"Okay, here we go. Don't you think you guys are getting a little bit old for milk and cookies?" Mrs. Morgan asks as she sets a plate of cookies in front of Reagan, Benny, Ethan, and Sarah.
"Maybe, but you're never too old for a cookie sandwich!" Benny says as he shoves three cookies into his mouth.
"Just when I think you've found every way there is to be disgusting, you find another one," Sarah tells him before looking at Reagan who shoved three cookies into her mouth as well.
Reagan looks up from her plate and sees them looking at her. "What?" She slowly puts her half-eaten cookie down. Benny from beside her chuckles which has her turning her head to him.
"You got a little-- here." Benny reaches towards her face and brings his thumb to the side of her mouth, gently wiping off the chocolate. "I got it." He smiles before wiping the remains on a napkin. Reagan slightly blushes as a voice calls out,
"Hello?" Ms. Weir enters the kitchen through the back door. "Oh hi, Evelyn. Come on in. What brings you here?"
"Well, I just wanted to make sure that Benny isn't making a mess." She says before zapping his glass of milk, tipping it over on him. "Oh! Do you have any napkins?"
"No problem. I'll get some." After Mrs. Morgan walked away, Ms. Weir leans forward and looks at the couple. "Which one of you did it?"
"It's an easy explanation. Sarah didn't believe in trolls and Ethan and Reagan bet me I couldn't conjure one. What was I supposed to do?" Benny throws his hands up.
"You didn't conjure a troll, you conjured a toll. It cost me five bucks to get out of my living room." Ms. Weir tells him. "Ha! Told you!"
Mrs. Morgan makes her way back to the table and Ms. Weir uses her magic to tip the plate of cookies on the floor. "Benny!"
"It's okay. I'll get the dust-thingy." Mrs. Morgan assures her before leaving again.
"Well, at least I conjured a toll booth. Can one of you two do that?" Benny asks Sarah and Ethan. "Reagan is afraid to use her own magic!" Ethan exclaims.
"At least she knows how to fight! You two hide behind us while we do everything!" Sarah adds. "You hide every time that stupid robot dentist movie is on."
"Hey! Cyberdontist came to this planet to fill our cavities with pain! And at least I'm not hiding from myself." Benny scoffs.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sarah asks him. "That you're a vampire who's afraid to bite people. He said it, I didn't!"
"And you're so perfect?" Reagan rolls her eyes at Ethan. "I'm just saying. Between Benny's misspelt magic, Sarah's smash-happy strategy, and your fear of magic, you three would fail without my bulletproof genius plans." Ethan points out.
"STOP!" Ms. Weir yells. "You four are a team! I sense coming darkness. A force so powerful, so evil, that none of you stand a chance against it alone. Only by working together can--"
She stops when she saw the four of them not paying attention as they were on their phones. "You have to work together!"
"Yeah..." They mumble.
*
Reagan flutters her eyes open as the sound of her alarm woke her up. She slowly gets out of bed but paused to sniff the air. She had smelt pancakes and bacon.
Tia doesn't cook, she thought.
She finally got out of bed and got dressed for school. When walking down the stairs, she wondered if her aunt learned to cook overnight.
She enters the kitchen but stops in her tracks. The person in her kitchen was definitely not her aunt. Margaret has curly hair and was shorter, had a scent of lavender due to her shampoo. But this woman had long hair and a few inches taller. Her scent was filled with vanilla and cinnamon.
Reagan knew who this woman was. It's the woman who she's been missing since she was a kid.
"M-Mom?"
The woman turns around and there she was; Maria Sullivan. Reagan's mother. She was just as beautiful as she was when alive.
"Hey, sweetheart. Are you hungry? I made your favorite." She flashes a smile.
Reagan didn't know if she was dreaming, but she never wanted to wake up.
Reagan couldn't help herself, and she ran over to her mother, pulling her into a hug. Maria chuckles before wrapping her arms around her daughter. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good. I-- I'm just glad you're here."
*
Reagan watches as her mother continues to make breakfast. She was currently cutting up strawberries to put onto the pancakes.
They were having their mother-daughter conversations when Maria lets out a hiss in pain.
"Mom, are you okay?" Reagan quickly stands from the chair. "Yeah, I just accidentally cut myself with the knife."
Maria turns around to reveal blood dripping from her thumb where she accidentally cut herself. Reagan's heartbeat quickens as she stared at the blood. Maria noticed the distraught look on her daughter's face.
"What's wrong, sweetie? You seem troubled." She slowly inches closer and Reagan jumps back. "S-Stay away." Reagan felt overwhelmed by the blood, and she didn't want to hurt her mother.
"It's just a little blood, Reagan." Maria grabs her daughter by the arm and raises her bloody thumb. "See? No biggie." When she brought her thumb closer to Reagan's face, she let out a hiss at her mother, her fangs flashing.
Reagan pushes her mother off. "I knew it," Maria smirks. She again grabs Reagan's arm but this time with a tighter grip. "You're an abomination." Reagan lets out a pained yell as Maria uses her magic on Reagan.
"Mom, please! You're hurting me!" Reagan cries out as the pain increases.
"Mom? You don't get to call me that. You are no daughter of mine." Maria seethes. "My daughter isn't some monster who feeds on people's blood."
"No, I don't do that!"
"You don't deserve to live. You hurt innocent people, and I can't allow that to happen."
Finding some strength, Reagan used her vampire strength to push Maria off, sending her across the room. Reagan quickly uses her speed to exit the house.
"You can't hide forever, Reagan! I will find you!" Maria yells after her.
*
Reagan ends up at the high school and enters inside. She didn't question why there aren't any people, knowing that she's already in some nightmare. She collapses against the lockers and lets out her feelings. Her body was racked with sobs.
Why was her mother here and nobody else?
What was going on?
"Reagan? Reagan, can you hear me?" A small voice was shouting in her head.
She stopped crying when she heard her best friend's voice. "Ethan? Why do I hear you in my head? What is going on?"
"We're all stuck in our own dimensions. Whenever I hold your geometry textbook, I can talk to you." Ethan tells her.
"Well, how is that possible?" She asks. "It must be an emotional connection. Geometry is your favorite subject. Do you have any ideas on how we can talk to Benny?"
"Try using his gym shorts in his locker," Reagan suggests. "If it's an emotional connection as you said, it should work. He hates gym more than anything."
"All right, I found them." Ethan groans as he held the pair of gym shorts.
"Ethan? Why are you shouting inside my brain?" Reagan heard Benny's voice in her head. "B, are you okay?"
"Reagan! Oh man, I'm so glad to hear your voice. What's going on?" Benny asks. "We're stuck in different dimensions. Apparently, when Ethan holds my geometry textbook and your gym shorts, he's able to talk to us."
"He's talking to my gym shorts?" Benny questions. "Worst cellphone ever."
"Wait, guys! I'm going to try something!" Ethan tells them before his voice in her head was gone. Then, it returned. "I grabbed Sarah's makeup thing. I guess if you can't see your own reflection, it's nice to remember what you look like."
"Ethan? Why can I hear you?" Reagan hears Sarah's voice in her head. "Because he's holding your little mirror Hicks confiscated last week."
"Reagan?"
"And Benny!" Benny adds.
"Sarah, where are you?"Ethan asks her. "Where are you? There's no one in this town anywhere. Except for my evil who's hunting me."
"I'm being chased by Cyberdontist. That drill is a lot scarier up close." Benny says. "Reagan, what about you?"
Reagan starts to panic as she remembers where she was and who she was stuck with. Tears formed in her eyes as she said, "M-My mom."
Silence filled her brain as her three best friends didn't say anything. How could they? What are you supposed to say when your friend's dead mother is your fear?
"Wait, so you three are being attacked? I'm completely alone." Ethan tells them. "But I got an idea. Just meet me in the lounge as soon as you can okay?"
"Ohhh, Reagan."
She stiffens as she hears her mother's taunting voice. She quickly gets up and speeds to the nearest closet.
"Come out, come out wherever you are." She sang as she walked down the school halls. When the sound of her footsteps got further away, Reagan took her chance and sped to the lounge. She found ghostly figures of Ethan, Benny, and Sarah.
"Benny, Sarah, Reagan, I can see you guys!" Ethan says.
"Reagan!" Benny exclaims. He reached forward to hold her, but it just passed through. He saw the tear-stained cheeks and his heart broke for her. He knew she feared that her mother would never accept her for who she is, but he never expected her to go through it.
"Can you see me?" Ethan asks them. "Barely."
"Okay. Sarah, grab onto your mirror. Benny, grab your shorts. Reagan, hold onto your textbook." Ethan tells them.
They yank onto their item, pulling as hard as they could. Then, they were pulled into Ethan's pocket universe. "Yes!" Benny cheers before pulling Reagan into a hug. "Are you okay?"
Reagan shakes her head and Benny sighs before pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"Now we're trapped here together," Sarah says. "Not much of an upgrade."
"Guys, we have to move. I'm being chased by a guy with no face and a lot of fireballs." Ethan tells them. Suddenly, the guy he was talking about walks through the lounge doors with Cyberdontist.
"You know, I liked it better when it was just me and Dr. Silver Pants." Benny comments. Following behind, Evil Sarah and Reagan's mother walked in. Reagan immediately grabbed onto Benny's hand whispering, "I can't do this."
Benny rubs her arm with his other hand as he gently pushes her behind him. They four backed away from their villains. "Guys, at least we'll be destroyed together." Ethan blurts out.
"That's the upside here?" Sarah asks before the faceless person in a cloak blasted them with a fireball, and the four ran into the hallway. They found an empty classroom and ran inside, hiding from the window's view on the door.
"So we're just gonna stand here and wait?" Sarah questions.
"We're not waiting, we're hiding. That's a much better plan." Benny corrects. "I should just go out there and--"
"And do what? Get roughed up by yourself?" Reagan questions.
"Hey, you can't even face your own mother!" Sarah retorts, immediately regretting what she said. Reagan looks down at the ground.
"This isn't helping!" Ethan says, and Benny rolls his eyes. "Why don't you go out there and touch Hoodie McFirehands and get a vision?"
"Spoiler alert: he'll cook me!" Ethan yells. "Look, we can't defeat them by ourselves. We have to come at them together. Sarah, how can we stop you?"
"That's not me. That's the me I don't want to me." She explains. "She doesn't have a conscience and she eats people!"
"Okay, let's start with that."