Work Text:
It was almost the end of the day and four girls were in a classroom talking. They were currently talking about what they could do after school. There was a girl named Rose in their friend group. She had long pink hair tied into pigtails and light green eyes. She suggested going to an abandoned school. Maru agreed and it was only after she agreed that Eden decided to go too. Kim was hesitant but decided to go after seeing everyone else was going so she would at least be with all her friends. The bell rang, and while walking down the stairs they talked about where the location is and agreed to meet later that night.
They all met up at the place they agreed on, only being less than ten minutes away for each of them. Rose is the first one to get there and waits a few minutes before seeing Maru and Eden, waving to them. The last person to arrive was Kim, looking hesitant but excited. Kim waves to the three of them and they head in. There were objects scattered everywhere around the school. “How about we split up into groups?” Rose asked. Everyone else agreed. Eden and Maru went into a group while Rose and Kim were in another group. They went in opposite directions.
…
“Rose, look at this!” Kim exclaimed. Rose walked over to where she was standing. There was a knife on the ground. There was dried blood on the knife. Kim pulled out her phone and tried to take a picture with her phone but the screen was black, unable to turn on. The phone glitched for a second and showed a girl on a missing poster. She saw it earlier on a wall inside the school. Kim looked back at Rose, she had an indescribable expression on her face. Kim realized that something was wrong but wasn’t sure what. The last thing she knew her flashlight went out, she couldn't see and Rose was nowhere to be found.
…
Maru looked around the area. There were different objects scattered around the room. Though the objects were far away they seemed to be making a pattern, going in a circle. There was also sand on the ground barely noticeable, helping make more patterns across the room and within the circle. Eden seemed to notice it too, worry blooming on her face. If you looked close enough around the room, it seemed to be glitching. They realized it was an illusion. Eden looked back at Maru, it seemed as if she was pondering something. Then with absolute confidence Maru muttered just loud enough for Eden to hear, “Scatter the objects and disrupt the pattern.” She immediately understood. If they didn’t do this it would result in harming themself badly, the illusion could consume them. Eden and Maru disrupted the pattern and moved all the objects. The illusion was finally broken, the room turning back to normal once more.
…
The lights turned back on. There was the girl from the missing poster. She truly couldn’t believe her eyes. Kim screamed in pure horror. The girl was carrying the knife earlier. She looked back and saw Rose just standing there. “Rose!” She shouted. But something was off, she was standing completely still. Kim stared at her in confusion. The girl started walking towards her slowly, like a beast hunting its prey. Kim felt fear and confusion, just what was Rose doing? She ran towards the door moving Rose out of the way, that's when she realized that wasn’t Rose, it was a life sized stuffed toy of her. She ran out of the door hoping to find her friends, but she just kept running in circles and was starting to run out of breath. She stopped, she felt out of breath. Suddenly she heard a noise coming from behind her and realized that the girl wasn’t behind her anymore. Finally she looked at her surroundings, seeing a new door. She rushed into the door, seeing her two friends, Eden and Maru.
…
Eden and Maru looked at each other in shock. It was Kim and she looked out of breath and covered in sweat, but she also looked relieved. Maru spoke first “What happened, and where is Rose?” Kim responded, “I don’t know, she just disappeared!” She said fear in her eyes. This time Eden asked a question. “What do you mean she just 'Disappeared'?" It was then that
Kim explained what happened and the both of them looked a little shocked. They were both silent before Maru said “ we need to leave. Now.” She wasn’t asking. “I’ll explain the rest later.” Eden and Kim followed her to her car, and saw that Rose’s car wasn’t there anymore. They sat down in Maru’s car and stayed silent until they arrived at her house.
The car stopped. Kim looked out the window, it seemed they had arrived at Maru’s house. They got out of the car and waited for Maru to unlock the door. They walked inside and sat down. “Will you finally tell us what happened?” Kim asked. Maru was silent a moment before explaining. “Rose, she isn’t…” She sounded as if she had a hard time speaking the truth aloud. “She’s not human.” Eden and Kim looked at her in shock. “Kim, she was trying to kill you. Or at least scare you.” Kim seemed as if she didn’t know whether to be shocked or not. Maru looked concerned but continued speaking. “You two should stay here for the night. Just in case. Kim just muttered a near-silent “Okay.” Maru walked away to get covers and pillows and when she walked back saw Kim on call telling someone, most likely her mother, that she would be staying over at a friend's house for the night. Maru walked into her room and set up the place where Kim and Eden would be staying for night.
Maru looked at the time on her phone. On the bright screen it showed that it was twelve forty-eight. It was only then she realized how late it was. She frowned and walked out into the room to tell them to get to sleep. Eden looked up at her and smiled. Kim looked sleepy, like she was on the edge of consciousness and the dream realm. Maru tapped on her shoulder a few times before guiding her to her room to go to sleep. Maru walked out of the room to find Eden on her phone. “Eden.” Eden looked up at her. “Its already 12:58, lets go to sleep.” In response Eden mumbled an “Alright.” and walked into her room to lay down. Maru sighed in relief. She hoped that this could be over quickly..
. . .
Maru woke up earlier than usual the next morning to the sound of rain dripping down. She quietly got out of bed, so as to not disturb the others from their slumber. She walked to the door in shock and surprise. There was a puddle of water mixed in with something. It would seem she would have to keep them here for a few more days, until she got all of this sorted out.