Last midnight

Your fault?

TW: References to abuse, ED's

Time skip: 9:20pm

"Thank you for looking after Big Red today Ash and Ricky, he would be pretty happy if he were awake right now."

"No problem, Mrs. R!" Ricky said as he grabbed his bag.

"No problem at all." Ashlyn said.

His mother smiled and opened up the front door. "Get home safely, alright? How are you getting home?"

"My dad is coming to get me, how about you Ash? How are you getting home?"

"Oh, EJ is coming to get me. He is coming in a few minutes."

A car pulled up to the driveway, headlights flashing onto the garage door and a hand waving.

"Ricky!" Mike Bowen called out from the car.

"Coming!" He called back, he quickly gave Ashlyn and Mrs. Redonovich a hug. "See you tomorrow, Ash! Tell EJ to respond to my messages!"

"I will!"

He got into his car and soon drove off into the night, leaving Mrs. Redonovich and Ashlyn alone in the house again. Ashlyn looked to her phone; nothing came except the last message she sent to EJ.

~~~~

Location: Carlos's house

Carlos was run down from the past few days; Seb could tell he hadn't been taking care of himself besides going to the bathroom. His hair was unkept, he hadn't eaten, and his mind was only on the potential future.

Seb felt terrible, why did he have to be so busy to not check in? His stupid memories and general life just kept him away.

Which was why he came to his house, accompanied with all the toiletries he could find and his book. Carlos needed to see that book, and Seb needed to finally get this nightmare out of the shadows.

~~~~

Location: Big Red's house

"Do you want some tea, Ashlyn? Or anything to eat?" Mrs. Redonovich asked as she turned on the kettle, Ashlyn declined at the offer.

"No thanks, I ate with Ricky. If I'm still hungry, I'll eat at home."

"Really now? Come on, let me just make you a cup of tea? For everything you did today."

She couldn't say no, Mrs. Redonovich was just the sweetest.

"Sure."

She smiled with joy as she began to make the tea, Ashlyn sat back on the maroon lounge and looked at her phone. She had nothing except a message from Gina, who asked if she knew where the leftover biscuits were.

"So, how has school been?" She heard Mrs. Redonovich ask from the kitchen.

"It is alright, nothing special has been happening."

"Really now?"

"Well, except the whole thing that happened today."

"Yeah, how did that whole thing happen Ash? I just don't understand how this person knew about..."

"Mrs. Red, I'm still trying to figure that out myself. Everything being revealed about... you know who was last year, how did they know about something from last year? Especially since nothing was put on any news site."

"This world works in mysterious ways."

"It really does."

~~~~