Terrible Fate

Dawn of the First Day

-72 Hours Remain-

"So, Donna," Reese began, bursting through Donna's front door. "Have you finished Majora's Mask yet?"

"Nope," Donna admitted, bringing her shoulders up in a shrug.

She'd "bought" the glitchy cartridge a few weeks back and told her friends about it, but not about how she'd stopped playing it after all she deleted the excess BEN file after the NPCs started calling her by the wrong name.

She should've known the copy was a bad one from the moment she'd seen the creepy old man and he told her she could take it for free. When she'd realized he'd been saying goodbye to Ben, she should've known.

"What do you mean, you haven't finished it yet?"

"I've been busy," Donna replied. This was more or less true, but she didn't think Reese needed to know the technicalities. It seemed like Reese was about to force Donna through a lot more questions, but as they turned the corner to get to the stairs there was someone waiting for them.

"Oh, hello Reese," Donna's mother said, placing a smile on her lips. But as Donna walked into the room behind her friend, she let out an enormous groan.

"What the heck, Mom?" Donna asked, already exasperated.

"What, you don't like it?"

"You dyed your entire head blonde. Of course I don't like it. You naturally have black hair. Black. Like mine. Why would you dye it blonde?"

"So it doesn't look good," her mother replied, taking a strand of her hair in her fingers and examining it. "I thought it suited me."

"You look lovely, Miss Bell," Reese piped up. Donna immediately rolled her eyes, knowing that Reese was trying to suck up just in order to continue staying at her house. She wanted to shove her in the arm in order to get her to shut up, but instead she did nothing, waiting to see how the conversation ended up.

"Thank you, Reese," Donna's mother said, a soft smile curling across her lips. "I'm glad that someonethinks so. You must be a delight over at your house."

"Oh, please," Donna scoffed to herself.

"Well, Donna, I don't remember you telling me that Reese was coming over today..." Ms. Bell began, leaving the last word hanging so that she could continue. But of course, Donna didn't pick up on this.

"Oh, that reminds me - Tyler's coming over later," Donna stated.

"Donna, shouldn't you ask me before inviting your friends over?" her mother asked, attempting to put on a warning tone and utterly failing.

"I've never had to before, so why would I start doing it now?"

"Donna Bell," her mother said, once again trying to be firm. "Donna, you...you need to ask me."

"What, are you going to send Reese away and tell Tyler that he can't come along now?"

"Next time," replied her mother, her eyes starting to bulge. "Next time, you're going to ask me. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, I understand," Donna sighed, giving an enormous roll of her eyes. "I'll ask you next time I invite someone over." Under her breath, she mumbled a few more words to herself - "Next time, if I feel like dealing with all of your crap."

"So, Donna," Reese said, a hesitant laugh creeping into her tone. "We should head upstairs, right?"

"Yes, we should," Donna agreed. The two teenage girls exited with a stagnant silence in the room. Reese didn't feel comfortable opening up and speaking once again until they were ascending the stairs.