A Gaze-less Stare | Fear Street |

{ VI } Catching Fire

July 16, 1978

   The memory of what had happened last night played through Sidney's head as she and Ziggy walked through the woods of camp, blindly looking for the escaped rabbits.

   "They could be anywhere, and how exactly do they expect us to find them?" Ziggy groaned, kicking a random pebble out of the path the two walked down. "We don't even have anything to lure them out or capture them with." Ziggy continued, though she found that her friend had stopped listening to her complaints.

   Ziggy noticed that something had been resting on Sidney's shoulders since last night. Her friend hadn't given her the chance to question her about where she had disappeared to after her chat with Tommy.

Then she had been quiet all morning, practically walking around camp in a dazed state. As if she was only partially there.

   "Hello, anyone in there?" Ziggy lightly knocked her knuckles against her friend's head, pulling the girl out of her thoughts. "Yes, sorry." Sidney mumbled, running a hand through her slightly tangled hair. "Couldn't sleep last night, I think they gave us the worst beds." She stated, lightly rubbing her tired eyes.

   Though Ziggy could see right through her lie. "So there's nothing on your mind?" She questioned, lightly nudging into Sidney with her shoulder.

   Sidney only shook her head in response to Ziggy's question. "Did something happen last night?" She continued, "You know it isn't safe to go out after dark by yourself."

   "Careful Ziggy, you're starting to sound like your sister." Sidney joked, earning an eye roll. "I'm being serious, Sid."

   Sidney honestly didn't know what her problem was, she felt as if a dark mass was following her everywhere she went. It had been for a while.

   She had small bouts of depression, everyone does but this felt different. It was inescapable. Almost suffocating.

   "Do you ever think about running away?" She questioned Ziggy quietly.

   It was every Shadysiders' dream to escape their town. Their curse. But it was almost like there was this unseen force that was keeping them down. Trapping them.

   Ziggy let a light scoff pass between her lips as she looked down questionably at her friend. "Why? Are you?" Sidney shrugged her shoulders before looking around at the trees that surrounded them. "Tommy told me not to tell anyone, but it's eating away at me..." Sidney came to a stop on the path. "What are you talking about, Sid?"

   Sidney anxiously bit her thumbnail as she tried to think of the best way to tell Ziggy what she had been hiding all summer. "That's bad for you." Ziggy mumbled, pulling Sidney's hand into her own to stop the bad habit. "Tommy found a way... to get out of Shadyside." She mumbled quickly, still looking over her shoulder as if he would hear her.

   "Don't be crazy, I'm pretty sure the last person that tried to leave got hit by a bus." Ziggy stated with a smirk. "Can't get hit by the bus if you're on it," Sidney spoke quietly, looking down at her dirtied shoes. "I thought the tickets were expensive?" Ziggy muttered.

   "He can pay for them after this job." Sidney explained, earning an eye roll from Ziggy. "So what? You were just gonna leave and not tell me?" Sidney quickly shook her head, gripping onto her friend's hand tightly as if Ziggy would disappear if she didn't. "No, never." "Then why are you telling me now?"

   Sidney went quiet again. She knew why she had decided to tell her now, but she didn't know how to tell Ziggy.

   "Because I want you to come with us." She mumbled under her breath, but she knew that Ziggy heard her. "I can't just leave." Ziggy stated, lightly shaking her head. "Why not? Cindy's leaving for college, Tommy and I are getting tickets. This is a golden ticket opportunity, Ziggy."