Yesterday...

Four boys stood facing each other. Two them Evan had known his whole life. They were inseparable, from their earliest memories of wrestling and tumbling roughly down on the dirty, rocky grounds of their decrepit playground, to now, ten years later, planning their Halloween function together. It had always been these two. Even the sun seemed to shine particularly luminescent on his two friends, illuminating them, like a silent message that proved to Evan of their innocence and dependability.

However, stood beside his tall and robust friend, Clay, stood another unfamiliar boy awkwardly shrouded in Clays shadow. Evan had never met him prior, nor ever seen him in all his years of attending school. Evan would have thought that in such a small community, he would have met - or at least seen almost everybody.

But not him.

However, Clay vouched for the boy's likability, and that that was enough for Evan.

"So, what school did you say you went to?" Evan asked Clay's silent friend politely, curiosity getting the better of him.

The boy considered for a moment. A beat longer than any honest answer should have taken.

Evan disliked this immediately.

"Pine State Memorial, I guess." the boy responded with nonchalance as he shrugged, not meeting Evan's gaze. Ivory hair slipped into place over his eyes, which were trained to the ground.

Evan shot Clay a skeptical look. Clay smiled sheepishly in response, worry flickering briefly in his eyes.

"You 'guess'? How are you not sure where you go to school?" Evan echoed flatly, crossing his arms. challengingly.

The boy finally raised his head to meet Evans eyes and gripped him with them.

Evan had to stop himself from getting goosebumps from their cool and steely analysis, that raked through Evan strong enough for him to physically feel. His eyes were pale - colorless. Void of any love or emotion except for a strange, pure animalistic element that shone and reflected nothing but Evans' appearance back at him.

Upon seeing Evan tense up, the boy's pupils dilated.

"Well, what do you want me to say?" he questioned unnaturally. Like another, truer question could be hidden in it.

Evan felt frozen to the spot, as though the boys gaze was holding him to the spot through sheer force. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face as he clenched his fists harder, his fingernails making arched grooves in the palms of his hands.

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"I wanted you to tell me the truth." Evan spat back, trying to keep his voice from shaking

"Alright, that's enough, you two." Clay interjected stepping between them, no doubt sensing the tension between the two.

Evan felt himself release an involuntary sigh of relief.

"We need a place to get up to our shenanigans at." Clay initiated light-heartedly, his brown eyes dancing with the potential of hope and excitement as they met Evan's. "Any suggestions?"

"You guys can come to my house." Clay's friend immediately suggested, picking at his fingernails and turning his gaze downcast once more.

"No one will be home tomorrow night."

Evan's face radiated alarm, and he swore that spotted an upturned smile playing at the boy's lip's from in front of Clay. When Evan felt his neck prick with unease, he knew there was definitely something odd about him, and he knew that he couldn't be caught dead at his house.

'It's probably not even a house, it's probably some shoddy shack in the middle of the woods with no signal or civilization for miles. I don't want to be alone there,' Evan mused worriedly

“Nah, Evan’s dad runs a tree farm, don’t he?” Evans' other friend, Alex, suggested, shifting unwanted pressure onto Evan, "That'd be perfect for playing hide n' seek or anything of the sort."

Evan rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. He certainly wasn't thrilled about inviting a complete stranger over to his house, a creepy one, at no less.

"My parents are going to be out of town taking Cecilia trick-or-treating." Evan said, hoping they'd buy it. The lie slipped easily off his tongue. He silently thanked his younger sister, Cecilia, for her unknowing sacrifice.

He didn't think his family had any actual Halloween plans, but it was worth a shot.

"Evaaaan," Clay groaned, "Your parents know us, and we're old enough! We're practically family, I guarantee they wouldn't care if we came over while they're not around." he punched Evan's arm encouragingly

"Just ask!"

Evan grimaced contemplatively. Meanwhile Clay's friend leaned to the side to peer at Evan from behind Clay's back. Watching...waiting for Evan's reaction. The smile flickered away momentarily only to be replaced with a frown.

Evan dug some rocks from out of the dirt with his shoe, feeling the eyes from all his friends bore into him expectantly. Evan set his jaw and clicked his tongue agitatedly, the way he always did when he was stressed.

"Fine." he said at last, "I'll see what I can do." temporarily forgetting all his doubts and qualms as his friends cheered and slapped his back heartily. Evam looked between them, rolling his eyes and smiling softly despite himself.

He looked up and saw the other boy leaning backwards with his hands jammed into his pockets, an unreadable expression plastered onto his face. When the boy noticed Evans' gaze, he grinned wolfishly, revealing a set of jagged and yellowed teeth.

But he couldn't focus on it for longer than a moment as Clay and Alex excitedly exchanged activity ideas and made plans for the following night.

'Maybe it won't be so bad,' Evan thought, glancing between them as Clay stuck his tongue out at Alex as they argued and bantered, 'I'll just stick with these guys, and I'll be fine. Maybe I could even talk Clay into keeping it small with just us.' he reassured, finally giving into his friends' enthusiasm.