Abigail took a step forward in the snow.

“I’m sorry I dragged you with me like this, Linne,” she said.

“I was going to go anyway,” her friend responded, looking forward. “So don’t worry about me.”

They trudged through into the harsh, cold wind. It wasn’t the type of day where anyone should have been out of the house, but they were mutually determined.

Linne remembered when she’d seen Hailey during the funeral. Her expression…she didn’t look sad, she looked depressed, like she’d given up. Linne knew that expression, but she had felt too guilty to approach her friend back then.

And she still felt guilty because she had known what Hailey was going through, yet she’d chosen not to reach out to her.

She swore to herself that she wouldn’t abandon a friend like that again.

Abigail wasn’t as sure why she had chosen to visit Hailey. There were plenty of other things she could’ve done besides trying to help someone she didn’t even know that well, and yet…she was the one who had first approached Taylor and asked to see Hailey. With the void that Abbie’s disappearance had made in their friend group, Abigail felt like it was up to her to bring everyone closer together.

And, as silly as it was, she felt a sort of kinship toward Abbie since both of them had gone by the moniker of Abbie before. She felt like she had to take up the dead girl’s unfinished business and be there to support her closest friend.

Either way, even if it was just to feel better about themselves, they wanted to see Hailey happy again.

Knock!

Taylor stood from his bed. “Don’t tell me they came through the storm!” He ran out of his room.

Kait poked her head out of her own. “Hailey’s friends?”

“I don’t know, but I think so.” He ran down and opened the door while Kait watched from the top of the stairs.

“Hey. Don’t mind if we do.” Abigail said with a smile as she rushed in alongside Linne.

“What are you two doing here?!”

Abigail power-walked to the kitchen table. “We promised we would be here,” she said like it was a given. They both had pale skin, and their hasty entrance showed just how cold they were.

Taylor glanced at Abigail’s hand, where she carried another bag of Wishie-Washies, “You’re kidding me. Did you go all the way to the store to buy one of those?!”

She breathed on her hands after setting the bag on the kitchen counter. “Yeah.”

“Lunatics.”

“And I worship pain, it seems.”

Linne spoke up, “I don’t really mind the cold, anyway.”

He shook his head. “Jeez.”

“Hey,” Kait walked down the stairs and leaned against the couch, looking toward the guests. “I’m Kait.”

Abigail looked at her with confusion. “Who are you? Hailey’s big sister?”

“Uh, no.” She fluffed her red hair. “I just wanted to say hi since I’m living here.”

“Like an Airbnb?”

Kait tilted her head. “Maybe? I don’t know what that is.”

“Really? That’s weird. Then why are you here?”

“Very, very long story.”

“And I don’t have time to listen to it. My mom wants me back before eight.”

Kait shrugged. “I just wanted to tell you to say the word if you need anything from me.” She glanced at Taylor, meeting his eyes, and when he nodded, she walked back to her room.

“Well, I guess you all want to talk to Hailey?” Taylor asked.

The two nodded nervously.

Sensing the tension between them, he sighed. “I’m going to be honest. I know nothing.”

Abigail cocked an eyebrow. “About what?”

“About what happened.”

“Oh…really?”

“Yeah.”

Abigail frowned. “Where to start…well, it started with,” she grimaced, “…him.”

“The guy who killed Abbie?”

“Yeah.” After a pause, she stood up. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“It's fine if you don’t want to.”

She looked down. “Actually, I kinda do.”

“What?”

She sat back down. “Abbie once told me that I seemed fake. I felt insulted at first, but…I feel like she had a point. I don’t like to talk about anything that might insult someone, and I try to avoid confrontation.”

“Okay…”

“So I’m trying to say that I do want to talk about it, but I was too nervous to. I’ll tell you everything I know, now. Where do I start…um, so that guy is a serious ass.”

“He’s a murderer…” Linne said with a subdued tone. She then perked up. “Do you have pudding, Taylor?”

“Fine,” Abigail rolled her eyes. “He’s an apple-balls man. Is that better?”

Taylor winced at the crude insult as he answered Linne’s question and stood. “Yeah, I’ll get you some.”

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“Thanks. And that’s better,” Linne said.

“Okay, so, something like a year ago, this guy had asked Abbie out,” Abigail began. “She’d rejected him because, like, she already had a boyfriend. I forget his name. Then, a month later, after she’d broken up with the guy, Mr. Apple-Balls comes in and asks her out again, but he gets rejected again. She probably just didn’t like him, I don’t know.”

She continued, “Now, he wasn’t the dark-hooded introvert you’d expect. Nah, he was the type of sniveling coward who asked tons of random girls out. I talked to him a few times, and I did not like his vibes. He’s the type that only does things for his benefit. Like, when a fight broke out between two guys at my table, he just sat and laughed. In the end, I had to break them up myself because he wouldn’t keep his friend in check.” She shrugged. “Anyway, a week before Abbie…bit the grass…”

While Abigail spoke, Taylor handed a pudding cup to Linne, who gleefully spooned it into her mouth.

“A week before Abbie died, Mr. Apple-Balls, who I’m just going to call Jackie because I have better things to do than avoid naming names, set up his friend so they’d ask Abbie out. I think his name was Jaine.”

Taylor rolled his eyes. “Ugh, him.”

“What, you know him? Did he do something bad as well?”

“Did he do something bad? Not as far as I’m aware,” he responded. “We used to be friends, but he’s intolerable.”

“Yeah I get that. Anyway, so Jaine asked Abbie out, and she actually accepted. We all knew he was jealous of him afterward, so don’t ask me why he set them up in the first place. And that takes us to when she actually died. No one knows what exactly went down but he, one way or another, was seen walking into the room that Abbie and the rest of us usually met in during lunch. I didn’t see anything, but…there was a gunshot, and after the intruder alert…we saw Hailey.”

Abigail could still remember what she’d caught a glimpse of from inside the building. Blood was soaked onto her jeans and hands, and Hailey’s expression was blank as she shivered, being consoled by an equally shocked officer.

Taylor reclined in his chair and took a moment to take everything in. He breathed out. “I guess it’s good to know...I was hoping knowing all that would help me find some instant fix for Hailey, but...”

Linne shook her head, her eyes downcast. “Those don’t exist.”

Taylor nodded glumly.

Abigail scuffed Linne’s hair, abusing their height difference to coddle her. “And this little girl over here still thinks Hailey’s mad at ‘er.”

“No,” Linne refuted.

“Oh?”

“I know she’s not mad, I just..overthought things in my anxiety.”

Abigail suddenly hugged her friend. “Aww, I’m so proud of you, Linne. You don’t even need my help to get over the blues!”

Evidently, Abigail was hugging Linne a bit too tightly. “Ow-ow-ow, please let go…too…tight…” Abigail let go of her friend, and Linne began taking huge breaths to compensate for being choked.

Taylor smiled. “I’m glad to see some people haven’t changed.”

“What do you mean?” Abigail wondered.

“It’s felt a little oppressive, knowing my sister’s been struggling. I feel like it’s my job to help her…so when she’s going through so much, I put the responsibility of helping her on my shoulders. Maybe it’s just my brotherly instincts. Either way, thanks for being here to help. I’m glad my sister has friends who are willing to support her.”

Linne smiled contentedly as their conversation turned to idle chat. It felt cathartic to know they were all together to help one person. She had never needed to carry the burden of guilt on her own. With all of them living in the moment, she could have peace of mind.

Soon, though, they would have to face a confrontation they were all scared of.

“Bedridden?” Clera asked, holding a phone in her hand as she spun around her office chair.

“Yep. Bedridden,” Taila said on the other side. “I don’t know exactly what it means, but she might be sick.”

The mother scratched her head with frustration. “I was hardly managing to keep a roof over our heads after Maple’s last excavation turned into a muddump, then all that happened to Hailey…and now this. Why can’t it just be simple, and why all of this now?!”

“I’m sorry, Clera,” Taila said. “I can lend you some money if you want.”

“I already told you, if I need money, I’ll ask you,” she stubbornly asserted.

“You said you were going to send Hailey to a therapist? At least let me pay for that.”

She sighed. “I-I don’t know. I need to think about this. So much is going on…”

“That’s fine, Clera. Take all the time you need. I’m here if you need help.”

“Thanks…Bye.”

“Byebye! Don’t forget to give Hailey some medicine just in case!”

“I will, bye.” Clera hung up, then stood. She made her way to a closet and opened it. She slowly picked out some supplements and medicines, briefly stopping to look up, ‘what if a fortune reader says someone will get sick.’ The responses she found were quite insightful, but she didn’t have the recommended supplements or medicines on hand.

She rubbed her face, rage growing in her chest. Why can’t it just be simple?! She stepped toward Hailey’s room, but paused. Her friends had arrived a few minutes ago, and she hadn’t even stepped out of her room.

Things didn’t need to turn out this way… She felt an overwhelming sense of guilt, knowing that she hadn’t done enough for Hailey soon enough. She should have taken her to a therapist, she should have talked to her more, she should have…have done something. Now, it felt like Hailey had turned into a hollow shell of who she had been. She’d seen her friend die in front of her—she’d gone through so much. She shouldn’t have asked Maple not to return from the expedition when it had happened and just accepted her sister’s help, but…she wished she could take back the decision, to have Maple here with her to help.

She looked at Hailey’s door. If only I could turn back time. She nearly laughed. Why can’t it just be that sim… Her eyes widened.

Suddenly, she stepped back and knocked on Kait’s door. “Kait?”

The door opened, revealing Kait behind it. “What is it?”

“I wanted to ask you something,” she said quietly. “Could you come with me real quick?”

She led her to her office, where she sat down while Kait confusedly stood by the door. “So what did you want to ask me?”

“I…I wanted to ask you about something,” Clera said nervously. “I don’t know if it will be a strange request or…if I’ll look silly or insensitive to ask it of you.”

Kait frowned. “Okay,” she slowly said. “Then what is it?”

The mother pursed her lips, not saying what she was about to say lightly, “C-can you…are you able to erase Hailey’s memory?”

Kait paused to understand what Clera was trying to ask, her eyes narrowing. “I…can. But…just so we’re clear, I would never erase someone’s memory without permission from them. And even then…you know there’s a reason why it’s a taboo subject, right? I assume it’s the same today as it was in my age.”

She nodded. “Of course. I just…if this is causing Hailey so much pain…it might just be easier to…you know.”

Kait shook her head. “It might seem easy, but memory erasure is…a shortcut. I think that sometimes people are better off with traumatic events forgotten, yes, but…a person won’t ever grow if they can’t overcome obstacles one at a time. And I can’t erase particular memories, either. I can make her forget everything until a certain point, or just a particular person, but…memory erasure isn’t exactly a fine art when it comes to witchcraft. Maybe another type of mage could erase a particular memory, but…even if I could, she would still be missing a friend.”

Clera sighed. “I know, but…is it really such a bad option? Seeing Hailey in pain like this…she deserves the choice.”

Kait nodded. “I understand. It’s not a wholly wrong choice, but before you tell her anything, just remember that it should be a last resort.”

“So that’s it, then…” Clera said. “That’s fine.” She shook her head then stood from her seat. “I need to fetch some medicine for Hailey…and think some things through. The sooner, the better. But since Taylor and Hailey’s friends are going to talk to her while I’m gone, do you mind making sure nothing happens between them? I just can’t handle this right now…”

Kait nodded. “I’ll make sure things go well. You go do what you have to.”