WARNING~ There are mentions of death in this chapter (and in the whole book-).
(There are some swear words too, but I haven't seen too many people complain about swearing on here so-)
OCTOBER 13TH, 1978
"It's finally over." An 18-year-old girl thought, walking out of Everlock side-by-side with 3 other people. The 4 of them were all popular YouTubers, along with everyone else that were with them at the beginning of the night. But once one of the guests decided to open a seemingly innocent Jack-in-the-box, everything went wrong. The large group of people, 14 to be exact, were forced to vote people into challenges. They were forced to watch some of their friends die, and they were forced to betray the people they considered friends if they wanted to survive.
And the worst part about it was, the man who invited them to the town did it so he could come back from the dead. If you asked her how she felt about that when the group first found out, she'd say it was "pretty fucking selfish", but if you asked her now, 5 hours after they found out? She'd say she didn't really care, she made it out alive and that was all that mattered to her in that moment. The girl glanced over at the only guy walking with them, the "Detective", according to the role he was given for the night, watching as he held a stuffed animal close to him. He won it in a carnival game before everything went to shit. She looked away, her eyes landing on another stuffed animal on the ground.
It was a small purple dog, the same stuffed animal one of the youtubers won at the beginning of the night. It belonged to the guy's best friend, but she died 2 hours before everything ended. The girl stared at it for a second before running over and picking it up, wiping the dirt off it. She held it, thinking, before running back over to the group, specifically running up to the guy in the group.
"Matt!" She exclaimed, rushing over to him. He looked at her for a second, before his eyes trailed down to the stuffed animal in her hands. "I thought you'd want this, to uh, remind you of Rosanna... you don't have to take it! I just thought you'd want it." she trailed off, offering it to him. He took it almost immediately. He held it for a second, taking it in, before pulling the girl in for a hug.
"Thank you, Astrid." He said. The 2 stayed like that for a second, before they both let go and caught up with the other 2, they were walking with. One of the 2 girls looked at them through her sunglasses, pushing a strand of dark brown hair behind her ear. Astrid didn't know her until that night, but she remembered her name was Safiya. It was a questionable name to her, but she liked it. Safiya stared at them, before glancing at the stuffed animals Matt was holding, specifically the purple one.
"Was that Ro's?" She questioned, watching the 2 as they nodded in response. She gave them a small nod back, before looking at the carnival games around them. With that, the group went back to walking in silence. Astrid looked at the other girl that was with them, who hadn't said anything since they ended everything. She walked out from in between Matt and Safiya to stand by the girl.
They made eye contact, before the girl looked away, making the 18-year-old frown. She understood why she was so quiet though, seeing as she had to choose between herself and two of her best friends just an hour before. Astrid stared at her for a second, before finally deciding to say something.
"I'm sorry, Nikita." Astrid said, drawing attention from all 3 of the people she was walking with. The girl in question just stared at her, before shaking her head.
"It's fine, I just wish I didn't go into the challenge against them. Manny and Eden would've been alive if they didn't go into the challenge with me." Nikita began, looking back at Astrid. "But uh, are you ok? That was a lot of uh, death, for someone who just barely turned 18." Nikita asked, all 3 of them waiting for Astrid to answer, making her think about it for a second. She wanted to say yes. She wanted to tell the 3 that she was perfectly fine—that none of the deaths bothered her—but that was a lie, and she knew it. She knew she had to say something, but she didn't know what she could've said.
No matter what she said, she would've teared up, so she did the last thing she thought of doing, which was just look away and not respond. She felt their eyes on her for a little while before they all looked away, probably just thinking she was tired, and she was. They were up for about 10 hours, maybe longer, running around with almost no breaks, so all 4 of them were exhausted. They just walked to the exit in silence.
Once they finally reached the exit, they looked back at the man behind them. The one who invited them in the first place. He was just standing there, looking at them.
"Are you coming Joey?" Astrid watched him shake his head.
"You guys go ahead, I'm gonna go grab something." Joey responded, before turning and walking in the direction of the abandoned church the group just left. The 4 watched him walk away, before looking at each other.
"Should we follow him?" Astrid asked, getting a weird look from Nikita.
"We're probably gonna die if we do, so I think the fuck not." Nikita said, before turning and walking out of the town. Astrid looked at Matt and Safiya for a second, before following Nikita, the other two following soon after. With that, the 4 tried to just continue with their lives, none of them knew that something was watching them. The thing that was watching them started their plan, with the only goal being "get rid of the survivors.". They were able to get rid of Joey, from what it knew. And their next target was Astrid, though that would've been a little harder to do.
So, they decided to do what Joey did for 3 years; invite Astrid and 10 others to a party in the exact town Joey invited Astrid to. Except they'd make it seem like Astrid was inviting everyone, and then make it seem like Joey was inviting Astrid. Then they could turn everyone on Astrid and then kill her in a challenge. In their eyes, it was the best plan, and there was no way their plan could go wrong. But a lot of things can happen in a short amount of time.
JULY 4TH, 2022
It was supposed to be a normal summer day for Astrid, just hanging out around her house. Maybe she'd go to Matt's house later to hang out with him, the other two survivors, and Eden, who somehow came back from the dead. Despite how many times Matt, Safiya, and Nikita told Astrid how Eden came back, it never fully processed in her mind. All she remembered was Manny, Eden, and Nikita in the last challenge of the night, ending in Nikita killing her two friends to escape. Astrid remembered Safiya and Matt making her look away, so she didn't have to watch.
At the moment, Astrid was just running her hands through her hair, thinking about what happened in Everlock. Yeah, it may have been 4 or so years since Joey invited her to the town, but that didn't mean she just forgot about everything. That didn't mean she didn't feel like shit for voting people into challenges that could've led to their death. Astrid kept thinking about that night, until a knock at her door caught her attention. She paused for a second, wondering if she wanted to get it or if she wanted to just make them think she wasn't home. She decided against the second idea, and walked over to her front door, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
She opened the door, barely getting a chance to say anything, before an envelope was shoved into her hands. She stared down at it for a second, before looking up and watching someone walk away from her front door. She was about to say something, before she looked back down and saw the name in cursive on the top left of the envelope.
Joey Graceffa
She stared at it, remembering what Eden said about the last time she saw him. She remembered being told that Joey just ran back into the museum when he had the chance to leave. Astrid turned around, closing the front door and walking over to her phone to call the first person she thought of. She looked for their number, pressing the call button and waiting a few seconds, before they picked up.
"Hello?" They said.
"Did you get a letter, Matt?" Astrid asked, getting straight to the point.
"A letter? No... why?" Matt replied, sounding confused.
"I got a letter from Joey, or at least it says Joey on the envelope." She said, trying to resist the urge to open it.
"Joey? He's been gone since 2019... Have you told the others?" Matt questioned. He always had a lot of questions, his main thing on YouTube was theories about movies and games, of course he was gonna have a lot of questions.
"No, but I was thinking maybe you and the others could come over and we could read it together? See what it's about together?" Astrid suggested, hearing some shuffling on the other line.
"I mean I'll definitely come over; I don't know about the other 3 though. Text the group chat." Matt responded. Astrid assumed he was already getting ready to drive over to her house.
"Ok well, I'm gonna hang up so that you can start driving over here. I'll message the others." Astrid said, hearing some more shuffling on the other side of the phone, before she ended the call, immediately going to open the group chat she made for the people who survived the town in the 70s and Eden.
~~~
Babybitch: have any of you heard from Joey at all since 2019?
Humanoidbaymax: No? haven't seen him since he ran back towards the museum.
Legallyblonde: Honestly, I kinda hope I don't hear from him. he's just bad news at this point.
Frankensaf: he isn't posting anything anywhere either.
Humaniodbaymax: Why? Worried about him or something?
Babybitch: I just got a letter from him. Am I the only one that got one?
Legallyblonde: Burn that bitch
Humanoidbaymax: take a photo before you do that, we need evidence.
Frankensaf: Don't burn it, joey may be asking for help.
Babybitch: But Matts coming over to look at it
Humanoidbaymax: If he gets to come over, I'm coming too.
Legallyblonde: your gonna need more than a man's opinion. give me 10 minutes to get over there <3
Frankensaf: let me tell Tyler real quick, then I'll be heading over
Babybitch: is onyx coming?
Humanoidbaymax: Yea, im bringing onyx
Babybitch: YESSSSSSSS MY FOSTER CHILD IS COMINGGGGGGGGG
~~~
About 30 minutes later, the 5 were all at Astrids house, sitting in her living room.
"Did you read the letter?" Eden asked, looking at the envelope in the 22-year-old's hands. Astrid shook her head.
"I was waiting for you guys to get here. but I don't even know if I should." The girl replied, looking at the envelope while petting Onyx, the black cat that was temporarily hers, until Eden came back to life.
"I think you should just open it. It may be Joey asking for help." Safiya reasoned, the other 3 in the room nodding in response.
"Yeah... ok I'm just gonna open it. It's not like it's gonna kill us." Astrid ripped the envelope open and took out the letter inside. She glanced up at the 4 sitting around her, all of them looked eager to find out what the letter said. She looked back at the letter, unfolding it a little and then reading it out loud.
Astrid,
I need your help. I'm stuck back in Everlock and you're the only person I trust to help me. You'll have to come between 9 and 9:30 pm, or you won't be able to enter and help me. Please come help me.
- J.G
"Ok so he's in Everlock." Safiya started once Astrid was done reading the letter, before Matt added to Safiya's statement.
"If Joey is the one who wrote that. It could be a fake letter from Joey." Matt added.
"Ok am I the only one that's concerned about the fact that Astrid is the only one he trusts to help him? We all went to the museum place to help him save Eden and all the other people there, yet Astrid is the only one he trusts out of all of us??" Nikita said, clearly a little pissed off.
The 4 started talking about the letter, while Astrid just stared at it, reading the letter again and again. She tried to find anywhere on the letter that could give any hints as to whether or not it was from Joey or someone else; but she found nothing. From what she could tell, it was from Joey. She thought to herself for a second, before she finally said something.
"I'm gonna go." Astrid looked at the other 4, who just stared at her in disbelief.
"You're going back?? What if you die?!" Eden exclaimed, shocked.
"I mean if I die, I die. but I feel like there's something more to what's happening." Astrid replied, looking back at the older girl.
"Well, if you're going, I'm going too-" Matt started, before Astrid interrupted him.
"I don't think that's a good idea Matt, because if something goes wrong and you all come with me, we may have no way to get in contact with the S.A.E. If you guys stay here and something goes wrong, I can get in contact with one of you, you guys can get some of the S.A.E members, and you can come help me deal with whatever happens." Astrid stated, turning to look at Matt, who just stared at her for a second, before nodding.
"But what if you die before you can contact us?" Safiya asked.
"Like I said earlier, if I die, I die. But if something goes wrong and I die before I can contact you guys, you'll just have to hope that whatever happens stays in Everlock." Astrid started, standing up from the couch. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find something to wear. If any of you want to stay to give me any advice while I'm looking for an outfit, you can stay." Astrid finished, before walking to her room to get ready.
All 4 of them offered to help her prepare. Once they got to her room, they started figuring out who was doing what, before they decided that Eden would do the hair, Safiya would do the accessories, and Nikita would do the actual outfit. While the 3 girls started to take care of what they decided on, Matt started telling Astrid what was going to be important to remember and telling her about the best hiding spots in the town in case things did go wrong.
TAGS~ please tag people!
(sorry if some of you didn't wanna be tagged-)
kalivda
CORALLLreef
Icarus_Rain
-DaydreamAvenue
peachyangs
Iawliet_
lalax0x0
A/N~ Ok I know there were only 3 survivors in season 3 but I changed the death order a little so that Safiya survived with Matt, Nikita, Joey, and Astrid because I'm still mad about her death
so don't come for me-
and dont question the letter part, i sent that to my friends and they told me to keep it
i probably checked this 50 times to make sure there's no mention of colleen anymore-
Word count- 2,569 (nice)