𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐏𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬 ➤ 𝑹. 𝑩𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒚

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗

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"𝙎𝙝𝙚'𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙜𝙪𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄'𝙫𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙄'𝙢 𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙖 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙗𝙖𝙙"

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(𝟑𝟎 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞)

𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟏𝟓𝐭𝐡, 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐆 girls sat on a familiar tan leather couch, the material faded and cracking from all their antics over the years: dancing, pillow fights, make-believe wars. It all added up, and the couch suffered.

"Is it too scary? We can turn it off," the brunette whispered, her eyes not moving from the screen of the dingy box TV as the younger girl beside her shuddered, but shook her head adamantly. Her skin was sickly pale, standing white against her long blonde hair, which was wearing thin, small bare patches could be seen if someone bothered to look close enough. Valerie did her best not to.

On the television, a bucket swung precariously over a stage, held in place by a thick rope as it threatened to fall at any moment to douse the teens below in a slimy red substance.

The small blonde gripped the pillow she was holder tighter, her eyes widening with equal anticipation and fear, "Is it gonna fall?"

Valerie grimaced, lip caught between her teeth, "It might. Want me to tell you when to close your eyes?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

And so, they kept watching, eyes glued to the screen as the scene played out, and right as the bucket began to fall Valerie spoke, "Now!"

Sara obeyed, squeezing her eyes shut and huddling close to her sister. She wasn't really frightened, Valerie could tell, but she supposed the blood was off-putting, especially in her circumstances. Right, their father should be back inside any moment now — Sara had an appointment with her doctor. She'd have to end their film marathon early. It felt pointless that they even went at all, the forlorn man only ever said the same dreaded thing, words that had their father and Diane trudging out the door, heads hung low, pushing back tears. 

Reaching hastily towards the TV, Valerie was pulled back by small fingers grabbing at her shirt and she looked behind her to see her sister clinging to her side, breathing heavily.

"Sara?" Valerie croaked, ignoring her previous motive, and grasping the younger girl gently, they were both young, but she was the oldest, it was her job to protect her. Jim was only outside, barely out of view courtesy of the large window that looked into the living room, although he certainly wasn't aware of the movie they were watching. She would only have to leave her sister for a second to alert him...

But she didn't have to.

"Sara?" Jim burst through the door, sweat glistening on his forehead as he raced over to the two girls, picking up the struggling one as he grabbed his keys from the coffee table.

"Is she okay?" Valerie asked quietly, not having moved from her spot on the floor. Her father didn't answer, or at least, not directly, "I'm taking her to the hospital. We might be a while. Your mom will pick you up soon."