PHOBOPHOBIA

Just for Fun

---

.

"What are you doing here?"

Just another boring da- wait

Why is she still in bed?

The blond's eyes slowly flutter open, the beam of light on her face exposing her features. Her bowl-cut hairstyle was heavily messy and her long, white hoodie was stained with the drool running from her mouth. She sat up with a frustrated groan and gave an exhausted glare to the small, capsized bedroom she lay in.

The room was small with cream-colored walls covered in different-sized holes and rips. There were clothes littered around with pieces of trash sprinkled with them. Relatively, she was isolated... 

-with the thing in the corner of her room that just caught her attention. It's a blur but it has some proportions: it has a tree-like shape with a strange thing on its head or butt- I don't know. A hand? A foot? I don't think it knows itself.

"Gone, gone. Bye." It wept over and over again, eventually giving up and just sitting there quietly.

"Good for you, I guess?" 

Hazel sat up, grabbed new clothes from her dresser, and made her way to the bathroom as she didn't feel too comfortable changing in front of that thing- whatever it is. 

Promptly, she remembered she promised to meet up with her friends to go to the carnival for the project. With the celebration being 50 minutes away, they wanted to ride together in a van to get there all together.

Considering it was 9:48, she was going to be late meeting up with her friends, and, to be honest, she couldn't care less. She always hated going on rides and her conditions didn't make it better... HOWEVER, nothing could stop her from getting a good turkey leg and a freshly-made funnel cake. She would travel all the way around the world for carnival food- as long as she doesn't have to pay for it.

.

She chose to wear a yellow/orange hoodie topped with baggy, white pants. The hoodie had a small duck graphic on it along with some other words in Japanese; that she doesn't know.

Peering around the corner, she couldn't see nor hear her mother outside her room; which was quite strange because she usually goes to work at this time. Nevertheless, Hazel quickly left the apartment and ran to the local park.

Waiting for her were her best friends Ashley, Sarah, Phillip, Amari, other Amari (or Amar-one), and Lesly. The group quickly looked at her and flashed their version of death stares except for Markus, Phillip's emotional support dog. She gave them her usual lazy wave and sat down at the bench they meet at every day after school.

Phillip, being the mom of the group, spoke up, "Where were you? It's been over 20 minutes." Getting her phone out of her bookbag, Hazel looked at the time, expression never changing. "Whoops."

Sarah rolled her eyes, "Late as always... Anyways, come on! We have to go, like now!" She grabbed Lesly's arm and ran towards the van, everyone following shortly behind her. Once piled in the car everyone immediately started arguing over music choices. Some wanted peaceful songs to listen to so they could fall asleep, others were considerate about the driver of the car expressing how Phillip may fall asleep because of how tired she is. In the end, everyone decided that they would just listen to music on their phone instead of playing Bluetooth.

Eventually, everyone (excluding Hazel, Markus, and Phillip) went to sleep. Hazel was stuck in her thoughts, thinking of the worst that might happen at the carnival, but then again, it's not like she has to show anything that happened to the class. She could just edit it out. Besides, her friends have her back— at least, that's what she told herself. She couldn't stop thinking abou-

"Cold." 

Someone's voice was in her head again.

Hazel turned around to see if anyone actually said something. The answer was no but she did give Markus a good stare for about two minutes, just in case she went crazy.

"Please, it's so cold. Cold, cold, so cold."

"Oh my god- Phillip, can you turn the air down, it's getting cold," Hazel said, getting fed up with the voice's complaining. "Sure, Ducky."

Ducky? 

Whatever.

Thankfully, she didn't hear the dumb voice anymore, but now she began to feel hot due to the heavy jacket she wore. Choosing not to address it, she got comfortable in her seat, laid her head on the arms of the car seat, and stared straight forward. 'Maybe a small nap will help me get my mind off things' she thought while closing her eyes. 

Word count - 763