Day in and day out, he has been expecting her. A little over four years ago, she passed away, and every night since she's missed her train to the afterlife. As the conductor waved the train off this night, he took a seat at the edge of the ptform, letting his legs dangle off the end."I can't keep waiting," He said to himself, "I'm going to have to go find her."

  Eliza was chewing on her pen's lid as she watched the clock. Her English teacher had started going off on a tangent about trees for some reason completely unreted to the css, and everyone but a handful of her 'favourite students' (she did call them that specifically) were bored out of their minds like Eliza was. Finally the siren sounded, which caused the css to begin packing up their bags. Naturally, the English teacher got upset, and in a completely unnecessary show of power held everyone back for a moment to tell them she chooses when to dismiss them, not the siren.There was a curved driveway out the front of the school where everyone whose parents picked them up would gather, which used to mean Eliza's friends Luke and Max would be hanging around to chat with her, but now... she didn't even acknowledge them as she passed by. Faith did go here, but she always drove home as soon as the bell rang, Kiera used to but she'd moved to a different school, and Eliza didn't know where Heidi and Alicia went, but it sure wasn't here.There were two rge chicken-wire gates that cars passed in and out of, leading directly to the road outside, and just as Eliza walked out, she felt the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. Quickly, she looked behind herself, but didn't see anyone. She looked both ways, crossed the street, and made her way home in a hurry.

  The entire 40 minute walk home, she couldn't escape that feeling someone was watching her, but every time she looked, nobody was there. She broke into a sprint a few times, but quickly found herself more and more winded in doing so due to the heavy bag on her back.Once she turned the corner to her street, she made sure to look down the alley she took as a shortcut, and sure enough, a figure was standing there. Now she had to run. His footfalls fell heavily as he started his pursuit, and as she ran past her house, she threw her bag out at the door and broke into a full sprint. If her heart were still beating, it would be racing.Kiera's house wasn't far from hers, and Kiera's car was there. If she only just reached the door, she'd be safe, she knew she would. Running up the road, she turned back to see a decaying man with glowing blue eyes and broken legs charging forth toward her, his hands fully outstretched, yet somehow keeping incredible pace with her. She reached Kiera's door and banged her fists on it.

  ***

  Alicia looked out the car window at Kiera's house as they pulled into the driveway."You don't have to come in if you don't want to," Kiera said, "My dad and my brother are... well, they're a lot.""Oh," Alicia said, "If you don't want me to-""Oh, no, no, it's fine, come in, I can get you a drink, it's just that I don't want you to feel like, pressured to, or if there's like, a sensory reason. Maybe do come in. I don't know if casts are like, heat sensitive."Alicia shot her a curious gnce, "You've never broken a bone before?"Kiera ughed, "Is that surprising? A lot of people go their whole lives without a broken bone.""No, I mean, you just seem like- nevermind, sorry, I wasn't thinking, just... ignore that."Kiera looked at her a bit more kindly, "Okay... well, my bedroom's a bit of a mess right now, but I can show you my dad's old horror movie poster collection!"The pair headed inside and walked over to the kitchen, where Kiera's mother was. She looked nice, like an older Kiera that had become a frazzled art teacher, and was pouring herself a smoothie."Oh, hi! Who's this?""This is Alicia, mum," Kiera said, opening the fridge and pulling out two cans of fizzy drink, "We work together, we're actually about to head off to work tonight, she's in my horror club, you know?""Horror club? This is the first time I've heard of that..."Kiera gred at her mother, "Mum, I've told you like eight times.""Have you? I don't think you have. Well, it's nice to meet you, Alicia, I'm Lilith."Kiera handed her one of the cans, "Just wait here a minute, I'm going to go ask my dad something."Kiera's dad and brother were out in the shed, her dad's 'Wolf Cave', as he called it. The door was heavy and metal, and scraped against the concrete in a dissatisfying way as she pushed it open."Ayyy, Kiki!" Her older brother yelled, embracing her in a bear hug, "We're working on pns for the next moon! Still working on that cure?""Uh- yeah. I didn't know you were here, Tim. Hi dad."Her father pulled his welding mask up and gave her a weak smile, "Hey air bud."Tim beamed, "What brings you to the shed? Oh, by the way, I brought some bones over, if you want one grab it out the freezer."Kiera looked over at the freezer with a little bit of dread, "Uh... yeah, maybe. I'm actually here checking if I could show my friend your posters, dad?"Her dad had gone back to welding, and wasn't listening. Tim gave him a nudge and he finished what he was doing."Oh, posters?" He asked, "Uh, sorry, I put them away at the locker. Didn't want to scratch them up accidentally. Buuuut... check this out!"He held up three dog tags with names engraved on them, and Tim saw them and batted them out of his hand."Seriously dad? What the fuck?" He said, as Kiera ran out, crying.

  He hadn't reared his head since she got in the car with Kiera. Alicia found it kind of funny, honestly, Kiera had the nicest, close to golden retriever levels of air about her, and yet this was the thing that scared him off? Of course, he could be pying mind games with her. He could be pying a long game, building her up until he could catch her off-guard and kill them all. No. No, Alicia didn't want to think that way. He'd stayed quiet ever since that thing burst through her window, much to Alicia's dismay, which meant she couldn't question him on anything the stuff in that book meant. Not that she was hoping for him to cause her another open fracture. Still, if he was pying the long game, he was being a bit slow about it.A hulking beast of a man walked in, and Alicia almost fainted at the sight of him. He was tall, wide, and covered in muscles and hair, except for the bald spot and clean shaven hair. Behind him, an equally tall guy wearing a cut-off wolf-themed t-shirt that revealed his impeccable abs, the hair from his navel leading Alicia's eye down to his jeans. Oh, and his face was nice, she guessed."Oh!" He said, "You must be Kiki's friend! I'm Tim."The man beside him grunted, "Hey. I'm Robert.""Nice to meet you both..." Alicia said, "I'm uh, Alicia."Robert gave her a weird look and forced a smile."Did Kiera come back through here mum?" Tim asked.Lilith shook her head, "Nope, must be in her room. Anyway, Robert, Alicia here was telling me about this terrible movie they watched in Kiera's horror club, what'd you call it?"Alicia smiled nervously, "Uh, it was Revenge of the Juicebox. An evil kid dies and possesses a juice box, which he then uses to murder people."Lilith ughed. Robert did not, but after a moment gave a smile and a nod, "Ah yeah, sounds interesting."A few awkward moments of silence passed, and Tim came back with Kiera."I think it's about time for us to get going," She said, not looking at her father as they passed him.

  BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG

  "What the hell was that?" Robert asked. Everyone raced to the front door, and as Lilith opened it, the four of them watched on in horror as a man in a conductor's uniform pulled a shining blue light from Eliza's terrified body, which hit the ground and split into a dozen pieces.