Linne and Abbie trudged through the snow. It was freezing, with the cold wind bitterly chipping at them, pressing them to return to their warm homes.

But they had to move. For them, it wasn’t a matter of choice but a duty. They’d failed Hailey, in their minds, and all they could do was support her as best as possible.

Nobody was closer to Abigail than her, and if they’d just been there...maybe they could have saved her.

That wasn’t likely. In fact, they were aware it was best they hadn’t been near to endanger themselves.

They still needed to do this for her.

So, as the crunch of soft, untreaded snow fell beneath the two, they had no words to share. They knew exactly how the other felt and what they wanted to do.

Be there for her. Keep to their promises. They wouldn’t be late.

Abigail was called Abbie by her family, but since there was a second Abbie in her friend group, they had decided to call her Abigail instead. It would have been practical to take up Abbie’s name now that she was gone, but...that seemed disrespectful.

Not that she was ever the closest of friends with any of them. Perhaps Abbie’s death had left a friend vacuum, and Abigail simply chose to fill it with Hailey. She didn’t know.

Linne had always met with Abbie on Thursdays in the library, but that day, she’d been caught up with the food, waiting in the long line for pizza that wasn’t made of what she swore was edible rubber.

Though she wasn’t even sure why Hailey had gone to the library to see Abbie, she’d never gotten the chance to ask.

They stood side by side, resolutely prepared. No matter how bitter the cold, they made a promise they’d be here today.

Knock!

Taylor stood from his bed. It was 4 PM, and someone was knocking on the door?

“Don’t tell me they came through the storm!” He stormed out of his room in concerned surprise.

Kait poked her head out of her own, “Her friends?”

“I don’t know, but...I think so.” He ran down the stairs and opened the door while Kait overlooked the event.

“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 powerwalked to the kitchen table, glancing at the witch overlooking them for just a moment. “We promised we would be here.” Both of their faces were red with chill, and their hasty introduction further sealed the apparent fact they were freezing.

Taylor looked towards Abbie’s waist, where she carried another large bag of Wishie-Washies, “You’re kidding me. Did you go all the way to the store to buy one of those?!”

Abigail breathed on her hands and rubbed them, “I should have just bought them yesterday, but yes.”

“Lunatics.”

“And I worship pain, it seems,” Abigail said with a wry smile glance towards Taylor.

Linne spoke up, “I don’t really care for the cold too much anyways.”

“Jeez...so why-”

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

Linne’s eyes were filled with curiosity, “Woah, are you Hailey’s big sister? I didn’t know she had-”

“Uhh, no.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Linne said, hiding her instantly shattered pride in her less than stellar intellect.

“I’m Kait. I’m living here.”

“Like an Airbnb?”

“...Maybe? I-I don’t know what that is.”

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

“Very, very long story.”

“We have time.”

Abigail looked to Linne, “Hey, don’t speak for both of us! I need to get home by eight, or my mom’ll be worried!”

“Well, we aren’t going anywhere in this storm.”

“...We...aren’t?”

“You didn’t think this through much, did you?” the smaller girl said, piecing together her pride through teasing her friend.

“...I’m not going to answer that.”

Kait shrugged. “Well, I just felt like saying hi.” she left the room and walked upstairs.

Taylor’s eyes followed Kait as she walked back up, then looked back to the two guests. “Well, I guess you all want to talk to Hailey?”

The two nodded reluctantly. They weren’t particularly looking forward to the confrontation, despite their resolve to enact it.

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

Abigail cocked an eyebrow, “About what?”

“...Like, what happened.”

“Oh...really?”

“Yeah.”

Kait poked her head back out, “Oh, and if you need anything, I’m upstairs.”

Taylor nodded, “Got it, Kait.”

She walked back up.

Abbie continued, “Where to start...well, it started with...him,” she said with grave disdain.

“...The one who killed Abbie?”

“Yeah...” After a moment, she stood up in her chair, to the other’s surprise. “I-I don’t want to talk about it.”

Taylor sighed, “Its fine if you don’t want to, but-”

“AWW DANGIT! Fine, I’ll talk about it.”

“I was about to say you don’t need-”

“No-no, it’s fine. I can get through this.”

“If you say so.”

Abigail spoke, begrudgingly, “The guy...well, I haven’t spoken to him much, but he’s a serious ass.”

“That’s an understatement, considering he’s a murderer.” Linne corrected her friend with a subdued tone. “Do you have pudding?”

“Sure. He’s a linen-gutted fiber-cracking apple-balls man. Is that better?”

Taylor winced at the exceedingly crude statement, then answered Linne’s question, “Yeah, I’ll get you some.”

“Sounds about right.” Linne agreed to Abigail’s statement.

“Now, this guy had, maybe a year before, asked Abbie out. She’d rejected him because, like, she already had a boyfriend. Then, a month later, after she’d broken up with the guy, the linen-gutted man comes in and asks her out again and gets rejected again. I think she didn’t like him, and that was it, that time round’. Now, he wasn’t the dark-hooded introvert you’d expect from a murderer. Nah, he was a sniveling coward who asked tons of random girls out. I think by pure chance, at some point, he’d gotten one, only to be dumped a few days later for cheating-unsuccessfully at that. A real piece of work, he was. 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 almost broke out between two guys at my table, he just sat and laughed. In the end, I broke them up because he wouldn’t keep his friend in check.” She shrugged, “There was more to it, but who cares, really? Anyway, a week before Abbie...bit the grass...” While Abigail spoke, Taylor had retrieved a pudding cup and spoon and handed it to Linne, who gleefully ate the semisolid.

Abigail stared daggers at Taylor for seemingly no reason, then threw her hands in the air, “Ok, that’s it! I’ve had enough of sniveling under these stupid metaphors! A week before Abbie died, Mr.Linen, also known as Jackie, set up his friend so they’d ask Abbie out. His friend asked Abbie out, and she actually accepted. I don’t know if the relationship would’ve lasted long, but according to Jackie’s self-admission under court, he was jealous of his friend. Don’t ask me why he set them up in the first place, though.

That takes us to when she actually died. No one knows what went down besides Mr.linen, but he, one way or another, was seen by the cameras walking out of the room Abbie and the rest of us always sat in, exactly the time she’d died. After that, Hailey came to the library for whatever reason, and Linne and I found her as she was blanked out over her friend’s body.”

Taylor reclined in his chair and took a moment to take everything in. He then breathed in deeply. “So...I guess I have some questions, but none of them really matter.”

“Pretty much. Jackie’s going to jail for ten years, probably, his friend was almost tried for criminal negligence or something because of a sly lawyer, but ultimately, the court found there wasn’t any reason to believe he knew a thing. Hailey apparently went to court, but...none of us got a chance to hear her testimony. Still salty that guy’s getting off with just ten years.”

“Anyway, I was hoping I’d find some instant-fix way to make Hailey get over herself, but...”

Linne chuckled, surprisingly. “Those don’t exist.”

“Yep.” Taylor agreed.

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

“No...” Linne refuted.

“Oh?”

“I...mulled? over it for a bit and figured there’s no way she’s mad...I was just overthinking things...for so long.” Linne said, unsure if she was using the word ‘mulled’ correctly.

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

Evidently, Abigail was hugging Linne a bit too tight. “Owowow, please let g..o...too...tight...” Abigail let go of her friend, and she began taking huge breaths to compensate for being choked.

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

“Whattaya mean?” Abigail wondered.

“It’s felt a little oppressive, knowing my sister’s been struggling...”

“I don’t get it.”

“Well, 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.” He chuckled. “Maybe it’s just my brotherly instincts. But either way, thanks for being here to help.”

Linne smiled contentedly as their conversation turned to idle chat. Each of them had grown so much in a single day...it felt...cathartic to know they were together all to help one person. She had never needed to carry the burden of guilt on her own. With everyone here living in the moment, she could have peace of mind. Soon, though, would be a confrontation they were each scared of.

Clera heard Taylor and Hailey’s friends chatting downstairs. She’d left her office to greet them, but on her way to the stairs had an urge to try and talk to Hailey.

She felt bad about her somewhat hands-off approach, as it clearly hadn’t worked out-what with her spending a whole two months shut in the house, but she hadn’t been sure how to approach the subject. Hailey’s best friend had died...it seemed wrong to pressure her to go to school after that. Taylor had tried to help her, but it apparently resulted in a savage shouting match. Somehow, though, they’d both acted like it’d never happened afterward. She hadn’t seen it, but a lot had happened between the two. In terms of proactiveness, Taylor certainly made her proud. Though she had to admit, he was even more stubborn than his sister when it came down to the wire. Maybe that was a good thing.

She knocked on Hailey’s door and braced herself, knowing Hailey didn’t hold back when she was angry. She mustered up some willful ignorance and spoke, “Hailey, your friends are here to see you. You should come out and say hi.”

For a second, Cera thought she wouldn’t respond, but she heard Hailey’s perpetually annoyed voice through the door, “What, mom?”

“What I just said, I know you heard me.”

“...I’m not going to see them.”

“And why would that be?”

“Cause’ I’m not. I’m tired. Let me sleep.”

“Hailey, it’s four PM, now isn’t the time to be asleep!”

“I was up till four.”

“And then isn’t the time to be awake! Not to mention you’ve been asleep for twelve hours!”

“Well, I don’t want to see them.”

The thought came to her mind to demand she leave her room with her parental authority, but just before she did, she looked down the stairs, fundamentally looking at the people seated at the table she couldn’t see. They could get through to Hailey, door closed or not. She had trust Taylor could do it.

How to end the conversation...Aww, who cares? No need to harp on Hailey just because she couldn’t find a way to justify having the conversation with her. “Whatever. But I think you’re well aware that lock could be picked with a fingernail.”

“Thread em’ if they try a nasty trick like that.”

How brazen!