Caitlyn hardly slept at night. Her mind was racing at the idea of Anthony being behind all of the weird shit happening in town. Caitlyn would toss and turn, groan into her pillow, get up when she got annoyed with tossing and turning, go outside and sit in her backyard so Roscoe could run around and play, go back to bed, toss and turn.

When she got a phone call at 3 in the morning from Frankie, Caitlyn was actually happy about it.

Until she heard her friend frantically screaming into the phone that Trey was alive and at the hospital.

Caitlyn doesn't like driving at night. She can see just fine, but she always hated how empty the roads were, but when Frankie called her—when Caitlyn heard how distraught Frankie sounded, she didn't think twice about driving to the hospital.

She didn't really believe Frankie until she was standing inside Trey's hospital room.

Caitlyn didn't move after that. She couldn't. She just stayed beside Frankie the rest of the day and at the crack of dawn when visiting hours started again, she was back there. Side by side with the girl.

It was 7am now and Caitlyn's head was pounding. Frankie was asleep next to her, her head dropped onto Caitlyn's shoulder as she finally caught up on some sleep. Caitlyn tried her hardest to stay awake. If Trey woke up or a doctor had something to say, Caitlyn wanted to make sure at least one of them was there and Frankie needed more sleep than Caitlyn did.

When she heard footsteps coming toward the room, Caitlyn perked up enough to wake herself up a bit, but not move Frankie.

She smiled and relaxed back into her seat when Devin walked into the room with three coffees in hand, one of them tucked between his arm and his ribs. Caitlyn straightened up at the sight of him, stretching her back just enough to not wake up Frankie.

"Hey, you." She hummed and Devin froze, smiling down at Caitlyn as his face started to heat up. "Hey." He breathed out and as the silence started to creep its way into the room, Devin remembered he was holding all the coffees in his hand.

"Oh!" Devin immediately perked up. He placed one of the coffees onto the bedside table closest to Frankie and then used his now free hand to give Caitlyn the coffee that was sitting under his arm. "I brought... I brought you this for you."

Caitlyn chuckled as she took the coffee out of Devin's hands. She immediately noticed the logo on the cup and looked up to the boy with raised eyebrows. "You went to Frankie's coffee shop?"

Devin nodded, his lips pulled together in a thin line before he tilted his head sarcastically. "Only the most average for you." He said sweetly just as Caitlyn took a sip of her drink.

Her eyes widened the second the liquid touched her lips and she quickly pulled the cup away from her mouth. She looked into the small sip hole of her drink before looking back up to Devin. "Oh, wow! It's lukewarm! How thoughtful." Caitlyn hummed in a faux-happiness.

Devin's face pinked up and his head dipped to quickly try and hide it, but even though Caitlyn couldn't see the blush, she could see the small smile on his face.

It made her chest warm and she couldn't control the way the corners of her lips twisted upwards. Just like Devin, Caitlyn tried to hide her smile. She brought her lukewarm coffee to her lips and took a long sip.

Devin could see her out of the corner of his eyes and slowly lifted his head again. His eyes caught the slumped head of belong brown hair resting on Caitlyn's shoulder and his smile faltered.

"How's she doing?" Devin asked quietly, his voice finally lowering to not wake Frankie up as he nodded to her.

Caitlyn looked down at the girl resting beside her and sighed. Her breath made Frankie stir in her sleep, but she didn't wake up. Caitlyn looked back up to Devin with her lips pulled into a line and her shoulders raised by her ears in a helpless shrug,

"She's freaked out. I mean..." Her words froze and Caitlyn quickly looked out Trey's hospital room windows behind her to look into the hall. When she saw no one was around, she turned back to Devin and gestured to the boy in the hospital bed with her head aggressively. "She thought she killed him." Caitlyn whispered with barred teeth.

Devin's eyes moved to Trey, his mind flashing back to the night at the Auto Shop. His mind raced thinking about the creature he saw that night—who he assumed was Trey yet... here Trey was now, staring off at the ceiling with a distant look in his eyes.

"How is he? Has there been any updates on him?" Devin asked and Caitlyn sighed. It took her a couple seconds before she gained the strength to look over at Trey. It's been hard to look at him ever since she's been visiting him at the hospital. Her mind would just flash back to that creature—that monster that took Frankie.

But then, seconds later, her mind would flash back to just Trey. The Trey that would walk her home from school everyday because she was scared to take the subway alone. The Trey that always brought an extra jacket or umbrella one days it was supposed to rain because Caitlyn would claim she'd be fine in just a regular t-shirt and the immediately regret it once her clothes started to get soggy.

Caitlyn felt her heart sink looking at Trey––her friend. With a tired sigh that made her whole body droop, Caitlyn shook her head. "No, he hasn't said a word or responded to anything really."

Silence stretched over after that. Devin not really knowing what to say and Caitlyn not wanting to say anything. Nerves swam around her gut as she thought about the possibility of Trey never getting any better. That was stuck like this because of something none of them could explain.

Caitlyn was so in head, trying to quiet the loud thoughts that were yelling over each other, she didn't notice Treys nurse walk into the room.

"Oh, hello!" The nurse sang happily once she realized there were visitors in the room.

Caitlyn's head snapped to the doorway of Treys room, her eyes wide and a hand on her chest.

Her eyes landed on a woman—a nurse—with a tired and slightly annoyed look on her face. She forced a smile to the two teens as she draped her stethoscope around her neck. "You guys are gonna have to go to the waiting room. I need to examine my patient. There are rules about that sort of thing." She snapped.

Although she thought the woman could've been a little nicer about it, Caitlyn nodded and started to grab her things.

"Of course." Caitlyn whispered back to the nurse. She looked down at Frankie still asleep on her shoulder and quickly patted her face, waking her up. "Frankie, come on." Caitlyn whispered and even though Frankie groaned at being woken up, she got up and followed Caitlyn and Devin out of Treys hospital room.

Once they were out of the room, Frankie sighed, running a hand through her hair and turning to face Devin and Caitlyn. "I'm gonna head to the restrooms." She muttered tiredly, pointing at the hallway behind her with her thumb. "I'll be right back."

"Okay." Caitlyn called out as Frankie turned around and headed to the bathrooms.

Caitlyn and Devin continued to walk down the hall and Caitlyn found her steps slowly coming to a stop as they got closer and closer to the vending machines.

But when she and Devin stood in front of the machine, Devin sighed in disappointment. There was hardly anything good inside,

"This is the saddest vending machine I've ever seen." He muttered dryly, earning a snicker from Caitlyn next to him.

She walked toward the machine, smiling at the black,  Smartfood white cheddar popcorn staring back at her. Caitlyn looked back at Devin and shook her head, easing her hand to point at the popcorn. "I don't know what you're talking about. They have the popcorn that I like." Caitlyn hummed in a matter-of-fact tone.

Devin's eyebrows raised to hide his shock and disgust. He walked toward Caitlyn and the vending machine, pointing at the popcorn in question. "You like that stuff?" Devin asked, his jaw close to being unhinged.

Instead of answering, Caitlyn turned to the vending machine. She quickly tapped her phone to the card reader and typed "E3" into the machine. She watched as the popcorn shimmied its way toward the edge before falling into the slot Caitlyn could grab it from.

Caitlyn bent down and grabbed the bag happily. She opened it as she stood back up and grabbed around four pieces of popcorn, shoving them into her mouth. As she chewed, Caitlyn smiled at Devin and once she swallowed, she let out an obnoxious "ahh."

"Delicious."

Devin watched her for a second before he playfully squinted and pointed at her. "You know what? I'll get a Funyuns too. I'll splurge." He teased, playfully pushing Caitlyn out of the way so he could buy something.

Caitlyn hummed, popping a few pieces of popcorn into her mouth as Devin put two dollars into the machine. "The only thing more fun than an onion...?"

As the chips started to fall to the bottom of the machine, Devin and Caitlyn's eyes moved to each other, their eyebrows raising.

"A Funyun." They said at the same time. The two of them immediately started to giggle at their synchronized words. Caitlyn threw her head back as she laughed, her hand digging into her bag of popcorn to grab a couple more. With her head still thrown back, she dropped them into her mouth, not noticing a speeding body heading right for the two of them.

"Hey."

Caitlyn and Devin jumped at the voice, Caitlyn having her hand to her heart from almost choking on the popcorn she was eating.

When she realized it was only Alex, Caitlyn relaxed. She let out a small breath of air as she smiled to the girl. "Hey, Alex." She breathed out as Devin just nervously smiled to the girl from beside Caitlyn.

"Hello." He squeaked out, an awkward hand raised at an attempt to look calm and collected.

Alex didn't say anything for a second. She just stared at Caitlyn and Devin. Stared at how awkward Devin looked and stared at how red Caitlyn's face was. Alex squinted, pointing between the two of them. "Am I interrupting something?"

Devin's face scrunched in a panicked-faux confusion as Caitlyn's eyes widened.

"What?" She blurted, a little too fast and a little too high pitched for her own liking. Quickly, her face scrunched and she shook her head frantically. "No!"

Alex hesitated, not believing Caitlyn. After a couple seconds, she decided to put the topic of her best friend and Devin on the back burner and shook her head. "Okay, whatever. I need to find Trey. Is he in a room somewhere?" She asked, leaning to the right to try and see over Devin's shoulder and into one of the rooms behind him.

Devin threw his hands out by his sides in exasperation, shaking his head in confusion. "Everybody wants to talk to Trey!" He groaned before looking away from Axel and to Caitlyn next to him. "I remember the days when nobody wanted to talk to Trey!"

"Ah, yes..." Caitlyn sarcastically hummed, shoving her hands into her pockets. She turned to face Devin and an even more sarcastic smile took over her face and she nodded. "Yesterday!"

Alex gave Caitlyn an unamused look, her arms crossed and a single eyebrows raised. Caitlyn groaned, rolling her eyes. "Well, he's in there." Caitlyn breathed out, pointing behind her to Trey's room. She turned back to Alex and shook her head. "But he's not speaking. Like at all."

Alex's face fell and her lips parted as she looked back and forth between Caitlyn and Treys room. "Wait... Is this because of his car?" She asked desperately, taking a step toward Caitlyn and Devin.

Caitlyn's eyes nearly popped out of her head and she felt her heart sink. She didn't look to see Devin's expression, but she could bet money he looked just as shocked as her. Does Alex know they crushed Trey with his car?

"Why are you asking about his car?" Devin quickly asked, eyeing Alex nervously. Caitlyn rolled her eyes at how obvious Devin made it that they were hiding something.

Alex caught Caitlyn's eye roll and Devin's nervousness. Her arms crossed over her chest and her eyebrows raised suspiciously watching the two of them. "What do you know about his car?" She shot back at them.

"We asked you first." Caitlyn quickly blurted, taking a protective step closer to Devin.

Devin's eyes widened at Caitlyn's close contact. His mouth opened and closed as he watched Caitlyn before he turned to look back at Alex with the shocked look still on his face. And Alex just squinted back at him before she rolled her eyes in defeat.

"I borrowed it." She grumbled guiltily. Her eyes didn't really meet the others, only stared at the ground and Caitlyn's face scrunched.

"When did you uh..." Caitlyn paused and her eyes trialed off of Alex and to Devin. When Devin turned to her with the same suspicious look on his face, Caitlyn crossed her arms over her chest, licked her lips, and turned back to Alex. "Borrow it?"

Alex squinted at Caitlyn. She was honestly getting a little annoyed at the face that Caitlyn—her best friend—wasn't just being honest with her about whatever she was hiding. She rolled her eyes and shrugged as if it were nothing. "Yesterday."

Devin was about to question Alex further, but before he could get the words out, his phone rang from his back pocket. Devin grumbled something under his breath that Caitlyn and Alex couldn't make out before he answered the phone.

"Hey." Devin said, turning his body away from Alex and Caitlyn as if to give himself some privacy.

Alex rolled her eyes at Devin and turned back to Caitlyn, a pleading look on her face. "Caitlyn, come on!" She groaned, making the shorter girl turn to face her. 

"You know something about it, okay? Spill it. Please." Alex clamped her hands together and rested them underneath her chin as if to beg.

Caitlyn didn't really know what to say. She wanted to tell Alex, but what was she supposed to do? Tell her the truth? Tell her that Trey turned into some bloody, mud-like monster and after the three of them crushed him with his own car, he somehow magically turned back to normal? Alex would think she was crazy!

"Wait, what?!"

Caitlyn and Alex's heads snapped to Devin. His eyes were the size of saucers before his entire face scrunched and his eyebrows furrowed together. Caitlyn couldn't tell if it was panic or confusion.

"Why are you at Mom's?" Devin asked and Caitlyn's heart rate started to pick up. Cece. He was on the phone with Cece, but the tone of his voice sounded like something was wrong––like she wasn't safe.

Then, Devin froze completely and Caitlyn could see the way his entire face fell. "You don't remember anything?" He asked. His voice was quieter than it just was seconds ago. It was as if he was too nervous to speak any louder.

Caitlyn couldn't hear Cece on the other end, but Devin suddenly straightened up and all the fear and nervousness on his face was quickly replaced with seriousness and a protectiveness. "Cece, listen to me very carefully. Did you hear a hum?" Devin asked, his voice deeper than it had been the entire phone call.

Caitlyn's eyebrows furrowed. A hum? What? Was Cece building something? She was about to mouth to Devin what a hum had to do with anything, but when Caitlyn saw the way Devin's eyes widened, she figured now was not the time to ask questions.

Devin finally looked back to the two girls that were staring back at him nervously. "Okay, Cece, whatever you do, do not move. Just stay right there, and I'm gonna be right over there." Devin's eyes locked on Caitlyn's, his eyebrows raised as if to silently ask if she was coming with him and even though Caitlyn had no clue what was happening, she straightened up and nodded her head.

He muttered a couple more words to Cece before he hung up and frantically shoved his phone back into his pocket.

Caitlyn was practically bouncing on her toes, ready to run out of the hospital as Alex looked at Devin with eyes so wide, they could pop out of her head if she were a cartoon.

"What happened?" She asked, but Devin only turned to Caitlyn and grabbed both of her hands into his own.

"We gotta go right now." He was out of breath and his eyes were bouncing back and forth between both of Caitlyn's in a panic.

Caitlyn's stomach dropped, completely frozen at the look of fear in Devin's eyes. From a few feet away, Alex looked at Devin like he had three heads. Her arms were thrown out by her sides as she waited for some sort of explanation.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Alex groaned and Devin turned away from Caitlyn, holding her hands tighter as he looked to Alex.

But Devin didn't even look at her. His grip on Caitlyn's hands tightened. The fear in his eyes made Caitlyn's skin crawl. He was walking out of the hospital before he even started to speak. "I'm sorry, we gotta go right now." Devin told Alex over his shoulder, pulling Caitlyn out of the hospital with him.

Caitlyn looked back at Alex as Devin dragged her toward the elevator. She mouthed an "I'm sorry" to the girl, but Alex only stared back at her, her jaw dropped and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

They didn't have to wait too long for the elevator, because neither girls had the chance to actually say anything before the elevator dinged and the doors opened.

Devin pulled Caitlyn into the elevator just as Frankie walked out of the bathroom, calling Alex over to her.

When Devin and Caitlyn got the first floor, Caitlyn hoped she had a better understanding of what was happening to Cece, but Devin didn't speaks the entire elevator ride. He only bounced on his toes anxiously and squeezed Caitlyn's hand tight.

Devin's running slowed as the two of them reached the parking lot and he didn't see Caitlyn's Sedan anywhere.

He spun around to face her, making Caitlyn crash into his chest at his abrupt stop. "Where's Betsy?" Devin panicked out of breath. His hands found Caitlyn's waist sometime in his panicking so she wouldn't fall over.

Caitlyn's mouth opened and closed as her mind went a mile a minute. Even though it was such a simple question, her mind completely blanked on an answer from the adrenaline rush. She actually had to think about where the hell her car was.

She blinked and it was as if all of her thoughts hit her like a truck. "I drove with Frankie today!" Caitlyn sputtered out and Devin cursed to himself. His head dropped and his hands flew up to his face to put some pressure on his eyes as Caitlyn tried to think of something.

Then, her eyes widened and she practically jumped from the rush coursing through her. "The subway!" She blurted and Devin's head snapped up hearing her idea.

Without missing a beat, Devin grabbed Caitlyn's hand and tugged her toward the nearest subway entrance.

"Come on!"

...

Considering Devin had no where to go once he and Caitlyn were on the subway, Devin finally told Caitlyn what happened on his phone call with Cece. And it definitely didn't make Caitlyn feel any better.

Whatever had been happening to Devin—blackouts, memory lapses, the vines, the black goo, the monsters—was now happening to Cece too.

Only instead of monsters and vines attacking Cece, it was apparently a big red blob.

The two of them made it to Devin and Cece's apartment at record speed... for how fast a subway could take you. Caitlyn's legs ached and her lungs burned. She barely had time to look at the building before Devin yanked her toward the elevator like he was dragging her into a war zone.

The lights above the elevator blinked and Caitlyn nervously licked her lips as she stared up at the flickering 1 and 2 lights.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Caitlyn saw Devin lean over and press the button to open the elevator.

"That's not gonna work!" Caitlyn hissed, slapping his hand away from the control board.

"Wh..." Devin whispered when suddenly, Caitlyn lunged forward and jammed her fingers into the tiny crease between the elevator doors. Caitlyn winced in pain as she tried to pry the elevator doors open with her bare hands. After a couple seconds of it not budging and only making loud creaking noises, Caitlyn looked over her shoulder to Devin.

"Devin!" Caitlyn yelled, making Devin's eyes snap over to her. Caitlyn barred her teeth from the pain coming from her hands and fingernails. "Help me!"

Devin jumped forward, taking one side of the elevator door while Caitlyn tried to pry open the other side of the door.

The muscles in Caitlyn's arms burned and it took everything in her to not stop. She had to save Cece. She felt like her arms were about to snap when the doors to the elevator finally started to open just enough for Cece to crawl through.

Caitlyn rose to the top of her toes to see Cece. The elevator was stuck—halfway between the first and second floor. Off to the left side of the elevator was Cece, curled into a ball and looking up to the second floor in fear.

Caitlyn could hear Devin groaning to keep the doors open beside her and stuck her hand out as far as she could. "Cece, take my hand!" Caitlyn yelled over the rumbling coming from the floor above her.

Slowly, Cece used all her strength to move out of the fetal position she was curled into and crawled toward Caitlyn and Devin.

When she got close enough, Caitlyn and Devin switched spots; Caitlyn keeping the elevator doors open while Devin pulled Cece out of the elevator.

"It's okay. You're gonna be okay." Devin reassured as the rumbling from the floor above them started to get louder and louder. Caitlyn clenched her jaw, her muscles straining as she waited for Devin to get a hold of Cece.

The creature—the blob—chasing Cece finally broke through the elevator doors on the second floor and started to slowly pool into the elevator. Caitlyn's eyes nearly popped out of her head and her muscles spasmed at the sight of it. "Devin!" Caitlyn yelled just as the boy grabbed on to Cece and yanked her out of the elevator.

As soon as Caitlyn saw Cece out of the elevator, her and Devin crashing to the floor at the power of his tug, Caitlyn let go of the elevator doors.

They doors flew shut and Caitlyn ignored the loud boom and the shaking on the ground that came with it.

Caitlyn ran toward the twins, grabbing onto each of their arms to help them sit up. All three of them out of breath and Caitlyn was sure her heart was just about ready to beat out of her chest in adrenaline.

"What was that?" Caitlyn asked, her arms feeling practically numb holding onto the twins.

Cece just stared at the elevators behind Caitlyn, her eyes wide and her chest heaving up and down. "I think it was my kombucha..."

emily speaks...
guess who's BACKKKKKKK

kinda don't like how i ended this chapter💔stressful nerve wracking scenes are not my forte

trey and caitlyn's friendship is so sibling coded i fear i love them a lot