On the way to the faculty he mulled over the task that awaited him.

“There is no way out of this. Perhaps I should just start thinking how to go about it. I have that trap,” the memory made him feel sick. He gulped.

“But that is not big enough. It barely even fits a large cat. And even if it did work Eon said it was a skulk. The cage could only take care of one even if it did work. I don’t have enough money to buy a bunch of larger cages, even a single one would be pushing it. I’ll have to look it up when I return. I must also find the place where the foxed live. Eon said that it’s in the south part, but even that would take a long time find.”

Without thinking about it he already found himself in front of the faculty building. During the lectures he had the feeling that Estera shone even brighter than usual and wondered whether she also took part in the festivities of the previous night. As before they both kept to themselves and made no contact whatsoever. Despite what he had promised Kasia he knew that he was unable to talk to her about what had been happening to him lately. Similarly he could not talk to Estera, even though she knew about it. In the end he realized that the only one he could really talk to at all was Eon. The mean spirited cat seemed to know a lot, but was tight lipped and it never attempted to hide its aversion towards Emil. The aversion of course was in Emil’s eyes entirely justified.

During the breaks he was working on some homework problems with Tobias and Kasia. He was glad for the distraction so he didn’t have to think about what he couldn’t say.

“Are we still good for tomorrow?” Tobias asked at some point.

“Of course, I even found a weird science fiction film for us to watch.”

Emil was distracted and didn’t even register the question.

“Paging doctor Nerd,” said Tobias and waved his hand in front of Emil’s face. That roused him from the reverie with a start.

“Huh, what?”

“I was asking whether we are good for tomorrow?”

“What’s tomorrow?”

“Come on, keep up mate. We said we’d hang out.”

“Oh right, sure. I’ll be there.”

“Good.”

On the way home from the lectures he stopped by at the convenience store and bought a couple of packs of chicken breasts. He got home and put them away. Eon was nowhere to be seen. He looked up information about foxes. With nothing better to do he changed his clothes and went to the forest. As instructed he crossed the stream and went to the south side of the forest. It was a part he had never explored before. The trees were growing closer together and towered high. Despite this the fact that he was there in sunlight for once made it easier to keep aware of his whereabouts and sense of direction.

“I need to find some fox dens,” he thought to himself as he walked. He spent hours roaming through the undergrowth. The forest before had been mostly on flat ground, but in this part there were some slight elevations.

The forest was filled with the songs of birds, some simply chirping and others whistling soothing melodies. He sat down with his back to a tree and looked up.

“It’s weird how trees are always taller than what you expect with how thin some of them are.” He wasn’t feeling tired at all but he still just sat there for a couple of minutes just taking in his surroundings. He hummed the melodies of the glade and stared up into the crowns of the trees. Now and then he could see a squirrel dashing up a trunk and jumping to the next three from a branch. Sitting there motionless he was as tranquil as the dead. At this thought he chuckled to himself. He got up in order to continue his search, but as soon as he took the first few steps forward he immediately fell flat on his face. He groaned and picked himself up. He had stepped into a hole.

“Could it be?” He quickly brushed the leaves that covered the rest of the hole and the area nearby. His hand went over something larger on the ground and he shrieked with terror and fell back. It was a part of rotting remains of what seemed to be a rabbit or a similar small animal. With a look of disgust on his face Emil took a stick from the ground and moved the carcass away from the hole. He got onto his knees and looked inside. His nose was assaulted by the vile stench of urine and rot. He could barely see anything, because the tunnel twisted and curved into the ground. What he could see were the paw prints, scarcely visible in the earth. He was fairly sure that they belonged to a fox. He wasn’t disappointed by the fact that he couldn’t survey the insides of the den, since he knew from his short research that foxes don’t usually sleep there anyway. With new-found determination he surveyed the surrounding area, sweeping leaves away with a stick and eventually he found a couple more holes in the ground, though since some were near the first one he was unable to tell whether they led to the same den or a new one. Satisfied with the results he turned back home while keeping in mind the exact location of the fox dens. As he was returning the Sun had already started setting and bathed the forest in beautiful light. The Moon was waning even further.

“Pretty soon it will be the New Moon,” he said to no one in particular.

“I wonder if it will be harder to see if I am outside on that night.” With these strange observations he made his way through the undergrowth and across the stream to the familiar parts of the forest.

Back home he was greeted by the ever empty plate of food outside. This time however the two small cats were still there. One was a brown tabby cat with dark stripes and the other had a mix of grey and white fur. At the sight of Emil they retreated into the bushes, but in this instance they remained there and regarded Emil from their safe spot. Emil took the plate and bowl and went inside.

“What have you been up to?” Eon asked as it jumped off a chair.

“I have been doing what you told me.”

“Good, any progress?”

“Yes, I believe I found the den. It was in the south part like you said, but I only found it by accident. I could spend days there without finding anything at all.”

“Well, I was certain you would do a good job regardless. I hope you are able to continue as soon as possible. There is just so much time that I can enjoy scratching your furniture in anticipation.” Hearing this made Emil frown and looking around he saw claw marks over a leg of the chair that Eon sat on when he came back.

“Yes, I’ll do it,” he grumbled.

He set food and water for all the cats and then went on to research the best approach to his problem. Many were dead ends, it would be impossible to get a rifle or even poison that would guarantee death. The only solution he found was traps. Even here he decided to try and find something that would not be a huge financial blow for him. He finally settled on making a snare trap. That would enable him to only have to spend money on paracord. The rest he would be able to find in the forest. He spent a half of an hour trying out different knots and nooses using an old shoelace. Feeling that he had fulfilled all he can at that point, he decided to finally relax and read a book. Before starting he once again tucked Eon in with the blanket on his bed. This time he let the fingers of his hand rest for a bit on top of its head. He took a seat at his desk and pulled the book out of his drawer.

He hadn’t even touched it in almost a week despite his resolution to try and read at least a tiny amount every day. The book was a great old work of science fiction, which was an enjoyable read, but it always made Emil question whether the philosophy and literary references were really essential for the story or just pretentious attempts at depth. On the other hand it might also be simply the author trying to draw attention to things that he or she loves or thinks is important for people to know about. It was thoughts like these that made reading a much longer process than it should have been, since the words on the page were a trigger for contemplation outside of the book and required rereading in order to find the line where he stopped reading. Now that Emil had all of the night to himself this was no longer a problem, since he had to spend all this extra time somehow anyway. He did just that and continued reading until the eastern sky became painted with red, pink and orange. Emil put down the book and went to check the makeup in the mirror. The scar had started showing. With a sigh he went and washed his face and removed all the makeup. The following hour was spent trying to remember the steps that Estera had described for applying the makeup. He inserted the contact lens. It got easier every time, but he didn’t think he could ever get used to the strange feeling of having them on.

After he was satisfied he went to prepare the food for the cats. The sound brought Eon from the bed. “Good morning,” said Emil. The cat simply meowed in response.

“Say I want to ask you something.”

“Go on.”

“Do you have any idea how many of the foxes are there in that skulk?”

“Three.”

“Oh, how do you know? Are you certain?”

“I assure you, this is something that I know for sure,” Eon said in a tone that communicated the end of that conversation.

Emil rummaged through his drawer and put some money in his wallet. After taking care of the food for the cats he left for the faculty. Once there he met up with Tobias and Kasia.

“Hey, don’t forget about today. We meet at five at Tobi’s place, got it?”

“Works for me, I just won’t leave home.”

“Yes, I’ll be there.”

The conversation then moved to the topic of video games, specifically old-school computer RPGs. Emil felt the need to say something about his situation, or to at least allude to it with a hypothetical scenario, but ultimately decided that something like that would pose too much risk.

On the way home from the faculty he stopped at the home improvement shop. He was delighted to find that a hundred metres of paracord was priced at a satisfactory cost. Upon some reflection he decided to also buy a small axe and five large canisters. That brought the cost up significantly, but he was still well below a price for any other method that he could attempt. The paracord became useful immediately, because the canisters were awkward to carry despite not weighing very much. He tied the rope through the handles and went home. He thought about going to the forest right away, but realised that it would take too much time, since he needed to be at Tobias’ place quite soon. Upon arrival he was greeted by the two kittens. They didn’t run, only moved slightly to the side and observed Emil’s struggle with the inconvenient load. As soon as he was inside Emil dropped everything in a corner with a grunt. Eon came to see what the commotion was about.

“Is this for your task?”

“Yes, I just hope it works, otherwise I just wasted a bunch of money.”

“Oh I wouldn’t worry, you seem to have a knack for doing things like this.”

Upon hearing the remark this time, Emil decided to not avert his eyes in shame. It took a lot from him, but in the end he meet the one-eyed gaze with his own single eye. The cat stared for a short while, then blew a quick breath and went back onto the bed. Emil started preparing food.

After he was done he went towards Tobias’ place. He was renting a place in a different part of the city. The long walk gave him more time to think about how to set up the traps.

“I should look up what would be good to use for a bait,” he thought and came to a realisation that somewhere along the lines he had started to accept what he had to do calmly. He spend no time thinking about what he will do and how he would feel about it later.

He arrived after twenty minutes of walking.

“At least I no longer run out of breath after walking for a while.” He knocked on the door and rang the doorbell. After a minute the door opened a tiny crack.

“Who approaches?” Spoke a mysterious voice from within.

“Be there demons or beasts without?” A second voice joined in.

“No, there be only the dead outside. We are cold and hungry, do we have permission to enter?”

“Hmm, I don’t know Kasia, do you think we should trust the stranger?”

“But of course what is this home if not a place of hospitality for any who seek sanctuary. Come right in, just bear in mind, you might like it so much that you shall never leave again.” The ominous invitation was followed straight away by a cackle that seemed to belong to a horrible crone. The door finally opened and Emil was met by the duo.

“Hi dude, I’m glad you are getting more into our skits.”

“Well as they say, you can get used to anything.”

“Come on guys, we need to get started. Get inside.”

In the living room there were two big shopping bags, full of snacks and drinks. The room had a general feel of being hastily tidied literal minutes before the arrival of guests.

“Let’s start with a game and drinks,” Tobias motioned towards the small table, where a board game was already set. He brought three glasses and poured everyone a cocktail.

“Cheers!” All three said in unison and banged their glasses together. They all knocked back the sweet drink. Emil struggled with the façade of not showing his disgust. He hoped it wouldn’t be the case but it seemed that food as well as drink were no longer something he could consume.

“At least I can still pretend to breathe,” he thought bitterly. It wasn’t really a challenge in truth, since talking required him to breathe anyway.

“Let me put on some music,” suggested Kasia.

“No please spare us,” replied Tobias.

“Oh shut it you pansy, I’ll put on something for all of us to enjoy.” She went and turned on the music. It was medieval style bard and tavern music. Emil and Tobias both laughed and cheered. They started the game. Eating and laughing. Kasia and Tobias kept making their own narratives within the world and at some point the simple competitive game of gathering resources and fighting became a legendary quest to awaken an ancient king and take over the world.

“If it goes on like this we will never finish,” remarked Emil. Throwing the dice and collecting the taxes from his annexed cities.

“Yes right, let’s go with this then. The ancient king Samael is at the verge of conquering the Dragon lands, but as he uses his powers his old and decrepit body wastes away bit by bit. Aware that his eternal demise is imminent, he tells his faithful generals that whoever builds him a mausoleum of corrupted magic will inherit his powers. The building costs 200 units of wood, 500 units of stone and 1300 gold Samaels.”

The game ended with Tobias’ victory. He celebrated by filling all of their drinks once more. This time however they all took their time to savour the drink, or in Emil’s case prepare for the awful taste.

“Next order of business: Kasia’s film. I hope it won’t be like the last one.”

“You can’t possibly blame that on me. How was I supposed to know that they would do those things to fantasy creatures. Anyway this one is science fiction, so at least that won’t happen again.”

“Of course. Weird and gross things have never been part of that genre.”

“Don’t be so sardonic Tobi. We will just have to go and see, won’t we?”

They settled on the sofa, each clutching a bowl, filled with a mixture of various salty snacks. The film was about an astronaut, who was the only survivor of an accident during a mission across the galaxy. She alone was then rescued by a colony of exploring aliens, who took her in. She overcame many obstacles and was integrating into their society, despite having two limbs less and not being covered by a chitinous carapace. She was unable to learn their spoken language, but was able to use their written symbols. After years of living with the strange beings, the colony found other humans. The protagonist was faced with a choice whether to remain with her saviours or return home. The thinking caused her many sleepless nights. After establishing contact with the humans, she realised that the combined time of her original journey and the travel at relativistic speeds with the aliens meant that all people that she knew and even any who had known about her were already gone. She decided to stay with the aliens.

As the credits began rolling Tobias stretched and looked around.

“Well this was a weird film right?” He looked and saw Emil staring at the screen unmoving and Kasia discretely wiping one of her eyes and giving a faint sniffle.

“Oh wow seriously? Did I miss something?”

They drank and ate even more and were spending the time discussing video games they had played and the books that they had read recently. As it started getting late they all cleaned up the mess they made and prepared to leave.

“See you two on the morrow. Be careful on the way home.”

“Have you been following the news as well? That creep is still out there.”

Emil cringed internally, thinking about spending a lot of his recent nights outside.

“Nope I had no idea, I just kind of said it.”

“I see, well keep it in mind. I still can’t get the girl that disappeared three years ago from my mind.”

Tobias gave Emil a meaningful look and made a slight gesture with his head.

“I feel like going for a walk this evening. So I will keep you company before I head home.”

“No it’s fine, I’m not that scarred.”

“In that case I will go and wander around the park all by myself in the dark. Sure hope nothing strange happens.” At this response both of the others gave a slight smile.

“No, please just go with me instead.”

Satisfied with the result, they waved Tobias goodbye and went along the way. For a while they merely walked side by side in silence. For them it wasn’t an awkward one. They were both simply enjoying the breeze and the setting Sun.

“Let’s stop here for a minute,” suddenly said Kasia. They were next to a playground in a small park in the middle of some houses. She went on and Emil followed. They both sat down on swings.

“I don’t think I ever really mentioned this, but I am utterly glad I met the two of you. I didn’t have any friends back in high school and when that girl disappeared I was terrified of ever leaving my house. I never had anyone who I could share this fear with or be comforted.” She trailed off and began staring at the sunset.

“You are not alone now. You can rely on Tobi and me.”

“I know, thank you. But I also want you two to count on me as well.”

“I do already. And I most likely will even more.” Emil paused for a moment. “You know before I became friends with Tobi I was always alone as well. I never really minded it. That’s what I thought anyway. We didn’t even interact at all until the middle of the second year, even though we were classmates.”

“I assumed you were always together.”

“No, he had his own friends. After they started picking on me he got into a big fight on my behalf. We became friends later.”

“I never thought he would be someone who gets into fights.”

“He isn’t. As far as I know that was his only fight.”

They sat in silence until the Sun set completely. In their dark clothes and with black hair the two became silhouettes against an ever darkening sky. The world became devoid of colour. Only their pale faces still stood out. Kasia swung higher and jumped out of her swing, landing in a t-pose.

“Come on, we can’t have you walk about too late,” she said and spun around. Emil jumped as well and they both walked onwards. They walked in a diminishing light. The colour of the world only came back as they passed under street lamps. After they arrived at her place she went on towards her door and turned around.

“Thanks for coming with me.”

“No problem.”

“Remember, creeps about. Avoid people that are alone, or if it’s a group that’s together. The best case is many people who have nothing to do with each other or none at all.”

“Makes sense. Goodnight.”

“See you tomorrow.”

Emil turned back home. He walked at a brisk pace.

“I completely forgot about that girl. Did they ever even find out what happened?” As he walked back home he felt a peculiar sense of dread in the back of his mind.