Moe’s was easy enough, and I had my regular routine of cleaning the bathrooms, kitchen, and dining room. At one point, I needed to ask Moe where the mop bucket was, and I found the ‘company’ he was talking about during Fang’s concert. I’ll never look at those claw toys the same again. Still, a bummer that the lights went out, but other than that, it went perfectly well… don’t know why Trish got her panties in such a twist. Whatever, Moe paid me handsomely in hush money to not talk about whatever I saw… to be honest, I’m not entirely sure what the fuck was going on, but money is money. I grabbed my bag and headed out the door; it was around ten by the time I left. I texted back and forth with Fang until I reached my apartment door before texting her all the “goodnight” s and “I love you” s I could muster out of my tired fingers before collapsing on my bed…but I can’t sleep. 

 

I can’t stop thinking about the night after prom…that bullet is still in here somewhere. It must be haunting me; the attempt at humoring myself only made me more anxious. I set the alarm on my phone before deciding to feed RAYmba before I sleep; I toss him a few cornflakes, and he happily eats them up. Always makes me smile a little while watching him do that. I rest my head on the pillow and cover myself. Instantly the thoughts start rushing back into my head…nothing will ever be the same after that night.

 

- BEGINNING OF LUNCH/NEXT DAY -

 

The morning went by quickly. Naomi must have moved by now or something; she could still be taking a break. She wasn’t in English today. Math was pretty quiet, Reed looked better, but Trish looked more or less the same. Thank god today’s Friday. Maybe everyone needs the weekend to cool down. Hmmm, maybe Fang and I can go out today after school. It would be nice to have a date night with her. As I walk out of math, Fang catches up with me.

 

She beams at me, “How was work, Anon?”

 

I rub my neck, wondering if I should tell her about what I saw Moe doing with his company… gives me chills just thinking about it. “Uh, it was pretty boring, actually. Got paid a lot though, must have done a better job than usual.” I flash a 100-dollar bill.

 

Fang scoffs softly, “He gave you hush money for something, didn’t he?”

 

How does she know… I look at the bill, confused, for something to give that away. “He never gives out 100’s unless it’s hush money, dork. ‘Easiest way to make someone shut their trap,’ he said, or something like that.”

 

I look at Fang, “He told you that?”

 

Fang shrugs, “It’s good advice, what can I say? It worked plenty of times on me. I’ve seen so much stuff that I’ve never told a soul because of those 100s,” she points at the bill I’m holding in my hand.

 

Fang and I make small talk and make our way through the lunch line and to the lunch table with Naser. As we sit down, I look better at Fang’s face. She looks exhausted. 

 

As Naser and I finished our small talk, I asked her, “You okay, Fang?

 

Her reaction to the question is a little delayed; she turns to me. The sun illuminating her face makes her look like she had pulled an all-nighter. “Uh, yeah? Why do you ask?”

 

I looked at her, worried, “Did you get enough sleep last night?”

 

She nods a little bit, but even though she’s nodding, I can tell her eyes say otherwise. “Yeah… I’m fine.”

 

She returns to eating her lunch, trying her best not to look tired. Wonder what kept her up last night. I decided not to prod too much. Fang looks like she doesn’t want to talk about it. I finish up my lunch before her surprisingly and take her tray as well as mine, the least I can do for her right now. I give her a reassuring smile as I sit down closer to her. She places her head on my shoulder, and I feel her breathing slow. She’s asleep. Naser looks up at us and…goes back to his phone, huh. Thought he’d freak out over that. I watch some YouSnoot pass the time until the bell rings. I gently wake up Fang, and she looks dazed, but she gets up rather quickly. Fang yawns, and I wait for her to collect her stuff before we head to the music classroom. On our way, we bump into Stella again, who tries to talk about some anime I’ve never heard of. She acts like I’ve watched it before. Some sort of slice-of-life anime or something. Doesn’t matter, a tired Fang walks right by her, and I try to keep up. I apologize to Stella before speedwalking to Fang.

 

The moment Fang sits down, she rests her head on the desk. She’s out cold, drooling and all. I laugh a little seeing her like this. She looks like a baby. I take a picture, and I’ll show her when she wakes up… the rest of the period goes by pretty fast as I entertain myself with a video essay. Wonder how she’s doing in League of Wizards now… 

 

About twenty minutes pass, and Fang slowly peels herself from the desk, “How’d you sleep.”

 

She nods while yawning. I’ll take that as a “good.” I pull out my phone and show her the picture; her reaction is priceless. She gasps and immediately tries to steal my phone to delete the photo. Fang eventually outplayed me and grabbed the phone from my hands. Through the tussling, we’re both laughing like maniacs. 

 

She deletes the picture and laughs a little. “I win.”

 

She tosses the phone back to me, and I see she only deleted one picture, “did you?”

 

She glances at me to see that I took about twenty pictures of her and tries to swipe the phone again. “Stalker!” Her laugh is contagious as we fight for the phone. 

 

Right before she’s able to snatch it, the bell rings. I laugh, my breathing labored. “I…win!”

 

She’s able to take my phone and delete the pictures, laughing maniacally, her breathing just as heavy. “No…I…win!”

 

That nap must have been a godsend for her. She seems so much more energetic. I get up and dust myself off as we head out the door, laughing the whole way to our other classes. I hug her goodbye and peck her on the cheek before she pulls me in for a real kiss and waves goodbye. I head to my next class all giddy before I realize… I didn’t ask her about the date; I’ll just text her. 

“Hey, after school, you want to go out somewhere?”

 

“Like where? :V”

 

“I was thinking we could hit the park and then plan it as we go?”

 

“Sure, sounds like fun…so just us two, right? No Naser?”

 

“Yeah, no Naser, we can just walk.”

 

“Then yes, absolutely, I’d love to spend the rest of the day with you.”

 

“Okay, talk to you after school. I love you.”

 

“I love you too <3.”

 

The rest of the day flashes by…honestly can’t believe how fast things start to feel. I walk outside the main entrance and spot Fang who also spots me. She has the biggest smile on her face. 

 

I walked up to her, “Ready to head to the park?”

 

She nods violently, and we start heading toward the park. I quickly figured out… I have no idea where the hell the park is.

 

Fang looks at me confused, “How do you not know where the park is? We’ve been there before, remember? With Naser and… Naomi.”

 

I nod, “Yeah, I just can’t remember the direction Naser went….”

 

Fang quickly grabs my hand and starts guiding me toward the park. She’s leading me somewhere. That’s all I know. She looks back at me, smiling as she points toward something in the distance. It’s the park. 

 

As we get closer, we get ambushed by a hot dog cart, “HEY, you two- ohhhh, if it isn’t lover boy and the girl he was going to see, I presume?” She’s pretty much blocking our path.

 

Fang looks at me, and I glance between Fang and the hot dog dealer and rub my neck, “Yeah….” Fuck how do I make this not awkward? There’s silence for a moment before I speak again, “Could we get two hot dogs, please?”

 

The hotdog saleswoman immediately pulls out two hotdogs from the warmer sliding them onto a couple buns. Fang has a complicated order of how she wants her hotdog made. I just stick with some ketchup and mustard. By the end of Fang’s order, the hotdog is stacked with tons of chili, relish, ketchup, mustard… I don’t even know how that thing’s staying upright. I pay the lady, and Fang eats her hotdog in two bites. I thank her for the hotdogs as she passes us, looking for someone else to harass out of a couple bucks. 

 

Fang and I continued up the path and saw some swings, “Hey, Fang, do you want to go over there and figure out what we want to do for the rest of the day?

 

She looks at the swings nervously. They look like they’re on their last leg from years of play. She hesitantly agrees, “Yeah, sure, but if it breaks, I’m blaming you.”

 

I laugh a little as we make our way to the rickety swings, Fang sits first, and I hear a crack… I wait for the whole thing to collapse, but it stays up. I sit in the swing beside her and look over, “Alright, so… Fang?” Fang looks lost in thought, staring at the ground. Suddenly I see tears rolling down her cheek. “Fang? Are you okay?” She’s visibly shaking as she moves one of her hands to her other arm, a bald spot? She starts plucking feathers as she gnashes her teeth. She’s silently crying. I immediately get up and move in front of her, but she doesn’t see me. I put an arm on her shoulder, her eyes widened, and her pupils contracted, focusing on me. She looks horrified, “Fang?” her breathing suddenly becomes labored. Like someone had just punched her in the gut. What the fuck is going on right now. She looks at me, terrified. I look at her with the same expression she’s giving me as her plucking slows. I grab both her shoulders, “Fang?! Talk to me. What’s wrong!”

 

Her body is racked back by sobs as her arms go limp, “... I’m *hic* I’m sorry, Anon… I’m so sorry….” 

 

She slides off the swing, lowering herself to the ground. I hold onto her tightly to make sure she doesn’t collapse. I feel her arms wrap around me gently as she sobs into my chest. “Fang…?” She’s calmer now, her breathing only burdened by her cries. 

 

Fang pulls away from the embrace. I feel the adrenaline hit me as I take in what just happened. I repeat myself, calmer, “Fang, talk to me. What’s wrong?” Fang is on her knees, mascara running down her cheek, and a minute amount of blood trickling down her arm.

 

Fang sniffles, looking at the ground before looking up at me. “I…I don’t know what’s wrong with me… I’ve been having these fucked hallucinations of… you, Naser, and people I love. Dead. Because of me. Because of what I almost did.” She starts sobbing again. I can’t even imagine what she just saw. Fuck… everything seemed fine. What the hell caused this?

 

Fang choked on another sob before continuing, “It feels so real, Anon. I- It’s like what could’ve been replaying in my head over and over again… I just want it to stop, Anon….”

 

I look at Fang hopelessly. I have no clue what to do here. I watch as she crumples entirely and all I can do is move to hug her. I thought she was okay… I thought everything was OK. My voice is broken, “How long has this been happening?”

 

Fang sniffles, stuttering, “I-I had the first one yesterday…last night I had one, and now….”

 

Over the past couple of days, the only thing that changed was Trish talking to her. Then again, all of this was only a week and a day ago. It’s still fresh in her head…. Seeing Fang like this makes me feel like all the progress in the past week has just evaporated. How long had she felt like this? Has nothing changed, and is this just her breaking point? No, now’s not the time to play detective. I need to help Fang. 

 

I struggle to get her to her feet. I scout for a bathroom and start making my way to it with Fang. I go into one of the stalls and grab a wad of toilet paper, creating a bandage for her, I look at her face, and she looks so tired. I’m so sorry, Fang…. I finish wrapping her arm, and she cleans her face in the mirror. We walk back to the swings in silence other than Fang’s occasional hitched breath. We decide to sit on the black retainer holding the mulch instead of the swings. 

 

Fang watches the setting sun and speaks hoarsely, “I’m sorry, Anon…I ruined our date….”

 

I try to think of something, anything to say, “Well, we can still go somewhere if you want.”

 

Fang looks towards me, “Like where?”

 

I sigh as my mind runs through every possible place to go to in Volcadara, “Dino Moe’s?”

 

Fang cracks a small smile, “I could go for some Dino Moe’s right now….”

 

I get up and lend her a hand. Like with Naomi, I’m almost dragged down face-first into the mulch. Fang giggles a little before we start making our way to Moe’s. As we approach Moe’s, there are parked cars lining the street, which looks Packed. 

 

We enter Moe’s, and Moe instantly spots us and rushes over, “HEY HOWS YOU TWO KIDS? You need some food, you twos?”

 

Fang and I nod in synchronization, and Moe gestures for us to follow him, “You lot are lucky. A table just opened up.” Moe winks at me as we get closer to the back. “Annnnd, here you are.” He gestures to the booth with a single candle sitting between the two seats.

 

Fang smiles as she slides into one of the seats. I return the smile as I get in next to her. 

 

Moe slides us a menu, “Anything you want, it’s on the house, okay? I’ll be back in a few to check up on yous.” He scurries away to deliver pizzas to other tables, Fang and I decide to get what we got the last time we were here together. We decided to get two this time because of how quickly it disappeared the first. 

 

Moe returns and takes our order before noticing Fang’s bandage, “Aw, whatcha got goin’ on there?” He gestures towards the bandage.

 

Fang says, “I just cut myself on something at school, no biggie.”

 

Moe nods, “Alright, just be careful next time, okay?”

 

Fang nods with a smile, “Okay, Moe.”

 

Moe gives her a noogie, “Das, my girl.” He smiles as he picks up our menus and walks away. Glad I’m working here and not at Dilo-Mart. I don’t know how I’d survive with the smell all day. 

 

I look at Fang, who looks much better than she did 20 minutes ago. She looks happy. I feel a little weight lifted off my shoulders, still gotta make sure she gets home, though.

 

That reminds me, “Hey, you did tell Naser you’re going on a date with me, right?”

 

She looks at me nervously, “Uh…yes?”

 

I look at her, “Are you sure?”

 

Fang quickly takes out her phone, types something, and puts her back in her pocket, “Yes.”

 

I laugh a little as the pizza gets set down on the table in front of us, “Here you two go, enjoy.” Moe smiles warmly as he goes back to serve more customers.

 

Fang immediately digs in. Half the pizza is gone before I can finish my second slice. Before I knew it, the pizza was gone. “Alright, Fang, you ready to head out?” Silence, I look over at Fang, who’s sleeping sitting up.

 

I tap her shoulder, and she slowly blinks awake, “Hm?”

 

“You ready to go, sleepyhead?”

 

She nods softly, “Yeah…uh, hey, Anon?”

 

I watch her slowly wake up and smile a little, “What’s up?”

 

She looks anxious, “Can I stay at your place tonight..?”

 

I think for a moment. I’ve got stuff for breakfast tomorrow and plenty of dino nuggets for snacks. “I don’t see why not, as long as you can convince your dad to not kill me.”

 

She giggles softly, “I’ll make sure he doesn’t rip your throat out, yeah.”

 

“Alright, you sure?”

 

She nods, “I’m sure I… don’t want to be alone tonight, not after what happened at the park.”

 

I get up slowly and stretch out, “Alright, I’ll call Monarch.”

 

Fang looks at me with slight disdain, “The slimy taxi driver?”

 

I laugh a bit, “He’s a bro, don’t worry.”

 

I call Monarch, and as we wave to Moe heading out the door, Monarch is already there. The taxi looks upgraded, almost looks new. We hop in, and he…abides by traffic laws now?

 

Monarch notices my confused look, “Can’t speed around downtown anymore, kids, sorry.”

 

“Why’s that?” I glance at Monarch.

 

Monarch shrugs, “Well, funny story, actually. So I was speeding down the street, driving one of my customers, yeah? She called the cops on me! For getting her somewhere fast and on time! An ungrateful lot, I tell ya.” 

 

I sit back in the more comfortable seat, “I see business has been better.”

 

Monarch flashes a smile in the rearview mirror, “All thanks to you, kids. Thank you.”

 

I glance at Fang, who’s watching out the window at the scenery as the sunbeams one last time before sinking below the horizon. Monarch screeches to a stop in front of my building, looking around nervously.

 

He turns to face me, “I gotta be careful around here now. I heard someone got stabbed the other day. Crazy stuff. Anyway, you two have a good night, ya heard? Enjoy your Friday.”

 

I pay Monarch handsomely, and he looks surprised, “It’s a tip.”

 

He smiles widely as he nods, “Thanks, kid.”

 

We hop out, and he immediately goes back to speeding. I guess road laws only apply when you have passengers. 

 

Fang and I made our way up to my room, “So, what’d you think of Monarch now?”

 

Fang cracks a smile, “He’s…alright, still don’t trust that smile.”

 

I open the door and walk in.

 

- - -

 

Anon looks back at me, “I’m gonna go grab something from the kitchen. You stay in the living room, okay? No peeking.”

 

Oooo, a surprise, alright. “Alright, staying right here.” 

 

I look out the window, and the sun is still barely visible. Huh, weird how that works. A glint catches my eye as the last of its sunlight pours into Anon’s room. Something copper colored, no…brass? I walk over to Anon’s closet and see…a bullet? I reach out to it and feel a cold shock rack my body, I pick it up hesitantly, and the room starts to spin. The bullet feels heavy in my hand as I begin to feel nauseous, I blink, and I’m… at school… but that can’t be right. I was just in Anon’s room. I look down to see I’m standing in blood. I look back up and see Naser looking at me with horror written in his eyes from down the hall. 

 

The same gunshot from the bathroom, “Why, Fang?” his breathing is ragged like he only has a single breath left. I can feel myself start shaking as I look around me, bodies lining the hall, blood everywhere. I look up, and he’s inches away. I feel tears roll down my cheeks as he grabs my arms, “WHY!”

 

I try to muster out something, anything. “... I’m sorry….”

 

I look into his eyes, and there’s nothing… it’s devoid of life, gray, like an aged corpse, yet he keeps… talking… it’s like white noise. He keeps repeating to himself, he won’t stop, this won’t stop… I watch as he sinks into the pool of viscous, coagulated blood beneath me, pulling me down with him. I can’t move. I can’t make a sound. I watch as the blood reaches my head, and I slowly go under as Naser drags me down with him…