Hannah with a tired expression and dryly asked, “My shift ends in like ten minutes, you gonna order or not?” Hannah heard the girl think to herself, “This kid better not be fucking with me, I swear to god” which only made her anxiety worsen.

From behind the girl, an older woman said, “Brenda, you can go now. I’ll handle this one.” Brenda turned, thought of a million different praises in her head, and left, saying, “Thanks Miss Holloway!” as she did. Then Hannah finally got to look at the famed Miss Holloway that many men in the town thought so fondly of, including Duke before he got married.

She was a beautiful woman. Wearing the same uniforms that her employees did but with much more care put into them, a mild version of 80’s glam makeup coating her friendly and well-aged face, her hair frizzy and powerful like the 80’s rockstars she almost definitely wanted to embody, and the smile of a gentle and happy woman who could hide her suffering well. Hannah could read through that smile, but every part of her being begged herself not to.

Miss Holloway didn’t give as much of a look to Hannah that Hannah did her. Instead she smiled a warm and friendly smile and asked, “What would you like, sweetie?” Hannah took in a deep breath, careful to carefully craft the most captivating and informative version of her predicament as she could muster… and pointed at the pancakes.

“Oh, isn’t it a little late for that?” Miss Holloway asked in her usual peppy way. Hannah shrugged, too anxious to speak still. Miss Holloway seemed to understand, though, and went out to make Hannah’s order with the same amount of care that she does with everyone’s order. The final patrons of the diner seemed to leave as she did, and by the time Miss Holloway returned, it was only her and Hannah in the building.

“There you go, honey, a big ol’ plate of pancakes for ya,” Miss Holloway said happily as she gave Hannah her order. “Now from the looks of it, if I think you might’ve had a hard day, so don't tell anyone, but I’ll let you have these for free today, m’kay?” “Dead blood in the woods,” Hannah said, not wanting to but somehow the words came out. Miss Holloway stared at Hannah with a fear that Hannah saw in the mirror whenever her words got cryptic. It wasn’t the fear she saw in Lex and Ethan, of the unknown, or even the one of Grace’s mind, of morbid curiosity, but it was of her own. The fear of understanding.

Miss Holloway put her hands on Hannah’s and said as calmly as she could, “Can you repeat that, please?” Hannah spoke again, trying to explain but knowing she can’t, “Bad winter. Something in the woods. Death is coming for us. She is coming for me.” Miss Holloway took a moment to process Hannah’s words, but when she did, she put her hand to the girl’s chest and said firmly, “Come with me.”

Hannah sat in the now fully emptied diner, holding a large, unscented, and unlit candle in her lap. Miss Holloway set the final candle down, completing the pentagram shape with an elongated arm at which Hannah was seated. Miss Holloway sat directly across from Hannah, holding in her lap a black book with the same fucked up pentagram on its cover. Hannah recognised the book, though she couldn’t tell you why. She opened the book to a specific page that Hannah couldn’t see and closed her eyes.

“Hannah,” she began, her voice suddenly so powerful, “Close your eyes and take a deep breath.” Hanah did as she asked, unsure of whether it was her decision or Miss Holloway’s.

“Now, I want you to think very carefully. What do you see?”

Hannah tried to recall the vision she saw that morning, but it escaped her mind. Maybe it was her anxiety of this situation, maybe it was that moment with her dad the homeless man, or maybe it was the fact that she just doesn’t remember it. Whatever the reason, she couldn’t remember a single thing.

“Think very hard, Hannah. What do you see now?”

Hannah understood what Miss Holloway was saying now. She let all of her thoughts and emotions fade away and embraced the silence of her mind. It took a few seconds, but suddenly images flooded her brain, memories that weren’t hers.

The Witchwood was dark and grimey, unusually so. Nothing made a noise, nothing at all. It was like the forest was too scared to breathe, even the trees felt eerily still. Nothing was alive here. Not for a very long time. It was as if God had forgotten to give his gifts to this place, as if this were what hell really looked like.

Something bolted through the woods at lightning speed, disrupting the hellish landscape with its presence. It trampled dead leaves and dying branches, alerting the nonexistent wildlife to its presence with every step it took. It ran aimlessly through the woods as if it were lost but had no time to find its way. Like it was running from the only living thing in this lifeless hellscape.

The something tripped on a dead root and fell on its face. It scrambled to get up, was was far too frail. It turned around, trying to crawl away from its hunter while on its back. It was a boy, looked to be around high school age. He had a fear in his eyes that resembled that of a deer trapped in headlights, too dazed by its situation to run away from the danger in front of it.

He stared up at his attacker. She was a woman, thought her face was obscured by the shadow of her own hair. She held a hatchet in her hands, tainted with the blood of others the boy didn’t get to see. She lumbered towards the boy like a corpse reanimated by a child, her legs too weak to move normally but too strong to give in. She held the hatchet in both hands now, and raised it above her head.

Then the boy got a good look at her, this woman who had been stalking him for so long. Her face looked soft and gentle, but there was pain etched into every fibre of her being. She clearly didn’t know how to raise a hatchet, and by the cuts on her hands and legs it seemed like she had hurt herself accidentally before. Her eyes were still too shadowy to decipher, but her smile was unearthly. Her rosy red lipstick went a little too far past her lips and onto her cheek, so even if she was frowning she was locked in a smile. Her teeth, too big for a human, shone brightly in the faint sunlight of the woods. Then she sent her hatchet crashing down on the boy, devouring his screams of agony with a hellish glee.

Hannah’s eyes jolted awake and she screamed in fear. She threw the candle to the floor and crawled away from the pentagram. Miss Holloway’s eyes remain closed, her composure calm. Hannah’s breath was out of control, her mind too scattered to come to a coherent thought.

“What did you see, Hannah?”

Hannah reeled at the question, too scared to speak. The candle's fire burned brighter than before, far too bright for her liking. Then the candles shifted. They turned a bright magenta hue, and their shape, once a pentagram, now stood stacked on one another, melted into the form of a woman. Or what appeared to be a woman. Its limbs were slack and its features distorted, like it was a demon that didn’t know what humans looked like so it tried its best. The creature had a smile, the same uncanny one from the vision. The creature looked at Hannah with eyes that didn’t exist, grinned, and opened its mouth to swallow her whole.

Hannah woke up screaming with Miss Holloway gently shaking her awake. She blinked repeatedly, her eyes still not having adjusted to the dark room. The candles were unlit and still in their pentagram position, the room looked roughly the same as before. Miss Holloway stared at Hannah expectedly. Oh crap she asked me something. Hannah tried to reach into Miss Holloway’s mind but found nothing. As if there was a barrier keeping Hannah out of it. Or as if she was simply incapable of telepathy in the first place.

“Hannah, are you okay?” Miss Holloway asked, snapping Hannah into reality. Hannah couldn’t speak, as much as she wanted to, she was still too in shock from what she just witnessed to do anything. Miss Holloway seemed to sense this, as she started to silently pick up the blown-out candles and reset the diner with no indication that she wanted to pressure Hannah into speaking. Hannah decided to help Miss Holloway. She can unpack her vision later.

No sign of Hannah for hours on end. They searched for the entire day and hadn’t found her. They searched all of downtown for her with no leads and no idea of where she could be. They had to stop once they ran out of gas money, which only took one trip to the station. Everyone they asked either ignored them or told them they just saw her running past them and nothing more. They saw a homeless man saying he missed her, which they would think was bad if Hannah didn’t make the habit of befriending the few townsfolk poorer than them all the time.

Lex slumped down on the couch exhausted, her back still aching from the morning. Her head was throbbing and she silently cussed at herself for not looking hard enough. Ethan tried to console her, but she flipped him off and he decided that he would leave her alone for now. Lex took in a deep breath and thought of her next actions carefully.

“Ethan,” she said, her voice raspy from the amount of talking she’d done today trying to find her sister, “Didn’t your cousin say that he knew this town like the back of his hand?” Ethan stared at the faucet which was still leaking before he gave his answer. “Oliver?” he asked, “Yeah, why?” Lex rose from the couch and walked over to Ethan, staring into his eyes with that unfeeling stare she only had when she was really angry at him. Ethan did his best not to cower.

“Then why,” she began, thankfully letting her rage seep itself into her gaze, “Didn’t you fucking tell him anything, Ethan?” Ethan started to get visibly nervous and said defensively, “You know Oliver, he’s the least fucking trustworthy person we know. I mean he needed a fucking leash for god’s sake! You think I believed him when he said that shit?”

“Ethan!” Lex exclaimed, her anger painful to Ethan’s ears. Ethan stared at Lex with a barely-concealed fear and she seemed to lighten her tone at his eyes. “Ethan,” she started, calming herself so she wouldn’t strain her voice anymore, “Did you at least consider asking him about it?” Ethan paused for far too long and eventually responded, “I-I truly didn’t think he was serious.”

At that admission Lex got mad again. She started walking towards their room while Ethan desperately tried to explain, “It’s not like he goes out much, Lex! I mean, listen to what he says, you’d think he’s lying too! Besides, he kept saying he knew everything about the city, the suburbs, Pinebrook, even the woods that no one went to. I mean, he kept talking about secret spots in the woods where no one goes to, you have to believe me, he’s insane!”

“Secret spots?” Lex asked, her rage subsiding from her genuine curiosity. Ethan was caught off-guard at her sudden interest and realised that she was waiting for him to respond. He replied confusedly, “Y-yeah, he kept talking about sections of the woods near the shores where no one went to. Said there was one that you guys were in one time. That’s crazy, right?”

Lex stared at Ethan’s chest with a look of concern for a few moments, trying to process Ethan’s words as best she could with him staring at her confused state. Ethan kept trying to get her attention but she didn’t register his concerns. Eventually he held her wrists in his hands and asked loudly, “Lex! That’s crazy, right?” Lex didn’t look at him but she did respond, her voice so soft and quiet Ethan didn’t fully process her words, “That’s where I take Hannah to fish.”

Ethan realised the meaning of Lex’s epiphany while she ran to her purse, looking for her phone. Ethan asked, “What are you doing, Le-” and Lex cut him off abruptly with one word, “Oliver.”

Chapter Text

hey guy

so this fic is also really old like the one I discontinued and am currently rewriting, and I so want to rewrite this one as well

however, i also want to finish this one first, so expect the ending of this fic to occur much more quickly than you probably would've expected

Chapter Text

Hannah woke up from her nap in a beat up old van from the 80’s driving through Hatchetfield’s residential area. The van wasn’t unlike her sister’s car, older and more damaged but similar enough to her, and the area she was in looked familiar. Too familiar.

She realised this was where Daniel lived, and she felt a fear at the idea of him seeing her again. He most likely wouldn’t, especially not at the dead of night in someone else’s car. Still, she felt that fear all the same.

Miss Holloway looked in her rearview mirror at Hannah, who was still a bit drowsy from her nap, and turned her attention back to the road. “Who’s Daniel,” she asked Hannah the same way Ethan did when she first mentioned him. Hannah at first thought Holloway could read minds too, but then she remembered that she whispered his name when she saw his house, so she calmed down.

“H-he’s my friend,” Hannah replied sleepily. Holloway seemed to take note of that information and kept driving, and Hannah fell asleep again.

Hannah found herself in that place in the woods where that boy in her visions was murdered. It reeked of death and pain, but not a single ounce of blood could be spotted. She knew it was there though, once upon a time. She walked around the area, the pain of the woods hurting her soul with every breath she took. Something bad was here, infecting everything around it. Hannah would be consumed too, he has foreseen it.

Suddenly that woman came charging at her on all fours at inhuman speeds. Hannah felt herself getting weaker the closer it got to her. She was trapped. All the space to run but nowhere to go. Hannah felt herself tear up at the notion.

The woman lunged at Hannah, mouth wide open in a demonic smile. Hannah braced herself for impact, waiting for the creature’s teeth to tear into her flesh like a fruit gummy, and let herself cry out Lex’s name as a desperate apology for all the trouble she caused her older sister over the years. Then the force of the woman with the horrible smile came crashing down on Hannah, and she fell on the grass, blood shooting from her mouth.

Hannah got a good look at the woman’s face while it tore open her stomach with an animalistic ferocity. She looked scared, no, mortified by what she was doing. As if her body was acting on its own… or if something else piloted it. Hannah through her bloody throat managed to tell the woman, “it’s okay” before her body failed her and she breathed out her final breath. The woman in turn tried to thank Hannah, but all that came out was a violent and rancid, “Where’s Webby, little Banana?”

Then the thing controlling the woman started cackling at Hannah’s suffering, an overwhelming swirl of pink and yellow clouding her vision as she began to scream.

Hannah woke up instantly in a cold sweat after her new vision. Well, a warning, really. From someone that was a lot like Webby, though much more sadistic.

“Hannah!” she heard from across from her, though she realised that the person calling her had been doing so for a while. Probably when she croaked out a teary “Lex” in her sleep. Hannah turned her head, and she saw Daniel and Sophia, wearing soft clothing as if they were just dragged out of bed.

“Hannah, what’s happening? Are you okay?” she saw Daniel ask her, “Where’s Ethan? Why are we here?” Hannah took a few seconds to breathe and promptly ignored Daniel’s questions. Instead, she asked him, “Did sh-she wake you guys?”

Daniel started thinking about a multitude of answers, most of which have him trying to trick Hannah into thinking that Miss Holloway didn’t and trying to change the subject. Sophia on the other hand, didn’t think about what to say at all. Instead, she ju-

“Yeah, she did. Why the fuck are we here?”

Hannah noticed that Sophia was wearing a wife-beater that looked just a little bit too baggy on her and some of Daniel’s pajama pants that were a bit too small. Daniel was wearing normal pajamas, but there was a small thought in the back of his head that asked him when he was going to stop. It was in his mother’s voice. Hannah hated that she agreed.

Hannah took a second and answered hesitantly, “I-I don’t know.”

“Bullshit, why’d she wake us up in the middle of the fucking night, Hannah? Why does she even know who we are? What’s happening?”

“I SAID I DON’T KNOW!”

Hannah’s words were far louder than she would’ve wanted them to be. The force of her scream sent shock waves through the van and the surrounding area. She heard windows shatter, car alarms go off, cracks form in the pavement, and saw her friends covering their own bloody ears.

There was a deafening silence as Hannah listened to the ringing in her friends’ ears, broken by Miss Holloway responding to Sophia’s questions with, “That.” Hannah heard Sophia think that Miss Holloway was trying to exploit them and debate whether she should burn the woman’s head to a crisp or not. Daniel just stared.

Miss Holloway continued, “That is the reason why she’s here, why you’re all here. There is a dangerous creature that could threaten the entire world and Hannah is the only person that can stop it. You two are her friends, she’ll need someone beside her that isn’t a woman she just met.”

Sophia snapped. “What the fuck are you talking about? Do you seriously think we’re just gonna let you use Hannah as your fucking soldier? Who the hell do you think you are?”

“Enough,” Miss Holloway said, more of a suggestion than a demand. Sophia didn’t relent. “Enough? What the hell’s your problem, forcing kids to ‘stop creatures’, why the hell can’t you do it yourself? And what’s with all the cryptic shit, we’re barely adults who the hell do you think you a-”

“I said enough.” Holloway’s words silenced Sophia instantly, along with Daniel who had been trying to get a word in for a little while. The three sat in silence for a moment before the woman spoke again, “Deep in the woods there is a woman. A sad, lonely woman. She lost everything in her life and now she’s a threat.”

“Seriously?” Daniel asked apprehensively, “You need Hannah and us all for some woman?”

“Stop interrupting me,” Miss Holloway groaned, regretting bringing these kids with her, “Hannah has been given visions of a monster devouring all of Hatchetfield. This woman is a servant of a dark lord, one beyond our understanding. We need to sever his connection to the mortal realm immediately, or else Hannah’s visions will come true.”

“Bad winter. In the woods. Death is coming for us.” Hannah recited the words subconsciously, as if it wasn't her who said them. Sophia and Daniel stared at her with concern and Sophia asked, “How do we stop it?” Holloway didn't answer, and kept driving down the dirt road to the middle of the Witchwood.

“Do you think you can find her?” They were standing in Oliver’s room, well actually his mom’s garage, when Ethan asked the question. There were strange posters for some shitty midwest emo bands: Green Day, Bitch Quakers, Needy Beast, Garage Punk Fuckbois, and other shit like that. There was also a dog collar on Oliver’s bed. He doesn't have a dog…

“Yeah, I might know a place like that,” he replied, flicking a toothpick at Lex’s chest. Maybe he didn't mean for it to hit her chest, but she couldn't give less of a shit, fuck Oliver. Even when she’s desperate for his help, she still fuckin hates the guy.

Oliver continued, “My buddy Kale and I saw this cool-ass spot in the woods, used to be a bunch of log cabins or something I dunno, and we saw this older chick making piles of bones and paintin’ ‘em in neon or some shit. Blue, Purple, Green, Yellow, and Pink. She was a little weird, she said she could hear us ‘takin a gander at her heavenly body’ or something like that. Said she was waiting for ‘Webby's little bitch’ out there and that she didn't have time to ‘make us suffer’, whatever that means.”

Lex wanted to punch the guy square in his jaw. Just fuckin beat him to death right here right now. But before she could, Ethan asked Oliver, “Okay, well can you take us there?” “Sure,” Oliver replied, getting up from his bed and walking to the car. In his pajamas. Which had ducks on them. Lex fought the urge to mock him for that.

“Keys, Eth,” Oliver called out with his hand open. Lex stepped next to her boyfriend and tossed Oliver the keys to her car. He looked at them, looked at her, and laughed as he got in the driver’s seat and turned on the ignition. Lex got in the back, but Oliver stopped Ethan from following her, saying, “If we get Hannah, she’s goin’ in the back with her sister. Get in front.” Ethan looked at Lex, who let him, and he sat in the passengers next to his cousin Oliver.

And they drove to the Witchwood.

Holloway stepped out of the van first, then Sophia and Daniel, and finally Hannah. Her shoes touched the crunchy leaves and busted grass and muddy dirt and suddenly she felt a wave of rancid morals hit her nostrils and filled her ears and smacked her eyeballs. She knows we’re here.

Miss Holloway pulled out the Black Book and opened its pages. The spell revealed itself to her and her eyes glew in a kaleidoscope of Blue, Purple, Green, Yellow, and Pink. Hannah felt a sickness with each of those colors, but especially the pink. The faint smell of slaughtered pig meat filled her lungs.

All four of them heard a screech from inside the woods, directly in front of the van. “Walk a few paces,” Holloway commanded, “and try not to die. The spell takes a while.”

Daniel wanted to protest but Hannah grabbed his wrist and did as the witch told her to. Sophia followed, her eyes glowing orange and her breaths getting deeper. They stepped through the haunted trees and reached a scorched land of what was once the bane of teens like them. Five piled of mangled corpses clad in those wretched colors inviting them in.

Hannah sighed and turned around. The creature was standing right behind them, blood dripping from its maw and Miss Holloway’s bloody corpse in its hand.

“Hello, Hannah.”

Chapter Text

A flame burst from Sophia’s fist, erupting into a dragon’s fire scorching everything in its path. The creature lunged forward, its speed matching the speed of the fire it was tanking. Daniel tackled Hannah to the ground while the creature raged against Sophia’s fire. Burn after burn after burn while it wailed and she dodged its every move. Daniel brought Hannah to her feet and they ran behind the corpse piles to give Sophia some space. The girl attacked again and again and again, her ferocity rivalling the beast’s hunger. Meanwhile Hannah and Daniel grabbed wooden boards from the charred log cabins as weapons. They turned around to see that all of the piles had the corpses’ eyes glowing in their respective colors. The piles slowly gained sentience and every corpse crawled to Hannah with mouths agape. Daniel held his breath and created some distance between him and Hannah versus the zombies. He breathed out and the zombies rose to their feet. The yellow ones attacked first, animalistic and uncontrollable. Hannah and Daniel bashed heads and broke ankles but the pink ones charged as well, their hunger evident in all of their attacks. While Sophia did her best to scorch the creature, the Witchwood soon was engulfed in flames and Hannah felt herself getting weaker. A blue zombie hurled itself at her and pinned her to the ground, Daniel was too busy fending off his own attackers to help her up. The zombie groaned and a horrible booming voice rang in her head, “You will be mine this time, Hannah.” She smacked its head and cracked its skull open before fending off a hivemind horde of its color-coded allies. Sophia burned and burned and burned but felt her own body getting hurt by her fires. The creature was unrelenting, not giving her a chance to breathe, though the smoke from her flames wouldn't have let her anyways. It clawed and stamped and bit at her, tearing her flesh as she burned its skin. Daniel found himself cornered by Sophia’s aftermath and a gangle of yellow, pink, blue, and green corpses all charging after him. Hannah reached out a hand and a blast of psychic energy broke their ranks and Daniel was able to make a dash for it, cuts all over his legs as they clawed at him from the ground. Hannah and Daniel kept swinging at their assailants over and over while Sophia tried to keep some distance from the monster trying to rip her apart. Again and again and again the corpses and the creature lunged and swiped and bit at the three of them and again and again and again they all kept them away. But now the purple zombies flooded the crowd and Daniel and Hannah couldn't keep up. Hannah screamed and most of the zombies were sent flying into the fire, but that last blast of psychic energy hurt too much for Hannah to handle and she fell to her knees and started losing consciousness. Daniel fought off the remaining attackers as best he could but there were simply too many, and at the same time Sophia’s back hit a jagged part of a burning tree and felt an onslaught of death tearing at her body no matter how much fire she torched her killer with. Daniel held his breath and dragged Hannah somewhere safer, breathing out and shielding her body with his own while the corpses charged him. He closed his eyes and held out his weapon, ready to fight to the bloody end.

Lex had a fraction of a second to register the burning forest and supernatural shit when she saw Hannah’s friend drag her away from a horde of what looked like corpses. “DRIVE INTO THEM,” Lex screamed at Oliver, who immediately drove her car directly into the remainder of those technicolor zombie things. She bursted from the backseat and ran to Hannah and her friend, yelling at them to get in the car. Ethan also burst out and grabbed Hannah, who was struggling to stay conscious, carrying her to the backseat. They all got in the car and drove away.

Lex hugged her sister and tearfully promised to never leave her again. Then they all heard a deafening scream bursting through the Witchwood, and in the rearview mirror Oliver spotted a mutilated and torched pink monster charging after them. “FLOOR IT!” Daniel screamed, and the car hit its limits driving away from the thing, Hannah’s hand weakly stretching out to it knowing who she left behind.

The woods seemed much much larger than they used to. Trees that weren't on fire stretched to the sky and clouded the stars of the night. All except for five, each one a bright neon color that gave them no comfort. Blue, Purple, Green, Yellow, and Pink.

Lex held her sister close to her and the creature roared again, the car was not even close to losing it. Daniel panicked and Ethan screamed at him to find something useful in the glove compartment. Hannah held onto her sister and cried, realising what happened to Sophia, and the creature lunged forward.

All any of them felt was a crash before the world went dark.

Lex woke up to find herself in a wrecked car, blood pouring from her head and her little sister cradled in her arms. She checked Hannah’s pulse: still alive. Lex looked at her surroundings. Ethan was bloody and unconscious, Oliver was dead with his head on the steering wheel, and Daniel was in shock. The creature roared from far away.

Lex pulled Hannah from the car and onto the blood soaked floor. The creature roared again from far away. Lex cried onto Hannah’s unconscious body, her brain filled only with the thought of keeping the girl safe. Her baby sister, the only love left in her worthless life. She would do anything just to make sure Hannah was okay. A memory that she didn't know she still remembered flooded her brain in an instant.

She was five years old, sitting in a hospital room while her mother gave birth. The doctors yelled that it was breech, its feet were coming out first and they needed extra help. Lex sensed something wrong with the baby, something innate in her eyes that she could not ignore any longer. She reached her hands into The Black and White and gently pulled the crying infant into reality. The doctors cut the umbilical cord and Lex watched them carry her slimy little sister to the rest of the ward.

Lex heard a voice from another domain call out to her, “Save your sister, Lexie.” She looked up and saw the giant white spider that she once loved more than anything except her sister. She wanted to hug its fuzzy body. But she reached out a hand, and pulled from The Black and White a strange black book with a page turned to a spell. An exorcism spell. Purging Bile from a Body.

Lex recited the words. It was gibberish, noises she had to force herself to make in the order that was demanded. She felt her sister wiggle a bit underneath her and her resolve strengthened. The creature was charging at her.

She felt the sounds leaving her lips and heard Hannah weakley joining in. The world seemed to slowly fade into blackness and the final line rang from their mouths. The creature’s jaws lunged at the two girls, a smiling woman with eyes that looked like she was crying, and suddenly the world was bathed in white.

The creature screamed and reared back, pink light bursting through its face holes and its body losing all of its mass and evil corruptions. Now stood before them was a woman screaming at the top of her lungs while a ghostly monster birthed from her mouth. It writhed in the open air and was lifted into Webby’s clicking maw by a single mandible. It looked so miniscule compared to her.

All at once the world snapped to normal. Ethan and Daniel emerged from the broken down car, bloody and beaten but not dead yet. The woods looked as they usually did, though there was a massive smoke billowing from somewhere deep in its massive range. Daniel pulled Hannah to her feet while Lex stayed on the ground, the Black Book still in her hands but its page now closed.

Hannah turned around and faced the woman, crying uncontrollably on the floor. She was still wearing those kiddy overalls and nothing underneath that she was when she was in that awful creature form, but they were a hell of a lot baggier. A callous man would say she wasn't even trying to cover herself up. Hannah knew better.

She walked over to the woman and reached out a hand. The woman’s thoughts were like Grace’s, only consisting of two things that played over and over to the point where it sounded like a garble of incoherent nonsense at times. “There’s so many bodies,” and “I’m so sorry, my baby.” The woman aggressively waved Hannah’s hand away and fell deeper into her self-loathing mind.

Lex stood and pulled Hannah away from the woman. But Hannah stood firm. “She’s not a monster,” Hannah said firmly, “she’s a puppet.” Lex hesitantly relented and Hannah sat beside the woman. The woman looked at her with tears all over her face with eyes redder than the blood dripping from her mouth and asked, “Why are you talking to me?” There was an uncomfortable silence before Hannah hugged the woman and whispered, “It's not your fault.”

Lex, Ethan, and Daniel watched as the woman slowly accepted Hannah’s hug and started crying again, though with much less horror in her strained cries. Hannah let go and asked, “Do you really think you can bring him back, Jeri?” Jeri sniffled and admitted, “No, I know I can't.” Neither of them dared elaborate.

From the shadows of the trees a broken looking Miss Holloway stumbled towards the group. Lex, Ethan, and Daniel went on guard but Hannah stayed calm. Somehow she knew Holloway couldn't just die.

“I’m going to take her now,” Holloway announced, and Jeri looked as if she would be compliant. Hannah stayed put while Jeri rose to her feet and followed Miss Holloway into the Witchwood, and neither of them would be seen again.

Lex and Hannah were sitting on their special patch of land near Lake Huron, fishing together in a heavenly silence. It’d been three days since that whole escapade, and the news would say that a horrible forest fire killed around 67 people, any suspected culprit to have died among the fires as well.

Hannah got a bite and her and Lex reeled it in. It was a small fish that they shoved in a bucket to suffocate. Maybe they’ll have fish sticks for dinner.

Hannah took a breather while Lex continued to fish. “Oliver’s funeral is gonna cost a fortune,” she said, filling the silence. Hannah nodded in agreement and sat next to her big sister. The silence that followed was gentle and bliss.

“By the way,” Hannah eventually said, “I think I know who my dad is.” Lex turned around with immediate confusion and said, “What the fuck?”